Human beings need light. I am convinced of this. I am also convinced that my concentration is being severely effected by the fact that I don't get any from the sky. Ever.

Aside from that, I've had one small triumph today. I had hoped to find some medieval polyphony that came from a nunnery OTHER than the famed Las Huelgas codex, but the desired manuscripts were out of reach. Not even IU has these things! And even if I were to get my hands on a facsimile, there's that concentration issue. Oh yeah, and Christmas. So I just wrote to the scholar who had listed the sources and asked her if she knew of any individual pieces that might have been published. She was very nice and gave me a couple of dynamite leads...on English polyphony from nunneries!!! This is exciting, because English polyphony is irresistably sweet and charming. Anyway, my bosses are letting me go early tomorrow to go to the library (which closes at 5, dammit).

Maybe I should go back to grad school just so I could have enough time to study. It breaks my heart to think of my poor, neglected German project, just languishing there in its binder.

In other news, our office building had its Christmas breakfast today. Mini-quiches, lattes, spanikopita, tiny cupcakes, which were the best thing by far. Lots of fluffy icing and not too sweet. And "Dickens" Carollers. I nearly cried, for some reason, when I heard "Angels we have heard on high." It was not moving. It's just that there's no sunlight, and my emotions are confused right now.