Resolved

I've decided that in addition to the very important New Year's resolution of finishing my dissertation, I'm also going to do the following three related things:

1. I will waste less time on the internet

I spend a lot of time procrastinating online, reading useless websites (some from the Gawker media family) or just looking for something to read. I'm never satisfied unless I find something absorbing. Clearly, I'm looking in the wrong place. Therefore,

2. I will catch up on culture

Specifically, books and movies. My goal is to get through three per month (the dissertation does have to take precedence, after all), with one season of the TV series I've listed counting as "one". And I have a specific list in mind, one which I will add to as I remember things.

And this also leads me to

3. I will use the public library more

I can use my university library card to access the public library system, which is pretty awesome. The public library has lots of great DVDs and (duh) books that are FREE. Free!! I'll likely use my university library card to check out fiction as well, since I'll have longer due dates and I'm terrible at getting to things right away.

So what will I be reading or watching in 2010? Here's the list so far, determined purely by the intensity of my desire. This is the stuff that I really really want to get to, some out of professional obligation, but most out of curiosity. Some of it is pulpy or popular, some off the beaten track, some canonical. Needless to say, it will not be tackled in order.

Books

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov

Camilla by Frances Burney (currently reading, stalled at a five-page sermon on female conduct)

The Wanderer by Frances Burney

Jane's Fame by Claire Harman (controversial bio of Jane Austen)

The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan

Pale Fire by Nabakov

House of Leaves by Mark L. Danielewski

Movies (on DVD)

Shadow of the Vampire

Let the Right One In

Silent Light

The Draughtsman's Contract (Peter Greenaway movie set in the early eighteenth century; was recently the subject of an interesting thread on the C18 listserv I subscribe to)

Once (I know, I know. I even own the DVD)

Where the Wild Things Are

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Hurt Locker

Movies (in theatres)

Mary and Max (playing at the Metro in Feb)

Police, adjective (playing at the Metro in Feb)

TV

Lost in Austen (for work)

The four recent ITV adaptations of Austen's novels which I just haven't been able to screw up the courage to watch. Will need wine for that, methinks.

The Wire

Friday Night Lights

While I won't blog extensively about my cultural consumption like Peter, I'll probably post "snap judgments" and half-baked analyses on this blog. Here's to 2010 being a more enriching year.

Texts from a long distance bus trip

Two days ago I had a houseguest, a friend from Vancouver. Being a recent grad with student loans, he decided to save some money and take the Greyhound to Edmonton instead of flying. The bus left at 6:30 a.m. and was supposed to arrive at 11:40 p.m. This is how it went from there, based on the texts that he sent me:

1:05 p.m. Just seeing if I can text you on this thing...such a ludite with phones!

1:35 p.m. Sigh...already 1/2 hour behind.

8:48 p.m. Sigh...just got signal back on my phone. you still a night owl? we may be as much as 1 1/2 hours late!

8:49 p.m. We haven't reached Jasper yet.

8:53 p.m. Sweet!! it's been a long trip...not physically tiring, just aggravating.

[I'd texted that there would be stew for him when he arrived]

9:12 p.m. Awesome...we're just leaving jasper now.

1:04 a.m. Think we're almost here...

Me in reply: By "here" do you mean Edmonton or my place?

1:04 a.m. Edmonton...coming into the city now.

1:09 a.m. Check that...it's spruce grove. feck, this is taking forever!

1:13 a.m. Yeah...sorry to keep you waiting like this. bus=uncool.

1:50 a.m. They lost my bag

1:56 a.m. Anger rising...

[Post script: My friend took a cab from the bus station and arrived at my place at about 2:15 a.m. He got his bag from Greyhound the next morning, though not without further trouble. When he got there, the one guy who had the one key to the luggage room was on his break and he had to wait a little longer.]

[P.P.S.: A text message from his return trip, as the bus had just embarked:

11:04 p.m. ... Btw, the latrine on the bus is almost entirely full ]

Flow chart

Last week, instead of working on my chapter:

I made a flow chart:

Total pages so far: 22 (at a snail's pace)

"Huzza!"

No, this is not a post about being done the chapter. It is a post about the history of language. Sorry to disappoint you twice.

I was skimming a PDF of Maria Edgeworth's selected letters tonight (thank you, Google Books for saving my bacon) and a funny word caught my eye:

Yes, Maria Edgeworth channels Mr. Burns and uses "huzza!" in a letter.

This made me wonder how old the word "huzza" actually is, and so I turn to the good old OED. As an interjection or exclamation, the earliest recorded usage found is from 1682: "these Rogues sing Huzza!"

But as a noun meaning "a shout of exultation or applause; a hurrah", "huzza" goes as far back as at least 1573, over four hundred years ago.

So Maria Edgeworth wasn't exactly ahead of the curve in terms of using "huzzah" in an 1809 letter.

This isn't the first time Edgeworth's idiom has struck me, though. One of the chapters in her novel Belinda is titled "Love Me, Love My Dog". Turns out that phrase? Appears as early as freaking 1475! 1475!

Love me, love my hound. Who knew?

Dear U of A "Annual Giving Office"

Dear U of A "Annual Giving Office":

I am guessing that my e-mail address is on your mailing list because in addition to being a grad student at this fine institution, I am also an instructor and therefore fall into the category of "Faculty and Staff". I received the attached e-mail from you today, and found myself in an awkward, cognitively dissonant position as Instructor-me was canvassed for a donation to benefit Student-me.

You should know that I already support U of A students—one arts student in particular—on a daily basis, providing needs as basic as food, clothing, and shelter. I am uncertain that going to your "NEW Online Giving website" which you tout as "efficient, secure, and most cost effective!" will actually be more efficient for me, since I already have ready access to the money that Instructor-me earns for Student-me. Moreover, I'm afraid I must regretfully decline your suggestion of making a "monthly gift via payroll deduction" because I already do so: it's called my tuition payment.

In closing, U of A Annual Giving Office, allow me to offer you a gift and suggest that you double check your mailing list and remove the names of anyone who is a student. You would come off as less insensitive that way.

Sincerely,

Student-Me

P.S. If you actually have any clout, Giving Office, perhaps you can convince FGSR to give me an extension on my dissertation, since I clearly spend most of my time writing letters to entities that will not write me back (tm McSweeney's). Thanks.

Procrastination/Exit strategies are the mother of all inventions

aka The Academic Equivalent of Kramer, II

Other inventions that I should patent/create/sell and make money from instead of finishing the PhD:

1. A collapsable travel mug. Once you're done your coffee, you're left with an inconvenient, bulky mug that you can't necessarily fit in your bag (especially if the mug has a handle). I once saw a travel cup in a Chapters that was composed of five rings that collapsed down for ease of packing. I can understand how translating that design to a travel mug with the thermal insert would be difficult if not impossible, especially considering that it should absolutely be leak proof, but if any engineer out there can make, patent and profit from this idea, all I ask is for 1% of the gross. That is all. Gross, mind you, not net.

2. A brass monkey toy with detachable/re-attachable balls. The monkey contains some kind of thermometer and when the room temperature (or outside temperature?) falls below a certain point, its balls fall off. Balls need to be re-attachable for replay value.

Double or single?

Ever since I start typing my essays on computer, I have always written my drafts in double space, mainly because the essays were required to be double spaced when handed in. As someone who has marked many essays since then, I can attest to how much easier it is to read double spaced writing.

But I seem to be in the minority when it comes to drafting. Most of my friends write in single spaced. One of them loves that magic moment when you double space an essay and the page count doubles. They've also pointed out that you can see more of what you've already written, thus can keep your thoughts together.

The latter point is an especially apt one now that I'm on (that is, back on) to the dissertation, which contains longer paragraphs than I've ever written in my life. Tonight I picked up chapter three where I left off (many months ago... sigh) and made everything single spaced. The page count was not as pretty (or in the double digits) but it was nice to develop a paragraph while still being able to see the topic sentence. Also, I realize that the other reason I've always double spaced is because Times New Roman looks too crowded when single spaced. Now that I've set Garamond as my default typefact, I no longer have that problem.

Pages written tonight: 1 double spaced (baby steps)

Pages written so far: 18 db sp