"It was like a really, really great party. But now you have to clean up," said TT, in regards to my paper. Again, it's that tension between thesis-writing and book-writing.

...

Vending machine hot chocolate is the worst and the best, like ice cream sandwiches. Too sweet, full of multi-syllabic ingredients, promising only a steep comedown into root canal hell.

I have been trying to wean myself but, like the giddy, late-night reading of Terry Pratchett novels, the consumption of this particular libation allows a pleasure in contrast to the reveries and anxieties of scholarly work. I indulge in a moment of excessive silliness because it is only a moment, of carnival, of vertigo and instant gratification which breaks up the monotony of daily life and lets me return to my life's work, refreshed.

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