April 29, 2007

Day Day

Ow. My neck hurts, I’ve been sleeping on it funny. I have every blanked I own (and that is also in Ottawa) including my sleeping bag on my bed right now b/c our landlords thought that it was a good idea to turn off the furnace like a week ago. It got colder. I used to like our landlords, but now they’re jerks and its frickin freezing.

Today is about Phonology, all day. I’m going to hand in my paper tomorrow, which was the original due date, although we were all given an extension until a week Monday. But I don’t want to delay finishing it any more and I have other things – like my thesis which I have to present in less than 2 weeks at a conference – to work on. I never ask for extensions. Correction, I asked for one once in fourth year only b/c other ppl had already gotten it b/c the Friday appointments with the language consultant had been cancelled and we were all one hour of data behind, so I got the extension for the same reason. I’m generally not cool with missing deadlines and being late for things, I rarely even complete something just before the deadline and usually need at least a day and a half of done-early-buffer. You can ask Eendy about that.

Anyway, back from Montreal, slightly distanced from the freak out. Fortunately I got to meet 3 students who will be in my class (out of 6, 5 not including me) starting to grad program with me. They were really nice, and it made me feel better about moving and starting over alone again. As far as I can tell I’m the youngest person of the group, but I kinda like that, its like a free success at no cost, since I didn’t do anything extra for it. Except, I did fast track through high school, but its only 4 years now anyway so its not that special.

I should be working on my Turkish data. Maybe I’ll go and come back and write a little more later.

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I’m sick of long hair. I want to chop it off – who votes for chop it off? My only concern is that I’ll look like a long haired boy and then spend several months wishing my hair was long until it is again. Never happy.

Right, onto typing my new hand written pages on Turkish. Ta!

April 26, 2007

in Montreal

Why do I always do this to myself? I have this crazy masochistic need to move every few years, more commonly every year, it seems. Once I left the sound it was Langley, to Muskoka, to Toronto (for the longest stint, 3 years), to Ottawa and now I’ll be moving to Montreal in August. I say masochistic because meeting new people, getting new social networks is a very painful and awkward process for me. I’m not what you might call socially adept, unless you were being sarcastic or trying to be really nice for some odd reason.

So I’m here, in la belle province visiting my new department, feeling terrified about starting over again. But its not like I can stop. Sure, I’ll be in Montreal for 4 years, but then it will probably 2 years of a post doc somewhere else, perhaps another post doc yet another place, and then an actual job another place. Its craziness.

I know, I know, it would have been worse if I stayed in one place, I would have gone crazy, felt regret for the loss of opportunity, blah blah blah. Whatever. Just having a moment. I’m really tired. I was up early this morning and took the bus to the train station (the buses this morning were particularly moody for some reason, but what can you do). The train ride wasn’t bad, things were pretty easy to find once I got here. I’m just super tired. But I have my very own hotel room. The only time I ever had a room to myself like this was in Varanasi, but that’s hardly comparable b/c it was a hostel. In India.

I think I’m going to go to this Mexican restaurant down the street for supper, but really I kinda want to stay in and work on my Phonology building. Also the I like the U of O ling building better. Gah.

Right, ok, I’m going to take advantage of the cable TV while I have immediate access to it. Let me know if you (ie anyone) want to move to Montreal with me and be my friend. It’s a great city, I really do like it. I’m just a bit of a freak out.

April 23, 2007

Sandals from here on in

I’m in such a good mood today, things are looking up! The exam proctoring was super easy, and I was really nice to the ones who asked me questions, I tried to remember myself writing exams (as if it were that long ago). I’m getting my passport tomorrow and I can proceed with planning the trip to Santa Barbara – exciting! I have to book my ticket to Saskatoon and in May I get to see my nephew! It’s been months since I’ve seen him and he’s a different baby now, I can’t wait. I hope he doesn’t think I’m some sort of scary stranger, maybe he’ll remember me, or notice that I look like his father.

This week I’m finishing and handing in my Syntax and Phonology papers, then its hardcore thesis for the rest of the summer. I’m such a dork, I’m super excited. I’m feeling good about all my papers, at least at this exact moment, so I’m going to run with the feeling, which will hopefully turn out to be the same thing as productivity.

It’s sunny and warm and I don’t plan on wearing shoes again any time soon, I love sandal weather. Usually I don’t want till it’s this warm for sandals, but it kinda jumped from crazy slush snow season to very warm spring days.

Onto conquer syntax now!!!!

Something I stole from my sister-in-law’s blog:


(He got the fish from his cool aunt, whose name is Phinny.)

April 22, 2007

Anii!!!

Hi there. I’m back from the Sound and all the lovely field work that was had there, or rather close to there. Its weird to go home for work, of all things, but that’s what I did. So yes, super tired, don’t have a lot of time to waste, which is why I haven’t posted in forever. At 2 today I have to give an exam to the 1st year class I TA for, they better not cheat or I’m going to take them all down, give them all 0.

I have 3 papers on the go, 2 due this week. One is almost done, for that one I really just have to write my abstract for it, which shouldn’t be too bad but I’m not very experienced with abstracts so I’m hoping I can model it after another I had help in writing.

I’m really just posting for the sake of posting, since its been so long. I don’t know what to say and I’m very distracted since I need to get back to work. Its like I’m procrastinating from my blog to do my work, but I’m pretty sure that’s allowed.

April 07, 2007

It's like a mind puzzle, and AWESOME mind puzzle

Things I bought today:

k-os -- Joyful Rebellion








the Tragically Hip -- World Container








Metric -- Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?







Donnie Darko










This was my excellent Easter treat myself to keep me motivated such that I can continue writing my 3 intense papers (one is my thesis) and studying for my exam on Friday the 13th. My recent purchases nicely complement the care package full of candy and toys I got from my family -- Easter has the best candy by far. I got k-os b/c I love Atlantis, and wanted more k-os, since I think I'm in on him. I have Metric Live it Out and though I might expand that tiny part of my that dares to be indie. I got the Hip b/c I've been thinking for a long time that I should get into them, and their new single "The lonely end of the rink" is awesome, so I got that album. Normally I'd get an older, more trusted album, but I guess I've just been doing crazy things these days.

Oh, and Donnie Darko way $9.99, so I had nothing to lose. I wanted to buy V for Vendetta (since I'm currently reading the comic the movie is based off of, thanks to my big brother and Amazon.ca) but the cheapest version was the full screen, so I'm putting it off for now.

I wanted to get some new Oasis, seeing as I only have What's the Story Morning Glory, but I don't know what album I should venture into next. If you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it (this is partially a test to see if Ben has been keeping up with my blog, since he should have something to say here). I was also looking for some more Sufjan Stevens since I really can't get enough, but neither HMV nor Music World in the mall had the Michigan concept album, or anything else I was ready to invest in there.

Does anyone know South? Kristina sent me a few songs by them, and I really like them, so let me know if you have any suplemental information. Also, Dinah: If I were to get another Shins album, which should I go for next? If anyone has recommendations about artists with really wicked acoustic guitar I would be very interested.

I was really supposed to be shopping for dress pants to wear when I present at the conferences in May, but I'd much rather go media shopping than clothes shopping. I was successful in staying away from Chapters, however, since I have a backup of books to read already and don't need to go there right now.
Anyone familiar with Freaks and Geeks? My roommate bought the DVD set, its entertaining, with a lot of recognizeable actors, before they were recognizeable.
"Everyone knows that freak guys only date freak girls, and freak girls go all the way." Oh the 1980's, I was a small child, it wasn't actually that cuturally exciting for me at the time.

I actually have a full first draft of my phonology paper now. My supervisor was putting the pressure on when we met on Thursday, which I think has helped me get my act in gear (does that make sense? am I mixing the wrong kind of colloquialisms?), but also makes me stressed out. Its snowing again. I was looking forward to wearing my sandals and getting out on my bike but that will have to wait. It also means I can put off getting a new bike seat for a while, the current one is not super awesome.

Why, I thought I started out in this point with a coherent theme and everything, but it has disintigrated (sp?) into my usual rambling. Its a sign.

April 03, 2007

Evey, Evey, Evey, Evey, Evey

A little treat for my faithful blog watchers:



I could say more, but that would ruin the treat quality of this post.