Two minute rundown

Hello. I'm working hard on all this course stuff right now; managing alright though. Beth is now back at home where she belongs, so that is nice.

Nothing much else to report right now. Our friend Kelly West called which was thrilling. I got to monopolize all the phone time too as Beth was sleeping. Yippee! Kelly is getting married on July 14th to a police officer name Chris. We really want to go.

Well, gotta keep my nose to the grindstone, whatever that means.

On Ilkley Moor all by myself

I'm on my third day of solitude today (Not complete solitude, I was with friends last night, more on that later). Today I woke up feeling crappy after a night full of awful, beer induced dreams. I really don't like drinking very much, and I don't mean to say that I drink very much, I only had about 4 drinks or so yesterday, over the course of about 7 hours, which really is not a lot for me.

So anyways, I had my morning latte, which seldom fails to lift my spirits, then after pissing around for a few hours I finally got my act together and walked down to the train station, where I had a sandwich for lunch and then caught the 3:15pm train to Ilkley. Two pounds return trip, great deal.

I got to Ilkley and really huffed it up the hill until I reached the trail up onto the moor. It was pretty damn enjoyable. A cold day, gray and muddy. I kept hiking up to the ridge only to find another ridge still higher (not so much higher, but farther). I got sick of trying to get to the top, and I was getting the impression that there wasn't really a top anyways, so I made my own trail straight down the hill, past some wooly sheep and into the Cow and Calf Pub. They were out of Turkey and out of Roast Beef so I sat down, looked at the menu, and decided to take my custom elsewhere.

I went down to Betty's tea room and ordered what I always order: Yorkshire cream tea, which consists of a pot of tea for one (damn fine tea), and two sultana scones (raisin scones for us North Americans) complete with clotted cream (we don't have this in North America, but it's like really thick whipped cream and it is delicious) and strawberry jam. Mmmm! To my irritation they were out of sultana scones. I have been to Betty's four times now, and they have not once had sultana scones as far as I can remember. So, once again, I had the date and apricot wholemeal scones as a substitute, which I did not mind.

What I did mind though, was the oppressive atmosphere of Betty's. The place was full of Conservative voting white haired gits. All of them looked exactly the same, husband and wife, husband reading right-wing newspaper (the Daily Mail in fact. A fascist rag of a newspaper that ran a headline in the 1930s that read "Three Cheers for the Nazis!" and has not changed much in the last 70 years. Seriously.) and both idly chit-chatting about nothing. I felt a hundred pairs of creepy country snob eyes all staring at me, just waiting for me to not have proper manners. To make it worse, Betty's has about 11 members of staff at any given time (and it's quite a small place), all standing around waiting for one of these white haired, grey-poupon eating weirdos to beckon them.

When I've gone before with Beth I didn't notice all this because I was enjoying her company, but by myself it was downright unnerving. The place was thick with superficiality, snootiness, and xenophobia. Seriously creepy.

Anyways, I ate my scones, drank my tea, and made my escape. I'm sorry if that was not exciting.

TTFN!
-drew

In praise of: The Economist

I would like to take a moment to extol the virtues of my favorite news magazine. Every Friday morning I lie in bed waiting with baited breath for the sound of the postman opening my gate. My heart skips a beat as I hear the sound of my two magazines (Economist, and New Statesman - more on NS later) drop heavily from the mail slot onto the carpet.

Now let me tell you why the Economist is great. It offers excellent no BS coverage of world events. And it covers everything. Every issue follows the exact same format, and you always no where to turn to find the news item you are looking for. The magazine starts with a summary (1 page each) dedicated respectively to politics and business. If you only have 5 minutes to catch up on everything that has happened in the world that week than this summary is your answer. After that there is about 5 pages of half page leaders that look more in depth at the most important events of that week, starting with a full page comment on the cover story. Then follows the reader letters, which are always quite good and often antagonistic. After that the news is divided up by country and continent, everything that has happened, in every country, is reported in detail with excellent commentary.

This should be more than enough one might think, but no friends, there is more. After exhaustively covering the news of the entire world (for the period of the preceding week), there is then a huge section on financial markets and business etc. (which I admittedly don't understand) and then a large section of the magazine is dedicated to book reviews, science and technology, art and whatever else you want.

My subscription to the Economist is my most cherished possession today (my wife being in London ['how chauvinistic' you rightly say, 'he considers his wife a possession'.]) I recommend that next time you are perusing the magazine rack at the train station (or for my North American comrades - the station where you fill your vehicle with petroleum distillate) instead of buying some heinous tabloid or 'lads' magazine, you buy the Economist, and treat yourself to a view of the world.

I am such a loser.

Bye!

Good news everyone!

I am extremely happy these last couple of days. Let me tell you why. I have been looking for an MA program to get into after I graduate (not until 2007, but for many places I would need to apply this Christmas, and it helps to have an idea as I am already beginning work on my third year dissertation which will affect my eligibility for different MA routes).

The neat thing is, I have found exactly what I want, at the University of my first choice - Simon Fraser University (I can move back to Canada!). I have made a contact there who is an Anarchist historian which is quite unusual. This presents me with an opportunity to study under this person with a view to an MA in history - with a focus on workers' movements and Anarchism in particular. Yippee!

I am going to be lonely

Today at 4:00 Beth is going to London with some friends until Monday. How sad. I will be here in Leeds all on my lonesome, studying like a maniac.

'ey up! (that's northern for 'hello, how are you doing? I am fine thank you'

What is up? I will tell. Last night I went for a curry to this place in Hyde Park (Leeds, not London) that used to be a public toilet. The British always say toilet, if you ask where the washroom, bathroom, or restroom is they will look at you like you are a pretentious loser. I must admit that I prefer it, after all, I am not asking because I want to have a bath, wash something, or have a rest, so why not can the euphemisms and ask where the toilet is?

So anyways, we went for a curry in Hyde Park, the restaurant is called Akmal's, and it is the finest curry in town, and it's a big ol' town. I had what I always have, a Lamb Dopiaza (I think that's what it's called) which is Lamb in a creamy curry with strawberries and almonds (mmmm...). I ate it with a Peshwari naan, which is a Naan, but loaded with sugar, coconut, and pistachios. Needless to say I did not need dessert.

Peshwar, the area in which my naan was from, is in the North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan, and borders with Afghanistan. So it is very possible that at the same time as I was enjoying my delicious naan, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri were doing the same.


Probably not though, what with the different time zones and everything.

Welcome to kindergarten (for ever)

Another evening, another historical documentary on TV and guess who it's about......Hitler! There you go, lap it up you stupid masses: the world is nicely divided into Goodies and Baddies, light and darkness, etc. The English speaking people are Goodies, and the non-English ones are Baddies. History only goes back 60 years, and God made them Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt.

Here's the ultimate question, a real case of chicken or egg: is historical teaching limited exclusively to Hitler because people are dumb, ie. is it a result of consumer demand? Or are people dumb because their media doesn't perform its role as a public educator and merely produces years worth of Hitler documentaries. Let's open up a forum. Perhaps I will petition the BBC.

Robert Michels - boring post, don't read.

I've been reading a book by Robert Michels called Political Parties in preparation for a seminar presentation I'm working on. It's a study of the German Socialist party, and Michels basically goes about showing how undemocratic the internal workings of the party are (his proof is excellent); even less prone to democratic processes, like rotation of office, than the old Aristocratic regimes (he was writing around 1913 or so). Anyways, Michels point was this, if the revolutionary democratic parties are entirely despotic in their internal organization, what hope is there for a democracy to result from their forming a government. This is basically the exact same thing that the Anarchists were saying at the same time, except that whereas the Anarchists said the solution was non-hierarchical federation, Michels is (I think) drawing towards the conclusion that one might as well just be ruled by an openly oligarchical government. This conclusion was carried out practically by his leaving the German Socialist Party and joining the Italian Fascists. So there you have it, the two choices for rational people, Fascist or Anarchist. Well, perhaps there is some room in between.

Socrates was a top bloke

I've been reading Plato's Symposium and The Death of Socrates. It's quite an easy read and very interesting, short too.

It sounds like Socrates was quite the fellow. He could drink all night and not get drunk, he was also apparently quite brave when he served in the army. Anyways, the Athenians all got pissed at him for making them look stupid when they were trying to look smart, so they killed him.

Oh, another interesting thing is that apparently in 5th century B.C. Athens everyone was totally gay and straight people were looked down upon as vulgar and lustful. Nevertheless, Socrates was very clever and quite funny.

-drew

Back amongst the living - and it's not a purse, it's a European carry-all!

Feeling much better today, thanks for asking. I was only 60% or so when I woke up but I had two esspressos (thank you mum for the machine, it has paid for itself many times over) and now I feel stupendous!

And, Kyle, the handsome leather satchel you see strung over my shoulder is actually the height of fashion here in Europe. It is also tremendously handy to have all my necessities sitting ready at my hip, rather than out of reach between my shoulder blades. Thirdly and finally, it avoids the condition known as 'swack' (noun. vernacular, meaning sweat of the back and/or sweat of the crack ie. butt-crack), which is the inevitable consequence of prolonged backpack wearing. It is my most treasured accessory and I fully intend to liberate men in Canada when I return, with the introduction of man-bags (ie. purses for men) into the category of acceptable heterosexual male attire .

Now that I am feeling better, and before my esspressos wear off and I feel worse than ever, I am going to go claim my pecuniary reward for my labours on Saturday, and then I had better get cracking on my State-theory presentation for next Wednesday. I am presenting on Elite theory. Basically the idea is that the stupid masses should have nothing to do with the running of the state, and that they never really do anyways. In its purist form it is basically the ideological base of Fascism and also of the American constitution (see Madison's preamble if you don't believe me). Cool hey!

On Ilkley Moor ba' tat

Greetings and salutations. Today, I am sick. Sick as a dog who has eaten a bag of chicken fat (see earlier posts). Well, I don't have pancreatitis, but I do feel very sick all the same. Some kind of flu. That's what you call it when you are sick with anything non-specific right?

Yesterday, however, was a better day (at least until about six o' clock when I started to feel sick.) The wife and I met some friends up on Ilkley moor. Ilkley moor ba' tat is an old British song, and the translation from Yorkshire into English means 'on Ilkley moor without a hat'.

Anyhoo, the best thing about Ilkely moor is this big inn/pub called the 'cow and calf' (named after the cow and calf rocks, under which it sits). I had a Norfolk turkey roast with mashed potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. It was bloody lovely.

After that we went for a walk. Here are the pictures.
-Bye

Anarchism.net are weirdos

I was on Anarchism.net again today and found everything there to be stupid. I therefore retract my endorsement of the website and will look for one that is not full of, what the English call, 'bollocks' (stupid stuff).

Saturday

Hello there,
Today I woke up bright and early (8:30, early for a Saturday) and went to help out my lecturers with their open day for prospective students. What a little keener I am. I had a great time though. Their were loads of people that turned up, and it was fun to give all the little high-schoolers a tour of the University.

The open day was for all applicants to the school of Social Sciences, one of my jobs was to hand out information-booklets relating to different courses to the prospective students while they waited in line to register at the beggining of the day. The overwhelming majority of applicants were applying for criminology. There were tons of these aspiring criminologists, so many that we ran out of criminology leaflets. I mentioned this to one of my lecturers and suggested that everybody wanted to be a forensics expert on CSI or 24 and he agreed.

I volunteered to help out today with 3 other friends which made the work even more enjoyable, but as well as that, two of my favorite lecturers took us out for a pub lunch and we later found out we could go and claim payment from the School office for 6.50£ an hour. This was pretty cool, since 3 of us (including myself) thought we were working pro bono.

To top it off, I finished my day's work just when Beth got off for her lunch break (she works 9-5 whereas I worked a much more leisurely 10:15-3:00).

It was a beautiful, sunny day here in Leeds, in fact our pub lunch was eaten on a roof-top patio at a place called the dry dock. The dry dock is an old-tug boat which sits on a crappy piece of grass between the two sides of the motor way across from my Uni.


I thought some more about my society for Anarchists which I am hoping to start at my university next year, and I thought that perhaps if I made it an Anarchist book club then not as many freaks would join. We could read cool anarchist books like War and Peace. Now I just have to make enough friends to start a society in the Students Union and then convert them into Anarchists. I will tell you all how this goes and what progress I make, as I am sure everyone who reads this can see the importance of a project like my book club for Anarchists.

Many of you are likely wondering how my dog Toby is doing, and after talking to my mum yesterday I can reassure my readers that he is making a speedy recovery back to full health. For those of you who didn't know, two weeks ago Toby at a bag of old chicken fat which he found in the garbage of my parents' neighbours and as a result of this excess he screwed up his liver, pancreas, etc. and had to go to the hospital. But he is now quite well and happy, so thank you all for your prayers. I will leave you all now with this picture of my special dog.



Ciao!
-drew

For a free humanity. For Anarchy.

As of today I am doing a project to look at the Anarchist movement of Catalonia during the Spanish civil war. I have read about it in Noam Chomsky's collection of essays On Anarchism and it sounds like it was awesome. George Orwell wrote a book about it called Homage to Catalonia. Orwell fought among the Anarchists against General Franco and the fascists, and in the process was shot in the throat by a sniper. I bought Homage ages ago, and I was able to arouse my tutor's curiosity about the issue in my Nationalism module today at University. I persuaded him to let me do a presentation on the Anarchist movement as long as I tied it in with the Nationalist movement. Needless to say I am very interested in Anarchism and Anarchist writers like Chomsky, Emma Goldman, and Alexander Berkman. I was thinking last night as I lay in bed about starting an Anarchist society at University next year, but I'm worried that only idiots will join. However, it is something I really want to do, so I'll have to see what possibilities may exist. I have taken a cursory glance at this Anarchist website and it seems to be a good introduction for anyone who is interested, or (more likely) just bored: www.anarchism.net

I'll let you know if, through my research into Anarchism, or just through everyday life, I become disillusioned and espouse myself to right-wing neo-liberalism (unlikely while I am a poor student, but becoming increasingly more likely if I ever rise above the poverty line and become a rich bastard who forgets the poor and oppressed). Until then, I remain Andrew Johnston - For a free humanity. For Anarchy.

I am hijacking this blog!

This is Drew's wife Beth, who is compelled to respond to drew's post dated 14th Feb. Here my darling hubby lists 20 things he hates (on valentines day of all days!) Well, to restore the balance
and to show that drewbear (despite a plateful of chips on his shoulder) is, in fact, quite a jolly chap- I will list the twenty things that make him happy.

1) Spagetti Bolonase
2) His wifey who makes him Spagetti bolonase
3) Noam Chomsky
4) back scratches
5) Napoloan Dynamite
6) tea and scrumpets
7) finishing books that are over 800 pages long
8) coming first in his class at school (some thing that happens alot)
9) his dog toby (more so from a distance)
10) singing 'burning ring of fire' while on the toilet the morning after a curry
11)skateboarding
12) sub of the day
13)the fact that the bible withstands critical reading
14)flexing in frount of the mirror
15) having his wifes attention while she is on the phone
16)red wine and good quality ale
18) writing letters to newspapers
19) sticky toffee pudding
20) wearing socks with sandles and getting ridiculed in the streets of leeds

Drewfasa's STUPID HUMAN(!) awards for January/February 2006

Over the past month or so, if you've followed the news, you have likely been amazed by the circus of human stupidity on display. Let us take a minute to reflect so that me might learn from nature's mistakes. It is with great horror and shame that I present the first ever STUPID HUMAN(!) AWARDS...with 2 awards up for grabs this evening, and possibly more to come (I wish in vain that there won't be).

The STUPID HUMAN(!) prize for idiocy as a group goes to everyone who resorted to violence over the publishing of the following 12 cartoons in a small Danish news-rag:







You may not have seen these 'forbidden' cartoons before, I was very surprised at how innocuous they were. I'm aware that images of the prophet are forbidden in Islam, but I think the reaction was a wee bit over-the-top. In the country where I live (the UK), the publishing of these stupid, reactionary, fascist cartoons led to this:



Pretty, no? The nice chap in the first picture, who is apparently in fancy-dress as a suicide bomber, later turned out to be a crack dealer out on probation. A very devout Muslim I'm sure.

In the Islamic world, the publishing of these stupid cartoons led to this (and much, much more):


Words seem to fall short. Perhaps these people need hobbies, like collecting stamps or birdwatching, or even what is called 'peaceful protesting'. I can even admit that I understand (although I might not necessarily agree with) the motivations behind violent protests over certain, even many, issues. However, the individuals involved in these protests seem to have no sense of proportion, or concern for the lives of their fellow protesters (apparently a few of them ended up dying in the fires they started). For that reason, anyone involved in violent protests over the Mohammed cartoons wins the Drewfasa STUPID HUMAN(!) award. Jyllands-Posten (the Danish rag/newspaper which originally published the cartoons), deserves honourable (ie. stupid) mention for publishing these cartoons with the sole intent of provoking outrage and for giving so many people a headache.

The Drewfasa STUPID HUMAN(!) award for a stupid action by a holder of public office goes to Dick Cheney (seen here holding his fire-stick).



As you have probably heard, on Saturday evening Dick Cheney accidentally shot a 78 year old guy called Harry Whittington while he was out Quail hunting. I think Maureen Dowd of the New York Times put it best:

"With American soldiers dying in Iraq, Five-Deferment Dick 'I Had Other Priorities in the 60s Than Military Service' Cheney gets his macho kicks gunning down little birds and the occasional old man while W rides his bike, blissfully oblivious to any collateral damage...Shouldn't these guys work on weekends until we figure out how to fix Iraq, New Orleans, Medicare and gas prices?"

On top of Cheney's problematic itchy trigger finger is the fact that he is under investigation right now for other shenanigans (leaking the identity of a CIA operative to get back at them for dissing the Iraq war). What a loser.

And just when you think it couldn't get any worse for poor ol' Dick, it was revealed that the old codger he shot suffered a heart attack as a result of the incident. I would feel sorry for the guy, if it wasn't Dick Cheney.

Uninteresting update - don't read.

I've been reading a book by Norman Finkelstein called Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering. It is an amazing book. Basically, Finkelstein is saying that the Nazi holocaust, since the 1967 Israel-Arab war, has been and is being used to deflect criticism of Israel and to garner support for certain political interests. I recommend it to everyone.

And now for a rant: 20 things I hate, by Andrew Johnston.

1. The fact that history, as usually taught, is limited to World War II, and every villain since has been called Hitler. (This is related to the book I just mentioned.)

2. People who say that you shouldn't criticize the government but should be thankful for what you have.

3. People who get worked up about gay marriage.

4. Christians who say that Israel is right and Palestine is wrong because they read it in the Bible or heard it at church.

5. Muslim extremists, as seen recently burning Scandinavian embassies over the publication of 12 fairly innocuous cartoons which were published in a few small, unremarkable, facist, reactionary newspapers.

6. Religious fanatics.

7. Christians who fall down at church for any reason that is not medical.

8. Zionist fanatics.

9. Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition, recently in the news for calling upon the USA to assassinate populist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

10. George Galloway.

11. Born again Marxists, Socialists, and Communists.

12. Neo-Liberals.

13. 'The Man'

14. Working for 'The Man'.

15. Hippies who live off of trust funds.

16. Giggling-stoner hippies.

17. Drum-circle hippies.

18. College know-it-all hippies.

19. Anyone whose ever blamed anything on Marilyn Manson.

20. The Chinese Communist party, Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Rupert Murdoch, Tony Blair, Richard Branson, Stephen Harper, the CIA and Al-Qaeda.

Walk the line

Saw walk the line today, I thought: Joaquin Phoenix? Reese Witherspoon? Welcome to crapsville. However, it was very good.

Listening to Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man. My favorite Dylan song.

I quit my job

So I returned to work today after missing 9 shifts and was sat down by my 'team-leader' (nice euphemism) to fill out a back-to-work report. We got two minutes into it when she said to me "now apparently there has been an incident. On Monday you called in sick, but we received a conflicting story from Beth. Your stories don't add up. Therefore, we've decided not to allow you any sick pay for this time."

The way my boss was looking at me made it clear that she thought I was lying. At Privilege insurance they always think you are lying.

"okay." I said, knowing that Privilege bosses have problems comprehending simple situations. "Could you please elaborate?"

"Well, when I talked to you on Monday you said that you were poorly and wouldn't be coming into work. But when Beth was asked [who was already at work] she said that you were better and would be coming in."

"Right...You seem to have missed the point, Mavis [real name changed to protect from libel suit]. Let me try to explain this to you, as you seem to have found it quite complex."

"On Monday morning I said to my wife 'Wife. I feel better today, I shall go to my 3-5 lecture and see you at work.' [Beth starts at 5 on Mondays, I start at 6. We work at the same place.] Now, Mavis, during my 3-5 lecture I began to feel quite wretched and experienced a number of anxiety attacks. By the end of this session I was feeling thoroughly distressed and did not feel well enough to come into work as I was worried I might have a freak-out. At which point, you rightly remember, I called you to tell you that although I had thought I would be able to return to work that evening, I no longer felt up to the challenge and would hopefully come back on Thursday. I then asked you to please pass this information on to my lovely wife, because I had told her I would be coming in to work and she might be worried. 'Actually, I can't' you replied, 'I'm not at work right now'. 'Oh well,' I said 'she will figure it out'. "

"Now, my dear Mavis, one can only assume, based on the information we have come up with together, that at some point (probably between 5, when Beth came in, and 6.15, when I called in sick) someone at the office asked Beth how I was doing and whether I would be coming into work that evening. Having not seen or heard from me since that morning, she would have replied 'he is better, and will be in at 6'."

"Simple Mavis, I hope I haven't moved to quickly for you, but perhaps you can see that Beth gave the information she thought was correct, whereas I had told you different, and also, had asked you to pass along this information to Beth because she did not know my circumstances. Perhaps, now, you can see that our stories do not actually conflict or prove any guilt? What's that? You're not capable of abstract thought? I can see that that would be quite a difficulty. Perhaps you would be willing to take it on my authority that these two accounts don't conflict."

Anyways, you get the idea. My bosses at Privilege had called me a liar before and infuriated me so that I took it up with my floor manager, who, of course, was patronizing and thick. Long story short, I kept trying to stay calm, but my two bosses kept calling me a liar about many issues [very unimportant issues, about which I never the less was telling the truth]. I had had all that I could stands, and I couldn't stands no more.

"I think I don't want to work here anymore" I said calmly.

"Really," replied Mavis, "what do you want to do then?"

"I think I'm going to go home."

"Right, I'll just have to go talk to Ruddiger [real name changed] so he can sign you off."

I sat for about 5 minutes fuming in my emotions, while my two superiors paced and made phone calls from their white manager phone. After a while the floor manager asked to speak with me:

"I'm afraid that you can't just leave right now, but will have to give 4 weeks notice like everyone else."

"Okay." I was beginning to calm down.

"Besides," he added, "you should know that if you are away sick for more than 5 days you need a sick note from a doctor. It's no wonder your team leaders don't believe you."

"Actually," I replied, starting to feel unrelaxed again, "I did not know about this 5 day rule. But I can get a sick note for you, that is no problem". [I have been seeing my doctor regularly about this problem and he is quite sympathetic.]

"Of course you know that" my boss said, telling me with his tone of voice that I was again lying. "They tell you that at your induction".

"I never had an induction"

"That's rubbish, how long have you been working here?" He snarled.

"2 years" I said. "And I'm not lying. I started working here through a temp agency and just never left. I never received an induction."

My boss then explained to me that I was lying again.

"You know, this is the sort of thing I'm fed up with" I said, "I'm going to be leaving now."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that" said Ruddiger.

"Right" I calmly replied, weighing up my options and eyeing the fire escape. "Let's say that I don't give you four weeks notice, but instead leave right now. What would you do?"

"Well, you wouldn't get paid." He replied.

"Right, as in I wouldn't get paid, because I wasn't working here anymore?"

"That's right" he answered, seeing the weakness of his threat "and you wouldn't get a reference from us."

"Well" I thought to myself, trying to weigh up the situation, "they clearly think I'm a lying scum-bag. What kind of reference could I hope to obtain anyways."

"I can live with those consequences" I told Ruddiger. "I'm leaving."

I then had to write a quick note of resignation with shaking hands, and sign a disciplinary document for my 'sickness shenanigans', which seemed quite pointless, considering I was leaving.

I then cleaned out my locker, and gave my floor manager my key and pass. He then escorted me down 3 flights of stairs and out the front door to beautiful freedom.

I walked away carrying my belongings (work clothes) in my arms, and reflected on the bittersweet emotions coursing through me. I wonder what my co-workers thought? It was probably exciting and uncomfortable. I was well liked by a lot of people at my work, but I will keep in touch with them.

New beginnings, that's what it is. The crap rolls down hill and the screws tighten until another person just can't take the pressure anymore. The great wheel of capitalism keeps on spinning.

Hello

So anyways, I still haven't been back to work. I went back last Monday (or was it Thursday?) and my boss asked me if I felt well enough to be back at work, and I said no. So she sent me home. I have had some more panic attacks (for the treatment of which I am on this medication) so I didn't feel like going to work as busy, stressful situations seem to set off panicky episodes. They are not sever, but are certainly uncomfortable and undesirable.

On a brighter note however, I received my marks from last semester's modules and was so happy/excited by them that I did not know what to do with myself.

Basically, I am the top student on my course, which, as I just said, makes me so happy I don't know what to do with myself. My overall marks were as follows:

Europe, Exclusion, and Ethnicity - 68%
Introduction to Marx and Marxism - 75%
Philosophy of the Social Sciences - 70%
Political Theory - 75%

So overall, that's about a 72%, which is a 'First'. While these marks don't seem good by North American standards, in the UK the top mark achievable is usually 75%, and most tutors won't give a mark higher than this. So while these would be very average marks in Canada, they are extraordinary marks in the UK.

Thank you for indulging me this opportunity to boast unashamedly. I am soooooo happy about this. Just absolutely thrilled.

Also, I found out yesterday that my dog, Toby, ate a bag of chicken fat which he found in the neighbours garbage and as a result suffered liver trauma and pancreatitis. He had to spend a 600$ weekend in the hospital but is now apparently doing okay (ie. he is happy and back at home). There is some concern that he may have a tumor on his liver so he is going to get some more bloodwork done in a few weeks after his pancreas gets better. Please pray that my little puppy is okay. Here is his picture:




I finished The Pyschopathology of Everyday life a couple days ago and enjoyed it immensely. Basically, Freud's idea is that things like forgetting names, slips of the tongue, and other such mental screw-ups which happen to everyone so often are not the results of random chance but have their origin in unconscious mental activities and if analysed can reveal unconscious activities to the observer. All very interesting. Also, I'm almost done The Interpretation of Dreams, I'll probably finish it tonight. It has been extremely enjoyable as well and I must say that Freud is quite the genius when it comes to philosophy of the mind.

I have to present a seminar on the concept of Oedipus as used figuratively by Freud and which was over-exaggerated by subsequent critiques (ie. taken literally as an assertion that all men are planning to kill their fathers and sleep with their mothers if the opportunity presents itself). I chose this question because it presents the opportunity to read the Theban Plays of Sophocles (Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at something-something), which are supposed to be quite interesting. I will also get to re-read Hamlet, as Freud also draws a point from this play. I will let you know how this progresses.

Well, there it is, a big juicy update for my blog. But who will read it?

-dj