29 Days and Counting .... dear gods
I think I need to read Moby Dick before I leave so I can get people to call me Ishmael before I head off overseas.
Course I don't know how many people other than LittleOtter will notice this because I have been persona non grata for the last, oh, like year anyway. Or it feels like it at least. Summer has these crazy pants connotations of relaxation, reduced stress, and long days with lazy afternoons. It still has that connotation for me, which is probably half the reason why I am not in love with the endless-seeming classes and homework.
The good part of this summer has been friends visiting - I just sent two people I adore on their way to making a new life in Sacramento, which is good since it looks like I'll be hanging out there after I get back from Japan so they'll be settled in then. They were here for four days and most of our grandest plans got sort of sidetracked (I totally forgot that Griffith Park Planetarium isn't open on Monday nights). Still managed to have good fun though. And apparently I am looked up to by someone who thinks I rock at the school stuff, which is kind of awesome enough to give me a little confidence at my struggles with language this summer.
Speaking of that, I gave a presentation today in Japanese about gender and sexuality on the internet - about an article written by one of the most interesting women writing on SF in Japan, who compared a 1995 book by Melissa Scott called Trouble and her Friends about lesbian hackers to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. And she did it, and did it well, and I even think I GOT most of it (with a little translation help from my friends). The mildly frustrating but also amusing part of it was that I got the ideas, but my Japanese professor didn't in part because she's not a literary theorist. We had to write a draft book report explaining the ideas presented, and ok, sure, my Japanese isn't great, but some of the time I was directly quoting the author, and so I know the Japanese isn't wrong, and its the ideas. This *is* actually something where my critical skills and my language skills intersected, at least a little, hooray!
so, 29 days and counting. I feel the need to make lists of things I need to accomplish. Thank god the plane tickets are already bought.
also posted to dreamwidth | you can reply here or there | um, but don't worry, i'm still an lj girl
Course I don't know how many people other than LittleOtter will notice this because I have been persona non grata for the last, oh, like year anyway. Or it feels like it at least. Summer has these crazy pants connotations of relaxation, reduced stress, and long days with lazy afternoons. It still has that connotation for me, which is probably half the reason why I am not in love with the endless-seeming classes and homework.
The good part of this summer has been friends visiting - I just sent two people I adore on their way to making a new life in Sacramento, which is good since it looks like I'll be hanging out there after I get back from Japan so they'll be settled in then. They were here for four days and most of our grandest plans got sort of sidetracked (I totally forgot that Griffith Park Planetarium isn't open on Monday nights). Still managed to have good fun though. And apparently I am looked up to by someone who thinks I rock at the school stuff, which is kind of awesome enough to give me a little confidence at my struggles with language this summer.
Speaking of that, I gave a presentation today in Japanese about gender and sexuality on the internet - about an article written by one of the most interesting women writing on SF in Japan, who compared a 1995 book by Melissa Scott called Trouble and her Friends about lesbian hackers to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. And she did it, and did it well, and I even think I GOT most of it (with a little translation help from my friends). The mildly frustrating but also amusing part of it was that I got the ideas, but my Japanese professor didn't in part because she's not a literary theorist. We had to write a draft book report explaining the ideas presented, and ok, sure, my Japanese isn't great, but some of the time I was directly quoting the author, and so I know the Japanese isn't wrong, and its the ideas. This *is* actually something where my critical skills and my language skills intersected, at least a little, hooray!
so, 29 days and counting. I feel the need to make lists of things I need to accomplish. Thank god the plane tickets are already bought.
also posted to dreamwidth | you can reply here or there | um, but don't worry, i'm still an lj girl