Whatever happened to...?

Okay, I'm still here. It's just that I've been having a lot of trouble with PhD school recently--namely staying in it. My friend Susan (who is caught up with her assignments, unlike me) tells me I'm just trying too hard to learn something. She feels it isn't possible to do both the reading and the assignments. She appears to be correct in that she has actually done the work I can't get to. My other two friends from PhD school seem to be about as on top of things as I am. Lisa says, "This is starting to get ugly."
'Ugly' doesn't half describe it. One of the papers I just turned in began with a comparison of my course work to cutting the head off a dead dog with a pruning saw. (Don't ask.) I'm supposed to be leaving for Kenya in a few days (during which time three out of four professors have scheduled a conference call) and I still have a twelve page paper to write and to complete Frau Library Research's course. Then there are the girls.
However behind I may be in graduate school, my granddaughter/roommate has me beat by a mile. I met with her adviser this afternoon (instead of working on my homework) who told me she is flunking three of her four classes. She could attempt to make up for lost time but tonight she has a headache. The apparent best cure for this is to watch some television with Jersey in the title which she indicated will prepare her for her career plan of becoming homeless person.
Our exchange student is also downstairs (in a different room) making something that sounds like Onday-Onday for her big presentation on Indonesia tomorrow at school. I don't know what Onday-Onday is but I will tell you it has peanuts, tuna fish, ground soy beans, green food color, coconut milk and is deep-fried. It will be the first green stuff I've seen her eat since she got here. The sauce of ground peanuts, red chili peppers and corn starch looks inviting. Unfortunately, I won't be there to try it. I'll be taking Jim back to University Hospital for his post-surgical, pre-safari check up. Unlike the rest of us, he says he's feeling better than he has in years. He seems to have finally gotten all the repairs out of the way and will be good for another hundred thousand miles.
I was hoping to use tomorrow for the library course, but why ruin my record. It will give my granddaughter some competition for who can do the least homework in a single week.
So ugly is as ugly does--or doesn't, in my case. I am trying to look at the bright side. At least I'm catching up on the blog.