I have a super-ego supervisor!

To write a PhD dissertation, you need to a supervisor, someone who will tell you to finish that goddam chapter by next week I don't care if you're teaching a full course load. Or to put down the Derrida, it's great but you can't use it for this. As with any decision that will impact the next three years of your quotidian life and the first five years of your career, it is easy to let anxiety take over and defer... Well today I approached a professor in the department, and he told me he would be "honoured" because my performance in his seminar thus far had been "impressive." And then he read my prospectus and really liked it and offered me tea and we chitty chatted about Bakunin and laughed at how Zizek has become such a Leninist of late.

Ich bin ein Americaner

What a difference a year makes. It feels like a holiday. I have been looking forward to it a lot, in a sentimental way, even though I have to take advantage of this time off to read about the paralogisms and antinomies for my oral comprehensive exam next week. Tomorrow I am going to a good friend's house for dinner. I already hit the stores for my contribution (two pies and four bottles of Prosecco, of course. Oops, I am drinking one now) and rolled my eyes at battling the holiday crowds. I'm gonna watch the parade and/or football. Four downs instead of three. Maybe I'll hit up J&R on Black Friday.

We were talking about this in the cab the other night

New York is magic and it never gets old. I had to pass through Grand Central a few times in the last month, and I always end up staggering across the main concourse for a while, staring up at the ceiling, which is so high aloft that it doesn't move when you walk, and if you are not careful tears will drip into your ears. The Park, the Library, the Bridge - you can routinize these things but they never become mundane.

Very excited about my future again

So I neglected to mention last week that I had a bit of a coup. I am in a year-long seminar for people in my stage of the program (mid-forever), where the task is to pick a dissertation topic, and write a prospectus about it. Well, last week it was my turn to present my preliminary prospectus, and I "rocked the 'dome" - are you with me, Calgarians? If you're interested (if you want to know what ten years and $200k looks like) I have attached a copy.

Also attaching it because this analysis is going to bring contemporary political philosophy to its knees, and want to publicly assert that I had this idea first.

Getting my wisdom teeth out

Missed connections

Hobo, why so many bags? What is in these bags? How do you get so many bags on the subway before STAND-CLEAR-OF-THE-CLOSING-DOORS-PLEASE-BINGBONG-CLICK? How do you carry them all around when you get off the subway without a shopping cart or a dolly? Why are some of the bags so dirty? Is there dirt in those bags? Because it smells like dirt. How come some of the bags aren't dirty though? How do you pack them so well that they stand up nicely like that?

It's a two-way blog

I got a ton of emails after yesterday's misery post. You guys are the best and you make me smile.