Episode 748: Happy 10/10/10, Everyone!

Attended a Northern Broadsides rehearsal of Macbeth this morning and it was pretty cool. Had chills down my spine and everything when they were doing the first scene with the three witches. I also got to see Lenny Henry in the flesh. I should apparently have been really excited about this, but not being a native Briton, I had to Google him afterwards to understand why. Consider me retroactively starstruck. Was going to spend the afternoon reading The Taming Of The Shrew in the Library, but someone's taken the Norton edition out, so I wound up clearing a few more submissions. Had to reject one batch of stories because they simply required too much editing to meet my standards, only to have the author send in more within minutes of my e-mail, including one that he'd sent in his first submission. That obviously did not impress me, and I wound up rejecting his new stories again, for the same reasons as before. I'm really hoping he'll take the hint this time! Anyway, today's date is another one of those mathematical curiosities, so I hope everyone had a good 10/10/10! See you for 11/11/11...

Episode 747: Suddenly Swamped!

Have just finished a marathon session in the Library, replying to submissions that have been accumulating over the past couple of days. Figured I had to get them done because I'm only going to get busier in the coming days, so no sense in letting submissions pile up. Guess I was right about getting listed at Duotrope's Digest after all! Now have pieces queued all the way until December 5, which is nearly a two-month buffer. Am quite pleased with some of the poems I've just e-mailed acceptances for, as I think they broaden the variety of work that the journal showcases. I was right, by the way, about that Sabotage Reviews piece. My editor was 'bemused' by my reaction. Note to self: Sound less huffy when you're being negative. Now it's time to head back home and bury myself in The Taming Of The Shrew. Going to try and finish (most of) that by tonight, and then Hamlet on Sunday between that Macbeth thing I'm seeing in the morning and service in the evening. I'm quite determined to get on top of my reading this year, if only because I know in the past two years, I haven't really tried all that hard (or had to, considering I did no novel-based modules last year).

Episode 746: Housewarming Party!

We're finally going to be getting Internet. In approximately three weeks! I think Virgin's great, but they really need to hire more engineers to do installations, seriously. What's the point of rolling out things like nine-month student offers when you don't have the manpower to actually get things up and running for people in a timely fashion? Rant over. I sat in the Library after settling the Internet and made myself finish the review of Turbulence Issue Four. Felt I was a bit harsh at the end, although I think the point I made was fair. We'll see what my editor thinks about it. Then I came home and went for the cluster BBQ at Matt Cholawo's. Was the first to arrive, although I'd been aiming to be slightly late. Oh well. Then I had to head back home for my own housewarming party, stopping by Tesco along the way to help other people get drunk. At least I didn't break any of the bottles on the walk back! Anyway, there were lots of people at the party tonight, and I had a good conversation with Marie, which was nice. Definitely adding a few more people on Facebook after tonight, since that is, as you know, the ultimate social arbiter in this day and age.

Episode 745: Time To Read!

My copy of the Norton Shakespeare has arrived, so it's time to get cracking on reading. I very industriously finished and sent off a blog entry for The Shakespeare Standard yesterday, in which I bemoaned in somewhat witty fashion how I haven't done any of the work for EN301 that I was supposed to. Essentially, I write in (approximately) the sort of tone that I prefer in my journalism. Think Joel Stein's columns for Time. Am now trying to make a start on my review of Turbulence Issue Four for Sabotage Reviews, having already finished my reading for next week's EN331 Poetry in English since 1945. Allen Ginsberg and Richard Wilbur, in case you're wondering. I'm not sure I care particularly much for either of these poets. I don't like most of Ginsberg's work outside of 'Howl', whereas Wilbur's comments on his poetics strike me as more interesting than the poems themselves. As for the review, I'm actually finding it a bit hard to progress beyond the first paragraph because I'm trying to figure out how to word what I want to say. There's nothing terribly bad about this particular issue of the magazine, but on the other hand, there's nothing terribly good either, save for one exceptional sequence of poems by Cameron Conaway. Damning with faint praise feels uncharitable though. Probably best to sleep on it and come back to it tomorrow, I think.

Episode 744: LL251!

First day of Societies Fair was crazy! So. Many. People. That translates to too many people for my comfort, to be honest. Had to disappear for an hour to attend my EN301 lecture anyway, and then had to register at the Language Centre after that. Both my tutors, from last year and the year before that, recognised me. I think they're both rather pleased that I've stuck with the language throughout my three years at Warwick. Unfortunately, LL241, which was the module I wanted, was full, so now I'm doing LL251 French for Business Advanced 2 instead. They're considered as being on par in terms of difficulty, the difference between them being pretty self-explanatory. Oh, and you can't use dictionaries in the examinations for LL251! That was somewhat disconcerting news for me, as it means I actually have to go back to working at my French, rather than relying on the dictionary to bail me out when I run out of the right words. So basically, it'll be like going back to when I was doing my 'AO' Level French at MOELC! Tutor's the same one as I had last year, so I know her classroom manner and everything, which is a plus. Not sure how I'd ever put what I'm going to learn to use, but hey, it's a chance to get another piece of official certification, the Diplôme de français professionnel AFFAIRES B2, awarded by the Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris.

Episode 743: Duotrope Listing!

I've managed to get the journal listed by Duotrope's Digest, and it was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. I've also made a Facebook page, although that's more for the sake of having one than anything else, seeing as how limited the reach of the Twitter account is at the moment. I did 'Like' the page though, just to give it a little exposure on my own social network. In any case, I'm still hoping being listed by Duotrope is what's going to turn this into a truly viable online literary journal. I've already got poems and short stories lined up for the rest of this month, even a slightly ghoulish one for Halloween, courtesy of Rachel, but submissions really have virtually dried up recently, now that the Google AdWords campaign isn't running any longer. I figure that Duotrope posts tweets about new listings, so I should see a spike if they mention Eunoia Review. Fingers crossed! Anyway, I managed to get all my TV shows today, along with some new music. (Not that I'll even find time to watch all of those that I'm currently following in the near future.) Had a listen to 'I Will Follow', the new Chris Tomlin single, on YouTube, and although it's a slight departure from his usual sound (I think), I still quite like it. Definitely getting a physical copy of the album when it comes out in November.

Episode 742: Where Are The Submissions?

Yesterday, I finished Dave Egger's Short Short Stories while still in the Library and then started on Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings Of Daniil Kharms. The former was actually really entertaining, and I wish people would submit flash fiction to Eunoia Review that was like that. Would totally publish them! Submissions have really slowed down by the way, which is a bit worrying. I'm hoping that as more posts go up, more people will stumble across the journal and there'll be sort of a multiplier effect. Of course, I could just post a bunch of links on Facebook, but that's really a bit of a last resort. I mean, I love (some of) my friends' work very much, but I don't want to publish just them or rely on them to fill the posts. That'd really be too insular. (That said, I am taking Rachel's story for the Halloween post!) Anyway, it turns out that reading Richard III first was the wrong move, since Tom Cornford is discussing Hamlet and The Taming Of The Shrew in next week's seminar. Sigh. On the bright side, my NUS Extra card is finally active, so that means I can redeem the Amazon UK discount and start buying books again!

Episode 741: Mountains Of Books To Read...

Back in the Library again for the Internet. Am also picking up a huge stack of books for EN236, although how much of it I will actually get through is doubtful, as always. I'm also going to try to read Alvin Plantinga's The Nature Of Necessity, which is completely unrelated to anything I'm studying, but hey, something that addresses the problem of evil is bound to be interesting on some level, right? Have somehow managed to be invited to have lunch tomorrow with a Taiwanese fresher I met in church this morning, as well as someone she met whom I don't even know. Such uncharacteristic behaviour. Yesterday, it was buying a homeless man food for his dog. Today, it's saying yes to lunch with strangers. What's next? Actually preparing for seminars beforehand? (I jest, surely.) I suppose it's going to be lunch tomorrow, followed by standing in a queue for a while to register for LL241 French 6. The whole process of having to queue feels a bit pointless for someone like me, applying to do a high-level language module, simply because it's not like it's a module that's going to be heavily oversubscribed anyway. I mean, the Language Centre is only running one class for it, as opposed to three for all the levels below it. Yet queue I must, I suppose...

Episode 740: Buying Dog Food

Went down to the Library to get Internet access and bumped into Julie on the bus, but it took forever for us to get to campus because of traffic diversions. It was so bad, we were literally stuck there for about half an hour in a jam. Was in the Library for most of the afternoon, until I had to leave to get home and get ready for Neil and Elizabeth's engagement dinner at ASK. The food there is quite nice, as was the marzipan-covered cake the couple brought! I love marzipan, really. Strange encounter on the way to the restaurant though. I came across this homeless man with a dog, and I wasn't quite sure what he wanted at first. He'd asked if I spoke English, which clearly offered me a way out. I could've just pretended to be one of those mainland Chinese that I'm always being taken for, and walked away. I didn't though, and he didn't ask me for money either. Well, he did, but he said he was going to use it to buy dog food and if I wanted to, I could just buy the dog food and give it to him instead because that's all he wanted. So while part of me was wondering if he was going to rob me, part of me was also thinking, the guy just wants to feed his dog and I can totally make that happen for him at almost no cost to myself, so why not? I suppose in retrospect, it was rather trusting of me, and I don't know if my parents would've commended me or told me I should've been more careful, but hey, it turned out fine in the end. I wish I'd done more though, like bought the guy a sandwich or something. I might've, to be honest, if I wasn't already late for the dinner.

Episode 739: Flight Drama: The Sequel

Yeah, unbelievable, right? QF31 was delayed as well, and this was after all the passengers had boarded. (The online seating plan lied by the way, since there was, in fact, one more row of seats in front of mine.) So I obviously missed my coach from Heathrow and had to book another one. Would've taken the train back to Leamington from Marylebone, but that would have required changing from the Piccadilly Line to the Bakerloo Line, and my goal when travelling with suitcases is always to minimise the amount of time I actually have to spend dragging them after me. Even if I'd arrived on time, I might very well have missed my coach anyway, thanks to the wonderfully efficient immigration staff at Heathrow. I mean, it's a brilliant idea to not have staff at all the available counters in the face of snaking queues, just stunning. Can't believe that Changi hasn't thought of it yet, honestly. At least I managed to move almost all of my stuff from the old house to the new one once I did get back to Leamington. Whatever was left behind was simply because it was too inaccessible, so I'm only going back for it once more of my ex-housemates have claimed their stuff. Caught a couple of movies during the flight: Shakespeare In Love (Oscar-winning and so much more interesting than reading Gurr's book, and gosh, Joseph Fiennes looks exactly the same as he did more than a decade ago), Future X-Cops (Hong Kong flick starring Andy Lau and laughable CGI), and The Last Airbender (I could tell that the original cartoon series was better and I didn't even follow that).