Saturday, January 31, 2004
Attended a Chinese New Year's party last night - emphasis on the getting-together aspect of party and light on Chinese New Year's. I enjoyed myself and saw quite a few people who I hadn't seen since last year. Met a couple of new people too. Got invited to a SuperBowl party tomorrow. I'd like to go - it would be neat to watch with a bunch of other people, but I don't think Dwayne wants to go, and I'd like to watch with him. So since I can't be in two places at one time, I guess I'll have to decide.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Good news: My budget increase was approved, so I will get all the loan I need for this year.
Bad news: They still haven't released the funds even though we're creeping up on a month since they were supposed to be disbursed.
I HAVE SO MUCH READING THIS TERM! I can't believe how much I have yet to read, and how quickly I'm falling behind. It's not even that I've been busy with other things 'cause I'm only teaching one section this term, I haven't gone out since New Years (unless you count stopping in at IHOP during a grocery shopping trip), and I've put a hold on all my other writing. And I still can't keep up! Over the last year I've gotten better and better at reading quickly, reading later at night without falling asleep, staying focused and getting more out of what I'm reading, but it still isn't helping. Right now it's all Critical social theory (a.k.a. Marxism), which is one of my least favorite theoretical approaches - I'd rather be reading Jung even! So my strategy is just to keep reading as much as I can whenever I can and hope it'll work out in the end... either that, or I take an incomplete in one class - which I did last spring and I regretted it for months after. Humfph.
Bad news: They still haven't released the funds even though we're creeping up on a month since they were supposed to be disbursed.
I HAVE SO MUCH READING THIS TERM! I can't believe how much I have yet to read, and how quickly I'm falling behind. It's not even that I've been busy with other things 'cause I'm only teaching one section this term, I haven't gone out since New Years (unless you count stopping in at IHOP during a grocery shopping trip), and I've put a hold on all my other writing. And I still can't keep up! Over the last year I've gotten better and better at reading quickly, reading later at night without falling asleep, staying focused and getting more out of what I'm reading, but it still isn't helping. Right now it's all Critical social theory (a.k.a. Marxism), which is one of my least favorite theoretical approaches - I'd rather be reading Jung even! So my strategy is just to keep reading as much as I can whenever I can and hope it'll work out in the end... either that, or I take an incomplete in one class - which I did last spring and I regretted it for months after. Humfph.
Sunday, January 25, 2004
*Sigh* I've spent much of my weekend doing paperwork - a necessary evil you say? In this case, NO. An evil, yes; necessary, no.
I've been trying to get a hold of my loan money since the beginning of the month. I have a loan from a private lender (one of the only lenders who will provide loans to Canadians studying abroad) that is supposed to be disbursed to the University at the beginning of each term. Each term so far I've had to usually wait for a couple of weeks before the University pushes enough paper around to satisfy the whim of some paper-eating demigod - hidden in the basement of the library most likely - before they credit my tuition account and then I can request a cheque for any positive balance in my account. The loan I am awaiting is private - did I mention that? - and has NOTHING to do with the University. This is how I pay my rent, since the stipend - there's an understatement of the term! - barely covers groceries, insurance, utilities etc.
But as of Friday it still wasn't in my account, and I'm starting to run out of cash. I've been calling & leaving messages for people all over the place, but not getting responses. Finally on Friday morning, I got one of my calls returned...
Well, it seems that the University is always looking out for its students, making sure they don't fall down elevator shafts while in custody oops, registered, or spend their money unwisely on healthy food at a non-university eatery, or just plain don't have too much money. Yes, the university has a budget line for me - and I am not to have too much money it seems. Being in the home of capitalism, it's fine for me to work 50+ hours a week outside the university and make what paltry money one can as a student (not me of course since they hate us here), BUT they cannot handle more money for me than they deem appropriate for a student. If they give me my loan, they will be giving me $4000 more than they think appropriate. ("Give" is the wrong word, since they only "give" me the stipend and the rest is loan - which incidentally is accruing interest at this moment and will ALL need to be paid back - no student loan forgiveness here!)
I told her I could not support a family of five on the paltry figure she quoted (I have a hard enough time with the little bit more that I do survive on and even then, they are reluctant to give that to me). The long & short of it is that I have to submit a budget, bills (thank god I've been anal about actually keeping receipts), credit card receipts etc. to prove that it does take more than $23000 a year to support a family of 5 in Boston! No shit - my rent is $18,000 a year - you do the math...
So, I have to prove that is costs more than that to live here, and then MAYBE they'll increase my budget line to allow me to get all the loan money that the private loan company HAS ALREADY APPROVED ME FOR AND DOES NOT COME OUT OF THE UNIVERSITY COFFERS in any way shape or form.
Does this system strike anyone else as asinine?
I've been trying to get a hold of my loan money since the beginning of the month. I have a loan from a private lender (one of the only lenders who will provide loans to Canadians studying abroad) that is supposed to be disbursed to the University at the beginning of each term. Each term so far I've had to usually wait for a couple of weeks before the University pushes enough paper around to satisfy the whim of some paper-eating demigod - hidden in the basement of the library most likely - before they credit my tuition account and then I can request a cheque for any positive balance in my account. The loan I am awaiting is private - did I mention that? - and has NOTHING to do with the University. This is how I pay my rent, since the stipend - there's an understatement of the term! - barely covers groceries, insurance, utilities etc.
But as of Friday it still wasn't in my account, and I'm starting to run out of cash. I've been calling & leaving messages for people all over the place, but not getting responses. Finally on Friday morning, I got one of my calls returned...
Well, it seems that the University is always looking out for its students, making sure they don't fall down elevator shafts while in custody oops, registered, or spend their money unwisely on healthy food at a non-university eatery, or just plain don't have too much money. Yes, the university has a budget line for me - and I am not to have too much money it seems. Being in the home of capitalism, it's fine for me to work 50+ hours a week outside the university and make what paltry money one can as a student (not me of course since they hate us here), BUT they cannot handle more money for me than they deem appropriate for a student. If they give me my loan, they will be giving me $4000 more than they think appropriate. ("Give" is the wrong word, since they only "give" me the stipend and the rest is loan - which incidentally is accruing interest at this moment and will ALL need to be paid back - no student loan forgiveness here!)
I told her I could not support a family of five on the paltry figure she quoted (I have a hard enough time with the little bit more that I do survive on and even then, they are reluctant to give that to me). The long & short of it is that I have to submit a budget, bills (thank god I've been anal about actually keeping receipts), credit card receipts etc. to prove that it does take more than $23000 a year to support a family of 5 in Boston! No shit - my rent is $18,000 a year - you do the math...
So, I have to prove that is costs more than that to live here, and then MAYBE they'll increase my budget line to allow me to get all the loan money that the private loan company HAS ALREADY APPROVED ME FOR AND DOES NOT COME OUT OF THE UNIVERSITY COFFERS in any way shape or form.
Does this system strike anyone else as asinine?
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Countries I've travelled/lived in:
create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide
Lots of world left to explore!
create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide
Lots of world left to explore!
Friday, January 23, 2004
The part of Bush's State of the Union address that made me laugh out loud:
"A government-run health care system is the wrong prescription. (Applause.) By keeping costs under control, expanding access, and helping more Americans afford coverage, we will preserve the system of private medicine that makes America's health care the best in the world. (Applause.)"
Ha! As far as my experience has been - the service is the same but costs 4X as much... maybe it's different when you're a rich fat cat.
"A government-run health care system is the wrong prescription. (Applause.) By keeping costs under control, expanding access, and helping more Americans afford coverage, we will preserve the system of private medicine that makes America's health care the best in the world. (Applause.)"
Ha! As far as my experience has been - the service is the same but costs 4X as much... maybe it's different when you're a rich fat cat.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Interesting things
Sir Winston Churchill had a parrot (among other pets) that is still alive! It's 108 years old and still repeats the phrases he taught it including "F*** the Nazis!"
tergiversation \tuhr-jiv-uhr-SAY-shuhn\, noun:
1. The act of practicing evasion or of being deliberately ambiguous.
2. The act of abandoning a party or cause.
"Doodlebug" in addition to being the larva of an insect was the nickname given to V1 bombs that fell on London (most heavily in July/Aug 1944). The bombs' engine would cut out just before it would hit, so people would hear it coming and then nervously wait until they heard it hit, knowing that it had missed them. You can hear it about half way down the page under V1 'Doodlebug'
Sir Winston Churchill had a parrot (among other pets) that is still alive! It's 108 years old and still repeats the phrases he taught it including "F*** the Nazis!"
tergiversation \tuhr-jiv-uhr-SAY-shuhn\, noun:
1. The act of practicing evasion or of being deliberately ambiguous.
2. The act of abandoning a party or cause.
"Doodlebug" in addition to being the larva of an insect was the nickname given to V1 bombs that fell on London (most heavily in July/Aug 1944). The bombs' engine would cut out just before it would hit, so people would hear it coming and then nervously wait until they heard it hit, knowing that it had missed them. You can hear it about half way down the page under V1 'Doodlebug'
Monday, January 19, 2004
Currently reading:
Mother London - Michael Moorcock
Tithe - Holly Black
On deck:
Villette - Charlotte Bronte
The Difference Engine - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Wicked - Gregory Maguire
Just finished:
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
London under London - Richard Trench and Ellis Hillman
If you've been keeping track, Ulysses has dropped off the list for a while. I'll get back to it, but I only have so much time in a day. You can obviously tell which books I have to read for the Victorian lit class, though it might be harder to spot the independent study books.
The Red tent was an interesting book - it retells the biblical story of Dinah, the ony daughter of Jacob from her point of view, including her mothers' histories and Joseph's rise to power in Egypt later. It's an interesting take on a minor event in the bible, but if you decide to pick it up, you might find the first third of it rather slow - I know I did and had to be encouraged to keep reading before it got good. And yes, it made me both laugh and cry.
David Copperfield, well, it's Dickens. I like Dickens a lot - his characters seem so real, and hence likeable, even when they're scoundrels - but you have to have a bit of fortitude to get through the length (as with most Victorian novels). I think I enjoyed it more than Great Expectations, but less than others.
And Neil Gaiman? Just fabulous! I definitely have to read American Gods now. What was fascinating about this book was the way it imagined the London underground, and I read it along with the Trench and Hillman book, which was a fascinating non-fiction history of how everything under London - and there's LOTS of stuff under it - got there in the first place.
The Michael Moorcock is also interesting, though I must admit it's not a page turner. It's a bit too obscure in some places to keep me up at night reading, but the way he shapes the narrative through the lives of the characters is interesting. The chronology is messed up though, and it means I'm constantly having to make mental (or actual) notes about where things are at during any given chapter. It can be annoying, and is (I'm about half way through), but sometimes those chronological displacements are what end up pulling a story together in the end.
If you like fantasy - try the Gaiman. If you'd like a light read (even though a bit slow at first) pick the Diamant (and no, you don't need to know the biblical references, but if you do, it makes it a richer read). If you're in a blizzard, trapped in the house for four days... well, maybe then the Dickens would carry you through best! *wink*
Mother London - Michael Moorcock
Tithe - Holly Black
On deck:
Villette - Charlotte Bronte
The Difference Engine - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Wicked - Gregory Maguire
Just finished:
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
London under London - Richard Trench and Ellis Hillman
If you've been keeping track, Ulysses has dropped off the list for a while. I'll get back to it, but I only have so much time in a day. You can obviously tell which books I have to read for the Victorian lit class, though it might be harder to spot the independent study books.
The Red tent was an interesting book - it retells the biblical story of Dinah, the ony daughter of Jacob from her point of view, including her mothers' histories and Joseph's rise to power in Egypt later. It's an interesting take on a minor event in the bible, but if you decide to pick it up, you might find the first third of it rather slow - I know I did and had to be encouraged to keep reading before it got good. And yes, it made me both laugh and cry.
David Copperfield, well, it's Dickens. I like Dickens a lot - his characters seem so real, and hence likeable, even when they're scoundrels - but you have to have a bit of fortitude to get through the length (as with most Victorian novels). I think I enjoyed it more than Great Expectations, but less than others.
And Neil Gaiman? Just fabulous! I definitely have to read American Gods now. What was fascinating about this book was the way it imagined the London underground, and I read it along with the Trench and Hillman book, which was a fascinating non-fiction history of how everything under London - and there's LOTS of stuff under it - got there in the first place.
The Michael Moorcock is also interesting, though I must admit it's not a page turner. It's a bit too obscure in some places to keep me up at night reading, but the way he shapes the narrative through the lives of the characters is interesting. The chronology is messed up though, and it means I'm constantly having to make mental (or actual) notes about where things are at during any given chapter. It can be annoying, and is (I'm about half way through), but sometimes those chronological displacements are what end up pulling a story together in the end.
If you like fantasy - try the Gaiman. If you'd like a light read (even though a bit slow at first) pick the Diamant (and no, you don't need to know the biblical references, but if you do, it makes it a richer read). If you're in a blizzard, trapped in the house for four days... well, maybe then the Dickens would carry you through best! *wink*
Saturday, January 17, 2004
School was cancelled yesterday because it was cold. BECAUSE IT WAS COLD. Yikes!
So the kids are bored, getting in each other's hair, and it feels like today is the last day of the weekend. But there's still three (!) more days to go because Monday is a holiday and Tuesday a PD Day. And because it's cold, there's not much to do outside. Ugh!
So the kids are bored, getting in each other's hair, and it feels like today is the last day of the weekend. But there's still three (!) more days to go because Monday is a holiday and Tuesday a PD Day. And because it's cold, there's not much to do outside. Ugh!
Thursday, January 15, 2004
I am drowning in stuff... okay, specifically books & papers, but I'm drowning nonetheless. I pack up boxes of the stuff but it seems like I never get any more space in which to work. I know I tend toward pack-ratness, but over the years, I've gotten pretty good at discerning what I truly will need and what I won't. The big purge last summer sure helped pare things down into the critical and the non-critical. And although I make mistakes about what to keep and what to throw occasionally, overall I think I'm pretty good at it.
But I still have no space. I have to pile books on the floor in order to have a desk to work at. I am drowning.
But I still have no space. I have to pile books on the floor in order to have a desk to work at. I am drowning.
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Friday, January 09, 2004
Cold
Cold is very much on my mind. I come from Canada. I grew up in Saskatchewan. I know cold.
But I don't like it. Why do people here think I would get jolly in the cold? Just because I've lived in it, doesn't mean I like it any better than they do. It just means I think it's less fruitful to complain about the cold. Now, complaining about stereotypes about how I must love the cold, that's something to complain about!
It is cold here. Somehow, this coastal cold is colder than dry prairie cold. It feels that way.
I think I'm also colder here because I have to take transit everywhere (and no, I don't take an underground subway - which would be very nice in this weather). I also have yet to be in a home that is properly insulated. I don't doubt such buildings exist, but in the kinds of homes my colleagues and I can afford to live in, the wind sneaks in through windows and doors at an alarming rate. I see $$ float by everytime the temperature drops and dread getting the gas bill. And the kind of building that English departments get put into is the same kind - it is either exceedingly hot (and you're wearing a turtleneck) or frigid and you have wear gloves to type.
I don't understand why these places aren't properly insulated. We have the technology. Maybe this is why they need to go to war to keep fuel prices low. Hmmmmm.
Cold is very much on my mind. I come from Canada. I grew up in Saskatchewan. I know cold.
But I don't like it. Why do people here think I would get jolly in the cold? Just because I've lived in it, doesn't mean I like it any better than they do. It just means I think it's less fruitful to complain about the cold. Now, complaining about stereotypes about how I must love the cold, that's something to complain about!
It is cold here. Somehow, this coastal cold is colder than dry prairie cold. It feels that way.
I think I'm also colder here because I have to take transit everywhere (and no, I don't take an underground subway - which would be very nice in this weather). I also have yet to be in a home that is properly insulated. I don't doubt such buildings exist, but in the kinds of homes my colleagues and I can afford to live in, the wind sneaks in through windows and doors at an alarming rate. I see $$ float by everytime the temperature drops and dread getting the gas bill. And the kind of building that English departments get put into is the same kind - it is either exceedingly hot (and you're wearing a turtleneck) or frigid and you have wear gloves to type.
I don't understand why these places aren't properly insulated. We have the technology. Maybe this is why they need to go to war to keep fuel prices low. Hmmmmm.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
I went to school yesterday not wanting to teach this semester. I walked into the classroom feeling that way. I walked out of the classroom feeling that way. I contemplated taking their first assignments home to read feeling that way. I answered e-mail from one of my students still feeling that way.
I'm sure that I remained entirely professional in the execution of my duties, but I had no enthusiasm for the task. Usually I do. Perhaps I have a bit more enthusiasm today, but it's hard to say.
I think mostly I would just love to have one semester...one little semester...out of the multitude of semesters I have completed in the last decade where all I had to worry about was being a student. Not trying to balance student and employee. I think that's why I loved the summer session I taught - because there was no conflict with a student schedule - I could just be instructor without feeling like I was stealing time away from my own studies to do so. I want to feel just like student without stealing time away from that to be the teacher.
I know I'll never be purely a student...I doubt many students ever are just that... because I have a family to also take care of, but it would be nice just to worry about family and student stuff without working-type stuff too. It's great experience, but I feel like I neither do my own work well, or my teaching well, because I'm always dividing up too little time between them.
I'm sure that I remained entirely professional in the execution of my duties, but I had no enthusiasm for the task. Usually I do. Perhaps I have a bit more enthusiasm today, but it's hard to say.
I think mostly I would just love to have one semester...one little semester...out of the multitude of semesters I have completed in the last decade where all I had to worry about was being a student. Not trying to balance student and employee. I think that's why I loved the summer session I taught - because there was no conflict with a student schedule - I could just be instructor without feeling like I was stealing time away from my own studies to do so. I want to feel just like student without stealing time away from that to be the teacher.
I know I'll never be purely a student...I doubt many students ever are just that... because I have a family to also take care of, but it would be nice just to worry about family and student stuff without working-type stuff too. It's great experience, but I feel like I neither do my own work well, or my teaching well, because I'm always dividing up too little time between them.
Monday, January 05, 2004
Saturday, January 03, 2004
Some of these last posts have been pretty dull. Probably 'cause I've been feeling off - feeling sorry for myself not getting to go home for the holidays - scared to take the car anywhere far in case it decides to stop running. Ugh! Apologies to all who have fallen asleep or other unpleasant sensations when reading them...
Have been watching lots & lots of movies - it's interesting how your impressions of a movie can change due to intervening experiences. I first watched Spike Lee's Clockers about two years ago. It was the Lee film I had ever seen, and it was in an academic context where we were focusing on the director's oeuvre, tracing favorite scene set-ups, themes, camera angles and movements etc. I watched it last night, and in the intervening years have become much more aware of the music of Seal (which figures prominently in the film), lived across the street from some "projects" (though small) and ridden transit with many people who talked and acted like some of the characters of the film. If you have never seen this film - you should - and if you have the opportunity, watch it back to back with American History X - guaranteed conversation starters and no easy answers in either (well, okay, maybe not really easy answers - I think Lee does cop out a bit at the end and the brother's fate is a bit too unrealistic).
[Seal is also one of Dwayne's favorite performers & his North American engagements are few and far between - he had the opportunity of seeing him live at the Avalon nightclub here last month (while I sat in a lecture!) :( ]
Also watched Y tu mama tambien which is well worth sitting through subtitles for, though I can't say the same for Andre Bresson's Lancelot of the Lake, which won at Cannes, but its faults far outweigh the unusual camera work.
Also watched Amityville Horror. I had seen it before, but had forgotten much of it, and coming back to the movie, I really found myself respecting the decision to leave the ending fairly realistic - there are no clear cut winners - the house is left as is, but the family escapes to start again. Many times in life, there isn't a clear winner, and you have to make concessions and leave things less than satisfactory, but you're still standing - the movie seems to say the same thing.
Watched a bunch of other stuff - Terminator 3 - mostly what I expected except the special effects were pretty wild - Attack of the Clones, Finding Nemo etc,... but nothing else that I'd highly recommend. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get to the theatre in the next little while, which is a shame 'cause there's lots of neat stuff playing right now.
Have been watching lots & lots of movies - it's interesting how your impressions of a movie can change due to intervening experiences. I first watched Spike Lee's Clockers about two years ago. It was the Lee film I had ever seen, and it was in an academic context where we were focusing on the director's oeuvre, tracing favorite scene set-ups, themes, camera angles and movements etc. I watched it last night, and in the intervening years have become much more aware of the music of Seal (which figures prominently in the film), lived across the street from some "projects" (though small) and ridden transit with many people who talked and acted like some of the characters of the film. If you have never seen this film - you should - and if you have the opportunity, watch it back to back with American History X - guaranteed conversation starters and no easy answers in either (well, okay, maybe not really easy answers - I think Lee does cop out a bit at the end and the brother's fate is a bit too unrealistic).
[Seal is also one of Dwayne's favorite performers & his North American engagements are few and far between - he had the opportunity of seeing him live at the Avalon nightclub here last month (while I sat in a lecture!) :( ]
Also watched Y tu mama tambien which is well worth sitting through subtitles for, though I can't say the same for Andre Bresson's Lancelot of the Lake, which won at Cannes, but its faults far outweigh the unusual camera work.
Also watched Amityville Horror. I had seen it before, but had forgotten much of it, and coming back to the movie, I really found myself respecting the decision to leave the ending fairly realistic - there are no clear cut winners - the house is left as is, but the family escapes to start again. Many times in life, there isn't a clear winner, and you have to make concessions and leave things less than satisfactory, but you're still standing - the movie seems to say the same thing.
Watched a bunch of other stuff - Terminator 3 - mostly what I expected except the special effects were pretty wild - Attack of the Clones, Finding Nemo etc,... but nothing else that I'd highly recommend. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get to the theatre in the next little while, which is a shame 'cause there's lots of neat stuff playing right now.
Thursday, January 01, 2004
Happy New Year!
Spent last night with a few friends (who we'd actually spent the evening with the day before too) just hanging out - then over to the local Irish pub for the midnight countdown. It was nice, casual, good evening. We weren't sure if we wanted t to head out because we weren't sure about getting home again (it would've been at least $50 for a cab from their place back here), but with new year's, they were running extra transit of all sorts and we took the commuter train home (something I've never done before). Reminded me of the train rides across England when we were there, only in this case, most of the people on the train were in some stage of inebriation. But it was quiet, with everyone saying happy new year and all. The train was kinda the coolest part of the whole thing.
Spent last night with a few friends (who we'd actually spent the evening with the day before too) just hanging out - then over to the local Irish pub for the midnight countdown. It was nice, casual, good evening. We weren't sure if we wanted t to head out because we weren't sure about getting home again (it would've been at least $50 for a cab from their place back here), but with new year's, they were running extra transit of all sorts and we took the commuter train home (something I've never done before). Reminded me of the train rides across England when we were there, only in this case, most of the people on the train were in some stage of inebriation. But it was quiet, with everyone saying happy new year and all. The train was kinda the coolest part of the whole thing.
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