watermelon_chic, posts by tag: diary - LiveJournal

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

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

This week has been busy and frustrating. Found some feedback on my SoI, after the debarcle that was the conference last week (the academics were all experts in Aust pols and knew nothing about child soldiers in africa, and none of them had made an effort to think about my methodology or theory either... *breaths* I promised i wasn't going to rant about it) I've rethought my question. There is a lack of info to prove the claim I'm making (need much more solid reporting of the programs on the ground than exists (or than I can access)). So. New direction. Thinking about it and talking with my supervisor. Its been the kind of week that has made me wonder why I wanted to do Honours. I know I'll get there though. Di (supervisor) told me she would have been surprised if a Honours project had gone as smoothly as mine seemed to be going and that she still thought I was in a good place with it. Which is nice to have that vote of confidence.

Mum comes home tonight which is exciting!

Brendan made okonomiyaki last night. Yum. Its fun to be cooking more japanese food. Brendan is well pleased that I liked it when we were over there. Wasabi still makes me gag though. I tried and tried - its not the hotness, I just can't deal with the flavour - but can't like it. But the awesome fresh fish, and sticky rice and yummy things like okonomiyaki and cold soba are delicious!

Really trying to be inspired at uni today, got to get something done, as it feels like I'm floating around wasting time at the moment.

Like this post actually.

Ellie, as soon as I can I'll get your parcel in the mail :D

Love to you all

I haven't known what to write about the stupidly uneccessary delays in delivering aid to Burma, and the impotent frustration that is tangible in the global media. The natural disaster is amplified and worsened by politics, in a situation far beyond political posturing. Simon Jenkins on the Guardian newpaper website wrote this, which I think is well said.

And now the tragedy in China has overshadowed Burma, and given all the pollies an opporutnity to divert attention.

Which, strangely enough, reminds me... when was the last time we heard about Tibet on the news? Not since the torch relay passed. Fickle media.


Perth was fantastic once I finally got there. Mum has been living in Perth for a month on work - she's training in document management software. Dad was meant to go visit - the company was going to pay for him to go - but he fucked his back, and although its getting better he and Mum decided it was better for him to rest and be well for Europe in a couple of months. So I got the free trip over to visit her! And for Mother's Day weekend as well. I also was born in Perth but haven't bene there since I was 3 (except for a weekend when I was 5). So nice to visit and attach memories to a place I'm connected to.


I hope other people had a lovely weekend. Congrats to Ellie for finishing all her exams!!

Much love

I'm going to Perth tomorrow until Sunday night!

Yay! Mum is living there at the moment for work, for about 3 or 4 months. Dad was meant to go visit but has hurt his back badly, and so I get his ticket! So poor dad, but yay for me.

I was born in Perth, but left when I was like 3. Havne't been back sinc I was about 5, so don't remember it at all.

Looking forward to it.

Have handed in my statement of intent paper. Have the conference for it next friday where each of us stands up in front of a panel of academics and gets feedback on our projects. Should be good. Bit intimidating, but looking forwad to it. Its a bit of a significant point - only 3 impotant deadlines for the thesis, and we've got to one of them!

Hope people's lives are going well.

Much love to you always!

Brendan keeps pointing out how well I'm doing and how much I'm achieving in relation to my honours, and I know that. But mainly, this week, I just am completely flat and uninspired. I achieved lots on Monday, writing a draft Statement of Intent paper (due in 2 weeks) for my supervisor - after realising on Friday I had to get her something by Monday - , sorting out the presentation I did yesterday and photocopying lots of stuff before my books were due back. Yesterday - nothing. I read a short article and fucked around all day until my prsentation, which went fine, and then went home and watched That 70s Show burnt dvds. Pretty much I feel like doing that today, and sitting here isn't inspiring me anymore.

I  do have a 'topic' to work with though:

Constructions of children in conflict: the disparity between the Western ‘universal’ concept and the child agency model in dealing with Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration(DDR) of child soldiers.

Which is interesting.

Mmmmm leading such an interesting life. Glad I blogged.

Love    

<Cue uni rant>
Seems like everytime I think I"m getting somewhere with my coursework assignment (qualitative article review) I fall in another hole. I'm bored of reading about a methodology I don't want to use and relating it to an article I don't really care about, solely because this article actually states its methodology and analytical approach as opposed to most of the others which just ramble on.

FRUSTRATED much?

</end uni rant>

Apart from that things are going ok. Seeing my sister tonight as its her birthday gathering (mainly to eat yummy food, but also to see her :)).

Have a feeling this is what the rest of hte year is going to feel like: feeling guilty about not doing uni work every time i have a break.

Meeting with my supervisor tomorrow about my 'argument'. Which will be useful because I feel like its a bit blah at the moment, and I already have about 4 issues with it since I sent it off to her yesterday to have a look at.

For those of you who care/ are interested, my argument (very rough and definately going to change several times) is: Acknowledging children’s agency over events in their lives allows transformative peace building initiatives, which are community focused and community based, to create long-term solutions to the present problems of DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintegration) programs by allowing child soldiers a voice in the process.

Good times.

Its been raining on and off since yesterday which is lovely. Felt crappy yestrday because I went to the doc for my iron deficiency related checkup and he asked if I'd had my cervical cancer vaccine yet (Aussie government is giving them free to women under 25). *stab*... and THEN they tell me not to do anything strenuous and that i'll feel ill for 24 hours. Good thing I wasn't going off to do a 10 hour shift yesterday. I did feel crap - slightly nauseous and dizzy. Got two more to go in the next 6 months to complete the course. GROSS.



Congrats to Ellie for getting her UN internship (hides jealousy under mounds of cookies and luffles for you dearheart!!!!)

Much love to all

 

I have another stupid stinky cold which is shit and I hate (again). So today, instead of going out to uni and getting stuck into things because I had a meeting with my supervisor on Friday and I'm feeling positive about my research, I'm sitting at home drinking orange juice and hanging out every four hours to take more drugs. they aren't working either, runny nose thats blocked at the same time and a scratchy throat. Going to get better though.

As I said, had a meeting with my supervisor on Friday; and while I didn't have my research question all planned out, I'm now definately much narrower and focused in my ideas which is good. When I'm better by tommorow I'm looking forward to spending the day sorting out the direction I'm going in.


Think my cold was probably exacerbated by the second half of last week. Thursday I had Oxfam and then we had eight or so people over for drinks and take-away Turkish for Brendan's birthday. It was also Jyoti from Woolies birthday and so  we had a double bithday bash, which was very good fun.

Friday I got up early after a late night to head out to uni to get my ideas in order for the meeting with Di. Had that at 11 and then hung out at uni till about 1.30 doing work from that. Headed home where I had a little nap before we went to Midnight Juggernauts, who were fantastic (apart from my sneezing). Really high-energy dancey electronic music. Enjoyed it a lot. They didn't finish till after midnight.

Got about 4 hours sleep before getting up at 5 and working 11 hours on Saturday.  By Saturday night was really ready just to crash, however he house that backs onto our flats decided to have a party that involved shouting kareoke into a microphone outside, in a lage group. Which was tolerable at 9.30 but less so after midnight. I can't explain HOW noisy it was, it was beyond ridiculous and echoing off all the flats around us. You could tell most people in the flats were up, because of the amount of lights that were never usually on at that time. Brendan and I, acknowledging our old-fart-y-ness, sat on the Police communication line for almost an hour before we got through and they sent off a car, which arrived about 1.30, and finally closer to 2 it died down enough that we got to sleep. Poor Brendan had to be up before 7 to go to work again on sunday. I veged out and we both went over the Mum and Dad's for dinner for B's birthday last night. By which stage the sniffles I had at Midnight Juggernauts are a full blown cold.

Had a pretty good weekend though.

Must say

Sometimes things feel too big and awful to deal with ever, and they get bigger and bigger and fill you up inside until you feel sick and there is no room to feel all the good things that exist.

Sometimes talking about it, even if its a messy angsty conversation, deflates the pressure so you can breath again and appreciate the beautiful things in life.

Sometimes you are really lucky and you get to talk to someone, love them fiercely and get mail from someone who always makes you smile.

Life doesn't seem so bad today.