Procrastination Reigns Again

-I have work to do, so I'm procrastinating, of course. The thing with the paper I'm writing, though, is that I'm actually kind of into the subject matter: I get to bash the Christian right in American politics. The fact that I know I can motivate myself to do it because it's interesting makes me tend to put off actually working on it more.

The thing with UEA papers is, though, that instead of just passing them up to the front of the class on the day that the assignment is due, you have to drop them off at the specific department's office. At the office, you take a coversheet and fill in your student number, professor's name, and module title, and then you stick it in the professor's mailbox. This is all so the grading remains anonymous and unbiased: you can't put your name anywhere on the paper or on the coversheet (well, there's a space for it on the coversheet, and after you write it in, you fold a perforated bit of paper over it and seal it down with a sticker, like an envelope. The professor never opens this: it's just in case you're stupid and can't recognize your own handwriting on the coversheet where you wrote your student number). I think all this anonymous marking is complete BS: if a professor is going to be that influenced by who wrote the paper rather than the actual quality of the work, they shouldn't be a professor. Anyway, my point is that in my politics class, I pretty much defeat the purpose of anonymous marking on the papers: I'm the only bile-spitting hopeless liberal in class, so I'm probably the only bile-spitting hopeless liberal on paper. Since we're writing about my country, here, I tend to have a strong opinion on most of the things we talk and write about, whereas my English classmates don't. I assume this shines through in my writing so much that my professor laughs at me. One day in class, the two of us went off a bit on the Religious Right, ignoring the rest of the class, so he'll probably know which paper's mine from the second he reads the thesis.


-I think the Christmas season puts me in the mood for online shopping. I decided a few days ago that I really wanted an "art, music, jaffa cakes" t-shirt from the band Travis, as worn by Demetri Martin in the "Selfish Jean" music video.I've wanted one for years, but I decided I'd actually get down to ordering one. Of course, they don't seem to actually exist anywhere anymore. Figures. This is probably the third time this month I've admonished myself for not buying something when I see it's available.

However, in my current trend of wearing white t-shirts, once I get some spending money, I'm going to get the Sigur Rós t-shirt I've been lusting after for a while:

-Apparently, this week, some hacker hacked into UEA computers and retrieved some sensitive information from their Climate Research Unit that plays directly into the hands of (bastard) climate change deniers. Whoops. Also apparently, Stephen Colbert mentioned this on his show. I feel special (in a not-so-good way). Stephen's had mentions of both Dickinson and UEA in the past month and a half.