Poacher turned Gamekeeper

So, yours truly will be helping to interview applicants for JET when the process takes place about two weeks from now. That's the JETs who'll be departing from New York, so no doubt more than a few of them will wonder who the guy sitting across the desk from them with the funny accent is, and what he's doing in the USA in the first place. A slightly different spin on the old Q&A routine, where you answer the question "What do you see yourself doing five years from now?" with a pat "Sitting in your chair".

Unfathomably, this also means that I have some (probably small) measure of influence over who actually gets to go to Japan and who doesn't. I could potentially ruin someone's life in the space of 45 minutes - that's not half bad for an afternoon's work. With such corrupt power to wield, who knows what can be accomplished?

I must ensure that my behaviour remains at all times completely above reproach.*

I suspect I will mainly be called upon to interview prospective CIRs, but I'm not sure. I even get to look at their CVs and applications ahead of time, so I'll have a pretty good idea of who's who before the whole thing kicks off. Dunno, I guess this could be one way in which I might be able to improve the thing a little bit, by weeding out the punks on a lark who should never have been accepted in the first place**, like Messrs. Lange, Cole, Nesbit, Fusco, Freeborough, Mehta, et. al. You know who you are.


* All offers of cash (male applicants) or sexual favours (female (and hot) applicants) duly considered. Contact details to follow.
**though let's be honest, this category includes pretty much anyone who isn't me.

Brass Monkeys

You know, when you get up in the morning, check weather.com, and find that the temperature outside is -11℃ (and 'feels like' -21℃ with the windchill), it's very tempting to just go back to bed. I think that's the coldest temperature in anywhere I've ever been, including Hokkaido in February (speaking of which, it must be coming up to Sapporo trip time again for those of you still in Miyagi).

Kate and I went for dinner last night at a Phillipino/Thai fusion place, which was really rather good. Plates served in a sort of izakaya style - small portions, order as you will. Particularly liked the mussels in coconut milk, kaffir lime and lemon grass. I've been doing some Thai cooking at home recently, so always helps to have something with which to compare one's own efforts.

I somehow got talked into presenting my research paper at the Columbia conference in February again. So once again I'll be up on the podium, trying to pretend I know what I'm talking about...

It begins!

Term, that is. As of today. So the ol' nose is back to the ol' grindstone, and this being my fourth semester, one might have thought I would have a nose with which one could fell trees. Not the case, at least last time I looked in the mirror.

As well as more modern Chinese this semester, I'm doing kanbun. That is classical Japanese written using Chinese - yes, ladies and gentlemen, just when you thought the Japanese writing system had maxed out in terms of sheer ludicrousness, there's always more just around the corner. I'll let you know how I get on.

I'm also taking Medieval Japanese poetry and Modern Japanese literature seminars, and though both will no doubt prove enlightening, I doubt you, my dear readers, will be all that interested in the content.

Term brings with it money, of course, and I got my first stipend cheque of the new year, all nice and crisp and now deposited securely in my bank account. I'm not quite so poor any more, largely because they're giving me money instead of taking it away from me. To celebrate, I bought a Hokusai print of the Shiogama and Matsushima bay, to put on the wall in my apartment in memory of old times. See for yourself at http://www.allposters.com - do a search for (sic) Shogama. Nothing quite like the old 'gama. 'Course, being from the 18th C, I doubt it shows the triple smokestacks that now blight the bay...

22 short films about New York

Or more accurately a few things about the city. First, the weather here is completely schizophrenic. On Saturday it was a record-breaking 19℃ in the city, feeling more like some time in spring than five days into the year. Winter in this city is not supposed to do that. Still, it's back to normal now, being -1℃ outside right now. Bounces up and down like a yo-yo in this city.

The New York Public Library rocks. The joke runs "I went to the library and asked to join. The librarian said, "You have to prove you're from New York". So I stabbed her." Well, you do have to prove you live in New York - which, happily, I do - but once you're in, it's kind of like a free version of Amazon. You can browse their catalogue and have them deliver the books to your local branch, which in my case is five blocks away, to pick up. Awesome. I will be taking full advantage of this. They even have videos and DVDs as well.

The American Museum of Natural History rocks even harder - I went there on Sunday afternoon with Kate. This is my favourite museum in New York and possibly the world. It's just got the most incredible selection of stuff; real dinosaur skeletons, 34-ton meteorites, real-time displays of where earthquakes are happening all over the world, everything. I love this place. It's probably just as well I never saw it when I was a 6-year-old dinosaur geek or I would probably still be there to this day. Even allowing for my limited financial means, I'm seriously thinking of becoming a member, because I love it and because it's one of the few museums that I can't get into free with my CU card (the Met, MOMA and Guggenheim all allow it). If you're ever here, go.

And lastly, I knew I shouldn't have had that chicken biryani yesterday.

Merry New Year

Season's greetings. I haven't been here in a while - nice to know my absence has been noted (looking at you, Nisbet). I've been back home in the UK for most of the time I was away, relaxing and enjoying the experience of not having any work hanging over me. I got back early on the 24th, which meant that it was pretty much straight into the festivities and round of required visits to family up in the Midlands. Before I knew it, it was New Year and time to come back to New York again.

I suppose there are two reasons I didn't update - one, because I really can't be bothered working over a dial-up connection such as we have at home, and two, because nothing of interest really happened. Lacking the cash (even before you factor in the exchange rate) to do anything very much, I didn't do anything very much. Just sat around, watched TV, ate, drank and was middling to average merry. Britain tends to shut down between Xmas and New Year, so there wasn't a lot to be doing even if I could have afforded it.

Apologies also due to Nobby and Tori, both of whom I was vaguely supposed to see when back, but circumstances conspired against me, in that it was the 30th before I had a day I could have done anything with.

So I'm back in NYC once again, with about ten days to go before the new term starts. I'm going to mostly be taking it easy, though I might want to get started on doing some more work on the research paper I submitted before Xmas; my supervising Professor e-mailed me on Boxing Day to say he thought it was "really good" and, with a bit of work, could be published as an article and/or made into a chapter of my PhD dissertation. I'd like to do both if possible; if I can get a few publications under my belt by the time I'm looking for jobs, it will be greatly to my benefit.

Kate's well, in case you were wondering; still dividing her time among me, working and doing up her place in Brooklyn. It's still a bit of a mess, but it's a very pleasant neighbourhood, and (quite unlike Manhattan) you can even see the sky and sun occasionally. Unlike Britain, of course - I don't think I saw the sun for more than four hours total in the whole time I was back. Nice to know some things never change.