update from the front I finished a whole lot of crap over the weekend, including the two ginormous seminar papers that were most ominously hanging over my head and the massive pile of crappy student papers I had to slog through and grade. Other high-priority tasks remaining for these next two weeks include:

* One more full-length seminar paper
* One somewhat shorter (and certainly much less intellectually rigorous) seminar paper
* One pseudo-seminar paper (really more of a detailed outline)
* One big-ass Very Important Fellowship application
* Putting together a big-ass reading list for my generals focus field that I can a) get approved by The Man and b) actually get through by mid-May

The main priority is the fellowship app, which is too bad since it has the later deadline. But, dude, money and prestige. That's academia for you: everyone knows it's all about the money and prestige. Umm, moving on.

In other important news, I've almost kicked last week's unpleasant cold that made me feel like my head was full of bees. To add insult to injury, I tried to head off the bees with some tangerine-flavored Emergen-C, which failed to dissolve in water properly and thus prompted me to investigate the ingredients, which turned out to include ingredients sourced from CRUSTACEANS AND BOVINES. JEBUS! (Other Emergen-C varieties are perfectly vegan, according to the company's FAQ page--apparently only this particular kind is not. Check your cabinets!)  ¶ 4:20 PM