Conferences: Academic Word Vomit

Conferences are one of those things I vaguely remember hearing about in undergrad, though I mostly only remember them being the reason my professors cancelled classes. But I am only now learning more about "Why the f*ck would people want to sit around and listen to other people talk about random shit they decided to study or research?!" It's a subtle art, you see.

My experience goes like this: I presented at two undergrad conferences one in 2007 and again in 2009. These were the kinds of conferences everyone got into. I talked about fairy tales in one and surrogacy in another. Neither of which are topics I decided to pursue at length. Not a big deal, but it was still something to put on a resume (or as I now call it, a vitae. Fancy). Last weekend I had the opportunity to present at PCM, a conference for students at the college where I attend grad school. I assumed this conference was in a similar vein --though one guy was pissed he wasn't accepted and presented a poem during the doggerel about his experience in which the conference judges were equated with a cup that he then smashed. It was a mess. Did I mention there was free beer?

Anyway, this weekend I am traveling with two lovely ladies (Katlyn and Andi...actually, let me just change that to "ladies." Mmmkay.) to Savannah, GA to present at The 21st Annual British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference. Now that sounds fancy. I am hoping this will feel like a different sort of conference. More relevance, but without any additional nervousness. I hope the only vomit that spews from my mouth is of the academic variety.

Our panel is on the living dead as seen in modern film. That's right, folks: zombies. I talk about The Walking Dead. There's also Children of Men and Firefly  among a plethora of other super-interesting topics of discussion. In short, our panel is going to rock! So I guess it doesn't matter if the conference seems more legit or not because we intend to have a blast!

As my professor said, "we are letting the zombies loose onto the world"...or something like that. He also said "May the force be with you" which was nice.

I hope to provide updates on our awesome adventures in the days to come!

My Zombie Text Date

I was gearing up for The Walking Dead tonight and had anticipated texting/watching the show remotely with a friend, Katlyn. This friend, however, succumbed to the peer pressure of her sister and boyfriend and watched The Grammy's instead! The horror!

After she texted asking me not to text her spoilers, I decided to text her to tell her what happened:

Me: They all just died. The show is over.

Katlyn: Fuck you.

Me: Shane and Rick are f*cking. Holy sh*t!

Katlyn: Hahahahaha

Me: Omg I can't believe the zombies are controlled by Voodoo aliens!!

Katlyn: Hahaha is the show filming in New Orleans now? It's moved to a Cajun setting!!

Me: Yes, it's crazy! Carl is the new group leader. They are hanging and watching zombies play football in the stadium.

Katlyn: Dude, this actually sounds like a good show!!

Me: The Candid Camera crew just came out and surprised the group--the whole thing was a set up!

Katlyn: Bahahaha damn! I thought it was all gonna be a dream!!

Me: Darabont isn't pulling a Bob Newhart. Now he's making the cast duke it out in a jello pit.

(Clearly bored with the Grammys now and wishing she were watching tv with me...)

Katlyn: Oh fuck. I guess that means Shane and Rick are f*cking again. I think it's gonna be a parallel universe/purgatory.

Me: Jack and Sawyer just joined in on the fight. They are all running from the black smoke monster.

Katlyn: This is perfect. Benjamin Linus is about to show up and reveal his master plan. He plays the governor.

Me: Juliet is talking with Lori about her bastard baby and the governor is making zombie Hurley fight zombie Nick Frost.

Katlyn: Zombie Hurley FTW!

Me: I'm blogging this.

Katlyn: You definitely should.


The moral of the story is if you stand me up for a remote tv watching date, I will harass the shit out of you and you will like it.

This is my brain on grad school

I spent all of last year adjusting to life as a grad student and the entirety of the summer detoxing, if you will.

Replace the word "drugs" with the word "academia."

Now that I am back in grad school, I am addicted yet again and I love it so much. But is it the best thing for me? That, I still don't know. I just don't know.

What I do know is that I haven't blogged in over a year, but my blog has still had lots of traffic from people looking for info on Lisa Frank binders. Clearly my priorities are out of whack. I will go back to writing about the important things in life like bright pink kittens and neon unicorns. Also Amish people.

The Commute: Graveyards, The Amish, and Nudity

Commuting to school is a new thing to me; I live 10 minutes from the college I went to as an undergraduate. I had days when I woke up 30 minutes before class and still made it on time all while looking cute. My alma mater was a commuter school so everyone drove, but I still felt lucky to have something so close to home. Now it takes me and hour and a half to get to class. That doesn't even count getting ready, getting the kids ready and to daycare, and getting food. The kids used to be able to stay home as we could easily fit a 10 minute commute into our daily work lives and schedule rearrangements. Clearly this commute is a brand new concept to me and though it is frustrating on those days when I have forgotten my lunch or a book I really need, it's still not all bad.

I can listen to music as loud as I want while I am driving. Children have what I imagine to be cute little sensitive eardrums. I know this isn't so much true as it is my projection of guilt over ruining eardrums because I want to listen to the Wicked soundtrack as loud as I possibly can. Who am I to rob them of their sense of hearing? I'll let them do that themselves when they go through that phase in high school.

I see interesting things along the way as well. One of my favorite sights is a small church with  huge graveyard next to it. Oh yeah, it also has a playground right in the graveyard. Who thought this was a good idea? Do the kids like it? Do they even know it's weird? I don't know any of these things, but I do know that I can't help but laugh a little every time I see it. I need to take a picture of this place! I also pass two gas stations, a mom n pop shop, and a Dollar General. That's it. Other than a few houses, it's basically just me and the creepy playground. Oh and some Amish people.

The other day, I saw a farmer harvesting his field. It was amazing! This farmer had two huge machines and a semi-truck following behind to catch the harvest. Then, I saw the Amish farm which was using a horse and some little metal thing (Clearly I need to brush up on my farming jargon) along with a few guys working REALLY hard. There is a story there somewhere though for now it will remain an anecdote. Also, Amish guys are kinda hot (inbreeding aside).

Speaking of awesome people, I saw a naked lady the other day. She was going out to get her mail wrapped only in a blanket. The wind must have decided she should show the world her aged body and, really,  she didn't much fight it. Next time, I hope she realizes the power to be had in accepting one's desire to be naked in public. Embrace it, naked lady. Embrace it. Or just put on clothes instead of a blanket.

Sometimes Life Takes Over

Sometimes I think the phrase, "Just living life" is misused. It is used by people who are doing nothing, but want it to describe the lazy type of life they choose to live (I'm not knocking this, but come on). Sometimes it is used by people who work too much at crappy jobs, making just enough to get by. Sometimes, it is used to romanticize our teen years (it wasn't that great, y'all).

For me, this phrase describes how my life has been for years. I have been doing a lot: marriage, kids, friends, school, work, and all of it is done well. But I have no idea how. I am not complaining: I love my life! But sometimes, reflecting on my life, I realize I would to know how to advise someone on how to balance all of these things. Have I even been doing these things? Who has been living my life for me, accomplishing all of these things?! Am I just living life?

I do have a major case of imposter syndrome, which gives me the amazing ability to be unable to internalize my own accomplishments (go me!), but this is beyond even that.

During orientation for grad school, everyone kept saying, "Balance!" As in, find balance between personal and professional lives, making sure to keep our feet, (or hands, or at least noses), in all parts of our lives, not losing anything as we continue to grow as people. I think I already do this, though unintentionally. I always make sure to watch a few crappy shows on tv, or to go out for ice cream, or take the kids to the park, just to watch them run and laugh.

Though for now I am unable to read for pleasure and I still can't shake the guilt I sometimes feel for having fun instead of preparing for class, I have balance and it's good. Laundry is being folded, children are being raised, friendship is being had, learning is being done. Life is good, even though it does seem to have a mind of its own.