historiblogography

Wasting time

Ten Points -- for no other reason that I cannot fall asleep at this ungodly early hour, but I need to force myself into it.

First of all, I would like to defend the "name" of this Blog. It has valence (buzz) on so many levels: (1) it is a slight variation, obviously, on the word "historiography", (2) it, in some ways, is creating a historiography of Chris' and Michael's political views (though they seem to be rather static...), and (3) someone very clever and sleep-deprived that I like very much came up with the name.

Second of all, I would like to pledge allegiance to my country...

Third of all, I passed my UCLA History Department French Competency Exam (UHDFCE). Which means someone needs to send me to France to see if this is worth a damn.

Fourth of all, I was watching on cspan a lecture Stephen Breyer was giving the Paris Bar Association about international law. For a good while, he spoke in French, and I understood the gist of it. I win the prize.

Fifth of all, for those of you who are interested in the whole Malkin thing, after Breyer spoke, Judge Wallace Tashima of the US Court of Appeals (9th circuit) discusses internment. What makes him so powerful (though I must say he does not have the presence of a remarkable speaker) is the fact that he was interned when he was about 10. I think for a while you'll be able to access the video here: http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=AC

Sixth of all, I presented my research paper prospectus (on cold fusion and Julian Schwinger) to my research seminar today, and we spent 90 minutes -- you got that right -- on it. I got a lot of good advise/leads, but I can't tell if the overall tone was "way to go! you have something!" or "we're just humoring you but you're crazy!" I get enough of the latter from my friends.

Seventh of all, LA is getting quite chilly. If this is chilly, mind you, my composition has grown quite weak. The thought of going home (East) for the holidays scares me.

Eighth of all, grading student essays is so time-consuming. It's sometimes hard to find the good.

Ninth of all, recently my roommate (in the astronomy department at UCLA) got sent to Hawaii for the weekend by her advisor. I need to ask myself, as you all do too, are we in the wrong field?

Lastly: Vor 4 Tagen habe ich "Finding Neverland" gespielt. C'etait bien, je pense. Soon I'll be completely cultured. Just have to read some Kant and pretend to read Hegel.

posted by Sameer @ 10:45 PM