Dissertating and other activities.

On Saturday I didn't leave the house---yes, I know, but I don't care what you think!---and worked on my dissertation. By which I mean I read part of a book related to my first chapter, took some notes on an article also related to my first chapter, and went through some notes. Yay me!

Sunday was a day of no work. Instead, FN and I met up with EC, AG, and YT for yummy dim sum at our favourite place in Chinatown. It was especially good that day, though I was less enamoured of the steamed BBQ pork buns than I usually am. The glutinous dumplings, however, were delish. Afterwards we did a bit of shopping in Kensington Market and then headed off home. EC and I then walked back south to meet up with some Massey kids and go to the Bloor Cinema. We saw (for free, thanks to the host of The Green Majority) "Everything's Cool," a documentary being shown as part of the Hot Docs festival. The film follows a few climate change activists---broadly defined---around for a while as they try to bridge the gap between public and scientific belief on the issue in the United States. It was quite entertaining and a little educational. It's not about the debate or the science, per se, but it was good for what it was. For dinner, EC came over and cooked up a lovely vegetarian pasta.

Yesterday I ran some errands at school. My supervisor gave me some books related to my dissertation. More books for my shelves! It just so happened that she was soon going to be meeting with a Russian historian friend of hers while I was around, so I got to hang around and meet him too. I've read his book (about the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05), and he had some good things to say to me. So that was nice of my supervisor, and lucky of me. In ended the afternoon sitting in the Massey common room reading a book and enjoying the sunshine. How nice.

Now, what I've left out of my Monday adventures is that I kept running into people I hadn't seen in a while. I love this about campus---I can rarely go there without having to stop and chat. But this is of course also kinda annoying, since I am usually trying to get things done! But you can't keep me away from a conversation, so I love it. It was nice to see and chat with PM, BB, VM, and BB2 (hadn't seen her in months and months!). And at Massey I hung out with some of the guys, including SM, handsome guy, and the coolest guy. Good times. Not conducive to getting much work done, however.

The reason I was at Massey was not just to hang out but to go to a pre-departure meeting for my upcoming trip to Israel. There are 15 of us Masseyites going, and we got to meet our contact guy who will be coming with us, as well as have our questions answered. The trip should be amazing in several different ways. We're not going to do everything that we might potentially have done, but I'm ok with this because there's only so much one can do and expect to do in such a situation. The trip will be nearly free for us, and we leave on 13 May. Exciting. I just hope I can get along with the other 14 people. I think it should be fine though I may try to sensor my behaviour around at least one of the people, since she strikes me as the sensitive type. (I wish people were cooler, but maybe they equally wish people were less annoying.)

Ok, I spent way too much time updating this blog (which no one reads anyways), so I better get back to my day.