A loving disclaimer.

A comment:
Much as I love Barack Obama (this is not the post to get into why, and there will be no post justifying the use of the word 'love'), I would like to place on record, that if (when) he wins this general election, I will:
- Be ecstatic (reasons to be outlined in future post, stay tuned)
- Be wildly ecstatic (just who I am)
- Reverse my judgement on the judgement of the American people (electing Bush again?! C'mon, people!!!)
- Start to see glimmers of hope for the world (at the very least, he won't go around talking shit)
- Pray that his calm, silversharp intellect continues to work along the lines it has so far.

I will not, however, start thinking of him as 'the leader of the free world'. Under no circumstances does the land of the free have borders. The land under my feet, at this very minute, wherever on earth I am standing, is the land of the free. With all the reflected light and heat of this election, it's easy to think that we're all basking in the glow of the USofA. Well, we're not. He may be good for the world (and depending on who the he turns out to be, he might even wreck it Baby, wreck it!) but he does not run it. Each of us do. And anywhere there is someone who wants it, there is the land of the free.

A list for the next two days.

1. Get over self: You can understand it! In the words of the guy who encouraged my father, decades ago, to pick up that anatomy textbook and study "because if a thousand other donkeys can do it, so can you (I)."
(An aside: this story has been repeated to me so often, that I believe it's lodged itself into my subconscious with the unfortunate result that I now think of a.) Myself as a donkey and b.) A very capable one. Hubris and pride, side by side.)

2. Knock socks off everyone in department by putting together The Folder (story to follow, but don't hold your breath).

3. Stop trying to write sharp, just f.ing write. (Note to self: Repeating the F word does not a piece of sharp writing make.)

4. Consistently keep ass in chair and s.t.u.d.y.


5. And on a more prosaic note (I am a nerd, yes, I do not consider No. 4 prosaic) - Clean the god damn house on Saturday. A weekend sitting in a pigsty will do no favours to the comming week.

(Alternativley, since it's now 13:34, No. 1 should read: Get off Blogger.)

Fingers crossed, this post will be all scratched out by Sunday night.

A totally boring personal list.

Away for three months in India. Ostensibly for fieldwork. Scared shitless.
Here is my proposed panacea:

1. Revise Literature Review for PhD.
2. Finish and refine interviews/questionnaires in the first two weeks.
3. Spend off-time in villages reading for said revision of lit. review. This will help both fieldwork and subsequent writing up of the review. Is better when they happen in tandem. Hello, grounded theory.
4. Revise and update Deep Ecology essay.
5. Synthesize all material on revised env. education and write kick ass background paper for Steffen.
6. Develop and write proposal for PhD Env. Studies group at Essex. Uni. and send to highly senior but indulgent member of staff whose blessings (and funds) are sought. Make approval of Oracle the be-all-and-end-all of the exercise.
7. Read research methodology text books. Forget targetted reading. I have no methodological training. Therefore it everything is relevent to read. Period.
8. Read at least 4 non-PhD-related books.
9. Renewed friendships, new friendships. Take both out for coffee at least twice a week. (Except for weeks when I am at study sites, obviously).
10. Make list of background information I might need and rabidly pursue dossier-building.
11. Count down the days to Essex.