lies, damned lies, and fiction

Well, it's official. I got the job, and today I got the contract... As of Aug. 15th, I'm an assistant professor of English literature specializing in children's literature and the digital humanities. I've got a 2/2 teaching load, and a "research focused" (i.e. not teaching or service) tenure calendar of six years, for those of you to whom that means anything. It's a pretty good gig. If CODENAME: SOUTHERN STATE, URBAN CENTER (I've got to come up with a better codename, really!) was located in a small city-state off the coast of Brooklyn, I would have nothing for which to ask. But alas.

It is all extremely odd. My feelings are... mixed. But among them are certainly gratitude and incredulity: I am very, very lucky. It is really rough out there.

Okay, that's not true. I'm sure there's has been many a Kali who has gone to CODENAME: SOUTHERN SWING STATE before, just not this one. And anyway, it was never true on Star Trek either: it's pretty hard to seek out new life and new civilizations where no one has gone before, if you get my drift... Wow. It never occurred to me before this moment how very privileged that whole opening is, not even considering the whole no man/no one issue.

(I've been watching Next Gen for basically the first time, and loving it, btw. Worf! Ensign Ro! Data! SAREK!!!!! We've just got to the one where Spock shows up. If androids dream of electric sheep, then I dream of space opera. I'm aware this makes no sense, but move along, nothing to see here.)

ANYWAY. I am off to CODENAME: SOUTHERN SWING STATE on Sunday to give a job talk at CODENAME: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN SWING STATE, URBAN CENTER. I now have to write this job talk. So clearly I am doing the optimal thing: posting on LJ. I am utterly terrified and paralysed: at the thought of moving, at the thought of two uninterrupted days of being judged, at the idea of making a fool of myself, at the thought of coming really close to getting a job, and then not.

Meh. This whole process SUCKS. I'm going to get back from CODENAME: SOUTHERN SWING STATE (they're paying! for a hotel room! and a plane ticket! I recognize this is customary, but I am wowed, and did I mention, terrified?) and embark on a campaign of debauched laziness, frantic posting about fandom, frantic posting about triviality, and you know, alcohol.

I leave you with this, just to bring the whole thing back around:



Captain Kirk tweets to Cmdr. Hadfield on the International Space Station.

Happy New Year and welcome to the future!

It is distinctly odd not playing Yuletide this year. Oh well, maybe I'll get it up to write a treat for Madness tomorrow (um, later today?) But probably not. I FEEL WEIRD. Never again, people. Never again. This was a one-time only yuletide absence, because instead, I wrote a dissertation.

How are you all doing? I am baking miniature pies: the return for Christmas... and wrapping presents.

I am so thankful for so many things this year, and if you've been following along, you know most of them.

And also, for getting to do this:



It was all delectable. I wish all of you equal deliciousness today and every day!

(Oh, and this is awesome. "Happy Thanksgiving, You Buckle-Hatted Jackasses," indeed. Give it a read.)

So, D. and I decided to give the greater family a miss this holiday season. What with dissertation-finishing, we haven't had a lot of time for just us...

And we're celebrating Thanksgiving this year with a series of miniature pies!

1. lamb, chestnut, cranberry pie.
2. steak and Guinness pie.
3. assorted poultry with leeks pie
4. apple pie with cheddar
5. pecan pie.
6. pumpkin pie with whipped cream
7. sour cherry pie.

(Also salad, not in a pie. I considered briefly encasing it in puff pastry, but decided this was madness.)

Today we are composing all the pie-guts. Tomorrow we are baking and eating said pies, whilst drinking bourbon-laced spiced cider, and watching all of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Indeed, there is much for which to be thankful.

PIE. MINIATURE SAVOURY AND SWEET PIES!!! What could be better????

♥

"She laughed suddenly, and for the first time, felt confident.
'They can't take this away, at any rate. Whatever I may have done since, this remains. Scholar; Master of Arts; Domina; Senior Member of this University (statutum est quod Juniores Senioribus debitam et congruam reverentiam tum in privato tum in publico exhibeant); a place achieved, inalienable, worthy of reverence.'"

-Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night

Thank you all so much! I really appreciate your good wishes, and feel phenomenally fortunate to have such excellent friends!

♥
Dr. Kali

I shall come back with my doctorate... or upon it. ;-)

See you on the flip side.

♥

So, you may have noticed that I disappeared. Again.

BUT. I am back now. For serious. And the reason is: I've finished my doctoral thesis, Neverending Stories: Unauthorized Continuation, Fictional Realities, and the Long-Form Narrative from 1590 - 2011. I defend on Friday, Nov. 16th at 2pm. I'm assured the snake to be battled will be tiny, a grass snake, if you will.

I literally could not have done it without you, f-list, and I thank many of you specifically, and all of you generally in the Acknowledgments. You have all the grateful thanks of a Dr. Kali of the future, my friends.

I missed you guys sooooo much. But I'm back now. What did I miss???

"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer." - Neil Armstrong

*sniff*

If you've been following reports about the shooting right across the street from my university, I just wanted to let y'all know -- in a fantastic argument for running late this morning -- that I'm fine and missed the whole thing by about an hour!

(That is, if anyone is still reading this space: I know I haven't been around here recently: trying to finish my dissertation, you know, before my birthday! but just in case anyone was worried, I'm fine. Going back to radio silence here again, but hope to be back soon! Wish me luck)

Love to you all.