Yeah, that subject line pretty much says it all. Classes got pretty rough this semester (okay, one class got pretty rough [and for reasons completely unrelated to understanding the material], one class had a difficult project [group project; with undergraduates; who regularly skipped class and ignored the assignment] but was otherwise fun and ( Read more... )

It's late, but I wanted to update on the grad school front. The trip was extremely useful. I met profs, other grad students, and people in the libraries and East Asian Studies Center - a well-rounded bunch, in other words ( Read more... )

The University of Southern California has firmed up their funding, so I am officially accepted. To top it off, they've invited me to come visit (plane and hotel covered, possibly meals as well). The catch? I was invited a few days ago, and I'm going... this Wednesday. That's a fast turnover, for me. I like to have some time to plan things, ( Read more... )

I am giving a sample of my presentation tomorrow. It is not yet written. I don't have a Powerpoint ready for it. So what did I do tonight? Watch Sanctuary. You all should have too. No Tesla tonight, for which I am sad. But even without him it's a great show. C'mon, secret monsters throughout history, Jack the Ripper as one of them, a ( Read more... )

*Ahem*

That is to say, I passed.

Now I just have to turn it infix it yet again (seriously, this is going to be the fifth draft now), print it on really frigging expensive paper ($58 is a bit much for blank paper, don't you think?) and turn it in ( Read more... )

Took a thesis break to eat an expensive-but-worth-it dinner with the other Japan-siders. Ate too much and generally had a good time.

Am now on my next break (apparently), and found a weekly listing of the top-selling manga in Japan. I started to skim down it and suddenly started to worry; I knew NONE of the titles. So I immediately started ( Read more... )

So I've gotten three quarters of my grades, and despite having felt like I was doing less work, less well all semester my GPA went up. If my last grade is in line with the others, then my GPA has gone up significantly. Well, I'm all for that, even if I don't know how it happened ( Read more... )

So, I just sent in one of the two most important grad school apps without my GPA because the last time I had checked (yesterday) I was still missing the grade for one of my classes (grades were due on Monday... ). Then, after submitting the app, I check again and guess what's there ( Read more... )

Okay, so here's my (very generalized) plan for the next few years:

*I will finish the master's in one year at Penn ( Read more... )

I know I haven't updated in, uhm, forever, but there really hasn't been anything interesting going on - work, cleaning, occasional weekends. Otakon was fun and I was able to see my grandmother, which was also good. I've been wanting to learn more about Dad's family for awhile and I was able to learn a lot for the first time this summer, so that ( Read more... )