I am chatting with a friend from graduate school, who is a few days away from his final defense and fretting a bit. We talk about someone I've met in Germany who now lives in the same Pacific Northwest city where he, his wife, and their five-month-old son are moving to very soon.

Him: "It's crazy to me, that you've been gone long enough to know people who are now themselves gone from your current place. Seems only yesterday that you were here, and all the whole crew was there, and I wasn't even contemplating ever finishing my PhD."

Me: "What's crazy to me is that I've been gone long enough that you and R made an entire five-month-old from scratch. You were barely starting to think about a family and now you've created a whole human being, happily chewing on nylon books and all."

Him: "Point."

Him: "Also the last time I saw you I was giving you a ride to the airport to catch a plane to the very same city we're moving to. How crazy is that?"

Me: "... Everything will be better after you defend, I promise."

Three weeks left before I hand in the dissertation. Wish I could spend more time typing at once and be done with it. Still wishing for it to be over much more than worrying about it. Still spending most of my non-working time either dancing or starting to pack. You know what's funny? I think I'm rather happy.

I wanted to try and do an audio recording for this week so as to spare my wrists.

But, I can't be arsed, because I sound whiny and tired, which I am, both, due to the goddamn effing pain and the fact that I want to get things done but everything (from brushing my teeth to washing the dishes to holy goodness, work, let's not even talk about work) takes so much more time and effort than usual that I bore myself halfway through, which is all very inefficient and therefore even more whine-inducing.

Although I must say that I am feeling better as of yesterday, which is good, but not enough. Try again, body.

Therefore, a list.

• I'm delightfully pleasant, these days;
• Hence it works out rather well that
  

- nobody's in lab;
- I have only one roommate left and she's not around much at all this summer;

• July 4th was a lot of fun (friends, barbecue, kubb, fireworks) and would have been better without
  

- 2 young Mormons (males), rather reminiscent of whipped puppies, but with the Book of M. tucked under the arm, trying their shy, pitiful proselytism on my 30% amused, 40% irritated and 30% sorry person;
- hours and hours of work;
- inability to play kubb;

• I know you'll find it hard to have sympathy, but SoCal didn't get the memo about summer and it's
  

- cold
- dreary
- humid
- even rainy, actually

As a conclusion: go watch a beautifully illustrated takedown of capitalism or a cat on a tortoise.

Week 11 mostly coincided with intermission. The spring quarter is over; undergrads are gone, and many grad students have already left for internships or research stays abroad. Summer session hadn't started yet, which makes it an ideal time for us to go away for a few days. Most eateries have reduced hours (my favorite coffee shop will be closed for the whole summer -- no more bagels for me, as the ones sold at the other places are disgusting). It is a bit hard to adjust to the lack of people, but I appreciate that the park is so much more quiet. So do bunnies, who are all over the freaking place, and dogs, who can now be walked on campus.