After 1 1/2 years, with many false starts, missed deadlines (I've missed deadlines like 4 times) wrong turns and dead ends (not to mention misguided directions!), I have finally reach near the end of my journey where the dissertation/thesis is concern. Now is just some proof corrections and minor revisions (unless my supervisor decides that she still needs me to send her one more revision - I hope not), I might be able to finally format it nicely, have it printed out and sent to the binders all by next week (since I am going out of town til Sat and most places are't opened for long/ or opened at all on weekends).
Next week will see me highly busy as I have to content with much work before going out station the week after. Maybe it is the end of the month before I can actually see down and think about what I am going to do after all this. It is like deciding what to do with your life after breaking off from a long term relationship (not too long this one, only slightly longer than 1 1/2 years but a rather intense, love-hate relationship at that which is always nagging at me even when I am away from it). This relationship has sucked out most of my enjoyment for simpler pleasures in life. I take a month to read magazines that could be read completely in 2 hours. I haven't even had the chance to savour a foreign magazine I have bought recently, on an impulse, because my mind was not at it (even though I had time since I was awaiting a verdict on my work from the other people who were reading it).
However, I did manage to read two rather interesting stuff. Actually more than two, but I am singling out these two. One is the decades old "Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan and the other is a paper on the book "Emily Climbs" by Lucy Maude Montgomery (my favourite childhood author) and F.W.H Myers on parapyschology and Lucy (I refuse the convention of calling her by her last name) had used his ideas in her writing of the Emily trilogy (could there be fans of her work out there reading this post?). I would like to write more about the latter but I will begin first by writing more on the former. On Betty's seminal work. Why? Because event though she was talking about conditions almost half a century ago, I see the revival of what she had discussed about in this part of the world (and maybe even in the western side of the world). Why do I say that? Because I can easily identify with what she said, even though she was talking more about my grandmother's time. But then, Malaysia in the 1950s and 1960s is very different from the US in which Betty was talking about. Some might say that Malaysia is still trap in the modernist age of 1950s and 60s US, but I beg to differ. It seems to me that Malaysia is living a very schizophrenic condition that is part 1950s America, some of the 1960s and part in today's world. How much of each is in each...well I might do an actual piece on that since this is quite interesting research. Maybe some sociologist here might already have done something of that nature. Nonetheless, what is more important for me is to critique on women's condition here.
But, after this thesis is sent up, I am gonna give my brain a rest and read a lot of fiction and indulge in other hobbies I have put on hold for almost a year. And exercise more!
It seems that this is a pretty bad year. Some call is bad feng shui. Bombings everywhere. Disasters. No wonder I haven't felt particularly happy since after New Year...
Monday, October 31, 2005
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Book news from the frankfurt book fair and something brewing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/books/24note.html
Some of the books mentioned in there have made their way to Malaysian shores. And some, despite being bestsellers, aren't exactly airhead reads. (:
A slow day at work. Meaning, a slow day for my brain, not coz there is no work.
I need to get my brains up to speed. Wonder if I can get that damn thesis finished by this Deepavali-Raya hols. Waiting to meet my supervisor and am wondering when she will have the time for me. Anyhow, will spend this entire week editing the thesis from chap 1 to 5 while I wait. Still got quite a bit of polishing, especially for chap 1, the MOST important chapter. Hopefully, can send to the binders before the Raya hols start so that I can
1. Have a nice mini celebration of my own
2. Move on with my life and plan new projects.
Have a splendid day.
Some of the books mentioned in there have made their way to Malaysian shores. And some, despite being bestsellers, aren't exactly airhead reads. (:
A slow day at work. Meaning, a slow day for my brain, not coz there is no work.
I need to get my brains up to speed. Wonder if I can get that damn thesis finished by this Deepavali-Raya hols. Waiting to meet my supervisor and am wondering when she will have the time for me. Anyhow, will spend this entire week editing the thesis from chap 1 to 5 while I wait. Still got quite a bit of polishing, especially for chap 1, the MOST important chapter. Hopefully, can send to the binders before the Raya hols start so that I can
1. Have a nice mini celebration of my own
2. Move on with my life and plan new projects.
Have a splendid day.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Creative Commons License?
Just a short post to document this before I forget. More later :)
http://www.kakiseni.com/articles/features/MDcyOA.html
http://www.kakiseni.com/articles/features/MDcyOA.html
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Saturday Night Live...
...from the cyberhome of Clarissa Lee
I am back to my habit of irregular postings. I am sorry. It is just that so many things have been on my mind lately, that when I write, I prefer to do so offline, save for a few emails I send out, or messages I leave for friends. I have much and also none to write about my rather boring condition at this point. I said that I would talk more about my current job. I have put in some hints here and there but there has been nothing substantial. I promise I will get right to it sometime next week, once I delivered my final drafts to my supervisor, and cajole her into seeing me for one of the drafts that is still with her (due to some fluke).
Even as I am typing this, I am taking a break from editing my Chapter 4. Seeing how my months and free time had mostly been taken up with correcting proofs after proofs of my dissertation. I am gonna be at a lost once the damn thing is delivered, nicely bound, to my faculty. I know that there are lots of things waiting for me. Just that, I have no idea how to start, having procrastinated them for so long. I guess I'll take a week or two of break (depending on how quickly I can plan for my new life) to strategise. It is just that I have been a perpetual student for so long (despite the few months break in between undergrad and my masters, and another one I took in between semesters two years ago, when I went abroad for the first time for the entire month), even while I have been working at a number of different jobs for some income, and to be financially independent (I paid for my semester's fees on my own for the first time this semester, and it is the last semester to boot).I will soon be paying for my examination fees the next semester so that they will get some external examiner to look at my piece of work. I hope! Them bloody politicos at the university, with their timidity and fear of looking below standard, has been my bane for years. I would be glad to be rid of them once this ordeal is over. Only supportive person so far within the system, other than a few lecturers I have had, is my supervisor. Even then, there isn't too much she can do. what with those power hungry goons around. Or should I quote my thesis, them bloody phallocrats!
Will I go on to the PhD? Highly likely. But I want to take my time to choose an area I would not lose interest in after one year. And also choose a supportive system to work under. I deserve that after all these years of sufferance. And I most probably wouldn't do a Phd until I am close to thirty. Why? Because there are other things I want to do first, and I also want to achieve something else first that perpetual studenthood has limited me from achieving. No, I don't mean getting married. (:
Anyway. Enough of a break so back to more proofing. To those who are still reading me, thanks for the support. I have more or less let my website gathered dust coz I've been too busy and lazy to update the new wings. Plus I need to revamp the damn thing to make it even more user friendly (to my visitors). And that needs money, which I don't have too much of at this moment :(
Oops, just remembered that I have to do a report for the committee that has kindly given me some funds to "alleviate" my expenses.
Take care ya all
Love
Clarissa
I am back to my habit of irregular postings. I am sorry. It is just that so many things have been on my mind lately, that when I write, I prefer to do so offline, save for a few emails I send out, or messages I leave for friends. I have much and also none to write about my rather boring condition at this point. I said that I would talk more about my current job. I have put in some hints here and there but there has been nothing substantial. I promise I will get right to it sometime next week, once I delivered my final drafts to my supervisor, and cajole her into seeing me for one of the drafts that is still with her (due to some fluke).
Even as I am typing this, I am taking a break from editing my Chapter 4. Seeing how my months and free time had mostly been taken up with correcting proofs after proofs of my dissertation. I am gonna be at a lost once the damn thing is delivered, nicely bound, to my faculty. I know that there are lots of things waiting for me. Just that, I have no idea how to start, having procrastinated them for so long. I guess I'll take a week or two of break (depending on how quickly I can plan for my new life) to strategise. It is just that I have been a perpetual student for so long (despite the few months break in between undergrad and my masters, and another one I took in between semesters two years ago, when I went abroad for the first time for the entire month), even while I have been working at a number of different jobs for some income, and to be financially independent (I paid for my semester's fees on my own for the first time this semester, and it is the last semester to boot).I will soon be paying for my examination fees the next semester so that they will get some external examiner to look at my piece of work. I hope! Them bloody politicos at the university, with their timidity and fear of looking below standard, has been my bane for years. I would be glad to be rid of them once this ordeal is over. Only supportive person so far within the system, other than a few lecturers I have had, is my supervisor. Even then, there isn't too much she can do. what with those power hungry goons around. Or should I quote my thesis, them bloody phallocrats!
Will I go on to the PhD? Highly likely. But I want to take my time to choose an area I would not lose interest in after one year. And also choose a supportive system to work under. I deserve that after all these years of sufferance. And I most probably wouldn't do a Phd until I am close to thirty. Why? Because there are other things I want to do first, and I also want to achieve something else first that perpetual studenthood has limited me from achieving. No, I don't mean getting married. (:
Anyway. Enough of a break so back to more proofing. To those who are still reading me, thanks for the support. I have more or less let my website gathered dust coz I've been too busy and lazy to update the new wings. Plus I need to revamp the damn thing to make it even more user friendly (to my visitors). And that needs money, which I don't have too much of at this moment :(
Oops, just remembered that I have to do a report for the committee that has kindly given me some funds to "alleviate" my expenses.
Take care ya all
Love
Clarissa
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Some Wise Sayings- On Books
Among the things I had to do at work today is to look for all possible permutations a Chinese proverb can take to come up with a hard-working sentence for my copy (your creative writing teacher would tell you about the importance of using verbs and nouns in preference to too many abjectives. In other words, make your writing lean, not flabby).
So, here are some that would cater to the bookworm in me and you :D
After three days without reading, talk becomes flavorless.
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
A book holds a house of gold.
A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.
Back to work.
So, here are some that would cater to the bookworm in me and you :D
After three days without reading, talk becomes flavorless.
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
A book holds a house of gold.
A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.
Back to work.
Monday, October 03, 2005
What really happened in Kurdistan?
Most of what took place happened when I was a mere kid, so I had no recollection of it. Yet, a chance look at a press Ad produced for the AI sometime in the 1990s (yes, I write copies for a living now so am always look at ads for inspiration), brought this piece of history to the fore, almost 17 years since it happened. There is much conflicting views as to what is actual history, and I am including here a list of sites with conflicting views on what actually happened in Northern Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime.
What happened in Kurdish Halabja?
A War Crime or an Act of War?
The Human Rights Watch report in 1991 that blame Iraq for genocide of the Kurds and for the conditions they were living in at refugee camps.
And here are more sites...
http://www.knn.u-net.com/halabja.htm
http://www.puk.org/web/htm/news/nws/howar050317.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/02/08_gassing.html
I am sure you will find more if you google. All I can say now is (since I am supposed to be writing copies, not blogs), the sufferings of the Kurds have become fodder for political manoeuverings, bickerings and finger pointings. Would this in effect improve their lives? NO...not when the living conditions of the majority of the people still borders on the abject
Thesis is about to come to an end (soon) so hopefully will have more time to do general reading instead of always them theories.
What happened in Kurdish Halabja?
A War Crime or an Act of War?
The Human Rights Watch report in 1991 that blame Iraq for genocide of the Kurds and for the conditions they were living in at refugee camps.
And here are more sites...
http://www.knn.u-net.com/halabja.htm
http://www.puk.org/web/htm/news/nws/howar050317.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/02/08_gassing.html
I am sure you will find more if you google. All I can say now is (since I am supposed to be writing copies, not blogs), the sufferings of the Kurds have become fodder for political manoeuverings, bickerings and finger pointings. Would this in effect improve their lives? NO...not when the living conditions of the majority of the people still borders on the abject
Thesis is about to come to an end (soon) so hopefully will have more time to do general reading instead of always them theories.
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