Monday, July 24, 2006
In Case You Were Wondering....
This is what I looked like as a baby -- not a newborn, but still a pretty cute kid.
It's Thanks Mom Day! aka my birthday
26 years ago my pain-tolerant momma had a 9lb 2oz baby girl at Surrey Memorial Hospital. She and my dad chose a sufficiently bizarre name to christen my big bald head, and my sister ignored my boring babiness.
Today, the husband took me out for a picnic lunch on Gonzales Bay to celebrate the 26 years I've been around. I'd say Gonzales Bay is a step up from Surrey, so I'm feeling pretty good today.
Today, the husband took me out for a picnic lunch on Gonzales Bay to celebrate the 26 years I've been around. I'd say Gonzales Bay is a step up from Surrey, so I'm feeling pretty good today.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
The Poor Blogger
I'm not really the poor blogger (that title has already been claimed by a very funny blogger I recently discovered) but I have been rather remiss in my blogging lately. As my regular readers (friends and fellow academicians -- hiya!) might have sensed, the spring months were pretty shitty for me. Mentally, emotionally, motivationally -- it was a rough season. I was underwhelmed by ACCUTE, but my trip to England and the INCS conference were effing amazing.
My family continues to rock ass. Kudos to my sis and BIL for putting up with my parents and me for almost 2 weeks, especially since I was such a pill the first few days (and every morning -- I am a total morning bear). We went to Scarborough, Kenilworth, pubbing, for a good curry, to London, and shopping shopping shopping. Britain has so much style -- I did my best to soak it up but, alas, I'm still a Canadian bum at heart. Har.
The conference was great. Durham is one of the prettiest cities I've ever seen, and the host college took hosting to a new level of, erm, hostiness. And it was so great to be surrounded my so many musicologists. They have a great attitude -- don't take themselves nearly as serious as my fellow lit scholars. As a music geek deep in my inner core, I felt privileged to be around such cool folks. And the keynote speaker was a super nice guy who hung out late at night and drank beer!! Having dealt with a couple keynotes myself, I can say that they could learn a lot about professionalism and grace from someone like P.V.B.
My paper went really really really really really well. The presentation format was totally me, and the questions afterwards really made me think about some of the issues I'd only touched on while writing. I'm actually looking forward to expanding the paper and sending it off for publication. I have high hopes.
Upon returning to Canada, and snagging an early flight to the island, Mike and I were lucky enough to see two of our best friends get hitched in true island style. They are a fab couple and looked gorgeous (as did Mike and I, esp. since I was wearing my London-born lilac ensemble -- thanks mom!).
The only bits of bad news I have are as follows: a stomach flu following a transatlantic flight sucks ass, and so does finding a dissertation that's about, well, my dissertation -- and mere months before starting to write. But that's a whole other entry, and I promise to deliver it soon.
Ah. It's good to be back.
My family continues to rock ass. Kudos to my sis and BIL for putting up with my parents and me for almost 2 weeks, especially since I was such a pill the first few days (and every morning -- I am a total morning bear). We went to Scarborough, Kenilworth, pubbing, for a good curry, to London, and shopping shopping shopping. Britain has so much style -- I did my best to soak it up but, alas, I'm still a Canadian bum at heart. Har.
The conference was great. Durham is one of the prettiest cities I've ever seen, and the host college took hosting to a new level of, erm, hostiness. And it was so great to be surrounded my so many musicologists. They have a great attitude -- don't take themselves nearly as serious as my fellow lit scholars. As a music geek deep in my inner core, I felt privileged to be around such cool folks. And the keynote speaker was a super nice guy who hung out late at night and drank beer!! Having dealt with a couple keynotes myself, I can say that they could learn a lot about professionalism and grace from someone like P.V.B.
My paper went really really really really really well. The presentation format was totally me, and the questions afterwards really made me think about some of the issues I'd only touched on while writing. I'm actually looking forward to expanding the paper and sending it off for publication. I have high hopes.
Upon returning to Canada, and snagging an early flight to the island, Mike and I were lucky enough to see two of our best friends get hitched in true island style. They are a fab couple and looked gorgeous (as did Mike and I, esp. since I was wearing my London-born lilac ensemble -- thanks mom!).
The only bits of bad news I have are as follows: a stomach flu following a transatlantic flight sucks ass, and so does finding a dissertation that's about, well, my dissertation -- and mere months before starting to write. But that's a whole other entry, and I promise to deliver it soon.
Ah. It's good to be back.