  I've spent the past few hours chatting with colleagues, reading the internet, thinking about living room furniture, and printing out a plethora of journal articles, and somehow, unaccountably, the depression and angst of my earlier post appears to have passed. This is good news, as I've been in such a funk for the past couple of days that I haven't been able to write, and I really need to write in order for my summer not to have been a complete waste.
Additionally, this exit from the funk is good because it means that I've effectively managed to replace my ruminations about Rhett-Who-Does-Not-Love-Me with ruminations about scholarly productivity, which is definitely a step in the right direction. You might be asking yourself: why has Tiffani convinced herself that the whole thing with Rhett was imaginary, when he's clearly still out of town and she has no evidence to support this judgment? Well, I think it's been the pragmatic choice, as I would never get a lick of work done without putting that fucker out of my head. Also, I do think it's rude that he never mentioned the dates he'd be out of town, effectively making me into a Waiting Woman, which I do not like. Thus, I'm kind of pissed off at him, even though there is no rational explanation for this. Academia is a solitary world, and I think I had let myself fantasize that in Rhett I would perhaps have someone with whom to share that solitude. This was ridiculous, and I now realize that if anything is to transpire with Rhett it doesn't necessarily mean that I will have someone to inspire my work.
In fact, I think that it's probably a mistake for one to let her work depend on any relationship, as relationships are fleeting or at least unreliable. In fact, relationships are the ultimate procrastination technique, with fucking only coming in a far second. Perhaps this is why female academics with husbands and children achieve promotion/tenure so much more slowly than their male counterparts? 
