ze end

i am in canada. finally. it really happened. things are going relatively well even if it's going to take a while before i'm used to living here. everything is different and i miss my quiet little cornfield and my easy life. my appartment is a mess and i have thousands and thousands of dollars of credit card debts to repay for the next 10 years. but i'll be ok, i think.

work hasn't started yet but i'll probably survive. when in doubt, i re-read the post i wrote after my interview there.

i am closing this blog now, after some hesitations because i enjoyed having a quiet, almost private place here for my english-speaking friends and anyone who's going through a phd and job search. i'll leave the blog available so people can find ideas and stuff, but i won't write anymore. i made the final decision this morning, when i read that a very famous blogger was fired from her job because she had talked about it on her blog (among many other things), although she had never mentionned her name nor the name of the place she worked at.

i wouldn't write mean things about my new job or people (i don't think i have done so too often in the past, and i've never named the very few that i criticized openly), but i think that even writing ANYTHING about my new job and people might put me at risk. it's very sad, because i see this blog as a way to help other phd students and people that are new to the job market. it's also a strength of mine, that i can keep records of what goes on in my life, work, and studies, and share tips, ideas, suggestions... but it seems that these kinds of skills are not yet recognized by most employers and are instead seen as a threat (which it can be, at times, i know). oh well.

i've loved writing here and it's helped me a lot go through my phd. i've also loved the comments and suggestions that my very dear readers have written here. thank you!

you know where to find me, and if not, just email me at lmoussu [@] purdue [.] edu so we can keep in touch.

doctor

got an upgraded credit card with DR written in front of my name. funny...

got a phone number and internet connection for my new place, and my mail forwarded from here to there. got the international health certificates for the cats. still so much to do!!!!

blah

i'm not doing anything productive regarding my book. nada. but i'm leaving the country in a week!!! for good! i can't believe it yet.

TQ

haha, got TESOL Quarterly's latest issue today and there's my book review in it :D ok it's only a book review, but now i can say that i've been published in TQ!

in other news, i'm trying to write a first chapter/intro to my book to send it together with my proposal (which i haven't written yet) and it's very, very hard to make myself work. someone has written a paper that we'll use for this first chapter, so it's half of my work done, but still, it's almost more work, now that i have to collaborate, see what we can use and not use in his paper, etc, and he's in japan so it's not like we can meet and plan stuff easily. ok, i shouldn't complain because this project is working quite well so far, i've had 5 or 6 positive responses so that's good, considering that it's july and everyone's gone.

i need to work on this thing, i need to work on this thing, i need to work on this thing...

packing...

i'm packing, packing, packing. not fun, and i'm bruised, scratched, and exhausted!

i sent the book proposal to some people and got two three positive responses already. now they just need to translate into real chapters and quickly enough...

i haven't been working on my article or anything else, i'm terrible... but really not motivated at this point.

here are some pictures of a few friends. if you're not on this and think you should be, send me a picture and i'll add it to my album :)

today i'm going to indy to buy a plane ticket for... venice! yep! $1300... and to the lafayette grill for brunch, ha!