Apparently, every year at King William's College on the Isle of Man, students sit a general knowledge test. For the delectation of trivia-lovers (nay, ophiophiles) out there - but mostly for me and my dad, here is the 2007 quiz.
We've discovered - through trial and error (and checking our answers...) that there is a method to this madness, a pattern in the chaos: the answers are all themed in the sections. The first two sections are titled, thereafter, you have to find the link yourself ... for example, section 11 is 'hearts'.
In the first 20 questions Nas and I answered 2 correctly.
When general knowledge creates a general headache ... bang here for relief.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
rousing seneca
This + this = ?
I don't understand why, in times of anxiety and national 'stress' (can a nation be stressed out?), the police and judicial powers are allowed - nay, encouraged - to be LESS rigorous in their own internal methods - LESS accountable and transparent. How exactly is that supposed to make me, concerned citizen, feel MORE secure?
Why are we still living in a Foucauldian world of knowledge economy where we, the public, find ourselves in permanent debt?
I hate rhetorical questions.
I don't understand why, in times of anxiety and national 'stress' (can a nation be stressed out?), the police and judicial powers are allowed - nay, encouraged - to be LESS rigorous in their own internal methods - LESS accountable and transparent. How exactly is that supposed to make me, concerned citizen, feel MORE secure?
Why are we still living in a Foucauldian world of knowledge economy where we, the public, find ourselves in permanent debt?
I hate rhetorical questions.
Monday, January 28, 2008
wrotten language
I'm all for destabilizing meaning in language - upsetting the assumptions that underwrite our most treasured (and hence, buried) cultural narratives - hey, most of my research is in service of that project. I thoroughly enjoy watching such attempts in practice as well - kind of an artistic culture-jamming at the foundations of 'culture': language. But I admit that I do believe that intentionality has to be part of it: ignorant errors or profit-scrounging don't count.
Vegetables that are 'trans-fat free!'; low-fat fried chicken; 'lite' sugar ...
And today, on Facebook, ad advert for 'accurate and ethical [psychic] readings'.
What exactly makes them 'ethical'?
Vegetables that are 'trans-fat free!'; low-fat fried chicken; 'lite' sugar ...
And today, on Facebook, ad advert for 'accurate and ethical [psychic] readings'.
What exactly makes them 'ethical'?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
no movie for the masses?
I saw the new Coen Bros. film last night with some friends at the local rep cinema - I had my doubts about seeing it, stemming mostly from my own squeamishness - I just don't do realistic violence well. It's not the blood and guts of it all - I can sit happily through candy-violence like Tarantino's questionably 'good' films - it's the representation of cruelty. In Se7en for example, the depiction that kept me awake for weeks (literally, ask Nas) was Sloth - I was horrified to the point of insomnia that someone, regardless of how deranged, could do that to someone - something - else. In passing, I hate Se7en so I'm not going to provide a link to it.
Hey, I'm a softie from way back. I've learned to live with it. RSPCA and NSPCC ads on the telly make me cry.
But this film didn't - and I believe it purposely set out to minimise direct emotional impact. I disagree entirely with this review - the suggestion that this film - or any film - is 'not for the masses' is incredibly insulting. What masses? Me? That guy over there? What the reviewer implicitly means is people who 'won't get it' - in other words, people who are not them... People who lack the singular mental capacities and experiences that allow the critic to 'get' the 'real meaning' of a film, book, piece of art ... I thought this film was remarkable in its applicability. No one is spectacularly good in this film, but then, no one is spectacularly bad. Yes, I include the enigmatic Anton Chigurh - played to a growly, menacing perfection by Javier Bardem. I'm not going to offer any totalising reads of this film cause I don't have one. I don't think that it is depressing in that nihilistic cop-out that is so often applied to McCarthy and his depictions of the collapse of 'codes of honour'. I do think that the tension in the film is masterfully handled at every level. The use of mirrors and doubling extends through every layer of the narrative - and the usual Coen Bros. densely layered homages to their own celluloid history and to American pop-culture broadly thrilled my inner-nerd (not so inner, you say?). I particularly liked the shot of Tommy Lee Jones busting through that motel door, fully expecting to meet Chigurh and his own end, and facing only his shadow, doubled in the light from the parking lot, recalling the gunslinnger pose of so many westerns and Andy Warhol's iconic Elvis-as-cowboy print.
Mostly, I loved the use of landscape and - damn - I love those accents.
I grew up with the stereotypical northern (Canadian) disparagement for (American) southern accents. They belonged to country music and questionable morals: gunslingers, cowboys, and a wildness that didn't belong (or no longer belonged) in metropolitan, progressive, liberal (central - I now know) Canada. It signified conservatism and the 'establishment', ignorance, and simplicity in men; promiscuity, lax morals, and dullness in women. Generally, in mainstream television and popular representation when I was growing up, the comic relief and the really bad baddies had those southern twangs. The 'good' example might be Uncle Remus who I only met in Disney's Song of the South - or, more recently, Firefly, in which the old South-based planets are more human, familiar, and sympathetic than the industrial-techno-complex 'modern' planets. And like most stereotypes, mine was developed in complete isolation from any real-life example. In the film, however, they are a perfect counterpoint to the acrid harshness of the landscape; even Chigurh's voice is like molasses, dark and dripping, slow and certain. I suppose that that is just as stereotypical. And really, I just love the sound the way some people like a northern English accent, or southern Scottish, or northern Irish, or German, or Quebecois, or Sydney ... or Cape Town, or Cairo ... you get the picture.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
local wide web
what follows is the review of my local neighbourhood, entirely cut and pasted from the interesting and somewhat scary website: http://www.upmystreet.com/
you can try it with your postcode (in the UK, at least - i didn't try any Canadian/international ones). i especially like the last line.
Neighbourhoods fitting this profile are mainly found in Inner London and Outer Metropolitan areas such as Croydon, Harrow, Southall and Ilford. Here is an overview of the likely preferences and features of your neighbourhood:
Family income Medium
Interest in current affairs High
Housing - with mortgage Medium
Educated - to degree High
Couples with children Medium
Have satellite TV Low
These are metropolitan white-collar populations with high concentrations of ethnic minorities.
People are generally younger, typically under 40. There are some single parents, but most households comprise single people renting and sharing flats or terraced houses. The accommodation is small, often only one or two bedrooms. Around 35% of the population is black or Asian. Both minorities occur in broadly equal proportion across this type.
The level of education is above average, and jobs tend to be managerial or clerical. Levels of students, people working in the Public Sector and unemployment are all somewhat above the national average.
These people do not need cars given their urban lifestyles. Instead, they will get about by walking and using public transport. They tend to go to coffee shops, and lunch in pubs or restaurants on a regular basis. They may also spend time in an art gallery or going to the theatre.
Relatively high numbers have cable TV and DVD players. Reading, and sometimes religious activity also play a part in their leisure activities. They have some interest in current affairs and might be readers of The Guardian, Observer or Independent.
Increasingly they will use new technology such as telephone, PC and mobile phone for banking purposes. Many would like to upgrade to gold and platinum credit cards. More realistically, others are planning to pay off their debt.
This is a description of the type of neighbourhood to which this postcode has been matched, it is not a description of the postcode. The overview describes characteristics frequently found in these neighbourhoods. Since most postcodes include a mix of people we don’t expect everyone there will fit the description perfectly. Learn more.
you can try it with your postcode (in the UK, at least - i didn't try any Canadian/international ones). i especially like the last line.
* * *
Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be singles and sharers living in multi-ethnic areas. These are known as type 21 in the ACORN classification and 1.68% of the UK’s population live in this type.
Neighbourhoods fitting this profile are mainly found in Inner London and Outer Metropolitan areas such as Croydon, Harrow, Southall and Ilford. Here is an overview of the likely preferences and features of your neighbourhood:
Family income Medium
Interest in current affairs High
Housing - with mortgage Medium
Educated - to degree High
Couples with children Medium
Have satellite TV Low
These are metropolitan white-collar populations with high concentrations of ethnic minorities.
People are generally younger, typically under 40. There are some single parents, but most households comprise single people renting and sharing flats or terraced houses. The accommodation is small, often only one or two bedrooms. Around 35% of the population is black or Asian. Both minorities occur in broadly equal proportion across this type.
The level of education is above average, and jobs tend to be managerial or clerical. Levels of students, people working in the Public Sector and unemployment are all somewhat above the national average.
These people do not need cars given their urban lifestyles. Instead, they will get about by walking and using public transport. They tend to go to coffee shops, and lunch in pubs or restaurants on a regular basis. They may also spend time in an art gallery or going to the theatre.
Relatively high numbers have cable TV and DVD players. Reading, and sometimes religious activity also play a part in their leisure activities. They have some interest in current affairs and might be readers of The Guardian, Observer or Independent.
Increasingly they will use new technology such as telephone, PC and mobile phone for banking purposes. Many would like to upgrade to gold and platinum credit cards. More realistically, others are planning to pay off their debt.
This is a description of the type of neighbourhood to which this postcode has been matched, it is not a description of the postcode. The overview describes characteristics frequently found in these neighbourhoods. Since most postcodes include a mix of people we don’t expect everyone there will fit the description perfectly. Learn more.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
leaving Bro-town and other departures
This is my last weekend library shift. I'm really going to miss working here; of course, I will keep working here in other capacities for as long as I can cling (legitimately or otherwise) to a library card - it's just too good a library to give up ... But I will miss the backroom privileges ... and the quiet weekend mornings ... and the afternoon sun slanting into the reading room:
The issues and returns/enquiries office that I work in is all rich wood and bespoke shelving and I love it. Especially compared to the concrete and carpet of the Edward Boyle Library - which, I'm sure has its own charm to which I am not partial. In the sunshine, the reading room is glorious: sounds are sharp on the wood floors and desk but the air is rich and dusty. It is exactly the kind of space I thought I would have as a post-graduate student. And I'll miss my weekend team cause it was all so very casual and lovely. And I'll miss all the chocolate biscuits ...
In other news, I've done my first online shopping - for clothes (I'm an old hand at online bookshops!). I'm very excited. My friend recommended a UK company, Howies, which was having a sale, after I was complaining about the lack of options in the city centre: H&M (yuk and the shop is a tip), M&S (disappointing in that department store way), Primark (no, nay, never), Principles (Hah!) ... There is a Arkadash shop in Headingley, which is fantastic. I'm trying out another resolution - buying fewer clothes but of better quality (and therefore, I appreciate, more expensive). I was inspired by a woman I heard on CBC radio while I was home over Christmas who resolved for a year to buy nothing 'made in China'. I have problems with this seemingly arbitrary restriction, it is true that in Canada (or at least the Golden Horseshoe bit of it) it is increasingly difficult to find anything NOT 'made in China'.
It's strange because as much as I object to the gung-ho push to globalisation, particularly in the soft-sell, sentimental rhetoric that cloaks the deepest, darkest, most horrifying economic bottom line, I also would not advocate isolationism in any sense really. It's a thinker. But that being said I do find it easier simply to stick to clothing, food, and other products that I can at least stand behind in terms of my own ethics - which as I pointed out in an earlier blog are alright really.
The issues and returns/enquiries office that I work in is all rich wood and bespoke shelving and I love it. Especially compared to the concrete and carpet of the Edward Boyle Library - which, I'm sure has its own charm to which I am not partial. In the sunshine, the reading room is glorious: sounds are sharp on the wood floors and desk but the air is rich and dusty. It is exactly the kind of space I thought I would have as a post-graduate student. And I'll miss my weekend team cause it was all so very casual and lovely. And I'll miss all the chocolate biscuits ...
In other news, I've done my first online shopping - for clothes (I'm an old hand at online bookshops!). I'm very excited. My friend recommended a UK company, Howies, which was having a sale, after I was complaining about the lack of options in the city centre: H&M (yuk and the shop is a tip), M&S (disappointing in that department store way), Primark (no, nay, never), Principles (Hah!) ... There is a Arkadash shop in Headingley, which is fantastic. I'm trying out another resolution - buying fewer clothes but of better quality (and therefore, I appreciate, more expensive). I was inspired by a woman I heard on CBC radio while I was home over Christmas who resolved for a year to buy nothing 'made in China'. I have problems with this seemingly arbitrary restriction, it is true that in Canada (or at least the Golden Horseshoe bit of it) it is increasingly difficult to find anything NOT 'made in China'.
It's strange because as much as I object to the gung-ho push to globalisation, particularly in the soft-sell, sentimental rhetoric that cloaks the deepest, darkest, most horrifying economic bottom line, I also would not advocate isolationism in any sense really. It's a thinker. But that being said I do find it easier simply to stick to clothing, food, and other products that I can at least stand behind in terms of my own ethics - which as I pointed out in an earlier blog are alright really.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
the law is an ass
In December 2006, 5 women were killed around Ipswich in the run-up to Christmas. The case is just coming to trial now - and being reported on now, in (you guessed it!) The Guardian. So I read with interest the highlights from the prosecution's opening address (which will continue for another couple days). Then this:
'The prosecutor, [Peter Wright QC] who told the court that he would probably spend today and part of tomorrow outlining the case against Wright, went on to say that all five victims had resorted to prostitution to fund their drug addiction.
He added: "In each of their cases, this decision was ultimately to prove fatal."'
Um... what decision? Their decision to become drug addicts? (I thought that 'no one said "I want to be a junkie when I grow up"'?) The decision to turn to prostitution to fund their habits? While possibly showing poor judgement in both cases, neither of those decisions was 'fatal'. Does Peter Wright QC actually mean to suggest that these women somehow had a hand in 'deciding' their deaths? Last time I checked, murder kinda took that decision out of the victims' hands ...
So I'm confused. I think it is enough that 5 women had to die in order for one death to be taken seriously (how many in Vancouver again?). I think these remarks are callous and reveal a continued unwillingness to consider these women as victims of a crime; they insist implicitly that these women were inviting such atrocities through their lifestyles. None of these women decided to die. To suggest anything otherwise is disgusting.
'The prosecutor, [Peter Wright QC] who told the court that he would probably spend today and part of tomorrow outlining the case against Wright, went on to say that all five victims had resorted to prostitution to fund their drug addiction.
He added: "In each of their cases, this decision was ultimately to prove fatal."'
Um... what decision? Their decision to become drug addicts? (I thought that 'no one said "I want to be a junkie when I grow up"'?) The decision to turn to prostitution to fund their habits? While possibly showing poor judgement in both cases, neither of those decisions was 'fatal'. Does Peter Wright QC actually mean to suggest that these women somehow had a hand in 'deciding' their deaths? Last time I checked, murder kinda took that decision out of the victims' hands ...
So I'm confused. I think it is enough that 5 women had to die in order for one death to be taken seriously (how many in Vancouver again?). I think these remarks are callous and reveal a continued unwillingness to consider these women as victims of a crime; they insist implicitly that these women were inviting such atrocities through their lifestyles. None of these women decided to die. To suggest anything otherwise is disgusting.
India
I still don't want an ID card and I continue to ponder my responsibility as a citizen of this big, wide world. But I have a new thing: India. Nas and I have decided to go to India - not now, or even soon, maybe next September? maybe if we don't find permanent posts right away, we could move there...?? Or at least, move somewhere new and slightly warmer than Britain. Without ID cards.
So yes, India. I have never been particularly interested in the sub-continent - mostly because most of the people I've met who professed a deep and spiritual connection to India were annoying, inarticulate, and smelt slightly of patchouli and sandalwood. I know people, on the other hand, who really do love India and maybe being around them has infected me - or overcome my unfair bias against a country based on fairly limited (and limiting) perspectives. Or I could be completely honest and reveal my own superficiality and admit that it was The Darjeeling Limited ... India was the most sympathetic and stunning character in the film. And yes, part of me really does want to go to that India - you know, the clean, pressed, incredibly polite, but thoroughly modern and sexy India; a fictional construct so appealing that I would watch the film over and over again just to get to know her better. Mostly cause that India is risk-free: no poverty, no strays, no questions - just a pret-a-porter spiritual awakening.
I've never been anywhere that really confronted me with difference - and I cry at NSPCC and RSPCA ads on the telly (especially the latest RSPCA one). I don't want to discover myself - or India - I just want to see it for myself. And everything seems to be pointing that way for me lately - like mentionitis with a whole country... Maybe we'll love it and never come back! Maybe I'll hate it and be a horrible combination of the worst traits of a Canadian and British tourist.
So if anyone has advice, please send it along. Or contacts. Or rupees.
So yes, India. I have never been particularly interested in the sub-continent - mostly because most of the people I've met who professed a deep and spiritual connection to India were annoying, inarticulate, and smelt slightly of patchouli and sandalwood. I know people, on the other hand, who really do love India and maybe being around them has infected me - or overcome my unfair bias against a country based on fairly limited (and limiting) perspectives. Or I could be completely honest and reveal my own superficiality and admit that it was The Darjeeling Limited ... India was the most sympathetic and stunning character in the film. And yes, part of me really does want to go to that India - you know, the clean, pressed, incredibly polite, but thoroughly modern and sexy India; a fictional construct so appealing that I would watch the film over and over again just to get to know her better. Mostly cause that India is risk-free: no poverty, no strays, no questions - just a pret-a-porter spiritual awakening.
I've never been anywhere that really confronted me with difference - and I cry at NSPCC and RSPCA ads on the telly (especially the latest RSPCA one). I don't want to discover myself - or India - I just want to see it for myself. And everything seems to be pointing that way for me lately - like mentionitis with a whole country... Maybe we'll love it and never come back! Maybe I'll hate it and be a horrible combination of the worst traits of a Canadian and British tourist.
So if anyone has advice, please send it along. Or contacts. Or rupees.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
one of these things doesn't belong
I realise that this blog is becoming a running reaction to The Guardian - it being the news source I read most frequently (or at all...). I will find some other source of commentary I promise. But for now, this scared me cause I think, for the first time in my life, I am the object of an article like this.
I am a foreign national.
And I don't want an ID card.
I wouldn't want a Canadian ID card if I lived in Canada and the scheme was reversed (giving ID cards to citizens). I like how they have turned it around here though - suddenly not as much reaction when the target of this nationalistic, jingoistic branding is resident aliens - or 'foreign nationals' since we're being so PC about it.
I've never felt like I didn't belong here. And I've never before felt like I might not want to.
I am a foreign national.
And I don't want an ID card.
I wouldn't want a Canadian ID card if I lived in Canada and the scheme was reversed (giving ID cards to citizens). I like how they have turned it around here though - suddenly not as much reaction when the target of this nationalistic, jingoistic branding is resident aliens - or 'foreign nationals' since we're being so PC about it.
I've never felt like I didn't belong here. And I've never before felt like I might not want to.
Monday, January 14, 2008
the principles of the thing
A friend of mine says that people always think 3 things about themselves: 1) they are a good friend, 2) they have a good sense of humour, and 3) they are good in bed. Not spectacular in any category but I think most people would have to be really stripped down - psychologically - before they give up on these things. Of course, that is more pithy saying than actual fact - I've never conducted any kind of poll to back this up. But it rings true. To me.
Which is the point of the moment: the other thing that most people would generally 'admit' to is thinking themselves generally all right really. Again, not in a spectacular way - but at heart, all right really. That is, the very best of intentions + the usual time/money/energy equation which leads to can't-be-bothered-at-this-moment but will certainly do something about it on the weekend... Hey, I'm not about to claim that I'm any different. In my heart I am the most ethical of ethical consumers - my home a veritable shrine to sustainable living principles. In reality, I don't make the time nor save the money - body and mind at rest certainly resent the initial push to move in any direction.
It's not that I think that there is a moral absolute that I'm failing miserably to meet. It's just that morality and ethics are impossibly difficult to tease out. Can I be less accountable because my bank balance determines my purchases? Does that excuse buying Fairy washing-up liquid (every bubble a dead fish or destroyed habitat) for 99p rather than the extra 90p for Ecover? What about less directly economic concerns? or at least ones that don't affect me directly? What about the more difficult issue of political and ideological support? And just how far down the rabbit-hole can I go? The question of fair-trade, especially around clothing and household products - formaldehyde in my furniture? - is something I haven't even broached. How long can I claim that it's pointless for me to consider it, as we don't own our house?
In short, can I be a little bit good? And can't I lie-in just a little bit longer?
Which is the point of the moment: the other thing that most people would generally 'admit' to is thinking themselves generally all right really. Again, not in a spectacular way - but at heart, all right really. That is, the very best of intentions + the usual time/money/energy equation which leads to can't-be-bothered-at-this-moment but will certainly do something about it on the weekend... Hey, I'm not about to claim that I'm any different. In my heart I am the most ethical of ethical consumers - my home a veritable shrine to sustainable living principles. In reality, I don't make the time nor save the money - body and mind at rest certainly resent the initial push to move in any direction.
It's not that I think that there is a moral absolute that I'm failing miserably to meet. It's just that morality and ethics are impossibly difficult to tease out. Can I be less accountable because my bank balance determines my purchases? Does that excuse buying Fairy washing-up liquid (every bubble a dead fish or destroyed habitat) for 99p rather than the extra 90p for Ecover? What about less directly economic concerns? or at least ones that don't affect me directly? What about the more difficult issue of political and ideological support? And just how far down the rabbit-hole can I go? The question of fair-trade, especially around clothing and household products - formaldehyde in my furniture? - is something I haven't even broached. How long can I claim that it's pointless for me to consider it, as we don't own our house?
In short, can I be a little bit good? And can't I lie-in just a little bit longer?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
beyond means
We went to the champagne bar in town at the posh new Electric Press building in Millenium Square last night. It is really really nice. I could get used to that being my regular watering-hole ... someday! As the end of an otherwise kinda crappy day, it was perfect. Actually, it wasn't a crappy day - I just didn't get any sleep the night before as I had an existential breakdown due to exhaustion and decided that there was no point in being worried about anything because the vast majority of people are assholes. Why should I care? I know, really deep and profound revelations do happen at the oddest hours ... I should add another resolution:
* read positive news
The point being, I was exhausted and had to spend the afternoon at an induction meeting for the university I'm working for this semester. I'd been fixated on these woolen trousers I found in the city before Christmas and planned to buy them yesterday afternoon. They weren't there and trying on other trousers made me doubt the advisability of me being publically visible at all. I know - again, I demonstrate such poise ... I have my moments. Had I been alone, I would have crept home and gotten over it eventually. Luckily, Nasser had come with me and rather than laughing at my sudden reversion to the kind of person that I detest, talked sternly to me until returned to sense. Then we returned the world to our own norms by having some sushi.
The reason we were at the champagne bar - Epernay - and living so above our current means was to meet my new work colleagues, one of which is a very dear friend. They are lovely and I am reassured (but still nervous) about being a real university instructor out there in the wide, wierd, and wonderful world of academia. Nasser came with me - he more than deserved a expertly poured martini having finished and submitted his PhD thesis over Christmas - for which I was glad. Silly cocktails taste better in his company (and yes, if you are curious, stars sparkle more brightly and I am wittier and more brilliantly beautiful when he is there too).
Such senitmental admissions remind me of a song Nas played for me the other day - 'Every Day is Christmas'. It's online and I'm too lazy to link it here. It is THE sweetest song I've ever heard - completely without ennui, malaise, or melancholy. I love it.
* read positive news
The point being, I was exhausted and had to spend the afternoon at an induction meeting for the university I'm working for this semester. I'd been fixated on these woolen trousers I found in the city before Christmas and planned to buy them yesterday afternoon. They weren't there and trying on other trousers made me doubt the advisability of me being publically visible at all. I know - again, I demonstrate such poise ... I have my moments. Had I been alone, I would have crept home and gotten over it eventually. Luckily, Nasser had come with me and rather than laughing at my sudden reversion to the kind of person that I detest, talked sternly to me until returned to sense. Then we returned the world to our own norms by having some sushi.
The reason we were at the champagne bar - Epernay - and living so above our current means was to meet my new work colleagues, one of which is a very dear friend. They are lovely and I am reassured (but still nervous) about being a real university instructor out there in the wide, wierd, and wonderful world of academia. Nasser came with me - he more than deserved a expertly poured martini having finished and submitted his PhD thesis over Christmas - for which I was glad. Silly cocktails taste better in his company (and yes, if you are curious, stars sparkle more brightly and I am wittier and more brilliantly beautiful when he is there too).
Such senitmental admissions remind me of a song Nas played for me the other day - 'Every Day is Christmas'. It's online and I'm too lazy to link it here. It is THE sweetest song I've ever heard - completely without ennui, malaise, or melancholy. I love it.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
2008
This will be a great year. I am sure of it. I'll admit that my resolution - not to allow myself to become overly anxious on a daily basis - has already been tested: by the stressed-out students at the library, by the train on the way home from BSECS in Oxford, by going to BSECS in Oxford rather than just coming home after Christmas, by new jobs and old jobs, by the fact that bills in any form make me break out in a cold sweat even before opening the envelope... But in spite of all that, it's going to be a great year.
Cause it was a wonderful Christmas - admittedly, it was a strange Christmas. I haven't been home with just my parents and sister since I was about three years old. The house was so quiet. But it was lovely nonetheless - dad and I found the most perfect tree, which exactly fit the traditional tree-corner (well, as traditional as possible as it was only the third Christmas in my parents' new house!); mum still made the same amount of Christmas food - which meant loads of extras for us! And we got to plan my sister's wedding - well, I got to offer jewels of wisdom that may or may not make it to the final cut... And the completely girly joy of shopping for dresses...! Nothing like a summer wedding to keep me running this year (August = bare arms...).
Classes start in two weeks.
Other resolutions:
* publish thesis as articles
* become model of multitasking, organized academic not unlike supervisor
* become stunning example of fitness and poise
* listen more/talk less
* read A LOT
Realistic. Definitely.
I also didn't get to see nearly enough of people in Canada - I never do really. My big huge impossible resolution will be to sort out how to make Canada and England closer together - geographically I mean. OR rob bank - buy island - forcibly move all friends and family to island where we live happily ever after. Possibly change first part to 'win lottery'? I should start playing...
Cause it was a wonderful Christmas - admittedly, it was a strange Christmas. I haven't been home with just my parents and sister since I was about three years old. The house was so quiet. But it was lovely nonetheless - dad and I found the most perfect tree, which exactly fit the traditional tree-corner (well, as traditional as possible as it was only the third Christmas in my parents' new house!); mum still made the same amount of Christmas food - which meant loads of extras for us! And we got to plan my sister's wedding - well, I got to offer jewels of wisdom that may or may not make it to the final cut... And the completely girly joy of shopping for dresses...! Nothing like a summer wedding to keep me running this year (August = bare arms...).
Classes start in two weeks.
Other resolutions:
* publish thesis as articles
* become model of multitasking, organized academic not unlike supervisor
* become stunning example of fitness and poise
* listen more/talk less
* read A LOT
Realistic. Definitely.
I also didn't get to see nearly enough of people in Canada - I never do really. My big huge impossible resolution will be to sort out how to make Canada and England closer together - geographically I mean. OR rob bank - buy island - forcibly move all friends and family to island where we live happily ever after. Possibly change first part to 'win lottery'? I should start playing...
