Tuesday, January 30, 2007
You don't say?
Inspired by my 1000-year-old advisor with the stiff upper lip, I am thinking of writing a book called "Talking in Tautologies." This man makes an art of slowly stating the obvious repeatedly. As a result, no one gets offended, no one learns anything about his opinion and no one can really argue with anything he says. A fabulous consequence of this is that the man falls asleep while hetalks. I kid you not.. the man has fallen asleep during his own lectures.
At any rate it can be really frustrating for someone seeking some actual information. I proposed my thesis last year and my thesis timeline (which he suggested) has me graduating in 08 but my departmental funding runs out at the end of this academic year. I just wanted to ask him if he would fund me or if I should teach.. so the man responds
"The departmental funding is given for the expected length of time that the program takes. If this runs out then it means that you have exceeded that length of time."
Wow Professor, you are so smart!
"Normally if a student is making good progress towards their PH.D, they continue to be funded by their advisor or through teaching,"
I'm not asking about Normally, I'm asking about me.
I feel like somewhere in this art of tautology lies a very specific type of torture technique...
At any rate it can be really frustrating for someone seeking some actual information. I proposed my thesis last year and my thesis timeline (which he suggested) has me graduating in 08 but my departmental funding runs out at the end of this academic year. I just wanted to ask him if he would fund me or if I should teach.. so the man responds
"The departmental funding is given for the expected length of time that the program takes. If this runs out then it means that you have exceeded that length of time."
Wow Professor, you are so smart!
"Normally if a student is making good progress towards their PH.D, they continue to be funded by their advisor or through teaching,"
I'm not asking about Normally, I'm asking about me.
I feel like somewhere in this art of tautology lies a very specific type of torture technique...
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Borders 0, Tyra Banks and other nonsense
I was just at my favorite bookstore. Ground ZERO Borders - by this I mean the first Borders ever - right around the corner from my apartment in Ann Arbor.
My uncle has gotten me and Esha[sister] gift certificates for undisclosed amounts.
Knowing his frugal nature we think... $10 ...
I'm going in there thinking I really want to buy, "The Inheritence of Loss", this year's Booker Prize winning, fellow-desi-supporting, serious read. But then, one gets bored of stuffy old Indian novels about colonial-complexes.
That stays on the shelf.
I buy a book called "YOU" a user's manual for your body. I bought an "Owner's manual for the brain once." I loved it.
Then as I go near the checkout counter I see, People Magazine with an airbrushed image of Tyra Banks on the cover. "Do you call this fat?" it says next to Tyra wearing a red bathing suit. I don't really call her fat, but I call her a damn hypocrite!
Why is it that Tyra was completely fine with the shallow people of the world giving her superficial attention for about the last 15 years? Why is she throwing a hissy fit now?
Does she think she got on the cover of Sports Illustrated for her cellulite? Or maybe it was her brains? She was fine with people's obsession with thinness and appearance to the point of making millions of dollars off of it for years, but now that those same people call her "fat" she can't understand it. Come off it! As the biggest proponent of American Models, you need to thank people for noticing how you look.
My uncle has gotten me and Esha[sister] gift certificates for undisclosed amounts.
Knowing his frugal nature we think... $10 ...
I'm going in there thinking I really want to buy, "The Inheritence of Loss", this year's Booker Prize winning, fellow-desi-supporting, serious read. But then, one gets bored of stuffy old Indian novels about colonial-complexes.
That stays on the shelf.
I buy a book called "YOU" a user's manual for your body. I bought an "Owner's manual for the brain once." I loved it.
Then as I go near the checkout counter I see, People Magazine with an airbrushed image of Tyra Banks on the cover. "Do you call this fat?" it says next to Tyra wearing a red bathing suit. I don't really call her fat, but I call her a damn hypocrite!
Why is it that Tyra was completely fine with the shallow people of the world giving her superficial attention for about the last 15 years? Why is she throwing a hissy fit now?
Does she think she got on the cover of Sports Illustrated for her cellulite? Or maybe it was her brains? She was fine with people's obsession with thinness and appearance to the point of making millions of dollars off of it for years, but now that those same people call her "fat" she can't understand it. Come off it! As the biggest proponent of American Models, you need to thank people for noticing how you look.
Trials and tribulations
Hi I'm Smita.
This blog may be about
0. my opinions on everything I hear called "head chatter" or "thalaharte" in my native language
[incidentally thats meant as an insult]
1. my two lives, I'll call them "smeeee" and "taaah"
[by the way my name is pronouced [smi-taaaa]
10. how they hate each other when they come together
[unlike yin and yang]
11. my attempts at being a scholar and life as a 5th year graduate student
[more drama than one would think]
This blog may be about
0. my opinions on everything I hear called "head chatter" or "thalaharte" in my native language
[incidentally thats meant as an insult]
1. my two lives, I'll call them "smeeee" and "taaah"
[by the way my name is pronouced [smi-taaaa]
10. how they hate each other when they come together
[unlike yin and yang]
11. my attempts at being a scholar and life as a 5th year graduate student
[more drama than one would think]
