ANDRAE!! So good to see you! And good to hear you're doing so well. Find time to hang out here a bit every now and again, okay?
I'll second that. You don't have to make the level of contribution you were doing before, if you haven't got the time just now. But do keep in touch! I miss your level-headed and good-spirited interactions on the forum. Nice to know you're doing well ...even better than before. Don't worry. When it's time, your writing will return.
Has anyone heard of or read the French author Patrick Modiano? It was announced today that he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. I've never even heard of him.
I hadn't heard of him until I heard about the Nobel a few hours ago. I went on Amazon to check out his stuff, and it looks like a lot of his books haven't even been translated into English yet. I guess that'll change now!
You could probably make the same claim about the fans of many writers. Murakami is not in a unique position. Besides, Modiano is the older of the two. Murakami is only 65, and as a marathon runner and triathlete, he's in terrific shape. He'll be around for a while yet, and he'll have many more chances.
Watch out! My cousin's husband spent eight years working on a PhD in biology and never received it. Make sure you're using your time in the best way. I met a physicist once who said that doing his PhD was all about learning more and more about less and less until finally he knew everything about nothing. That's the danger of overspecialization!
I don't know about the theoretical sciences but in Europe they wouldn't let you do a PhD in biology for 8 years even if you wanted to
Thank you kindly. I sure will. You know. I've been on and off the internet more recently, and talking to fewer people in general hehe. I've honestly only spent any real time talking with my sister and my friend, the first of whom I live with, the second only texts ha ha. I'll be sure to drop in more to talk with some friends. I've just been following the flow of energy, doing m best to listen to my intuition and my dreams. Thanks Ed. How's your work coming? Yikes! If it's not necessary, I'll advise caution. >_< That's a lot of time and energy and such that may amount to nothing but a title, a piece of paper, and some knowledge about something you may never get to use. Particularly in literary fields. Then again, it may be just right for you. Good luck in your decision making.
My goal and plan as it stands is to be an AT for a year or two, then do a PhD and work as a moving lecturer. I always expect the worst, and if I end up just doing this MA and then moving my Scottish ass to Australia as is my plan right now, I'm cool with that.
Biology takes eight years because you're dealing with life. One of those eager 20 year old helpers forgets to close the freezer and all your hard earned work dies. I can't speak for a PhD in literature, but in the sciences, it's a lot like Tantalus and those damned fruit.
I have family out there, and I hate living in the UK. The only thing that might hold me back is I'm not very good in hot weather - and I'd miss being so close to continental Europe.
I'm sorry, but I still don't know who that is. OK, OK, I'll stop now. I wouldn't want you to put me on ignore. It does suck that Murakami didn't win. Maybe the problem is with the committee. I know that the previous committee didn't want Salman Rushdie to win because he was "too popular" and too obvious a choice. Maybe the current committee has the same attitude toward Murakami.
What about NZ? I know it's a thousand miles or so from Australia, but hey. That's the distance from my home town in Northern Michigan to Toronto, and I traveled that in a car. NZ has cool weather, compared to Australia. And from what I've heard, it's a really nice place to live.
I've always wanted to visit Australia! I'd probably miss Being so lose to CE too. So much diversity there, so many places to see and things to do. But I've never made it up their either lol. Ack! I want to go here too! lol I just want to go places.
I have not actually thought about NZ, but the attraction of Australia isn't just the ease in which I could theoretically get citizenship, but also because it is hot - and so unlike me. It's in every way a reinvention, I feel I could be someone totally new on the other side of the planet, completely different weather, and in the opposite hemisphere.
Well, by all means, pursue it, if it's your dream. But speaking as somebody who HAS made a big move in my life, it's not without consequences. I'm happy where I am, in Scotland, but I will always be 'other.' When you arrive in your new country, you will have no past, as far as anybody else is concerned. (Well, maybe if you have family waiting, that might help.) But the life you've lived here will not really count for much over there. You'll have to start over, from scratch. People talk about their school days, for example, and you just shrug ...because they'll be nothing like yours. Your old friends and experiences will be alien to the people around you. And that perpetual 'difference' is not something everybody realises before they emigrate—even when there are no real language barriers.
