I have just a few moments before I have to go relieve the babysitter, but I wanted it noted that today I noticed that I’ve been consistently happier this term than I have been in a long time. The years when I was unhappy at my old job were followed by coming here. Though my 1L year was so wonderful compared to what I’d just left, I was still very tired, pregnant, and we faced several disappointments on the job front. Then this summer I had the baby and the blues. Last term was truly awful, in terms of stress level and work life balance. Around Christmastime, though, things started to turn around. It was a pitch perfect Christmas, followed by a decent January – mostly warm and sunny, the occasional chill day, just a few days of rain to keep it interesting.
I began this term very nervous that it would be a repeat of last term, but thus far (touch wood) I am on top of everything. Nothing feels out of control, nothing is slipping between my fingers. Except maybe the laundry. But I can handle piles of laundry (as long as it’s winter. Down here in the summer, it’s so hot and humid even in the house that laundry molds WITHIN A DAY of lying damp in a pile. Mold stains are, as it turns out, a great motivator to stay on top of the laundry. Too bad the New Orleans winters are awesome – thus the clothes stay dirty.) *
So. Let it be known – and please, O Ye Gods of Happiness, don’t strike me down for saying it out loud – January 2011 has been, largely, a completely awesome month in the life of me. I’m beginning to hope that things will work out for us. Thanks, Gods.
*Grammar geeks. Please help me out. Where does the end punctuation go if there’s a parentheses? I think I learned the rule that it goes inside the parentheses always, but I learned it while I was writing my Master’s thesis** in England, and I think that’s the English rule, and I think the American rule is different. Anybody?
**In England, they call it a Master’s dissertation, and a doctoral thesis. English people are weird.
I think if an entire sentence is in parentheses, the punctuation goes inside, but if you have a parenthetical within a sentence you put the period outside, to end the sentence.
Hello. (This is an entire sentence in parentheses.)
Hello (this is a parenthetical clause in my sentence).
Also, I think the rule you’re thinking of applies to quotes, not parentheses — in America, we put punctuation inside the quotes, but I think the British way of putting it outside the quotes (unless the punctuation is part of the quote) makes more sense.
I second what CM says about parentheses. It also applies to exclamation points and question marks.
Heh, I was going to show up to be a grammar geek, but I was beaten to it! So I’ll just say I’m glad you’re having a good term. (And one of the good things about where I live is that nothing EVER molds, because it’s way too dry. Your post just made me appreciate that rather than curse how dried out my skin is this time of year!)