Monday, April 24, 2006

things on my mind

i had a rather difficult time finding an academic reference for an internship i am applying for and after emailing 5 professors i had only 2 responses and one of them said that she was not comfortable writing a letter as she hadn't yet seen my written work but would fill out a form if they were simple questions.

why do some people not want others to succeed? why do these grouchy people seem to be concentrated in academia? isn't it part of their job to write reference letters? didn't someone have to write them letters so that they got to their position?

well, a professor i had, who has since moved to another university, apologised for not responding to my email earlier, offered to write the letter on thursday, mail it to ottawa so it would be there for the deadline, and assured me it would be positive. at least there is a silver lining to this one, but seriously, i think it part of their job and a little effort would be appreciated.

after thinking i had procrastinated my way out of a trip to amsterdam, i managed to find places to stay that are costing me more than i had anticipated, but i suppose it is my own fault because i left it so late. i am happy that i had a few friendly personal responses though, and that the places i am staying seem nice on the internet. i decided against the stablemaster and their lounge parties after i looked up what a JO party was. call me naive.

i washed and dried my new sheets today to try and reduce the amount of white fluff floating around my room (perhaps this is the cause of my recent sneezing and congestion and not just the flowering plants) and i was so amazed by the amount of dryer lint that was on the screen that i actually went back to look at it in the garbage can twice. it really was that fascinating.

i finished my papers! 17000 words typed, printed, and handed in. to celebrate i ate some fuzzy peaches, started a fun reading book, and listened to the first period of the hockey game last night.

my french class has been cancelled due to low enrollment and i'd like to know what a western canadian girl needs to do to learn this language!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

item #a - I dont know what that party is either, but I am going to find out so I am not left in the dark. Item #5.c - May I recommend living in Montreal for 5 weeks to learn the language of love! Although it didn't help me too much, I did have a good time! You may be more successful in the learning part! Maybe we should just move there, or France, I hear that it the best way to learn!

lu said...

update - i had another rather nice offer for a reference letter, just a bit late. so all hope is not lost that some people actually are helpful!