Shhhhhhhhhhhoot.

Well, it looks like I've failed at the blopomo... I suppose I could go back and post-date some posts (ha!), but that seems rather silly. Oh well. I'll try and post more regularly, anyway.

Not much to report here; some interest in my resume, though, so I'll follow that up and see how it goes!

Reason 34293876592 that I'm a huge dork

Newsweek has a special edition out, which details the presidential campaigns from waaaay back before Obama or McCain declared their candidacy, through the Democratic Primary madness, up through Election Day. It is incredibly thorough and full of facts and observations which the reporters had promised to keep secret until after the election. This may seem rather dry and boring to you, but it's actually a fascinating read; I just spent the entire afternoon reading it cover to cover. Definitely worthwhile, go check it out!

And yes, sitting around and reading is generally what I do on a Saturday. Or any day, for that matter.

They can also eat a dozen bagels or an entire loaf of cinnamon bread

Apparently there's been much speculation about what kind of dog the Obamas should get when they move into the White House. Everyone is suggesting a poodle, and no doubt it'll end up being some sort of supercute retriever/lab mix, but may I suggest: a greyhound.

Oh, you want reasons?

1. They don't shed -- key, since Malia's allergic.
2. The family would like a shelter dog -- hello, greyhound rescue organizations!

3. Greyhounds need big spaces to run and a fenced-in yard. The White House lawn is perfect!

4. They're generally very low key and love kids.

5. They don't bark -- there's noise enough from the press, thank you very much.

6.

It's a small world, after all

So I applied for (yet another) job in the Boston area yesterday and heard back from the HR guy this afternoon. He said they weren't hiring for positions in that department, but they will be soon. Not the greatest news, but more hopeful than a lot of messages I've gotten.

And THEN he writes, "By the way, I went to [another high school in my district], just FYI."

How crazy! What a small world... So I wrote back, conveyed my amusement and the fact that my orchestra used to rehearse at his school, and he replied again(!).

So now I've got a connection with an HR person at this place where I'd like to work. That's more progress than I've made in the past two months! And all because of where I went to high school...

Obama wins!!

FINALLY. This is the most positive I've felt about my country in a long time. Now let's move forward, shall we?

(ps- sorry about the crappy post(s), Blogger seems to be having issues)

I'm looking at you, swing states

VOTE! You can get a free coffee from Starbucks and a free ice cream from Ben & Jerry's if you do, so there's no reason not to!

Obligatory post on the election

I have mixed feelings about the election this year. This is the first presidential election that I've really followed; I was away at school in 2000 and in Germany in 2004, so I didn't have either the desire or the opportunity to track the candidates' views on the issues, the scandals over misinterpreted speeches (i.e., "lipstick on a pig"), etc. Even though I did vote in the other two, I'm more invested in this one. Maybe it's a sign of maturity that I have actual views on the issues now, or maybe it's because I had to teach about American culture and politics that I've had the chance to figure out what I feel strongly about, and what I want a candidate to support. At any rate, my time isolated from American election politics has made it clear this time around:

1) How awesome the whole process is. It's a complicated, messed-up system that involves pandering to various subgroups of the population, lobbyists, and those who have the most money. Campaign funds play a disproportionately large role, and choosing who to vote for is generally choosing between the lesser of two evils. But where else do you see people so involved in the process? No matter who you support, there are camps upon camps of volunteers who make cold calls and send out mass mailings for no compensation other than the conviction that they're helping their candidate and, by extension, their country. I mean, where else can you see such an involvement in and dedication to the democratic process? (definitely not in Germany, where no one really cares either way about their representatives or what their government is doing, as long as they get to talk about how full of crap the US government is) It's pretty amazing. And watching people get so fired up is pretty cool; it reminds me that not everyone gets the same chance that we do to choose our own leaders*. (Seriously, WTF is with the parliamentary system? That's messed up.)

*cue national anthem*

BUT:

2) The whole process is incredibly dependent on the media. Spin, sound bytes, negative campaign ads vs. attack ads (apparently there's a difference??), newspaper endorsements, YouTube videos, SNL, and infomercials... campaigns depend on the media, and the media seem to depend on the candidates to keep people watching/reading. I wonder if this is a purely American thing; there were zero campaign ads in Germany, and I recall seeing AT MOST two or three in the UK. I actually didn't even know there was an election there until the day of, when we got a flyer under our door reminding us to vote. Even when it was time to elect a new mayor of London, there were no ads; he just suddenly appeared on the news one night as the new mayor. But here, the media plays such a huge role in US culture that I suppose it's only fitting that it plays a massive role in US politics and shaping history. The follow-up question to that, of course, is should the media assume the role it does, and how can we be sure we're getting unbiased information from any of the media outlets. (hello, Fox News!)

As a corollary to this, those political ads NEED TO STOP. Seriously. Along with the calls. Freaking SHUT UP already about Mesi, Ranzenhofer, Kryzan, Lee, Delano, Volker, Konst, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

I guess the point of all this rambling is that as much as I appreciate and am in awe of the process, I am SO ready for it to be over. Let's move on. Please?

*Yeah, yeah, let's ignore the Electoral College for the moment.

Three more things

...to add to yesterday's list:

11. Bacon. How could I forget bacon?! It's delicious!
12. Target.
13. Being able to watch TV shows over and over again online, without having to resort to some rather sketchy website from East Asia where I can't read any of the instructions. ("I wonder if this one means volume... Nope, that closed the window.")

Yes, I do realize that most of these revolve around food

Ten things I didn't realize I missed about the US:
1. (Non-alcoholic) Cider and donut holes.
2. Pumpkin carving.
3. The fact that everyone, kids and adults, gets into Halloween.
4. Not having to explain and/or defend the US, its government, or traditions like Thanksgiving or Halloween.
5. Tim Horton's. (all right, they're Canadian, but still)
6. Mulled cider. (yes, cider takes two places on this list, so sue me)
7. People acting not just polite, but friendly.
8. Watching current TV shows, on the day they air.
9. The vast variety of food that is Wegmans.
10. Newspapers with comic strips. (although they don't seem to be as funny as they used to be..)

Happy Halloween!

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

So much for that "must post more often" sentiment.

Heh. Funny how life can go from "way too busy to update the blog" to "not nearly enough to talk about to update the blog", eh? There hasn't been much of note to report: I'm living at home, in a town where none of my friends live, applying for jobs at places that aren't contacting me back. (thanks, recession!) Oh, and I'm unable to drive, since the car is a stick shift. So I'm pretty much 15 again. Needless to say, it's pretty awesome.

At any rate, I'm thinking of participating in NaBloPoMo again this year, so I guess I'd better start stocking up interesting stories. It'll probably be a month-long slideshow of those pictures that I took while traveling from June to August, because everyone loves looking at pictures from other people's vacations. Stay tuned!

Also, I was randomly thinking (!) the other day that October is practically the pivotal month in my life; it sets the tone for the rest of the year. Forget New Year's, it's all about October first. To wit:

• October 2003: Began teaching English in WB, filling vast amounts of free time with naps and traveling Europe.
• October 2004: Began teaching English in K-Town, met Scottish TAs and began 9-month-long odyssey to try the hot chocolate at every cafe in town. Also, began (near-)weekly Irish pub trips.
• October 2005: Had just begun teaching kindergarten. Work was pretty awful, and continued to be for the entire school year.
• October 2006: Had just begun teaching first grade. Learned to lay down the law for the first few weeks of school, and this turned out fantastic! Also, sent in my application to Cambridge.
• October 2007: Began school year at Cambridge by having a few nervous breakdowns. The rest of the course was intense and zero fun; however, some good times were had in the few minutes between working and feeling guilty for not working.
• October 2008: Lazing around, futilely job searching. Feeling useless and unsuccessful. Also, large amounts of self-pity.

So... let's hope that October 2008 doesn't set the pattern for the upcoming year, shall we?

Yes, it IS time to update more frequently

Scene: Starbucks in Dulles airport, half an hour after disembarking a 7-hour flight from London.

Me (mumbling through the jet lag): A grande mocha frappuccino, please.
Cashier: Okay, that'll be $4.20.
Me: *pause* But... it says $4.00 up there on the board.
Cashier: Uh, yeah, that's before tax.
Me: Right.

Welcome back to the US, land of infinite possibilities and taxation.

Know what I just realized?

My undergrad honors thesis, the one I spent the entire year on, was just over 9000 words.

I have had five weeks to write this 8000-word paper.

Soon, I'll be writing 16,000 words in the space of two weeks.

Hmm.

I would do this in a table, but I don't know how

A Comparative Analysis of Research Essays 1 and 2, In Bullet Point Form

Research Essay #1

• Topic: Critical Period Hypothesis and Second Language Acquisition
• Length: 8000 words
• Timeline: 6 weeks
• Experiment/data analysis required?: no
• Most time spent: at home
• Research: finished in the first 2 weeks
• Writing: all done in the last week
• Contact with supervisor: 4 meetings, total
• Supervisor: helpful and encouraged me to come in
• Amount of time spent thinking about essay: constant while in Cambridge, then forgot about it for 2 weeks when I was at home
• Grade: 65 (solidly average)

Research Essay #2

• Topic: Does Musical Training Affect Musical and Phonological Short-Term Memory? (or something like that)
• Length: 8000 words
• Timeline: 5 weeks
• Experiment/data analysis required?: yes
• Most time spent: in Cambridge
• Research: experiment design = 2 weeks, data collecting = just over a week, data analysis = 4 days (still ongoing), literature review = not started yet
• Writing: not started yet... probably will take place in the last week
• Contact with supervisor: insecure emails sent every 2 or 3 days, which he apparently doesn't read as he doesn't answer any of my questions
• Supervisor: not helpful, makes me feel stupid for not understanding/knowing what's going on
• Amount of time spent thinking about essay: constant, except for those 4 days I was in Portugal...then it was only sporadic
• Grade: to be determined... it better be higher than the last one, is all I have to say...I'm working my ass off here.

When will it all end??

Add another patch to the bag

Funny story: I went to Portugal last week!

As I was thinking only of doom and gloom (and interminable essays) last Monday, an acquaintance from College sent me a text, wondering if I'd be interested in going to Portugal. Apparently her friend could no longer go and I could have her plane ticket. The kicker: The plane was leaving Wednesday morning, super early! At first, I wasn't sure what I should do; I only had another 4 weeks for the essay, and I really should be working, plus I'm living on student loans at the moment...

And then I thought about what my friends would say: I'd be stupid not to go. So I made about the fastest decision in my life when I told her I'd join her in Portugal.

I am so glad I did.

I guess I'd forgotten how much I've missed travelling... the last time I went someplace completely new (for fun, not moving) was chaperoning the high-schoolers in Budapest last summer. While I'm still not a fan of not knowing the language of a new place (I always feel a bit guilty that people have to speak mine), I love sight-seeing, soaking up the atmosphere of a new place, trying local food (randomly from a menu which I can't read), wandering about the neighborhoods, and taking excessive amounts of pictures. Some of which you will now see.

Typical small, windy street. Cars drive down these, believe it or not. (though not this one, since it has stairs)

The riverfront of Porto, plus the really high bridge we walked across to the other side. My lunch on the first day. Note that the head is still attached.
St. Alfonse of something church.. too bad I don't speak Portuguese. These blue and white tiles were everywhere, though; they were beautiful.
12th century cathedral.
Cathedral cloisters... though I'm not entirely sure what 'cloisters' are. We got to see them for free, though, since it was a National Day of Historic Centers!

A bishop and the Clerigos church tower. You can see the tower almost anywhere in Porto, and you can get a great view of the city from there. (I'm not posting any pictures from there because it was gray and misty that day... no fun.)

The beach! I have concluded that I have to live near the beach when I grow up. No more of this land-locked crap.
I noticed this rock formation when it was dry, and then waited patiently for some water to come in so I could get a nice, artistic shot. Unfortunately, a really big wave decided to come in then, so I ended up with this:
Wet socks are no fun. Luckily we had nothing to do, so we could lounge on the beach while I waited for my socks to (mostly) dry out.

So those were the highlights... and I've now caught the travel bug again and can't wait to go someplace else. I'm thinking possibly Belgium in June, or else maybe Croatia...

Merry Eastermas!

The weather decided to go all multiple-personality-disorder on us this weekend: yesterday passed in 15-minute increments of bright sunshine, wind and misty rain, and wind and fat snowflakes. The stretches without sunshine, which comprised most of the day, were pretty miserable, but it was just warm enough so that the snow didn't stick. So imagine my surprise this morning when I woke up to this:

(Just to clarify, I wasn't face-down in the daffodils when I woke up. I just don't have another picture of my neighborhood.)

It being Easter Sunday, I'd planned on going into town for church this morning and went to King's College Chapel. The thirty-minute walk turned into more like a 45-minute walk due to the slushy sidewalks and my crappy shoes, but it at least provided me with an opportunity to take some rare Cambridge In The Snow photos. And now, a photo essay:

Walking very carefully down the hill into town
Across the Cam and past the snow-covered punts
King's College Chapel and the Senate House

The Cam and a snowman (not made by me, but appropriated for this photo)

Clare College, King's College Chapel and the Cam

Happy Easter!

Well, hello there.

It's a good thing blogs aren't alive; I think even a goldfish would die after almost four weeks of neglect. I suppose the lack of blogging could be construed as:

• (a) Real life is so wonderfully fulfilling and joyous that I don't feel the need to get on the internet.
• (b) Real life is crappy and as I don't want to come off as incredibly whiny, I refrain from posting.
• (c) Real life is insanely busy and I would rather sleep than blog.

Hint: It's not (a)!

So, February. School has been school, by which I mean it's continuing to be difficult and the profs are becoming increasingly insufferable. The more time I spend here, the more I realize that people here are snobs and quite two-faced. And having spent so much time in (painfully honest) Germany, the whole fake-smile-over-the-top-niceness thing is really annoying. The Brits are polite, I'll give you that, but they definitely don't tell you what they think.

Anyway, there are now two and a half weeks left in the term, then one more term and I'm done. And I'm pretty sure I'll be done after this master's; at this point, I feel the PhD is not for me. Another three years of this place, where it's all about theory and no one has any connection to the real world? No thank you. Though it would be cool to work on a project of my own choosing, and I've got a pretty great one picked out, I'm missing the practicality of the real world. That being said, if anyone wants to grant me full funding to work on this project, I wouldn't be incredibly averse to that, either...

On the employment front, you may recall that I got turned down for that job at the beginning of the month? Well, all the students in the department got an email from the HR people at the CUP two weeks or so later, saying that they 'weren't able to fill the position' and thus had reposted the position. So not only did they not take me, but they would rather hire no one than hire me. Awesome. So that was fun.

I've been kind of half-heartedly searching for jobs since the CUP incident, and have come to the conclusion that this degree will not help me achieve a decent salary range after all. There seem to be some interesting-looking jobs in the NYC and DC areas, which is good, but the cost of living is so high in these places that I'd be living in a shoebox. Not a refrigerator box, mind you, but a shoebox. It's gotten so depressing that I briefly considered going back to MN... because at least I know I'd have a job there and could possibly pay my student loans off before I die. And then I remembered that I left that job for a reason. Moral: A master's degree is apparently not worth it.

In other news, I'm playing in this musical this weekend, and rehearsals have lately been taking over my life. Seriously, these people have been so disorganized it's horrific. Case in point: On Monday, the orchestra call time was 7.40pm and we were supposed to run the show at 8. When I showed up, they hadn't even finished building the stage yet. We didn't start until 11.30pm. Needless to say, we were there until 1am, and again until 1am yesterday. Somehow, I always remember these types of activities as being more fun than they actually are... and of course being in this is preventing me from going to both a boat race and a friend's party this weekend. AND I've invited friends to come see it, but only one or two have actually said they're coming. Dude, if I had real friends here, they'd come see me. (or, perhaps more accurately, I'd force you them to come see me)

See, this is why I haven't posted for so long. On the plus side, though, I've started going to the gym this month, so yay for that. Three times a week, and I've only missed one day so far! I will totally be a supermodel by the time July rolls around. Of course, then I won't be able to afford a vacation at the beach, so it won't matter anyway.

Because it's Friday, my day off...

Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Remus Lupin You're a calm, cool, optimistic person who doesn't dwell on the bad but looks more deeply into the good. You're wise and know much about the world, and though you teach your lessons to others, react humbly when complimented on your intelligence. You've suffered a lot in your life but are extremely accepting of it all and suffer inwardly. You're a great friend to have as you're gentle and caring. Remus Lupin 75% Severus Snape 75% Percy Weasley 69% Albus Dumbledore 69% Neville Longbottom 66% Hermione Granger 66% Draco Malfoy 59% Ron Weasley 56% Oliver Wood 50% Luna Lovegood 50% Bellatrix Lestrange 41% Harry Potter 38% Lord Voldemort 34% Sirius Black 34% Also, happy birthday to Müs! It's even on a Friday this year, how excellent. Also, I did not get the job. Mediocre grade and hopes dashed in the span of one week, hooray. (so much for the 'optimistic person' the quiz describes!)

Congratulations, universe. You win.

Lesson #1: All those vibes you put out into the universe do come back to get you. Case in point: Research essay... you know, the one that I put off until the last week of vacation. I've been saying all along that it'll pass, but I'm not sure how good it is. I've also been saying that though I'll be elated if it gets above a 70 (in the range of 55-75, above 70 = a qualification for the PhD program, below 60 = failing), but I'll be content if it gets a grade mid-60s or above.

I got a 65.

On some level, I'm fine with this; it's right in the middle, fairly decent grade, and I'm at Cambridge, so that's pretty good. And I probably deserve it, since I did procrastinate a lot.

But.

This means the pressure is on for the other big essay; I have to get a 70 or above if I want to get into the PhD program. Also, as much as I am sort of content with this grade, it is lower than the grades on my previous three unassessed essays. And the comments are not nice; I don't think I got any positive feedback.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is I don't know what to think. This makes me not want to go for the PhD, because to be honest, I don't feel like dealing with that kind of stress right now. I'm not sure that I want to do it anyway. Also, this is not exactly motivating to work on the essay I have due next week, or to do reading for class. I'm just feeling sort of blah.

Guess I was taking it more seriously than I thought.

Relief.

The interview was this morning, and to be honest, I'm trying to figure out what I should say about it. There weren't any warning signs that said "Run away! You shouldn't take this soulless, awful job!" but I didn't have an epiphany, or come to a realization that this is the perfect job for me. If anything, I'm even more uncertain about it; there are some really cool aspects (Working with books for a living! Doing something I like in a field that is interesting! Working for a prestigious organization for what appears to be a decent salary!), but there are also parts of the job that I don't really care for and/or am not very good at (networking, communicating well with others, having to live an ocean away). I kind of wish I had the opportunity to try it out for a few weeks and see how it goes, and then make my decision. I suppose that's the entire point of the "probationary period", but it's tough to leave straight away after that without feeling like a failure. Anyway, I guess that's not my decision to make at this point; the woman with whom I interviewed said that she'd let me know her decision next week.

Here's the weird thing, though: I think the interview went well. (!) All right, not abnormal for most people, but I get really nervous under pressure and freeze up, sounding like I don't know what I'm talking about. This time, they asked me concrete questions I could answer (for the most part), I think my answers went over fairly well, and my experience seems to fit with the job. It's actually rather odd how well this job and I (on paper, at least) match up. But the really strange part is that I wasn't too nervous; I was just thinking, 'Well, I guess I'll just chat with these people and if they like me, great! If not, oh well.' Does this mean I've become (*gasp*)more confident? Does it mean I'm a grown-up? Strange things happen.

That being said, though, I came home after it was over, ate lunch, and totally fell asleep for two hours. Guess it was more stressful than I realized.