angel-fiend

I GOT MY PHD ACCEPTANCE!!!

that is all!

I have been absent from lj for quite a while. In part due to finishing my thesis and just wanting to be away from a computer, in part because my computer got destroyed in January, and in part because a lot of my original friends from lj are no longer on lj. But now I'm back and feel like randomly posting, see if it sticks this time.

So, I am writing from my new desk in the POLSIS building at uni.... yes I haven't left this place, despite my intentions last year. I've actually applied to do my PhD, and I am currently waiting to hear about my acceptance (I won't subject you to that rant at this point1). I have started tutoring a first year political ideology course which was particularly terrifying to start with and continues to challenge me.

I'm hoping to do my PhD on a continuation of my Honours thesis - looking at (mis)conceptions of children in international politics, particularly child-soldiers, and revaluing their contribution of peacebuilding. Back in the day some people wanted to know what my thesis turned out like. If you want a copy of it, or the abbreviated version that appeared in the journal Dialogue, let me know. I'm happy to share.

Otherwise I have a link for you. I was having coffee with family friends on the weekend and their son, my age and a friend of mine, asked in the context of the conversation if we knew about the birds in the Korean DMZ (demilitarized zone). This is what he was talking about:

Can birds bring world peace: How three endangered white cranes lead to diplomacy

Great stuff.

I'm sure there is lots more. But that'll do for starters.

Much love

So I haven't posted since October which is atrocious, but life has been hectic and busy and I haven't been mooching around the internet as much - definately straight after submission I just didn't want anything to do with my computer for a while.

My life in point form over the last couple of months:
- Got First class Honours - 84.75% overall for the year which is super awesome.

- Graduated in December which was very exciting. Brendan also graduated on the same day, different ceremony.

- Moved out of our flat because Brendan was going to head to Japan this year for a job. That fell through so we are now living seperately but only about 5 minutes apart. Which is just continuing the tradition of us doing everything back-the-front considering you normal move IN together, not OUT. Which is having its difficulties but we're working on it.

- That aside my house is very cool. Living with two guys from my Honours year in a beautiful Queenslander.

- Crazy busy season at Oxfam over Christmas. I had been trained up as a team-leader last year and got paid for work through November and December. I love selling stuff that is beautiful and meaningful, as opposed to Woolies which continues to destroy my soul.

- Had a friend come over from America for Christmas - Mike who I met in Leeds - which was amazing to catch up with him.

- AND, now.... I'm considering my PhD application. Which is terrifying and daunting and exciting all at once.

So, if there is still anyone out there considering I haven't posted in forever... you are now generally updated. Well the crucial bits anyways.

Hopefully will post more soon.

Love

Thesis is SUBMITTED

super super super relieved. Was actually happy with the final product... more relieved that it was over, it was a tough two weeks up to the end. I was so tired and stressed, I just felt constantly nauseous from not sleeping enough (17hour days at uni... often here from 8am till after midnight), and couldn't switch my brain off when I did go to sleep. Spent the last week killing myself every time I had to read my draft again. And although that sounds like hell (and it was tough) it was a super effort and I'm so happy to have done it and gotten through it.

Party on Saturday night was huge! Had an AMAZING time. Got my hair done on Saturday too so now I'm hot and don't have to wear my hair in a ponytail like it had been for several months.

Now have two more weeks to finish my coursework (6000 words... who's genius idea was that?!). Then FREEDOM!

Have much to write about and no motivation to do it.

Do recommend this link to Terry Pratchet talking about living with dementia. Hard to read... but important to be said.

Am holding my breath for the American elections. For completely left-wing but interesting coverage The Guardian has two good blogs I read. Oliver Burkeman and On the Road to the White House.  And if you are interested in how psychotic it all is with Palin, Mudflats is an Alaskan blog worth reading re Troopergate and all things Palin and election-y. I know Obama isn't the solution to the world's problems, but he has got ot be better than McCain.... and Palin.... he just has to be.

Will try and put some photos up of my new hair/ saturday night if photobucket will let me upload anytime soon.
 

Hope all are well.

Much love

42 writers protest the 42 day holding period in the UK   by writing a story/poem/essay.

And the world is going to shit.
Couldn't have said it better or more flippently myself, although apparently it convinced the german blogosphere that it was real (suckers!):

👁 Image


all the politics has gone to my head. I can't even get started on Sarah Palin, although you should see this. Sitting at my computer in a building full of political scientists and international relations scholars.... going to my head.

4 sleeps till submission...oh. my. god.

love you all.

I watched the VP debate on Friday. I don't even live in America and I'm scared for the future of the world.

A plea to vote...non-partisan, now there is something new.... you should watch it




It'll be an interesting world on November 5th - for better or worse.


With love,

Yes yes, I keep harking on about it, but Phillip Pullman has commented on his being on the list (which apparently is only based on about 500 'formal' complaints, so not sure about the weight of it really?... oh look Helen has been analysing tooooo much this year).

Its after 10pm and I'm still at uni. Going to be here a while longer. Just sent my supervisor a 'complete' (and i hate to use that word) draft, so now I just have to wait a few days for my soul to be crushed when she gives me feedback.

love

Further to my previous post, the 10 most frequently challenged books from last year  (2007) are up  - no surprises Phillip Pullman is there (oh look! the movie is based on a book!??! Lies! Trechery! Treason!).

I have 18 days left. Sending Di a complete draft today which is exciting/scary.

Otherwise things have been... stressful. But have found space to breath and its nice.

Went to a Himalayan restaurant with Sam and Dan on Saturday night and had awesome curries including a tofu curry that was delicious!!

Cannot WAIT till the 18th of October. going to be fantastic.

I promise I'll answer emails etc in three weeks time . I still lov eyou all and hope you are all wonderful.

love and stuff

The world is a very screwed place..... I bet the people who complained about these books had probably never read them and had just seen a word they didn't like in the title. Anyways.... I could turn this into a rant about the stupidity of certain (and I stress CERTAIN and not ALL in any way) Americans that are so scared of the world that they are creating an unreal almost parallel understanding of EVERYTHING for themselves....


This is a list of the 100 most frequently challenged books to the Office of Interllectual Freedom (what kind of name is that) of the American Library Association... www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.cfm

Hope everyone is well.

30 days to go.

love

Sometimes amongst all the horrible stories I'm reading for this thesis there is something that makes it worthwhile.


“I asked the group of [Angolan] children who lived on the streets in front of my boarding room if I could passear—go about—with them one day. Sure, they said, and came to collect me the next morning. They ranged in age from eight to twelve. After hitting the restaurants and shops to see if any food had been thrown out, checking with the other nearby street communities, scrounging for “treasures”, and looking for simple jobs like hauling or washing, they settled on the steps at the oceanfront to talk and rest. Curious what they would say, I asked them what it meant to be human. One boy touched the middle of his chest and said this is what made us human. No, said a second, it resides here, he said, touching his throat. I wondered if the boys were talking about their hearts and breathing, or something more. The third boy cleared this up: “It’s both together: it’s when we combine feeling, caring, with voice”. All nodded. I paused to wonder if academia, by this definition, constituted part of the human condition. Then the children leaned back against the steps. “We always take rests—you can’t walk too far unless you’ve eaten properly”.

Nordstrom, Carolyn. "The Jagged Edge of Peace: The Creation of Culture and War Orphans in Angola." In Troublemakers or Peacemakers?: Youth and Post-Accord Peace Building, edited by Siobhán McEvoy-Levy, 99-116. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006 (p115).



40 days till submission....