Austeniana
Hello Gentle Readers,

Thank you for your patience. As you know, it has been a busy time. I put my MSc dissertation in the mail on Friday, so that's one monkey off my back. But perhaps mor importantly, I have finished reading the works of Jane Austen (at least for the first time).

I had been wondering what I'd do with myself when I finally finish the novels. the short works, juvenilia, and the fragment Sanditon? I do think that the novels will continue to yield great wisdom, insight and humor on re-reads, but now that I know how they all end, they cannot possibly provide any surprising plot twists. But the good news appears to be that if I want to consume some kind of fiction pertaining to Jane Austen, I have many options, which I will review briefly.

• Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
  Actually, between the time I started this post and now I checked this book out from the library, and now I see that a movie version is about to be released. Hmm. About the book, I will say what I did about Cloud Atlas: it ran a high risk of being merely gimmicky, but the gimmick was used effectively and not to mask a lack of actual non-gimmick content. I liked learning about the lives of the characters, and it was especially interesting since it was set around Sacramento in pretty much now-times; in some ways it was surprisingly realistic--the characters didn't seem like stock parts at all, but like unusual people you might actually meet or be related to. My major criticism of it is very much akin to what Isaach Bashevis Singer, the Nobel-prize-winning author said of the movie adaptation of his short-story Yentl: We see much of Ms. Fowler's creations, but very little of Ms. Austen. Maybe an early draft leaned more heavily on themes and issues from Austen and an editor/publisher took these out or made them more subtle to attract a wider audience? Shame if that's the case. I do have to say that some of my favorite parts were the appendices. One is compendium of quotes of reactions to Jane Austen's works (starting with her family and going all the way through to post-colonial analyses), and the other is a set of discussion questions for a reading group--written by the characters. I liked it. I don't think I'll make an effort to see the movie in a theatre, and I won't be in a rush to see it on video. I don't see how the quirkiness of the book or its characters could survive a Hollywood treatment.
  

• Austenland
  So this is like the Westworld of Jane Austen (except without robots?)? Well, I'm at least intrigued and will give it a read to see what it's like. May not be the next thing on my list, but it's on the list.

• Becoming Jane Yeah, NO, I don't think this is happening.

• Lost in Austen So I think this borders on parody and absurdity, which certainly has its place, but I think it also risks missing the whole point of Why Jane Austen Is Great. I may or may not read it.
  
  Did I ever mention that there is a famous story by Rudyard Kipling called "The Janeites"? It's about an enlisted man in WWI's belief that there is a Mason-like Austen-based secret society, though it's not clear whether he (the narrator) has interpreted the situation correctly.
  

Stay Tuned! I am planning a post with links to pirate-themed things in the zeitgeist in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, which was Sept. 19 or something.

Also, I am currently reading the Tales of the City series (have finished the first 3) and seen some episodes of 30 Rock which I am looking forward to reporting on.
- posted by k @ 3:16 PM

 
The Discworld Cake


Yes. It is a CAKE. Of Discworld. OMFG. Click the link for the "making-of," which is also pretty amazing.
- posted by k @ 8:44 PM

 
I haz bed



Check it out:

• Futon (frame & mattress, and extra cover, all only 1 year old): $100

• Nightstand (great condition) and file cabinet (needs a little oil, but works): $35

• This is the only bad part. Rental truck (advertised at $20): $20 + $10 insurance + 60cents/mile(*10 miles)-->$6.00 + $10 refilling the tank (1/8 tank) + ??fees and taxes and crap = possibly $50. :-(

Still, I budgeted $200 and I'm under that and now I have a bed. I don't have a desk, but maybe I don't need one? There's a kitchen table in the apartment that I could work at, and we'll see.
- posted by k @ 9:06 PM

 
Good things that happened today

• Very good sandwich at lunch, and part of a combo that came with a drink and chips. What I especially liked about it: thin sliced cucumber and tomato, but lots of slices. This is good sandwich construction technique. Also, the multigrain bread had flax seeds, looked dark and full of fiber, yet was able to bend instead of breaking. Another sign of good sandwich construction. And the bread wasn't so thick I couldn't get them it my mouth. Riskily, I got onions on it too, but they had been rinsed or brined or exposed in such a way that they didn't leave a bad after taste in my mouth when I was done eating; just a transient crunchy sweet/pungent experience. These three things, especially the first one, are pretty rare when you buy a sandwich but they are part of my platonic ideal of a cold sandwich.

• I got into a class with limited enrollment that I really wanted to take.
  

• I wrote down the days/times for all my classes and....there were no conflicts! None were at the same time! And it doesn't look like an unmanageable load: 2-3 classes on Tue/Thur and 1 on Mon/Wed.
  

• I went to the grocery store. I always enjoy that. The (from what I hear) most convenient store (and the one I went to) is called Shaw's and I think it's pretty much like a Safeway. But there was plenty of hippie food, including a wide selection of soymeats (though sadly no Soyrizo. But yes to stripples). Also, I think that food is slightly cheaper here, as in things that I expected to cost $4-$4.50 cost $3-$4 and much of it was on sale for a dollar off. Also, before I went into the supermarket I found a stand with local produce, so I got some of that. So now I can probably make my breakfasts and lunches for the next week. Oh, and I got a discount card.

• Oh yeah, speaking of discounts, my student transit pass won't start until Oct 1., so I was trying to figure out what to do in the meantime. I figure since I live close to the T but two stops away from school (20-30 mins if I walked the whole way, I think) I'll make at least 2 trips a day, 5 days a week, a probably 2 extra trips during the week (e.g. from lab to school, or to the grocery store, or whatever). So that's 12 trips/week at $2/trip= $24. The weekly pass is $15. Score!

• Speaking of labs, I had my introduction/interview at the lab where I'll be working. I contacted the head of the lab shortly after I found out I was accepted to this program (so, 3-4 months ago). You know what is great? A job interview when you already have the job. I highly recommend it. Also, most of my classmates are just now starting to look for their internships. Bwah ha ha ha ha! So long, suckers! It's nice to be ahead of the pack for a change.

• Got home before the roommates, so had the TV and remote to myself while I had my dinner.

• When I was at the grocery store, one of the songs from the new Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf.. um...Yusuf Ali? Yusuf Islam?) album came on. I like that song. They used to play it Radio 2 sometimes. I hope it doesn't start getting played all the time everywhere, though, and especially not in a commercial. That Feist song I like(d?) is everywhere now, even in a commercial, which makes me a little sad or annoyed or something.

• Iron Chef Mario Batali used kale. Kale! On TV! w00t! Go kale!

• Oh, speaking of food, I was reading the package of a loaf of multigrain bread at the store and one of the grains was triticale! I didn't know that was a real grain. I thought it was just something tribbles ate.
  

In other news, I finished Volume II of Mansfield Park and Fanny has yet to blow her stack, even though she gets more and more reason to. In fact I had just come to the sentence "Fanny was becoming angry" when it was time to get off the train. I wonder what will happen. I am starting to get a little frustrated because I do agree with a lot of Austen is saying (using Fanny as a role model or moral ideal) but the girl needs to have some self-esteem and stand up for herself, really. It is getting ridiculous. I wonder what enlightenment thinkers at the time thought of her moral lessons, though I suppose they probably agreed where the lessons applied to women. I am becoming more and more curious what the story would be like if it were told from Mary Crawford's perspective. Or perhaps she really is the one Austen identifies with, but for the sake of the appearance of propriety at the times she makes it about Fanny? Not that I don't like Fanny, don't get me wrong. And I do find it hard to believe that the change in Henry Crawford goes all the way through him and not that it's just another manifestation of his own self-involvement.
- posted by k @ 4:30 PM

 
More things
Will try to focus on more positives so no one worries.

• My hostility to things is now only intermittent and is somewhat alleviated by the food we are given

• For example, box lunch yesterday (decent), continental breakfast this morning (very nice), pizza this evening (ok, the pizza was bad, but it was still there and free. The thought was good). There is also breakfast on Friday. The word continental was not mentioned. We shall see.
  

• Some classes seem very interesting and I don't think anything like them is offered anywhere else. Really. In the world.

• There are a lot of branches and ATMs of my bank. That's convenient for me.

• AND based on my online statement it appears that my last money from the UK has been transferred successfully (I was waiting for the last paycheck to be deposited). It's not a lot of money, but I think this is one time when the exchange rate benefited me, and it's an amount that I would have been upset to lose.

• Fall isn't all bad, I guess, since there are pumpkin-flavored things (in addition to, you know, reminders of mortality, darkness, cold, etc etc). For example, I have seen for sale but have not had (yet) pumpkin bagels, donuts, cream cheese and soup. I am most likely to have the soup. Had some carrot ginger soup this afternoon when it was cold and wet outside. Good stuff. Also some nice seasonal regional apples coming in.
  

Anyway here are other things that may not necessarily be positive, though they may not necessarily be negative:

• It smells different here. I think it is party due to the humidity. I hope there is less trash-can smell in the winter.

• It rained today, very hard and for most of the day though it stopped before dinner time. Good because I was wearing a sweater so I wasn't too hot (and in fact with the AC it was needed) bad because I had to buy an umbrella (which I paid too much for).

• Russian region to host Day of ConceptionUm, what? Why? I have trouble seeing why underpopulation is really a problem, unless you are some kind of racist/nationalist or something. If you need more workers, why not invite some Chinese guest workers or something? Even things out a bit.

• Hmm. I forgot what else I was going to say. It may have pertained to bagels. mmm, bagel...
  

- posted by k @ 8:29 PM

 
More blog vomit, aka Welcome to Boston II

• Regional food variation: there is something called a bulkie roll. Apparently (based on Wikipedia description) it is what in the UK is called a bap. I don't recall such an item having its own special name in the midwest or CA.

• Anyway, orientation was today. I was online this morning about 7 or 7:30am trying to find the schedule for the week and then I finally found it about 8am. Oh look! It starts at 9 with a welcome from the dean! Oops. But the cool thing is I left the apartment at 8:30 and I was in my seat before it started. Plus I ran into a friend of mine from Berkeley whom I had lost touch with--she recognized me when I came in the door. So that was good, anyway.

• blah blah blah, a lot of talking by people. And then more talking by some other people.

• I have to admit that this morning my primary feelings, rather than being excited or nervous back-to-school feelings, were more centered around cynicism and resentment. Because we are all giving up so much for me to be here, I am on guard in case it's some kind of scam or trick. I'm still not convinced it's not, but at least the student support services (including career office) seem to be excellent.

• Met my classmates in the afternoon (the one who are in my program, not one of the other very many programs at this school). The good news is that I learned that they were forced to write those haikus in groups. 1)forced 2) in groups. And we had to talk in small groups and at least the ones in my groups weren't total whiny idiot wankers. I mean, most people really aren't when you talk to them and get to know them.

• Also saw Famous Professor (has a bunch of books for general public, is featured in Time magazine, etc). He seems nice. Recognized him right away from the website and his picture in Time magazine. Told the guy sitting next to me, who either didn't care or didn't hear.

• In general, I haven't been noticing a lot of regional differences (which is what makes the bulkie, above, so notable) but still everything is new in the sense that nothing is familiar. Plus they tell me it's cold in the winter and people (at least natives) are standoffish if not hostile (though that hasn't been my experience so far). So although the differences are small, there are a lot of them. I think there's a certain fatigue that comes from seeing new people (even if they look like all the same people from everywhere else) and new places all the time. Kind of a Culture Shock Lite.

• In other words, as my subconscious informs me, "Can I go home now? Where is my girlfriend?"
  

- posted by k @ 6:35 PM

 
So

• Here I am. ie, I am here.

• There are too many undergraduates and their parents around the campus, and the area around the campus is really busy. This appealed to me when I was younger. Not so much now. At least the parents will be gone this week.

• Orientation and registration is tomorrow. I wish I could again-find the schedule for this week that I had previously printed and left on HB's desk ie not packed. Where is it, o internets and intranets? Why is it not where the email sent to me says it should be? eh?
  

• Based on the information they have put online about themselves, including (solicited) haikus about their hopes and fears for the coming year, my classmates sound like a bunch of wankers. I hope they don't try to hug me.

• I am looking forward to my core course and a healthy handful of other classes look interesting. Some classes in the psych dept look interesting too. There are some at MIT, too that I could cross-register for, but I am afraid they my try to eat my entrails while I'm still screaming. Still, if they haven't already settled registration over there perhaps I should go browse.

• So many options for statistics/quantitative methods. Some in my dept., some over in psych, and some at MIT. Actually there is one at MIT specifically for research in my area and based on the topics they mention it sounds like it could be very helpful to me. As long as I can keep my entrails where they are.

• I have met a bunch of groovy potential new roommates and there is one pair that I have become engaged to (based on mutual admiration) but nothing will be official until the landlady cashes the check and her mother-in-law dances. Still, it seems like now that people my age are 25+ and pursuing serious study, they are people I can stand. Or at least more likely to be so. (OTOH I met someone who was 27 today--not a potential roommate--who...how to put this...was still basking in self-conscious irresponsibility. yuck.)

• It was very hot and humid yesterday (80degF+) . Today it was cooler but didn't rain, though there were a few drops. I don't have a lot of decent clothes that are good for hot weather.

• Oh, this is the important point: my hair looks ok/pretty good even though I didn't get it cut before I left like I wanted to. Thus, my last haircut was in June. But it is doing a thing now that, although a bit irregular appears to be intentionally so. But I will have to find someone out here to cut it in a couple of weeks, I think. The person I had in SF was wonderful--she really understood what I wanted and how to work with my hair. Plus she had a great joie de vivre and was from New Orleans (relocated after Katrina).

• I think I would like to get a bike. That will make the commute from my new (hopefully) apartment to campus very simple and quick and the roads aren't very big/intimidating in most places and many have bike lanes. However, I also will need to find a bed first. craigslist, here I come again! But how will I get the bed to my apartment? Hmm. A couple of places I have looked at came with the option of buying the furniture, but in terms of overall quality of life none were close to the one I'm engaged to.

• There is a local chain called Anna's Taqueria that makes an entirely decent veggie burrito in a close-to-mission style and even has black beans. The only thing missing is free chips and a salsa bar. So one of my great questions about whether I'd be able to live here is answered.

• I don't know where the grocery store closest to my new apt. is. Hmm.

• But I do know that the new place is just off the square with the cool, hip, apparently lesbian coffeehouse. I wonder if lesbian coffeehouses are more financially viable than bars/nightclubs (e.g. San Fransisco--of all places--has only one lesbian bar, though there are floating dance nights). Anyway, I haven't been to that cafe yet because...I'm not sure why. Also on the day when I had time to sit down in a cafe, I didn't know where it was, and then today I was all over the countryside looking at apartments.

• Found a copy of Bay Windows, the LGBT newspaper, on the T (subway) so I picked it up. It has a very professional layout and feel and I started to wonder why the SF LGBT papers don't, then I remembered that the SF ones are free and Bay Times you have to pay for, though if I recall correctly it was only 50 cents last time I was here (8 years ago). It must be $1.50 or something stupid like that now. I remember when the Chronicle was only 25 cents for that matter, but oh well.

• Almost as important as my hair: Mansfield Park. Just finished Volume I (of 3). I predict that Fanny is going to totally blow her stack in Volume II because all through Volume I she has been an absolute *model* (ie paragon) of virtue, restraint, blah blah blah and it seems that the more she does so, the more crap is thrown in her face (e.g. the one person who is nice to her is the one stealing the attention and affection of the one other person who is nice to her, and then they both want to rehearse a romantic scene with her because they are too shy to do it with the other. gag me with a spoon!) I think if it were a Hollywood movie she would get a makeover and win him back with her new-found confidence (the kind that--in hollywood--is correlated with cleavage and a new haircut). But that would be counter to all the moral instruction Ms. Austen is giving us, so I'll be interested to see where she goes with this. DO NOT TELL ME HOW IT ENDS! OR I WILL CUT YOU!

• Apparently we get our ID photos taken on Thursday and then our ID cards are mailed to us a week later. WTF? How am I supposed to get into the library? Let alone the gym? Maybe we get temporary IDs.
  

- posted by k @ 6:41 PM