Pack up your bags!

Hello from Croatia!

2013-06-27T19:56:11Z

Well, it's been about thirteen million years since I've posted on this thing and a lot has happened.

Nothing life changing (though I do have a brand new niece and I've finished the coursework portion of my phd work), but I am taking the trip of a mid-life time! The Society for Medical Anthropology meeting was in Tarragona, Spain this year and I used that as an excuse to make myself take advantage of this weird lull between coursework and the start of my dissertation fieldwork.

So I started in Barcelona, went to Tarragona, flew to Rome for five days, took the train to Ancona and an overnight ferry to Split, Croatia where I spent a really relaxing and awesome 5 days. If anyone needs a vacation rental recommendation for Split, the apartment I was in was fantastic. (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/868468). I highly recommend Croatia.

Now I'm in Zagreb awaiting my train tomorrow for Budapest! I'm in the one hostel I'm scheduled to stay at and it is actually really nice! It's a converted house which is huge but paradoxically cozy. The people have been friendly, but I really appreciate having my own space at this age.

After Budapest I'm off to Vienna, Brno, Krakow, Breslau, Prague, and finally ending up in Berlin for another work thing. Then to Seattle to see friends and family before heading to Ketchikan for more family. And after that, I need to get back to Philadelphia so I can study up for my oral exams so I can advance to candidacy.

How is everyone? I do read my friendslist everyday!

happy sigh

2012-05-25T15:56:08Z

My semester is finally over and all grades are in, which is awesome. I really overestimated my capacity for taking classes and teaching at the same time. I made it through and took some freaking awesome classes at Penn and Princeton and they'll be really helpful next year while I'm writing my orals.

As a measure of avoidance from the massive amounts of work, I finally succumbed to the allure of Doctor Who, or rather the new series. Donna is my favorite and her ending hurts so much! The Eleventh Doctor is fairly cool and Rory is amazing.

I tried watching Torchwood, but it is...not very good.

I am taking a short break before I get packing; moving to a new apartment in just a few days!

Oh, hello!

2012-03-25T03:08:30Z

Hey guys, yes I am still around, but extremely busy about 97% of the time.

I did get a nice break today with a trip up to NYC to see my visiting Aunt and cousin. We went to Porgy and Bess with Audra McDonald and David Alan Grier. The cast was amazing, the music was amazing, the set was amazing and our TKTS provided seats were amazing. Overall, a great, great day trip and it was so nice to see family over here on the east coast. I never get to see anyone!

Also, I shared an atm vestibule with Andrew Garfield. Alas, I did not ask him if he was spiderman or tell him that I really enjoyed that whole Red Riding trilogy; he's doing Death of a Salesman down the street from the Times Square atm.

Now back to work!!!

Wow, it's been a while.

2011-08-24T03:57:49Z

Hey guys. Believe it or not, I'm still hanging out on LJ pretty frequently. I read every entry. But I've had the busiest summer ever. Really.

I finished my first year of grad school in the beginning of May and immediately went to Anchorage to work for three weeks. It was great while I was there, but I completely overestimated the amount of work I could finish after I left there. Completely my fault.

I left Anchorage, spent one day in Philly and then was off to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History for a program in museum anthropology. I still couldn't really define what makes museum anthropology much different from art history, but I had literally the best time ever. I met a bunch of other anthro grad students who were all lovely and completely confirmed that I made the best possible choice when I decided to pursue a higher degree in anthropology. Plus, we had free reign of the ethnology collection and National Anthropological Archives. SO, SO, SO COOL.

I didn't really know how this program would connect with my future work on biological samples and institutional research ethics with indigenous communities, but while I was there, I found these baskets that were made by school children in the 1900s for the Department of the Interior's Museum of the Bureau of Education. Not only are the baskets themselves compelling, but it really has a lot to do with how objects circulate and how different meaning are attached to things by different groups like scientists, scholars and communities.

After that program ended, I spent one day back in Philly before hopping on a plane to Berlin. Wow. This was my first trip to Europe and it was fantastically awesome. One of my friends, who works on similar research topics, was doing a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and I stayed with her in Berlin. So many cool things to see and also, to eat. After a few days, we caught a train to Heidelberg, where we took a summer course at the European Molecular Biology Lab. It was also ridiculously awesome.

The course was called The Human Animal and it brought together lab scientists and social scientists/humanists to discuss things related to the implications of biotechnology on what it means to be a human. I didn't really feel qualified to be there, but I learned a lot and hopefully added a needed perspective from the public side of things.

Then I spent three days in Amsterdam and visited an old friend.

And then finally, back to Philly. For one day before coming to Ketchikan where I am currently. It is so rainy but it is great to be in one place where I am not running around and don't have to do anything but watch tv, sleep, and visit with friends and family.

Post-comps bliss...

2011-06-02T05:21:27Z

So it's that sweet spot after the first year where you've finished your comp exams but before I get started on my busy summer plans. I've gone to amusement parks, bbqs, movies, and spent a lot of time sleeping.

My first year of graduate school was...interesting and difficult in many ways. I've learned more than I realized, but the entire year is designed to make you realize just how much you have learned through our comprehensive exams.

Anthropology, in the US at least, traditionally has four sub-fields; biological anthropology (Bones, monkeys, and dna), linguistic anthropology (which is like linguistics, but totally different), archaeology (more bones, pot shards, and material theory), and cultural (my subfield which is completely amorphous but is traditionally what you'd think of when you think of ethnography). During your first year here, you have to take core classes in each discipline with the rest of your cohort which could be made up of people from all different subfields. It's very much an exercise in teambuilding. And then at the end of the year, you take two days of tests on any of the previous eight months of classes which means weeks of marathon studying which culminates in a frenzy of cramming.

And then we get to jump in the fountain in front of the Penn Museum (which everyone should visit, by the way. It's lovely.) Here is the proof that I am now a second year.

This is the fountain. It is pretty and much deeper than you would think.

This is (most of) my lovely cohort except Bea. They are all wonderful people and I'm glad to have met them. Also, this is our student lounge. For an Ivy league school, it is pretty much the dankest student lounge I've been in. The furniture and decor is straight out of 1971, which is when the wing opened. Still, it's nice to have a room somewhere in the building. Since we're far removed from main campus.

This is all of us jumping into the fountain.

It was something like 94 degrees and 80% humidity on that day, so we stayed in the water as long as we could. It was cool and wonderful. And a fantastic reminder that we'd made it through what was so difficult a year.

This time next week I will be back in Anchorage for a bit, then to DC for a museum anthropology workshop, then hopefully Germany for a biotechnology and ethics workshop, then to Ketchikan, and then back home to Philly for T.A. training. It's going to go by sooooo fast.

Hello everybody!

2011-05-05T02:00:34Z

So school is absolutely insane right now, and I can't believe I've almost finished my first year of grad school. I have three papers left to write and then comps at the end of the month. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape, but it's overwhelming and I just caught the crud that's been going around. All I want to do is sleep, but instead I have to write about violence and networks and other things depressing.

On the plus side, things seem to be lining up for me in terms of research interests. I'm super passionate about what I'm being allowed to do.

As a diversion from my hideous workload, I've been rewatching Homicide: Life on the Street and it is my favorite thing ever. I even enjoyed the seventh season. Sort of. There were episodes.

But can we talk about Tim Bayliss and Frank Pempleton? Seriously. Best partnership ever. And how it evolves to that hideous, soul-sucking ending in the movie wrap-up of the series? The arc of Tim Bayliss keeeeeeeeeeeels me. But it makes so much sense, I just...sigh. I watched an episode from the 6th season where Bayliss talks about wanting kids and grandkids and then the next day, I watched the finale. And it's just--it makes sense, it just feels so sad. And like it happened because Frank left.

I wish there was more fanfiction for this show.

Also, there should be a Life/ Homicide: Life on the Streets crossover. With Bayliss and Crews. The two zen detectives.

Poke. Is this thing on?

2011-03-08T19:16:13Z

Hey guys!

So I am still in Philadelphia and still in grad school. Which is awesome and getting really difficult in a good way. It is spring break now. Lovely, lovely spring break. Without all these classes in the way, I can finally get some work done! And possibly clean my apartment.

I wish I had more to say than that, but that's the long and short of it. I could probably talk about social theory or how much I am loving and loathing my classes this semester or how freaked out I am by our impending comprehensive exams, but that all seems rather boring.

We had a formal which was rather...strange, what with the drunken faculty and public hazing of first years, but it was amusing in a weird way to get dressed up and meet most of the people in my department and party in the Lower Egypt gallery of the museum. The afterparty made me feel very old though.

So do people have tumblrs still? I just got one: calendae.tumblr.com. So people should link me to theirs, please. :)

I am still reading every post on my flist.

Hello!

2011-01-11T12:41:23Z

I had great holidays. A lot of time with family, a lot of time sleeping and a lot of time not thinking about school at all. So yeah, finished my first semester of grad school. It was sort of painful in a two week burst of insane work towards the end of the semester, but somehow everything turned out alright, even in the classes in which I felt completely overwhelmed. I haven't seen my papers yet, but I did get feedback from one professor that complimented my discussion leading skills as extremely good, which means A LOT because that class made me feel like an idiot all the time.

I suppose this is part of what the classwork is for. To help you realize there is a reason you are here and that you'll be able to get through it.

In the interest of having a more productive semester, I'm trying to get on a regular sleep schedule which includes getting up early, since I am one of those hideously chipper morning people if I get up in time. I think I will need this, since I have four reading intensive seminars this semester. Just tons and tons of reading. Luckily, I love the subject matter.

Anyway, that's what I'm up to. I haven't had time to be very fandom-y in any sense, though I rewatched season four of The O.C. during the break and it is still probably my favorite season of TV ever. Taylor Townsend has my heart. Also, Parks and Recreation is back soon, and I'm super overjoyed about that. Leslie Knope is a personal hero.

Also, it is insane how addictive Netflix instant is. So many documentaries, so little time. Maybe I will make video ethnographies. How cool would that be?

FLAILS.

2010-12-18T03:16:12Z

I have finished my first semester of graduate school. I literally cannot believe it. Of course, I have no idea where I stand gradewise, but I'm strangely copacetic about that situation. All the feedback I've been given so far has been positive. I do feel I need to work a lot on my paper writing, but I'll get there. I'm getting tons of practice.

A grand total of five papers were finished (by me!) with a page count of 72 double spaced pages. That is the most I've written in forever.

What should I do with my three weeks off? :)

My life does not feel real yet.

2010-11-05T03:39:57Z

So it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I really didn't mean to do that, but life has been sort of crazy. I think grad school tends to swallow the rest of your life and you end up doing things like watching season two of Parks and Recreation in a continuous loop when not reading a million books and trying not to sound stupid in class.

By the way, Leslie Knope is my hero for realz. I downloaded the theme song as a ring tone.

So anyway, I spend most of my days trying to be coherent and intellectual-like. Sometimes I am successful, but I'm mostly not. I think that might be the natural state of a graduate student though. I've met great people. I love my apartment. I love what I'm studying. Despite the difficulty adjusting back into academic life, I'm pretty sure I'm exactly where I need to be.

Other things. I was at the rally for sanity last weekend. There was so many people! I thought about trying to meet up with people, but I've been so absent from life lately, I didn't really decide to go until the night before. And despite being a day behind in school work, I enjoyed myself.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Denver for a conference. I'll be even more behind in school, but I enjoy living on the edge!

Hello from Philly!

2010-09-15T15:52:51Z

So I've been here a few weeks now. Boy, does it feel strange to say that. Things are well. I have an adorable new apartment though it is much lacking in kitchen amenities. You might be able to see it here and here. I have facebook locked down pretty tight though. But anyone is welcome to friend me over there if they'd like.

I've taken one of each of my four classes. It's seems pretty overwhelming at the moment, but doable. One of the classes I'm not too worried about because it's mostly a review of some classes I took in undergrad. The two core seminars have a lot of reading, but at least it's in an area where I feel relatively good about the subject matter and that I can speak, not from a place of authority, but at least with a grounding in the theory. The last class is awesome with movie nights and field trips, but it also has the most reading and is in a discipline I've never taken before. It's like they're speaking another language which, at this level, they really are. Lots of new jargon and domains of knowledge to learn. Ultimately it will be really helpful, I think.

This is also my first time in a long time without cable! Which shouldn't be so bad, I think. There's lots of places to watch or procure the shows I want to watch. And I get to do it around my schedule.

Any shows I should be looking out for? I've spent the last two weeks running through Community, Better Off Ted, Life, Sherlock, and now Parks and Recreation.

dusts this thing off

2010-08-21T07:16:55Z

Wow, I had no idea it'd been so long since I posted. Things have been moving pretty fast and furious here. I'm moving in two days. My condo is all packed up and rented out. My car is sold (sob!) and I'm headed to Philly for grad school! With a short stop at the Parent's in Ketchikan first.

I will hopefully have a lot more time for things that are not work or moving soon. Yay for school!

Never a dull moment...

2010-06-17T06:11:15Z

So I was working late and normally I would be telling you about my super "exciting" trip to Unalaska tomorrow. But I just got home and literally found a crowd of people in the front yard and two toddlers running around barefoot and hardly dressed. So two of the people were my next door neighbors and the other three were people that just stopped because these two kids were literally running down the middle of the road at 10 o'clock at night.

At most they were two years old. We called the cops and, after about ten minutes, their parents saunter out. I don't know how they missed their two small children running out of their house. They were missing for at least half an hour.

Geez.

I'm right here!

2010-06-06T01:38:57Z

So, okay, hi. I know I've been gone for a while, but that's okay, I'm here now! Work is work, moving is moving and life is pretty darn good.

Except! I ordered a new bike from REI while they were having their sale and it is backordered and I really, really want it now. I even went so far as to go to the other bike store and take a test ride of the same brand of bike to decide if I wanted to buy it there and cancel the backordered bike. But alas, the backordered bike is a much better deal, if a little plainer. But the test ride was awesome and now I know it's exactly what I want.

Blergh.

2010-04-16T05:11:29Z

I keep getting confused seeing Life on the tv schedule. I get all excited and then I realize I will not be seeing Charlie Crews or Dani Reese and instead just a nature documentary with Oprah narration. I'm pretty mad at myself for deleting the earthquake episode. I really want to watch that one right now. Mark Rawls. Shared iPods. Earthquake weirdness. Meh.

So I'll be moving in less than four months and it's freaking me out. Because there is SO MUCH WORK left to do. And that's not even moving stuff. It's just straight up work work.

So much work that I'm not even looking forward to the suicide conference at Disneyworld next week.

WHAT KIND OF PERSON DOESN'T LOOK FORWARD TO DISNEYWORLD? Me, that's who.

Whee!

2010-04-07T05:46:14Z

After a few months of standing still, the whirlwind travelfilled life of a public health researcher is about to pick up. Tomorrow, I'm going to Sitka, Alaska to report final results of a study I've been working on for the past three years. It's only a day trip, but I'm pretty excited. It's our first stop of eight communities and I can't wait to hear what types of questions they'll have. Or if they'll have any at all. Most people aren't as interested in our research as we are.

And later this month I'll be going to a suicide conference at Disneyworld. No, really. The American Society of Suicidology's annual conference is in the happiest place on earth. I can't decide if it's better that they're aware of the irony or if them not getting it might be even more awesome.

And then Hawaii again in May. I don't think I'm going for any other trips beyond those. Except for the big move. But still...whirlwind life!

Yes, yes, yes!

2010-04-06T05:33:28Z

Woot! Just found out I'm a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow! It's a huge honor and quite a bit of security for at least three years of grad school.

Everything seems to be coming to fruition for me. Five years ago, I decided to go back to school and really follow my interest in anthropology as far as it would go. This is probably the first time in my life I've actually made a plan and executed it exactly as planned. If you'd have asked me six years ago what I'd be doing now, I don't think I'd have an answer.

Now comes the hard part. Finishing a grad program!

Eep, so excited!

Eep!

2010-03-30T06:19:24Z

So since I've decided to pack up and move to Philadelphia and live a life of relative poverty and intense study, I've been looking for apartments online. Which I know, is not the ideal way to find a place, but it's what I've got for now. I really want a nice, quiet, relatively cheap place. A tall order.

But I've found one place I keep coming back to. It's near the campus and, best of all, it's in a converted church/school. High ceilings, stained glass, loft studios. Wow. Also, it's a very good price. I've always wanted to live in a converted church. Always.

I wish I could take a trip and stake out places myself, but I have neither the time or money at the moment.

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

2010-03-19T02:58:50Z

So, anyone have any experience with renting condos out? I'd been planning on selling, but it's not going to work out at the moment unless I swallow a pretty big loss.

There are lots of property management firms here, so I'll probably be looking into some of them, but I welcome advice. :)

It's official!

2010-03-15T20:57:41Z

Next fall I will be starting my doctorate studies in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Philly, here I come! I'm so excited. And also a little paralyzed with fear. But they let me in, so they must have some hope for me. :)

Eek.

2010-03-07T23:29:24Z

I am watching a show about bear attacks. And it's set in my city and they keep showing maps of neighborhoods with high concentrations of bears. Guess where I live? Yes. Bear city.

Eep.

So yay!

2010-02-15T21:26:22Z

Last week, while I was in the Seattle airport (another work trip, geez) I got the call that I was admitted to a grad program. Whee! I have somewhere to go next year. I still can't quite believe it. It's weird being the one courted now. Apparently there were 4 places in the program and they got over 100 applications.

Still though, I have seven more places to hear back from, although I pretty much know there is rejection from one of them, since I didn't get an interview.

Anyway, I am moving on this year! On to more education and newer hassles.

Pretty, pretty moon.

2010-01-30T06:47:04Z

Seriously, it's so bright!

Which is a good thing, since my life is pretty bright right now. Work is crazy, but we're getting to the ends of some project and putting together journal articles. It's the fruition of the last three years and it's incredibly gratifying even though it's a lot of hours and reading.

The other big news for me is I have an interview at a grad program! I'm seriously excited and a little bit surprised. I really didn't think I'd get any kind of feedback this soon. But next week I'll be in Atlanta, trying to sound smart and stuff. :)

Ugh.

2010-01-15T05:32:35Z

I got home on Saturday to nothing in the fridge and I still haven't gone to the grocery store. I guess it's oatmeal for dinner again. And breakfast and maybe dinner again. Not that I'm complaining. But I'm not going to the store until Saturday and that's that.

So, our department has gone through it's third manager in the last year. This one, I really saw coming. But whatever. I'm going to grad school next year. Hopefully. If I get in. So, really, maybe.

Also, Criminal Minds was awesome and creepy last night. I totally need a Dr. Reid icon. *loves the Dr. Reid*

calendae @ 2010-01-10T17:42:00

2010-01-11T02:42:34Z

I am fighting with myself over whether to order food or get up and make spaghetti. What will win, sloth or thrift?

I think thrift, since I have no food in the fridge (consequence of being out of town for the last week) and will have to go to the store tomorrow. Therefore I can take the money I could get from ordering foodz and buy staples.

Hi, people! How were your holidays? Mine were uneventful, but good. Lots of sleep, some awesome presents and a five hour delay in the Juneau airport on the way home. So, a very SE Alaska holiday.

I'm completely freaked out about the grad school application process, but that's not new, except now there's nothing I can do about it but wait for the rejection. And hopefully acceptance somewhere, somehow.

Also, I've gone back and friendslocked pretty much everything. I'll probably need to go back and public some of the icon posts, but I'll get back to that eventually.

Ooh! Nova is on. yay!