weather the winter

this is so true.

2008-07-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

From www.xkcd.com. Click to enlarge.

no use for a title

2008-07-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm reorganizing my bookshelf and deciding what to bring to Cambridge. I'm getting excited about the move, mostly because having my own place is such a big step forward for me. The initial euphoria of my job is wearing off a bit, but I still like work about as much as I liked high school. Which is to say, I'd rather be at home, but I don't dread going, the people there make me happy, and I'm learning a lot. It's actually better than high school because there are no tests, no homework, I'm helping people, and I'm getting paid. I really hope I can get hired in the fall at the Boston center, but if not, I'll at least make the contact with them and hope for an opening next summer. It's a place I think I'd be happy working at for awhile.

This morning I bought tickets to the WFNX Disorientation show in September, featuring Flogging Molly, Alkaline Trio, the Kooks, Rogue Wave, and another band I don't know. I'm not a huge fan of the new Alk3 album, but I'm counting on them playing some older stuff. If they play anything from Infirmary or Good Mourning I'll be satisfied. And Flogging Molly is just so much fun. I'm pretty psyched about it, and now that I have some money I feel like I can afford it. I'll see if Philip or Matt want my second ticket. I'll bring Matt if he shows any interest and then Philip can get his own. ^_^

The novel is coming along sloooooowly. Changing everything to first person present is a drag. But it is moving. I've got some new scenes and some new insights from the fiction technique books I've been perusing.

Matt's coming to visit again a month from tomorrow (I miss him SO much!), and we're flying back to Boston together. By then my summer work will be over and I will (hopefully) have met up with Emma at the conclusion of her cross-country bike odyssey. I'm a little nervous about next year, finding work, settling in with roommates, and dealing with the depressing weather, but I'm alsos pretty optimistic. I just have to keep my mind open and not get bogged down in mental sewage. I told Bill Fash I'd stop by his lab to check out some Maya sculpture in September, and I'd like to make good on that and not lose touch with my department during my hiatus.

Well that's about it. We're celebrating my brother's 20th today in Orange County with the Grans. Anything that involves a free lunch and proximity to South Coast Plaza is good for me. Next post will have politics in it, I promise. And bear with my constant layout changes. I'm trying to find a basic template that satisfies me and makes me want to write.

Food (in a cup?) for thought

2008-07-12T06:54:00.001-07:00

I loved Wall-E. Like many viewers, I adored the Chaplinesque first third with its melancholy charm. The shots of the lone robot building skyscrapers out of cubes of compounded trash set a dark backdrop for the poignant revelation of the lonely android's home. For Wall-E is a collector, and his abode -- an abandoned transport unit -- is lined with junk he has salvaged from the global landfill. These curiosities: strings of Christmas lights, a Rubix cube, the enigmatic spork, and a tape of Hello Dolly, which he totes around with him while he works. This insight into Wall-E's world is touching not only because it reveals the robot's acquired human sentimentality, but also because, in a way, it softens the film's stark eco-disaster pitch. The discarded trinkets Wall-E gleans from the garbage are reborn as objects of fascination, something worth preserving. It adds a touch of empathy for the waste-ruined humans: if Wall-E can fall prey to the fruitless accumulation of 'stuff', who can blame us? But it also reminds us of why we collect in the first place. 'Stuff' has meaning. From artifice comes art, and culture. Cue Strauss here.

But I digress. This isn't really a review of the film. As we emerged into the theater lobby, the four-foot ads for popcorn and Coke popped out at us in garish moving colors. My mom commented, "It looks like the spaceship!" Indeed it did resemble an eerily accurate foreshadowing of the Axiom, the ginormous space colony where the escaping human population has been devolving for the past seven centuries. Sponsored by Buy N' Large (whose empire is so pervasive that the U.S. President serves as their Global C.E.O.), the Axiom is a floating dystopian resort where obese, bone-deficient people move about exclusively in flying individual easy chairs, equipped with holographic screens and cup holders for all their supersized liquid meals. In order for these cartoon people to return to Earth, which has once again become inhabitable, they must regain their bipedalism and their determination to live rather than merely survive. Yadda ya.

Not everyone was as wowed by the film as the most effusive reviewers, but I never expected the futuristic fable to offend anyone, except perhaps the most avid anti-environmentalist. However, this Slate piece by David Engber brings up an interesting point.

Wall-E is an innovative and visually stunning film, but the "satire" it drawsis simple-minded. It plays off the easy analogy between obesity and ecological catastrophe, pushing the notion that Western culture has sickened both our bodies and our planet with the same disease of affluence. According to this lazy logic, a fat body stands in for a distended culture: We gain weight and the Earth suffers. If only society could get off its big, fat ass and go on a diet!
But the metaphor only works if you believe familiar myths about the overweight: They're weak-willed, indolent, and stupid. Sure enough, that's how Pixar depicts the future of humanity. The people in Wall-E drink "cupcakes-in-a-cup," they never exercise, and if they happen to fall off their hovering chairs, they thrash around like babies until a robot helps them up. They watch TV all day long and can barely read.

The article continues to point out that obesity has far more to do with genetics than with actual eating and exercise behavior (though I find the degree of assertion dubious). Engber goes on to cite other examples in which the growing obesity epidemic has been linked to the growing environmental crisis. He reminds us that this connection is not so simple. Fat people may weigh down planes and increase fuel use, but the people doing the most flying are the trim business class, not the demographic raised on Big Mac. Finally, Engber suggests a political overtone to the discussion, framing urban "eco-liberals" as fretting over their less enlightened brethren in Red State U.S.A.

It is Engber's last citation that really got my attention. We get the sense that this was the piece that prompted the Slate writer to action in the first place. In a heartbreaking viewer reaction, a presumably obese woman writes a letter to Pixar denouncing the portrayal of the overweight in Wall-E. She left the theater crying.

It is horrible when you see the only bodies shaped like you as things to laugh at, as living examples of as a culture, how shoddily we treat the earth. There’s no complexity, no understanding, just an easy punchline. Why is it instantly funny to see people fall and struggle and be hurt? Worst yet, I sat there watching trying to be hopeful because at least the fat couple touched hands and smiled at each other. Unlike Wall-e and Eve, they never got to dance...

I support environmentalism. I am hurt by the same issues in consumer culture. I don’t even drive and have lived car-free for my whole adult life. I guess if you look at me that doesn’t matter.

As someone who has been weight-sensitive my entire life, I can empathize with this woman. At the same time, I cant help but feel like a perpetrator. After all, who demonstrates more prejudice against the overweight than a normal-weight girl on a diet? After finishing a double scoop instead of a single, I would fear the slightest weight gain and chastize myself as "greedy" in the same breath. In that theater, I laughed along at the bumbling, doughy cartoon bodies. Did I fail to notice the prejudice because I myself have the same deeply rooted bias?

Let's look at this anthropologically.

First let's look at Engber's argument that genetics, not lifestyle, controls obesity. This is only partially true. For example, as a demographic, Native Americans today have one of the highest rates of obesity in the country. Obviously, in addition to high poverty rates, there is some genetic factor at work here. But in the 1700s, obesity as we know it was nonexistent in Native Americans. The difference, of course, is that back then then the Indians -- like most of the world -- were living in a much more sustainable way. Fast food was a buffalo, and you had to ride like hell to catch it. Whatever genetic component it has, the truth remains, obesity is not healthy and it is not natural. Yes, we all have a set point; most of us are never going to look like Kiera Knightley. But no one's set point is 300 pounds.

Engber is right that the poorest, fattest demographics are not the ones most directly harming the planet. However, it's no coincidence that the age of obesity is the age of global warming. Obesity and pollution are each symptoms of a broader problem: over-consumption. Whether it's 99-cent cheeseburgers or $5.00 gas for the Hummer, Americans today over-consume to a degree that was never possible before. We all eat, drink, drive, fly, watch, produce, buy, discard, and use too much.

I will defend Wall-E by pointing out that in the film, the environmental crisis precedes the waistline crisis. The planet did not have to evacuate Earth because they were fat; in fact, the film makes clear that the rotund human form at the time of the story is the direct result of the 700-year stay aboard the Axiom . In other words, fat people did not kill the Earth; they were fat because their environment was restricted. The truth is, in the robot-controlled conditions in which Wall-E's people live, we would all become floating doughboys or close to it. Like animals in captivity, they changed, and though some spiritual or intellectual failings seem to accompany the physical degradation (primarily ignorance), the humans do redeem themselves. They take action. If super-fat people who can't even walk can turn around to save the world, certainly the film isn't arguing that fat people today are ruining it. Nothing in the movie blames obese people for the waste that Wall-E is cleaning up on the abandoned planet. It does suggest, however, that we are ultimately responsible for our own obesity problem, which for some may be an inconvenient truth that's hard to swallow, even in a cartoon cup.

2008-07-10T17:36:00.001-07:00

I am so glad Fafblog is fully operational again.

Why are there no Rainer Maria torrents for download on Mininova?

There are many petty things I really dislike in the world, and I've kept a list in my head for about a year now. Pretty much every time I add something, I forget what all the previous items were. So I'm trying for a minute to collect them here, and then post individual rants on each one.

Mezzanines

Crocs

To be continued.

2008-07-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Summer rolls along. I've got a solid draft of the first fifty pages of Bodies in Flight, parent approved, though the rest will be slower to edit. I've been downloading bunches of music, both old and new, reaching back into the classic punk catalogue and the newest indie delights. Work is going very well these days. There's a whole new crop of trained coworkers who are equally fun as the previous two. I've bonded with several of my students and will definitely miss them in the fall. However, I'm getting pretty excited about moving into my new place in Cambridge. Matt's already planning another visit in August, with Channel Islands camping and possibly Vegas included.

Here are some of the things that have amused me lately.

Credit Scores with Natalie

John McCain continues to be a ridiculous embarrassment

Kristol is my favorite of these

...and the living's easy

2008-06-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

Matt spent ten days here in the thick of a glorious heat wave. He arrived Friday night, and we spend Saturday hanging out on the patio with Sandy Owen, walking the RHE trails, and dipping our toes in the night-shrouded Pacific. After Father's Day brunch at home on Sunday, we drove to Balboa Island for salt-water taffy and frozen bananas. It was a brilliant blue day. During the week, I was lucky enough to have two-hour lunches at work, of which we took full advantage. The long summer evenings were sweet: sunset at the PV cliffs, dinner at the Red Onion, drinks and appetizers in Long Beach with Mel, and watching old Beatles episodes of the Ed Sullivan Show. It felt so great to not have homework to do. The last weekend, we took Highway 1 up to the Getty Villa, spent some time bumming around the cliffs past Malibu, and slept in Ventura. The next morning we continued north to Santa Barbara, where we stopped by the Mission, the long promenade of State Street shops, and Stearns Wharf. He left on Monday, so we're in for another long dry spell of Skype and Scrabulous.

After two weeks of actual teaching, I can say I love my job. It's tough, but genuinely rewarding and often very fun. I can't believe that only three months ago I was convinced I would never be able to find a job I didn't hate, and on my very first try I've scored a jackpot. Seriously, April feels like a full nine months ago. The life I'm living now is so much richer and more complete, and so many radical changes have unfolded since then, that the reality of the time frame seems impossible. How life's pendulum can swing from despair to ecstatic satisfaction! Once I let go of my graduate career, and acknowledged my underlying unhappiness, I began to recover my appreciation for life. But it wasn't until I began working that true joy began to bloom within me again in a rush of gratitude and excitement. The blank white page of the future no longer terrifies me; it is freedom. Life is short, and there are things to do.

Ten Things I Like About Life Right Now

2008-06-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

1. My boyfriend is coming to visit next Friday! I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

2. Indiana Jones 4 is quite a lot of fun. Harrison Ford just owns, period.

3. OBAMA! YAY!

4. My job, though tiring, is rewarding and fulfilling. I would like to continue when I go back east.

5. I'm kind of on an LotR kick again. It's a more hopeful fantasyland than the one I was living in before.

6. I am no longer terrified of freeways.

7. I'm starting to lose the motivation/need to dress up every day. I think I feel more real and whole than I did, so I don't always need to build up an existence out of makeup and accessories.

8. Coconut is delicious and good for you.

9. The fog has lifted from my eyes, and I can see beauty again. PV is beautiful.

10. Did I mention my boyfriend is coming? ^_^

Siva Noir

2008-06-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of attending college with the talented and beautiful Lexi Newman. A lover of literature and rock, the crown jewel of her Yale career was the staging of The Tempest interjected with live David Bowie songs. She's currently the singer in an alternative outfit called Siva Noir, whose dark glam-ternative alto sound evokes Souxie and the Banshees, Concrete Blonde, and (though she would kill me if she read this) a much more talented Evanescence. Their MySpace features a few songs from their upcoming album, although my favorite ones, including "The Rapture," aren't available there. It's good stuff, and Lexi is deeply cool. On Friday, I saw Siva Noir with Cleveland's Mr. Gnome and Montreal's Bad Flirt at The Knitting Factory's Alternate Lounge. Siva kicked serious butt, and the other bands rocked too, particularly Bad Flirt with their not-too-cutesy, punky, fuzzy girlpop. Yum. It was only Siva Noir's third show, and you never would guess it from their polish and energy. Lexi, you are an inspiration to all of us who dream of pursuing our creative loves. Rock on.

2008-06-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

Matthew M: Erica, I want to congratulate you on having done so well in this prim--scrabble game.

Matthew M: We have both worked long and hard at winning the vot--points of each of the tiles, by playing them on the board.

Matthew M: I will graciously therefore accept your concession in this game, and look forward to joining forces with you against John McCain

Matthew M: You see, I have played more tiles this game, than any other candidate. I have the support of more letters of the alphabet than any other player in History!!!

Matthew M: It is UNFAIR to count letters like Z as 10, when no Democrat has won these tiles in the past 30 years, whereas I have played a majority of the "E"s that our party will depend on for victory in November

Matthew M: The point scoring system is inherently UNdemocratic, and I ask you to help me rectify this by dropping out.

Matthew M: You have run an awesome campa--game this time around, but I think you'll see that when we discount the words you played on triple word score spots (undemocratic again) and reapportion Zs and Ks to 1, that I have won

Matthew M: Thank you and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

2008-06-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

I'm employed!

2008-05-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

I got a job on my first try! I'm working at Lindamood-Bell, right in town, helping struggling students learn to read, comprehend, and verbalize better. Largely third-grade boys, I'm told. Yesterday's screening went really well, and I think I'm going to like it. I start Monday. The biggest negatives are the rigid schedule and the dress code, but I guess the former is what we're getting paid for and the latter is to be expected.

I have to get my TB test and fingerprinting done tomorrow. Whoot.

2008-05-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

I still squee when I see archaeological cartoons show up in my regular comics.

Sappy post

2008-05-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

I realized how great it is that I'm still in touch with my high school friends. I'd like to give a shout out to my girls.

Jenny: Our bond is unbreakable. Tried, tested, and true. And you taught me the most important lesson of all. Invincibilities. We Are In.

Melissa: Jenny said this first, not me, but it's so awesome how you love making friends with others who are different from you. Who'd have ever thought that this blonde bombshell would be buds with an emo geek like me? Rock on.

Alison: Every time I see you, it's like nothing's changed. You're one of the most refreshingly alive people I know and a constant reminder of the importance of exploration.

Kristin: You're like a big sister to me. You continue to inspire and motivate me to this very day, just by being the amazing person you are.

Wherever my crazy travels take me, I take you with me. I've never appreciated what I have more than I do now. Better late than never. So thanks.

How is 315-313 a draw?

2008-05-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

Someday, someday I will beat my boyfriend in Scrabulous. Every game I come closer, and watch in agony as victory is snatched from my fingers.

Apparently my tattoo figures prominently in the new Indy movie, which I still haven't seen. I'm going with my family next weekend, if we can get Dad off his bum. Gone are the days of "What is that supposed to be?" From now on, people will say "Oh cool, an Indiana Jones tattoo!" and I will have to explain that, well, I actually got this before the movie came out, and I used to be a real archaeologist. Mixed blessings, I suppose.

Why hello there.

2008-05-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

There's not much point in apologizing to an invisible audience about my lack of blogging through April and May. A lot happened during those weeks that I won't bother discussing here, and a few things that I will. I like the idea of doing lots of little posts more often so that this process doesn't seem so daunting.

The basic deal: I'm in California, with my parents, looking for tutoring jobs. Moving back to Cambridge in September, for more of the working life. Got a nice little apartment with three of my pals and not so far from the rest of them (and my boyfriend). It's nice to have a respite.

One of my favorite pastimes while not doing academic research has been pleasure reading. Here is a list of all the books I have finished since March:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

H.M.S. Surprise

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

I Am America (And So Can You)

The Female Brain

Girl, Interrupted

The Ground Beneath Her Feet

The Inheritance of Loss

I'm going to do a little 3-sentence review of each book, I think. Later.

Where is spring?

2008-03-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

My my, I am a lazy blogger.

Spring break came and went with little. I went to see The Honorary Title open for Mae last Friday, which was absolutely beautiful, but I'm too lazy to write a review. Also too lazy to write about politics, but I am very tired of them and I wish Hillary would throw in the towel already. She's kind of like this:

Also, I laughed at this until I realized it was not a joke.

10,000 B.S.

2008-03-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Folks, THIS is why archaeology is important. Unfortunately, it is also why archaeology will never make a difference. The public does not give a flying monkey about what actually happened in prehistory. The fact that this so-called film, 10,000 B.C., includes pyramids and (obligatorily evil) empires in the same temporal space as mammoths would not even be justifiable if the film itself weren't abysmal, but apparently it is. It is an even more egregious collapse of time than Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, which had Spanish ships poised to invade the Classic Maya civilization. By comparison, one might argu that this is so wrong it's not even trying to be right. It's fantasy. It's Lord of the Rings. Oh, EXCEPT SHITTY.

SIX PERCENT. Even the worst Star Wars prequels got 60%. SIX PERCENT. And ironically, my department got free passes to a special preview screening of this movie. Too bad it conflicted with our Wednesday night theory class. And by "too bad," I mean THANK GOD. Great ad for a movie: Not Quite As Good As Three Hours Of Arguing About Post-Processualism. Why do we even bother learning about the past if this is what people are going to do with it? Waste of time.

PHILIP! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!

2008-03-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

WHOOT.

Saturday, my friends and I threw a surprise birthday party for Philip. In England, they have caterpillar cakes, and on pimpthatsnack.com, which transforms ordinary desserts into giant centerpieces, we found a giant caterpillar cake. This was obviously what we had to make for Philip. We also had to make it vegan, for Lindsey.

So Friday was an epic day of ingredients-acquisition, and Saturday was an epic day of baking, baking, and baking.

We made two test cakes with the vegan recipe. The first one came out too much like banana bread and nothing like cake. After asking Emma's kitchen wizard mom for advice, our second test cake was AMAZING. We knew we had hit the mark. (See photo, above: we ate it during the baking)

Lindsey approved:

Now we had to make ten of them.

The frosting was my ninja skills.

Once we had the ten cakes, it was time for the jelly filling:

And the stacking:

We cut a piece off to make a flat bottom and flipped the stack over:

Then we iced it. This is what we call the turd stage:

Then we added the features!

THE FINAL PRODUCT:

Unfortunately, since we had promised Philip we would also bake pizza that night (unrelated, he presumed, to his birthday), he came upstairs to find us in search of pizza, and saw the back end of the cake, whereupon Emma smacked him very, very hard and yelled him out of the room. Poor guy. I don't think he saw much, but he certainly knew something was up.

Then we got all piled into the kitchen to wait for Lindsey to bring Philip in. This was the result:

You can see me flitting around with the bright red and black armwarmers,going up to hug Philip after he hugged Emma. I look like the dork that I am. And that's Atanu behind the camera, with his great line about the knife.

Random blathering:

And then the cake cutting:

'Twas a grand time.

The Bravery at the Paradise Rock Club, 2/18

2008-02-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

It had been over a month since I'd been to a show, and yeah, I missed it. So we went to the loveably grungy Paradise Rock Club to see The Bravery -- me, Philip, and his friend Duncan, also British. Flanked by British lads, I was in good spirits.

We arrived a tad late and missed about half of the opening set by Your Vegas, but from what we heard they had potential. However, they were overshadowed by the rocking Switches. This British quintet had a great sound -- a kind of classic rock throwback thing, with four-part harmony, loud guitars, infectious energy, and awesome hair. Unfortunately, their lyrics were,in Philip's words, "insipid." Their formula for a song seems to be choose a two- or three-word phrase for the title ("No Hero," "Every Second Counts," "Lovin' It"), and then repeat it as many times as possible within the chorus. Once the crowd had figured out this formula, it got old quickly. They were clearly talented musicians with skills and commanding stage presence, however, so I think they could be quite big if they learned how to diversify their song structure. They've only got a couple of EPs out so far, so they've got time. Good stuff.

Waiting for The Bravery was the usual trial of patience, and we fell back into our pattern of making hypocritically snide remarks about the crowd. In this case, it was the most "mainstream" looking crowd I'd been in for some time. (To counterbalance the general lack of self-conscious hipness, I suppose, we had to encounter the single ugliest couple I have ever seen in my life. I shall not even describe the horror, lest it be read by said couple. This is the internet after all. We actually didn't see them until midway through the set, when they pushed their way from the bar up to the front for "An Honest Mistake." Goodness, I've said too much.) At an ideal Bravery concert, people would jump around. Their new-wave influenced, synthesizer-infused pop-rock about as close to dance music as legit guitar rock gets. And some of the people filling the Paradise that night were unhip enough, or tipsy enough, to do that.

The Bravery came onstage with "Split Me Wide Open," which, though a great song, was somewhat disappointing live. Perhaps it was a poor choice of starters. Singer Sam Endicott sounded strained, sounding like a pale echo of a young Robert Smith, to whom he is sometimes compared. However, he sounded much more confident on "No Brakes," and that confidence lasted through the solid set, which was more or less split between 2005's self-titled debut and this year's The Sun and the Moon. Before playing "This Is Not the End," he announced they would soon release a new album, entitled The Moon, made of of alternate versions of all the songs from The Sun and the Moon. I'd still rather have an album of new compositions, but the "Moon" versions of familiar tracks they performed were interesting, especially the sped-up takes of Sun's two slow songs. "Tragedy Bound," the sparsest, bleakest song The Bravery has recorded, benefited from an injection of tempo, while "The Ocean," which is beautifully wistful and dreamy on record, became a more generic Bravery filer track when backed up by a disco drumbeat. It was decidedly refreshing to hear the variation, which, after all, is part of why we go to shows.

Sam Endicott has a long face that makes him look a bit like a cross between a more outgoing Conor Oberst and a less intimidating Trent Reznor. He's passionate and dynamic on stage, all angular motion. Emo-haired guitarist Michael Zakarin also loved the crowd, pacing the edge of the barrier and bringing out the fangirls in all of us. The shy guy and unsung hero was clearly keyboardist John Conway, who, with bassist Mike Hindert, contributed backing vocals in places I hadn't realized existed. The band made it clear that they were rockers, relying only minimally on synth power and more on the charisma and musical muscle of the Endicott-Zakarin combo. Drummer Anthony Burulchich's killer solo almost consciously spat in the face of drum machines everywhere.

The poppy "Public Service Announcement" was a highlight, as were the three biggest hits: "Believe," "Time Won't Let Me Go," and "An Honest Mistake." The last, saved til late in the evening, was the crowd's obvious sentimental favorite and brought the place as close to a dance floor as it could get. They also played an old song called "The Dandy Rock," which Ellicott assured us had never been recorded. Featuring Zakarin on vocals, who was hard to hear, it was forgettable but a welcome surprise.

When they left the stage, I was hoping for "Fearless" and "Bad Sun" as encores. While I didn't get the latter, I did get the former, as well as the single "Unconditional," for which Endicott pulled out all the stops. "I just want I just want love," he wailed, and we shook our heads because it was so obvious that we loved him.

Setlist (well out of order):

Split Me Wide Open
No Brakes
This is Not the End (Moon version)
Public Service Anouncement
Tyrant
The Dandy Rock
Believe
Every Word From Your Mouth Is a Knife in My Ear
Time Won't Let Me Go
An Honest Mistake
Tragedy Bound (Moon version)
Swollen Summer

Encore:
Fearless
The Ocean (Moon version)
Unconditional

LOLPROFS

2008-02-13T06:14:00.000-08:00

There are problems in this paper with organization, word choice, and referencing. What you are trying to do in this paper is not adequately presented in the introduction, points are not well made nor evaluated adequately in the body, and use of evidence is not critical. this is very much an undergraduate level paper and lacks the acuity expected in a graduate student effort. B+

Oh, Richard Meadow. But I thought the undergrads were smarter than the grad students. So, aren't you...sort of... complimenting me?

2008-02-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves my hair, and so do I. It's darkened a little into a rich almost wine-colored red. It should last for about a month.

My classes this semester are pretty interesting. I'm taking a lecture course on the decipherment of ancient writing systems, which is pretty easy, fun, and well-taught. My adviser is teaching a soil chemistry course where we go out into the forest where an old tannery sued to be and test the ground for chemicals to see if it's safe for future excavation. That should be fun. Then of course there is my lab project. I got my bone samples approved for lab today, and on Monday I'm going to saw them up and get ready to play scientist. XD Finally, I have to take the Method and Theory seminar which is required for my program. It's kind of fun because the prof is hilarious and everyone's in it together, but it is an inordinate amount of reading and meets from six to nine pm each Wednesday. D: I also just don't like to study theory, because it makes me feel like archaeology is futile and useless and impossible and irrelevant. So I went to bed last night full of doubts again about my motivation. It only got worse today when the librarian made me feel like an idiot (turns out he's like that to everyone) . Then I walked in on Tina and Karola, the fouth- and fifth-years in my lab, sitting around complaining about how our adviser never gives helpful feedback on our paper drafts and how unproductive they feel. I just...ugh. I was excited to be here again, but now I'm not so sure. And Tina later tried to comfort me, telling me not to freak out, and that the best thing for me to do now (totally counter to our adviser's advice) would be to take Chemistry classes if I really want to study residue analysis. She regrets not having a strong enough background in genetics for her work on ancient DNA, but if she wanted to take courses she would have to start from the beginning. She ALSO said it would be very math-intensive as well, which I had no idea. Math?? Oh hell no. Why does nobody tell me these things??? I don't even think I want to do residue analysis anymore if that's the case. This doesn't mean I have to drop out of the program; I could always just shift back over to standard field archaeology, iconography, and theory, but it scares and disappoints me, especially since I don't think I have what it takes to do those things either.

I am excited about living with Emma though, and possibly in a 4-bedroom with Philip and Matt. I'm definitely going to finish next year and get the Masters, and if I want to get a different kind of job then, at least I'll already have a place to live in Boston, and I can go right then from Harvard. It will be much easier to transition. For now, I just have to remember not too stress out by looking too far ahead. I'm being paid to do this after all, so I should at least play the game.

LOLDEMS

2008-02-04T13:21:00.001-08:00

Oh yes. It's legit.

2008-02-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

Henna for the win.

Winter wonderland

2008-01-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Six inches of snow, the kind of candy-shell snow that coats the trees thick and turns their branches into coral reefs, whiter than bone. The kind of snow that defies gravity, sprayed onto the sides of fences and walls and tree trunks like powdered sugar. The city is painted in white, black, and brick red beneath an alien glow.

I went to the gym this morning with Emma. I realized that the last time I went to the gym, it was because it was too hot and humid to run outside. That was depressing. It sure felt good to work out, though. There are worse ways to start the morning than with some Billy Idol and a half-hour of cardio.

I spent eight hours on my China take home. I could have easily done it in six if I'd been worried about time, and maybe four if I'd studied beforehand instead of during the test, but whenever Rowan Flad says "it shouldn't take more than three hours of your time," he means of his own time, were he taking the test, which he constructed himself. Rowan is a dear, but wow. On the other hand , I think it was the most enjoyable final exam I've ever taken and the one I expect I will retain the most information from. When I am a teacher, instead of making the kids memorize a bunch of facts and spit them all back out in one (three-hour) moment of truth, I'm going to allow them to go back through their notes while answering the questions. This way they can learn the salient information by re-incorporating it into essays and re-reading power point lectures while not freaking out because they got confused between Xiaotun and Xibeigang. Kudos, Rowan. I might actually remember something about China now. Though I guess when you spend EIGHT HOURS on something, you remember it.

I've been sleeping really badly, which is odd, because I'm less stressed than I have been for awhile. It may be because I have so many fun tasks to plan on the horizon. I don't know. While reviewing Chapter 4 of Bodies in Flight, I was disheartened by how weak it was, and I considered eliminating an entire scene, which at the time felt humorous but now just comes across as kind of weird and pathetic. But I can't decided if I should polish the scene and ask people for feedback to see if they agree, or if I should just go ahead and cut it.

I quite like it here.

The approaching reprieve

2008-01-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

A lovely, sunny day, though besmirched by two disappointments. I went to The Garage to review China notes in Starbucks, and luckily snagged a comfy chair. Of course, I couldn't go to The Garage without swinging by Hootenanny, since they were having a sale. I was hoping to spend my Visa gift card on a pair of the black Vans slip-ons with cute blue sharks on them, which I've liked since I arrived in Cambridge. Alas, though they were $29, they had no more in my size. Bummed out. After finals I think I'm going to make a trip to the mall, Faneuil Hall, and Newbury Street to properly browse stores. Then I tried to get tickets for Band of Horses on the 23rd, never thinking they'd be SOLD OUT, but they were, being a small venue. Well damn. If Tom hadn't been so "Oh maybe, let's check after Christmas" about it, I'd have gotten them right away. Definitely not worth the $100 on ebay. That's what happens when a little indie band suddenly explodes. No tickets for you.

However, I'm still feeling nice and relaxed and eager for semester break to begin. I have a list of ten things to do between January 16-30:

1. Contact Nancy and see if she and Rick want to do dinner.
2. Hang out with Guy, Ilana, and April.
3. Go to the gym four days a week with Emma.
4. Spend my gift cards on aforementioned shopping trip, perhaps with Peter.
5. Spend two hours a day editing Bodies in Flight.
6. Finish incomplete fanfiction, and begin my Bleach RP. It's writing practice. Right.
7. Spend unspent concert money (grr) on seeing Juno and There Will be Blood.
8. Spend one hour a day on free reading. First comes Dave Eggers.
9. Keep up with InRe, and start greeting card designs for Cafe Press.
10. Reorganize closet and move some stuff into my lab

Unfortunately, it is supposed to be cold starting Monday. Le woe.