Enrolment extended

Bad news: I had to extend my enrolment one month so I won’t be done until the end of July.

Good news: I now have a complete first draft!  That means there is something in every section that needs to exist.  However, I still have to basically rewrite my discussion chapter after a meeting yesterday with my supervisors and do some extensive revisions of my literature review.  Then, final editing, proofreading, polishing etc.

In exciting news I have a job interview with the National Library on Friday for the position of 21st Century Literacies development specialist.. designing information literacy materials for secondary school NZ-wide.  Would be really fun, but the position is based in Auckland I don’t want to move.

There’s another job coming up lecturing at the Open Polytechnic in Library & Information Studies which would mean staying in Wellington.  Lets hope it works out for the best!

 

excuses excuses

I haven’t had time to post much lately for the following reasons:

1. I am trying to make some progress on data analysis and my PhD
2. I have been working a lot at Te Papa.  If you weren’t aware, I since October I have been employed as a research assistant at the Museum of New Zealand.  It’s not a glamorous job, and pays next to nothing, but is flexible and gets me out of my office and interacting with people, which I enjoy.
3. I have also been doing some work for the Open Polytechnic of NZ’s undergraduate programme in Library & Information Studies.   Thus far it has mostly been marking assignments for the Information Literacy course and the Children’s Literature course, both of which are quite interesting.
4. The dean of the Faculty of Commerce & Administration asked me to get involved with her and a co-researcher form the School of Government on a Marsden grant application for a project looking into e-governance in the Pacific.  It’s quite an interesting project and actually peripherally related to my own research interests, and pays very well.  We’ll find out in a few weeks if our application made it to round 2 of the application process, and if we are eventually awarded a Marsden grant, it would look amazingly awesome on my CV! The Marsden grant is the most prestigious in NZ.
5. I had an awesome visitor come to see me from Chicago, and we went down to the South Island to hang out with sperm whales.
6. I had surgery for endometriosis, and have had to take it easy the past few weeks.  It’s a pretty common surgery and wasn’t critical, however because of the timing of the diagnosis it was better that I have it treated now, when it would be covered by my current insurance policy, rather than leave it to a latter date if it did become a serious issue, and risk having to pay for it out of pocket as it would then be considered a pre-existing condition.  During the laproscopy they also found polyps, fibroids, and cysts in my uterus, which explains why I would have to overdose on codeine every month around my period.  Hopefully this means a less pain-filled existence for me in the future.  Apparently endometriosis, cysts, polyps, and fibroids are all quite common and occur for no particular reason in more than 10% of women if child bearing age.  I’m just hoping now that they have been removed, they won’t come back!  Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much you can do to prevent it from coming back, other than eating well and leading a healthy lifestyle, which I strive to do anyway.  Completely cutting out sugar and gluten would probably be beneficial as well, but is a life without cake really worth living?  That is the question I am now forced to contemplate… as I peruse recipes for cranberry-chocolate marscapone tarts.

One horrifying aspect of the surgery was getting to see photos of my insides… and not being allowed to ride my bike for 4 weeks!  However, getting to stay home for a week and milk my lovely friends for all their sympathy, chocolate, and other kindnesses made the whole ordeal more bearable.  I feel very lucky to have met such great people in Wellington who made me feel very well looked after.

If you want more information about endometriosis here is an article that meets the criteria I suggest students in the information literacy class I am tutoring use to evaluate the reliability, authority, and relevance of internet resources.

Ye Olde Times

I was just listening to “The Blow” and reading about Khaela Maricich, which suddenly got me reminiscing about… “Ye Olde Times”.

I am trying to pin-point the first time I ever become cognizant of Khaela Maricich.  I will attempt to do so based on a particular memory I have of seeing the Microphones play at a space on Milwaukee Avenue.  I believe the name of the space was “Buddy”, though it went though a number of name changes, at the time, it may have been called that.  It was a small-ish room, painted white, normally used for pretentious Chicago hipsters’ vernissages. That was probably among the first half-dozen times I went to that space, which was affiliated with the Lumpen people,  and would go on to play an extremely important role in my early-twenties socialization and lifestyle.

My specific memories of this evening are still so vivid, despite being 10 years old.  I remember that we (Betty Eo, Dave Weldzius, and perhaps some one else?) were late, and there were no seats left, and I sat on the floor.  This is central to my memory because I very clearly remember I was wearing a short denim skirt – the same skirt I was photographed wearing at my going-away party before I moved to France, in August, 2001.  This skirt was far shorter than anything else in my wardrobe and I actually felt extremely uncomfortable wearing it – but for some reason I did anyway.  It was hot.  I very awkwardly tried to sit on the ground, without exposing myself more than a lady should.

This room, with no more than 100 people in, was full of the sounds of bass drum, as this girl sang out, loud and clear, and pointed at some one in the audience – “You’ve got green eyes, I like your party thighs”.

That line, for some reason, has stuck with me, and remains in my memory, to this day.  I remember, on the way out, seeing copies of the tape for sale – “Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano”.  For fuck’s sake!!!  Why didn’t I buy that tape??!!!!  Then I would have audible evidence of that line which has burned in my memory for over 10 years.

I secretly dream of finding an mp3 of that song, somewhere, one day, on Demonoid, or the Pirate Bay, which I know is hopeless.

On an interesting side-note, some time the following year, 2002, I read one k-records or some website somewhere that Phil Elvrum was looking to tour Europe, so I contacted him and suggested he come to Avignon and stay with me.  Unfortunately things didn’t work out – I think he went to Norway instead – but he did give me his address and I did send him a postcard from Scotland when I went there on holiday.

That year, 2001, I was 22 years old, in love with my friend Charlie Vinz, moving to France, and I had no idea what the future held.

I wonder if I ever could have pictured myself where I am today?  I wonder if Khaela Maricich ever thought she’d go from playing loft parties in Wicker Park to world-wide celebrity-dom?  Wow.

I guess if I look back, I don’t really have very many regrets.  There are only two that really come to mind; one being that i wish I spent more time with my mother, when I lived in the same country as her.  I really miss her, and my brother, and being so far away from them, only seeing them once or twice a year, is one thing I hate about my life.  The other thing I regret is being so laissez-faire about my health and wellness for such a long time, eating so much shitty food, being overweight for so long, probably drinking too much.  I guess I still probably drink too much, though less than those days, doubtlessly.

40 seems really old to me, but I wonder what I’ll be doing in 10 years?  What’s past is prologue, right?  If my recent past is any indicator… God my life will be so fucking boring in 10 years I will have to acquire some horrible vice just to make things bearable.