Blog Action Day
HUZZAH! It's BLOG ACTION DAY!
Fortunately, BAD (ass) is about the environment, and so is my life (leaving aside my perpetual discussion of the false partition between 'environment', 'society', 'economy', etc. It's all the same ball of wax, people!). So, since this is a generally navel-gazing blog, this is what I'm up to:
The Application: My PhD application, to be precise. Soon to be referred to as 'the thing', because just talking/writing/thinking about it gives me new ideas for procrastination and avoidance. I suppose this is partly the result of crippling self-doubt, but it's also - given that the likelihood of getting in (one in TEN??? are you shitting me?) is so low, why am I sweating blood for an application that's likely to be yet another $65 fantasy? Especially when I'm halfway through the third season of Veronica Mars. I have promised Annie to give her a draft of the personal statements tomorrow, because I need to get a first draft done before taking it any further. Don't worry, I'm sure that if I fail I will do it publically.
Work: Mysteriously, I'm finally adding my $.02 (or 1p) to CAFOD's climate change campaign. It's a MIRACLE! I've written a quick brief on talking to climate skeptics (if you're looking for one, there's a fantastically thorough one on the Royal Society website) and am helping to coordinate resources on strategy. No love for my Bali jaunt, though. No 'official' work means no time off in lieu which means less time in Indonesia which means I owe them nothing. It's all SustainUS and exploring Seminiyak for me.
Travel: I am committing a great climate sin by flying to Morocco in less than a month, just to explore. I've decided to go to Fez, which is apparently the best preserved medieval Islamic city in the world. It's rather exciting. I am making up for this transgression by going to Bali to lobby the US delegation during the UNFCCC negotiations, which you can read about below. (DONATIONS STILL WELCOME AND BELOVED.) I've been reading a lot about Bali in addition to brushing up my rusty rusty knowledge of the UNFCCC negotiations. Oh, Nairobi Work Programme, how you confound me! Finally, I'm going to California for Christmas. Another sin, this time for love miles. I swear I will make this up someday.
Current consumerist existential crisis: Do I, or do I not, buy a Nikon D40? I've been wanting a proper camera for aaaages, and especially since I'm going to Fez and Bali* (and Cally of course) I'll want to record these amazing places. But it's a lot of money, especially because I'm already in debt over, well, the aforementioned globe-trotting. What's worse, being in debt, like, lots of debt (school loans, of course, exist independently of time and space and are disregarded for the purposes of this exercise), or having amazing pictures of places I may never see again? Oh, I am shallow.
*Interestingly enough, the old city of Fez is called Fez el Bali. Just thought I'd throw that in.
News Roundup
(Even) Boys' Education is sliding in Helmand
(gosh, it's a good thing we saved Afghanistan from the Taliban)
Children are starving in Burma/Myanmar (the real reason the monks are protesting)
The Good News: Green Goddesses on the Job in Lagos
And did everyone notice that Al Gore and the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize!?!?!? Rock! Even afterparty is excited. I went to a lecture with RK Pachauri once, he's totally adorable. And obsessed with trains.
Finally: In Memoriam
On August 13, Hannah, who spent the last 18 years giving me the most incredible, unbelieveable, unconditional love, passed into the afterlife of endless bunny chases and all the human food she could ever want to eat. Hannah was a creature of great wisdom and many moods.
Saintly ("I'm so good, don't you want to give me your peanut butter sandwich?")
Coy ("Oh come on now, you don't need that peanut butter sandwich.")
Action ("I will leap and dance in exchange for your peanut butter sandwich!")
Solicitous ("I am so concerned about that peanut butter sandwich's lack of a good home.")
She was endlessly manipulative, and even learned basic spelling (W-A-L-K, F-O-O-D, etc.). She greeted every day and everyone with joy and love and enormous satisfaction. I am still trying to learn that from her.
Fortunately, BAD (ass) is about the environment, and so is my life (leaving aside my perpetual discussion of the false partition between 'environment', 'society', 'economy', etc. It's all the same ball of wax, people!). So, since this is a generally navel-gazing blog, this is what I'm up to:
The Application: My PhD application, to be precise. Soon to be referred to as 'the thing', because just talking/writing/thinking about it gives me new ideas for procrastination and avoidance. I suppose this is partly the result of crippling self-doubt, but it's also - given that the likelihood of getting in (one in TEN??? are you shitting me?) is so low, why am I sweating blood for an application that's likely to be yet another $65 fantasy? Especially when I'm halfway through the third season of Veronica Mars. I have promised Annie to give her a draft of the personal statements tomorrow, because I need to get a first draft done before taking it any further. Don't worry, I'm sure that if I fail I will do it publically.
Work: Mysteriously, I'm finally adding my $.02 (or 1p) to CAFOD's climate change campaign. It's a MIRACLE! I've written a quick brief on talking to climate skeptics (if you're looking for one, there's a fantastically thorough one on the Royal Society website) and am helping to coordinate resources on strategy. No love for my Bali jaunt, though. No 'official' work means no time off in lieu which means less time in Indonesia which means I owe them nothing. It's all SustainUS and exploring Seminiyak for me.
Travel: I am committing a great climate sin by flying to Morocco in less than a month, just to explore. I've decided to go to Fez, which is apparently the best preserved medieval Islamic city in the world. It's rather exciting. I am making up for this transgression by going to Bali to lobby the US delegation during the UNFCCC negotiations, which you can read about below. (DONATIONS STILL WELCOME AND BELOVED.) I've been reading a lot about Bali in addition to brushing up my rusty rusty knowledge of the UNFCCC negotiations. Oh, Nairobi Work Programme, how you confound me! Finally, I'm going to California for Christmas. Another sin, this time for love miles. I swear I will make this up someday.
Current consumerist existential crisis: Do I, or do I not, buy a Nikon D40? I've been wanting a proper camera for aaaages, and especially since I'm going to Fez and Bali* (and Cally of course) I'll want to record these amazing places. But it's a lot of money, especially because I'm already in debt over, well, the aforementioned globe-trotting. What's worse, being in debt, like, lots of debt (school loans, of course, exist independently of time and space and are disregarded for the purposes of this exercise), or having amazing pictures of places I may never see again? Oh, I am shallow.
*Interestingly enough, the old city of Fez is called Fez el Bali. Just thought I'd throw that in.
News Roundup
(Even) Boys' Education is sliding in Helmand
(gosh, it's a good thing we saved Afghanistan from the Taliban)
Children are starving in Burma/Myanmar (the real reason the monks are protesting)
The Good News: Green Goddesses on the Job in Lagos
And did everyone notice that Al Gore and the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize!?!?!? Rock! Even afterparty is excited. I went to a lecture with RK Pachauri once, he's totally adorable. And obsessed with trains.
Finally: In Memoriam
On August 13, Hannah, who spent the last 18 years giving me the most incredible, unbelieveable, unconditional love, passed into the afterlife of endless bunny chases and all the human food she could ever want to eat. Hannah was a creature of great wisdom and many moods.
Saintly ("I'm so good, don't you want to give me your peanut butter sandwich?")
Coy ("Oh come on now, you don't need that peanut butter sandwich.")
Action ("I will leap and dance in exchange for your peanut butter sandwich!")
Solicitous ("I am so concerned about that peanut butter sandwich's lack of a good home.")
She was endlessly manipulative, and even learned basic spelling (W-A-L-K, F-O-O-D, etc.). She greeted every day and everyone with joy and love and enormous satisfaction. I am still trying to learn that from her.