Back in Berkeley and blogging about aliens!

[readingredhead]

Well, I'm back for my final semester at Berkeley (and still freaking out a little about that fact). Within a little more than three months, I'll have written my 40-60 pg. honors thesis, completed my last classes as an undergraduate, and possibly put an end to my career as a student at Berkeley (there's a small chance I could come back for grad school, but that's rather doubtful). Or, you know, I could have a mental breakdown and fail out of everything. But frankly, if that was going to happen to me, it would have happened last semester, and it didn't, so I think I'm doing fairly well so far. The plan is to do awesome things this semester, and hopefully check some things off of my Bay Area Bucket List, which I have now posted as a separate entry on this journal so I can keep track of what I've done.

I haven't been doing much since coming back, aside from re-reading Emma (which does not actually improve very much after seven-and-a-half years' absence, unfortunately), hanging out with friends, and finally updating my personal blog and the book blog I share with some friends. I seem to have aliens on the mind at the moment; in the past few days I've written one post about the book containing my favorite alien narrator (and possibly favorite alien character) of all time and another about why the 456 from Torchwood: Children of Earth are so damn terrifying. Now I just need to read some new science fiction and I'll be set.

My plans for the evening involve reading some of Castle Waiting (which cosmic_llin recommended and which my local public library happens to own), eating dinner and watching more of the Sarah Jane Adventures, and then settling down to spend a few hours attempting to read The Rules of Art by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu before returning to SJA before bedtime. Frankly, this sounds like a good evening.

EDIT: So, I haven't had any SJA or Bourdieu fun yet, but I did just finish Castle Waiting and am sad there is not more of it!

Comments

[cosmic-llin.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, I can't believe you've managed to go out, find the book, bring it back and finish it while I've been asleep... isn't it awesome?

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Hehe, it is SO awesome! Hence the reading it in basically one sitting. I'm just happy the library had it and I read your post in time to get there before it closed. :)

[cosmic-llin.livejournal.com]

I know, I think I would have done the same if work hadn't gotten in the way!

Also, there's a second one - it's out here end of the month but I think it's already available over there!

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Regarding the second book, see my response to Cara below! :)

[carawj.livejournal.com]

There will be more of it! The second volume is coming out at the end of the month! *so excited*! :D

Your Bay Area Bucket list sounds awesome, and makes me want to go there and do all that stuff...

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Gah, I saw that! Local library has ordered a copy and I am the first hold on it when it becomes available. :)

Also, you should obviously come here and do cool stuff! And frankly I feel like my list is less awesome, because I kind of feel like there must be more cool things to do in and around Berkeley that I haven't even heard of yet! But now I'm on the look out of them.

[bluephoenix8807.livejournal.com]

Hey, about your bucket list - I have a car now, so if you'd rather not figure out bus schedules I could just drive down to Berkeley, pick you up (maybe after hanging out there for a little while?) and take you to visit the city of bovines, bicycles, and BAND-UH myself!

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Um, yes please? :D That's seriously awesome because before I would've had to find ways to potentially get back before my Sunday night tutoring shift WITHOUT using the bus since it only runs weekdays... I'm thinking we need to figure out a weekend! Class starts for me on Tues so I'll get syllabi, etc. and know when major assignments are due so I can plan around them -- I'll let you know what works for me?

[bluephoenix8807.livejournal.com]

Sounds good - just keep me updated!

[umdnikoell.livejournal.com]

My brother goes to school with you.

I am happy for all of your reading. :)

[rondaview.livejournal.com]

there's a small chance I could come back for grad school, but that's rather doubtful

whut whyyyyyyyyyyyy D:

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

I've had a few conversations with various profs here, and all of them have said in a rather kindly way that the quickest way for me to get back to Berkeley as a professor -- if I get my PhD and that is still what I want to do -- is to go somewhere other than Berkeley for grad school. If I did my PhD here, I'd have to go teach somewhere else for potentially a long time before being able to make my way back. And I'm going to sound majorly housewifely for like twelve seconds, but I don't want to be moving house still when I'm forty, and by that time in my life, I'd like to have the kinds of complications (of the serious relationship variety) that make moving house difficult.

And as much as I love it here...I'm beginning to think there might be other parts of the world worth exploring. Maybe not living in for the rest of my life -- Berkeley and (on some days) London are still the only places I can see myself doing that -- but for the time it takes to do my PhD...? That, I think I could do. In fact I think I could enjoy it. I'm (finally!) going to the East Coast over spring break and visiting NYU, Columbia, Princeton, and Harvard...between those four I think there's a good chance I'll find one that I like, as a place as well as a university.

But I guess the bottom line is, this could be (one of) my last chance(s) to really live somewhere that is NOT the place I'll be living for the rest of my life. Might as well spend it somewhere different!