Sun-rippened goodness

I just bought a punnet of strawberries from the fruit stand for 99p, and they are magnificently delicious! I have been using them to spoil my appitite for lunch. Reminds me how being around for the peak of the strawberry season was one of the casualties of going to Vassar--it hadn't started when I left P-town, and it was over by the time I hit Apple Chill (mmm, sudden memories of fairs). And now--the strawberries are mine! Mwahaha.

Dissertation update: I did get stuck on that chapter, but then I turned to the second chapter, and it's gradually taking over the world! I've already written 14 pages, and I've got SO much more to say on the topic! Since my dissertation is only supposed to be 40 pages (and they don't take as well as VC to overrunning the limit), I'd planned to have a 5-page intro, two 15-page chapters, and a 5-page conclusion. This second chapter is not staying within its limit! But since I'm stuck on the first chapter anyway, it's possible that I might let the second chapter eat the first and reconsider the form.... like maybe splitting the second chapter into three (or more) small sections, and making the first chapter one of those sections..... hmmmm......

For the moment, I'm going to keep writing on this thing until I get stuck... or run out of stuff to say.

In the mean time, maybe I'll have another strawberry.

More time-wasting goodness

I'm totally in love with "Count Your Sheep", an awesome webcomic.

Current favorite line: "All feminists should wear capes, if you ask me."

:)

As a result, I've gotten very little of my dissertation done today. Well, that's not quite right. I actually had a very productive morning, and I think I've sort of gotten stuck. But that's ok because I can just send what I've got to my supervisor and he'll help me get unstuck. With any luck.

Berlin 

new Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin 

Berlin synagogue 

River!  

Bebelplatz with a book sculpture 

the Norman Foster dome of the Berlin Ratthaus (sp?) 

the Brandenburg Gate with a giant football in front of it... 

view from the Sans-Soucci Orangerie 

Chinese Tea House at Sans-Soucci, Potsdamm (sp?) 

Windmill at Potsdam 

Busy week

Sorry it's been a while, folks. I've been running around getting re-acclimated to the Brummie accent, picking up the threads of my dissertation, sorting out my essay marks (short answer: I'm happy now), and helping out with a conference on Virginia Woolf. The conference was fun... The dissertation's going ok... and the World Cup is surprisingly entertaining (especially when the fans start singing "England" to the tune of the "Stars and Stripes Forever," which I still find really entertaining. I wonder if they know what it is. Though, to be fair, we pinched "God Save the Queen" and made it "My coutry 'tis of thee")....

Anyhow, the dissertation is beckoning, but I'll try to get some Berlin pics up fairly soon.

Monument to Anita Garibaldi. She's holding a pistol in one hand, and a baby in another. How cool is that? 

Pretty mosaic -- I forget from which church... 

Ruins of the Forum 

pasta with clams! So much good food. 

Michaelangelo's portrait in Raphello's School of Athens fresco in the Vatican Museum. :) 

the piazza in fron tof the Vatican, from the steps of St. Peter's. 

some Roman ruins. Sorry I can't be more specific.... 

the Victor Emmanuel Monument. Most Italians apparently hate it. I think it's rather sweet. 

Pantheon interior -- is this called the Jupiter Hole or something of the sort? 

the Pantheon, exterior. One of the many features in what I called the Art 105/106 Tour of Rome 

Back!

I'm back!

Prepare for another random onslaught of pictures and anecdotes in no particular order.

I had a really good time and am now going to try to ease into doing some work. I figured out some dissertation plans during the Trip (I'm shamelessly plagerizing Maeve), and now I'm trying to put them into action.

Whee.