Print out the email and write your rebuttal, Nora, point by point. Write out your argument, if you haven't done so. You don't have to do more than make a list of your points, really, but it will help to have them down and concrete.
I tend to stammer and clutch when I have a face to face meeting, or any sort of confrontation. So it always helps me to write down my points and write out a rough guide of what I want to say, and practice saying it. I also imagine varying responses, and my rebuttals to those. I practice deliberately keeping my voice lower to keep it from squeaking, taking deeper breaths, and speaking slower. It helps me to be prepared and not so jittery that I lose what I was going to say and just clam up in overwhelm.
I am not you, of course, and if this won't work for you, please disregard it. I only mention it in case it might help.
Because it's best to be emphatic about your peanut butter and chocolate:
[link]
(NSFW)
THERE. ARE. FOUR! LIGHTS!
Oh hell yeah! Love me some Picard and love me some TNG!
Also, {{{Nora}}}. Wishing you a great outcome, lady!
Only if you're saying it so that you don't have to go to bed.
Burrell, given I have nothing to do during the day once I've done the job apps, I mightn't last until the weekend. But now I'm tempted to wait.
I had an odd day today. Another grad student had been awake all night finishing up a take-home final, and she was kind of in that stage of sleeplessness where you just sort of keep rambling about anything. And this time, her rambling was about how men in Egypt (where she's from) are different than American men, and European men, and are the most romantic and the most manly men in the world. Oh, and "manly" means "hits women." She says she wouldn't be able to respect a man who didn't hit her, because she wouldn't think he was a real man.
My office can be disturbing at times.
Oh, and I tried earplugs while studying, and they work really well. Plus, side effect of my officemate not trying to talk to me while I'm working. (I get distracted very easily. He knows this. He has commented on this. He has interrupted me while I was working to ask, "You get distracted really easily, don't you?" And yet, he'll try to start a conversation while I'm working. I'll say, "I'm working," and not look up. Five minutes later, he's talking to me again.)
Hil, maybe institute designated chat times. With a timer. Maybe one you can acclerate when he's being particularly assinine.
ImeN, just saw ad for new Prius! Want! Solar cooling system to keep interior cool while parked! Starts @ $22k. Only twice what I've ever paid for a car before.
Am so looking forward to the Star Trek movie, even without reading spoilers (and knowing I won't see it til after I've moved house, bah). Who'd have thought my first love in fandom would still be doing cool things? So very good.
ImeN, just saw ad for new Prius! Want! Solar cooling system to keep interior cool while parked! Starts @ $22k. Only twice what I've ever paid for a car before.
Oh, I would so love a Prius. I'd never be able to park the frakking thing - it's twice the size of my current car - but, *nice*. In two years the UK government starts subsidising electric and hybrid cars. That's when we think more seriously about it!
I am really very almost there with my essay. Which is good, because it's due Monday, and the next one's due two weeks after and I haven't done the reading yet. And I need to start dissertation research. Fun times.
