What is an Awesome Blog, Alex?

(Day 87) One of my great daily joys is watching Jeopardy! each night. It keeps the mind sharp, makes you think on your feet and provides endless amounts of interesting trivia. As well, it is always interesting to hear the stories that the contestants have - not because they are interesting or funny, but rather because they are precisely not that, they are ridiculous and boring. Yesterday, the one guy's story was that he was the first in his family to get on Jeopardy! His Jeopardy! story was that he got on Jeopardy! Ridiculous.

A tradition I have had for some time now, is to guess the Final Jeopardy! question, before the answer comes up. They will give you the category, for example: Mythology. You then have the length of the commercial break to make your guess (when the contestants are making their bid). Then we get to see the answer and find out whether our question was correct. We are of course free to guess again, but the real fun is in how close you are to being right with no information other than the category. In all my time of doing this, I have guessed right twice - big victories. I felt like a champ. Since moving in with my current roommate, he has also guessed correctly twice - a far better average of correct answers. Presently, I have my cousin M staying with me, and we of course introduced him to the game. In three days, he has guessed two corrctly!!! That is a 0.66 average of correct guesses. This is unheard of. It isn't even like they were easy categories to guess from, the field was wide open. In any event, I am very anxious to see how his average ends up at the end of this week. Ok Alex here is one for you: The only other explanation for such an incredible response rate aside from awesome luck. What is re-runs Alex?

'The game show' song of the day: Call and Answer - Barenaked Ladies

p.s. if the game we play sounded confusing, it is probably due to the question and answers. In Jeopardy, you may recall, you are given the answer and must come up with the question. See if that helps.

I've Got Sunshine

(Day 82) With a solid reception at Congress for my work, an uplifting meeting with my supervisor, and a tonne of books I am actually excited to read, you would think I would be just rarin' to go. This is incorrect....well partially incorrect. I am in fact rarin' to go, BUT, it is the first day of summer! If it is not already, it should be declared 'Official No-Writing Day' or 'No-Working Day' for those outside of the Ivory Bubble.

A beautiful day in Victoria is just that...a beautiful thing. I would be hard pressed to be pressured into doing work on this day. So I will instead take the day off and return my mind to a state of peace through meditation (read: intake of sunlight). To make the transition from this state of rest into work a little easier for myself, I have moved a couch onto the balcony. Now I can achieve the extreme state of relaxation I have become accustomed to while being outside also. This spells good things for my writing process. The sun inspires good things in me. Not to cut this short, but I am going to go play outside now.

The 'how much do you love the outdoors' song of the day": Who Loves the Sun - Velvet Underground

The Mental Energy-Time Conservation Co-Efficient

(Day 77) There is a balance to be had in a graduate student's career between reading and writing. Reading is of course necessary for informing our theses, and writing is necessary to get out of our respective institutions degree in hand. Too much reading and the process takes a lifetime, but too much writing results in a theoretically unsound account that is too long to boot. Thus the 'mental energy- time conservation coefficient' needs to be respected if the grad student is not to turn out a professional lifetime student.

The student's reading list grows exponentially. With every decent source I find, I am drawn to their bibliography only to find ten other sources I will then want to read. Read one of those sources and they will have ten more interesting sources in their bibliography, and so on and so fourth until eventually everything leads back to Marx.

...So I started reading Marx.

That being said, I also have to keep the writing train a rollin'. If I start writing such that no one understands me, I'll know I have been reading too much Marx. It's all about that balance.

the 'I'll need one in order to read as much as I'd like' song of the day: Ghostwriter - RJD2

Field (of Dreams) of Expertise

(Day 71) An important aspect of Congress (and all other conferences) is the opportunity to network with other academics. Networking and glad-handing is what academe is all about. It is a chance to meet potential supervisors to work with in the future, fellows with whom to collaborate in writing and even just people with insights into our fields. In looking for potential supervisors, it sort of feels like I am shopping for a person. With all of the experiences the MA has left me thus far (being in a department ill-fitted to my topic first and foremost), finding a suitable future supervisor is of the utmost importance. It's like shopping for a car, or a house or a pizza when you are really hungry - it requires careful thought and consideration (mmmm mmm, well at least now I know what is for dinner tonight).

One thing you can't shop for, unfortunately, is the people who you do your degree with: the cohort. I think this is something oft overlooked, but the people in a department with you have a huge impact on the enjoyability of one's tenure. In taking courses together, discussing theory over dinners, and editing countless papers/proposals/ramblings (thanks guys!) you become (hopefully) very close. You also become very close to their thesis topics. I have, since joining the department, become a minor expert on moral panics, global citizenship, organic food systems and identification cards to name a few of 'my' new areas. Maybe if I can make the others in my cohort enough of an expert in my field, I can get them to write my thesis as well. Wishful thinking perhaps, but I can dream, right?

the 'all I have left to do is the thesis' song of the day: Gotta Get Myself Into It - The Rapture

Boy in the Bubble

(Day 66) I write you this entry from deep within the academic bubble: the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities.  This is one of the largest collections of academics, experts and shut-ins the world has to offer.  People present the collected result of their research, their toils, their life's work in some cases... to be attended by a handful of people that came to see someone else anyways.  

I am, however, pleased with how my presentation went, to a modest sized audience, a large part of which were fans (read: friends) from Victoria.  The presentation that followed mine was also very interesting and well done.  What I was not impressed with however, was the seemingly increasing amount of disrespect and disregard that is being shown Congress delegates by the administration of this event.  Discussants (people who have read the papers of presenters beforehand, meant to provide useful and thoughtful critiques) have been outrageously terrible across all sessions I have seen.  My own discussant managed to ask one question (between two participants) which asked (inevitably for me to answer) to relate my topic/presentation to that of my fellow presenter (something that is a part of their job description).  I think I should be allowed to put his job on my CV (resume).  

That was my more academic critique of Congress, here is my more personal.  Taking in account the amount that was paid in order to present (a task that, considering the amount of hoops to jump through, nearly required a degree to complete) I am disappointed at the amount of swag given out.  We received a small tote bag (much like the ones that they sell at the grocery store for $0.49) filled with advertisements for University programs, a journal that is probably available online and some other random filings.  How about some blank paper?  How about a pen?  Excuse the stationary theme here, but aren't those staple items for an academic event?

The program for the event wasn't even made fully available to us!  Some associations received nice bound editions, we received a few sheets of paper stapled together that didn't even provide all the information that was needed.  On top of that, when I asked for one of these incomplete and shameful documents (not in those words of course) I was given a look of scorn and asked for identification (proof of my membership with the CSA - my membership amongst the hundred or so here).  As if they could not spare the $0.09 expense to run off another copy.  So, to you CSA, I give an emphatic disapproval.  In less than academic terms: you suck.  

the 'boiling point' song of the day: We're Not Going To Take It - Twisted Sister

p.s.  on a lighter note: aside from the rain, Vancouver has been great!  The people on the bus have been friendly, food has been great and it has been an overly enjoyable visit.