F**k!

My defense was canceled because of forces out of my control. If it's my fault, I willingly accept it, but it's not, it's NOT! My dissertation fell behind schedule because of delays in feedback, which is not my fault. And now, my defense is postponed until the summer term, and I have to pay $1,300 for three credits. To avoid this kind of mess and waste, I planned, I organized, I did everything I had to, but ... Why do I have to pay $1,300 because it's not my fault?! I'm so pissed off. I'm so tired of this ridiculous process. F**********k!

Friend!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, G, for listening to me whining and complaining. He is a nice guy as always.

Good, but Controversial ...

This is a good movie. I'm glad I've been watching good movies for a while, Black Swan, True Grit and this one.

Geoffrey Rush is awesome. And of course, Colin Firth is good, too. The description of their relationship--how they developed their friendship--is really good and somewhat funny.

This king (George VI) grew up in the shadow of his great dad (another king, George V), his brother, and nanny who bullied him. He is traumatized by experience in childhood, and that's why he stammers. His wife and Geoffrey Rush (and the nation?) support this wimpy king to be a real king ... This is a good story, right?

The ending of the movie is that the king delivers historic speech (war declaration to Germany) to the nation. After his speech, he is applauded by his aides, family, politicians, and the nation (people gathering around the Buckingham Palace). Everyone says, "Congratulations, your majesty," to the king. And I thought, mm, should making a war declaration be celebrated? It is great that the king gets over stammering and gets confidence in himself, and I assume people honored his confident speech. He becomes the king, the leader of the country. But the war ... It could be something else that he shows his confidence as the king.

New Exercise Shoes

My old Reebok lost its grip so that it was time to replace it with a new pair of shoes.

I went to Sports Authority and found it (or that particular outlet) dealing only with Nike in terms of fitness shoes. I prefer Reebok to Nike regarding exercise shoes because of the width of shoes. Nike is usually narrow.

So I went to Lady Foot Locker next. They have a variety of Reebok and other brands. I explained a sales person that I wanted to have Reebok and my budget was $80ish. After a lecture about all those shoes, that sales person left me alone to pick a few shoes to try on. I picked three types of shoes, all black. Nowadays, exercise shoes are really, really colorful, which is not my taste. The combination of gray and pink, black and fluorescent green, and something that colors do not necessary match each other. I like shoes in a simple color, so this time, black.

The sales person told me that what I chose was all Nike. Shit. Anyway, I tried them on, starting with size 7. Size 7 was really tight. I knew it because Nike is smaller than other brands. The sales person told me the same. Then, I tried size 7.5. I thought it would be OK, but the sales person suggested to me to have one size up. So, I ended up with size 8. It was the first time in my life to try on size-8 shoes!

There were three types of shoes, but the store didn't have two of them in my size. But the last choice was my favorite, so it was not disappointing. After trying on the last choice and walking around in the store, I decided to buy them. And the sales person came to me and told me with sympathy the shoes cost $100, more than my budget.

Oh well, it was a big buy, but I needed new shoes anyway to protect myself from injury while exercising.

Easter Basket with Wine

DS and RN came back from DC this afternoon. I was house-sitting with their kids while they were away. I love house-sitting theirs always. The kids are easy, and I have a bunch of people who I can ask for help. But this time, I feel guilty because I was so busy of dealing with issues of my dissertation and someone else had to come over to replace me while I was in school. I was also stressed out because of my dissertation (not because of the kids). The older kid (12 years old) is a sensitive girl, and she noticed that I was stressed out. I thought I was behaving as I am, but she sensed something from me. I feel sorry for her.

Anyway, today is Easter. The kids hunted eggs, and I got a basket full of candies and wine (specially for me, hee hee hee) from DS. Thanks, DS!

Submission

OK, I submitted my dissertation to my committee members this afternoon. It was quite a hassle. I frantically revised my dissertation until 3 in the afternoon. I rushed to school to print. Then, the printer was jammed, urgh! I asked help for IT guys. They tried to set up a different printer in my PC, but it took forever. Then, I asked them to let me print my stuff to the good print through their Mac. They transferred my stuff to their Mac and pressed the button to print. Then, their Mac didn't recognize the printer. So, they had to set it up in their Mac, too. It took long. After a while, they finally did it and sent my stuff to the printer. I was waiting at the printer. Yes, the printer started spitting out my stuff! But I realize the toner was really really light, urgh! I asked IT guys to change the toner. They did. The printer started working again. But the toner was still light. It was probably because of the setting, but I didn't know how to fix it. I just didn't do anything but letting it go. Also, because I created my file with my PC and moved it to a Mac to print, my file was not transferred well. The footer was kind of out, so page numbers in the footer did not print well, urgh! Why this kind of things happens when you are in a hurry!

Anyway, I finally put copies of my dissertation in my committee members' mailboxes some time after 5. After that, I emailed my committee members by apologizing those issues in copies of my dissertation.

I'm so tired of dissertation stuff. Rewriting, revising, making mess with the printer and everything. And I know I will make another mess in my oral defense. I just want to finish this ...

Conservative Newspaper?

The talk of Chomsky last night was such a big deal, fetching thousands of audiences, but the local newspaper did not cover the event. I wonder if it is an indicator of how the newspaper is conservative. Or, they just don't have enough manpower to cover it (a night event). Either way, it's neither good for the paper nor for the public.