Taking wireless for granted

Spending time in the western part of the island of Montreal (unwired) taught me how dependent I am on my wireless connection. And how edgy I get when I can't connect. Everything felt slow and difficult. I had to book train tickets over the phone. Hence, no updates. Lots to say, and I've got nice pictures, but I have to get to the library to finalize my readings for my class, get my pants hemmed and find some suitable tops. And mark a further 60 undergrad papers. And meet with Crown Counsel about a case I'm a witness for. Sweet.

This is the sound of my anxiety

The airplane takes off in 18 hours. Until then, I will be grading, handing marked exams off, fielding student enquiries, packing, filling out more immigration paperwork, cleaning, returning library books, finding 10 minutes to sleep, picking up passport photos and a student card, getting a haircut, and booking travel for January (it looks like January 10th may be the day of departure to points East).

Amidst my crazy day of errand running and marking, I took an hour off to trek to school to meet a student at 3:00. I figured I could mark papers on the bus, meet the student and mark on the way home. I was not happy to see that I not only forgot my red pen, but didn't, uncharacteristically, have any writing implements whatsoever on my person. No stationary stores en route to school, and the bookstore on campus was closed for some odd reason. It doesn't take an empath to see what happened next. No show. No, bloody, show. Despite having confirmed the meeting a mere 2 hours previously, the student who practically begged to meet me to discuss the exam, didn't bother to show up. I waited 20 minutes, then said fuck it. Of course, the type of student to blow off a meeting they requested is also the type of student to not even bother to write a note to say "oops, couldn't find your office" or other such lame excuse. Just nada. Good strategy for dealing with person responsible for your grade. My bus transfer was no longer valid when I got on the bus, but I was just not in the mood to pay one red cent more to get home. I think the driver got the message, as stormclouds starting forming on my face, and let me on for free. That's right pal, 5 minutes grace for the angry professor.

On the upside, I stopped at the local used bookstore and scored two new Ian Rankin novels for the flight: Black & Blue and the first Rebus book ever written, Knots & Crosses. I've been looking forward to Knots since I heard Rankin talk about it at Writer's Fest. As a young writer, he decided to research his first crime novel by calling up the police and asking questions of some of their CID officers. He outlined his story idea, about a serial killer at work in Edinburgh whose modus operandi was to leave a specific type of knotted cord on his victims. "Oh yeah", said the detectives, "come on down to the station and we'll show you the ropes". He went down to meet them, and they had him go to the interrogation room "just to get a real feel for the process". Then they asked him lots of questions about the particulars of his novel. "You daft bugger", said Rankin's dad, when he was told of how the young writer had spent his day, "they had you in the frame for a murder". Sure enough, some unsolved murders with a similar style of knotted cross had occured in Scotland, and the cops hadn't released the information to the public yet. They had been checking to see if Rankin might be their man.

Talk to you again when I'm here (pictures courtesy of Aarchiba):



Love,
GSH

Why doesn't DFAIT/MAECI have a phone queu? Everyone in Canada is calling the same number, getting two menus (one of which is 9 items long), and the blasted busy message says to hang up and try again. But only after saying "You have reached the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade enquiry service, Bienvenu au Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et Commerce International". And every time, I listen to that bloody message, hoping that I'll stumble into a queu. But no, there is no such thing. *phone rage*

Eastern European lawyers, grading and friends who don't take a hint

Anyone know an (unspecified Eastern European language, or UEEL for short)-speaking lawyer or notary living in Canada? I need some translated documents certified, and I'm coming up blank here. It's so awesome having to get my criminal records check authorized by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Thanks for not speaking UEEL, DFAIT. What are my tax dollars paying for anyways?

I'm in the middle of a marking blitz (only 116 papers to go) and am trying to power through all the paperwork involved with the prospect of moving to another country. At this point, even my paperwork has paperwork. Everything is actually going pretty smoothly, and I'm getting things done. I am, however, having trouble juggling social obligations with people who don't get that I've only got so much time in my day. I'm trying not to get annoyed at a particular school friend who is currently unemployed, and for some reason thinks my days are as empty as his. I hate to constantly put people off, telling them we can maybe get together next week, and never actually meeting up, so I start to feel guilty and agree to coffee, even when it's clearly not going to work for me. I do quite like this person, but he's at a crossroads in his life and has appointed me Official Life Coach. This means that even if I don't see him, I get calls every few days and when I do pick up, they end up being hour long affairs. Grrr.

Keeping me sane: BBC4, lapsang souchong with organic cream and honey, Coronation Street, Ian Rankin novels. You know, the uzh.

Another Russian journalist silenced

Anna Politkovskaya, hostage negotiator and indefatigable journalist whose work spotlighted the horrors of the Chechen conflict, has been assassinated. She had survived many previous attempts on her life, including a poisoning while enroute to negotiate the Beslan hostage crisis, but was murdered by a hitman on October 7th in Moscow. The date of her assassination coincides with Putin's birthday. Politkovskaya's reporting from the midst of Russia's internal war is one of the reasons we know anything at all about the situation in Chechnya and the massacres that are routinely carried out there.

Jasmina Tesanovic has a short piece on Politkovskaya on boingboing. More on Politkovskaya's work at wikipedia, and on Novaya Gazeta's site.

I feel like I'm getting a lot done, must be the sunny weather. I've got my trip to Québec arranged, passport application done, scholarship and bursaries locked down. Paper work is sorted, dishes are sparkling, stacks of paper for recycling are recycled. Caught up with Chelsea scores (draw with Aston Villa, thus currently tied for #1 position with Man Utd, home of Cristiano Ronaldo, my much maligned long distance boyfriend), caught up with long lost friends, got books back to the library. Paid the rent. Caught the Beast as he made a mad dash out the door towards the wheels of a speeding oncoming car (adrenaline junkie, that creature). Brilliant.

I don't mean to birch about students so early in the term, but I'm getting annoyed at the emails I get from some of them about their term assignments. They send me vague proposals and ask for help, I respond with some detailed advice on where to go next and ask them to get back to me with their revised plans, and....nothing. No thank you email, no follow up, no ammended assignment plan. Which leaves me wondering if they understood what I was saying to them and if they did, why they didn't follow up as asked. I know, I know. Established professors reading this are now snickering into their handkerchiefs.

Secret message to miss redhead: not a word of this comment, the blog or any other course related matter to our common acquaintances. I know you know, and I know you wouldn't, I just had to say it for disclaimer's sake, like.