What an amazing coincidence!!!

Hi everyone!
Ok, I really did get more clarity on thetopics of "subject" and "matter" (on the "subject matter" of the chapter). I had a good conversation with an Aristotelianfriend, like Eduardo suggested, and that helped me straighten out my ideas. So there are no more excuses. I plan to have it really finished on Thursday. So I will be posting then to tell you the good news.
The other thing that is really exciting, I can't believe my luck!
I was looking at the newspaper, which I don't do very often lately, and I saw an ad for a contest. They are looking for contestants that are willing to try and write something about a certain strange topic. You get two months and the topic, and from those who finish, the one with the best paper wins a great prize.
Guess what the topic is??!! Schelling and Aristotle! How amazing is that! So I practically have all the advantage over the other people, because I have already done so much research on the subject, and thought about it for so long.
Wow!
And guess what the prize is? Whoever wins gets a trip to Mexico, a trip to Spain and! the chance to teach philosophy together with Prof. Thomas Buchheim in Munich...
Isn't this incredible coincidence?
So I just called and registered myself. The finish line is two months from tomorrow...
On your marks, set... go!!
Please root for me, ok?
;-)

A bit more clarity

Hi! Thanks for your suggestions and cheering for me!!
I have more clarity on the subject of matter and of the "subject" now, at least enough to keep writing. I was afraid there for a moment that I had gotten it all wrong since the beginning and hadn't understood Schelling at all! But now I think I solved it, for the time being.
Today I found some interesting articles that I had already read a long time ago. Luckily I had also marked and classified them, so I was able to find interesting bits of information without re-reading them... In one of them, actually not an article but a letter from Schelling to his son, I found a clue that I had been understanding the problem correctly after all.
So that was good. Also I know now exactly which articles I still had there in my old archives, and which I still need to look for, only three or four.
Ok, no more batteries. Good night!

Matter

Hi!
This chapter has gotten fat. One important concept of Aristotle that Schelling uses is that of "matter" and now I have realized I have to explain it here, write now. As long as I'm already in this part of the dissertation.
It really belongs here because of the context. But it's very complicated, I need to look at bibliography to do it, and I don't know if I should just leave it for later. Pro: I don't get stuck in this one chapter. Con: if I leave it for later I will have forgotten a lot of what I have in mind at the moment, plus I don't know if I will have time later at all.
My cold is not magically going away...

Still sick

Hi my friends. Just saying hi.
I'm still out with a cold. It's really too bad, because I haven't felt well enough to keep up the rhythm, and am afraid of falling off the horse again. No! that can't happen now.
So I was lucky to get a doctor's appointment later today. Only I will probably just get some herbs, the way they like it in this noble country... haha.
Still, I don't want to stop writing because it is so hard to come back once you stop.
Also I might go talk to my "doctoral father", as he is called here, about the deadlines and some questions I have regarding the organization of my chapters. He seems to have very little time nowadays, but I think it's better to ask and get some feedback from him.
I hope you are all doing great!
Thanks for the music suggestions...

Da-da-da dáá da

The Walkyries in honor of Schelling and Edu...
only sung with a sduffed dose because I have a cold... regreddably...
I am sdill drying do finish thad Chapder 3!
Ready?

Da-da-da dáá da
Da-da-da dáá da
Da-da-da dááá

Da-dáa da-da-da-da-dáá da-da-da-dá dá-dá da-da-dáá

Cold remedies suggesdions also welcome (gallegos)

This week's winner

At the moment the best musical piece to write is:
Piano ConcertoNo. 4 in C minor, Op. 44, 2. Allegro Vivace-Andante-Allegro
from Camille Saint-Saens

Keep sending your proposals...
;-)

Prost

Hi. I just wanted to say hello. The best time of the day is starting, when everything is quiet here and I can drink my tea without looking out for any spies, ha ha. It is when I can concentrate most, so I drink to your health and write on (right on!) On Sunday this chapter must be ready, and I MUST move on to chapter IV.

Suggestions

Hi, I'm writing already. That is good. It's hard. Do you guys have any suggestions for music that:
a) has no words
b) is relatively fast and kind of "uplifting"?
That would be very great.
So far I have some fast Schubert and a couple of jazz songs, some pieces by Vivaldi and probably the best: Chopin's Polonaise in A Flat "Heroic"... just to give you an idea of what I mean.
Maybe I should look for marches and military music, haha...
Bye!!
PS. Of course, I meant "music for writing": it helps keep a certain pace and marching on...

My cell

Here they are at last, some photos of my cell so you can picture it. It's quite all-write, but I don't have that much time left in it!
On the left you see my files, the post-it system of visualizing the structure and the plastic paper that sticks to the wall, a great invention! So that is why I'll miss having walls available in the library. Sorry about the mess. On the right you see what is behind me as I write, a shelf with books and a window so they can check if I'm not drinking tea, which I am, of course. Ha ha ha! Fooled them...
And this is the view, the best part of the cell because I can even open the window!! and get some very fresh air in here. Also there is a lot of light because it's facing south. And you can see that spring is here.
Well, I shouldn't complain, right? write?

A little too early

Hi!
I promised I would see you today at eight. Well, I'm a bit early, as you can see, because here it's 7.33... pm! No, I actually meant am yesterday. But I was kind of sick, and I ended up coming to my "cell" here very late. Still, I have some hours of work ahead of me until midnight, so that is just what we have "write now".
Bye!

Right

Today I had the problem that "write" also sounds like "R I G H T . . . "
I was feeling very relaxed, which is good after the weekend where I got stressed out, but too relaxed, as in losing-touch-with-the-reality-and-speed-of-time-relaxed. But oh well, here I am sitting in my little cell. I just sent the second Chapter to Prof. Llano so he can "get a head start" reading the dissertation while I finish writing it, ha.
Oops. I am realizing that I haven't written much today. That makes me sad, because I had great hopes for the day.
On the subject of hope I wanted to share with you a prayer that I heard and which is now taped on the wall in front of me. I find it a very good way to start the day with hope:

"Thank you for what will happen today that will make me grow".

And then, when you say it a couple of times, you get all excited about the good things about to happen which you don't imagine yet. Great, no?
See you tomorrow at 9. I promise.

Write away!

While looking for a translation for the German expression "schreib los!" I came upon this idea: "write away!" and found it pretty good as my new motto because of the word play it has.
Ha ha!
So I will write away right away...
Thank you Ana and Enrique ;-)

Tricks?

Hi everyone. I haven't posted because those descriptions of the winter courses ended up taking two whole days. At last I have finished all those arrangements and am trying to just write, write, write. I realize now that a lot of the time spent on this Chapter has been on questions that are not so crucial to the dissertation! They interest me a lot but if they are not part of the paper it's still ok. So now I have to really just do the things that I definitely have to include. I have to be minimalistic.
The other thing is that I'm kind of afraid of writing... which is why I always try to re-read, make schemes, re-make schemes, write notes, etc Because I sincerely and truly feel that I need those before I can write. But I have to be able to write without so much preliminaries or I won't finish. Does anyone know any tricks to overcome that kind of fear?
I wish you all a very nice weekend. And congratulations Martha and Luis!!!

Hope

I am feeling more hopeful and although I still don't work like the little machine I would like to be at this time, I feel better. It might actually and amazingly be possible to finish on time! The new official deadline is June 30th. Which means I would have to be finished writing at the beginning of June in order to make the most necessary corrections.
I have been re-digesting my latest outline of the Chapter and reading the parts that I had already written. No more re-reading Schelling, sorry old man, until I have written what I know right now, and fast! before I forget it once again! So I'm going to just write the parts that are missing and use what I have.
That will have to go on on Friday though, because tomorrow I have to do a day's work on those winter seminars. But tonight I still have about an hour and a half, so good bye.
And thank you for reading this! You give me hope!

Help!

Hi! I'm not falling off the horse but I'm seeing that those steps take longer than I thought. I am still not finished with re-reading and am starting to question that idea. I realize that I tend to want to read too much and have every little argument in mind before I dare to write anything. But then I read so much that by the time I have to write I already forgot it! Or I have made a plan that is too intricate. So maybe I should just write what I know now and complete it afterwards with some quotes, instead of trying to note everything again and then write...
What do you think? I hate to change the plan but I have to be flexible and look at the calendar!

With full steam

Hi, it's Monday morning and I'm very motivated to go on with those steps. Yesterday I ended up not working... but the good news is that I had a long conversation with the spanish tutor, finally, and we agreed on a lot of questions that I had, so I feel reassured.
I also have to write some things for my winter term seminars, but I'll try to do that as fast as possible and at the end of the day.
A big hug,

Sitting up on the saddle

Ok, I did do some work today after all. But not all that I had to do today according to those steps I sent you. Maybe I can do more tomorrow, now I am going home in a little while.
Have a good night, I know you are out there!

Holding on to the tail

Ok, it's not eight o' clock. So I guess I'm not sitting upright on the horse yet, but I'm here so I must be hanging on by the tail... at least that is something.
I'm getting to work on those steps right now. A good news is that I got an email from my professor in Spain, who was missing in action. So now I can clear some questions with him. Yay! Bye!

Back on the horse

Hello loved ones,
I am back on the horse. Hopefully I won't fall down so fast again...
So I have reviewed what I had on Chapter III. It's quite a bit. I also remember now the changes that I wanted to make to simplify its structure. Now the steps to follow are:

1) finish writing a brief outline of Schelling's argumentation -tomorrow-
2) make my own outline which should simplify Schelling's and schematize it (spanglish?) -tomorrow-
3) WRITE along the dotted line -sunday & monday & tuesday-
4) check Buchheim's book on the subject to complete any gaps and put in some quotes -wednesday-
5) complete with a couple other books on the subject that I already have
All this until Thursday the 10th. -thursday-

Then on the 11th I have to write the descriptions of my courses for next semester. But I will leave that till the last minute (they are due on the 12th... !).

Thanks for your support! See you tomorrow at 8:00!

Pressure

Hi my friends.
Although I took the decision and I really want to just finish, right now (and the whole of today) I just feel a very big pressure, like a mountain on my shoulders. I have forgotten where I was in the process of Chapter III and don't know where to continue... it's like far away, even though it's only been two weeks (between Easter and preparing the meeting with my professor, I haven't really come back into the topic yet).
So those are the facts today. I also went to the doctor because I'm having "real pains in the neck"... ;-)
But I just need to go back tomorrow, sit down with my printouts and decide again on the steps to follow in order to finish the chapter as soon as possible, in no longer than a week! I will write tomorrow and tell you what those steps are going to be.
Thanks and good night!

Gracias (with "c" as "th")

Grathias, Maria!! How is the singing?

thanx

Thanks, Ana and Felix!

Decision

Ok, so I have taken the decision again. I will hand in my dissertation on June 30th (and send it to Spain on that date). This means I have to "mentalize myself" for three months of very hard work. I had done that last summer and stopped going to the movies, going out with people, etc, and then I thought I needed more balance, but now I think three months will not kill me. I will strive for balance but in a very concentrated way where the top priority is simply finishing the dissertation. It has been long enough. I need to come out of this limbo, and the way to do it is to finish this cycle and begin a new one...
Please think of me! Every time you comment it gives me a shove in the right direction.
Thank you for your support!