Egad! It's been a while...

Sorry for the radio silence, peeps. I got kinda busy there for a few days. By way of apology I'm going to post a photo of Bluto in all his furry, seed-munching glory. I love how my moblie phone and hairbrush completely dwarf him in this pic. Heehee.



In the news:

• On Wednesday the Pirate came over for dinner. I fixed a nice meal, NOT because of VD, but because a, I hadn't done it in a while; b, he gave a very successful presentation at the office on Monday and I wanted to recognize that (a grand poombah slapped him on the back afterword and said, "That was bloody good, Pirate, bloody good indeed!); c, I had just bought the new Jamie Oliver cookbook (yes, I adore him. sue me.); and d, he was scheduled to leave for India on Friday and I knew we wouldn't see each other for a few weeks. It was a lovely evening, as are all evenings with my Pirate.
• Since the Pirate wasn't going into the office on Friday (he was packing and leaving for India), I told him that if he wanted he could come over thursday evening and stay the night and have one last shag before setting off for the subcontinent. He had a lot to do before he left and said he probably wouldn't have time. "No worries," said I. Then on Thursday I'm sitting and listening to a paper about indexing marginalia on all British-produced manuscripts from 1375-1509 when i get a text: "See you in an hour." Guess who couldn't get on a plane without his farewell shag? I had already agreed to go to the boatclub Valentine dinner, so I phoned the hostess and asked if I could drag the P along. "No worries," she said. So we went and had fajitas with the boat club, and then had our farewell shag. So thursday was good.
  
• Then I was at a 2-day conference on Medieval studies on Fri and Sat. I didn't give a paper, but I hosted a couple sessions, and had a really good time. It was a small conference and everyone was very chummy. On Friday I got a free meal at an Italian restaurant out of the deal, so even better.
• Sunday (and this is the good bit), I cycled down the boathouse with R, who also has a buggered back, and we took the double scull out for a light paddle. R and I move really well together, and we get along well as friends, so she is my favourite co-paddler. We did 6 k (which sounds like nothing but is huge progress for both of us), and had a really nice time. And guess what? No back pain! So I'm going to beging slowly reintegrating myself back into the club when work and time permit. Whee!
• Sunday afternoon (and Friday morning) I spent making huge strides in my research, as Flatmate B is teaching me how to write software programs in Basic that I can use to do computer-aided linguistic analysis of medieval texts. We've written a couple programs together, and I'm getting more comfortable with some of the concepts. After I get the hang of this it will increase the quality and scale of my research by orders of magnitude. For the first time in months I feel really really good about my work and where it's going. (And yes, Sal, after I get the hang of Basic I am going to move on to Python. We're already hitting the limits of what Basic can do.)

And that's just all the diary-type, day-to-day schlock of what's been going on for the past few days. I've also had some really stimulating discussions about religion and world affairs that I'm eager to write about, but I don't have time at this moment.

The Pirate is now in India, spending 2 weeks living in 5-star hotels and playing cricket. Lucky bastard. So I'm back to being lonely and blathering on about the P to anyone who will listen, but I must confess I'm getting loads done now that I have my weekends back.

So that's what's going on. Given the current state of the world, expect some more political diatribes in the near future.

Academic climax for the Bitch

If my academic research on the language of Geoffrey Chaucer is tantamount to being spanked by the dude from 600 years in the past (which is exaclty the comparison I draw with my web ID), than this is the orgasm at the end of the session. While still reeling from the shock that I bear a 70% resemblance to Collin Farrel, I received this email:

"We are pleased to inform you that your proposed paper, entitled "Chaucer’s Intensifiers: Continuing Tradition or Linguistic Innovation," has been selected for inclusion in the session entitled "Chaucer and Words II" at the 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 10-13, 2007. The session is sponsored by The Chaucer Review."

yay! I'm giving a paper next spring at the world's largest annual conference on medieval studies. moreover, i'm presenting at a session sponsored by the Chaucer Review, the preeminent journal of all things Chaucerian.* It's a great foot in the door. I think there's a very good chance that after they hear the paper I can get it published in the journal, which would be great as it's compeltely original research, and not co-authored by anyone. It's ALL ME, people! Woot!

In slightly more disappointing news, the TEAMS series edition of John Gower's Confessio Amantis, edited by Russel Peck (capital fellow, Peck; met him at last year's conference), is apparently out of print. Shit. The search for the second-hand copy takes off in earnest.**


*Yes, that really is a word.

**Poor Earnest. must be dead uncomfortable for him.

He's OK

*heaves huge sigh of relief*

I knew that statistically he probably was, but of course that doesn't stop you from imagining the worst, does it? After a frantic and tearful 6 hours last night I got a text from him:

"Hi pumpkin. Am fine. Not in Dahab. Diving is great, saw turtles shagging today. Got it on film for all to see, whoo-hoo turtle porn!"

I'm giving him points for making me laugh. After it came in I sat on my floor and cried for 30 minutes from sheer relief. Let me tell you, it sure as SHIT didn't help that the BBC was writing stuff about body parts and blood flying everywhere. That is just not responsible journalism.

Thanks for all your wonderful messages of advice and support; i really appreciate it. Hugs to all and sundry.

I'm back stateside now for a couple weeks. My brother is getting married this weekend. I don't have a date (Hairy being where he is, somewhere in the gulf of Aqaba under 30m of water), so I'll just prance around and flirt with all my brother's single pals and play the part of the groom's hot little sister. Does it sound crass to write that after the last post about missing Hairy? I hope not. I told him my plan and he approved whole-heartedly, so there's not deceit or anything.

Anyways, after the wedding there's a big conference on medieval studies here in Michigan which I'm attending with my supervisor, the head of my department, and one of my colleagues (doesn't that sound impressive? "colleague." love it). So Bristol will be well-represented.

Oh, and I've just learned that I'll get to do some teaching next year. Whoo-hoo!