ROW80 Round 5 - 9th Update

Since last check in I've finished editing another section of my thesis (the methodology). Only a small section, but at least it's still another bit that's out of the way. Wednesday and Thursday weren't too bad for productivity, but Friday I had one of those days where I woke up and just knew I wasn't going to do anything useful (so I went shopping instead XD). Then, when I settled in on Saturday for what was meant to be a whole day to myself, my old man decided to clean the house to within an inch of its life (even though it was cleaned on Thursday) and to be as noisy as possible while he was doing it, occasionally nagging me to fix something he'd messed up in the first place. Knowing that even if I got into the writing frame of mind I'd probably be interrupted straight away, it was very difficult to stay focused on what I was doing, and today wasn't much better (it did mean I got to spend some time reading though, which was good).

I am struggling to make myself adapt to writing in a non-quiet environment. Ideally I like to work in silence when writing non-fiction/academic stuff (if I'm writing my novel I like quiet music that suits the scene/genre I'm writing), but I don't think I'm ever going to get that while I'm living at home (and I can't afford to move out yet). It seems that every time I set aside writing time lately, my family decides they have to pester me every five minutes or have their TV cranked up to maximum volume. And yes, I have tried asking them for peace and quiet when I need to work on something, but they insist on disrupting me. They know they're doing it; they just don't care. For now all I can do is try to do my writing late at night and early in the morning and say, "To HELL with a healthy sleeping pattern!" Though now I'm starting to get a cold. In the middle of summer. Poo.

I did get some good news though; the other day my Honours supervisor called me and asked if I wanted to tutor in one of the subjects she was teaching, so I'll be teaching three classes a week for that subject, and hopefully more in some other subjects as well (the official staff line-up won't really be decided til the end of Feb). This will give me something else to fill in my days apart from my normal retail job in the evenings, and it will be a good boost for my bank account. I'm also meeting my supervisor later this week to discus my thesis, so I need to make sure it's done by February 7, so I can email it on Wednesday. If I don't get it done, I will offer my rump to Judgemental Dog for a good, solid nip.

On the Judgemental Dog front; on Thursday evening we got a call from the vet with Rex's blood test results. They said we can decrease his medication from two doses per day to one. Not only will this be good for us (the medicine will last longer so we won't have to pay for it as often, cushioning the cost a bit), but it's already making a difference to Rex; though he's still not eating much, he's a lot happier and more like his old self. Since the weather is so hot, he's not up to doing much anyway, but hopefully once the cooler weather comes he'll start being more active, and working up an appetite to go with it.

Judgemental Dog tries to protect his mistress from the dreaded Desk Goblins, with varying degrees of success...

Check out how other ROW80ers are going here.