ok, so im in australia but the past couple of days have been consumed with me trying to figure out what the heck i want to take for class next semester. it's a total goldmine in the fall! i mean, completely ridiculous.
heres the deal, i just emailed prof freddoso (head of philo dept) and basically told him to tell me what to do cos im overwhelemed. he's teaching a chesterton course (reading orthodoxy and the everlasting man), o'call is doing aquinas (pretty much the reason i went to ND for petes sake [reading: first thirteen questions of the summa]), sayre's teaching the class i made him teach (no way of not taking that one[reading: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Protagoras, Phaedo, Republic, Phaedrus, Symposium, and Theaetetus]), neiman (whom i love) is doing socrates etc (reading list coming as soon as i get it), and MACINTYRE is doing his thing (what fool *doesnt* want to take that class????.
ok so thats five classes. i could be completely psycho and just take five philos, what the heck. BUT.
there's this PLS class on lyric poetry that i HAVE to take (the one brian was telling me about), here's the course descrip:
An introduction to poetry through intensive study of several lyric poets writing in English. Through close reading of selected poems, students will become familiar with central literary devices, including rhythm and meter, image, metaphor, symbol, paradox, and irony. Poems studied will range from the Renaissance to the 20th century, and may include Shakespeare's sonnets and Keats' odes, along with the works of other major poets such as Donne, Herbert, Marvell, Gray, Wordsworth, Dickinson, Hopkins, Yeats, Eliot, and Stevens.
aaahhhhhh!!!!!!! i just emailed the prof and asked oh so nicely (well, groveled is more like it) to let me in even though im not PLS.
so i just emailed freddoso, explained my predicament, and asked him to tell me what classes to take (whatever i dont take for credit im going to audit), and if i was out of my mind to hypothetically take five philos.
other than that, life is good. im working all weekend, get paid on sunday (who's excited!). just realized that since im working so much, and (hopefully) getting paid so much, ill be able to keep my phone way more charged, and thus can CALL people without holding my breath praying skype does fritz out on me.
specifically: marmar, stevo, boodles, and sarah. havent talked to you peeps in for-e-ever.
could someone email me everyone's adresses?
ok, im off to clean my room and do some reading. hope everyone is well. PRAY im able to figure out next semster, no?
grazie
Friday, March 30, 2007
AAAAAHHHHHHH
ok, so im in australia but the past couple of days have been consumed with me trying to figure out what the heck i want to take for class next semester. it's a total goldmine in the fall! i mean, completely ridiculous.
heres the deal, i just emailed prof freddoso (head of philo dept) and basically told him to tell me what to do cos im overwhelemed. he's teaching a chesterton course (reading orthodoxy and the everlasting man), o'call is doing aquinas (pretty much the reason i went to ND for petes sake [reading: first thirteen questions of the summa]), sayre's teaching the class i made him teach (no way of not taking that one[reading: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Protagoras, Phaedo, Republic, Phaedrus, Symposium, and Theaetetus]), neiman (whom i love) is doing socrates etc (reading list coming as soon as i get it), and MACINTYRE is doing his thing (what fool *doesnt* want to take that class????.
ok so thats five classes. i could be completely psycho and just take five philos, what the heck. BUT.
there's this PLS class on lyric poetry that i HAVE to take (the one brian was telling me about), here's the course descrip:
An introduction to poetry through intensive study of several lyric poets writing in English. Through close reading of selected poems, students will become familiar with central literary devices, including rhythm and meter, image, metaphor, symbol, paradox, and irony. Poems studied will range from the Renaissance to the 20th century, and may include Shakespeare's sonnets and Keats' odes, along with the works of other major poets such as Donne, Herbert, Marvell, Gray, Wordsworth, Dickinson, Hopkins, Yeats, Eliot, and Stevens.
aaahhhhhh!!!!!!! i just emailed the prof and asked oh so nicely (well, groveled is more like it) to let me in even though im not PLS.
so i just emailed freddoso, explained my predicament, and asked him to tell me what classes to take (whatever i dont take for credit im going to audit), and if i was out of my mind to hypothetically take five philos.
other than that, life is good. im working all weekend, get paid on sunday (who's excited!). just realized that since im working so much, and (hopefully) getting paid so much, ill be able to keep my phone way more charged, and thus can CALL people without holding my breath praying skype does fritz out on me.
specifically: marmar, stevo, boodles, and sarah. havent talked to you peeps in for-e-ever.
could someone email me everyone's adresses?
ok, im off to clean my room and do some reading. hope everyone is well. PRAY im able to figure out next semster, no?
grazie
heres the deal, i just emailed prof freddoso (head of philo dept) and basically told him to tell me what to do cos im overwhelemed. he's teaching a chesterton course (reading orthodoxy and the everlasting man), o'call is doing aquinas (pretty much the reason i went to ND for petes sake [reading: first thirteen questions of the summa]), sayre's teaching the class i made him teach (no way of not taking that one[reading: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Protagoras, Phaedo, Republic, Phaedrus, Symposium, and Theaetetus]), neiman (whom i love) is doing socrates etc (reading list coming as soon as i get it), and MACINTYRE is doing his thing (what fool *doesnt* want to take that class????.
ok so thats five classes. i could be completely psycho and just take five philos, what the heck. BUT.
there's this PLS class on lyric poetry that i HAVE to take (the one brian was telling me about), here's the course descrip:
An introduction to poetry through intensive study of several lyric poets writing in English. Through close reading of selected poems, students will become familiar with central literary devices, including rhythm and meter, image, metaphor, symbol, paradox, and irony. Poems studied will range from the Renaissance to the 20th century, and may include Shakespeare's sonnets and Keats' odes, along with the works of other major poets such as Donne, Herbert, Marvell, Gray, Wordsworth, Dickinson, Hopkins, Yeats, Eliot, and Stevens.
aaahhhhhh!!!!!!! i just emailed the prof and asked oh so nicely (well, groveled is more like it) to let me in even though im not PLS.
so i just emailed freddoso, explained my predicament, and asked him to tell me what classes to take (whatever i dont take for credit im going to audit), and if i was out of my mind to hypothetically take five philos.
other than that, life is good. im working all weekend, get paid on sunday (who's excited!). just realized that since im working so much, and (hopefully) getting paid so much, ill be able to keep my phone way more charged, and thus can CALL people without holding my breath praying skype does fritz out on me.
specifically: marmar, stevo, boodles, and sarah. havent talked to you peeps in for-e-ever.
could someone email me everyone's adresses?
ok, im off to clean my room and do some reading. hope everyone is well. PRAY im able to figure out next semster, no?
grazie
Sunday, March 25, 2007
humdidy the second
sooo ... dang, i had this whole list of things i forgot to put up last time and now ive forgotten most of em. grrr.
well, one thing. work was fun times. i had to buy a new outfit (*darn*), all black and what not, but its cute. and i get this great half apron with a dancing lizard on it =)
i got there and stood around being useless for about an hour, then things started really picking up and i ended up running food out to tables all over the place (they arent terribly organized) and if there wasnt food to be run, clearing empty tables and setting them up again. im basically a glorified busboy for the time being.
but its cool, because the food is amazing, seriously (its actually more than a pizzeria, its a fairly classy restaurant/bar as well), and pretty all the patrons were really nice. plus the people who work there are by far the friendliest crew ive come across yet, by the end of my shift we were all goofing around (i stayed till close, which is 1230) and one of the guys gave me a lift back home, so it was super sweet. PLUS i get payed 16bucks an hour, paydays on sunday, and (im fairly certain) in cash. =D
ok, get this
i just emailed fred freddoso and i have four philos lined up for next semester
plato with sayre (my meaning of life prof, this being the class i bullied him into teaching); God, philosophy, and universities with MACINTYRE (ill be rereading newman, but i dont think itll kill me); socrates, nietzsche, and kierkegaard with neiman (my maimonides prof that i love, i think the course description looks really interesting, but honestly, its mostly just an excuse for me to have a class with him again); possibly a joint seminar with two killer profs on the nature of freedom (its a philo/theo); and (hahahahahhahha) last but oh so definitely not least, aquinas' philosophical theology with (im so grinning right now) john o'callaghan.
i love my life.
i dont know about the joint seminar yet because there's a PLS seminar on poetry that my friend brian really wants me to take that i will take if avail, but i just asked him what exactly its called/whos teaching it, and i dont know yet if its being offered. if it is, im going to take it as long as it doesnt conflict with my main four philos, and if i do take it, ill probably end up auditing the joint seminar.
im already bouncing off the walls as it is, those classes *plus* football season ... oh my, there really is nowhere else but Notre Dame.
not that i dont love it here, oh dont get me wrong, but you all know how madly in love with my school i am. *smiles blissfully*
ok other news ... i need addresses. as it is, i can send home a postcard, and my peeps at ND, but i dont have anyone elses, so yeah, you should get on sending me those.
oh yeah, congrats to catherine, i hear you've been tearing up the tennis courts. props and all that.
ok, im off to go work on a group project, hopefully ill remember what else i was supposed to put up here ...
well, one thing. work was fun times. i had to buy a new outfit (*darn*), all black and what not, but its cute. and i get this great half apron with a dancing lizard on it =)
i got there and stood around being useless for about an hour, then things started really picking up and i ended up running food out to tables all over the place (they arent terribly organized) and if there wasnt food to be run, clearing empty tables and setting them up again. im basically a glorified busboy for the time being.
but its cool, because the food is amazing, seriously (its actually more than a pizzeria, its a fairly classy restaurant/bar as well), and pretty all the patrons were really nice. plus the people who work there are by far the friendliest crew ive come across yet, by the end of my shift we were all goofing around (i stayed till close, which is 1230) and one of the guys gave me a lift back home, so it was super sweet. PLUS i get payed 16bucks an hour, paydays on sunday, and (im fairly certain) in cash. =D
ok, get this
i just emailed fred freddoso and i have four philos lined up for next semester
plato with sayre (my meaning of life prof, this being the class i bullied him into teaching); God, philosophy, and universities with MACINTYRE (ill be rereading newman, but i dont think itll kill me); socrates, nietzsche, and kierkegaard with neiman (my maimonides prof that i love, i think the course description looks really interesting, but honestly, its mostly just an excuse for me to have a class with him again); possibly a joint seminar with two killer profs on the nature of freedom (its a philo/theo); and (hahahahahhahha) last but oh so definitely not least, aquinas' philosophical theology with (im so grinning right now) john o'callaghan.
i love my life.
i dont know about the joint seminar yet because there's a PLS seminar on poetry that my friend brian really wants me to take that i will take if avail, but i just asked him what exactly its called/whos teaching it, and i dont know yet if its being offered. if it is, im going to take it as long as it doesnt conflict with my main four philos, and if i do take it, ill probably end up auditing the joint seminar.
im already bouncing off the walls as it is, those classes *plus* football season ... oh my, there really is nowhere else but Notre Dame.
not that i dont love it here, oh dont get me wrong, but you all know how madly in love with my school i am. *smiles blissfully*
ok other news ... i need addresses. as it is, i can send home a postcard, and my peeps at ND, but i dont have anyone elses, so yeah, you should get on sending me those.
oh yeah, congrats to catherine, i hear you've been tearing up the tennis courts. props and all that.
ok, im off to go work on a group project, hopefully ill remember what else i was supposed to put up here ...
Thursday, March 22, 2007
tour
so i have australian history on fridays (830 kickoff, and yes that's on purpose), and today we got an orientation thingy for our broome trip, im really excited. like, randomly yesterday afternoon, i was hanging out in the esplanade (aka: my front yard) and all of a sudden it hit me all over again.
im in australia.
IM IN AUSTRALIA.
and how cool is that?
anyways, yeah, so we're going to broome in three weeks or so. actually, we're going to the whole kimberly area, flying into broome and jeeping it from there up to the tippy top part of australia. or something like that.
its going to be amazing for a bazillion reasons, one being no time. i love that. five days of nooooo idea what time it is. cold showers, no electricity, sleeping in tents, sharing backpacks, no makeup, cell phones, mp3 players, watches, tv, radio, internet, and you get the idea
just lots of sunscreen, bottled water, hats, cameras, and things that could kill you.
but seriously, im so excited. we're going to pool our resources and buy sports equipment for this no budget, catholic aboriginal school. apparently students started doing that a couple of years ago, and now every group that goes up brings the kids stuff. all the equipment they have in their gym is from US students. so we're going to keep up the tradition.
there are 3 different groups going, basically the three different dorm things (although i've taken to calling it "the house" - "dorm" doesnt fit the feel of port lodge), and i think we're all going to bring stuff up.
im kind of nervous too though. i honestly thought that going here would be similar to being in the US, esp with the european/aboriginal relationships.
dude, i was wrong.
first off, i didnt know that the oldest recorded civilization in the world is here. i dont know, you grow up thinking everything that matters started off in the mediteranean or something, and there were random cavemen in other places, and (of course) ireland's always been on top of its game.
but the tribes here have been around since pretty much forever, and i guess the deal is that while obviously they came from somewhere, probably asia then tripped down the islands here, once they got here they stayed. im pretty sure they said that the aboriginals here are the only culture in the world to not have a story for how they got *here*
they've always been here, their oral traditions and relationship with the land is pretty much unlike anything i at least have heard of. i mean, pretty much every culture has some sort of relationship with the land/nature, but not like this.
i had no idea how hard it is to live here. (ok this is ridiculous, i pretty much want to just go on about everything i've learned so far)
after our kimberly talk, we went on a 'historical tour of fremantle' (i was supposed to be in this one group, but i snuck into the other cos i like the lecturer more ... i suppose you didnt really need to know that, oh well!), anyway, i love this guy cos he's from northern ireland, moved out here when he was a kid, grew up in sydney, and now lives here with his family and teaches history. yeah.
oh yeah! i love him because as an irish guy, he gives a sweet tour, mostly focusing on irish history.
anyways, yeah, so ... yeah, living here.
its insane. like, i get why the whole white guy/aboriginal thing is still so bad here. i mean, you hear all the stereotypes, australians treat women badly and are racists. its just because they were colonized later than the states and they're about 50 years behind us.
yeah.
no not really. it really is a completely different country here. honestly, im starting to think that things are so bad with the aboriginals because white people dont know how to live here. this isnt our country, and the majority of the aboriginal community still sees us, all europeans, as guests ... who decided to take over and run the place, and badly at that.
and this isnt some revisionist history, white person guilt ... and its not something that ive been told ... i dont know, im on the verge of beginning to understand something, but i cant formulate it yet. which is why im so excited for kimberly .... and i know and appreciate that ive only been here for five weeks, and im just trying to absorb too much and my brain is a tad fried right now, but yeah ... im starting to feel like im getting my sense of direction back, and thats a good thing.
moving on, the tour was crazy sweet. its amazing how much ive walked by every day since i got here and never really saw. like this monument to the last 62 of the last convicts deported here, just happened to be fenians. they were pretty sweet. and yeah, one of them ended up escaping, got on a whaling ship to the states, moved to chicago, and started the tribune. he has this great quote about his first sight of fremantle, from the convict ship, ill put it at the end, im offline right now. (im never going to get used to no wireless)
so what else is new ... oh yeah, i got a job.
=)
im a waitress! at this pizza place! and i have no idea how much im getting paid, how often ill work, if it sunk with the owner that im *illegal*, or what. all do know is that its a family owned italian restaurant, just down the road from port lodge, my friend trisha starts tonight, and i start tomorrow. and i have to go buy black pants cos im really smart and DIDNT PACK THEM. grr. but yeah, isnt that AWESOME. it is. oh yeah! hahaahahha, when we first walked in i just went up the counter and asked if they were hiring, "oh yeah! sure"
"great, im a study abroad student, over at notre dame"
"ok"
"umm .... so what are you looking for"
"everythings avail. you ever waitressed before?"
"um, not really"
"oh thats fine, we'll train you. how long are you here for"
"till the end of june ... "
"four months then? ok"
".... uhh, what hours are you looking for"
"oh whenever you're avail, really whenever you want"
"... um, ok *give him hours*"
"ok, well give me your phone number and name and ill give you a call in the week to let you know whats open"
"ok ... ill talk to you later then?"
"yeah! bye!"
this all went down in about five minutes. i walked out with trish, and we just look at each other "did that really just happen?"
i didnt think it could be more chill than my fish place, but yeah ... they might be given a run for thier money. on the other hand i have to wear a pseudo uniform .... although that could be whatever i wanted, as long as its black.
i love italians.
but, after my tour this morning, hearing all about the "on the waterfront" nature of fremantle (dude, this place has a cool history) , i just remembered how much i wanted to work on the docks here, or a fishing company or something. so i went straight over to the student life office afterwards, to see if they had anny ideas. they werent too bright (ive been so spoiled by myND, its crazy. i could go up to the career center, and say "i want to work on a boat" and they'd find me something. but i digress) , but once i finnish this im going to hit up the harbour and see if i can find something.
i miss my fish. =/
but yeah, so im excited to work. not only could it possibly mean moolah (im still a little skeptical that itll work out), but its a phenomenal way to meet more australians, i can wow them with my killer american customer service skills (yeah, they arent too into that here), and lets be honest. esther likes working. she's good at it. =)
my arms look really good. i hope this tan never goes away.
OH yeah. i think its prolly long out of the theatres but if at all possible, papa needs to see "Wild Hogs". its a very much esther+papa movie, along the lines of george of the jungle and dudley doright fame. i was pretty much in tears the whole time, and i was only semi tired. =D
kk, loves to all. i feel like i had more to say, so you might get really lucky and have two in one day.
oh yeah, what does everybody want from here? we were talking about that yesterday, and any suggestions would be well recieved. hee hee.
im in australia.
IM IN AUSTRALIA.
and how cool is that?
anyways, yeah, so we're going to broome in three weeks or so. actually, we're going to the whole kimberly area, flying into broome and jeeping it from there up to the tippy top part of australia. or something like that.
its going to be amazing for a bazillion reasons, one being no time. i love that. five days of nooooo idea what time it is. cold showers, no electricity, sleeping in tents, sharing backpacks, no makeup, cell phones, mp3 players, watches, tv, radio, internet, and you get the idea
just lots of sunscreen, bottled water, hats, cameras, and things that could kill you.
but seriously, im so excited. we're going to pool our resources and buy sports equipment for this no budget, catholic aboriginal school. apparently students started doing that a couple of years ago, and now every group that goes up brings the kids stuff. all the equipment they have in their gym is from US students. so we're going to keep up the tradition.
there are 3 different groups going, basically the three different dorm things (although i've taken to calling it "the house" - "dorm" doesnt fit the feel of port lodge), and i think we're all going to bring stuff up.
im kind of nervous too though. i honestly thought that going here would be similar to being in the US, esp with the european/aboriginal relationships.
dude, i was wrong.
first off, i didnt know that the oldest recorded civilization in the world is here. i dont know, you grow up thinking everything that matters started off in the mediteranean or something, and there were random cavemen in other places, and (of course) ireland's always been on top of its game.
but the tribes here have been around since pretty much forever, and i guess the deal is that while obviously they came from somewhere, probably asia then tripped down the islands here, once they got here they stayed. im pretty sure they said that the aboriginals here are the only culture in the world to not have a story for how they got *here*
they've always been here, their oral traditions and relationship with the land is pretty much unlike anything i at least have heard of. i mean, pretty much every culture has some sort of relationship with the land/nature, but not like this.
i had no idea how hard it is to live here. (ok this is ridiculous, i pretty much want to just go on about everything i've learned so far)
after our kimberly talk, we went on a 'historical tour of fremantle' (i was supposed to be in this one group, but i snuck into the other cos i like the lecturer more ... i suppose you didnt really need to know that, oh well!), anyway, i love this guy cos he's from northern ireland, moved out here when he was a kid, grew up in sydney, and now lives here with his family and teaches history. yeah.
oh yeah! i love him because as an irish guy, he gives a sweet tour, mostly focusing on irish history.
anyways, yeah, so ... yeah, living here.
its insane. like, i get why the whole white guy/aboriginal thing is still so bad here. i mean, you hear all the stereotypes, australians treat women badly and are racists. its just because they were colonized later than the states and they're about 50 years behind us.
yeah.
no not really. it really is a completely different country here. honestly, im starting to think that things are so bad with the aboriginals because white people dont know how to live here. this isnt our country, and the majority of the aboriginal community still sees us, all europeans, as guests ... who decided to take over and run the place, and badly at that.
and this isnt some revisionist history, white person guilt ... and its not something that ive been told ... i dont know, im on the verge of beginning to understand something, but i cant formulate it yet. which is why im so excited for kimberly .... and i know and appreciate that ive only been here for five weeks, and im just trying to absorb too much and my brain is a tad fried right now, but yeah ... im starting to feel like im getting my sense of direction back, and thats a good thing.
moving on, the tour was crazy sweet. its amazing how much ive walked by every day since i got here and never really saw. like this monument to the last 62 of the last convicts deported here, just happened to be fenians. they were pretty sweet. and yeah, one of them ended up escaping, got on a whaling ship to the states, moved to chicago, and started the tribune. he has this great quote about his first sight of fremantle, from the convict ship, ill put it at the end, im offline right now. (im never going to get used to no wireless)
so what else is new ... oh yeah, i got a job.
=)
im a waitress! at this pizza place! and i have no idea how much im getting paid, how often ill work, if it sunk with the owner that im *illegal*, or what. all do know is that its a family owned italian restaurant, just down the road from port lodge, my friend trisha starts tonight, and i start tomorrow. and i have to go buy black pants cos im really smart and DIDNT PACK THEM. grr. but yeah, isnt that AWESOME. it is. oh yeah! hahaahahha, when we first walked in i just went up the counter and asked if they were hiring, "oh yeah! sure"
"great, im a study abroad student, over at notre dame"
"ok"
"umm .... so what are you looking for"
"everythings avail. you ever waitressed before?"
"um, not really"
"oh thats fine, we'll train you. how long are you here for"
"till the end of june ... "
"four months then? ok"
".... uhh, what hours are you looking for"
"oh whenever you're avail, really whenever you want"
"... um, ok *give him hours*"
"ok, well give me your phone number and name and ill give you a call in the week to let you know whats open"
"ok ... ill talk to you later then?"
"yeah! bye!"
this all went down in about five minutes. i walked out with trish, and we just look at each other "did that really just happen?"
i didnt think it could be more chill than my fish place, but yeah ... they might be given a run for thier money. on the other hand i have to wear a pseudo uniform .... although that could be whatever i wanted, as long as its black.
i love italians.
but, after my tour this morning, hearing all about the "on the waterfront" nature of fremantle (dude, this place has a cool history) , i just remembered how much i wanted to work on the docks here, or a fishing company or something. so i went straight over to the student life office afterwards, to see if they had anny ideas. they werent too bright (ive been so spoiled by myND, its crazy. i could go up to the career center, and say "i want to work on a boat" and they'd find me something. but i digress) , but once i finnish this im going to hit up the harbour and see if i can find something.
i miss my fish. =/
but yeah, so im excited to work. not only could it possibly mean moolah (im still a little skeptical that itll work out), but its a phenomenal way to meet more australians, i can wow them with my killer american customer service skills (yeah, they arent too into that here), and lets be honest. esther likes working. she's good at it. =)
my arms look really good. i hope this tan never goes away.
OH yeah. i think its prolly long out of the theatres but if at all possible, papa needs to see "Wild Hogs". its a very much esther+papa movie, along the lines of george of the jungle and dudley doright fame. i was pretty much in tears the whole time, and i was only semi tired. =D
kk, loves to all. i feel like i had more to say, so you might get really lucky and have two in one day.
oh yeah, what does everybody want from here? we were talking about that yesterday, and any suggestions would be well recieved. hee hee.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
dream about those dreaming eyes
sooooooo we're having a movie night next week and guess what my friend kate and i did!!!
we're watching snowy river!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*does little chair dance*
so yeah, thats cool. in other news, i went to the perth zoo and i was sweeeeet. i took lots of pictures, even though im not really a non-person picture taker, cos i figured the boys and girls would like them. so i took lots of the croc and poisioness thingys, and lots of koalas and the wombat. that should make everybody happy, no?
(ps, if you're ever in a bad mood, or just down in general, try saying 'wombat'. its great! perks me right back up =D )
im working on my presentation for my lit class. its kinda intense, we each will have to lead a tutorial, kicking it off with a 25 min lecture on our topic, then guided disscussion. geeze.
the good news is i really like the book im prestenting on (My Brilliant Career) and im even more excited about my topic. i get to talk about it and (get this) jane eyre! (in case you cant tell/didnt know, im obsessed with JE. pretty much favorite book ever.)
im going to talk about how similar they are (i think thats why i liked MBC so much), but how each in its differences epitomizes the country of origin. like, JE is such a quintisentially english book, and MBC is utterly australian. its awesome. so after talking about the two for a little while, i think im going to turn it into a 'what it is to be australian lit' by pointing out what it is not through contrast with JE. sound good?
so for my history class we have to do this group project *gag* about historical fremantle. (its not that i dont like the subject, i just hate group projects. and its not like i hate people, i just hate having to rely on four other people for a major part of my grade in the class, ya know?)
i narrowly avoided getting into a group with Creepy Kid. though it was only through being fairly rude im afraid, but seriously he cant take a hint.
i AM excited for my group for policy project though. seeing that i know nothing about politics its nice to know im not going to be totally lost. besides i was able to snag the demographics/history of east timor, and not the economy/policies/strategies bits. score!
i love my cafe more than ever now. my owner knows me and gave me free espresso today. its grrrrrreat. plus its good coffee too. i almost broke down and got food their today, its soooo tasty looking. and it smelled amazing. best burger iver ever seen.
then i remembered its friday. dangit.
kk, cant think of anything else too terribly interesting. ill go put up the zoo pix.
love you all!
we're watching snowy river!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*does little chair dance*
so yeah, thats cool. in other news, i went to the perth zoo and i was sweeeeet. i took lots of pictures, even though im not really a non-person picture taker, cos i figured the boys and girls would like them. so i took lots of the croc and poisioness thingys, and lots of koalas and the wombat. that should make everybody happy, no?
(ps, if you're ever in a bad mood, or just down in general, try saying 'wombat'. its great! perks me right back up =D )
im working on my presentation for my lit class. its kinda intense, we each will have to lead a tutorial, kicking it off with a 25 min lecture on our topic, then guided disscussion. geeze.
the good news is i really like the book im prestenting on (My Brilliant Career) and im even more excited about my topic. i get to talk about it and (get this) jane eyre! (in case you cant tell/didnt know, im obsessed with JE. pretty much favorite book ever.)
im going to talk about how similar they are (i think thats why i liked MBC so much), but how each in its differences epitomizes the country of origin. like, JE is such a quintisentially english book, and MBC is utterly australian. its awesome. so after talking about the two for a little while, i think im going to turn it into a 'what it is to be australian lit' by pointing out what it is not through contrast with JE. sound good?
so for my history class we have to do this group project *gag* about historical fremantle. (its not that i dont like the subject, i just hate group projects. and its not like i hate people, i just hate having to rely on four other people for a major part of my grade in the class, ya know?)
i narrowly avoided getting into a group with Creepy Kid. though it was only through being fairly rude im afraid, but seriously he cant take a hint.
i AM excited for my group for policy project though. seeing that i know nothing about politics its nice to know im not going to be totally lost. besides i was able to snag the demographics/history of east timor, and not the economy/policies/strategies bits. score!
i love my cafe more than ever now. my owner knows me and gave me free espresso today. its grrrrrreat. plus its good coffee too. i almost broke down and got food their today, its soooo tasty looking. and it smelled amazing. best burger iver ever seen.
then i remembered its friday. dangit.
kk, cant think of anything else too terribly interesting. ill go put up the zoo pix.
love you all!
Monday, March 12, 2007
oooooo
ok so this is the fremantle national hotel, on the corner of high and market streets (i think), aka spitting distance from port lodge.
pretty huh? thats what alot of old buildings look like here.
but since last night it looks like this:
yeah, dont tell mark >)
i dont know what happened or what, but this is my friend steve's picture. he was out last night with his friend who just got in, and they ran into it on the way back home.
crazy huh? why do i miss all the interesting stuff ...
so yeah, i thought that was something.
vindicated!
ok, so in aus lit today we read the man from snowy river. it was AWESOME!
plus, my prof lady was all about the movie, said it captured the spirit of the ballad brilliantly, was visually beautiful, and tom burlinson ideally captured the "australian myth"
(aka, what it is to be an australian)
THUS my years of love and dozens of viewings were all for the best. so maaaaybe it would be better if i could quote lines of the ballad rather than every line of the film, but thats besides the point. ha!
im in my cafe again, this guy decided to take over the piano so the management turned off the overhead and im listening to him plink out random bach preludes. hes rather good actually.
i talked to jacquelyn today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was fantabulous. and im in a ridiculously good mood as a consequence.
check out my photosite! i dont have too many pix up yet, but will faithfully add as the spirit moves me. i stole a few from my friends just now and uploaded them. i like the ones from the plane the most.
well those and the one of me totally taking rok down. hee hee.
that one was from when we went to the beach last weekend, he told me there was no way i could ever take him down. i pointed out that my being almost 6 inches taller than him *might* be an advantage he couldnt deal with, but apparently those were just fighting words and he ended up trying to body check me to the ground. it didnt work. i ended up flipping him on his back (as documented)
it was great, he was humiliated and insisted i cheated. im still not sure how. =)
not much too report. ive been kicking it around (oooo, bach sonata now ... i cant remember which one it is, but we all played it ... or maybe its a mazurka ... [now ill stop before joseph gives me more grief]), read a book this weekend, need to read a play now and 80 pages of for. policy. blech.
oh yeah, today in security and strategies this kid suggested that america and israel were creating the war on terrorism by attacking countries (something like hezbollah only existed after everything started in lebanon (sp?), and alquaeda (dang, i really cant do that one) only started up after we attacked afghanistan). it was off topic so not discussed, but judging from the facial expressions and head nods around the room, its a general viewpoint i guess.
my point is that my parents should be proud of me, esp since i was labeled unpatriotic and anti-american all break. just because i cant stand politics doesnt make me unpatriotic you know. but yeah, my POINT is that even though i really dont care, my total reaction was to turn and say "you're kidding me right?", like even if you dont agree with the whole 'war on terror' you honestly think that terrorism only started after whatever countries went to war? or something like that. not that i said it because first i have no idea what im talking about, i just know thats not right, i dont know what is though. and second because i dont want to sound like some american on a power trip. but honestly, its a different world here.
i like their attitude to politics in general here. it has nothing to do with love of country. almost all the aussies ive met are deeply patriotic in the sense that they love australia, the physical country itself. their sense of national identity has little to nothing to do with government or politics, its a deep connection with the land and environment itself. its fascinating seeing the way european australia has come about, from the viewpoint of literature, film, theatre, politics, and history classes. so much of the 'australian identity' has to do with the convict past, seriously. that and a (probably unintentional) assimilation of some aboriginal philosophies regarding the country itself. its really intriguing, and fairly seductive, not going to lie.
like, when people talk about america with stars in their eyes, it can make sense if they come from an oppressed nation or something, the whole 'american dream' ideal. dont get me wrong i love it too, but in a way i feel like i relate more to the australian type of patriotism, instinctively at least. like, i love the NW, it has very little to do with the government or politics of the place. its a love of the landscape, an intense relationship with the culture of "what it is to be" a NWer. i think thats why ive become so enamored with the whole fishing culture, native american history, etc. it doesnt matter how liberal or conservative portland or seattle are, that has nothing to do with the land itself.
or something like that, i need to think about it more.
(the irony here [for me at least] is that its not until i come to australia that i realize that my real home is the NW. i cant help it. like i know i hate the midwest, but i just figured that was a homesickish type thing. but if im going to be at home anywhere besides the NW, its going to be here ... and i dont know, ive only been here three weeks and all, but while i still admire and love australia, its just given me the chance to see that im in love the with NW)
ok, my battery is about to die. enjoy the pix. love you all.
plus, my prof lady was all about the movie, said it captured the spirit of the ballad brilliantly, was visually beautiful, and tom burlinson ideally captured the "australian myth"
(aka, what it is to be an australian)
THUS my years of love and dozens of viewings were all for the best. so maaaaybe it would be better if i could quote lines of the ballad rather than every line of the film, but thats besides the point. ha!
im in my cafe again, this guy decided to take over the piano so the management turned off the overhead and im listening to him plink out random bach preludes. hes rather good actually.
i talked to jacquelyn today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was fantabulous. and im in a ridiculously good mood as a consequence.
check out my photosite! i dont have too many pix up yet, but will faithfully add as the spirit moves me. i stole a few from my friends just now and uploaded them. i like the ones from the plane the most.
well those and the one of me totally taking rok down. hee hee.
that one was from when we went to the beach last weekend, he told me there was no way i could ever take him down. i pointed out that my being almost 6 inches taller than him *might* be an advantage he couldnt deal with, but apparently those were just fighting words and he ended up trying to body check me to the ground. it didnt work. i ended up flipping him on his back (as documented)
it was great, he was humiliated and insisted i cheated. im still not sure how. =)
not much too report. ive been kicking it around (oooo, bach sonata now ... i cant remember which one it is, but we all played it ... or maybe its a mazurka ... [now ill stop before joseph gives me more grief]), read a book this weekend, need to read a play now and 80 pages of for. policy. blech.
oh yeah, today in security and strategies this kid suggested that america and israel were creating the war on terrorism by attacking countries (something like hezbollah only existed after everything started in lebanon (sp?), and alquaeda (dang, i really cant do that one) only started up after we attacked afghanistan). it was off topic so not discussed, but judging from the facial expressions and head nods around the room, its a general viewpoint i guess.
my point is that my parents should be proud of me, esp since i was labeled unpatriotic and anti-american all break. just because i cant stand politics doesnt make me unpatriotic you know. but yeah, my POINT is that even though i really dont care, my total reaction was to turn and say "you're kidding me right?", like even if you dont agree with the whole 'war on terror' you honestly think that terrorism only started after whatever countries went to war? or something like that. not that i said it because first i have no idea what im talking about, i just know thats not right, i dont know what is though. and second because i dont want to sound like some american on a power trip. but honestly, its a different world here.
i like their attitude to politics in general here. it has nothing to do with love of country. almost all the aussies ive met are deeply patriotic in the sense that they love australia, the physical country itself. their sense of national identity has little to nothing to do with government or politics, its a deep connection with the land and environment itself. its fascinating seeing the way european australia has come about, from the viewpoint of literature, film, theatre, politics, and history classes. so much of the 'australian identity' has to do with the convict past, seriously. that and a (probably unintentional) assimilation of some aboriginal philosophies regarding the country itself. its really intriguing, and fairly seductive, not going to lie.
like, when people talk about america with stars in their eyes, it can make sense if they come from an oppressed nation or something, the whole 'american dream' ideal. dont get me wrong i love it too, but in a way i feel like i relate more to the australian type of patriotism, instinctively at least. like, i love the NW, it has very little to do with the government or politics of the place. its a love of the landscape, an intense relationship with the culture of "what it is to be" a NWer. i think thats why ive become so enamored with the whole fishing culture, native american history, etc. it doesnt matter how liberal or conservative portland or seattle are, that has nothing to do with the land itself.
or something like that, i need to think about it more.
(the irony here [for me at least] is that its not until i come to australia that i realize that my real home is the NW. i cant help it. like i know i hate the midwest, but i just figured that was a homesickish type thing. but if im going to be at home anywhere besides the NW, its going to be here ... and i dont know, ive only been here three weeks and all, but while i still admire and love australia, its just given me the chance to see that im in love the with NW)
ok, my battery is about to die. enjoy the pix. love you all.
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