Mostly dull

 It wasn't a super eventful week. Lots of schoolwork and rain prevented a lot of fun things.

On Monday, I had a Zoom meeting because one of my professors wanted to talk to me about the essays I have worked on, because I didn't get great grades on them. I was super nervous about that, because I get intimidated by people in authority. You have so many important things to do, so why should you spend time talking to little old me? One of the things that has surprised me about grad school is the amount of historiography, which is writing about what other people have written. Instead of doing my own historical research, I read books and articles and write about them. Frankly, I kind of find it dull.

I'm in the MS program, which is considered a terminal degree, one meant for people who won't be professional historians. I could have done the MA program, which has a few more requirements and is meant for people who go on to PhDs. The MS sounded right for me, and the director of graduate studies recommended that for me. Sometimes I wonder if I should have done the MA in case someday I want to do a PhD instead. But I don't think that's right for me. I am a much better editor than I am a historian, and I enjoy editing more than I enjoy reading or doing history. 

I will say, though, that I think I have a real knack for reading historical documents. For my side gig right now, I'm reading transcriptions of nineteenth-century journals to make sure they are accurate, and if something doesn't seem quite right, I look at the original to verify it. Both the context and the handwriting have helped me deduce some mistakes, such as when "shift" was transcribed as "shirt" and "suet" was transcribed as "suit." So I am good at some historical things. Historiography, not so much.

Perhaps the biggest thing this week wasn't something I did, but something my parents did. Yesterday they bought a Dodge Ram 1500 truck. It's for pulling the trailer they bought last summer. For the last three and a half years, my car has been the nicest one in the family, but that is no more. The new truck has all the stuff mine has, as well as other things, such as a heated steering wheel (which I have often longed for), a rearview mirror that acts as a camera, and parallel-parking assist. I haven't driven it yet. We have never had a truck before. Honestly, trucks intimidate me on the road. I associate trucks with in-your-face MAGA types. Hopefully the truck will help me quit stereotyping people.