(no subject)
Jun. 1st, 2014 12:00 pmThursday night, I was feeling less sore throat and more congestion, which isn't a bad thing. I paid an ex-student-now-friend of mine some money to help me get to Ontario Airport to get my parents. I showed my dad my inflatable beds. The ones you can plug in, flip a switch, and watch it inflate itself. They are pretty fucking awesome. A+ purchase. I got one when ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ardhra came to visit and decided to get another because I wanted to lock my mom away in my bedroom (didn't work, we could still hear despite the wall).
Friday, we had a late start, so we walked to my favourite Hong Kong cafe for lunch. Walked home, then I got them onto the bus downtown. Got them checked in, and then left them to be part of the Mission Inn tour. Got back, napped, but was late for the Tim Powers talk in the evening.
Which went well! And I introduced myself afterwards and saved my steampunk question for him (and he laughed and said he didn't think of his books as steampunk but hey it keeps him in print, haha) and he was very warm and generous and when I told him I did write steampunk stories of my own he very kindly said "well I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you around" which was quite heart-warming. But I had to decline joining them for dinner downtown because I really needed to rest. Ran into another ex-student who is now vice-president of the UCR anime club (I am so proud of my ex-students! they are movers and shakers!) and suggested to her that perhaps one of the profs in my dept, who does anime studies, could give them a talk sometime. She seemed to like the idea.
I read and relaxed and did laundry. I also read Spivak's "Other Asias" essay at last, and re-read some Paul Gilroy (which I need to do more because I started reading him beore I started taking GOOD notes, fortunately I have flagged the important bits). And the cool thing is I think I can link Gilroy's "politics of transfiguration" with Spivak's discussion on different ways of thinking about Asia that's not bound to "not the West". I'm going to re-read all my notes and see what else I can do, so I'll be prepped for half the exam. The other half will be some analysis of some concept which I may or may not grasp in my reading so.....
Saturday, I went downtown to get my parents. They really liked the tour, really liked the hotel, would do it again. But I had them check out early, brought them to campus, dropped off their bag in the comp lit library, and then took them to the Botanic Gardens. We went to the Vietnamese restaurant so my parents could have pho (which we can't get in Malaysia) and napped before coming back to campus for an evening concert of the Bell Tower.
It was really nice! Not only that, but the Belltower opens its doors to the public after the official recital, so we got to hike up several stories (did not count) to the top to see how the carilloneur plays the bells! Even got a glimpse of the bells. It was pretty great. Except for when my mother decided to harp on my weight again despite the fact that I explicitly told her not to do so because it is quals season and I do not take care of myself during any season of stress, but she blithely ignored it to say "I'm so old and still so slim" to which I replied, "you are also old and unhappy."
My friend TX came to help me drive my parents to the airport and mom was on her best behaviour being friendly.
So now it is Sunday and I have less than 24 hours left before my first exam. I've also got to read the half-dozen books I still haven't read for my SF list and sigh.
ardhra came to visit and decided to get another because I wanted to lock my mom away in my bedroom (didn't work, we could still hear despite the wall). Friday, we had a late start, so we walked to my favourite Hong Kong cafe for lunch. Walked home, then I got them onto the bus downtown. Got them checked in, and then left them to be part of the Mission Inn tour. Got back, napped, but was late for the Tim Powers talk in the evening.
Which went well! And I introduced myself afterwards and saved my steampunk question for him (and he laughed and said he didn't think of his books as steampunk but hey it keeps him in print, haha) and he was very warm and generous and when I told him I did write steampunk stories of my own he very kindly said "well I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you around" which was quite heart-warming. But I had to decline joining them for dinner downtown because I really needed to rest. Ran into another ex-student who is now vice-president of the UCR anime club (I am so proud of my ex-students! they are movers and shakers!) and suggested to her that perhaps one of the profs in my dept, who does anime studies, could give them a talk sometime. She seemed to like the idea.
I read and relaxed and did laundry. I also read Spivak's "Other Asias" essay at last, and re-read some Paul Gilroy (which I need to do more because I started reading him beore I started taking GOOD notes, fortunately I have flagged the important bits). And the cool thing is I think I can link Gilroy's "politics of transfiguration" with Spivak's discussion on different ways of thinking about Asia that's not bound to "not the West". I'm going to re-read all my notes and see what else I can do, so I'll be prepped for half the exam. The other half will be some analysis of some concept which I may or may not grasp in my reading so.....
Saturday, I went downtown to get my parents. They really liked the tour, really liked the hotel, would do it again. But I had them check out early, brought them to campus, dropped off their bag in the comp lit library, and then took them to the Botanic Gardens. We went to the Vietnamese restaurant so my parents could have pho (which we can't get in Malaysia) and napped before coming back to campus for an evening concert of the Bell Tower.
It was really nice! Not only that, but the Belltower opens its doors to the public after the official recital, so we got to hike up several stories (did not count) to the top to see how the carilloneur plays the bells! Even got a glimpse of the bells. It was pretty great. Except for when my mother decided to harp on my weight again despite the fact that I explicitly told her not to do so because it is quals season and I do not take care of myself during any season of stress, but she blithely ignored it to say "I'm so old and still so slim" to which I replied, "you are also old and unhappy."
My friend TX came to help me drive my parents to the airport and mom was on her best behaviour being friendly.
So now it is Sunday and I have less than 24 hours left before my first exam. I've also got to read the half-dozen books I still haven't read for my SF list and sigh.