my posts always sound like I'm giving myself a pep talk

I'm working on my dissertation. The first step, well maybe not the first, but the first step that feels like a step, is collecting data. There were pre-steps, like picking a topic, reading until my eyes fell out, planning the study, blah, blah, blah...
but,
Today I seriously started collecting data. We went to a high school class and talked to them about what it's like to be a geometry student. We recorded the heck out of them. We had two video cameras and five audio recorders. I'm actually wishing that we had more audio recorders. The plan is to visit classrooms 39 more times. thirty. nine. before June. This first one exhausted me.
It was overwhelming because there were so many of them and they all had something they wanted to say. The hardest part was trying to keep them from all talking at once. And I had to be charming for 55 continuous minutes.
I'm glad this first visit is over. Every time we do this from now on, it will be better, and this time wasn't bad. Also, I've been pretty worked up about the whole thing. I feel relived that this first one is done. High schools kids aren't so scary after all.

If I don't return your phone calls, it's because ... well, it's because I hate talking on the phone, but I'll blame it on the fact that I'm collecting data.

I guess I don't have a point... I just felt like sharing. (that's what blogs are for, right?)