Tomorrow I am the first ever at MHS to go through a midway evaluation. It is kind of like a mock disputation in an abbreviated format. I submitted my dissertation thus far (through chapter 4, section 3; of 5 planned chapters). This was given to two other faculty to read. Tomorrow at 9:00 am (midnight in Pacific Standard Time), I will give a 15 minute presentation of my research and then have a dialogue for 30 minutes with each of the two faculty. They will be critiquing my work with the goal of strengthening it. This will be in front of any who choose to attend, which will probably be mostly PhD students. They will want to see what happens in order to be prepared for their midway evaluation.
I think one professor won’t be very supportive, as he is a traditional methodology person, and this is a multi-disciplinary project. However, I wonder if Knut is strategically utilizing him here in the midway eval so he isn’t obligated to use him for the real disputation (if not even eliminated from consideration), where he may be a major opponent at the more serious engagement of the defense.
I was on campus also, working in the library. I missed the #2 bus right outside the library, though it was 2 minutes early. So, I walked a few blocks to try to catch the #8 bus to the city center, but I saw that one just about 1 minute ahead of me. So, I walked downtown, which seems about half a mile and down hill. There were two big cruise ships in the harbor.
On the water front, they are getting ready for a sand volleyball tournament.
They have closed off a road right parallel to the harbor and piled sand about 2 feel high. The athletes were practicing. I saw jerseys from Brazil on the men. The women were tall and lean.
All the women had leggings on, which was appropriate for a chilly wind. The promotional materials have them in sports-bra and a little more than bikini bottoms. I wonder what they really will play in.
It is busy at the harbor with cruise ships, volleyball players, and the peddlers of tourist wares.
I made jiaozi (steamed pot sticker dumplings) for dinner with fresh wrapper dough and thawed pork and cabbage stuffing. After a bit more work reviewing my presentation, I practiced some Swedish, trying to learn the nuances of compressed round vowels in long and short forms. (I’m humbled.) And more practice with the online Duolingo lessons. (I’m ever humbled. How come I can’t remember the first syllable for pork?) Did you know that G before a consonant or hard vowel (a, o, u, å) sounds like G as is go, but before a soft vowel (e, i, y, ä, ö) a G sounds like a Y in yes!?!
Anya was really tired tonight, but still having difficulty sleeping. I’m headed that way soon. I don’t think I’ll lose sleep over the midway evaluation. I sense that Knut has shepherded me on a good path and has warned me that I don’t need to agree with everything said tomorrow. We’ll meet afterwards to evaluate what to take away from their comments. But a good night’s sleep will be helpful.
With blessings,
Beth