typical

So much for the promise to update more regularly. Goodness. Well, I'm still (somewhat) alive, still grinding along...though I have developed two secret fantasies since I last checked in at this blog. Namely:

1) Run away from grad school and become a professional poker player (aka become an internet sloth-loser who spends 14+ hours a day clicking away at a computer whilst chugging Red Bull and stuffing face with crappy, cold pizza).
Obstacles: Have not actually learned how to properly play poker
Solution: Totally planning to buy poker books and practice online this winter break
Cause of delusion: Way too much watching of internet poker (pokertube.com baby)
Reality check: Hey! Lots of professional poker players either have PhDs or else quit right before dissertating...

2) Run away from grad school, go to China, start working at a bakery/accessories shop/does it really matter?, and engage in a horribly cliched and normative romance with an earnest Chinese boy who will think we will have gotten to some kind of base when we hold hands for the first time (with cheesy C-pop swelling in the background, of course. Or fireworks.)
Obstacles: My Chinese skills are, uh, not so stellar (to put it mildly)
Solution: ...I hear immersion is good for that business?
Cause of delusion: Do I really need to say it? Asian soap operas! (mysoju.com, crunchyroll.com, dramacrazy.net, I hope these sites ruin your life as much as they have ruined mine)
Reality check: Ok, this one might be ludicrous enough that I don't need a reality check.

In more serious news, I've determined that grad school life consists of: work, bitching about work, procrastinating on your computer while you should be doing work, and occasionally roaming around the one mile radius of your apartment/library/department and "hanging out" with other graduate students while feeling guilty about not working. I seem to always be doing some variation of one of these things. Horrible. Its gotten to the point where I know I don't see anyone but grad students and it's actually a shocking improvement if I see someone outside of my friend M (whose futon I am constantly studying/crashing on).

On the upside, I have been to several interesting talks in the last month (Fred Moten and Junot Diaz, most notably), and I've also got a feminist pedagogy seminar coming up that I'm totally looking forward to. I've finished with all of my presentations (hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!) and am also starting to really think about final papers (though thinking about does not actually equal having concrete topics, unfortunately).

I've also registered for classes next semester. The list of classes include:
1) 18th century Orientalism and global trade from China to the West Indies, focusing on issues of mercantilism, luxury, and consumption

2) Critical Race Theory (legal texts...very nervous about this, as my super brilliant and intimidating advisor is teaching this class)

3) Course on the history and theory of social stigma (drawing on queer theory, critical race, and disability studies)

4) Auditing another anthropology course (you know me, always gotta do it!) on culture, identity, and power.

Anyways, I really, REALLY will try harder to update from here on out (I know, I know, says the one who promised the same thing over a month ago). But expect an update this coming Friday (or Saturday), because a hugely contentious and controversial meeting amongst the English grad students is slated for that day. And with that juicy tidbit...