It seems my graphic design background has once again served me well, as I just won a prize in the Researcher's Poster Competition at the university. Best in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities! It was a lot of fun to do--talking about my research was great, I got to meet some really cool people (including one guy who apparently is from Longmeadow? It's a really small world), and there was free food. So altogether, a good day, and now I have extra grocery money for the next few weeks.
And now I really need to write instead of procrastinate over photoshop. Okay then!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
So many books. SO MANY.
Whoops, it's been a while. And many things have happened!
The past few weeks have felt incredibly hectic for a number of reasons. I went to a few seminars on effective writing and making academic posters, which was fun and interesting (though a bit paranoia inducing regarding the writing--there may have been some talk of thesis defense, which I am not allowing myself to think about at the moment). I'm also taking German classes specifically tailored for academic use and reading, which definitely plays to my strengths rather than my weaknesses with language learning, so it's going fairly well. I'm actually determined to see the course through this time, which is a good sign.
I also got a haircut for the first time in nearly eight months because my hair had gotten completely out of control. It's still really long, longer than it's been in ages, but I had short layers put in so that the bottom half of it doesn't go all triangular and pouf-y when it dries now. Far more manageable. Next, I must re-dye.
I've also been doing some further exploring of Durham with my flatmates and found some nice places to eat, as well as places to go dancing. The club scene is heavily undergraduate, as to be expected, but still fun. It's at least doing a good job of giving me some balance between work and not-work, which I am frankly in need of at the moment. I can feel myself recalibrating my research strategies in reaction to how my last chapter turned out, and the transition isn't precisely smooth. I'm feeling better about it now, but there's been a lot of flailing around and feeling stymied and asking myself why the hell I thought I was suited to being an academic. Still not sure on that last front, but at least I've regained some sense of direction.
Thus, my research is now slowly taking shape and going in a rather different direction than I originally intended, but I think it may work. Trying to tie all of my literature to the Gothic, while possible, ended up being both limiting and difficult to argue for in terms of how useful it was to do, so I started poking around into some related but alternate approaches. This led to working with Romanticism at large which in turn led to mythology and historiography, and those are turning up some far more useful sources and ideas. So now I'm looking at the formation of modern myths about the Industrial Revolution, by way of 19th century, Romance-influenced literature. I even have a working title! The Rise of the Steam Demons sounds like some ridiculous sci-fi novel, but it is totally just a reworked quote from Carlyle, so its dramatic turn is entirely justified.
So I think this will be far more successful and interesting as a general topic, because it's so clear by the way we think about the Industrial Revolution now that in some ways we've enshrined it as a sort of semi-magical time of sudden development and technical genius, contrasted with the sort of romantic notion of dark, factory-stricken English cities. In other words, we've made it a mythical entity, in part because of how it was immortalized by its contemporary authors. I'm liking being sure that I'm doing something that actually pertains to modern culture.
All of the myth and historiographical stuff is completely new to me, however, which means that I'm doing tons of background reading in addition to my more primary documents. So now my room is smothered in books. The case for getting a Kindle is growing.
And finally, in non-academic and really out-of-character news, I went way outside of my comfort zone recently and went to a training weekend for a sort of anonymous student support phoneline, wherein I learned how to listen to people talk about their anxieties and emotional difficulties and offer support without actually giving advice. It was...definitely not my style of emotional support, and I didn't altogether agree with the organization's tenets, which is probably why I didn't ultimately get selected to do the work (and am thus able to talk about it, because as stated, it's anonymous), but it was eye-opening to get some education on psychological issues I've never experienced or had to deal with. It also alerted me to the fact that I've gotten way more direct and aggressive in my old age, and that other people are way less scientific about how they deal with emotion than I am. So you know, educational all around. Altogether, an interesting psychological experiment.
And there we are. I really hope the next few weeks are a bit calmer so I can hunker down, do some job applications, and actually shape my mountains of notes into some articulate material.
The past few weeks have felt incredibly hectic for a number of reasons. I went to a few seminars on effective writing and making academic posters, which was fun and interesting (though a bit paranoia inducing regarding the writing--there may have been some talk of thesis defense, which I am not allowing myself to think about at the moment). I'm also taking German classes specifically tailored for academic use and reading, which definitely plays to my strengths rather than my weaknesses with language learning, so it's going fairly well. I'm actually determined to see the course through this time, which is a good sign.
I also got a haircut for the first time in nearly eight months because my hair had gotten completely out of control. It's still really long, longer than it's been in ages, but I had short layers put in so that the bottom half of it doesn't go all triangular and pouf-y when it dries now. Far more manageable. Next, I must re-dye.
I've also been doing some further exploring of Durham with my flatmates and found some nice places to eat, as well as places to go dancing. The club scene is heavily undergraduate, as to be expected, but still fun. It's at least doing a good job of giving me some balance between work and not-work, which I am frankly in need of at the moment. I can feel myself recalibrating my research strategies in reaction to how my last chapter turned out, and the transition isn't precisely smooth. I'm feeling better about it now, but there's been a lot of flailing around and feeling stymied and asking myself why the hell I thought I was suited to being an academic. Still not sure on that last front, but at least I've regained some sense of direction.
Thus, my research is now slowly taking shape and going in a rather different direction than I originally intended, but I think it may work. Trying to tie all of my literature to the Gothic, while possible, ended up being both limiting and difficult to argue for in terms of how useful it was to do, so I started poking around into some related but alternate approaches. This led to working with Romanticism at large which in turn led to mythology and historiography, and those are turning up some far more useful sources and ideas. So now I'm looking at the formation of modern myths about the Industrial Revolution, by way of 19th century, Romance-influenced literature. I even have a working title! The Rise of the Steam Demons sounds like some ridiculous sci-fi novel, but it is totally just a reworked quote from Carlyle, so its dramatic turn is entirely justified.
So I think this will be far more successful and interesting as a general topic, because it's so clear by the way we think about the Industrial Revolution now that in some ways we've enshrined it as a sort of semi-magical time of sudden development and technical genius, contrasted with the sort of romantic notion of dark, factory-stricken English cities. In other words, we've made it a mythical entity, in part because of how it was immortalized by its contemporary authors. I'm liking being sure that I'm doing something that actually pertains to modern culture.
All of the myth and historiographical stuff is completely new to me, however, which means that I'm doing tons of background reading in addition to my more primary documents. So now my room is smothered in books. The case for getting a Kindle is growing.
And finally, in non-academic and really out-of-character news, I went way outside of my comfort zone recently and went to a training weekend for a sort of anonymous student support phoneline, wherein I learned how to listen to people talk about their anxieties and emotional difficulties and offer support without actually giving advice. It was...definitely not my style of emotional support, and I didn't altogether agree with the organization's tenets, which is probably why I didn't ultimately get selected to do the work (and am thus able to talk about it, because as stated, it's anonymous), but it was eye-opening to get some education on psychological issues I've never experienced or had to deal with. It also alerted me to the fact that I've gotten way more direct and aggressive in my old age, and that other people are way less scientific about how they deal with emotion than I am. So you know, educational all around. Altogether, an interesting psychological experiment.
And there we are. I really hope the next few weeks are a bit calmer so I can hunker down, do some job applications, and actually shape my mountains of notes into some articulate material.
Monday, January 10, 2011
I CANNOT CONTAIN MY GLEE.
Oh my god oh my god, Maggie and I are seeing David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Much Ado About Nothing in the spring. I'M SO EXCITED RIGHT NOW.
I knew there was a reason I wanted to go to school in England!
I knew there was a reason I wanted to go to school in England!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Huzzah!
I have finished my first thesis chapter!
...it may be a bit crap at the end. But I'll fix that...in a few months. When looking at it doesn't make my brain emit distressed screeching noises and jam to a halt.
The point is, 11,000 words down, 79,000 to go. Give or take.
I think I'm going to not think for the weekend. It'll be nice.
On the flip side, though, I've discovered that the postgraduate room in one of the main buildings is the absolute best, because it has a mini kitchen and a hot water dispenser, so I can drink my absurd amounts of tea while spending absurd amounts of time finishing papers. Very excellent.
That is all.
Edit: I just got my master's degree in the mail. Hooray! I'm now qualified for...something. And over-qualified for a bunch of other things....hooray!
...it may be a bit crap at the end. But I'll fix that...in a few months. When looking at it doesn't make my brain emit distressed screeching noises and jam to a halt.
The point is, 11,000 words down, 79,000 to go. Give or take.
I think I'm going to not think for the weekend. It'll be nice.
On the flip side, though, I've discovered that the postgraduate room in one of the main buildings is the absolute best, because it has a mini kitchen and a hot water dispenser, so I can drink my absurd amounts of tea while spending absurd amounts of time finishing papers. Very excellent.
That is all.
Edit: I just got my master's degree in the mail. Hooray! I'm now qualified for...something. And over-qualified for a bunch of other things....hooray!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
I am in the Rachmaninov groove.
Well, after a very dysfunctional Christmas in which my visa came three days late, causing me to nearly give myself an ulcer, and then I caught my third case of the flu this season, things seem to be getting back to normal. I have one last thing to do with this frigging thesis chapter, and then I can print it and send my computer off to be rehabilitated. Oy.
And if that can happen by the end of tomorrow, then I won't have to worry about it when Maggie and her boyfriend and I all go up to Edinburgh for the ridiculous New Year's street fair. It's going to be fun times! I'm going to wear fifty sweaters.
In other news...guys, my Rachmaninov Etude-Tableaux are going to be so badass! The first one's nearly up to tempo, the second one's finished completely, and I've started learning the third one, which is turning out not as hard as I was expecting it to be. I mean, it's still hard, and he still expects me to have hands the size of small dinosaurs, but I'm totally going to finish these pieces by spring. They are fun. Fun and dark and very, very Russian. I approve!
I've noticed that good things are happening to my form too. I'm having a much easier time relaxing my hands and being fast without being tense. I'm playing a bit more the way Tom Sauer wanted me to, I think. In any case, it's definitely paying off in terms of retaining stamina through fast passages full of large intervals and such which is, you know, useful with Rachmaninov.
And after that, I will actually finish bringing Ravel's Sonatine back. I started to a while ago and then stopped halfway through. And then I shall have a nice working repertoire. Ooo, and also that Schubert sonata from forever ago! I found the sheet music to that on my hard drive for some reason and now I want to relearn that. So many good pieces! They are putting me in a good mood.
Okay, H.G. Wells. You and I have a date with Marx.
And if that can happen by the end of tomorrow, then I won't have to worry about it when Maggie and her boyfriend and I all go up to Edinburgh for the ridiculous New Year's street fair. It's going to be fun times! I'm going to wear fifty sweaters.
In other news...guys, my Rachmaninov Etude-Tableaux are going to be so badass! The first one's nearly up to tempo, the second one's finished completely, and I've started learning the third one, which is turning out not as hard as I was expecting it to be. I mean, it's still hard, and he still expects me to have hands the size of small dinosaurs, but I'm totally going to finish these pieces by spring. They are fun. Fun and dark and very, very Russian. I approve!
I've noticed that good things are happening to my form too. I'm having a much easier time relaxing my hands and being fast without being tense. I'm playing a bit more the way Tom Sauer wanted me to, I think. In any case, it's definitely paying off in terms of retaining stamina through fast passages full of large intervals and such which is, you know, useful with Rachmaninov.
And after that, I will actually finish bringing Ravel's Sonatine back. I started to a while ago and then stopped halfway through. And then I shall have a nice working repertoire. Ooo, and also that Schubert sonata from forever ago! I found the sheet music to that on my hard drive for some reason and now I want to relearn that. So many good pieces! They are putting me in a good mood.
Okay, H.G. Wells. You and I have a date with Marx.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Surprise Snow-pocalypse!
Holy crap, it snowed all weekend and then some. We've got about a foot here, which isn't all that much on the New England scale of snowfall, but considering how England doesn't believe in shoveling sidewalks or ploughing any roads except the really major ones, it was definitely considerable.
And considering how I was struck down by the flu again (damn you, Maggie!) this was not great weather to have to go out in. Nonetheless, it is really exceptionally pretty, and I got a fair amount of exercise tromping to and from the train station and such. Most of the sidewalks that aren't completely cleared due to warmth and sheer use are either super compacted, which is fine, or filled with about three inches of slushy, soft snow, so it's like walking on a beach except, you know, cold and wet and not beach-y. Which is less fine. More exhausting, especially uphill.
But anyway, my biometrics are in the system, and now here's hoping that everything processes properly and I get my visa back in time to fly around Christmas. Sheffield, where I had to get the stuff done, is not a particularly nice town, but they do have an H&M, so I took the opportunity to pick up cheap sweaters because I'm cold all the time now. MORE SWEATERS ALL THE TIME OMNOMNOM.
Also the Border Agency has you go through a metal detector and take the battery out of your phone, but doesn't need you to take off your watch and/or shoes. The struggle against terrorism continues to appear arbitrary and confusing to this layperson's eyes.
And that's basically it. Thanksgiving was a blast, though--we had twelve people in the house, we ate and drank lots, I improvised how to carve a turkey (which worked eventually but I definitely mangled it quite a bit in the process), and we all had a lot of fun! It was a nice mix of people; several English girls from Maggie's archaeology classes, and some international students whom Doris knows, and everyone got along well. So it was definitely a good time. I managed to hold off illness through strategic drugs until the end of the evening, at which point I passed out and then was in a fever coma for the next twenty-four hours, but it was totally worth it. Have a silly picture:
P.S.: I should probably add at this point that, due to hills and awareness of weather like the stuff we're having right now (thunder AND snow! Just for funsies!) I have not bought impractical shoes in at least five months. I'm starting to go through withdrawal.
And considering how I was struck down by the flu again (damn you, Maggie!) this was not great weather to have to go out in. Nonetheless, it is really exceptionally pretty, and I got a fair amount of exercise tromping to and from the train station and such. Most of the sidewalks that aren't completely cleared due to warmth and sheer use are either super compacted, which is fine, or filled with about three inches of slushy, soft snow, so it's like walking on a beach except, you know, cold and wet and not beach-y. Which is less fine. More exhausting, especially uphill.
But anyway, my biometrics are in the system, and now here's hoping that everything processes properly and I get my visa back in time to fly around Christmas. Sheffield, where I had to get the stuff done, is not a particularly nice town, but they do have an H&M, so I took the opportunity to pick up cheap sweaters because I'm cold all the time now. MORE SWEATERS ALL THE TIME OMNOMNOM.
Also the Border Agency has you go through a metal detector and take the battery out of your phone, but doesn't need you to take off your watch and/or shoes. The struggle against terrorism continues to appear arbitrary and confusing to this layperson's eyes.
And that's basically it. Thanksgiving was a blast, though--we had twelve people in the house, we ate and drank lots, I improvised how to carve a turkey (which worked eventually but I definitely mangled it quite a bit in the process), and we all had a lot of fun! It was a nice mix of people; several English girls from Maggie's archaeology classes, and some international students whom Doris knows, and everyone got along well. So it was definitely a good time. I managed to hold off illness through strategic drugs until the end of the evening, at which point I passed out and then was in a fever coma for the next twenty-four hours, but it was totally worth it. Have a silly picture:
P.S.: I should probably add at this point that, due to hills and awareness of weather like the stuff we're having right now (thunder AND snow! Just for funsies!) I have not bought impractical shoes in at least five months. I'm starting to go through withdrawal.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Life Update woooo
Hey, so it's been a while. I had a fabulous time with the fam while back in the States--a very welcome vacation, even though technically I wasn't (supposed to be) on one. Obviously, it was lovely to see everyone. And now that me (and my luggage, har har--stupid Boston only checking my bags through to Amsterdam...) are back in their place, I am mostly resettled into business as usual. I had a lovely dinner out with the flat at an Indian restaurant nearby in joint celebration of mine and Doris's birthdays. We also saw fireworks on Saturday and went to the pub for a bit. It was on Saturday, because I was so jetlagged on Friday that I basically slept for eighteen hours straight. It was actually the fastest I've adapted to a new time zone traveling east. So, wa-hey.
Unfortunately, however, major electronic things in my life have also decided to go on the fritz.
This means using my computer while its propped on the windowsill in my room, because there's a draft there and my poor Tybalt's fan is broken (yes, my computer's name is Tybalt...don't judge me). I'm going to take him to the Apple people in Newcastle at the end of this week and hopefully they will fix him up. And also give him a new battery, because I have been terrible at taking good care of this one, and now it can't hold a charge to save its life. Ugh.
Also my piano won't turn on. I suspect voltage issues, and since I asked a person in the music department who concurs, I'm getting a UK power supply and seeing if that works.
So with all of that in mind, here's my to-do list of things:
-Apply for the extension of my visa
-Finish up my essay outline, which will consist of reading more Marx and Morris and all those other silly people.
-Get Tybalt fixed.
-Get power supply, hopefully revive piano.
-Find an optometrist, renew contacts prescription and get new glasses (I was special and managed to squish mine in my mattress)
-Wait sadly for my laundry to dry outside, while the weather continues to schizophrenically switch between sunny and torrential rain. Yeah, that'll be a while.
Also, I heard it snowed in New York the other day? Well, it hailed here last night. Harrumph. This is not one-upsmanship that I appreciate.
To conclude, things are a bit annoying but under control, so long as from this point onwards, everything just obeys my will and submits to the various troubleshooting actions I've taken on its behalf. This is me, shaking my fist at the sky very dramatically!
Unfortunately, however, major electronic things in my life have also decided to go on the fritz.
This means using my computer while its propped on the windowsill in my room, because there's a draft there and my poor Tybalt's fan is broken (yes, my computer's name is Tybalt...don't judge me). I'm going to take him to the Apple people in Newcastle at the end of this week and hopefully they will fix him up. And also give him a new battery, because I have been terrible at taking good care of this one, and now it can't hold a charge to save its life. Ugh.
Also my piano won't turn on. I suspect voltage issues, and since I asked a person in the music department who concurs, I'm getting a UK power supply and seeing if that works.
So with all of that in mind, here's my to-do list of things:
-Apply for the extension of my visa
-Finish up my essay outline, which will consist of reading more Marx and Morris and all those other silly people.
-Get Tybalt fixed.
-Get power supply, hopefully revive piano.
-Find an optometrist, renew contacts prescription and get new glasses (I was special and managed to squish mine in my mattress)
-Wait sadly for my laundry to dry outside, while the weather continues to schizophrenically switch between sunny and torrential rain. Yeah, that'll be a while.
Also, I heard it snowed in New York the other day? Well, it hailed here last night. Harrumph. This is not one-upsmanship that I appreciate.
To conclude, things are a bit annoying but under control, so long as from this point onwards, everything just obeys my will and submits to the various troubleshooting actions I've taken on its behalf. This is me, shaking my fist at the sky very dramatically!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)