November 2006 - Posts

Summer In the City
27 November 06 11:52 AM
The campus seems almost eerily empty this time of year. Students are on holidays, staff members away on research, conferencing and working from home, and even the number of postgrads around seems smaller than usual. Especially on days where the sun is Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 0 Comments    
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Happy Dance (Another Weekend Chore mix)
24 November 06 03:10 PM
Another chore to add to the weekend list - final revisions for my chapter on Battlestar Galactica ! The changes appear to mostly be incredibly minor formatting issues, so I'll get it done over the weekend, send it back on Monday - then sit back and relax. Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 0 Comments    
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Manly Chores
24 November 06 11:20 AM
This weekend I am going to be manly. 'Manly' translates as doing all the gardening chores that my dad would do if he was around (in a family of girls, demarcations of chores based on gender tends to be rather illusory). So I will be: buying reticulation Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 0 Comments    
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AVSA Conference Abstract
23 November 06 12:32 PM
There is a definite art to writing conference abstracts: fitting the conference theme and its audience, making something sound exciting - and more importantly, plausible - when you might not have really started researching the topic yet, leaving yourself Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 2 Comments    
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Moving
22 November 06 09:07 AM
This week I returned to my working space in the library - a carrel overloaded with book stacks and with years of accumulated posters, pictures and postcards on the walls. This has meant saying farewell to my temporary office in the Arts Building and transporting Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 3 Comments    
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Pirates and Americans and Space Vampires, Oh My!
17 November 06 09:33 AM
Continuing with the (very short) tradition of frivolous Friday blog posts, I'm confessing to my bad tv habits. Thursday is my guilty pleasure television night, which at the moment consists of Bones , The Amazing Race , and Stargate: Atlantis . For any Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 0 Comments    
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Five Things I Never Expected To Learn As A Postgrad
16 November 06 04:35 PM
Some things you are told to expect in brochure, at induction, or somewhere in the mountains of paperwork. Some things you pick up from popular culture, or from stories about someone's cousin's friend who did this PhD thing. So coming into postgrad life, Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 0 Comments    
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One Word Meme
15 November 06 12:09 PM
A (very) brief getting-to-know you: one word answer, no explanations. From see jane in the academy . Yourself: confused Your partner: nonexistant Your hair: scarfed Your mother: phoning Your father: unionised Your favourite item: bracelet Your dream last Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 2 Comments    
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Small Goals = Small Rewards
13 November 06 05:43 PM
When the whole task of writing an entire thesis seems too much, it can be helpful to think in terms of smaller tasks. So this weekend, I went with the strategy of small goals and small rewards: 200 new words, a new CD and family lunch; gardening chores, Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 1 Comments    
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Pretty Shoes Make You Feel Smart
10 November 06 03:16 PM
Farmers might hate pretty shoes , but pretty shoes that clack when you walk down corridors make you feel smart. As do professionally shaped eyebrows.* Yes, this is frivolous. Strangely enough, it is also Friday. *survey size - one person. Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 1 Comments    
Someone Else's Election
08 November 06 03:49 PM
Coming from a family where teenage rebellion translated to screaming matches over the dinner table about whose interpretation of current political events was correct (old school Labour vs Just Watch How Left I Can Go), I still follow politics and current Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 2 Comments    
Mired in the End of the Chapter
07 November 06 02:54 PM
One of the most challenging transitions I have found in moving from undergraduate and Honours level to writing a PhD is dealing with the length of work that you are supposed to produce. It isn't so much the amount of work required (though that is an issue), Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 3 Comments    
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Insomnia
01 November 06 03:47 PM
Way back when I was a wee little Honours student, I was freaked out a little when my supervisor told me that insomnia could be useful for getting in a few hours of extra work. I wondered why anyone would do that to themselves (being a definite eight hours Read More...
Postedby Karen.Hall | 2 Comments