writing a marathon

last night i stayed up until 7am writing the rollergirls article, then i took a four-hour nap, woke up to spew out a five-page essay on the symbolic use of architectural imagery in the works of poe (in the last three hours before it was due) —a paper that actually turned out quite well because for once i knew what i was talking about. the previous essay for that class, my god, i don’t even want to think about it. the topic i chose involved comparing two semi-long works that i hadn’t read, and didn’t give myself time enough to read since i didn’t start writing or even pick my subject until the day the paper was due. miraculously i pulled off a B just by skimming the pieces and mining my class notes. i stopped caring so long ago…

anyway, today i also put finishing touches on the rollergirls article (which i very nearly titled “roll on!” before i realized the roll-on deodorant connotations; then i almost titled it “hell on wheels,” until i found a roller derby documentary film of that name; then i came close to settling on “Q: are we not women? A: we are rollergirls!” but changed my mind again because this article is already significantly alienating the magazine’s typical readership and i don’t really need to take it that far…really, the title was the hardest part)…and then I made a few tweaks to the golf article, which is so much shit i hardly know where to begin.

the point is: these things are off my desk. may first, the date that has been hanging over my head for months (not unlike the clouds compressing the turrets of the house of usher), has passed and left me reasonably unscathed. delight and exaltation! oh joy!

now the weekend. tonight i’m finishing my crafts and things, then tomorrow i have to be vertical and lucid by 7:30am to join the rest of my service learning group at Saturday market. i work the booth until 1:30ish, then skip out early to go to a friend’s baby shower.