Windmills

I won't link you to any LJ-wank here, but someone mentioned the LTTE (The Tamil Tigers) in an unrelated conversation, and it made me wonder what they were up to. Turns out they actually have an official website - creepy much? I'm always amazed by the fact that they have their shit so tightly together. Wow. I'm avoiding actually looking at their website; i'd rather not get arrested by the Feds. Hm.

So, apparently British PM Tony Blair is resigning. As usual, lots of class and Gordon Brown had some polite-but-not-nice things to say - he was quoted by the beeb as saying that Blair's "achievements are unique, unprecedented and enduring." Not exactly positive, but certaintly vague enough to be percieved as such. Nice move from the guy that will probably be getting the job. I'm sure my buddy Pudduh will have more to say on the matter, if he's even still blogging.

On a more personal front, the Research Competition went well. I didn't win, and the trip was a bit stressful, but overall i saw a lot of really great presentations and i hope to hear more from certain people - especially the grad students! My favourite presentation was from Nazanin Shenasa, who is not only absolutely stunning, but extremely well spoken and her research was definitely the coolest thing I saw that weekend. I'd been gearing up for her presentation on the story of Layla and Majnun in Safavid textiles since I got the program, and I was blown away. Most of the presentations were honestly a bit disappointing, especially in regards to the level of analysis presented, but hers was just WOW. If there were an award for best presentation overall and not just in the conference, hers would have definitely won it.

I'm making a trip to Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay this weekend with Annie, my former resident director/ now-neighbor. Should be a lot of fun =D Hopefully i'll get paid and have my bills taken care of and have enough to play around with for that. Here's crossing my fingers!