intertext

Readers, it has been five years since I last posted.

I've been circling around the idea of starting up again, but it always felt a bit self-conscious and awkward. But then I was talking to a friend and colleague who also maintains a journal here (we were discussing the whole LJ TOS kerfuffle), and he was encouraging in a very nice way, so I logged in and poked around. And it was still about a week later that I plucked up the courage to start this. But here we are.

I've missed it. Several times I have sat for hours rereading all my LJ posts, laughing and crying and wishing I was still doing it. I think one reason I have not is that for a long time I associated blogging with a particular friend from whom I have become estranged, and that estrangement was extremely painful at the time and still hurts, though at least we have reached a bit of a reconciliation to the point where we can at least speak to one another again.

It helps, I think, to be starting again in Dreamwidth. Partly because of the kerfuffle, I am no longer cross-posting to LJ. Not because I fear the scrutiny of the KGB or whoever wants to read the extremely unexciting ramblings of a mild-mannered, geeky woman now of more than a certain age. More because it feels like a true tabula rasa, a new start in a new journal, but with access to my old life and whoever of my old flist is still around.

Many of you are my friends on FB, or in RL, so will know about my doings, but maybe in part for my own sense of bridge-building between past and present, here's a brief recap.

What is the same: I'm still pretty much the same person, though I do feel a bit more reserved and cautious even than before. My second-to-last post in LJ was, regrettably, announcing the death of my beloved bearded collie Robinson. Well, I have another one. Same breed. Name of Baggins. He will likely feature largely in these pages. I have the same two cats. I'm still working at the same community college, though I'm now no longer a union boss. I think that experience may have been another thing that put me off writing here; it was very much a mixed blessing. Good work, but difficult inter-personal relationships. I'm still living alone and unattached romantically and really don't see that ever changing.

What is different: the biggest thing is that I sold my old house, the one I lived in through all that difficult time with my mother, and have bought my own. It's in a lovely neighbourhood in one of the nicest parts of town and for Victoria it's fairly old (1912). I love it. Because of Baggins, and because it is green, with a bright red door (which makes sense in my own brain anyway), I call it "Bag End" when I think about it to myself. Let's forget any possible associations with "old bags" please.

The other biggest thing, a very big thing, is that I am working on a PhD, writing about intertextuality in the works of Diana Wynne Jones. I am very happy about this, and the work is going as well as can be expected, and I'm enjoying it. I am enrolled via distance at Cardiff University, which feels very posh. It's another new start, but also a chance to take back one of the big things I lost in the years I was looking after my mother. I doubt many realized that when I first started my LJ I was enrolled in a PhD program at UVic. I think I might like to use this now for some PhD thinking-out-loud, so let me know if you'd like to be included in a filter.

I went to Greece in 2014, which was good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped, and it wasn't life changing.

I had another hip replacement last year, and am still not quite as mobile as I would like, but it's getting there. Baggins keeps me walking and my garden keeps me determined to stay fit. My new house has a most delightful garden, almost like a secret garden at the back and with many flowering trees and a Japanese Maple and all sorts.

I am, in most respects, very happy. So that's all right.

Help us celebrate our 2^nd Annual Conference, Walls Optional, promoting excellence in teaching and learning through technology.
Have you ever taught or been a student in a class where technology was used in a creative way?
Tell us about it!

Write a blog post, before April 30, that describes any really effective teaching and/or learning experience you have had. For those who may have lots of experience with educational technology, write about the MOST effective tool or activity you have encountered. Submit it here.

The completed Carnival will be posted to coincide with our conference date of May 6. Look for it in our blog after May 4.

To blog about my dream. It (the dream, that is) was all connected with something medieval, which makes a strange kind of sense because I believe that more medievalists blog than any other single group of academics.

One thing I like about this medium is the opportunity it affords to make gnomic utterances at three in the morning.

Seen Reading is a simple, elegant idea that I wish I had thought of, except that I have no idea where the author finds the time. She spots someone reading on the subway or bus, or in the park, or in a restaurant, or whereever, notes the author, title and approximate page of the book, goes to the nearest bookstore and finds the passage, copies it, then writes a short paragraph in which she imagines the reader's own life and thoughts. It's fascinating, and somehow magical.


Her Harry Potter post captures the magic of THAT phenomenon very well. Don't worry - no spoilers.

I bought myself a permanent account today.

Yay. It feels good.

Ooh. Now I get 130 something userpics - better go make some icons!!

I love blogs and blogging, and have been trying (not entirely unsuccessfully) to promote them at my college. I have a class of students set up in LJ - somewhat by default because it was the easiest platform to use and get them into quickly (you can see them by going to debbie_g and checking out the friends page). I have a Vox account and a Blogger account, neither of which I use, and have been asking my college to install Moveable Type so that we can have a simple, clean interface for students to use. If that happens, I will move my debbie_g account there.

( But all this makes me think about why we choose one platform over another. )