I keep forgettin'

A dear friend of mine (who lives in Australia) emailed me today saying that her father had died last week. Very sad news. She has had a very colourful family life. Her father, like mine, had military training. However unlike my parents - who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary - V's mother married 4 times, and her father 3 times. Her father was her mother's second husband, and her mother her father's second wife. She is hence one of eleven children, but had two full siblings (a brother, and a sister). V is like me in that she left school early, then did her senior by night classes, and then went to university. Unlike me she left with a Pass Degree, whereas I stayed on another year and completed an Honours Degree. She went back and did her Honours 2 years ago... 8 years after first graduating. She got a First Class.

I've spent the entire weekend doing housekeeping for my PhD. I have sorted through dozens of emails, visited websites, made lists of references, and printed reams of reading material. Hmmm... I'm supposed to have suspended. The reason for this frantic activity is because I promised my parents (and they phoned to remind me) that I would send them copies of the emails my brother and I exchanged during our most recent spectacular fallout. It was a slight suggestion on my part, back when it happened. I really don't want to read them all again. I really don't want to read them again. I am not wanting to read them again. To collate them into some semblance of order I have to read them again. And I really don't want to read them again.