(or, a partial listing of what i've been up to these past few months)

publicity for the country's outstanding policemen and teachers
CSR 101 and the JesCom workshop
The Book of Faces by Joseph Campana
The Curriculum Vitae of Aurora Ortiz by Almudena Solana
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
A Collection of Beauties at the Height of their Popularity by Whitney Otto
Primavera by Francesca Lia Block
Here Comes the Bride: Women, Weddings and the Marriage Mystique by Jaclyn Geller
ARASHIC
Time
The Simpsons Movie
The Bourne Ultimatum
Ouran High School Host Club
Firefly (again, thanks to crime/suspense)
Hana Yori Dango
Hana Yori Dango Returns
Nodame Cantabile
Nobuta wo Produce *kon*
My Boss My Hero
Kurosagi *bang!*
a new pair of disco shoes
a "new" pair of OL shoes
two pretty jackets
two serviceable jackets
two pairs of skinny pants (two sizes larger than usual)
two frisky puppies named chuckie and kimi
a haircut (finally!)
long overdue meet-ups with friends
a replacement battery for yuuko-chan

what i haven't been up to? my thesis proposal. got a little over a month to get it done.

got quite a bit going on these days: new job (and dress code), tedious (non-thesis) legislative research, and (possibly) one last freelance draft. add to that, way overdue thesis work and hysterical HYD/matsujun love, and i'd be lucky to get six hours of sleep a day.

sorta.

that must have been the worst case of writer's block i've had, ever. (and i don't mean the willful procrastination of deadlines -- that's just routine.)

i guess i really don't like spaghetti. and consumer marketing.

barney was six months old yesterday. at first, he was a silly puppy, then he was a (very) sick and (surprisingly) spirited puppy. we hoped for a miracle, but as it turns out, the miracle was that he went peacefully.

or so they say. i never seem to be home when our dogs die.

at first, i was distraught that, like teepee, the last thing i said to barney before leaving this morning was, "hey." buckets of tears and a near-deidre hall-reference after, i realized that i only use this greeting for my favorite people, and felt a bit better.


this is one of his early pics, taken a couple of weeks before he was diagnosed with and manifested definitive symptoms of distemper. he loved his pillow and blankie, and back when he was frisky and had full control of his limbs, would drag it to wherever he felt like sleeping.

good night littlebarneyfoofoo. we'll miss you.

in the meantime, i'd settle for just reading them, but right now i'm way too poor (and prolly over my credit card limit) to go online book shopping.


Cultural Citizenship: Cosmopolitan Questions by Nick Stevenson


Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Media Consumers in a Digital Age by Henry Jenkins


Fan Fiction and Fan Fiction Communities in the Age of Internet by Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse (eds).

i've relied on Stevenson's and Jenkins' concepts before, and I know their new books will be a tremendous addition to my thesis bibliography, but the book on fan fiction just sounds like a lot of fun. ^_^

you would think that finally getting wireless broadband access at home would make me update more often -- or get started on research -- but instead i'm getting all fangirly. nope, it ain't over battlestar galactica (starbuck's alive and been to earth and back?!) or veronica mars (which i don't particularly care for this season) or heroes (i'm missing episode 14 and can't do another marathon viewing just yet). not even fruits basket (my ultimate shoujo indulgence, but that's probably cos i've run out of good akkigure fickies). it's over the hana yori dango sentai, which gma is chopping up to bitesize pieces and milking the nine episodes for all it's worth (until i get the fansubs, i'm not complaining. i'm just happy they're picking up doramas now). matsumoto jun actually makes a good domyouji, though i can't help but squeal shun! every so often.

who knew that i was such a sap? i'd blame boredom, heat and unemployment the way i did the summer meteor garden first aired in these parts, but i might as well admit that i have a soft spot for richspoiledsociopathiclovesick creatures.

i really ought to snap out of this.

I’m a sporadic blogger. I’ve started and deleted a number of online journals, this being the most recent incarnation. I also have a shoe blog, which functions the way a food diary does for emotional eaters. It’s currently inactive – partly because I’m less stressed and consequently shop less, but also because I keep forgetting to take pictures before running my shoes ragged. Needless to say, my presence in iBlog 3 was mostly academic, fueled specifically by my interest in (postmodern) notions of nationhood, citizenship, and identity and how these are transformed/extended by globalization and technology.

I haven’t quite organized my notes – I’m procrastinating and saving that for after I’ve downloaded the podcasts for the sessions I missed – but in between listening to discussions of prosumer marketing, citizen journalism, blogging ethics and whatnot, my concern about the local relevance of social media has been somewhat assuaged, and I can start thinking clearly about thesis again.

am i just out of it, or is online grade viewing a fairly recent development? i was skulking around crs, ostensibly to check out the electives i'm likely to miss next sem, and found myself staring at a virtual transcript of my seven, going on eight, years in UP.

the good news is that i don't have to trek to the asian center to find out what this sem's grade is (no suprises, as it turned out, though i was on edge for a bit). unfortunately, i might have to (once again) make the pilgrimage to the OUR to set my grades straight. back when i was an undergrad, it was to insist that i got a 1.25 and not a 2.5 on a major (stupid copy paper didn't register the 1 on the original sheet because it was too faint). this time around, i will probably have to show proof that i have completed my socio 281, since it seems that they have yet to put it in my file, even though i submitted my requirements a good six months ahead.

oh well, i guess some things never change.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd   You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around. ^_^
Literature Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Drama Nerd
Anime Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Musician
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

hmmm, 'tis a bit off the mark, since i think i'm in equal parts a social, lit, and anime nerd (though my high school education makes me a bit of a science nerd as well) -- and i do prefer the word geek.