:)
Off to Paris tomorrow.
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Monday, 4 August 2008
Almost There
So, barely have energy for this post but wanted to write before the real craziness begins with my mom coming in for graduation on Thursday. Just got back from a mammoth (and relatively productive) writing session at the Lincoln library in hot pursuit of the completion of my final research paper. I am writing about the strength of Lavinia's silence in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. As Lavinia is a character who has her tongue sliced out and her hands chopped off by her rapists so that she cannot reveal their names or write her testimony, arguing her empowerment is an an uphill climb and a generally joyless topic. Let me tell you, it is not all that fun being the last one sitting alone in a pre-14th century style library, tapping away at a computer about mutilation and revenge while gargoyles and wind howl at you from the tall windows at midnight. Tonight I walked back between the library and my room in utter terror while sidestepping inlaid coffins and poising a pen in my fist as an anticipated weapon. I'm not kidding, this is the landscape of my current life. Someone tell me a joke.
Tomorrow we're going into London to see The Revenger's Tragedy at the National Theatre, and though that play is plenty gory as well (remember that my course for the summer is Early Modern Tragedy), it will great to see more theatre before we head home. I started writing about Hamlet earlier and never finished, but man, was it incredible. Highlight of the summer. Looking forward to having dinner with the girls and Ken, who's in London for the next few days resting up after his OxBridge program.
Tomorrow I will hopefully put my last graduate paper to bed, and my next post will be remarkably more celebratory :). Thinking of folks a lot back home and looking forward to seeing you soon.
Tomorrow we're going into London to see The Revenger's Tragedy at the National Theatre, and though that play is plenty gory as well (remember that my course for the summer is Early Modern Tragedy), it will great to see more theatre before we head home. I started writing about Hamlet earlier and never finished, but man, was it incredible. Highlight of the summer. Looking forward to having dinner with the girls and Ken, who's in London for the next few days resting up after his OxBridge program.
Tomorrow I will hopefully put my last graduate paper to bed, and my next post will be remarkably more celebratory :). Thinking of folks a lot back home and looking forward to seeing you soon.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Picture of the Day
A victory photo (in croquet, everyone's a winner) of our tourney match. A much needed break from the marathon final paper writing this weekend. Eight pages left to hammer out and a lot of heavy, ruthless editing, submitting, and defending left to go for me...
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Picture of the Day
My face, trying haggis.
How exactly would you describe that look? Give it your best adjective.
How exactly would you describe that look? Give it your best adjective.
A Birthday Haiku for Jules
I'm going to break my recent habit of laundry-list posts and write in verse for a few seconds this morning.
Jules, you are the bomb
Always calm, always stylish,
With a funny laugh.
Notice the perfect iambic pentameter and spondees and crap. Oh wait, that's sonnets. Remember that I am almost a master of English (but not of Japanese poetry).
A few more seconds in prose: last night we celebrated Jules' 30th by walking out to the Trout, a great outdoor pub by the river. It was a nice hour-long stroll along bucolic grassy meadows in the slanty afternoon sun, where we saw cows, bunny rabbits, houseboats (along the canal) and horses. Given that this is the final push to the end of our coursework, it will be a heavy work week of research and a tough sprint to the tape until graduation (and more importantly, until our final papers are handed in). So, particularly nice that we were able to assemble as a group in celebration of Jules and each other last night. At two different points in the evening last night, I felt myself looking at the group as a whole and feeling lucky for them and the great company they've offered over the last five weeks. Some smart, funny, caring people we have here.
I'm going to sequester myself in the Bodleian now, and hopefully the next time you hear from me, I'll at least have an outline done. If not, let the crazy, nonsensical procrastination blogging begin.
Jules, you are the bomb
Always calm, always stylish,
With a funny laugh.
Notice the perfect iambic pentameter and spondees and crap. Oh wait, that's sonnets. Remember that I am almost a master of English (but not of Japanese poetry).
A few more seconds in prose: last night we celebrated Jules' 30th by walking out to the Trout, a great outdoor pub by the river. It was a nice hour-long stroll along bucolic grassy meadows in the slanty afternoon sun, where we saw cows, bunny rabbits, houseboats (along the canal) and horses. Given that this is the final push to the end of our coursework, it will be a heavy work week of research and a tough sprint to the tape until graduation (and more importantly, until our final papers are handed in). So, particularly nice that we were able to assemble as a group in celebration of Jules and each other last night. At two different points in the evening last night, I felt myself looking at the group as a whole and feeling lucky for them and the great company they've offered over the last five weeks. Some smart, funny, caring people we have here.
I'm going to sequester myself in the Bodleian now, and hopefully the next time you hear from me, I'll at least have an outline done. If not, let the crazy, nonsensical procrastination blogging begin.
Monday, 28 July 2008
My Trip to Scotland, to the Tune of MC Hammer
Things Which Are Legit
1) Lambswool tartan blankets
2) Hard laughter with friends
3) Hiking up Arthur's Seat on a hazy, foggy Saturday and loving green, everywhere
4) Soft and fuzzy scotch plaid cashmere scarves
5) Acting like fools during a never-ending 8 hour train ride, ignoring Shakespeare
6) Dancing amid a bed of broken glass and beer in creepy, sweaty Frankenstein's
7) The hugeness of Edinburgh Castle
8) Ali throwing that beanie cap back between her legs all cat-like and cool-like
9) Free whiskey tastings from drunken old Scottish pervs
10)Picnicking with strawberries, hummous and olive bread, bagpipes in the background
Things Which Need To Quit
1) Drunken stags dressed like whoopie cushions, acting like whoopie cushions
2) Drunken hens wearing skirts, the lengths of which are not commensurate with age
3) Inhuman snoring from strange European men in the hostel bunk above you
4) Showering with flip-flops for fear of disease
5) Circuitous return routes all over the godforsaken perimeter of the UK
6) Haggis.
7) Hostels that tell you they're booked after you've already left for your trip
8) Final research papers due the week you get back from Scotland
9) Idiots in cowboy hats trying to put their greasy little hands on my waist
10)The dollar to pound exchange rate, which is really getting old
Looking at these two lists in review, I give the entire trip a score of 9 :).
1) Lambswool tartan blankets
2) Hard laughter with friends
3) Hiking up Arthur's Seat on a hazy, foggy Saturday and loving green, everywhere
4) Soft and fuzzy scotch plaid cashmere scarves
5) Acting like fools during a never-ending 8 hour train ride, ignoring Shakespeare
6) Dancing amid a bed of broken glass and beer in creepy, sweaty Frankenstein's
7) The hugeness of Edinburgh Castle
8) Ali throwing that beanie cap back between her legs all cat-like and cool-like
9) Free whiskey tastings from drunken old Scottish pervs
10)Picnicking with strawberries, hummous and olive bread, bagpipes in the background
Things Which Need To Quit
1) Drunken stags dressed like whoopie cushions, acting like whoopie cushions
2) Drunken hens wearing skirts, the lengths of which are not commensurate with age
3) Inhuman snoring from strange European men in the hostel bunk above you
4) Showering with flip-flops for fear of disease
5) Circuitous return routes all over the godforsaken perimeter of the UK
6) Haggis.
7) Hostels that tell you they're booked after you've already left for your trip
8) Final research papers due the week you get back from Scotland
9) Idiots in cowboy hats trying to put their greasy little hands on my waist
10)The dollar to pound exchange rate, which is really getting old
Looking at these two lists in review, I give the entire trip a score of 9 :).
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Procrastination Techniques While Semi-Musing the Tragic Plights of Enobarbus and Marc Antony
5) Counting how many Peppermint Patties I have left. Reading the back of this bag I have in my possession, one serving size is 3 patties (what a joke). Number of servings per container: 14. We have to minus the 6 that I ate since between yesterday and today. New total: 36. Number of days left in Europe: 28. Therefore I must ration 1.28 patties a day to make it through quietly and without further incident. Good to know.
4) Facebook. Why the hell does this site exist if only to ultimately thwart me from earning my graduate degree and to make me feel pathetic about myself in general. Maybe the reason I can't write this paper is because my IQ drops a few points every time I spent half an hour scrolling through other peoples' Fourth of July bbq pictures.
3) Online shopping. I am now $80 poorer and have an orange and navy, that's right, paisley shift dress waiting for me back in San Francisco.
2) Daydreaming about Maine in August, and how awesome it would be to be able to drive to Popham Beach on a hot day or to be eating a mayonnaise-laden $4 lobster roll from Fat Boy.
1) Blogging.
4) Facebook. Why the hell does this site exist if only to ultimately thwart me from earning my graduate degree and to make me feel pathetic about myself in general. Maybe the reason I can't write this paper is because my IQ drops a few points every time I spent half an hour scrolling through other peoples' Fourth of July bbq pictures.
3) Online shopping. I am now $80 poorer and have an orange and navy, that's right, paisley shift dress waiting for me back in San Francisco.
2) Daydreaming about Maine in August, and how awesome it would be to be able to drive to Popham Beach on a hot day or to be eating a mayonnaise-laden $4 lobster roll from Fat Boy.
1) Blogging.
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