I'm sure many of you are familiar with - indeed, have perhaps even used - a certain product by the name of Anusol. Much as its name suggests, it is intended as a remedy for afflictions afflicting the parts of the body one doesn't display during polite conversation. Obviously, in this brand-conscious age, their marketing gurus decided that hinting at the nature of their product rather too graphically was bad for business. So, equally obviously, it was decided to rebrand.
O brave new world, that has such people in't! What name, then, did they choose for their product? See for yourself.
Wonderful. As if I hadn't had enough trouble during my formative years with my surname and all it rhymes with, it seems it will now dog me throughout my working days as well.
Nobby, you work for Pfizer, don't you? Can't you have a word with them and...oh. I get it. Ha ha. Very bloody funny. This was your doing, wasn't it?
Friday, December 15, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Ugh.
I am in paper research/writing mode right now and I think Dante Aligheri missed a trick when he didn't include this as one of the circles of hell. 15 hours yesterday, probably something close to the same today and tomorrow. Saturday I have off - I'm helping Kate move her stuff over to Brooklyn, then going to some British friends' place for wine and mince pies. Then it's back to the grind, probably pretty much til I go home for Xmas. Still - it will be worth it not to have anything hanging over me when back in Blighty.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Far from home?
One article that caught my eye in the news today and which seems to be common to most of the papers whose sites I frequent (mainly the Guardian and the Telegraph - I like to strike an even balance between Pinko Commie Do-Gooder Propaganda and Foaming-at-the Mouth Little Englander Diatribes) is this rather interesting piece of news that 5.5 million Brits - nearly 10% of the population - live abroad on a permanent basis. I suppose, thinking about it, I'm one of them. I haven't really lived for any length of time in the UK in the last three and a half years, and with my position at Columbia secured for the medium term, I'm not likely to any time soon. Apparently, this puts the British diaspora (a strange term) on a par roughly with the Indians and the Chinese.
Anyway, the wonderful thing about these news websites is that they have caught on to the blogging revolution, and allow people to leave their comments at the bottom of a good number of articles. This does two things - firstly, confirm my long held suspicion that a good percentage of people who post on internet BBs or leave comments on newspaper articles are mentally unbalanced, and secondly, provide some food for thought. Particularly the hilariously rabid Telegraph comments - read them for yourself.
While I was increasingly amused at the flight from reality that some of the comments above displayed - a yearning for a sort of mythical England that never really existed - it did get me thinking about my own lot. Why did I leave, and am I coming back? If so, when, and under what circumstances?
Short answer: no. I don't plan to, at least. Once I get my doctorate, I want to find a teaching job in the US and build a career - if I'm lucky, a home and family as well - over here.
I didn't leave because I hate the UK or think, like the Telegraph readers, that it's been turned into a PC over-taxed Socialist hell-hole of a police state. I mean, there are things I don't like about my native land - the random drink-fuelled violence in most city centres on weekends, the fact that everything is ludicrously expensive, veneration of the lowest common denominator, the unbelievably inane celebrity culture, the weather - take your pick. But Japan and the U.S. have their faults, too - everywhere does (God knows the U.S. and Japan are way worse than the UK in terms of celebrity worship and dumbing down).
It's just a case of quality of life, really. I have my passion - Japanese literature - and I took a decision that the USA would be the place to pursue it. Money isn't my sole motivation, but over the course of a career in American academia I stand to earn 2-3 times more than I would in the UK. That makes a huge impact on quality of life, especially as it's worth so much more in real terms. Even now, that's true. My $23,000 p.a. PhD stipend in simple exchange terms is worth about one-third less than what I would get were I at SOAS in London (ca. ￡13,000, I think). But - and this is the key - it goes about one-third to a half further here. It ain't riches, but I have a higher quality of life over here than I would do doing the same thing back in the UK.
I do like it here, though. No doubt about it.
I know New York is not the USA. When I'm job searching later, I will do well to remember that, as I could possibly end up somewhere godawful like Arizona or Wisconsin, and then I'll probably look on things in a very different light. But right now it just seems a better option in so many ways...
'Course, I'll always visit the UK as much as I can; most of my friends and family live there, after all. But I think in the long term, I'll join the British diaspora in our attempts at global domination (once again). I guess in the final analysis, I'm not coming home.
Anyway, the wonderful thing about these news websites is that they have caught on to the blogging revolution, and allow people to leave their comments at the bottom of a good number of articles. This does two things - firstly, confirm my long held suspicion that a good percentage of people who post on internet BBs or leave comments on newspaper articles are mentally unbalanced, and secondly, provide some food for thought. Particularly the hilariously rabid Telegraph comments - read them for yourself.
While I was increasingly amused at the flight from reality that some of the comments above displayed - a yearning for a sort of mythical England that never really existed - it did get me thinking about my own lot. Why did I leave, and am I coming back? If so, when, and under what circumstances?
Short answer: no. I don't plan to, at least. Once I get my doctorate, I want to find a teaching job in the US and build a career - if I'm lucky, a home and family as well - over here.
I didn't leave because I hate the UK or think, like the Telegraph readers, that it's been turned into a PC over-taxed Socialist hell-hole of a police state. I mean, there are things I don't like about my native land - the random drink-fuelled violence in most city centres on weekends, the fact that everything is ludicrously expensive, veneration of the lowest common denominator, the unbelievably inane celebrity culture, the weather - take your pick. But Japan and the U.S. have their faults, too - everywhere does (God knows the U.S. and Japan are way worse than the UK in terms of celebrity worship and dumbing down).
It's just a case of quality of life, really. I have my passion - Japanese literature - and I took a decision that the USA would be the place to pursue it. Money isn't my sole motivation, but over the course of a career in American academia I stand to earn 2-3 times more than I would in the UK. That makes a huge impact on quality of life, especially as it's worth so much more in real terms. Even now, that's true. My $23,000 p.a. PhD stipend in simple exchange terms is worth about one-third less than what I would get were I at SOAS in London (ca. ￡13,000, I think). But - and this is the key - it goes about one-third to a half further here. It ain't riches, but I have a higher quality of life over here than I would do doing the same thing back in the UK.
I do like it here, though. No doubt about it.
I know New York is not the USA. When I'm job searching later, I will do well to remember that, as I could possibly end up somewhere godawful like Arizona or Wisconsin, and then I'll probably look on things in a very different light. But right now it just seems a better option in so many ways...
- The food in the UK (London excepted) just doesn't compare. Here, it's cheap, varied, plentiful and usually delicious.
- New York is the safest big city in the USA. I don't feel, as I do out in London or Cambridge from time to time, that I could end up getting glassed just for looking at someone the wrong way.
- Americans (even New Yorkers) are just more friendly than Brits. People start conversations with strangers on the subway, they say "Bless you" when people they don't know sneeze; they talk to people. On a related point...
- They think the Brits are charming, sophisticated and (if female) incredibly sexy. I'm not going to argue with that...had I been an American in London, I doubt I would have had the same experience. I can get free drinks for being British and start up a conversation with almost anybody very easily.
- I've said this before, but it's WAY cheaper. $2 to anywhere in the city on the subway, vs. ￡3-5? A 2-bedroom apartment 20 mins from Times Square for $800 per month?
'Course, I'll always visit the UK as much as I can; most of my friends and family live there, after all. But I think in the long term, I'll join the British diaspora in our attempts at global domination (once again). I guess in the final analysis, I'm not coming home.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
A Spot of Trumpet-blowing
The instrument in question being my own. Yesterday, I had without a doubt the best 2 hours I've had at Columbia since I got here. I've been taking a seminar course with Prof. Carol Gluck this semester, mainly because my field of interest often crosses over from literature to history, and Prof. Gluck is one of if not the most pre-eminent figures in the field today. Seriously, she's a hugely respected, nay titanic Japan scholar on a world scale.
The class was a translation workshop - we had had four translation assignments throughout the term in addition to our reading, two Meiji and two post-war ones, and last week, in a writing workshop, we had been informed that our translations basically sucked, that to use CG's words, "they were only just beginning to emerge out of the swamp". So I think probably all ten of us, all grad students, were expecting to get ripped apart for the two hours for which it was scheduled. We had copies of everyone else's translations in front of us, heavily marked up, crossed out and so on by CG, so everyone could see where everyone else had made mistakes.
Forty-five minutes and two or three eviscerated classmates later, CG starts talking about the mechanics of academic translation. And she says "Now, Rob..."
Here it comes, I thought.
"...Rob is the master at this."
Huh?
"His translations are fantastic. Read his work, he writes beautiful English. Right, the rest of you, look at his Aizawa translation. That's English. That's how it's supposed to be done. You'll recognise his one in the pile by the star I put on the front of it because I couldn't believe how good it was."
Oh, so that's what that meant. And why none of my translations had any marks on them. I thought she'd just forgotten. That was not what I was expecting. "The master?"
"It's not because he's necessarily smarter than the rest of you, but because he's been doing this longer. So, Rob, how do you do it? Why don't you tell the class some of your secrets?"
Bloody hell, I thought. So I did.
They're few and far between, these moments. The ones that make all the hard work, the lost social life, the breadline existence and all the hours spent in the library seem worthwhile. That was one of them.
You have my permission to refer to me as "The Master" from now on.
The class was a translation workshop - we had had four translation assignments throughout the term in addition to our reading, two Meiji and two post-war ones, and last week, in a writing workshop, we had been informed that our translations basically sucked, that to use CG's words, "they were only just beginning to emerge out of the swamp". So I think probably all ten of us, all grad students, were expecting to get ripped apart for the two hours for which it was scheduled. We had copies of everyone else's translations in front of us, heavily marked up, crossed out and so on by CG, so everyone could see where everyone else had made mistakes.
Forty-five minutes and two or three eviscerated classmates later, CG starts talking about the mechanics of academic translation. And she says "Now, Rob..."
Here it comes, I thought.
"...Rob is the master at this."
Huh?
"His translations are fantastic. Read his work, he writes beautiful English. Right, the rest of you, look at his Aizawa translation. That's English. That's how it's supposed to be done. You'll recognise his one in the pile by the star I put on the front of it because I couldn't believe how good it was."
Oh, so that's what that meant. And why none of my translations had any marks on them. I thought she'd just forgotten. That was not what I was expecting. "The master?"
"It's not because he's necessarily smarter than the rest of you, but because he's been doing this longer. So, Rob, how do you do it? Why don't you tell the class some of your secrets?"
Bloody hell, I thought. So I did.
They're few and far between, these moments. The ones that make all the hard work, the lost social life, the breadline existence and all the hours spent in the library seem worthwhile. That was one of them.
You have my permission to refer to me as "The Master" from now on.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Nights're getting longer
Into December now, though it didn't feel like it last week as it was 67°F (about 19°C) last Friday. The first time in my life I've ever been outside in the month of December in just a thin shirt and been perfectly comfortable. We're back on form now, though, it's down near freezing in New York and will probably remain so for the next six months or so, God help us.
Not much to report, really...nose still at the grindstone, much as it ever was. Looking forward to paying a visit back to Blighty, though I won't be there for long - just 10 days or so.
We have a couple of visiting professors from Waseda here right now, one of whom, Unno-san, is heading back just before Xmas. So we had a little sobetsukai at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown (the guy's a coriander (cilantro) addict). One of the dishes was minced prawns cooked around a sugar cane...I'm pretty sure you weren't supposed to eat it, but some of our party did anyway, as you can see. Food was excellent, and we went for gelato on the lower East Side afterwards. A lighter moment before the real heavy lifting of paper-writing begins.
Not much to report, really...nose still at the grindstone, much as it ever was. Looking forward to paying a visit back to Blighty, though I won't be there for long - just 10 days or so.
We have a couple of visiting professors from Waseda here right now, one of whom, Unno-san, is heading back just before Xmas. So we had a little sobetsukai at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown (the guy's a coriander (cilantro) addict). One of the dishes was minced prawns cooked around a sugar cane...I'm pretty sure you weren't supposed to eat it, but some of our party did anyway, as you can see. Food was excellent, and we went for gelato on the lower East Side afterwards. A lighter moment before the real heavy lifting of paper-writing begins.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
We've all been there...
Something I came across on my travels. A quote:
"Judd said Apgar told deputies he was smoking crack-cocaine at the adjacent park, but it was unclear why he was naked or why he was attacked by the alligator."
Not much I can add to that, really.
"Judd said Apgar told deputies he was smoking crack-cocaine at the adjacent park, but it was unclear why he was naked or why he was attacked by the alligator."
Not much I can add to that, really.
What part of Nō don't you understand?
Well, most of it actually. That's as in Noh drama. We've been doing it this week in pre-modern lit class, and while it has no real relevance to this post, I thought it'd make a good title, largely because I intend to use the witticism therein in my future teaching career when I'm explaining Noh and some hapless undergrad says that they don't get it. I will, as you may surmise from that, be something of a sadist. Bwahahaaa.
Looking through the directory of classes on the CU website to work out what I'm going to take next year, I see that the Philosophy department offers a "Seminar on Vagueness". Taught at, um, some time in the afternoon, maybe toward the beginning of the week, by that guy, you know, what's his name, Bill something or other...
The pound is now apparently at a 14-year high versus the dollar, and basically ￡1 = $2. Which is great news for all of you spongers who are making plans to come and visit me, and terrible news for me, since now everything I bring back at Xmas will be denominated in USD and so worth about 10% less than it was when I came over here. Oh well - just illustrates the first rule of capital markets - you'll always get screwed. When in Japan, your yen will fall in value, rising as you leave - the same will doubtless be true for my sojourn in the US. As long as I'm still here, you can look for the ￡ to be worth about $5, some time in 2017...
Looking through the directory of classes on the CU website to work out what I'm going to take next year, I see that the Philosophy department offers a "Seminar on Vagueness". Taught at, um, some time in the afternoon, maybe toward the beginning of the week, by that guy, you know, what's his name, Bill something or other...
The pound is now apparently at a 14-year high versus the dollar, and basically ￡1 = $2. Which is great news for all of you spongers who are making plans to come and visit me, and terrible news for me, since now everything I bring back at Xmas will be denominated in USD and so worth about 10% less than it was when I came over here. Oh well - just illustrates the first rule of capital markets - you'll always get screwed. When in Japan, your yen will fall in value, rising as you leave - the same will doubtless be true for my sojourn in the US. As long as I'm still here, you can look for the ￡ to be worth about $5, some time in 2017...
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Thanksgiving
Kate's aunt and uncle live on Park Avenue, the playground of the upper class in New York, and it was at their place that I spent Thanksgiving. Their apartment, while charming, is not quite the palace one could find over on the East Side, but it was cosy enough, and considering it was raining outside, the presence of turkey, wine and good conversation inside made it very congenial indeed.
It was, I suppose, my first American Thanksgiving, since last year I and some other international students had had a dinner at Reto's place, with pork chops, pesto, couscous, and so on, in short none of the traditional fare. Moreover, none of those present were American, anyway, so as they say over here this one was kind of a do-over.
Now, Kate's uncle used to work for what he refers to as 'the Agency', spending some considerable amount of time in the Middle East and Afghanistan in particular. So, also present was Iman, the couple's sort-of Afghan 'godson', who had left at the time of the 'first jihad' and was now an American citizen, running a bagel cart on the East Side. Nice enough bloke; he didn't say much, and didn't drink anything, as you might expect. He did bring some fantastic Afghan flatbread, which I and others devoured.
I think David, Kate's uncle, actually quite likes me, which I know will disappoint those of you who have seen Meet the Parents and were expecting me to talk about undergoing a polygraph before I could sit down to turkey. We spent some time talking about East Asia and where it was going in the next few years; having spent some considerable time over there, he's fairly knowledgeable about Japan, and Anita, Kate's aunt, has co-authored a book on Chinese poetry, so they're both well aware of where I'm coming from. Made for some fascinating conversation; and in case you're wondering, no, I did not ask David whether he'd ever killed anyone, though given that he talked about having been 'in the field' in Afghanistan...
Anyway, the food was delicious and the wine plentiful. Much of the Thanksgiving fare is heavily carb-centric (potatoes, bread, etc) and this, more than any tryptophan or whatever in the turkey, was enough to make for a very lazy and drowsy evening back at Kate's place later in the day. I think we fell asleep watching Top Chef or something equally trashy on cable. It was a good day.
Oh, and in the spirit of the occasion, and providing a slightly more self-reflective note...things for which I'm thankful...
1) I get to do what I love for a living.
2) I get to live in one of the great cities of the world for the latter half of my 20s.
3) I have a great girlfriend and great friends, all over the world - yep, I'm talking to you, dear reader.
Compliments of the season to all of you.
It was, I suppose, my first American Thanksgiving, since last year I and some other international students had had a dinner at Reto's place, with pork chops, pesto, couscous, and so on, in short none of the traditional fare. Moreover, none of those present were American, anyway, so as they say over here this one was kind of a do-over.
Now, Kate's uncle used to work for what he refers to as 'the Agency', spending some considerable amount of time in the Middle East and Afghanistan in particular. So, also present was Iman, the couple's sort-of Afghan 'godson', who had left at the time of the 'first jihad' and was now an American citizen, running a bagel cart on the East Side. Nice enough bloke; he didn't say much, and didn't drink anything, as you might expect. He did bring some fantastic Afghan flatbread, which I and others devoured.
I think David, Kate's uncle, actually quite likes me, which I know will disappoint those of you who have seen Meet the Parents and were expecting me to talk about undergoing a polygraph before I could sit down to turkey. We spent some time talking about East Asia and where it was going in the next few years; having spent some considerable time over there, he's fairly knowledgeable about Japan, and Anita, Kate's aunt, has co-authored a book on Chinese poetry, so they're both well aware of where I'm coming from. Made for some fascinating conversation; and in case you're wondering, no, I did not ask David whether he'd ever killed anyone, though given that he talked about having been 'in the field' in Afghanistan...
Anyway, the food was delicious and the wine plentiful. Much of the Thanksgiving fare is heavily carb-centric (potatoes, bread, etc) and this, more than any tryptophan or whatever in the turkey, was enough to make for a very lazy and drowsy evening back at Kate's place later in the day. I think we fell asleep watching Top Chef or something equally trashy on cable. It was a good day.
Oh, and in the spirit of the occasion, and providing a slightly more self-reflective note...things for which I'm thankful...
1) I get to do what I love for a living.
2) I get to live in one of the great cities of the world for the latter half of my 20s.
3) I have a great girlfriend and great friends, all over the world - yep, I'm talking to you, dear reader.
Compliments of the season to all of you.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The Culinary Equivalent of an Orgasm
I think I mentioned that I MC'd the JETAANY career panel last month, which involved several successful former JETs (may seem like an oxymoron, I realise) talking about their experience so as to help out other recent returnees. Now, JETAANY reckons to thank those who help it out with a thank-you dinner, and as luck would have it, one of the panelists in October was a guy called Norman, who by funny coincidence happens to be the manager of both branches of a super-upscale Japanese place called Megu in New York. The kind of place that's listed as $$$$ (Very Expensive) in all the guidebooks.
So this evening, dinner was on JETAANY at Megu in Trump Tower on 47th St and 1st Avenue. And the food was simply nothing short of phenomenal. Try wagyu beef so good, we had a minute's silence to give it the contemplation it deserved. Or asparagus deep-fried in kaki-no-tane (yes, the same thing served as beer snacks in Japan), Kobe beef cooked on stone, toro tuna with daikon and spicy miso, and a yuzu chocolate cake so good I think I might actually consider marrying it. Seriously, this was the best meal I have had since I came to New York and possibly ever.
The best bit was not that I didn't pay anything for it (though that was good...), but that Norman (he's an ex-JET) and I got on like a house on fire, carrying on where we'd left off just shooting the breeze at the reception. So now he's going to hook me up next time I need to impress. Consider the scene - Kate's birthday. I walk into Megu - the manager shakes me by the hand, asks how I'm doing, greets Kate like a long-lost friend. "OK, so we've got your table ready for you - just the way you like it. Don't bother with the menus, we'll sort you out and take good care of you. You just relax and enjoy yourselves". Now that's classy. Nothing quite like turning to your date and saying, "Yeah, the manager's a good friend of mine".
So this evening, dinner was on JETAANY at Megu in Trump Tower on 47th St and 1st Avenue. And the food was simply nothing short of phenomenal. Try wagyu beef so good, we had a minute's silence to give it the contemplation it deserved. Or asparagus deep-fried in kaki-no-tane (yes, the same thing served as beer snacks in Japan), Kobe beef cooked on stone, toro tuna with daikon and spicy miso, and a yuzu chocolate cake so good I think I might actually consider marrying it. Seriously, this was the best meal I have had since I came to New York and possibly ever.
The best bit was not that I didn't pay anything for it (though that was good...), but that Norman (he's an ex-JET) and I got on like a house on fire, carrying on where we'd left off just shooting the breeze at the reception. So now he's going to hook me up next time I need to impress. Consider the scene - Kate's birthday. I walk into Megu - the manager shakes me by the hand, asks how I'm doing, greets Kate like a long-lost friend. "OK, so we've got your table ready for you - just the way you like it. Don't bother with the menus, we'll sort you out and take good care of you. You just relax and enjoy yourselves". Now that's classy. Nothing quite like turning to your date and saying, "Yeah, the manager's a good friend of mine".
Monday, November 20, 2006
One Day
Better get right back in the saddle, I suppose.
Thanksgiving's coming up. You can tell, because places around campus that are normally busy - the libraries, the gym - have thinned out considerably. I suspect a lot of the student body are pulling a fast one and taking the week off. Not that I would blame them - Columbia has a policy of scheduling classes even up to the day before the occasion, which, naturally, is extremely unpopular. This, I think, is somewhat unusual among the Ivies - Yale, for example, gives its students the whole week off. Mind you, considering how much the undergrads are paying for their education ($33,000 per year in tuition alone), one can't help but recall the nameless scholar who remarked that universities are the only places where people pay to attend and then try to get as little value as possible for their money.
I think my flatmate's going back to Chicago for Thanksgiving, but he's almost never here anyway so it's rather hard to tell. He's a great flatmate, to the extent that he pays the rent and doesn't seem to live here. I'm still not entirely convinced he's not a product of my own fevered imagination.
Kate, meanwhile, is having to move to Brooklyn. The rent went up on her place, and not everybody was willing to meet the increase, so unfortunately that means everyone has to go. It cuts both ways, really - it'll be a 45 minute subway ride to get to see her, which is a pain - it's been great that she lives so close by; but then, on the other hand, I'll get to explore a whole new part of the city of New York.
Thanksgiving's coming up. You can tell, because places around campus that are normally busy - the libraries, the gym - have thinned out considerably. I suspect a lot of the student body are pulling a fast one and taking the week off. Not that I would blame them - Columbia has a policy of scheduling classes even up to the day before the occasion, which, naturally, is extremely unpopular. This, I think, is somewhat unusual among the Ivies - Yale, for example, gives its students the whole week off. Mind you, considering how much the undergrads are paying for their education ($33,000 per year in tuition alone), one can't help but recall the nameless scholar who remarked that universities are the only places where people pay to attend and then try to get as little value as possible for their money.
I think my flatmate's going back to Chicago for Thanksgiving, but he's almost never here anyway so it's rather hard to tell. He's a great flatmate, to the extent that he pays the rent and doesn't seem to live here. I'm still not entirely convinced he's not a product of my own fevered imagination.
Kate, meanwhile, is having to move to Brooklyn. The rent went up on her place, and not everybody was willing to meet the increase, so unfortunately that means everyone has to go. It cuts both ways, really - it'll be a 45 minute subway ride to get to see her, which is a pain - it's been great that she lives so close by; but then, on the other hand, I'll get to explore a whole new part of the city of New York.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Fifteen Days
This might, I think, be the longest hiatus I've managed since I created this blog (did you miss me? I know you did. I'm feeling the love right now). The reasons are pretty easy to surmise; I'm hellishly busy right now with various papers and admin stuff that needs to be done, and that, aside from taking up a lot of my time, doesn't make for particularly interesting reading. I'm really excited about this big research paper I'm about to write on the use of the figure of Sugawara no Michizane in the Meiji period, but I think even those of you who've been to Japan would probably find it fairly uninteresting. In stark contrast to the rest of my blog, obviously. What? Oh.
It's not all bad, though, one does manage to blow off some steam from time to time. Ben Jennings, former fellow CIR from the UK, was visiting a couple of Fridays ago. He now has the job that pretty much every 12-year-old would kill for, in that he works for the company that runs Pokemon in the UK, and was here on business. We went for a few drinks, chatted to a few people, charmed a barmaid on the Lower East Side into giving us free drinks because of our cute accents, and wound up in a headhunter bar. I mean, literally a headhunter bar. Like, masks and shrunken heads on the walls. Different type to what I think most of you corporate types are used to.
But it gets hard to run a social life when academic work can be so all-consuming. After that it was 15-hour days pretty much every time, and will be most of the way to Thanksgiving, I think. It meant that I couldn't find time to see Sarah, who was in the US on vacation. Not the first time that'd happened...Nat passed through about a month ago, and I missed her, as well. Today a group of my friends from the Lit program went out to Queen's for Thai food, but I had to turn the invitation down because I calculated that getting there and back, plus dinner, would have taken 4 hours, and I simply couldn't afford to lose that much time out of my day.
Is this how it's always going to be? God, I hope not.
Though thinking about it, they do say that there are four good reasons to be an academic - May, June, July and August. Better hope that's true.
It's not all bad, though, one does manage to blow off some steam from time to time. Ben Jennings, former fellow CIR from the UK, was visiting a couple of Fridays ago. He now has the job that pretty much every 12-year-old would kill for, in that he works for the company that runs Pokemon in the UK, and was here on business. We went for a few drinks, chatted to a few people, charmed a barmaid on the Lower East Side into giving us free drinks because of our cute accents, and wound up in a headhunter bar. I mean, literally a headhunter bar. Like, masks and shrunken heads on the walls. Different type to what I think most of you corporate types are used to.
But it gets hard to run a social life when academic work can be so all-consuming. After that it was 15-hour days pretty much every time, and will be most of the way to Thanksgiving, I think. It meant that I couldn't find time to see Sarah, who was in the US on vacation. Not the first time that'd happened...Nat passed through about a month ago, and I missed her, as well. Today a group of my friends from the Lit program went out to Queen's for Thai food, but I had to turn the invitation down because I calculated that getting there and back, plus dinner, would have taken 4 hours, and I simply couldn't afford to lose that much time out of my day.
Is this how it's always going to be? God, I hope not.
Though thinking about it, they do say that there are four good reasons to be an academic - May, June, July and August. Better hope that's true.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Musings
Americans seem to like to heat their buildings (at least in New York) until they're warm enough that you could walk around in just a T-shirt. I sort of understand the logic to heating buildings when the winters are so harsh, but inside they're about 22℃, which means that when you walk in wearing several layers (as everyone who's outside does) you boil within 30 seconds. Not quite the right balance, perhaps.
I accidentally called my Chinese teacher a prostitute last week. How could I have known that the word for chicken in Mandarin also meant hooker? And why was I calling her a chicken in the first place? Answers on a postcard to the usual address.
I accidentally called my Chinese teacher a prostitute last week. How could I have known that the word for chicken in Mandarin also meant hooker? And why was I calling her a chicken in the first place? Answers on a postcard to the usual address.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Days of rest
I'm over the worst of it, I think. All that needs to be turned in has been, and I can relax for a day or two since we have Monday and Tuesday of next week off. It's not an official holiday, but the University cancels classes on those days because, I think, they don't celebrate Columbus day. So time to relax a bit. I'm going to Chinatown tonight for a good feed - I haven't had a good Chinese meal in a long time.
So I can take a breather from doing press-ups for a while (while you are perfectly correct, Tori, in pointing out that they will give me killer pecs, you neglected to note that I already have pecs that are statuesque, nay godlike, in appearance). I also get to hang out with Kate a bit more than normal.
Got my stipend cheque just this week, so I am not poor again just for the moment. Booked my flight back to the US after New Year - I'll be back in Blighty from the end of term, though I'm not completely sure when that will be in practical terms. So I anticipate a bit of a knees-up with my British-based friends.
Called the Student Loans company in the UK to get another deferment application, got put on hold, and noticed that their music was Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money, Mo Problems". I hope that was deliberate.
So I can take a breather from doing press-ups for a while (while you are perfectly correct, Tori, in pointing out that they will give me killer pecs, you neglected to note that I already have pecs that are statuesque, nay godlike, in appearance). I also get to hang out with Kate a bit more than normal.
Got my stipend cheque just this week, so I am not poor again just for the moment. Booked my flight back to the US after New Year - I'll be back in Blighty from the end of term, though I'm not completely sure when that will be in practical terms. So I anticipate a bit of a knees-up with my British-based friends.
Called the Student Loans company in the UK to get another deferment application, got put on hold, and noticed that their music was Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money, Mo Problems". I hope that was deliberate.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Weightlifting, clapping and juggling
My male readers have probably had the experience in physical education class or sports teams at some point of being asked to do press-ups (push-ups, for you Yanks) whereby you push yourself up, and then have to clap your hands together in mid-air before your hands touch the ground again, preparatory to doing another press-up. That's kind of what my life is like right now.
I have a five-page paper precis, the paperwork for my MA thesis, a 3-day conference and an 800-word position paper due on the 1st, at the same time as getting all of my regular coursework out of the way. You have to put in a hell of a lot of effort even to get to the point where you can clap - and then you have to do it all over again. As if that weren't enough, I've also had my mum here staying with me this week, which means that I've had to spend a certain amount of time with her as well. All I could really spare was Sunday morning; we went to the Guggenheim museum, which I hadn't yet managed. It wasn't as impressive as the Met or the Natural History Museum; I suppose I was rather spoiled seeing those first of all. The architecture inside is very cool, though, with the spiral structure inside leading you gradually up and up until you're at the top, kind of without realising it.
Mind you, on a positive note that's also a good metaphor for Columbia...I may feel like I'm going round in circles half the time, but when I actually stop and look I realise that I'm learning a hell of a lot of useful stuff.
Kate wants some of my time too, which is not unreasonable, since she is my girlfriend. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not the 1 train...two-thirds of my classes are cancelled next week, and with the Election Day holiday following on from the weekend coming I'll have a week or so of much lighter work, probably taking a couple of days off. Then, of course, it's Thanksgiving a week or so after. Just gotta hold on this weekend without losing my sanity.
I have a five-page paper precis, the paperwork for my MA thesis, a 3-day conference and an 800-word position paper due on the 1st, at the same time as getting all of my regular coursework out of the way. You have to put in a hell of a lot of effort even to get to the point where you can clap - and then you have to do it all over again. As if that weren't enough, I've also had my mum here staying with me this week, which means that I've had to spend a certain amount of time with her as well. All I could really spare was Sunday morning; we went to the Guggenheim museum, which I hadn't yet managed. It wasn't as impressive as the Met or the Natural History Museum; I suppose I was rather spoiled seeing those first of all. The architecture inside is very cool, though, with the spiral structure inside leading you gradually up and up until you're at the top, kind of without realising it.Mind you, on a positive note that's also a good metaphor for Columbia...I may feel like I'm going round in circles half the time, but when I actually stop and look I realise that I'm learning a hell of a lot of useful stuff.
Kate wants some of my time too, which is not unreasonable, since she is my girlfriend. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not the 1 train...two-thirds of my classes are cancelled next week, and with the Election Day holiday following on from the weekend coming I'll have a week or so of much lighter work, probably taking a couple of days off. Then, of course, it's Thanksgiving a week or so after. Just gotta hold on this weekend without losing my sanity.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
The colour of autumn leaves
In much the same way as its antecedents in Chinese poetry, much Japanese verse esteems the seasons of spring and autumn above winter and summer for aesthetic reasons, as well as the fact that both seasons are relatively comfortable compared to the humid summer and frigid winters. If you've experienced a New England autumn, you can probably agree that they've definitely got a point.
I finally managed to get out of New York City. The occasion was the wedding of one of Kate's friends (yes, we're using full names now, and there's a picture of her below), now living in Auburn, New York, not too far from Syracuse. We rented a car and drove up there; it took about four hours, and we were still only about half-way across the state. It served to remind me of just how huge this country is in comparison to my own native land; drive four hours north from Cambridge and you can get most of the way up into the north of England.
It was also a very scenic drive, reminiscent of the spectactular mountainsides of Tohoku and other parts. We were perhaps a week too late, but it was still breathtaking in parts. After fifteen months of corporate canyon, I was just happy to see the sky. It was a beautifully clear day, too, at least until we got most of the way into the state, but bitterly cold as well. While we were upstate, a major snowstorm hit Buffalo, NY, leaving 200,000 people without power until it could be restored. Luckily, we were unaffected.
The wedding itself was an interesting social phenomenon, though it was quite fun. Those present were divided roughly between those of Irish extraction (who drank as much as humanly possible and danced away the night) and the bride's side, who were Baptists and so didn't touch a drop or cut any rug at all. As they say, "Why don't Baptists have sex standing up? Because someone might think they're dancing." Anyway. So I just drank in moderation, talked to those around me, and had a pretty good time, apart from embarrassing myself by nearly decapitating the groom's father when a champagne cork from a bottle I was opening bounced off a pillar and narrowly missed him.
The thing about upstate New York, from what I saw and from what Kate told me, is that it's almost the diametric opposite of the city - rural, simple, unsophisticated, somewhat conservative and overwhelmingly white. Not that those are necessarily bad things, but it served as a salutary reminder that New York City is not 'America'. The names on the Confirmation board at the church were all Anglo-Saxon, something I doubt anyone would see in the city. I suppose the wedding and the reception reflected that. One of the best bits was when one of the groom's guests, sozzled as he was, told me that I had a 'European' accent and "we hate Europeans". I just coldly reminded him that I'm not European, I'm British. Not sure how serious he was, whether it was a case of in vino veritas or if he was too hammered to make it clear either way. Apart from him, though, everyone was just as friendly and welcoming as I have come to expect Americans to be, and what the hell, the booze was free and the food was good.
Much of upstate New York is given over to farm land (well, the bits of it that aren't lakes), though the soil is quite poor in comparison to, say, the Midwest, and the climate is too cold to grow anything very spectacular. It's perfect for apples, though, and we stopped off at an apple farm on the way back to pick some Empire and Jonagolds, and grab a bit of farm pressed cider.It was great to get out of the city for a weekend and relax. Things, however, are about to get hectic once again...
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Just another day in New York
I don't think that this story about a small passenger plane hitting one of the high-rise buildings on the Upper East Side seems to have made the UK media, but for a few hours here it was quite a big thing, given the history this town has with planes hitting buildings. Still, I got in late enough that the TV was already reporting most of the details; perhaps for a few minutes people may have wondered if history was about to repeat itself. The dead were apparently a New York Yankees pitcher and his flight instructor. Maybe I should move to Nebraska, it'd probably be safer. And cheaper too.
Elsewhere, our Chinese teacher told us in class today that the best way to get a handle on the tones in spoken Chinese is to listen to the pauses and imitate them. Very Zen. Confucius he say, "Best way to learn Chinese, listen to what is not there. Ommmm..."
Elsewhere, our Chinese teacher told us in class today that the best way to get a handle on the tones in spoken Chinese is to listen to the pauses and imitate them. Very Zen. Confucius he say, "Best way to learn Chinese, listen to what is not there. Ommmm..."
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Nuke kook
Oh, and in other news, Tori, of 'comments on this blog' fame, is currently in North Korea touring for a week. As many of you will have noticed, North Korea alledgedly ran a nuclear test this week, or is at least trying to fool the world into thinking that it did. I hope she's all right - though I have no reason to think she's not - and can give us a little insight into just how batshit crazy that bunch in Pyongyang really are when she gets back. Take care of yourself, girl, and don't say anything derogatory about the Dear Leader...
Slumming it
Dad was here over the weekend, down from visiting my uncle up in Boston. As opposed to last year, when I was living in the shithole also known as Harmony Hall (n.b. - incredibly enough the whackjob is, according to reports, still there), I have enough room to put him up for the whole duration of his stay, thereby saving him several hundred dollars. Same will be true for my mum when she comes; a week in a New York hotel does not come cheap.
Anyway, owing to work the amount of time I could spend with him was limited, but we did manage to go down to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, which recreates (to the extent that it's possible) a set of tenement houses from the 1870s and 1930s, with a view to giving one an idea of what life as an immigrant to New York was like at the time. It was quite well done and rather informative, though as my Dad and other historians will tell you, perhaps the one thing that nobody quite grasps is just how bad most places used to smell until comparatively recently. This place didn't have internal plumbing, and I doubt that the people who run the thing want to have their guests coughing and gagging for air, so that much is, probably rightly, left to the imagination.
At the other end of the scale, we also had a look around Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace slightly further uptown and a world away in social terms. Roosevelt was, and is, the only native New Yorker ever to be elected president, and he was a truly remarkable man - naturalist, soldier, explorer, politician and educator, the sort of gentleman polymath that we don't really see any more these days.
Dad's gone back up to Boston now and I'm still slaving away in the library, though I was cheered by the visit of Isaac Young, late of Miyagi and now of this parish (well, sort of - he's at Cornell Law school), clearly in need of a bit of civilisation after a couple of months in the wilds of Ithaca. I myself will need to pack my survival gear - I'm off upstate this weekend for a wedding, one of K's friends, all the way up near Syracuse. Still - the weather has turned colder lately, and I'm even hopeful that we might see some autumn foliage. If not, then at least I'll finally manage to get out of the city and explore even a small part of the US for a change.
Anyway, owing to work the amount of time I could spend with him was limited, but we did manage to go down to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, which recreates (to the extent that it's possible) a set of tenement houses from the 1870s and 1930s, with a view to giving one an idea of what life as an immigrant to New York was like at the time. It was quite well done and rather informative, though as my Dad and other historians will tell you, perhaps the one thing that nobody quite grasps is just how bad most places used to smell until comparatively recently. This place didn't have internal plumbing, and I doubt that the people who run the thing want to have their guests coughing and gagging for air, so that much is, probably rightly, left to the imagination.
At the other end of the scale, we also had a look around Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace slightly further uptown and a world away in social terms. Roosevelt was, and is, the only native New Yorker ever to be elected president, and he was a truly remarkable man - naturalist, soldier, explorer, politician and educator, the sort of gentleman polymath that we don't really see any more these days.
Dad's gone back up to Boston now and I'm still slaving away in the library, though I was cheered by the visit of Isaac Young, late of Miyagi and now of this parish (well, sort of - he's at Cornell Law school), clearly in need of a bit of civilisation after a couple of months in the wilds of Ithaca. I myself will need to pack my survival gear - I'm off upstate this weekend for a wedding, one of K's friends, all the way up near Syracuse. Still - the weather has turned colder lately, and I'm even hopeful that we might see some autumn foliage. If not, then at least I'll finally manage to get out of the city and explore even a small part of the US for a change.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
China, Charlie, and the rest
Chinese is hard. Why am I learning it? Because I thought to myself one day, 'my life isn't really complicated enough. What can I do that'll remedy that?' And obviously Chinese was the answer. The tones are kicking my arse right now. Mind you, the textbook is always good for some comic relief. You can tell it was written by an Englishman, because the first chapter is all about the weather. It is also refreshingly honest - where Japanese textbooks are uniformly sweetness and light and all about happy international communication, the following sentence appears in Lesson 3:
王太太不喜歓學外國話、他常説：外國人吃外國飯、應該説外國話。中國人吃中國飯、應該説中國話！
Which roughly translated means "Mrs. Wang doesn't like learning foreign languages. She often says, 'Foreigners eat foreign food, so they should speak foreign languages. Chinese eat Chinese food, so they should speak Chinese'". Wonderful. When it comes down to it, the Japanese and Chinese are basically the same (i.e., get the f*ck away, you filthy foreigner), but at least the Chinese have the decency to admit it.
In other news, I had a follow-up appointment with the doctor about my heart thing a few weeks ago. Everything is normal, including my thyroid, which I had thought might be a possible cause of the problem. I asked if there was anything I should or shouldn't do, and the doc said I should pay attention to my caffeine and alcohol intake. And cocaine. If I use it. Which I don't. Obviously. Not sure how she thinks I can afford it on a GSAS (or, actually, WEAI) fellowship. I wouldn't even know where to start.
I just hope the FBI aren't reading this.
王太太不喜歓學外國話、他常説：外國人吃外國飯、應該説外國話。中國人吃中國飯、應該説中國話！
Which roughly translated means "Mrs. Wang doesn't like learning foreign languages. She often says, 'Foreigners eat foreign food, so they should speak foreign languages. Chinese eat Chinese food, so they should speak Chinese'". Wonderful. When it comes down to it, the Japanese and Chinese are basically the same (i.e., get the f*ck away, you filthy foreigner), but at least the Chinese have the decency to admit it.
In other news, I had a follow-up appointment with the doctor about my heart thing a few weeks ago. Everything is normal, including my thyroid, which I had thought might be a possible cause of the problem. I asked if there was anything I should or shouldn't do, and the doc said I should pay attention to my caffeine and alcohol intake. And cocaine. If I use it. Which I don't. Obviously. Not sure how she thinks I can afford it on a GSAS (or, actually, WEAI) fellowship. I wouldn't even know where to start.
I just hope the FBI aren't reading this.
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