Little Arcadia

Anime Expo is happening this weekend at the Staples/Convention Center. That's a 10 minute drive from my apartment! Damn. Times like these, I wish I had 1) a car, 2) anime groupies, 3) not a pressing deadline.

My favourite manga of all time, Blame of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura, is being animated. I'm filled with anticipation/dread/hope.

As I was walking across campus today, I noticed little floating particles drifting down. I thought it was pollen, until I realized it's Fall, so it couldn't have been. It was ash, of course, which was kind of spooky. It was miserably hot today (yesterday, tomorrow). The sky was blue to the north, but orange-gray to the south-west. Honestly, what a miserable week it's been.

My theory assignment is due tomorrow and I'm almost done. I'm also getting paid on Friday, which means this is going to be a wonderful weekend!

I'm flying to Austin, TX tomorrow. It'll be my first time visiting a southern state; very exciting! I have an one-hour stop over in Chicago. Not enough time to visit anyone there, too bad.

So this is my schedule:

March 28 to April 1 ~ Austin (UT)
April 1-3 ~ LA (USC)

I'm preparing to do a mini-Grand Tour of China in the Spring, and I'm trying to be more active in reading the latest news on China. One issue in particular strikes my fancy: China's efforts to have cleaner air, soil, water, etc. When I was last in Beijing, I got the sense that folks in were as anxious as Canadians about the harmful effects of smog, pesticide, and congestion. Then again, Beijingers like to talk big. Maybe environmental reform is their latest, favourite on dit.

The number of news reports on China is staggering. Most of it is entertaining, but misleading. For example, this article on China's environmental woes by Sylvia Yu Chao.

I've submitted 4 out of 6 applications. Will tackle Toronto and UCLA applications tomorrow. From the stress, anxiety, and frustration, and lack of sleep, I had something of a minor emotional breakdown this evening. Bleh.

Ontario's government plans to give provincial politicians a raise of about 28 per cent.

Reuters' Pictures of the year 2006: A mouse rides on the back of a frog in floodwaters in the northern Indian city Lucknow June 30, 2006.

I went to a clinic last night, and the doc said I have an intestinal virus, not the flu. I should start to feel better in a couple of days. OK. Too tired to type more.

I had originally planned to apply to 14 programs....but I think that's too ambitious. I've decided to cut down the number of schools to 10: Chicago, Northwestern, UCLA, Toronto, Texas, USC, Emory, Michigan, Penn, Columbia.

And the ones that have been taken off the list are: Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, and Cornell.

I decided not to apply to Vanderbilt because of its location. I can't see myself living in Nashville, Tenn. It's a beautiful, historical city but...I don't think it's for me.

As for Johns Hopkins and Cornell, I took another look at their Renaissance faculty and realized they were not doing the kind of work I want to do (Renaissance drama, Elizabethan & Jacobean dramatic/print censorship, Renaissance cultural studies).

As for Princeton...err...my chances of getting in are very very very slim.

So, 10 schools--seems more doable in my mind. What does everyone think?