I'm looking forward to a week away at University Games, despite - or perhaps because - this particular forced vacation coming at a ridiculously busy time. As I think I mentioned before, teaching, thesis, and frisbee responsibilities have come together at once. At the same time, I can imagine why you might consider a week playing ultimate (social program here) while staying at this luxurious hotel in a place called Surfers Paradise - yes, that's really the city's name - as something less than a "perfect storm" of work/responsibility...yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.
Still, it doesn't mean that life will be particularly easy once I come back to reality. Don't even ask about how things look for next month...yikes. The fun news is that I'll be giving a couple of lectures: one about US/Indonesian relations (which according to my thesis topic, I'm supposed to know something about), and the other about the US Presidential race. Irrespective of my time in Washington, I'm starting to think that my accent makes people assume that I've got the inside scoop on who's going to be president.
It's quite funny actually - and I won't try to tell you the number of people that have asked me if Hillary or Obama is going to win. (At this point I usually mention that one, not both, is likely to win...but that Republicans, for all their considerable faults, might still actually win it all, despite a proclivity for shooting themselves in the foot while their foot is in their mouth. Internationally, and particularly amongst a University-oriented group, this typically leads to a deflated, dejected reaction.) I suppose I could make a comment about the dangers of group-think, but in my experiences, it would seem rather redundant. I didn't expect to come across too many of my fellow (but diminishing) right-of-center moderates as a postgraduate student. Trotskyites, who generally make me laugh, seem much more common.
If things go well and I can get the details sorted, I'm hoping to record one/both lectures. If I'm able to sort out the technical details, I'll post them here. Fingers crossed...and for Melbourne University at Australian University Games!
Oh, and cheers to Carrie Brown for stopping by and saying hello to "THE Rog and Barb" (my official titles for the 'rents), and then calling me, through the glories of Skype, at 703 - 879 - 6470 while she was hanging out...(suggestive wink)... :)
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