This week's been a good one - and it seems that it'll continue along similar lines.  So far I've filled in a few forms and done general administrative things to do with my teaching, and managed to be quite efficient and cheerful about them, which is very uncharacteristic of me. On top of that, yesterday I wrote a five-page essay for a forthcoming seminar. In 1½ hours. Even more uncharacteristic of me, for I usually need a whole week for that sort of thing - a couple of days for complaining, a day for organising my thoughts, and a couple of days for the actual writing. And preferably an extra day for editing.

I wonder what's wrong with me.

Tomorrow I'll be attending a Unifem reading group (always a pleasure, albeit a rare one), and most of Friday will be spent at that aforementioned seminar (which should also be fun. I'm such a humanist geek...).

However, the real fun doesn't begin until Friday evening, when Otter and T get into town. SHS silliness, ahoy!

Later That Same Wednesday...

Well I'll be damned. After having complained for ages about the non-existent progress of my Licentiate, it seems I'm soon being robbed of this particular joy. This morning I got a call from our professor, who had finally got things moving at the department, and arranged the defence for 13th of October.

And he said there'd be cake.

This is of course great news, and also means that I'll have to stop all this complaining, and actually get some work done towards the PhD in the near future. But I'm in no particular hurry to get my silly hat and sword just yet. In the meanwhile, I'll concentrate on teaching (I'm planning of smuggling some Beatles into the first literature lecture) - and all those lovely extracurricular things.

Speaking of which, lately I've been watching loads of classic Brit comedy on Youtube (seriously - what did people DO before Youtube?) - and for some reason I always end up watching Blackadder, or something by Fry and Laurie (with or without Rowan Atkinson). I'm planning of doing a separate post on either (or both) of these in the future, but here's a little something I discovered the other day browsing around. This clip features Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry doing what they do best (i.e. saying absurd things in impossible upper-class accents): 

Ebsolutely fentestic!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Brits do know how to make first-class costume drama. And comedy. And comic costume drama. And Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry are gorgeous.

Perhaps I should include this in my lecture as well...?

A Promenade in the Park, or Pretentious Perambulations

As I stated in the previous post, autumn's a great season - and it also tends to bring out the Artist in most of us. At least it does in me. On top of that, I find I'm more energetic and more organised at this time of year (although by November most of these fine qualities have disappeared, only to emerge again sometime in late August) - and so it's easier to start new projects and do general artsy stuff.

The pictures above belong to the latter category. As the weather was gorgeous today, I decided to make a trek to the local park. I actually discovered this little gem only a couple of months ago - and even then completely by accident.  It's quite far from where I live, but I think I'll be going there quite often from now on - at least when the cafe is open. 

So I got to indulge in artsiness among the old wooden houses, the wonky trees and fluttering leaves.  The only drawback is my camera, which refuses to take clear, focused pictures in cloudy weather (or what it regards as cloudy weather).  I'm trying to work with this handicap - at least it yields some interesting results, as can be seen in the middle picture. In general, however, I appreciate gadgets that do what I want them to do, and not just when it's sunny.

Next week, I'm finally getting back to teaching (oddly enough, I'm really looking forward to it...;) ) and I've been doing loads of back-up reading and planning lectures for some time now. This means that the PhD is definitely on the back burner - and will be until somebody tells me who my current supervisor is, and what's going on with my long-due Licentiate. But I've decided not to fret, and intead concentrate on the more motivating stuff.

Like updating my poor, neglected blog. :)

By the way, if you haven't yet noticed: the comments are (finally) on. Couldn't figure how to get them to work until yesterday evening, when it all came to me like a man on a flaming pie.

 

Here's one I made earlier

Autumn's great. Nights are dark, days are bright and colourful - or rainy and drab, which gives you the perfect excuse to stay in and bake. The raspberry pie above is a favourite of mine (I normally use lingonberries or blueberries) as its very quick and easy to make, and absolutely delicious.

This is also the perfect time for listening melancholy music (although I have to admit that I indluge in it regularly, regardless of season). I'm about to clean my mp3-player - chuck out most of the happy, summery songs (Lovin' Spoonful, The Best of Bollywood, Steely Dan etc.) and replace them with stuff like this:

Literary reflections

Since the last post, seems like nothing much has been happening here. After such a delicious and hectic summer, going back to the routine takes some getting used to. And lots and lots of caffeine.

Then again, I've managed to do quite a bit of reading (for my PdD) and have been trying to work all this new-found information into the tapestry of the thesis. So far so good, but I'd really appreciate some outside feedback as well - which hasn't been forthcoming in the past year.

On the other hand, I've also had time to read some brilliant fiction. Mostly re-reads, but some new gems as well. A couple of weeks ago I gobbled up Veikko Huovinen's Lyhyet erikoiset in about a day, cackling all the way through. There's something about Huovinen's wry style that completely disarms me - though of course the things he chooses to write about are quite unusual as well. Or at least I haven't yet come across another short story that discusses the relative merits of tinned foods from around the world.

Another book that completely bowled me over was Eeva Kilpi's Naisen päiväkirja. I first read it a few years back, and I remember being impressed by it: reading it a second time I was almost overwhelmed with its frankness, fragility and sheer scope. Kilpi tackles loneliness, ageing, sex (or the lack thereof), her relationship to her children, to God, and to the universe in general, all with soul-baring intensity. Amazing stuff.

On a more melancholy note, I was sad to hear of the death of Ellie Greenwich - and it was also saddening to note how swiftly her death was glossed over in the media (I don't think that YLE, for one, even mentioned it). It's really hard to pick a favourite from her impressive repertoire ('The Leader of the Pack', 'I Can Hear Music', 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy'... ) but then again, it's not that hard at all: