Quote of the Day

"Critical accounts of alternative music cultures in German Studies have often been relegated to the margins: subcultural texts often suffer from the indictment of being politically (and aesthetically) suspect - in other words, they are seen to be incapable of sustaining a meaningful critique of the cultural industry." This is a line from a grant application (not mine, obviously). This application won the grant last year or the year before, and is clearly worth $4,000 (the amount of the grant). My application, which is due tomorrow, and which is just about as good as it's going to get at this point, is maybe worth $40, and even that is a stretch. On the upside, looking at my work in monetary terms makes me feel a lot better about how much I've been paid for the year!

Not that I have time for this...

This is Mathilde, playing with the teddy bear I made. This picture cheers me up, because it reminds me that there is more to the world than impending deadlines (doom), although, to be honest, I did stay up until 2am to finish making that teddy bear in time for the baby shower....
This week especially, and since the conference generally, I have this very ominous feeling that I'm going at half my normal speed. Do you ever have that? It's different than the feeling that you are procrastinating (which I sort of am) or that time is racing - time is actually ticking along at its normal pace - but sort of like that nightmare where you're running away from something and can only go veeeeery slowly no matter how hard you try.
This is a Very Bad Feeling to have, especially when you are in your life, not a nightmare, and have lots of important deadlines to meet. Guess I should get back to work, huh?

Quote of the Day

"This appurtenance is essential and irreducible; one cannot retain the convenience of the "scientific truth" of the Stoic and later medieval opposition between signans and signatum without also bringing with it all its metaphysicotheological roots." - Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology
This is from some 50 pages I read on Sunday for my introductory theory course. It would depress me, but it's an improvement over the Heidegger we had to read last week: "As ek-sisting, man sustains Da-sein in that he takes the Da, the lighting of Being, into 'care.' But Da sein itself occurs essentially as 'thrown.' It unfolds essentially in the throw of Being as the fateful sending." - Letter on Humanism
If it wasn't clear before this class, it's completely clear now: I'm here for the literature, not so much the theory....

Catching up

It actually hasn't been that long since I last posted, but I haven't posted much actual news lately. We had the conference last weekend, and aside from the Nemesis being sort of rude, and two really strange mystery guests who came for the food, it went pretty well. There was an audience, every presenter fielded some questions, the catering worked like it was supposed to, the snow held off until Monday, and everyone was very nice in complimenting the organization. In retrospect, though, that might have something to do with the fact that I and my two co-organizers were all (visibly) on the brink of collapse and one unkind word probably would have destroyed us.
Meanwhile, school is alternately hurtling and creeping toward the end of the semester. All my professors seem to have suddenly realized how disorganized they are; they've all apologized for it, but don't seem inclined to do anything about it this semester. There is a part of me that wants to go into academia as a sort of public service to counter the disorganization (and other negative aspects of academic culture). I'm practicing for this by organizing for my professors. I feel kind of silly typing up their class lists so the class can understand them, but hopefully not as silly as they feel being unable to do it themselves. Five and a half more weeks.
Since summer is on the horizon, I've been a little distracted from school by the intense urge to spring-clean/remodel. For some reason, cleaning and home improvement go hand in hand for me. Sweeping and mopping make me think of refinishing the floors, which makes me think of painting. The sun is out now, and is staying out for more than 5 or 6 hours a day, and all this extra light makes me see dust and dirt I'd been able to ignore since November, and makes me think I should find my duster (I do own one) and use it, which in turn makes me think I should throw away all our dusty, dirty things and buy clean ones (I hate to dust). Bookshelves, blinds, the stove, my desk. And especially on our couch (an old, shapeless, once-white behemoth which we'd covered unsuccessfully with an ugly brown slipcover). After two weeks of scanning used furniture ads on craigslist, Rob and I went to Ikea (Rob is suspicious of used couches, but I am poor) on a whim, just to see if there was anything there that would work. Miraculously, we found a not-too-expensive, big-enough sofa with a completely removable, washable cover AND a fold out bed! Hooray! The dogs also like it. So if the reason you weren't visiting is because you didn't want to sleep on the floor or our mangy old couch, you'll need a new excuse. Peak season is May-August, so make your reservation early.

Quote of the Day

"Well, but isn't this project basically working to destroy Western thought?" A certain professor, in an extremely offended voice, during the Q&A after the fascinating and lovely keynote speech about sense memory at our conference. He sounded confused about the difference between terrorism destroying Western civilization and critical, scholarly exploration of the way we think, and attacked our speaker as if she were participating in the former. He is officially my nemesis.

Quote of the Day

A new feature here, since I'm starting to feel like my entire life is good news/bad news (mostly the later, these days). Hopefully it will give you a better idea of how I spend my days. Just because it's called Quote of the Day doesn't mean I'm going to do it every day, though. Quotes are all real and unedited.
Quote of the Day: "Why they all gotta be hoes?" A perennial question on the #16 bus, as yet unanswered.

Good News, Bad News: Retail Therapy

Good News: I, unlike celebrities, the wives of dictators, and women in film and television, do not engage in the stereotypical feminine retail therapy of buying shoes I can't afford.
Bad News: I might have an equally serious problem in the form of retail therapy buying plane tickets I can't afford. And this not even a week after I seriously considered drastic changes in my life designed to eliminate the need for air travel....