So, so...UBER.

I recently (um, Monday) hung out my shingle as a Reliable Data Transcriptionist. My cousin Sarah helped set me up with the University and posted flyers all over the place advertising my services. Not only that, but she already had a project lined up for me transcribing interviews for a fellow Doctoral student.

It has been uber-interesting; first of all, the general theory is that one hour of audio will take about three hours to transcribe. My first hour took more like . . . seven. I completed the transcription during three separate sleep cycles for my kids: During the first cycle, I worked for three hours and completed 19 minutes of audio. (That is definitely NOT the rate to stay at.) During the second cycle, I doubled my rate of production, and during the third, I doubled that, So things are looking up. Second of all, getting back to the uber-interesting-ness of it all, my first interview dealt with MATH. So, you know, it was right up my alley.

But you know when you get in a groove, and you just can't stop until you're done? That happened to me last night, and I ended up awake until after 1 am finishing the interview. And even after I lay down, my mind was still abuzz. I must have played 20 games of electronic solitaire before I was able to drift off.

Needless to say (but I always say it anyway), when Charis woke up at 7:30 this morning, I was not eager to get up and care for her. So, like any good, responsible parent would, I turned on PBS for her and told her to stay quiet so Mama could sleep some more. She's three, though, so not prone to being quiet for hours--or even minutes--on end, and it was not long before I was thoroughly annoyed that I had ever decided to procreate. Some minutes later, after I had caved in to her endless prattling about bagels and cream cheese and given her sustenance, I crawled back into bed, wanting to sleep for at least another century. It was at this point that my annoying child approached me.

"Hey!" she said, gently smoothing my hair and kissing my forehead. "I love you, sweetie."

I immediately swept her into my arms, smothering her with kisses and apologizing for the copious amount of TV she had been allowed to watch and the neglect she had suffered at my hand.

Or not so much. I mean, I was still really, really tired. But I was no longer annoyed, and even felt a few warm fuzzies toward the girl, which is not really a bad way to start the day after all.