July: A Report
Jul. 22nd, 2014 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
radfrac_archive_fullI designated tonight as my correspondence night, and still had trouble not being grouchy about having to do it all.
The problem is that I work at my paid work very inefficiently, and then I get grouchy whenever something interrupts me from trying to catch up on that. If I were more efficient-- Well. I would be a different fancy monkey.
I've done a bunch of stuff in the last month, though little of it had to do with finding a permanent job or choosing a Next Move, academically, if that is indeed what I am doing.
Let's see.
1. Went to Yellow Point Lodge
This is a genuine old-school resort, up-island -- L. (whose idea it was to go) said "It's sort of like Kellerman's."* And it is. People have been going there -- the same weekend with the same people -- for fifty years.
It's in maybe the most stupefyingly pretty part of the island -- a sandstone and shell beach with a view of, you know, more islands.
I saw a moon snail. I played volleyball and maybe for the first time in my life did not loathe playing a team sport. I stayed in my own little cabin, and that was good, because anywhere that was not my cabin I had to say "Hello!" and "Yes, this is my first year!" approximately twelve times an hour.
2. Submitted my Star Trek essay -- very nearly too late, but he liked it, which pleases.
3. Went to Shane Koyczan book signing and had book signed. Chattered merrily with everyone else, then acted like voiceless stricken fanboy to him.
(Voiceless stricken elderly wizened fanboy. Seeks same.)
4. Volunteered for local film society. I did one office shift and next... Tuesday? I'm doing a shift at the theatre. I'm ridiculously excited about this.
5. Went to Pride, a bit. Had a contest with K. to see who could collect the most condoms. I won (37). Saw the ex-co-con marching with the Unitarians (I believe he identifies as JuBu, but his husband is a U.) They got approved to start fostering LGBT kids, which has been a dream of his for years.
6. Did not go to reunion of undergrad buddies and bohemians in Vancouver. Unwell. Boo.
7. Went to Moss St. Paint-In. Began new painting the night before in its honour. Ran out of white while mixing the base colour, so made greyish painting instead. Decided I liked it. Nevertheless, post-Paint-In, splurged on tube of white paint to enable colour mixing at home.
8. Drew pictures of people at the flea market with K. (Different K.) so that she could practise being a Visual Anthropologist when she does her fieldwork in Peru.**
9. Took down nailed-up gauzy curtains and installed window film instead. Too impatient to cut window film cleanly or to push out every. single. bubble. so drew all over it with chalk paint instead. Still looks tidier than old window treatments, but this has changed look of house from Bohemian Disorder to Messy.
10. Kept doing the encyclopedia job, which I love and wish would go on forever. (But not doing it efficiently enough, QED.)
11. Found two pairs of jeans that fit me on the side of the road. Washed them twice, but they still sort of smell like other people's detergent.
12. Looked at creative writing programs. So far UBC seems like the best bet, though Matthea Harvey teaches at Sarah Lawrence. Or but really I want to go to the University of Pennsylvania and meet all those people I listen to on PoemTalk.
Or something. I don't have any money. Maybe I should do a PhD instead. Or just write a novel. Or find a job. Or something. Or something.
Hence the list of all the other things I've done, which I have at least done, except for the ones I didn't.
{rf}
*Dirty Dancing Forever
**There's that great bit in Robert Hass' "Faint Music" where the guy is imagining his ex-girlfriend with her new lover: "And then he’d hold her for a while— / Guatemalan weavings from his fieldwork on the wall—" I always imagine the new guy as Tim Robbins' weedy hippie in High Fidelity.
The problem is that I work at my paid work very inefficiently, and then I get grouchy whenever something interrupts me from trying to catch up on that. If I were more efficient-- Well. I would be a different fancy monkey.
I've done a bunch of stuff in the last month, though little of it had to do with finding a permanent job or choosing a Next Move, academically, if that is indeed what I am doing.
Let's see.
1. Went to Yellow Point Lodge
This is a genuine old-school resort, up-island -- L. (whose idea it was to go) said "It's sort of like Kellerman's."* And it is. People have been going there -- the same weekend with the same people -- for fifty years.
It's in maybe the most stupefyingly pretty part of the island -- a sandstone and shell beach with a view of, you know, more islands.
I saw a moon snail. I played volleyball and maybe for the first time in my life did not loathe playing a team sport. I stayed in my own little cabin, and that was good, because anywhere that was not my cabin I had to say "Hello!" and "Yes, this is my first year!" approximately twelve times an hour.
2. Submitted my Star Trek essay -- very nearly too late, but he liked it, which pleases.
3. Went to Shane Koyczan book signing and had book signed. Chattered merrily with everyone else, then acted like voiceless stricken fanboy to him.
(Voiceless stricken elderly wizened fanboy. Seeks same.)
4. Volunteered for local film society. I did one office shift and next... Tuesday? I'm doing a shift at the theatre. I'm ridiculously excited about this.
5. Went to Pride, a bit. Had a contest with K. to see who could collect the most condoms. I won (37). Saw the ex-co-con marching with the Unitarians (I believe he identifies as JuBu, but his husband is a U.) They got approved to start fostering LGBT kids, which has been a dream of his for years.
6. Did not go to reunion of undergrad buddies and bohemians in Vancouver. Unwell. Boo.
7. Went to Moss St. Paint-In. Began new painting the night before in its honour. Ran out of white while mixing the base colour, so made greyish painting instead. Decided I liked it. Nevertheless, post-Paint-In, splurged on tube of white paint to enable colour mixing at home.
8. Drew pictures of people at the flea market with K. (Different K.) so that she could practise being a Visual Anthropologist when she does her fieldwork in Peru.**
9. Took down nailed-up gauzy curtains and installed window film instead. Too impatient to cut window film cleanly or to push out every. single. bubble. so drew all over it with chalk paint instead. Still looks tidier than old window treatments, but this has changed look of house from Bohemian Disorder to Messy.
10. Kept doing the encyclopedia job, which I love and wish would go on forever. (But not doing it efficiently enough, QED.)
11. Found two pairs of jeans that fit me on the side of the road. Washed them twice, but they still sort of smell like other people's detergent.
12. Looked at creative writing programs. So far UBC seems like the best bet, though Matthea Harvey teaches at Sarah Lawrence. Or but really I want to go to the University of Pennsylvania and meet all those people I listen to on PoemTalk.
Or something. I don't have any money. Maybe I should do a PhD instead. Or just write a novel. Or find a job. Or something. Or something.
Hence the list of all the other things I've done, which I have at least done, except for the ones I didn't.
{rf}
*Dirty Dancing Forever
**There's that great bit in Robert Hass' "Faint Music" where the guy is imagining his ex-girlfriend with her new lover: "And then he’d hold her for a while— / Guatemalan weavings from his fieldwork on the wall—" I always imagine the new guy as Tim Robbins' weedy hippie in High Fidelity.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 02:09 am (UTC)You're too good for UBC, just FYI. Aim higher.
Or, yes, do a Ph.D. Do you think you'd finish in five years or do you think it would get extended? I'm thinking of doing a Ph.D. Apparently York has a good interdisciplinary program. And apparently the best graduate student health plan in the country. $2,000/year for massage, I learned in an email from E. this morning. But U of T appeals to me, too. Holly Luhning did a very cool dissertation on, like, gothic literature and madness or something, which was the basis for Quiver. I could research and write my next novel under the auspices of "I'm getting my doctorate," stick around as long as I needed to until the novel was done. Seeing as it took me seven years to get my undergrad and I don't think I will ever finish the master's I started in 2008, a Ph.D. is scary. But then I went and did the MFA in less than two years. So...
OMG HIJACKING YOUR POST.
This was the funniest part, though: (Voiceless stricken elderly wizened fanboy. Seeks same.)
Also if you find any pants on the side of the road that fit me could you send them my way? I am having jeans-envy over here.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 05:36 am (UTC)I was fantasizing about Iowa, but there isn't really anyone I immediately wanted to study with -- though I could do some research. You know, read some books.
Where else? PhD is cool, but if I do another 5 years of academic work, when does The Book happen?
{rf}
no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 03:41 pm (UTC)Iowa, sure, but its time in the sun is fading. Apply there and accept if they give you a generous scholarship. I can also connect you with a couple or several friends who went there. Have you looked at the Michener Center for Writers? That was my top choice when I was applying. Also Boston University is good. Also Columbia. Also the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Good funding there and a cool, funky town/city.
If you want to stay in Canada, apply at Guelph-Humber and move to Toronto and hang out with me. You're good to look at faculty, something I didn't do. But it didn't matter. I was going for the space to write (also sentimental connections to each place: Saskatoon (historical significance to my family, Uncle and Dad both got degrees there), Austin (everyone's always like OMG coolest city, and hey, I'm from Alberta, I can handle Texas), Madison (escaped the Vancouver Olympics and spent a great week with M. there), Victoria (duh) and Toronto (the next big Canadian city I wanted to move to)), and I did that, despite of or in spite of the faculty.
What about UVic?
You know what book you should read? I am going to recommend it on the Internet site of reading where we sometimes talk at each other.
I will take back my UBC comment. You find a good supervisor and you will do well. But you will work harder than, hm, 90% of your classmates? 95%? And there will be a LOT of classmates. The program is huge. Iowa is also huge, but it would be a big change and the new stuff might make up for the, "Oh, hm, I thought this was going to be different" stuff of the actual program.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 04:55 pm (UTC){rf}
no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 05:19 pm (UTC)