tally sheet. Tally ho!

Today I have achieved the following:

• Updated a bunch of lectures on Frankenstein to add new and interesting verbiage on the topic of Milton's Paradise Lost;
• finished annotating the third draft of this Masters thesis I am supervising;
• marked a batch of student exercises on space opera, with surprisingly little swearing given that they're third-years and still plagiarise like little fiends;
• spent a happy hour doing academic literature searches on a variety of topics;
• supplied my long-suffering HoD with a list of current academic projects, armed with which she plans to assault the financial fortresses of the faculty and, by hook, crook or leverage in disreputable faculty secrets, extend my contract for another year;
• read Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm (it's like Anne of Green Gables, only more so;
• laid finally to rest my Falkenstein campaign, which I decline to DM any further on the grounds that I have currently lack both brain and energy and am doing so appallingly badly and to the despair of all beholders, particularly me.

I have also acquired the following:

• Yesterday, actually, a new office chair from the Evil Landlord's fast-disintegrating place of so-called work; I can now whizz madly across my study floor to look up obscure Pratchett quotes;
• a new mattress for the spare room bed, on which I am currently sleeping owing to the fact that the rising damp in my bedroom is giving me lung rot (this was a proxy acquisition, the Evil Landlord went forth and hunted it down, presumably in the marshes of Squornshellous Zeta, to my eternal gratitude as the old one, having demurely trashed his back two years ago when he was sleeping on it, is now demurely trashing mine);
• a new quilt for my bed, in a pleasing shade of green Thai hand-appliqué which tones beautifully and more or less accidentally with the walls, pictures and curtains (this was courtesy of a Naga half-price sale and stv's persuasive salesmanship, so yay jo&stv);
• also courtesy of half-price Naga seductions, a new ring with an interesting twisty design which probably binds my soul eternally to the service of some fearsome Cthulhoid deity, but looks wicked cool.

I should add for the record that I am currently suffering a recurring desire for a digital camera, with which to take and post a random selection of images relating to the above. On the Tshup Aklathep* principal, y'all can be really grateful that I am, as usual, broke.

* added pointless points for recognising the really obscure Pratchett reference.