Short Attention Span Monday

So it has been a while, and I'm going to fly through some of what I've been up to since last I blogged.

Ironically, for a blog about moving to Canada, I haven't been there in over a month, and I'm mostly okay with that. I'm ready to feel more settled, but I sort of wonder if that has something to do with a lack of equanimity on my part rather than my somewhat scattered residences. I'm travelling again, and it is great to visit with family, but I just got settled in Nashville, and now I'm back in Michigan. I'm heading back to London for a few days at the end of the week, and then back to Nashville. I'm getting dizzy.

So, I've been knitting a lot. I'm nearly finished with the socks that I was working on when I did my knitting report last and started a sweater that was my gift from my Dear Husband (DH):

















(Sock yarn named here) The sweater (bottom) is out of Knit Picks Kettle Dyed Essential Sock in the colourway "wine". It is a really pretty yarn, that I'm enjoying knitting on, a nice texture and springiness, and is knitting into a nice fabric. The sweater is Abotanicity from Knitty, and it will be super fun just as soon as I get past the ribbed upper section onto the lace skirt. The yarn was a gift for our 7th wedding anniversary, since wool is one of the traditional gifts, and DH (who is a very smart man) knew I would get more joy out of knitting a sweater than out of having a sweater.

We traveled to Michigan for my step-mother's re-retirement party. Now I'm hanging out here at their house, heading to London at the end of the week. On Saturday before the party, I ran a race, set a personal record (PR) for the 10 kilometer distance. I don't have great pictures of it (DH stayed in bed), but I did take one that might show something about how I apporach life/racing.

In the car, all the stuff I thought I needed to manage to run the thing:

Aside from my purse (necessary for the act of driving to the race, as it contains my wallet and ID stuff), there is my iPod (a 2nd generation nano), my hand-held water bottle, Body Glide, my RoadID, and the notebook I had written down where I was going. Also there, in the pocket of the water bottle, were some Sport Beans, for energy, since it takes me over an hour to run 10km, and I need some carbs if I'm going to make it.

And of course, my bright yellow race number.



Beyond this excitment, I've been doing very little. I've been meaning to do work-realted reading, but I just have low motivation.

On to knit some more. I'm so cool.

A Week In the Life

So, last Wednesday, Sally and I left for the beach. We had a lovely time, it was windy, which made actually being on the sandy part of the beach a bit interesting and exfoliating, but in the water or on the deck was just fine. Sally hooped in the sand and I sat on the deck and read and knitted. It turns out you can knit this much sock in 4 days:


I cast on for this sock in the car on the way to the beach, and stopped knitting on it while we were there because I misplaced its mate, and need to make sure that the ankles are the same length before starting the heel flap.

Then it rained and we went shopping, and finally we left the beach just in time, since the waves had made their way under the cabin.


After heading back to Nashvegas, I hung out at home with the Beloved Husband and on Monday, a holiday here in the States and our 7th wedding anniversary, I ran a 5k that benefited the Nashville City Cemetery Association. Since my goal was to finish, I accomplished exactly what I set out to do.

Look, me at the start:


Kickin' it in what I like to call "tortoise style:"



Watchin' out for zombies:

And the finish:

Later, the Beloved Husband and I went out for a fun fish dinner, followed by ice cream.

Tuesday night included knitting, which was great, and I cast on a new sock.

Then I came home and the BH and I hung out with Mr. Calvin, who was doing his dangedest to be cute.

Now it is my birthday, and I'm another year older. Not sure about wiser, but older. I'll be inspecting for crow's feet later. There are movers, painters, and the bug spraying guy at our old house right now, getting it ready for potential renters.

I promised a knitting report...

... but I realized that I've barely been knitting.

Oh, I finished a 2 row striped scarf. Mostly. The ends still need running in. Does that count? It took me 4 months to get it to this point. (Noro Kureyon, ball bands lost, colour ways uncertain)


I've been working on a sock out of Happy Choices yarn from Plymouth:



I wasn't sure about this knitting from a flat "scarf" onto a sock, but I have to admit, it's kind of convenient to carry around. But I'm not sure about the way the colours are working out. I can't decide, and the second sock will clearly be a fraternal twin of the first. I also can't decide how I feel about that. I mean, I'm not so put together that I need to have completely identical socks, but then again, I am so not put together at times that if my hand knit socks aren't fairly clearly matching, people might assume I'm even flakier than I actually am. As in flaky to the point of incompetence. And while I ride that line on occasion, I very rarely fall off into incompetence. I can get on board with looking like a distracted hippy. I'm not crazy about looking completely 'round the bend.

I'm working on an entrelac scarf for my Beloved Husband, but it isn't in Nashville with me at the moment, so no picture. Even though I love this yarn, its been boring me a bit, so its having a nap in the knitting basket at the moment.

I tried to start a lace stole, and it turned into a disaster. My brain is not recovered enough from my life to read charts yet. Lesson learned. Pretty alpaca-silk goes back in the stash for a bit.


I have a really lovely merino that I'm thinking about making a water bottle cozy out of. I'm tired of ruining my papers with a sweaty aluminum bottle. I'm also tired of seeing ugly carriers out of "recycled" sweaters. While I'm all for recycling, I'm not sure repurposing an ugly sweater for a practical use is worth it. (Yarn is Crystal Palace Yarns Merino Stripes 90% merino/10% acrylic, colour ways 24 and 69) If I make it work, I'll post pictures here and a pattern to Ravelry.

Freakin' awesome!

That's all. Love it.

I'm Not Really a Student...

... except to the people who hold my Federal Staford Loans.

What I mean is this: what I am doing now, being a Ph.D. student in the humanities is not being in school in the sense most people think. I mean, I go to classes and get academic credit for them, I write papers (lots of papers, lots of long tricky papers). But I haven't been to a kegger in over a decade and I no longer wear pyjamas or work out clothes to class.

I am in an apprenticeship phase of my career: I am expected to begin participating in my profession, but with guidance from those more experienced at it than I am, to keep me from making any serious mistakes/ faux pas. My coursework, which at the Ph.D. level really is minimal, is to, for the first few years, give my research a direction, but beyond that, my activities are the same as any other musicologist working in an academic setting: I research, I write up my research, I submit my research to conferences and journals, and I teach. I mark papers and have laughs with colleuges.

I am not a student: I am a musicologist. I'm not even a musicology student: I know this culture now, probably about as well as I ever will. The Master's degree is about inculturation. The Ph.D. is about getting down to work and joining the discourse in the field, a discourse I am starting to shape in some small way. In other fields, entry level jobs involve a lot of supervision, limited authority, and (in good jobs) mentoring. In this university professor gig, the difference is that one ends this entry-level stage with an extra set of initials after one's name.

I have had this realization because I am at the end of the semester. Three small tasks stand between me being entirely free of formal responsibilities until September. Itty bitty tasks. I should feel relieved. I should want to throw a kegger. Nope. Not this gal. I mean I'm glad to have my papers done, but there is still a whole lot of stuff to do. I'm going to have a bit of a lie-in tomorrow morning, maybe crack open a bottle of wine tonight, then back to work. After all, the Society for American Music is having its annual conference next March, and they are looking for papers for it. The deadline is 15 June. I have to get on that.

Unless I happen to owe you money from my undergraduate degree. Then I'm totally a student. Completely.

(Next time, the knitting report)

Completely Worn Out

The end of the term draws near and I'm completely worn out.

I have run out of words. This isn't writer's block, its a complete emptiness at the well in my soul from which musicological discourse usually springs. I think I might be able to write a fantastic novel right now, but not the paper that I must needs finish by Friday. I think this may be tied to a virus, as Franklin has been enduring a similar block... maybe I caught it in the airport on my recent trip to Nashville? No one else here seems to have it, and I'm hoping it isn't catching because a few of my friends start their comprehensive exams in a week or two. I look all scholarly-- computer on lap, discarded Starbucks cup nearby, surrounded by books that make me look smart, but the words in them have stopped making sense. Actually, to be fair, they still make sense. They are not what is flawed. The words I type in the open document on the desktop of said computer are what have actually stopped making sense.

I'm going to try again for another hour. Then I'm going to knit. Or drink. Or have a good sleep. Or maybe all three.

That's Why I Live Here...

At the halfway point of my run this morning, I had to stop and take a picture. The picture doesn't really do the day justice, but such is the nature of cell phone pictures.

After taking the picture, I went and ran down there by the river. It was lovely.

That's why I live here. There seems to be a consensus in London that almost everyone wants to live somewhere else, but it is actually a sort of pretty city. The greenway system along the Thames is great for running, biking, roller blading, or strolling. I'm not saying that Toronto doesn't have more going on or more cultural institutions or that it doesn't stink that downtown closes at 5pm, just that London isn't all bad.

I can't wait for the leaves on the trees to make an appearance.