Chapter submitted!

I finally e-mailed a my first chapter to my supervisor. It's a draft, and I know there are some problems with it, but I decided it was done (enough) and I was going to stop obsessing over it. So yay!

Wednesday involved a late lunch to celebrate JH's big presentation. MB and I took her to Thai Basil, and had a great time! The food was excellent. (For what you pay.) Afterwards, I came home, only to have CS return home a few minutes later and announce that we were going to the Victory Cafe for drinks with historians. And so doing that took up many more hours of my day. It was great fun, though. But this is how I manage to not get any work done during the day. When we finally made it home (not too late---it was 10:30pm), I ended up finishing reading my supervisor's latest book. It was thus not until Thursday that I finished the chapter.

And after I did that, I figured I needed a break (ha! not so much), and went for dinner with CS, LS, and a prof of ours. Lovely time; I ate a ton. Then it was off to Rancho Relaxo for Zygiella 4. The show was good fun. All the performers/bands were entertaining. I especially liked Fleece Elves. It was a bit of a different crowd: a couple of the bands had drawn somewhat of a frat-boy/girl audience. [The photo of me watching Fleece Elves was taken by Pete Nema.]

The bathroom ceiling is now fixed and painted. It only took the landlord two days (including 5 hours yesterday) to do it. I was annoyed with him yesterday. He gave me attitude when, after nearly 5 hours of him being in there, I had to ask him to leave so I could go pee. What a jerk.

But I'm over that now. It's Friday and I'm in a good mood.

Biker Jen.

Today I picked up my new (used) bike and rode it home from Kensington. It was fun! I'm not sure where I'm going to store the thing at home, but hopefully that will get sorted out soon. It's not feasible to bring it up to my balcony at night, since it's kinda large and there are lots of doors and stairs and twists and turns to deal with. But other than that, everything's good.

This evening CS and I along with LS had a lovely dinner at Sushi on Bloor . . . which is totally a better place than New Gen. We lingered and shopped at BMV Books, then walked home. Since then I've been working a bit on my listings, but mostly thinking about which bands and artists I would like to feature on the podcast. Crazy.

And now I'm making progress on the dissertation. I want to finish my first chapter (for now) and send it to my supervisor by the end of the weekend. I need to get to work on my conference paper due in about a week.

Life's good, as usual.

Non-indie Friday.

I was annoyed with myself on Friday because I was late to a meeting of our student society. Being a few minutes late meant I missed a by-election. Usually I wouldn't care, but I wanted to run for this position. I've been doing the job informally all term, so it would have been nice to have it formalized. No dice. I am slightly disgruntled that someone else will get to have this title---someone who hasn't been doing what I've been doing since September---but it's completely my own fault. But, as EW pointed out at lunch, it's not like I need another line on my cv under "Service." Quite right.

Last night FN and I had parties to go to, so we did that. We had good, clean, non-indie fun. Tonight is FN's going-away bash at the Embassy! Should be tons and tons of fun. Some of the same excellent folks we hung out with yesterday, plus others. I'm looking forward to it. Though I'm also looking forward to getting more work done on my dissertation. I'd be really nice to have half my chapter done (in terrible draft form) by the time I meet with my supervisor in December . . . .

I'm better; I'm working.

Ok, I'm feeling much less like a crazed grad student today. All seems well with the world.

Yesterday was busy, but good. Although I did for a few hours think I hadn't been invited to a supervisor's book launch. I happened upon it when I arrived at Massey to set up a junior fellow lecture. First thing upon entering the building, I see the book . . . and then my main supervisor (now at Oxford)! Totally unexpected. Over the next few minutes I realized all these people I knew were there, and I hadn't even heard about it! Was feeling a little put out. But once I got home I discovered a phone message with the invitation. Phew. I couldn't have made it anyways, but it's good to know I wasn't completely forgotten.

Today I've been working, and have actually made some headway on my chapter. It hurts my brain, so I'm taking a break by putting together all 77 paper proposals the grad conference I'm helping organize received. Seventy-seven! I don't think we can even accept half that number.

And I now know that my supervisor hasn't forgotten about me, and we'll meet up in December when she's back in Toronto. Better have something more than what I've got now to show her . . . eek.

Running around.

House things take a lot of time out of my week. By "house things" I mean laundry, dishes, cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning and tidying up, changing lightbulbs, etc. Plus personal stuff like banking and filling paper/mail and dealing with e-mail. It all takes a lot of time. And it's all the more noticeable now because for the most part I wasn't doing that stuff (to the same extent) in London.

Anyways, whatever. I'm not really complaining. It's just necessary for me to think about how I can not watch TV or movies, or listen to music, or do that much surfing of the internet and yet still not get much work done on any given day. Yes, I could be more efficient with my time, but not terribly more. Hmm.

Today was beautiful. Bright and sunny, and although the snow's mostly melted from the streets and sidewalks---good for walking places---it's still everywhere else. So pretty. I happily walked to school to hand in my reapplication to Massey, and then took the streetcar down to Kensington Market to stock up on a whole bunch of things. You know, it was nice to have 10 degree weather in London, but I think I missed snow. After a proper snowfall, the world seems clean and peaceful and happy. I like it. Let's just hope -5 degrees is here to stay, and it doesn't get much colder until next year!

There's lots to do tomorrow: attend seminar a friend of mine is giving (she doesn't know I'll be there); hold office hours for my students; have dinner with HD; make an appearance at pub night.

(As I write this, FN is watching "Babel," and it sounds, well, kinda hard to take. I quote from my living room: "Oh my goodness . . . I can't deal with this.")

In other news, I've been interestingly reading positive reviews of my supervisor's latest offering. How fun!

Unexpected adventures.

Here's a brief run-down of the unwanted occurrences of the past few days.
1. The night before I flew to Washington my computer stopped worked. Well, to be precise, it works fine on battery, but the plug thingie is not working. So, I can't plug it into the wall through the AC adapter, or use my external battery. Which means there's about 30 minutes left of power in it. Sigh.
2. I took the subway and bus to the airport. This took too long, and then I got off at the wrong terminal, so had to trek back to the right one. This made me a bit nervous because I was already late!
3. Got to the correct terminal, and it was a madhouse! OMG, there were hundreds and hundreds of people lining up for US flights. I was very impressed with the airport staff. They went up and down the huge lines, gathering people up for specific flights and moving them ahead so people wouldn't miss their flights. A clump of us DC-bound people ended up spending way more time together than we'd ever imagined! (At this point, though, my being late to the airport didn't matter anymore, since the guy right ahead of me in the customs line had been there 2 hours early.)
4. Security was very tight. The customs agent asked me all kinds of questions, even about what my dissertation was on! My checked luggage was then inspected by hand. And then the regular carry-on checking. I then rushed down to the last gate, and waited in another line. I was very thoroughly checked with a metal-detector thing. Very. And ALL my carry-on items were opened and carefully inspected. Wow. I finally made it onto the plane just a few minutes past the original take-off time. So the flight wasn't delayed that long. Crazy times. I was on the go (or waiting in a line) from 6:45am until I got my luggage at Reagan National Airport at 11:30am. Good thing I didn't have to go to the washroom or get something to eat!
5. I ate my first soft pretzel at the airport. Yummy! Why don't we have these things in Canada? Or do we?
6. My new landlord picked me up at the airport, and gave me a quick tour of some of the tourist areas of DC before taking me to my new home in College Park, MD. He then ordered food for us, because at this point it was approaching 2pm, and we were both starved.
7. I slept for several hours that evening (Tuesday), and then woke up to start worrying about what to do about my computer situation. I need one for my research. HD and her mom promised to fedex an old laptop to me the next day! They are too awesome. Good thing I have a US cell phone with me, because it was my only means of communication with the outside world. (The cell comes from HD's mom too, so extra thanks to her.)
8. Wednesday morning I discovered the metro and a local mall and bought groceries. In the afternoon I took the bus to the archives, survived more super-tight security, and started my research! Yay! I also got to check my e-mail for the first time in a couple days.
9. I waited almost 45 minutes for the bus to get back home. Oy. Once here, I turned on my computer (with battery) and transferred all my files to my external hard drive. The I hung out with one of my new roommates for a bit before doing some work and going to sleep.
10. This morning I woke up to wait for my Fedex delivery. And I'm using my new/old/temporary laptop now. While waiting I read some of my supervisor's newest book. It is so good. Wow. She is amazing.
11. At the moment I am installing some programs and transferring important files to this new computer so I can start using it at the archives this afternoon.
12. Phew! And if you actually managed to read this far, you are crazy, but I love you anyway ;-).

It can no longer be avoided.

Yep, it's true: grading is upon me. Finally. How dreadful. But I really must do it or else I will never be able to go home for xmas. And that would be uncool.

In happier news, I had lunch with my main supervisor today at a local pub. (Fellow historian CS was also there.) It was fun, though I find I don't have too much to say to my supervisor. I feel boring when I'm around her! I think it's just that I haven't read the books or seen the movies she mentions. It's also that I'm in the midst of researching, which isn't particularly interesting to talk about. I mean, I'm gathering material at this point; I'm not even reading it yet.

I stopped by the department a couple times today, and ran into historians (as usual). PM and JT were out enjoying the unseasonably warm weather (well, ok, JT was smoking); EW was in the office; and super-cool east Europeanist SJ was there too! He is too awesome. I bothered LG for a few minutes before coming home early in the afternoon to face my doom. But first I procrastinated for a long time. Sigh. And then FN came home with dinner, so that (mercifully) took me away from work too. After dinner we put up art (totally necessary for our mental health), and then I had to rearrange my desk (so I can grade). I feel like Steve Carrell's character on that episode of "The Office" where he has work he must do, but he does everything except do it until the last moment . . . at which point he tells his underlings to do the work for him. Double sigh.

So now there's really no getting around it. Grading is upon me. After I eat.

Hobnobbing.

Side note: I have supervisor love. I can't help it: They are all too awesome.

Anyways, today I went to another book launch, this time at the Munk Centre. It was for Allan Gotlieb's Washington Diaries. He spoke---seems an interesting fellow---as did CSIS director Jim Judd (booooorrrrrring), Historica president Colin Robertson (nice, intelligent, interesting fellow), and Janice Gross Stein (of course). The talking ranged from excruciatingly boring to semi-interesting. But the reception and milling about afterwards was great fun. (It was also great fun to sit beside one of my supervisors, who provided some entertainment during the excruciating parts). Since I am on a mission to convince said supervisor that I do drink, I had a glass of wine. Two of my (very tall) supervisors then got to work introducing me to all their friends in high places. (I exaggerate, but you know what I mean.) I met Roy MacLaren, whose book on Canadians in Russia I have read and enjoyed, and re-met David Hilton, an excellent person who once met one of my Siberian guys! Yeah, he told me he once spent a day and a half in a company of the former trade commissioner to Vladivostok. Crazy! I must find out more about this encounter, because I know almost nothing about this particular official. There are only a few reports or letters of his at the archives. Oh, and Robertson told me at the reception that he liked what I had written. Now, at first I thought he meant the report that I had written for his foundation. But I soon realized that he meant my blog post! (This one.) Seems like it made the rounds a bit, and there were some mean e-mails back and forth, etc. How crazy.

After the reception I headed over the Massey to find LG (no luck), and then off to Bloor Street to pick up art and buy bread. And now I am still feeling the effects of supervisor love but must get over it so I can get to work!

A visitor from across the pond.

Yesterday was a good day. I met with my supervisor, which was nice and semi-helpful. I ran into UO, PhD in the department, and made tentative plans to have lunch with him at Massey next week. I had dinner at Massey with LG and the other fellows. We went to the fall orchestra concert at Hart House. I went to pub night to catch up with other historians. And then foreign friend CS came! CS and I then went back to my place to talk with FN. Fun times. Busy social day. She is too cool, that CS. Sad that she's back in Blightly this year.

Today has been a little slower, though I did take 4 historian-friends to Massey for lunch after our student association meeting. But the big news---sort of---is that I just spent nearly $400 on a plane ticket to Washington and back in January. Ouch! Now that I've decided to be gone the whole month, I need to find a place to stay. So, give me advice if you have any! Friends EB and DS will have some thoughts for me, I'm sure.

Tomorrow and Sunday I will be at the Historica council meeting. It should be fun, though I hope I don't feel out of place! I think I will need a vacation after the weekend. But I won't get it.

Acknowledged.

My supervisor's latest book came in the mail today---yay! Since I love reading acknowledgements, I did that first . . . and guess what? I'm in there. Check it:
Notice how I seem to have been outed as a trekkie? :-)

In other news, a Russian-language book also arrived for me. It's a novel about a story that's part of my dissertation, so it's good to have. But it's in Russian. Which means I may scan it at some point, but I can't possibly ever read it!

This afternoon, I was a good TA and met with a student. Afterwards, I went to the Christopher Hitchens talk at the Munk Centre. He wasn't as controversial as I'd expected. It was good to go, though, because it's always good to listen to "big picture" people.

And then tonight I listened to a prof. of mine on the radio! No, this time it wasn't my main supervisor---though she's been all over place recently. Historians are cool, methinks.