So here's to actually following through on the previous post and putting together another entry before another four months go by.
End of term - peaks and troughs of busyness and idleness, mainly involving getting papers done and whatnot. I spent most of the weekend writing a research paper for a seminar I was taking this past semester. It ended up being 53 pages, which is a monster; granted, it was a considerable expansion and revision of a previous 34-page paper, but even so. I have broken new territory in geekhood. I actually feel sort of dirty that I enjoyed it as much as I did.
On an entirely unrelated note, I thought I should point out a couple of things. First - this. For the record, it's Dartmouth business school, and yes, I have already bought a green hoody with the logo emblazoned across the chest. Be rude not to.
On another entirely unrelated note, those of my readers who follow American sport may have notice that this chap was one of the Superbowl-winning New York Giants' star players over the past season. Are we related? Well, maybe. Take a look for yourself and see how likely you think that is. In any case, I have, once again, bought myself a Giants replica shirt with his name on the back. Because, of course, it would be rude not to.
Nina and Matt were in town earlier this week, bringing Nina's mother over to visit. I wonder if they still read this blog? I notice Nes is still hanging around - dude, it's been inactive for like four months and you still commented on the post. I sincerely hope you've got the site on an RSS bookmark, otherwise you really need to find some better things to do with your time.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Up by My Bootstraps
Heh. Well, I said I would try and get the post count up, and guess what? I failed miserably. Nearly four months gone by and nothing posted on the old blog. But I think it's about time to get things moving again, since things seem to be moving in my actual life (yes, I have one).
First, thanks to all for the comments expressing concern on the lack of activity. It's somewhat reassuring that I do actually have something approaching a readership, though I'm not sure I still do after neglecting the ol' blog so thoroughly. It's been two things, really - being very busy with work and polishing up the dissertation project, and also a general ill-defined sort of ennui, a feeling that life as a graduate student and in NYC is not quite so shiny and sparkly as once it was. Sort of like second-year syndrome, if you see what I mean, only happening in the third year.
All of which is not to say that I'm not enjoying life here, rather that I have been somewhat less motivated to write of late. I don't know quite when Google decides to delete blogs for lack of activity, but I think I must have come pretty close...
So the main thing is that the blog will be coming full circle, as it were - I'm off back to Japan to do my dissertation research at Waseda University from the end of September of this year. A couple of weeks ago, I learned that I managed to get a Japan Foundation grant to cover fourteen months' research in Tokyo, which was tremendous news (though not for my academic work that week; I got nothing done because I was drinking every night in celebration). To explain why it was such good news, consider that I was going to be heading to Japan on the Mombusho fellowship (as described in previous posts). Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the Japan Foundation is almost double the monthly stipend while I'm in Japan, and for obvious reasons this makes a huge difference. Be able to travel, pay for Kate to come out to visit, and so on and so on. There are some things money can't buy; for everything else, there's Japan Foundation.
Not just the money, either - it's a prestigious grant and not at all easy to get. Checking the records over the last few years, it's rare for there to be more than one awarded for the whole UK, so I guess they must have liked my project (or maybe it was that 100,000 yen I slipped into the envelope..;-)). Trebles all round!
There is one major hurdle first, though - my qualifying exams. September 12th, 2-4 p.m. I have to pass to proceed to the second part of the program and fulfill all of the PhD requirements apart from the dissertation, progressing to a state known as ABD (All But Dissertation), from where one can start to seriously look for jobs. More normally referred to as 'orals', this involves answering questions from a panel of four professors for two hours or so on literally everything covered so far in my time at Columbia - for me, that's four subjects, namely pre-modern Lit, Meiji and Taisho lit, Showa lit and Meiji history. An intimidating prospect, as you can imagine. I'm going to have to work my butt off this summer. It would be rather embarrassing to have gotten a Japan Foundation and then fail my orals...
First, thanks to all for the comments expressing concern on the lack of activity. It's somewhat reassuring that I do actually have something approaching a readership, though I'm not sure I still do after neglecting the ol' blog so thoroughly. It's been two things, really - being very busy with work and polishing up the dissertation project, and also a general ill-defined sort of ennui, a feeling that life as a graduate student and in NYC is not quite so shiny and sparkly as once it was. Sort of like second-year syndrome, if you see what I mean, only happening in the third year.
All of which is not to say that I'm not enjoying life here, rather that I have been somewhat less motivated to write of late. I don't know quite when Google decides to delete blogs for lack of activity, but I think I must have come pretty close...
So the main thing is that the blog will be coming full circle, as it were - I'm off back to Japan to do my dissertation research at Waseda University from the end of September of this year. A couple of weeks ago, I learned that I managed to get a Japan Foundation grant to cover fourteen months' research in Tokyo, which was tremendous news (though not for my academic work that week; I got nothing done because I was drinking every night in celebration). To explain why it was such good news, consider that I was going to be heading to Japan on the Mombusho fellowship (as described in previous posts). Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the Japan Foundation is almost double the monthly stipend while I'm in Japan, and for obvious reasons this makes a huge difference. Be able to travel, pay for Kate to come out to visit, and so on and so on. There are some things money can't buy; for everything else, there's Japan Foundation.
Not just the money, either - it's a prestigious grant and not at all easy to get. Checking the records over the last few years, it's rare for there to be more than one awarded for the whole UK, so I guess they must have liked my project (or maybe it was that 100,000 yen I slipped into the envelope..;-)). Trebles all round!
There is one major hurdle first, though - my qualifying exams. September 12th, 2-4 p.m. I have to pass to proceed to the second part of the program and fulfill all of the PhD requirements apart from the dissertation, progressing to a state known as ABD (All But Dissertation), from where one can start to seriously look for jobs. More normally referred to as 'orals', this involves answering questions from a panel of four professors for two hours or so on literally everything covered so far in my time at Columbia - for me, that's four subjects, namely pre-modern Lit, Meiji and Taisho lit, Showa lit and Meiji history. An intimidating prospect, as you can imagine. I'm going to have to work my butt off this summer. It would be rather embarrassing to have gotten a Japan Foundation and then fail my orals...
Friday, January 04, 2008
New Year, New Post
I must apologise for the lack of activity over the past couple of months. My workload, in combination with my teaching duties, has rendered it very difficult for me to find the time to really write anything of much interest. Not that there haven't been interesting things happening - rather, that I either couldn't find the time to post, or, if I could, that I was too damn tired and apathetic to do so.
I'm back in New York now, after a couple of weeks in Cambridge recuperating from an extremely gruelling semester. I basically did nothing, apart from a quick trip up north to see my grandmother, and that's the way I wanted - perhaps needed - it to be. Didn't even really go out on New Year's Eve, preferring instead to drink a couple of beers and watch the festivities on the telly.
I'm not sure it's worth going into much detail as to what happened in the last couple of months; aside from being buried in the library, Kate and I did manage a couple of trips out of New York, once to Cooperstown, New York, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a couple of fine breweries, and then down to South Carolina for Thanksgiving with Kate's parents. Beyond that, I have had my nose at the grindstone teaching and trying to get my dissertation project into some semblance of order. I have enjoyed the teaching immensely, though it has been an incredible amount of work.
Anyway - I'm back now, will try to keep my post count up (I'm not teaching this semester, so that might make it easier), and would like to wish any of my readers who might still remain a very Happy New Year.
I'm back in New York now, after a couple of weeks in Cambridge recuperating from an extremely gruelling semester. I basically did nothing, apart from a quick trip up north to see my grandmother, and that's the way I wanted - perhaps needed - it to be. Didn't even really go out on New Year's Eve, preferring instead to drink a couple of beers and watch the festivities on the telly.
I'm not sure it's worth going into much detail as to what happened in the last couple of months; aside from being buried in the library, Kate and I did manage a couple of trips out of New York, once to Cooperstown, New York, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a couple of fine breweries, and then down to South Carolina for Thanksgiving with Kate's parents. Beyond that, I have had my nose at the grindstone teaching and trying to get my dissertation project into some semblance of order. I have enjoyed the teaching immensely, though it has been an incredible amount of work.
Anyway - I'm back now, will try to keep my post count up (I'm not teaching this semester, so that might make it easier), and would like to wish any of my readers who might still remain a very Happy New Year.
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