Yeeehaaawww!!!!

The votes are in, ladies and gentlemen, and it seems that the LSE would like to lock me up within their hallowed halls for one more year! (....and I'm gonna love every minute of it....) *grin*

After six weeks of waiting, exam grades were finally released on the 11th....and they were good, but still inconclusive, sitting SMACK on the borderline between A's and B's, between a First Class standing and an Upper Second.... I had to wait another week for the letter grades to be converted into percentages, which helped to clarify somewhat, but still very much borderline.

Finally, this past Monday, I met with my "handlers" who are very very pleased with my progress this past year. They are confident that this coming year (the third and final of my BSc degree), I will be able to improve my B+ average to an A. Admittedly, I'm not as certain as they are, and even though they are predicting "good potential to graduate with a First"....I still see it as a very steep slope to navigate. In any case, I am very satisfied with a strong Upper Second standing and an official offer to finish my degree at the LSE. :)

It has been a very long, stressful, exciting, magnificent, overwhelming year of very hard work and high anxiety. Now that I see that I can "anthropologize" with some of the best (*grin*), I am very very glad that I made the decision to do this and thankful for all of the good friends that have supported my efforts along the way.

Next up? Paperwork! Oodles of paperwork! There are Canadian forms that need to be filled out, to confirm that I will be remaining in the UK for at least one more year. There are British forms to be filled out, including the renewal of my student visa. And there are mountains of documents to gather and applications to complete, in the hopes of finding a school that would like to offer me a position as a grad student in September 2008. Wish me luck!!

Onward and upward!!!

Listening to: A lovely Carlos Santana instrumental piece.
Wondering if my new reading lenses might be ready today. Would you believe my eyesight has IMPROVED? Sigh. Donna's life is really weird sometimes.

One Word

A meme that I lifted from both Bookfool and Tanabata, who apparently stole it from Bellezza, who got it from Paula, who copied it from Babelbabe, who.... Ya never know where the blogging world is gonna take you next.... :)

1. Where is your mobile phone? Hmmm.....
2. Relationship? Desired.
3. Your hair? Long.
4. Work? School.
5. Your sister(s)? Canada.
6. Your favourite thing? Music.
7. Your dream last night? Odd.
8. Your favourite drink? Coffee.
9. Your dream car? Limo.
10. The room you're in? Rented.
11. Your shoes? Flip-flops.
12. Your fears? Looming.
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Peaceful.
14. Who will you hang out with this weekend? Poets.
15. What are you not good at? Deciding.
16. Muffin? Chocolate.
17. Wish list item? 71.
18. Where you grew up? Ontario.
19. The last thing you did? News.
20. What are you wearing? PJs.
21. What are you not wearing? Rings.
22. Your pet(s)? None.
23. Your computer? MacBook.
24. Your life? Crazy.
25. Your mood? Apprehensive.
26. Missing? Friends.
27. What are you thinking about? Grades.
28. Your car? Sold.
29. Your kitchen? Sold.
30. Your summer? Lazy.
31. Your favourite colour? Rainbow.
32. Last time you laughed? Yesterday.
33. Last time you cried? June.
34. School? LSE.
35. Love? Missing.

Listening to: You're My Thrill (Robert Palmer), from my Recommendation List at last.fm.
Thinking about: Downloading more forms....ugh.....

At Least I'm Not Missing Anything....

Stuck inside. Recuperating from a cold. Waiting (see my last post). Day after day of rain and dreary weather at least validates my inactivity. With any luck, the rain will stop before school starts again in October. Sigh.

Lemon hot toddies all around. My treat. :) Now where's that book I was reading.....?

Rain
Rain surrounds you
It kisses your cheeks
And you imagine
The rain
As arms
Holding you,
Protecting you
Safe
In the rain.
--Anne Lacy

Listening to: Train in Vain (Annie Lennox), on iTunes mvyradio (from Martha's Vineyard).
Just finished: Signing up for a monthly DVD rental program through Amazon. If it's gonna rain for a month, I may as well catch up on all the films I've missed in the last year.

In a Lull

Life seems to have slowed to almost a complete stop the past week or so, while we await release of our final marks. Somehow it seems like nothing else can happen until I receive notification of my grades on 11th July. So I wait....

I spent a few days with a fellow student in London last week. We reflected on all the hard work we've done to get this far, and shared our growing anxiety about "the wait."

I came home on Sunday and again....I wait.... I fill the hours with books and music, but there's an underlying tension throughout the hours while I wait. I'm considering going to Scotland for a week, but I'm reluctant to make plans until after the 11th, so I wait. I'm confident enough about my results that I've already informed my family that I won't be coming home to Canada this summer, and yet there's that teeny little bit of uncertainty that holds me back from making different plans. So I wait....

I have a stack of books on medical anthropology at my elbow that I've been browsing through. I'm becoming more and more certain that this is the direction I want to pursue for grad studies. I've been looking at the university websites -- McGill, Oxford, Toronto, Cambridge -- checking out requirements and course offerings and deadlines for application submission. I need another year at LSE to finish my BSc, but in many cases, applications for Sept 08 admission to grad school must be sent in by Dec 31/2007; and scholarship applications even sooner than that. There's lots of paperwork to do. However, none of this makes a difference till I know my grades. So I wait....

The last two days I've been fighting off a virus of some sort, and have spent much of my time sleeping. While I don't relish being ill, sleeping makes the wait somewhat more palatable.

Life is on "pause"....

A Week by the Water

The train journey to Barmouth was longer than I expected....over eight hours. I didn't know you could travel eight hours by train in Great Britain without falling in the ocean! LOL! The last hour of the journey, however, was pretty close to that. The tracks hugged the hillside above the sea, and the scenery was spectacular. At right is the tiny community of Barmouth, tucked between the sea and the hillsides...very picturesque indeed.


I'm not sure from whence emerged the intense desire to go to the seaside, but when I booked this vacation some two months ago, the sensation just wouldn't go away. Somehow being near the water refreshes, soothes, and renews in a most remarkable way. I love the sound of the waves, whether they're gently lapping the shoreline or rushing in with a great crash. The beach at Barmouth is one of the most spectacularly beautiful that I have ever seen. When the tide was out, there was a huge expanse of soft, fine sand that seemed to go on forever. And what amazed me was how few people seemed to be around most of the time. As the weekend approached, more and more families and arm-in-arm young couples appeared to take up space with their blankets and coolers, but for most of the week I was there, the beaches were as uncrowded as the photos here portray. Even on the busiest days, the sun-worshippers didn't show up till well after 10 a.m., and were gone again by 5:30 p.m.



One of the my first stops was at the Tourist Information Centre to pick up maps of self-directed hiking trails. I'm a little out of shape for longer treks (since I spent all of my "spare time" in the last eight months stuck in my room reading books and writing papers, rather than keeping fit), but I was pleased to find that I could still put in three to four hours without too much difficulty.

Pathways are one of my favourite subjects for photography. I love the perspective, and the hidden message of a new destination and undiscovered mysteries right around the next corner.



Another hike, another day.....and here's yours truly....proving that I did indeed wander through these beautiful landscapes. My camera is a 5.0 megapixel Canon PowerShot A530, with 4x optical zoom. Mostly I just set it on automatic and let it do its own thing. This was the first time that I stopped long enough to learn how to use the auto timer. I carefully balanced the camera on a large rock, set it for 10 seconds and scooted over to the gate. This was taken very near the Panorama viewpoint looking over the harbour, and the photo at left is from the viewpoint itself, showing the train bridge over the mouth of the Mawddach estuary.


It took me about an hour and a half to climb to the highest point of the hills behind Barmouth, and I was rewarded with beautiful views of the Welsh countryside (and the odd sheep as well *smile*). I was intrigued by the natural stone "fences." Aren't they beautiful? Many houses in Barmouth are constructed of the same local rock, and I loved how they blended right into the hillside.

I spent a lot of my time just looking at the water, mesmerized by the magical motion of the waves. I had a lovely room with an unobstructed view right over the water, and a big comfy armchair settled nicely in the window nook. And several times a day I'd head out to wander the beach. Walk, refresh, renew, breathe. Very very relaxing.

The tides fascinated me. They made me think of the world as a great huge balancing mechanism, and I visualized the water flowing gently back and forth between the continents. I wonder if it's the earth's way of always trying to find that middle ground where the water could be perfectly still and serene. :)

The photo above right is my favourite of the entire trip, taken on a peaceful, quiet evening.

Writing Habits

Andi over at Tripping Toward Lucidity blogged today about writing rituals and habits. I responded there, but enjoyed the topic so much that I'm copy-and-pasting my comment here:

The only truly unbreakable writing habit I have is procrastination. I can find all kinds of other things to do before starting the paper. Wash dishes, take a shower, go for a walk, straighten my bookshelves, braid my hair, sort out my photos, and OMG look at how those coloured pens got all out of order!!! *snort* My writing space looks kinda like the photo you posted, though. 'Cept my chair is worn out, faded fabric with a really yucky brown/beige floral print; and my "footstool" is the wooden desk chair that I pull across the room cuz I don't own a proper ottoman, don't wanna spend the money, and don't have space to keep one anyways; and the walls are grungy used-to-be-white horrid wallpaper that's peeling off in every corner and along every seam; and I don't own a dog. Okay. Now that I think about it I guess it's not much the same at all. But I do have that annoying sloped ceiling above my head that always seems to get in the way when alighting into or emerging from one's writing fervour. Just one of the perils of life in a third-floor dusty Dickensian garret.

As far as distractions, I cannot work ANYWHERE where people are moving around, such as at the library. I utterly HATE doing research or writing at the library. The whispering around me makes me nuts. But I've gotta have music, and I've gotta use my earbuds plugged into my laptop, and the volume tends to get scooched up higher and higher until it's eventually at its max. The genre doesn't matter -- it can be jazz, rock, blues, classical, whatever -- but It has to be familiar music, not NEW music. Familiar music just blends into the background; new music draws my attention away from the work. And once I do (finally) get out of procrastination mode and settled in my space with the music blaring into my ears, I tend to sit and write until the damn thing is done. Not unusual for me to go five/six hours without stirring from my spot.

And in case you think I'm kidding, the photo above is my writing spot as it looks at this exact moment. I particularly like the towels hanging over the radiator at my left elbow. Charming, don't you think? Yes, I really am living a very very (very!) simple existence just now.

How about you? What are your writing peccadilloes? I'd love to hear about your unbreakable habits too!

Listening to: Could Fly (Keith Urban)
Thinking about: Booking another vacation (Scotland)

The Erstwhile Welsh Wanderer Returns....

I'm having too much fun catching up on everyone else's blogs to update my own (yet), but here's one photo for now....This was taken on my Saturday hike up the mountain. Very...um....Welsh-ish, don't you think?? *smile* Lots more to come! (Promise!) Including poppet pics. Hehehe..... Oh, and book reviews. Three or four, if I remember correctly. Back soon!

Off to Snowdonia

Tomorrow morning I leave Chesham at 1010, head to London Marylebone Station and then take the 1150 train to Barmouth, Wales, by way of Birmingham. I'm looking forward to a surf-dabbling, mountain-hiking, book-reading, poetry-composing, journal-writing, seaside-wandering, afternoon-napping, sandcastle-building, poppet-posing, wine-drinking, good-food-eating, and utterly-relaxing holiday. I'll be back in a week, and ready for regular blogging again. Be good to yourselves. {{{hugz}}} In the meantime....here's a video of the area I'll be visiting. Enjoy. *grin*

It's Over (for now)

Please don't let me sleep past July. Actually I need to be awake again by Monday so I can go on vacation in Wales.

I'll be back soon. Promise. As soon as I can stop my body from collapsing into a heap of useless jello.

*snore*

Wonderful Words

The poem that follows really illustrates where I am in life right now. I truly feel that I'm standing on a precipice, one foot in the air, ready to take the next step. Joseph Campbell says: "As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump! It is not as wide as you think." This quote has truly shaped the decisions I've made in the past two years, and I encourage you to incorporate it into your life too. Enjoy this poem, and my thanks to Krow for her permission to post it here.

When you choose
To trust, to let go
And let life show
You it’s surprises
In all the translucent guises
Of realities you can infuse
With your being
Really seeing
your choices,
When you choose
To live
Really live
And enjoy your stay
Greet every day
As if it is your best and last chance
To dance
Your destiny,
Then, you are free
To be
All that you already are
And that is by far
The best life can give
When you choose
To live.

--Krow

What's on Page 161?

This one's been making the rounds. I contributed an answer into Quixotical's comments section awhile back. I've been tagged now by Robin, and it's such a quick and easy one that I'm happy to do it again here. Besides, it gives me a chance to talk about two of my favourite things -- books and school. *grin* Here's the deal....

Page 161 Meme:
Grab the book that is nearest to you (no cheating), turn to page 161, post the text of the fifth full sentence on the page, post the rules, and tag three people.

Well, it will come as no surprise that the book closest to me is indeed a textbook (of sorts). Although, actually in the UK they don't use textbooks at all. This has been one of the most challenging changes in switching between North American and British universities. There were NO required textbook purchases. Everything we read for coursework here comes from peer-reviewed journals and books written by professional anthropologists, sociologists, geographers, historians, political scientists, etc. Most of us bought coursepacks that contained an assortment of photocopied articles and various book chapters from our reading lists. The coursepacks were convenient and handy (and HEAVY!), but were far from complete. The rest of the week's reading had to be gleaned from journal articles accessed on-line, or books borrowed from the library. Every week I set aside an hour or two that was dedicated strictly to locating/borrowing/downloading everything I needed. By the way, have I mentioned that my reading lists for the fall term were 52 pages long? :P

But NO textbooks?? Huh?? That threw me for a loop. There is no such thing as being asked a question for review homework, and turning to page 161 to find the correct answer. For me, this was a HUGE adjustment, and I've struggled with finding the brainpower required to pull it off. We'll find out on July 11th whether I've managed to fool them into thinking I know what I'm doing. ;)

I did purchase a handful of books through the year that I thought might come in useful in the future. One of these just happens to be the book closest to me. The title is The Anthropology of Politics: A Reader in Ethnography, Theory, and Critique, edited by Joan Vincent. (It's actually the top volume in a stack of seven that are currently raising my reading lamp up to a proper height to illuminate hours and hours and hours of daily reading. Teehee.) It's a collection of essays. The essay interrupted by page 161 is by Ann Stoler, and it's titled "Perceptions of Protest: Defining the Dangerous in Colonial Sumatra."

Page 161, sentence 5 reads: "Acts of submission permeated the social relations of everyday life, most evident in the use of language, and in the distinct social space that marked the rigidly imposed division between European supervisors and their Asian subordinates."

There. I bet that was WAY more information than you wanted. LOL! Back to the books with me now. Three more study days till my LAST exam. Wooo-hoooo!

I won't tag anyone else, but feel free to play if you wish. :)

Four Down, One to Go

Thanks, everyone, for all your good wishes, and for the virtual coffee and chocolate, too. It's a wonderful thing to have your own cyber-cheering section. *grin*

Exams are going well, I think....but I won't get the results until July 11th....so keep those good vibes comin'.... I don't know if you all are familiar with the UK university grading system, so here's the scoop. I'm writing a total of five exams, and they cover the ENTIRE YEAR'S worth of material. And that's not all. They are worth 80% of my final mark. Nothing like a li'l pressure to keep the blood boilin', huh?? LOL!

I have one more to write a week from today, so back into the books I go. I SHALL RETURN!

P.S. If anyone ever asks you, tell them that writing four exams in eight days is INSANE!

Brain-Stretching Techniques, Anyone?

In case you're wondering.....This is where I've been spending all my time lately.... Slamming my head between the books. Over and over and over again. The only reason you don't see me here...doing a face plant into that binder...is because I had to get up to take the photo. Exams are looming, folks, and the pressure is on. If I'm not around much over the next two to three weeks, now you know that I just need you to send coffee....lots of pots of coffee.....and chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

An Evening Walk

Sometimes I forget that I live in England.

The past seven months have gone by in a blur of books, essays, train rides, libraries, tutor appointments, classes, lectures, deadlines, clock-watching, and all of the mental activity that goes with getting used to living a whole new life.


The weather has been glorious this week. In the midst of my tight study schedule, I escaped for a short walk up the hill to enjoy the sunshine and the evening air. This is when it hits me with a jolt that I am actually, truly living in England. Looking around, breathing, drinking in the difference in the landscape, architecture, vegetation.

The photo above shows the houses on my street. Mine is down the hill just a bit further. Yup... it looks exactly the same as these. London suburbs tend to be very symmetrical. Symmetry pleases me. :) And why are the leaves red in the springtime? Who knows? The only thing I know for sure is that it's different and interesting....and I really do live in England.

The Poppets Are Coming!

Yes, boys and girls.... My little red poppet shall be arriving shortly by UPS Worldwide Expedited Post. *grins*

There were only 25 of these little charmers put up for sale by Lisa Snellings-Clark, and only 10 left when I made my purchase.

Click here if you've gotta have one (like me!), but don't hesitate. At $9 US apiece, I 'm sure they won't last more than another couple of hours.

My gracious thanks to Chris for giving the heads-up on his blog. Sometimes it pays to live in London.... I can go ebay shopping before North America even wakes up. *smiles*

Listening to: Rescape (Ruckkehr) on iTunes radioioAMBIENT.
Planning: Another day in the books! Ugh!

Lost in Buckinghamshire

Getting lost is a very good thing! As my friend J says, "A map will only lead you to where others have already been" (a quote that currently graces the top of my blog, making this an especially appropriate entry).

Yesterday, we got lost in Marlow, a lovely town in the Thames Valley. It's not a very big place....so it took a considerable effort to lose our spot!


Our first stop was a delightful sandwich cafe, with wonderfully friendly father-and-son Lebanese owners who make fabulous coffee and scrumptious sammidges. Scrambled egg and smoked salmon on a bagel for D, smoked salmon and avocado on a whole-wheat baguette for me. Delicious. (Sorry...no food photo. Plumb forgot.)



After lunch, we strolled and wandered, in search of nothing more than sightseeing, window shopping, interesting photo ops, and the pleasure of each other's company. Curious to see what might be found off the beaten path, we followed our noses through the twists and turns of the narrow streets. Hidden in a tiny walkway, we discovered a lovely pink-blossom- covered fence. What a treasure!

Once we relocated the car (and just in time, only five minutes left on the meter), we spun our wheels through the countryside of Buckinghamshire, enjoying the vistas of green, the bright yellow fields of rapeseed already in full bloom, picturesque 18th-century villages, and the hills and valleys of lovely country roads, overhung with branches not quite in full leaf yet. Really must get back here later in the season.

Go ahead! Get lost! It's good for your soul!

Listening to: Concrete Angel (Martina McBride)
Planning to: Complete my third and final essay this afternoon

For the Love of Trees

Everywhere I go I take photos of trees. This one was taken last February in a park in Coventry. I love the green bark and the bare branches.

Once when I found myself in a real emotional funk, a very good friend gave me this guidance: Get thee out amongst the trees. Walk in the woods. Wander through a forest. Find a leaf that wants to come home with you. This is advice that I have used over and over again, with amazingly calming results. (Many thanks, H.)

Now, anytime that I’m feeling glum or confused or uncertain or lonely, I head out somewhere where there are trees….surround myself with their beauty and life and wisdom. Sometimes there will be a leaf…. often on the ground, but sometimes still clinging to a branch, that calls to me. And just as I was guided by H, I bring that leaf home with me as a symbol of all that is right with the universe. Being amongst the trees in the first place, and contemplating the chosen leaf in the second, helps me to straighten out my brain, encourages me to quit focusing on myself, and gets me back to a place where I can see the big picture again.

So, yes.... I have a large collection of photos of trees, and a special connection with trees and leaves that most people don't understand.

(Today's tree thoughts brought to you by inspiration from Carl's blog .... and the beautiful tree art posted there today.)

Listening to: Calling All the Dreamers (Nigel Nisbet), on iTunes Power3201.
Getting ready for: An afternoon of country exploring....YAY! TREES!! *grin*

Signs of Spring

Delicate lavender tulips in planters at All Hallows Church in central London.












We've had lots of sunshine and lovely warm temperatures for many weeks now, but spring to me means flowers. Flowers everywhere. It's my first spring here in England, and they tell me it's here early this year. Too early. I'm not sure what "too early" means to the ecosphere, but it suits me just fine.

Happy Birthday, J !!

My first son's 33rd birthday today.... My goodness, that was a few lifetimes ago.

I was SO young....only 19 years old when he was born -- on April Fool's Day, no less -- in 1974. I was still a child myself!! I had no idea of the bumps and twists and turns that were in store over the next three decades....and I'm still navigating the swirling currents, and expect I will be doing so for a long long time to come.

I'm immensely proud of my oldest. He has forged a life for himself in the north, built several successful businesses, and is a wonderful dad to my beautiful granddaughter.

Happy Birthday to CdnReader's #1 Son!!! *grins*

Listening to: Your Little Secret (Melissa Etheridge)
Anticipating: The mailman! Three books ordered from Amazon today -- Anansi Boys (Gaiman), Natasha and Other Stories (Bezmozgis), Wide Sargasso Sea (Rhys).