Resurfacing

Summer 2009:

Rainstorms

Chopin

Arizona Iced Tea

PostSecret

Jeff Buckley

Facebook

Theories of the secret

Arcade Fire

Fantasizing about Jake Gyllenhaal

Red seedless grapes

Tarot readings

Frozen dinners

Bitch Magazine

Weeds

Whose Line Is It Anyway

Goddamn Hamilton Buses

Pinback

Documentaries on human consciousness

Theories of Confessional Culture

Mold

Nine Inch Nails

Repeated "vasovagal response" episodes

Don Dellilo

Theories of Emotion

Gorillaz

The best cat in the universe

Awkwardness

Dusty shelves

Sigur Ros

Daily Show / Colbert Report

Theories of Politicization

Zoning out too often

Loneliness

Crisp, cold green apples

Portishead

Documentaries on quantum physics

Trying to write

Mango smoothies

Feeling proud of myself

NOW Magazine website

Theories of the Archive

Masquerade

Thunder and lightning

Fantasizing about Ryan Reynolds

Feist

Not enough laughter

Massive gratefulness for good friends

True Blood

Theories of Therapeutic Culture

Refusing to clean up after other people

Astrology readings

Fantasizing about Shane from the L Word

Writing

Curve

Theories of why the hell I can't seem to write anything decent

Disappointment

Raw nerves

Tool

Theories of Affect

Trying to think

The silence of this room at 4 am

Realizing that this MA is actually meant to break you

Not feeling any better after that realization

Heart palpitations

Fleeting inspiration, and no pens

Dreams of subheadings and transition statements

Glimpses of everything fitting together

Staying up for 40 hours straight

Writing the last sentence, a sense of calm

Perspective

Plotting my escape...

Moment To Moment, I Can't Keep It Straight; Day By Day, It All Seems Too Late

I'm finished coursework for my MA. Finally. A brutal year. Papers I wrote this term:

• On the (Im)Possibility of an Archive of Everyday Life: Auto-Ethnography and the New Media Economy

• Scientific Spirituality, Spiritual Science: Quantum Consciousness and Existential Metaphor

• Visions of Social Change: Possibility, Political Practice and the Media

And now it's time to start thinking about the major research project. Hmm.

The first (hopefully annual) Grad Student Cabaret was on Friday, organized by some people in our department. It was kind of a variety show - there is a pile of talent in our department: musical, poetic, dramatic, etc. It was a great evening.



Abigail and Amanda, singing.

CSI meets Shakespeare (Lady McBeth being the murderer). Shar was fantastic as Horatio Cane - she got the dramatic sunglasses down pat.

Lisa and Adrienne reciting selected parts of the Vagina Monologues: Lisa did angry vagina, Adrienne did 'cunt'.

Asha reciting a fantasticly hilarious poem entitled "I dated an activist boy".

Phanuel reciting selected poems - they were amazing, intense. You could feel him bearing the impact of his words all over again as he read.


Asha looking a little pervy, according to Vinh (right, in his nouveaux-Thriller jacket).

Adrienne and Amanda, who organized the cabaret. Good times.

* * *

The weather is finicky and chilled; my sense of what real relaxation is keeps shifting, won't settle or offer any inspiration.

I moved upstairs on May 1st, after I dropped off my last paper (a late finish).
The basement flooded four days before that (goddamn washer hose). Not too much damage though.

Now that I'm in a human-sized room, I feel a little better. Things are somehow new and different but still the same, which is conforting I suppose.

Pics of my new abode are forthcoming.

Happy Easter!

These commercials make me laugh every time - I think the typewriter is my favourite.

Make sure to watch the finale!