Really haven't been up to much at all. Waking up late, staying up late-ish. Re-watched Kill Bill 1 and a few episodes of Firefly. Read Clockwork, a good (and very, very short) book by Philip Pullman, reading Murakami's Wind-up Bird Chronicles (still...it is very long), started Seven Pillars of Wisdom (by the Lawrence of Lawrence of Arabia), and am trying to make sense of Kant. Uh oh. Ate at a cool thai/japanese place that's not too expensive (by UK standards), and have been drawing a lot, seeing how I can integrate a comic-book/graphic novel style with my surrealist doodles.
Mostly just resting, but without much satisfaction.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Night on the town
I've had the last few days off--really off--and it's been great. Aside from the occasional lecture, I've been productively lounging. Taking the break off may have been the right choice, though I won't say no to a day or two in Glasgow/Stirling in the middle to see Robbie etc.
Went to Dundee (the nearest "big city" to St Andrews) tonight with theatre people to see a friend in a show (The Producers). It was a good production, if amateur, and a good night--went for dinner first and drinks after--more expensive than the average night, but varied the pace a bit.
Academics-wise have been reading up on Kant, who we just started in Modern, though I'm a bit behind on Hume and should give him another look-over as well. Have got an essays, a presentation, and a reflection on an assignment due in when I get back, so should start those. Also have 'Hecuba' on as soon as we get back, so that'll be a busy week. As far as watching that online, we're gonna see if we can use this: http://www.ustream.tv/ . Have been raiding the dump for broken tech stuff and that's been going well. Also thinking about doing cartoon art (of the oh-so-serious 'graphic novel' variety) and how to incorporate pictures into stories and words into moving (essentially cinematic) images, so that's been most of my doodles on notes, if no real serious projects.
Mostly just relaxing, which is necessary.
Went to Dundee (the nearest "big city" to St Andrews) tonight with theatre people to see a friend in a show (The Producers). It was a good production, if amateur, and a good night--went for dinner first and drinks after--more expensive than the average night, but varied the pace a bit.
Academics-wise have been reading up on Kant, who we just started in Modern, though I'm a bit behind on Hume and should give him another look-over as well. Have got an essays, a presentation, and a reflection on an assignment due in when I get back, so should start those. Also have 'Hecuba' on as soon as we get back, so that'll be a busy week. As far as watching that online, we're gonna see if we can use this: http://www.ustream.tv/ . Have been raiding the dump for broken tech stuff and that's been going well. Also thinking about doing cartoon art (of the oh-so-serious 'graphic novel' variety) and how to incorporate pictures into stories and words into moving (essentially cinematic) images, so that's been most of my doodles on notes, if no real serious projects.
Mostly just relaxing, which is necessary.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
9000 words in 4 days
Whew.
This is what a full-time job feels like. Audit of Coca-Cola has been interesting enough, but not for the length of this assignment...looking at corporate reports is not the most fascinating thing I've ever done. Would love to spin information myself, but unspinning it in an attempt to get the "real picture" is tedious and not really possible--its all subjective and complicated. The discovery of this was, I suppose, the purpose of the assignment.
Now what?
This is what a full-time job feels like. Audit of Coca-Cola has been interesting enough, but not for the length of this assignment...looking at corporate reports is not the most fascinating thing I've ever done. Would love to spin information myself, but unspinning it in an attempt to get the "real picture" is tedious and not really possible--its all subjective and complicated. The discovery of this was, I suppose, the purpose of the assignment.
Now what?
Monday, March 23, 2009
whew
Exhausting day. Realised that this social audit project is more dissertation length than essay length, so stayed home and wrote 9am until 5pm and wrote circa 2500 words. If I keep up that pace, I'll be fine! Dad you are a lifesaver--that audit is incredible! (though Wikipedia is too :) ). Did some creative writing to keep the mind limber in the meantime, and googled acid reflux.
Indicative of my life though it is, took a break in audit writing to go to my own rehearsal, where we blocked the final scene and another choral ode. This play is really shaping up, really is, by the skin of its teeth. Not enough time! (ever).
Went to Alice's for dinner and tea, now more writing. "Last minute" is perhaps the theme of the semester. Let's hope this one goes as well as the others!
Indicative of my life though it is, took a break in audit writing to go to my own rehearsal, where we blocked the final scene and another choral ode. This play is really shaping up, really is, by the skin of its teeth. Not enough time! (ever).
Went to Alice's for dinner and tea, now more writing. "Last minute" is perhaps the theme of the semester. Let's hope this one goes as well as the others!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Aaaaaand I'm feeling a bit ill
200th post!
Aside from that, life is going well. Hecuba rehearsals awesome with the addition of the chorus, though Cheolseung has dropped out (directing a show going up on the exact same day in Korea, unfortunately, with no options to move the time), but we're getting a friend of Clare's at UCLA to do it, which should be cool and allow for great mind-fuckery as they'll start on separate screens and eventually he'll invade hers to have a real dialogue.
Academics? Handed a Philosophy essay in last week, which turned out not bad after I decided it was going to be crap and taught me a valuable lesson--simplify! Going in with no agenda, I was able to really just focus on the question without exploring any of my side tangents and wrote a decently compact essay. I have one on Islam in this Friday, where I'll try to convince the Divinity department that Islam isn't really evil and they should give its beliefs a chance rather than just being like, "and they like submitting and think God is wrathful and it's basically just Christianity but with more rules and we don't like all those rules, now do we?" And then the next week the fabulous social audit that I have yet to start and should REALLY get a move on.
Cleaned up the house for an inspection tomorrow. Discovered floor.
Claimed floor in the name of the queen.
Had an art piece (all the post-it notes I doodled on last year stuck together in a sort of brain-like mass hung from a shoe string) at a student art exhibit, which was cool. Been reading about Hume, who makes me want Kant, and Islam, and having very boring but important lectures in Sustainable Development about accounting and law. Pffffft. Girlfriend still going strong, to our mutual surprise. She encourages rule-breaking, which is good; snuck on a bus for an Art History field trip to Edinburgh on Saturday and pissed about the city for the day for free. Scotland-Ireland rubgy was on that day, but every single person I saw was supporting Ireland. Says something about Scottish rugby. Or about Edinburgh really being Scotland.
Starting to think about the Easter holidays, and what I want to do. I've got a week and a half before I have to be back. What do I want to do? Is the dollar strong anywhere in the world?
Aside from that, life is going well. Hecuba rehearsals awesome with the addition of the chorus, though Cheolseung has dropped out (directing a show going up on the exact same day in Korea, unfortunately, with no options to move the time), but we're getting a friend of Clare's at UCLA to do it, which should be cool and allow for great mind-fuckery as they'll start on separate screens and eventually he'll invade hers to have a real dialogue.
Academics? Handed a Philosophy essay in last week, which turned out not bad after I decided it was going to be crap and taught me a valuable lesson--simplify! Going in with no agenda, I was able to really just focus on the question without exploring any of my side tangents and wrote a decently compact essay. I have one on Islam in this Friday, where I'll try to convince the Divinity department that Islam isn't really evil and they should give its beliefs a chance rather than just being like, "and they like submitting and think God is wrathful and it's basically just Christianity but with more rules and we don't like all those rules, now do we?" And then the next week the fabulous social audit that I have yet to start and should REALLY get a move on.
Cleaned up the house for an inspection tomorrow. Discovered floor.
Claimed floor in the name of the queen.
Had an art piece (all the post-it notes I doodled on last year stuck together in a sort of brain-like mass hung from a shoe string) at a student art exhibit, which was cool. Been reading about Hume, who makes me want Kant, and Islam, and having very boring but important lectures in Sustainable Development about accounting and law. Pffffft. Girlfriend still going strong, to our mutual surprise. She encourages rule-breaking, which is good; snuck on a bus for an Art History field trip to Edinburgh on Saturday and pissed about the city for the day for free. Scotland-Ireland rubgy was on that day, but every single person I saw was supporting Ireland. Says something about Scottish rugby. Or about Edinburgh really being Scotland.
Starting to think about the Easter holidays, and what I want to do. I've got a week and a half before I have to be back. What do I want to do? Is the dollar strong anywhere in the world?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
And I'm feeling good...
Just submitted an essay. Probably the least amount of time I've ever spent on one here, but disturbingly I feel this is an improvement. Didn't go off-topic, didn't feel the need to contribute anything new and interesting and half-formed (well, maybe in a couple footnotes...), just regurgitated the arguments and slapped on a conclusion. But I have to say it's one of the most focused essays I've ever written, and I think I narrowed down the topic sufficiently since I didn't get my laptop back in time to do any extensive research. Now on to write the one for next week...
As procrastination, finished an art project to be displayed as part of the V-Day campaign (the campaign is a big violence against women thing), which is cool...it's good to be doing visual stuff again, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Basically took a whole bunch of post-it notes I'd doodled on last year and made a...thing. Taped them all together so they look like a sort of deformed ship and hung them by a shoelace. 3D ART! It's kinda fun, and that gets displayed this Sunday. Been working on Hecuba and Godspell a whole huggy bunch, and really should kick my ass back into writing now that I've got the laptop back.
We've had some good lectures in Sustainable Development on marketing and accounting, which manage to be interesting from this perspective because they're very "protect yourself from Satan!", and are moving on from Leibniz and Descartes to Hume in Philosophy, who I think I'll appreciate a lot more. World Religions has degraded into us watching videos of dumb UK muslims on the Hajj, which is great and informative and completely misses the point. I suppose it's inevitable that we focus on rituals and traditions, but spending 2 full days on the trivialities of a make-it-if-you-can pilgrimage (Saudi Arabia is hot? Busses are crowded? You have to sleep in tents? I'm learning so much about religion!) when you've got 5-a-day prayer and loads of current controversy over whether Islam makes people blow themselves up or not seems really silly.
Not sure where the time goes.
As procrastination, finished an art project to be displayed as part of the V-Day campaign (the campaign is a big violence against women thing), which is cool...it's good to be doing visual stuff again, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Basically took a whole bunch of post-it notes I'd doodled on last year and made a...thing. Taped them all together so they look like a sort of deformed ship and hung them by a shoelace. 3D ART! It's kinda fun, and that gets displayed this Sunday. Been working on Hecuba and Godspell a whole huggy bunch, and really should kick my ass back into writing now that I've got the laptop back.
We've had some good lectures in Sustainable Development on marketing and accounting, which manage to be interesting from this perspective because they're very "protect yourself from Satan!", and are moving on from Leibniz and Descartes to Hume in Philosophy, who I think I'll appreciate a lot more. World Religions has degraded into us watching videos of dumb UK muslims on the Hajj, which is great and informative and completely misses the point. I suppose it's inevitable that we focus on rituals and traditions, but spending 2 full days on the trivialities of a make-it-if-you-can pilgrimage (Saudi Arabia is hot? Busses are crowded? You have to sleep in tents? I'm learning so much about religion!) when you've got 5-a-day prayer and loads of current controversy over whether Islam makes people blow themselves up or not seems really silly.
Not sure where the time goes.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
and life goes on
sample of today (sans caps):
woke up. went back to bed. woke up. bed. woke up.
round midday now. went to the byre youth theatre group to say i needed two kids for hecuba. very nice people, took my information. went to pm's and got a burger and chips. ate.
godspell rehearsal for 3 hours, dancing. hecuba rehearsal for an hour, monologues, much easier to work than they have been. tomorrow is a putting it together day.
back to the flat for dinner and working on the essay that's due tuesday. then to a party. then home.
woke up. went back to bed. woke up. bed. woke up.
round midday now. went to the byre youth theatre group to say i needed two kids for hecuba. very nice people, took my information. went to pm's and got a burger and chips. ate.
godspell rehearsal for 3 hours, dancing. hecuba rehearsal for an hour, monologues, much easier to work than they have been. tomorrow is a putting it together day.
back to the flat for dinner and working on the essay that's due tuesday. then to a party. then home.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Lappy's Back!
Got my laptop back last night, and it's good to have it--just in time! First assignments are due in next week.
So, blog posts should hopefully start getting more frequent.
So, blog posts should hopefully start getting more frequent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
