tarigwaemir

Stanley Hall on the Feast of Ste. Teresa of Avila

Exams were handed back today. Quite possibly as unpleasant for me as it was for the students: one of my sections did very poorly compared to the class average. Although everyone has reassured me that I haven't done anything wrong, looking at the list of students who are in the D/F range and realizing that this particular section has more individuals in that range than any other section was rather demoralizing. I've been comforting myself with the thought that my other section, which gets more or less the same material, had a mean comparable to the overall class.

Anyway, I contacted the students who are doing poorly, and some of them have asked to meet with me to discuss how they're doing in the class. Thank goodness Berkeley undergrads aren't shy about talking to their TAs!

Progress in research has slowed, in part due to the teaching workload and in part due to my own fatigue/lack of motivation. Had talk with P.I. about my project and what I should focus on to be ready for quals. She kept telling me that I needn't feel pressured to take the project in a direction that I didn't find interesting, which made me think that I must be looking remarkably unenthusiastic. Admittedly, experiments haven't been going well, but when do they ever go well?

To comfort myself, a list of pleasant and cheerful things, in reverse chronological order:

1. The lab is going bhangra dancing on Saturday night. Plus, will be meeting up with jaebi_lit to hang out.

2. Made some progress on fellowship applications today.

2. Steve stayed over the last two nights and cooked me a cabbage-and-chickpea stew plus kugel. Yum. Also a relief since I've run out of fresh produce in the fridge.

3. Went to karaoke last Thursday with Steve and his friends. Realized that being a karaoke addict has enabled me to sing backup for the major Britney Spears hits. Sigh. Didn't try any new songs, although admittedly I haven't been following K-pop lately so I wouldn't have had many new songs to try. It was a good group of people for karaoke: people were enthusiastic and uninhibited. ^_^

4. Prior to that, I got to eat okonomiyaki for the first time! It was delicious.

5. Had lunch with tokyofish last Thursday where we ended up talking for nearly three hours. Cathartic ranting plus commiseration plus sheer fangirling = very relaxing.

6. Read a lot of Georgette Heyer ebooks. So far, not a single male protagonist other than Freddy from Cotillion has met my approval. They are either arrogant, condescending rakes--Alverstoke from Frederica--or violent, amoral rakes--Avon and Vidal from These Old Shades and The Devil's Cub--or rude, tactless rakes--Carleton from Lady of Quality. I think the most appealing male romantic lead so far has been Charles Rivenhall from The Grand Sophy, who is rude, arrogant and prone to belittling women but is puritanical rather than rakish. (Carleton is pretty much the same as Rivenhall except with a reputation for womanizing.) Would approve of the Earl of Rule in The Convenient Marriage for his laidback nature but alas, he too has a reputation for rakishness.

I understand that the whole appeal of the rake is that he reforms himself for the heroine; she is the exception that causes him to change. But the fact that the rake often becomes possessive and jealous isn't flattering; it's a double standard. Also, the excuse that the rake will never ruin a lady of Quality is also offensive. Anyway, courteous and slightly dumb Freddy is much more likely to win my heart than any romantic hero who seems "mysterious" and "dangerous" from the hint of scandal attached to his name. ::rolls eyes:: I wish there was a romance novel convention featuring Preternaturally Intelligent heroes, à la your favorite genius strategist/go player/absent-minded professor, but I suppose they won't pop up in Regency romances in any case. (Is there such a convention? Maybe I should be reading Heyer's mysteries instead.)

On the other hand, I was very fond of the practical, no-nonsense Frederica who is so very good of taking care of her younger siblings (plus, Felix and Jessamy stole the story in that novel), and Sophy, in her breezy disregard for English conventions, was also refreshing (especially when she trod down Cousin Charles' attempts to belittle her).

7. Picked up CDs from a pile of random free albums left out on the street next to Amoeba. Mostly unknown indie bands distributing free samples or demos to the record store. Rule of thumb: when rifling through CDs whose artists you don't recognize, look for interesting cover art. Apparently similar visual aesthetic = similar musical aesthetic.

8. Saw The Dark Knight (finally) with Steve two weeks ago. Went in with overblown expectations for Heath Ledger's acting; was a little surprised to realize that the Joker was actually a fairly standard sociopath. Also disliked the unambiguous moralizing of the ending. But the movie was still great, and I ate a Cinnapretzel and a whole box of Sour Patch candy (while stealing sips from Steve's giant Icee). How's that for artificial sugar intake?

Yours &c.