(no subject)
Apr. 2nd, 2011 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedlamsbardFor anyone that saw yesterday's access-locked post, roommate is fine, I am mostly over my trauma but may never ever drink alcohol ever, the apartment appears to have recovered. (Actually, the reason I've never drunk with my roommates is because I have control issues, and apparently I have trust issues, and I have the sneaking feeling I don't trust them as much as I should? Which is interesting, and somewhat worrisome. I think I'll probably end up doing so when Chicago and New York come back, though. I don't know, my control issues, man.)
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Thank you to everyone who said congrats on getting into the program! I am tentatively leaning towards doing it, because I feel like one has a lot more leeway to do that sort of thing as an undergrad than as a grad student (although my major advisor pointed out that there will be many opportunities to go on digs as a grad student) and also, it will be fun. And in England! I have always wanted to go to England.
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I am working on Dust again. It's an Edmund POV, but then again, I've started so many chapters with an Edmund POV that I'm not sure it will stay that way (as compared to the, oh, three or four other drafts of it that I have. Well, one of them was also an Edmund POV), but unlike the other ones, this one starts out with some action rather than talkyface, and I have some vague idea where it's going. Edmund Pevensie: badass snarkmaster. Also, nearly blows himself up in a pre-gunpowder world: well, the guy has talent.
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Yesterday was April Fool's Day. I hate April Fool's Day. However, there was April Fool's Win on the internet: this is my favorite of the lot.
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Got the first feedback on my thesis prospectus -- I'm leaning back towards the Spenser one for a couple of reasons, but I'll do the research for both that one and the Borgia one and decide which of the two it will be in August. My honors thesis boot camp class...well, I've mentioned before it's mostly poli sci political econ and public health and sociology majors? So we went around the table and each person presented their prospectus, then everyone else was supposed to ask one question about it, which went well for the first two people (something about the socioeconomic and intrinsic value of the Gulf, and race and gender in the 2008 presidential election, respectively). Then I presented my bit, and the girl who was called on to give the first bit of feedback started laughing/crying hysterically and went, "I didn't understand any of it, I have to pass!" As did most other people; the people who did ask questions asked things like, "So...what was your point again?" and, "So how are you going to know if you're writing about Spenser's morality or those other guys and yours?" "Um, I'm pretty sure it's a little obvious that Edmund Spenser has a very different morality than two Romans, and I like to think that I look at the world slightly differently than a stridently Protestant Elizabethan petty politician and poet."
And I honestly don't know if that came from the fact that I kind of feel like I was basically speaking a different language ("We don't get the references!" they say. "You should be less obscure." "'Murals,' 'Arachne,' 'Vergil,' and 'Prince Arthur' are obscure?" say I, and quietly despair of the future of the human race) or because my prospectus is actually unclear. Like, my two advisors didn't make any comment to that effect, but they're in the field. But my boot camp prof didn't comment on that either -- actually, I think he said I put a little too much background in the prospectus itself -- so I have no idea if I was actually unclear or if the confusion comes from the fact that I'm steeped in the literature and they're not. (I mean, I have no idea what a contingent value survey is either, but I didn't feel the need to point out that may be the two people who said they were using one should be less obscure.)
Ack. I guess I can weigh the opinions of my professors a bit higher, though.
*
Y'all should watch The Borgias when it premieres tomorrow, if you have Showtime. I'll do a write-up of the first doubleheader episode later, with notes on the historical accuracy and where they changed the history. (I actually think most of the changes make sense; in some cases they streamlined it to get rid of confusion, in others to emphasize their theme. Or at least that's how I interpret it.)
*
Thank you to everyone who said congrats on getting into the program! I am tentatively leaning towards doing it, because I feel like one has a lot more leeway to do that sort of thing as an undergrad than as a grad student (although my major advisor pointed out that there will be many opportunities to go on digs as a grad student) and also, it will be fun. And in England! I have always wanted to go to England.
*
I am working on Dust again. It's an Edmund POV, but then again, I've started so many chapters with an Edmund POV that I'm not sure it will stay that way (as compared to the, oh, three or four other drafts of it that I have. Well, one of them was also an Edmund POV), but unlike the other ones, this one starts out with some action rather than talkyface, and I have some vague idea where it's going. Edmund Pevensie: badass snarkmaster. Also, nearly blows himself up in a pre-gunpowder world: well, the guy has talent.
*
Yesterday was April Fool's Day. I hate April Fool's Day. However, there was April Fool's Win on the internet: this is my favorite of the lot.
*
Got the first feedback on my thesis prospectus -- I'm leaning back towards the Spenser one for a couple of reasons, but I'll do the research for both that one and the Borgia one and decide which of the two it will be in August. My honors thesis boot camp class...well, I've mentioned before it's mostly poli sci political econ and public health and sociology majors? So we went around the table and each person presented their prospectus, then everyone else was supposed to ask one question about it, which went well for the first two people (something about the socioeconomic and intrinsic value of the Gulf, and race and gender in the 2008 presidential election, respectively). Then I presented my bit, and the girl who was called on to give the first bit of feedback started laughing/crying hysterically and went, "I didn't understand any of it, I have to pass!" As did most other people; the people who did ask questions asked things like, "So...what was your point again?" and, "So how are you going to know if you're writing about Spenser's morality or those other guys and yours?" "Um, I'm pretty sure it's a little obvious that Edmund Spenser has a very different morality than two Romans, and I like to think that I look at the world slightly differently than a stridently Protestant Elizabethan petty politician and poet."
And I honestly don't know if that came from the fact that I kind of feel like I was basically speaking a different language ("We don't get the references!" they say. "You should be less obscure." "'Murals,' 'Arachne,' 'Vergil,' and 'Prince Arthur' are obscure?" say I, and quietly despair of the future of the human race) or because my prospectus is actually unclear. Like, my two advisors didn't make any comment to that effect, but they're in the field. But my boot camp prof didn't comment on that either -- actually, I think he said I put a little too much background in the prospectus itself -- so I have no idea if I was actually unclear or if the confusion comes from the fact that I'm steeped in the literature and they're not. (I mean, I have no idea what a contingent value survey is either, but I didn't feel the need to point out that may be the two people who said they were using one should be less obscure.)
Ack. I guess I can weigh the opinions of my professors a bit higher, though.
*
Y'all should watch The Borgias when it premieres tomorrow, if you have Showtime. I'll do a write-up of the first doubleheader episode later, with notes on the historical accuracy and where they changed the history. (I actually think most of the changes make sense; in some cases they streamlined it to get rid of confusion, in others to emphasize their theme. Or at least that's how I interpret it.)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-03 07:19 am (UTC)2. Cambridge is SO much fun- I did a high school program at Queens College when I was a senior in HS (Shakespeare & Jane Austen and I had AWESOME teachers for both courses) and LOVED it- beyond great classes, it was just SUCH a cool town.
3. YAY! I <3 Edmund POV. (PS: I am resisting the urge to name my upcoming puppy Edmund because I am slightly afraid it might make the puppy turn out to be smarter than I am or something, but there is a shortage of D and E fannish-type names that are not TOO obviously fannish and don't belong to obnoxious/evil/crazy/dies horribly characters.)
4. Yes!
5. I agree with everything you said. I sort of hope you do the Borgia one because I think it sounds more fun, totally, and I think if the Showtime show is as popular as say, the Tudors was, well.... you'll suddenly have totally unhistory majors who will go "oh cool" next year when you didn't this year.
6. Alas, I do not get Showtime, but I will be looking for a torrent!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-03 02:06 pm (UTC)3. Heh! Aww, puppies. Edmund just has so much deadpan sarcasm, which kind of worries me that I'm projecting. (I'm probably not as witty in real life, though.)
5. But on the other hand, I'm also a little worried that people will go, "Oh, you've chosen this topic just because of this show, you're not a serious academic." Which may be overreacting, but...
6. I do not get Showtime either, so I'll either be buying it from iTunes or ahem-aheming it. (Which is how I got the first episode, I mean, Showtime certainly didn't send me a screener.)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-03 11:06 pm (UTC)Edmund! I rewatched the PC movie Friday night and I had forgotten just how much of a snarky badass he actually is.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-03 11:24 pm (UTC)I really need to rewatch some time soon!