Banter!

Let's sum up the Tuns + team dinners + walkabout with the way I started my e-mail to the girls this morning:

oh. holy. jesus.

i wake up this morning to find my jar of peanut butter open with a spoon in it. that isn't a promising start to the day.

Yep. It was that kind of evening.

Mundane details of my life

In an effort to update more often, I find myself telling you a) about my political and social ramblings and b) about the mundane details of my life. As I have been told my stories are more fun to read than my ramblings, I'll do that.

Last night I met up with some of the rugby girls (Katy, Martin, Rachel, Laura, Ricki, Kerstin, Sophie, Kim, Tatiana and Nina) for some dinner and theater. That makes it sound a lot classier than it was. We all met up in the Tuns and headed over to the "classy" Wetherspoons for some dinner and drinks. Most of the others had steak, and it's always nice to see other girls polish off an 8 oz steak, chips, salad and a pint. I have clearly found my people. We headed down to see Lia as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Lia was great but the rest of it was, well, shit. The munchkins were essentially people with down syndrome. It was bad, very bad. Luckily we had brought alcohol in order to sustain us through the production. The best part was we had been told that Howard Davies was doing the voice over for the wizard, but would not actually be making an appearance. Well, he did come out as the Wizard and was AWESOME. He got a lot of cheers from the crowd. Lots of good times. There was some talk about going out after the show but everyone was tired and went home.

Today I had a lazy morning, did a bit of reading. I went to the gym and then met Chrissy for lunch. She works about 10 minutes from Bankside and doesn't always have a ton of work to do so we're going to get lunch more often. In a couple of hours I'm meeting Nadia and Karim for coffee, then 7pm the Tuns followed by team dinners.

Bring on the lash.

Busy again

So this week is shaping up to be wonderfully busy, which I love.

Today I met with my group for my presentation in my campaigning class. There are 6 of us, and 4 of them are really smart and interesting (one Aussie, two Canadians, one other American), and one is, well... whatever. It is our job to design successful campaigns for both HRC and Obama through to the general (in each case, assuming they win the nomination). It's a good thought process. I spent the afternoon research VP candidates for each, and I chose Jim Webb for Clinton and Bill Nelson (FL) for Obama. A few minutes later Tim (the Aussie and probably the smartest guy I know) sent around a silly online quiz to determine who our preferred VP candidates are. Remarkably, the two that matched my choices 100% were Webb and Nelson! Crazy - who would have thought it would be so accurate?

Anyway, the campaigns look promising. I know that if Obama makes it six months without making another mistake it's all locked up, but he's unraveling at the seams right now so I'm hoping a few more prods at his ego and we'll have another Howard Dean-esque fiasco on our hands! Anyone who hasn't seen it should watch the INCREDIBLY POMPOUS speech he made about the suggestion that he would be VP for HRC. Troubling, considering how open and welcoming and "yes we can" he was in February. Poor guy knows he's on his way out ;)

At 3 we had a dissertation symposium where Bart (my advisor) and his tutees went through what they have so far for their dissertations and we got some feedback. They thought I had it pretty well wrapped up (just now needs to be started!) and thought my paper was going to be very cool. I'm looking forward to getting it rolling. Amazing how I have basically become wedded to feminist discourse theory... it would certainly shock my GW professors... though I did a lot of ideological criticism back in the day and this is certainly in the same vein, just more focused, so maybe not! Either way, I 'm confident about where my work is going and am glad that people think it will be interesting and worthwhile. (For those who don't know I am analyzing the media's portrayal of Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate and whether the coverage reflects or undermines the traditional cultural narrative of patriarchy.)

Sad news... Jonny is benched for the game vs Eire this weekend. Very unhappy I don't get to watch my love play.

Tonight I'm grabbing some food with the girls and then going to see my friend (and teammate) Lia play Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Should be a good night!

Week 10 ramblings

I still cannot believe that my class time here at the LSE is wrapping up. I have settled on a campaign strategy for George Washington 2008. If you think about it, it's really quite unlikely the people of the U.S. would take to him in this day and age so it makes the essay a little challenging, a little amusing and a little different. Which is exactly what an essay should be.

Anyway...

So I'm about 200 pages into Living History. Here's the thing. I already like Hillary Clinton. I think she's smart and hard and determined and unrelenting - all those things that you had to be to be a really successful woman of her generation. I also think that balancing the "progressive feminist" image with that of "woman as wife and mother" is a difficult balance for any woman to achieve who lives in the media spotlight (because the media likes to compartmentalize people, and cannot reconcile success with traditional femininity). Also, understanding that her memoirs (updated in 2004) are a political tool used for garnering support and sympathy, here's what I think: SHE IS TRYING TOO HARD. She writes in a conversational style. This, of course, is necessary to reach middle America, but I find it difficult because she's sort of dumbing herself down. She jumps around a fair amount and doesn't show her intelligence when presenting and analyzing issues from her past.

She attempts to demonstrate how she really is just like any other woman... My problem here is that she most certainly is not! She is one of those women who have broken barriers and lived and fought against the entrenched all-male professional workforce - and it just bothers me so much that in order to resonate with the American people, she felt the need to diminish those accomplishments.

Also, I recognize that she is a complex person (as we all are), but she doesn't write of herself in a way that reflects that complexity. She compartmentalizes herself: she speaks of herself in her role as a professional, as her role as First Lady, as her role as a lawyer, as her role as a policy maker in one way. But then reverts to a hyper pre-feminist movement perspective on her life with Bill and Chelsea. It's just too soppy to FEEL realistic - even if it is meant with sincerity (which I hope to believe much of it is).

I know I sound awfully feministic here but my problem is this: people are complex, and shouldn't be put into boxes. I find it frustrating when those women who have the capabilities of breaking those barriers down - to present themselves as WHOLLY integrated people, who exemplify the tensions of professional and personal success and professional and personal tragedy as all part of ONE being, rather than dramatically different facets of the same person. All of these things I know reflect an effort to appeal to her constituents and the people of America - I KNOW this is a campaign tool, but that almost makes it more frustrating. The system is so backwards. Do you really think that if she were to simply embrace the fact that she exemplifies these tensions , Americans would resent or ignore her? Although I don't know the answer to that question, I certainly hope that even if they did, it would at least begin chipping away at the compartmentalization that happens to women when they are represented in media and cultural pieces.

Anyway, that's it for now, but I will keep you updated. I'm looking forward to reading her thoughts on the Lewinsky scandal because i feel that will exemplify (or refute) these thoughts...

Also...

Because I have absolutely nothing positive to say about the rugby this weekend (seriously, England? what was that?), I will, yet again, provide you with lovely photos to hold you over until England wins... or France loses.

Though I'm not gonna lie, I have a soft spot for the Scots - they are so fit!!


And just in case you forgot... I heart Jonny. In a big BIG way. <3

Absolute rubbish, I know.

OKAY, it's come to my attention that I need to update my blog (as though I didn't know this already). I've just lacked motivation in about every corner of my life so you can imagine that the blog is lower on the list than say, the gym (always #1), papers (more to come on this), other school work, and general life functioning! But as of yesterday, my room is clean. I have already been to the gym today and done some school work. So I will give an abbreviated version of recent events.


Museums
I finally wandered into the Tate Modern and actually saw an exhibit on Dadaism that featured work from Duchamp, Man Ray and Picabia. I reiterate the fact that I really don't get modern art. I can say I could have passed on a lot of the stuff in the exhibit, but I did enjoy some of the layered, photograph-esque paintings that were featured at one point. And I can say I've been to the museum that sits on my front door step so that was that.

I went back to the National Portrait Gallery for their exhibit of Vanity Fair portraits. Needless to say, the combination of celebrity and photography doesn't often get topped in my book and I LOVED it. It was quite busy when I went so it wasn't a relaxing museum trip, but I liked it so much I may even go back... the only thing that's standing in my way is the 8 quid entry fee. Argh.

Other random things
I went up to Hampstead Heath with Sherry last Sunday which I absolutely loved. As we know, I really enjoy walking around the parks in London in order to get the feeling of being outside of the city. Well, the others pale in comparison to the heath on this count - it's basically a forest! And it has swimming ponds so in the summer when/if it's warm, I can go up and sun myself. Or study/swim. So I really enjoyed that.

I've seen a couple of movies lately:
Definitely, Maybe: as expected, shit. But Ryan Reynolds is hot so it was totally worth it.
My Blueberry Nights: Really interesting. A non-Hollywood esque film with an interesting use of silence. You forget how much a difference music makes in a film until one really doesn't use it much. Also, Jude Law = lovely!

The AU Ball
We had the AU Colours Ball on Wednesday so all the ruggers got all dolled up and went out. SO much fun. Allison and I went over to Katy's beforehand to get ready there with her and Martin. It was nice to have other people around whilst getting ready - those things are always nerve wracking because you don't know what others are wearing, etc... so it was nice to have company. And lots of baaanter!

The ball itself was held at the Grange City Hotel right next to Tower Bridge, which was lovely. The food was mediocre. The wine was free (winner), so you can only imagine what ensued. One of the girls did a runner before dinner was even served. Martin went outside and threw up on his own shoes - puke and rally, puke and rally. My usual shenanigans went down, I received Half Colours (any masters or general course student who plays for a year on a 1st team receives half colours, whilst any 3rd year student who plays 3 years on a 1st team receives full colours). Photos suck right now so will add some at a later date. See Facebook for full albums!

We have the last team dinner of the year on Wednesday... there may or may not be stories from that... all depends on how the memory holds up ;)

Other news
I am about to enter Week 10 of Lent Term which means, well, my classes at the LSE are basically over. I am about to enter 6-10 weeks of revision and writing period - bizarre. I have finished one of my essays - it is about political spin and if it threatens democracy. Blah blah. It's interesting. More importantly, it's finished. The next essay I will write is going to be a campaign plan for a "candidate of your choice." I think I may choose a historical figure. Toying with Benji Franklin, Eleanor Roosevelt... I dunno. Some pop stars are floating in there (Bono being one of note). Also, may try and get George Washington elected in the modern age of campaigning. Would enjoy that immensely. GDuuuub!

I head to Dublin in a week and then home! Very excited for both of those.

Hrm. Right now I am reading Living History by Hillary Clinton. I'll let you know how that pans out...

That's all for now. I promise I'll try to update more because I know you're all on the edge of your seats waiting to hear the juicy details of my thrilling life.

"Because happy is what happens when all your dreams come true"

I woke up today and felt motivated! So I cleaned my room, started an essay (and thought about it a lot - I reckon I can have it finished by Tuesday, fingers crossed), applied for a job, and even managed to get to the gym without feeling miserable about going (my motivation to go has been marginal at best. I've only gone 5x/week the last two weeks - not good). Thank God... feeling much more myself. Anyway, otherwise, the last week has been good, interesting, varied.

I've finally started sleeping past 7:30... which is good, primarily because that means I'm getting enough sleep. I get frustrated when I wake up at 7:00 and then can't get back to sleep and then am tired all day and don't get anything done. So 8:00 is a much better start to the day...

Yesterday England won their match v France - good game, too. Love rugby. I reckon that's the best thing I decided to do this year. I've never been much of a joiner, and I'm glad I stuck to my guns about joining a team this year. While perhaps my brain (due to concussions) and my liver don't necessarily agree, I'm glad I joined. While it may shock some, I reckon I may even like rugby more than football... but then, I haven't been watching that much football lately so it's hard to say.

In other excellent news, I am going home for five days over Easter weekend! I think after the darkness of winter it will be nice to go home and not have to deal with much. I go through spurts of hyper awareness of the fact that I am foreign here and I get pangs for 'fitting in' and not having that weird chip on my shoulder that 'no, don't judge me, i am not here on holiday, i am a Londoner!' It will also be nice because not many of my friends around here are that keen on church or Easter or any of that so it will be nice to properly have church and Easter dinner. Anyway, it will be good to go home.

And on a bizarre note, thank God it's raining.

The next few weeks will be school-work intensive. Only three weeks until my classwork at the LSE is done with, which is INSANITY. I'm hoping to have my essays done by then (a pipedream) so I can focus on exam revision and my dissertation. We will see how that all pans out.........

Now for your gratuitous viewing pleasure (because I love him and he is a living god): Jonny