having a dissertation is a little like having a dread disease ...

you can only take one day at a time.

it has been going better since i took the lyrics of roger miller's "you can't rollerskate in a buffalo herd" to heart and decided to "knuckle down, buckle down, DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!" it has been a bittersweet few days, however, and the words of yeats' poem still ring true.

"The Fascination of What's Difficult" -- W.B. Yeats

THE fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt
That must, as if it had not holy blood
Nor on Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,
Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt
As though it dragged road-metal. My curse on plays
That have to be set up in fifty ways,
On the day's war with every knave and dolt,
Theatre business, management of men.
I swear before the dawn comes round again
I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt.