Daily updates – Page 157 – a sibilant intake of breath

Happy Canada Day

Having read a great deal of twentieth century history, I am naturally aware of the dangers of patriotism. Regardless, I think that it can serve a good social purpose when the character is aspirational rather than affirmational. Having an understanding of Canada as a respectable global citizen creates an understanding of interests that furthers that project. I would never claim that Canada has been unfaltering in the application of its ideals – shameful cases relating to the treatment of the First Nations and immigrants exist in close memory – but I would claim that pride rooted in Canadian ideals and in Canada insofar as it achieves those ideals is a good thing.

Last Canada Day, I was in Ottawa with my brother Sasha, my father, and several of my cousins. I remember being fairly exhausted from having spent the previous night at a party thrown by my very good friend Alison Benjamin, who was living in Toronto at the time. While in Ottawa, we played frisbee on the lawn in front of the Parliament buildings. Several times, the disc flew over the four-foot fence, and one of the police officers on the other side would return it to us. At several other times, we were interrupted by an intermittant thunderstorm, which punctuated the day. Thankfully, it did not emerge during the aggressively bilingual Canadian concert, followed, for us, by poutine eaten on the road in front of Parliament, after the fireworks.

Canada Day 2004, I spent traveling back from Italy, where I spent several weeks with Meghan, her sister, and her friend Tish.

The previous Canada Day was my most Canadian ever: I was paddling northward across Dodd Lake, in the rain, with Meghan. In a nearby canoe – the only people nearby for many kilometres – were my father and my brother Mica. This was during the course of the Powell Forest Canoe Circuit, a shorter and much less crowded alternative to the Bowron Lakes Circuit. It is also better provided for with petites grenouilles, though less well stocked with moose.

In any case, to the 33 million Canadians back home and all my fellow Canadians abroad: Vive Le Canada!

To those in Oxford, remember about the party tonight. I already have large amounts of beer and Tegan & Sara recordings at the ready.

Seven years down, three more upcoming

My subscription renewal for The Economist finally processed today: £140 for an additional three years. They make it quite a pain to renew as a student, with much mucking about with faxes, phone calls, student cards, and reference numbers. Even so, it definitely beats the standard subscription rate of £99 a year.

The new subscription will expire in June of 2009. There will be a new President in the United States; there will have been at least one more election in Canada; I will have completed my M.Phil and gone on to whatever will be next. There is a certain combination of satisfaction and trepidation that attaches itself to anything projected so far off into the unknown. It’s nice, at the very least, to henceforth be protected from inflation and unexpected losses of student status.

Thank You for Smoking

Happy Birthday Antonia M

At Jericho’s Phoenix Cinema, I saw the dark comedy Thank You for Smoking with Antonia tonight. While it’s not without flaws, it can be quite clever – and even very funny – at times. It documents the life and work of a ranking tobacco lobbyist in a way that pokes fun at the connections between business and politics, especially within industries termed ‘merchants of death’ like tobacco and the gun industry.

My favourite single moment of the film is when the protagonist is sitting in the lobby of an aggressively image-focused Hollywood agency and a plasma television is showing an orca with a seal in its mouth, dashing it against the rocks. The juxtaposition between the spin of the advertising industry – which has been applied to whales as much as anything else – and the sheer, direct, and unapologetic happenings of nature was poignant but not overstated.

Not to ruin the film for anyone, but it seems unlikely to me that a successful lobbyist would so thoroughly fail to be circumspect in his dealings with the media, but it’s not a plot failure that compromises the film too badly, overall. Some interesting questions do get raised about the character of personal responsibility within democratic societies. While the lobbyist does have an agenda, it’s not one he advances through outright deceit. It’s more like the self-interested peddling of a libertarian ethic.

Thank You for Smoking is a film that gains little from being seen in theatres, so I would advise people to wait until they can see it on DVD.

More good news: bikes and academics

First off, I want to tip my hat to Beeline Cyles on the Cowley Road. I took in my bike for the free three-month maintenance and not only did they calibrate my gears, tighten my brakes, and fix the wobble on the replacement saddle I got off a derelict bike after mine was stolen, they also replaced one of my peddles, my chain, and the front gear system. It no longer grinds and screeches when climbing hills. Indeed, it feels like riding a brand new bike, and they covered it all under the one-year warranty. You rarely see such a level of customer service these days, and I appreciate it. If only they could come up with a device that eliminates the overwhelming yet fatal attraction that insects seem to feel for my eyes while I am riding quickly in traffic, or along the edge of a canal. (That’s fatal for them, not me so far.)

Secondly, I got my supervisor’s report for Trinity term in the post:

Milan has continued to make very good progress. He achieved a strong pass in the QT exam and has identified a very interesting topic for his MPhil thesis – the role of science in global environmental policy. His Research Design Essay represented an excellent start in developing the project and narrowing down a viable set of questions to be addressed. His work for the core seminar has also been very solid, with essays on unipolarity, the end of the Cold War, decolonization, and the Middle East.

On top of all else, Kelly is making me dinner tonight, in reciprocity for me cooking for her yesterday. Also, the Canada Day party is this Saturday. I discovered that the Grog Shop in Jericho even sells one kind of Canadian beer – Moosehead – so that vital national totem will not be entirely excluded from the gathering.

PS. Young’s Champion Live Golden Beer is the best summer brew I have encountered in the UK. It is well-suited to the character of summer evenings here, while still having a taste several cuts above the norm in complexity and pleasantness. At present, it is giving Wychwood’s Hobgoblin a run for the best beer I’ve discovered since arriving here. It is certainly a better match to long days and warm nights.

It is interesting to note that both beers use Styrian Goldings hops.

Third, and steadier, academic job

Dr. Hurrell had good things to say about my decolonization paper, and has stressed that there is no urgency for completing my final paper of the year. Even better, he says that he will have at least six hours a week of research work for me, from July to September. Half of it will be formatting a bibliography for a book he is writing; the other half, identifying sources about Brazilian and Indian climate change policy. That and a few other bits of work should leave me with enough to pay rent and food, while also giving me a good amount of time to devote to thesis research.

After the seminar tonight, I met for a while with Bilyana and Kelly, before making dinner for the latter and capitalizing on Kai’s excellent stock of Simpsons DVDs. Tomorrow, I need to pick up my tuned-up bike, start the research for Dr. Hurrell, and pick up the faux Oxford business cards I am having printed on Holywell Street using a modified version of the far more expensive official template that Claire sent me. All told, a good series of new developments.

Living alone, thinking about trips

I finally feel as though I am getting a bit of traction on various projects. I’ve finished one of the three papers that have been hanging over me. By the time I meet Andrew Hurrell on Monday afternoon, I am resolved to have the paper on the Arab-Israeli conflict done, also. Thankfully, it is fairly similar to a paper I wrote in Michaelmas term about the interwar period in the Middle East and the causes of subsequent instability. In addition to academic work, I have printed some resumes and begun dropping them off at another batch of places. While I rather like the idea of a book shop, the tempting agencies that have been suggested to me by many people are becoming a possibility that I am distinctly considering. That, plus a few smatterings of academic work, might be able to constitute a reasonable employment path for the summer.

With regard to the planned European trips, it seems increasingly clear that finding other people who want to come along and are free to do so will be very hard. This I find particularly regrettable, as living in this empty house is providing a constant reminder of how much better I generally operate and enjoy myself when surrounded by friends. Regardless of that, I should probably go ahead and book at least one trip while the ticket prices are not as high as they will surely become. I need to find out whether my cousin Jiri in Prague is going to be around there this summer. If I can stay for free with him, I could fairly easily justify spending a couple of weeks there. While it wouldn’t be somewhere new to me – like Dublin or Istanbul would be – it would nonetheless be somewhere that I know to be interesting and enjoyable.

My parents are keen on me visiting Vancouver at some point towards the end of the summer. Naturally, I would be very keen to do so; spending two entire years without seeing my brothers or my friends in Vancouver is not something that I ever wanted to do. At the same time, I am anxious about spending so much on airfare prior to a year for which I have managed to secure no funding. The weight of all those failed scholarship applications is something I feel quite acutely at the moment.

PS. Does anybody know about interesting groups in Oxford that meet regularly over the weekend? With classes over, roommates gone, and friends departing, I am feeling a lack of scheduled activities where it is possible to meet people. Book clubs, photographic societies, walking or hiking clubs, and the like are all appealing possibilities.

Nought but narrative

General developments

After having breakfast with Roz this morning and walking to Marston with her – through the University Parks – she gave me the copy of Simon Singh’s Fermat’s Last Theorem, which is to be my next piece of discretionary reading. Naturally, having the chance to spend some time with Roz prior to her departure was excellent.

I suspect the Singh book will prove more in keeping with essay writing than de Botton’s novel did. The complete absence of any pressure from Dr. Hurrell to get the things finished has provided excessive opportunity to focus on other things – from the departure of friends to the kinds of sorting and cataloguing that sometimes threaten to consume all my waking hours. I’ve also been trying to coordinate as extensive a campaign as possible to increase the chances of Mica winning the grand final of the Google Idol video contest.

Job search

An exciting job possibility has arisen, but it’s far too uncertain to discuss right now. That said, I expect to have a firm answer about it within ten days or so. While it does sound like something I could do (two friends specifically indicated that they have such faith) the absurdly high rate of pay being offered makes me certain that I cannot possibly be qualified to the level they expect. That said, they are canvassing for applicants only a few weeks before the job is to be taking place. If there are lots of more qualified people floating around with no plans, I would be somewhat surprised.

Upcoming solitude

By Wednesday, I will be the sole resident of the 2 Church Walk basement flat. Both Kai and Alex are heading off in the next two days, with Kai heading back to Germany for the bulk of the summer. On the first of July, Eriko, the young woman who will be subletting his room, is to move in. I’ve met her very briefly. Apparently, she is an Oxford Analytica employee who will be spending her weekends in London and only weeknights in Oxford. That same evening, I will be having a Canada Day party here – possibly co-sponsored by Emily.

The idea of spending more than a week as the only inhabitant of a place like this is an odd one. I’ve never been singularly entrusted with such a large amount of space at once. Past instances of time spent alone in dorms – such as over the Christmas break here – have generally involved a kind of odd retreat from all the world on my part. As such, I hope that the many, many people to whom I’ve extended invitations to come have tea here will take me up on the offer during that period. A few solid kicks of a sort calculated to encourage essay writing would also not go amiss.

PS. (CR: Somno) Continue reading “Nought but narrative”

Socially dedicated days

With so many friends on the cusp of zipping off in all directions, I’ve been doing my best to spend time with people this week. Thus far, it is going even better than might have been anticipated – despite limited academic progress. There will be plenty of time for papers after the exodus, after all.

For a few hours this morning, I was giving a tour of Oxford to Diarmuid Torney: a young man who will be part of next year’s M.Phil in IR class. It was especially gratifying to have the chance to impart a few useful bits of information in a way I wish had been done for me. Essential sandwich shops, pubs, libraries, and individuals were pointed out.

Tonight, there is an end-of-year party for the M.Phil group, followed by the annual lecture for the Global Economic Governance Program. Tomorrow evening, there is a garden party in Wadham. I wish my bike was operable for transport between them, but the seat remains resolutely stolen.

I really need to find people who want to accompany me on my putative European trips; ticket prices are rising quickly.

[Update] Lest I contribute to any confusion, my belief that the IR party was tonight was the product of a bad piece of intel. Sorry. There are also no WMD in the Manor Road Building.

(CR: Somno) Continue reading “Socially dedicated days”

Work cut out for me

As of this afternoon, at least I can say that I have decided on the topics for my last three papers of this year. Together, they should be about 9000 words and based on me reading at least six books, plus articles and individual chapters.

What impact did the ending of the overseas colonial empires have on the nature and conduct of international relations? Have subsequent wars been consequences of decolonisation?
What are the causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict and why has it proved so resistant to resolution?
How has the international trade regime come to encompass ‘beyond the border’ issues – such as human rights and the environment? What does this imply for developed and developing countries?

At present, Dr. Hurrell seems more focused on preparing for a trip and a grant proposal than on pressing me to finish these. That’s both a blessing, because it takes pressure off during the time that will be my last chance to see many friends this year, and a curse, because it draws out this term into what would otherwise be the summer.

A few properly tottering stacks of books around the room should be a good source of motivation.

A mystery

In my mail this morning, I found a roll of Fuji Velvia 100, a voucher for processing, and an invoice for about eleven quid. It’s all from a place called 7dayshop.com, in Guernsey. From the slip, it’s unclear whether the invoice is a bill that demands payment or simply a receipt for payment made.

I am as sure as sure can be that I didn’t order any such thing. I have stopped shooting film entirely in the UK and, if I were to start, I would almost certainly use T-Max or HD400. It seems at least possible that someone sent this as a gift. If so, please let me know before I call them curiously and accuse them of sending unsolicited transparency film. Likewise, if so, thanks for sending me such an excellent variety of film.

Thanks for your help.

[Update: 4:04pm] The mystery is solved; see comments.