Vicious Things

I was bad today.

Number One: I ate ice cream. It was a single scoop, not a mini. I was bad, but it was yummy.

Number Two: I wasted my time watching comedies. It was not my fault, but it was Hulu's fault. I watched a couple of "The Office," "Family Guy," etc.

Number Three: I haven't started writing a summery of the assigned reading yet. It will cause a serious trouble. I'd better do it NOW.

Cockney ...

I like Britain, and actually I'm missing my days in the U.K. Why am I here?! What am I doing here?! Well, I have trouble in the TA thing for a couple of days (I hate this in-between work!), and that's why I'm whining.

Anyhow, SA and I went to see "The Bank Job" tonight. Yes, SA is my $1 threater (and entertainment in general) buddy.

The movie is based on a true story (I like this kind of sotry!) about the notorious bank robbery in London in the 1970s. Because it is set in Londong, English in the movie is of course British English. And what is worse, robbers are commoners (not eduacated people). That is, they speak Cockney. Man, it's not English to me at all! Even SA, a native American English speaker, said that he didn't understand what they were talking.

The movie itself is slightly more than OK though I wonder myself how much I understood the movie. It's about the bank robbery but the politics (and the Royal Family, too) is also intertwined. It's kind of complicated, but simply put, it's abotu sex and the politics, as always.

Come Back

My lovely phone came back to me. P brought my phone to the office this morning. Thanks, GM, for finding my phone and P, for bringing it back to me. I'm so relieved now.

Then, I remember that my cell phone gave me terrible times in Cardiff (and after I came back to Japan!). Yeah, I dropped my phone while biking, and my phone died spontaneously when it was run over by a bus. It was kind of OK because my lovely friend gave me his old phone. But when I left Cardiff, I tried to cancel my contract and I realized the cell phone carrier was evil, evil, evil. Oh, I don't want to recall it. It took so long to solve the problem.

Anyhow, my phone is back. I just want to appreciate that!

Panic!

I lost my phone! I remember I kept it in a back pocket of my jeans when I was in class this evening. And I touched the pocket a couple of times to make sure that it was there during class. Call me a nervous person or whatever, but I've sensed something strange about my phone today. That's why I brought my phone to class, though I usually leave it in my office. And a consequence is this. What's the hell!

After class, I went back to the office to email someone. And I realized that I lost my phone when I left the office. I went back to the classroom and frantically looked for the phone, but I couldn't find it. I visited another office, expecting someone from the class stayed there. Yes, someone was there. No, she didn't see my phone. As next move, I picked up a sheet of paper, wrote a quick note to the instructor, again expecting she might have found and kept it (because I was sitting next to her) and slipped it under her office door. As next move, I emailed everyone in class to ask if they saw my phone.

I'm now waiting for someone replying my email ... Come on, someone! Answer me! Say that you got my phone! Please ...

Out of Panic!

Yes, P keeps my phone! Thank Buddha. Actually, GM found it on the chair where I was sitting, and P keeps it for me. Oh man, I really appreciate my cohort's teamwork if you call it teamwork. Yes, it's kind of teamwork, isn't it?

I'm so relieved now. In other words, I was so nervous that I lost my phone because losing my phone means losing a lot of contact information of my friends. That idea scared me.

Now, another problem came to me. Damn it, I was so unlucky tonight. Well, I was lucky in a sense because my friends found my phone. But another problem is about tomorrow's class. The instructor is not satisfied with questions which our team (different team than my cohort) brought to her. Jeez, I emailed my team members. They were good enough to reply me faster than I expected, but they were more easy-going than I expected. Hmm, I don't want to disappoint the instructor though my team members said we should be OK. I need to go through those readings one more time.

Too Much Fun

I'm working on , well, almost done with, compiling a corporate profile of the Register-Guard. But I needed to confirm my assumptions. Because you know the paper is owned by a family and they don't open the financial reports to the public, all I can do is presume what is going on from peripheral information and data.

I asked MT for help. I needed specialist's opinions about properties which the paper owns. MT moved fast, and she introduced me to someone who she said the best commercial real estate specialist in town. Wow, that's great!

MT gave me his office phone number, and I called him in the morning to make an appointment. The specialist moved fast, too, and he set our meeting in the afternoon today.

I visited his office in downtown. His office is modern and neat. He is also neat and nice, and he gave me his opinions to back up my assumptions. That's great! I appreciate both of them. They are very busy business people, but they spared some time for me. Thanks, MT and JE!

Anyhow, I've been having so much fun with the Register-Guard stuff. Because of that, I think I've been doing extra work which may not be important or useful for my future papers and ultimately dissertation. Well, I'd better refrain myself a little bit in terms of the Register-Guard.

Double GMs

Tonight, there was a long-awaiting get-together with GM and GM! We went to 19th Cafe to grab some beer (wine for one of GMs). GM treated us, a.k.a. poor GTFs, or a.k.a. cheap labor of the university. Thanks, GM!

I love GMs. They are candid, and therefore, they are easy to talk and share with. This is very important to me because I can ask them to hang out in a casual way. On top of that, both are political economy people who take the same line with me. I respect their perspectives and learn a lot from them.

Anyhow, I love both of them, and I appreciate that I'm lucky to have someone like them here.

Lovely Students

I told myself million times! Young students are cute! They are so cute that they brought their papers for me, for my mistake (or the server's mistake). I appreciated each student who handed their paper to me, saying like, "Thank YOU very much for your cooperation! I really appreciate that." And students went like, "No problem!" Man, they are so cute.

$15 Musical

"Mamma Mia!" is good! Act one is hilarious, and I love that! Act two ... a little less energetic, but it recovers at the ending. The ending is fun, and you will dance at the seat. Oh, I want to see this once again.

The good thing is that we could buy tickets for $15 each. Yay, we are students, even though we are old enough to pay full fee of tickets. Thank Buddha we are students!

Real Piano Sound

MT took me to a chamber orchestra tonight. Oh well, I was wondering if I could make it because IN was supposed to throw her birthday BBQ party this afternoon.But IN's party was postponed to next weekend. Then why did I need to turn down MT's offer? MT is such a musical person, and in fact, she used to play violin.

The orchestra and the guest soprano were OK. I don't care high tone of voice anyway. But the pianist, he was great! I wished this were his solo piano concert. Actually, there will be his solo concert next Wednesday, but I have class until 9 every Wednesday! Shoot!

MT told me the chamber orchestra is struggling financially, and therefore, the quality of their music is deteriorating. I thought it's OK, but she is sensitive to the sound of violin in the orchestra. She told me that while the first violinist played along Yuri Rozum's piano, each of the other five played different tones. Phew, that's a mess (though I can't tell the difference).

But the piano was good, and that's the most important thing to me, a piano lover. Thanks, MT, for inviting me to the concert. Such a cultural night.

Incidentally, I wore the dress and shoes that DM and CM bought for me tonight. MT is well trained (of course, she's from a "good" family obviously!) to praise my clothing in an exaggerated way. But I like her exaggeration :)

20 More Papers to Go

Sigh ... I'm tired of grading. I've done with 24 papers so far, but there are 20 more papers to be graded.

I don't necessarily think that essays are good to be graded because grading of essays are subjective. It's totally up to graders, in other words, grades vary by graders. It's not fair. Oh well, the American society itself is not fair, so subjectivity of grading probably doesn't matter here.

Because this weekend is kind of crazy, mainly because of grading and partly because of other fun stuff, I gave up going to a show tonight, which I was entitled to be a guest. Mm ... I feel kind of guilty, thinking that I myself rejected cultural life :( It's not a good sign. Think positive, Duck! Quack, quack!

Shit!

Shit, what did I do!!! One of my students emailed me, saying that he got grade on the paper which he didn't write or hand in. When I read his email, my face became pale. I quickly logged in the gradebook and found that I had made a big mistake. Simply put, I messed up. I called the instructor to ask what to do. The thing which made it worse is that I didn't have a backup. He told me to email all of my students to return their papers. Of course, he was mad, or disappointed. Anyhow, I emailed all my students to return their paper. I hope they are honest and patient.

Friends

I was feeling a lot of stress from grading thing. I'm so glad that my friends asked me to join them for drink tonight. I told them about what happened, and they said, "Oh, that happens. If the thing is going out of control, just give them A. Then they don't complain." That's a wise advice from professors with long experience. OK, I will keep it in mind.