back among the books

and now for a personal update: this summer, as soon as classes ended, I started volunteering at Maine Historical Society.  so far it’s been really great.  I knew from the first time that I interviewed there that being involved with a library again would be good for me.  I wavered constantly throughout the semester, questioning what to focus on in school, whether to even do a library degree, whether to go for the PhD option again, etc.  it’s been tough on me and on Emily as well, who’s sat patiently by, listening and trying to help me figure out what I want to do.  I pretty much had a meltdown every Tuesday and Wednesday, after a long Monday commuting to Boston for classes.  (OK, not every week, but that’s only because I skipped so many classes.)

being back in a library setting reminds me why I enjoy the work as much as I do, and also helps me think more about exactly what I’d like to do (or what I’d like to try to do — you never know exactly where you’ll end up).  so this summer I am assisting the Reference/Public Service librarians in helping patrons and researchers in the library, as well as helping to conduct some research queries submitted online.  I’m also translating a French journal from 1791 dealing with the attempt of a French aristocrat to purchase land in Maine for the creation of a French colony.

I am also starting this week to volunteer for a cataloging project at Greater Portland Landmarks.  I don’t really have much cataloging experience, but I think I’ve already figured out what I’ll need to be doing.  they are very glad to have me there to help out, and I’m very glad to have more experience to put on my resume when we go back to Boston.  I’m hoping to stick with MHS for the entire time we’re in Maine, so for some 15 months in total, which should help give me more experience when getting back on the job market.

I’ve also decided to continue taking classes.  initially, when we learned we’d be going to Augusta next year, we thought the commute would be too long, plus we only have the one car, etc.  so I decided to take a leave of absence and to just work and volunteer the whole time.  but then I thought, since I’m already volunteering at a library with tons of archival materials (and a great need for processing), I might as well take my intro archives class(es) and take advantage of their experience and flexibility in learning more about being an archivist.  plus, I’ll be able to know better whether I think archives is really for me.  so that’s the plan as of now: commuting back to Portland four days each week, two of which will involve volunteering/interning, and two of which will involve continuing on to Boston for the morning.  I’ll still be able to get back for dinner each night, so that’s good.  I’ll have to get up at 4/4:15, but whatever.

the other major benefit of continuing with classes next year is that I’ll definitely be able to finish up in the year we go back to Boston, which means being on the job market a year earlier and hopefully being able to have a nice place and STOP MOVING AROUND EVERY YEAR!!

other than that, Emily is busy studying hard every day and we’re starting to enjoy the warmer weather by taking walks and wandering around. as soon as she’s done, we’ll be able to do some more fun things, like taking trips down to Boston to wander around there.  I’ve continued working on my German, though I’ve also started learning basic Dutch.  I’ve also continued a bit of Old English while starting to concentrate more on Latin.  pretty sure I’ll be more likely to run across Latin as an archivist/preservationist/special collections librarian/whatever in the future than Old English or Greek.  though I really miss Greek sometimes.  (sigh)

editing work has been really crappy this month, which stinks and worries me somewhat.  this is the longest I’ve gone in a year without receiving a new project from my main company.  I hope something opens up quickly, or else next year we’ll be even harder…yet another benefit of getting a real job sooner rather than later will be finishing up with the inconsistency (and meager pay) of editing.  I may still pick up a job here and there for fun/tattoo money (!), but that will be totally on my terms and as a supplement to another job.  hopefully.

twenty-eight and a day

another big change in my life: got tired of twenty-seven and decided to give twenty-eight a try.  so far, so good!  Emily and I had a day full of some tasty food, some tastier than others … (I’m not looking at you, vegan cream cheese, but I’m stealing glances your way, Little Lad’s non-dairy ice cream.)  but Em made me a cookie cake, which can be seen here, and it was very rich and tasty!  it was a thoughtful throwback to a Sullivan family tradition, so it was much appreciated.

we also went out — Em in her new boots, me in my new kicks:

– and had a really delicious dinner at The Green Elephant, a mostly vegan restaurant in Portland.  Em had the “Siamese Dream Curry Noodle,” while I had the “Peanut Curry.”  we will be going back for Em’s birfday in ten days! after that, some wine at the Wine Bar (fittingly enough), and then it was back home and in bed at a decent hour — ’cause when we party, we party hard.

overall, a casual, cozy, tasty birthday — just how I like ‘em. so thanks to family for the birthday wishes and gifts, which will all go to good causes, I assure you.

and today it’s off to Newburyport for my birthday pt. 2 and Em’s birthday pt. 1!

moving on across

Emily and I are now more or less settling into our new place, clearing away the debris, meticulously packing and cramming our things into the closets, etc.  our move started Sunday night (not including initial packing during the preceding days), when we started walking bags of clothes & groceries and bins of kitchen appliances & whatever across the street and down the block to our new place.

View Larger Map

nothing too far, but too far to use the car, so it was more efficient to just haul loads over from about 5 until about 10.  after that, we started clearing out rooms and trying to clean.  we woke up early, went to get the moving truck (which we needed because we had to be out of the apt as fast as possible, before our friends could come help, so we needed somewhere to store the heavy things we couldn’t lug over ourselves), and started packing and hauling all over again.

we got really lucky because the most dreaded aspect of our move was our couch, which is too big to fit in or out our door.  the day it was delivered, they were fortunately able to bring it in through our (first-floor) window.  since we couldn’t do it ourselves, and since the management didn’t want us taking the windows out ourselves (one of which broke after the first time), two guys came to take it out.  we thought they would only put it in the truck, after which our friends would have to help us later, but they ended up carrying it across the street and into the apt for us!  that was such a relief.

anyway, it was a long, exhausting day, involving lots of cuts and scrapes on my arms, bruises on my hips and shins, etc.  we once again reached a resolve to never have to move with our giant king-size bed again, which is always murder to move.  I think I strained or pinched a nerve in my neck trying to drag it into the new place….

near the end, we had a few people show up to help us with the last stuff (we decided earlier to not wait for people but to just try and get it all done), so that was a nice way to finish.  one of them, James, even brought us dinner later, a Persian rice & eggplant dish of some sort that was really tasty.  hopefully we’ll get that recipe…

after a few days of cleaning, clearing, and running errands all day (including lots of laundry) — including a run to Kittery to buy a freestanding shelf for our pots, since we couldn’t use our pot rock in the new place and its miniature kitchen — we have managed to create a liveable environment, and we’re almost done hanging up pictures and things.

hopefully this will be home for at least two years, at which time we’ll be OK with moving again only because — hopefully — we’ll be heading back to Boston!  ”BACK TO BOS!” to imitate a refrain from Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.

worth the burn

so after a few weeks of constant rain and/or dense fog, we findly saw the sun again this weekend.  and it was a bit of the alright.  we were able to take a few walks, have a drink outside, and keep from going insane indoors.  yesterday was actually hot, which was incredible.  we went for a long walk, and I have of course deepened by farmer’s tans, esp. on my neck, but whatevs.

Emily was even able to wear her new summer dress.  she was smokin’.

the 4th was OK — the East End was really crowded, but we ran into Tom and Crystal and sat with them and her parents for the fireworks.  the fireworks were fine, and the finale was absurdly loud, which was kind of fun.  but then we ended up turning on the Boston fireworks when we got back, and we recalled why everyone else’s but Boston’s sucks hardcore.  oh well.

and we made a delicious homeade pizza with fresh (parsley and walnuts) pesto and veggies.  mmmmmmmm. being vegan is awesome.  (unless you want to eat out and don’t want asian…but what are the chances of that?!)

the Bard

a new coffeehouse has opened up in Portland, Bard Coffee, and we are currently sitting and working in it now.  it is spacious, stylish, filled with art, and has large tables and free internet!  most often we are forced to go to Starbucks since we need a large table for Emily to spread out at in order to study, so we can’t usually go to some of the local places.  hopefully this will be the exception, though I fear that it will start getting more crowded–it’s not very today, but it just opened…

and apparently (ask Emily) their soy mocha is quite delish.

well, that didn’t last long

I think Emily and I are going to drop out of the 3-week vegan study.  NOTE: we are still going to go strictly vegan, especially for the set amount of time and perhaps even longer before we allow ourselves any occasional dairy or whatnot.  but the food they are providing for us is pretty much vegan versions of cafeteria food.  the fruit is good, but we’re paying too much per meal (esp. considering that I’m the only one technically paying) to have some peach slices and almonds.  but we’re getting hardly any veggies, and the point of a plant-based, whole foods diet is to be having whole foods, grains, veggies, fruits, etc.  not processed fake Mac ‘n Cheese.  Really.  there were two nights in a row where I barely ate the food, and yesterday it caught up with me.  I didn’t feel like I had the energy to run and we’ve both been tired.

further note to naysayers (who accidentally find this blog): it’s not due to a vegan diet, but to BAD vegan food we’ve been given, which we’re not eating much of.

so we may cut our losses now and use the money we would be spending to splurge on some new vegan recipes.

in other news: went out with a bunch of UNECOM people last night to see some of the First Friday stuff (a yawn, as usual) and then to a bar for some drinks in Portland.  it was nice.  shame that the nice nighttime weather comes right before everyone leaves for the summer….

my history’s future

once again, been a bit too long since an update.  that always makes it harder to just jump in.  so here’s a montage.

• several Tibetan men throwing our stuff around in a panic-rush to pack our truck
• all day moving into new apt in Portland
• all weekend, with family, building furniture and unpacking
• couch brought in through window cause it was too big to fit in through hall
• Emily starts classes; chops up dead person
• I start editing, slowly
• Whole Foods down the street; lots of good cooking
• Bank of America continues to screw us over with outrageous fines
• Portland/Maine=late 90s

that’s pretty much it.  on a more grand, large-scale note, I am starting to seriously rethink a possible direction of PhD work.  granted, I’m always thinking about it and I’ve thought about several specific directions to take.  but now I’m starting to consider applying to some history of Christianity programs.

originally, I wanted nothing to do with work in just one tradition.  plus, I wanted to specialize in antiquity, being able to teach a range of topics.  still, do, of course.  but I’m also starting to think about a few other things.

1) the most obvious is hire-ability.  chances are better than a school will need someone able to teach in any wider period of church history than just one specific period, and on some very specific topic I choose.  plus, most of the schools with good “religion in antiquity” programs have specialty faculty in all of the areas in which I’m working to be conversant.

2) the more I’m out of a program, and the more I am able to read in general, the more I’d be excited to have an excuse to do wider preparation in various historical periods, especially American religious history.  I’ve been enjoying getting out of my field.  plus, the wider my general preparations, the better (maybe) I’ll be able to judge what specific area in all that history needs substantial work (=dissertation).

3) the more I am dragging myself into religious debates regarding faith in the modern world, the history of secularism, etc, the more I want to have something intelligent, unique to add to debates.  the history of Christianity with regard to, say, developments in the sciences or human rights (or other more secular ideas we take for granted in the US and in much of the world today), is fraught with selective nostalgia and memory loss.  everyone wants to take credit for whatever we deem good and proper today.  Christianity (and other religions) are perfectly compatible with “secular” values and much of the developments in science (and “knowledge” overall)–but only because people will make any worldview or religion compatible with faith, no matter how absurd it may seem at times.  I think it is intellectually and morally dishonest to be a person of faith today and think that so many of our values today, many of which were won DESPITE the majority of religious persons and were considered antithetical to those religions, are part of the “essence” of that religion.  each new generation takes everything for granted and thinks that saving Darfur or the environment is what the gospel is all about, when most people haven’t given two shits about either for so long.  there is so much filching and appropriation of things conceived outside of religious circles as if those things were always what that religion was about.  and the religious persons before who weren’t so concerned with, say, women’s rights or abolishing slavery?  well, they simply weren’t real believers.

anyway, semi-rant finished.  point is: I’m thinking of a new, wider, more general and (peraps) more immediately relevant path for PhD work…..hopefully I can direct some reading and have a good think before I put too much time into applications.

ok, off to a picnic!

Allston: where mornings smell of wet, dead dog (that died of eating its weight in rotten fish)

so one week until the move.  (!!!)  Emily and I are being hit with an interesting and occasionally unsettling combination of excitement (about leaving Boston and starting up in Portland) and anxiety (about my job risk and her new program), not to mention the slight dread at having to pack up everything and move.  there are a lot of variables that could make for an unfun event.

BUT: there are already a lot of things that should make the event go fairly smoothly.  1) we know where and when we’re getting our truck; 2) we have two guys for two hours in Boston to help us move all the terribly heavy and awkward crap I don’t want to move; 3) David is willing to come help us out on the Portland side, so Emily doesn’t have to worry so much about trying to help me move the bed (in its 3 different pieces), dresser, bookcases, etc; 4) our couch is being delivered so we don’t have to worry about that.

still, lots of sweating and physical exertion and seemingly endless supply of knick-knacks and loose-ends to either box up or throw randomly in a trash (or other type of) bag.  but the new life in Portland (+ ALL OUR NEW SWAG!!!!) will make all the efforts so worthwhile.

Emily and I are also both t-minus-3 days away from finishing our jobs.  Tufts has been a great place to work this year (as I’ve described previously), but I am very excited about the prospect of being in Portland full-time, and of working/editing on my own schedule.  if that doesn’t work out, however, I will be very disappointed.  very.

oh, BY THE WAY, we got married two weeks ago!!!

everything went so smoothly (apart from the bartender, but even that awful, enormous man-fish-beast didn’t manage to spoil the evening).  the weather was clear and cool (for a summer day), the ceremony went off without a hitch, nobody broke down in tears (I nearly cried more than Emily did), people used the lawn and played bocci ball, the photographs turned out extraordinary, and overall people really seemed to enjoy themselves.  we’ve had lots of people tell us how much they enjoyed our ceremony, along with the relaxed atmosphere of the evening.  our personalized ceremony, unconventional music, interesting readings, etc, seemed to catch people’s attention.

regardless, it was fabulous.

divine knob-twiddlers

a month to the wedding!  and we still need to figure out a ceremony and buy a few things (like ties…).  but apart from that, most everything will be settled.  the week beforehand will be a bit crazy, as my brother, Emily’s best friend (excluding me, of course) and her (the latter’s) boyfriend will all be staying with us for a few nights.  good thing we have a/c this year……

on the job front, i am very sick of my job.  it’s mostly due to the fact that i’m probably going to be quitting in the fall at some point.  the question is, do i try and make the move to portland and transition to editing full time right away, or do i ease into it?  the whole situation is complicated.  the train pass is so expensive ($390/month), so that takes away from what i can make at tufts, and since i do want to see Emily during the week i can only work 25 hrs max, and even then i’d only really want to work 20 since i don’t want to get home around 8pm every friday night!

BUT my job at tufts gives me really affordable healthcare, which i cannot do without.  replacing it in portland will cost $400+/month (compared to $120 now).  plus there is no guarantee that i can edit the right amount consistently, and i still haven’t even been paid for my first project!

but the idea of almost 7hrs/day on trains of some sort is dismal.  it would be better if i could get back to portland sooner, but there isn’t a train leaving boston earlier than 5.  so that means we’d start cooking dinner around 7:45 or 8.  then i’d have a bit of time to relax or do some other work before going to bed and starting all over.  but at least i would have 3-day weekends in Portland (during which i would still work, of course……….but at my own pace and without the trains).

the apt hunt is also going poorly.  barely any listings and they are too costly or gone before we can get at them.  it looks like we’ll have to spend a bit more than we’d hoped, but that’s because everyone is remodeling and jacking up prices.  we are submitting an application for a nice apt, subsidized (hopefully we are poor enough!), so we’ll see how that goes.

in other news: it’s hot.

Diesel, the regular

so this may be the first time I have become an “official” regular somewhere.  I take that back.  a barista in Oxford once gave me a drink on the house because i was there all the time.  and the guys at Cafe Dilara not only knew my favorite wrap, but knew my address by heart (just by looking at me).  NEVERTHELESS, key representatives of the upper echelons of Diesel now know my name and my “usual.”  they even double-checked with me twice this morning to make sure I had ordered correctly (when I got something else).  aww.

I go there lots in the morning for several reasons: 1) if I don’t leave early enough, I may not get a seat on the train and then I can’t make good use of my time studying or reading; 2) leaving that early puts me in Davis earlier than I need to be; 3) whereas I used to go to work early, now I work the minimum amount of hours POSSIBLE at all costs; 4) on a related note, getting some work done with some good coffee before work helps me not go crazy and cry each morning on the train; 5) it’s the bestest.

Emily and I actually went to Bloc 11 last night to check it out.  it’s very interesting and it looks like they have some different (delicious) food items.  plus, it doesn’t seem to get as crowded, so we may check it out again on a weekend when we know diesel will be overrun.  that being said, their choice of music leaves everything to be desired.  plus, the atmosphere isn’t as fun.  but it’s still nice.  though Union Sq. is dreary.  always.

I’m supposed to start my first editing project today, but still no sign of it.  supposedly they can be flaky and go MIA when they are busy, so that will not be so great if I try to rely on this work next year in Portland.

aaaah, Portland.  I can’t wait for my last train ride to work, my last night in Allston, etc etc.  though I really really really hope that I can get enough work editing or at least find something up there to supplement that work before we move.  I don’t want to deal with the stress of moving and having to scramble for some job I may hate.  if I could get regular work editing now (and could work fast enough) and didn’t need the vacation time and health insurance from Tufts, I would be putting in my “notice” any day now.

alas, alas.