the fruits of May

May has been a quiet month. There's been very little badminton, as the gym hall has been carpeted over for exams. My classes finished a few weeks ago, after we did our thesis presentations. I rather apathetically wrote and handed in my final essay. My program had our annual conference, this year's theme being 'Irish Feminisms and the Future.' It was alternatively inspiring and incredibly frustrating (long story short: I don't think that title was representative of the content of the conference). Other than that, I've just been working.

As for how my thesis presentation went, I presented first--I was really nervous, and late (I thought we were in a building across campus). Nevertheless, it turned out okay. Everyone seemed really impressed, including my thesis supervisor. Apparently my fear of public speaking doesn't show at all, thank goodness. For anyone who's interested, here was my presentation (if you go to the 'open in a new window' option, you can expand to see my talking points/notes as well via the small icon in the lower right-hand corner, so things may make a bit more sense):



(Mind you, the presentation was really informal--more to serve as an update on what we've been doing so far. It was just my classmates, my supervisor, and a few other professors associated with the program. So I didn't have to worry too much about proper citations, exact formatting, etc.)

Perhaps most exciting for those of you in California, I bought tickets for a visit home in July. Yay!

in the midst of things

I can't believe it's practically May. I actually can't. Since the drudgery of February, the time has just flown by.

Following on the heels of the Intervarsities, Becky, Heather, and Hailey came to visit me. It was a bit crowded in the house (2 extra people plus a one year old in a house with three other guys is not something I would recommend), but wonderful to see them. Hailey has gotten so big, it's unreal! She's a whole little person!

People love me enough to visit me halfway across the world, lucky me!
Left: Hailey, Heather, Becky, and me in Kinsale
Below: Arad and me at Blarney Castle

A week and a half (and a paper) after they left, Arad flew in. He was here for the past two weeks and just left this morning. This visit was notably different from the last in several salient respects: (1) I had to go to work, and thus had less time with him, (2) we weren't both disgustingly ill, and (3) it wasn't freezing cold outside. Still, we managed to fly through another tv series (last time it was me showing him four seasons of West Wing, this time it was him showing me two and a half seasons of Grey's Anatomy).

I've still had a fair amount of badminton. While Becky & Co. were here I had a competition for Co. Cork up in Galway (we placed 2nd), then after they left we had the Intercolleges competition up in Dublin (we won) and I played in a leisure tournament deep in rural Kerry in the town of Listowel. While Arad was here, we had the Hanes Handicap cup in Killarney (we won, even though I was having a monumentally off day) and the Munster Club Division 1A finals in Limerick (we won). So he got to see more of Ireland--or its badminton halls at least.

Tonight, I was elected Secretary for UCC badminton for next year. We'll see how this works out.

Mission Accomplished

Anybody who has heard me talk about Cork has probably heard me talk about UCC badminton, and anybody who has heard me talk about UCC badminton has probably heard me talk about the Intervarsities.

It's the yearly competition for all the college badminton teams in Ireland.

Two years ago, UCC came off a 15ish year losing streak to win:

2007 Waterford Intervarsities Champs

Last year, I flew back from California (in the midst of thesis hell) to compete. We lost in the semi-finals due to some petty mind games on the part of opponents. Still awesome:

2008 Dublin Intervarsities Semi-Finalists

This past weekend, WE WON!!!!!!!!!!

2009 Maynooth Intervarsities CHAMPIONS

Oh, and we won the Munster Premiere League in Killarney on St. Paddy's Day. UCC is unstoppable. I am just overflowing with pride in each and every single one of my teammates--how well they played, how well we worked together, what fantastic people they are.

Jessica is happy. That is all.

february humdrum

Nearly the end of February now, and to be honest it's been the best February in quite a few years (though the standard is very, very low).

I spent a fantastic weekend out in Castleisland in Kerry (stayed at a friend's home, visited Crag caves and the Pantomime, and won the Senior I doubles final).

Made it through the 19th, with the unexpected help of a few good friends from badminton.

Last weekend nine of us from badminton won the Irish Juniors Division II up in Galway (spent Friday night playing cards in Ennis at my teammate's home, had good times in Saturday out in Galway, came home exhausted Sunday).

The view from Ciara's backyard overlooking Ballyallia lake near Ennis in Co. Clare

This week I wrote my third paper (domestic violence and the public/private divide)--didn't sleep more than ten minutes Wednesday, the result of which was that I passed out on Thursday and slept about 13 hours.

And of course I've been working. I have to get a bike. Walking this much (1.5 hours to/from work, plus another hour if I have class) is making my knees twinge. Which then means I can't go running at the gym, which in turn means I'm less in shape than I'd prefer to be for badminton.

Not much news at the moment really. Just kinda getting on with life, but I've a lot to look forward to in March and April. My favourite thing for the moment? The days are getting longer. More light = happier Jessica! I much prefer walking home at sunset rather than in the dark.

a new year, and some new stuff

I broke my rule of posting within every calendar month. Maybe I'll make up for it with two February entries. Maybe not. Anyway, what I've been up to....

I had lots of visitors over the holidays, which was heartening. Arad was here, of course. Fiona (from summer camps) hopped over for four days, during which time the three of us trekked out to Galway. And just after Arad left, Erin (my friend who studied abroad with me here) came to visit for a week.

Academically, I turned in another paper--this one on intersexuality and how it affects our understanding of sex and gender. I've also met with my thesis advisor and begun the process of starting to work on a lit review. At least theoretically I've started.

Having spent my holidays sick (thanks to Arad, who was actually worse off than me), I've since been getting back into shape. Lots of running at the gym, lots of rowing, jump-roping, squats, abs. It's been good; I feel much better than I did at the beginning of January. I also competed in the Senior I competition, and the finals for it are on Sunday. I had fitness testing for my sports scholarship, so now that's done and over with, thankfully.

Most excitingly, however, I got a job!!! I was rather desperate for one, and it's nigh impossible to find anything in this economic climate. I'll be working with children in a playzone, minding them and setting up birthday parties. Nothing challenging, but still fun! I really wanted to do something with kids, so I'm pretty happy about this.

Also, it snowed in Cork several times this week. That is VERY unusual. It is also VERY cold. Hence the picture of me, cold.

happy holidays and a happy new year!

Happy Holidays, everyone! And (for those of you who celebrate it) a happy Christmas!

I am spending today curled up in the house with Arad--we've been watching West Wing, we feasted on chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, and orange juice, and we'll be skyping in to Christmas with the family in a few hours. A quiet, but pleasant, Christmas.


My first Christmas tree of my own! Nothing glamorous, but still full of cheer!

Over the past month and a half:

-I've handed in two papers, one on feminist methodology and another on feminist theory. I've also handed up a thesis topic proposal, which I'll hear back on after the holidays. Next up: gender essay!

-I've played a lot of badminton. I think I'm getting worse though. Maybe the break will do me good. Or maybe it will just make me (even more) out of shape. Only time will tell.

-I've suddenly developed the urge to cook. I've made Dutch babies (twice), strawberry crazy cake, soy marinated chicken, biscuit cake (a la Liam), and of course the chocolate chip pancakes.

-I applied for two jobs, both of which I still might get (in the slowest hiring "process" ever, apparently). But now I have to wait until after New Year's to hear more. Sigh.

So, yeah, life is what it is. I'm happy it's the holidays, and I'm happy that Arad is here to keep me company. Love to you all!

for the first time in such a long time

I've been doing my course, and so far we've been covering feminist film theory, feminist methodology, and feminist oral history. One of the women in my course gave me Fat is a Feminist Issue to read, so I've been working my way through that.

Then there's badminton. I played in the Connaught Juniors Tournament up in Sligo two weekends ago, and placed second in the singles (losing to my teammate from UCC, so it's ok). Last weekend I was up in Dublin for the Irish Juniors, and really didn't make much of an account for myself at all. It was disappointing, but we all have our off days and our less-than-shining moments. So be it. This weekend I'm off to Limerick for the ISBT competition. Oh! I did get a badminton scholarship from UCC though, which means that this coming week I've fitness testing and have to go speak to a nutritionist and other such things. But yay for money (hopefully it will be enough to cover the cost of badminton, which is already at around E250 for this year).

I've also been really involved in the International Development Society. I was on the planning committee for our Diversity Week Event. The day we were asked to cover was on Race and Religion, so we put together a booth, a panel of speakers on discrimination, and a multicultural food gathering for it. I myself developed a survey on discrimination that we distributed, baked loads of challah, and helped set up. Below, you can see my challah baking extravaganza:



I was really worried that the day would veer towards the meaningless "Let's celebrate diversity!" kind of thing. It definitely could have been more substantive, I felt, but it wasn't too bad, and there was actual content about racism from the speakers. Of course, on the same day that I was devoting to anti-discrimination, my home state was busy voting to discriminate against gay people. So that was devastating.

In a small but hugely symbolically important windfall, at least Obama won. Watching him, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha walk on the stage for his acceptance speech was the biggest thrill. Knowing that these were the faces of the people who would represent our country for the next four years--it made me feel proud to be American for the first time, really. Don't get me wrong. I understand that, as he said, "this victory alone is not the change we seek, but only the opportunity for that change." Shark Fu (of Feministing but more well-known for AngryBlackBitch) puts it more colloquially, but no less aptly: "So I shall cherish this moment and rest my tired ass feet for a spell, for we have miles upon miles yet to walk..."

So yeah. I'm doing my best to stay active, both in a physical and political sense. And to resist the urge to just curl up and watch a DVD while wasting hours away on Skype. But the latter tends to win out. ;)