Ironies of research

The essay I'm working on now? Very straightforward. What were the Bourbon Reforms and how successful were they? Simple. Easy. That's the problem. Writing the Huitzilopochtli essay was insane. Mental. I kept wanting to bang my head against the wall sometimes. Trying to decipher the religious strategies of a civilization that's been gone for 500 years from sources that are fragmentary at best and sometimes contradict each other is an exercise in madness. But it was so much fun! The thing is, that's what I love, what I want to specialize in, what's gets me all enthused and giddy and eager to do research. From a masochistic point of view, I also get that the intricate, complicated, "we'll never know what was really going on" of it is one of the reasons why I love it so much. What I'm working on now is just too, well, straightforward. Although once you get past the generalities and dig into the details, you will get academics shouting at each other over minutiae, but I only have time to skim at the surface anyway, it doesn't help me. I keep thinking I'd enjoy it so much more if they threw a tall ship in there. Everybody's talking about how much revenue trade made for the Crown and I just want to know what kind of vessel the traders were using. How much the sailors got paid. If they were treated as horribly as they were in the British merchant navy. Maybe next time I can beg for some maritime subject, if there's one to be had.

PS. My spellcheck knows Huitzilopochtli! How cool is that?

ETA: Proof that I'm a Doctor Who geek: As I was turning a plate in the microwave, the sound it made as it scrapped against the glass turntable was eerily reminiscent of the TARDIS.