I got my degree certificate in the mail today.

It should feel like old news by now, but actually getting the certificate was a surprisingly big deal. To summarise for those who don't know: In early May, I had the public defence of my doctoral dissertation -- this is a biggish affair in Sweden, we do it the German way with an external examiner coming from some other university (in my case it was professor Geoffrey Leech from Lancaster University in the UK), who asks questions about the thesis for about two hours. And it's public, so anybody can come and listen. After the examination, a review board confers behind closed doors for a bit, and then come out to proclaim that the candidate has passed (or not.) By the time a thesis has come as far as the doctoral defence, it is *extremely* uncommon for it to fail, but it's of course perfectly possible to black out, forget everything and/or make a fool of yourself at the examination. As far as I know that's not taken into account when they decide whether you pass or not, but it's an ordeal all the same.

Except that mine wasn't that much of an ordeal. I was an utter bundle of nerves beforehand, but once we got started it turned out to be rather a fun occasion -- getting to talk for almost two hours about your own research, where nobody can stop you -- how cool is that! Not to mention that Geoffrey Leech was the best faculty opponent imaginable, and he made it into a really rewarding discussion.

So I did that in May, and if I'd been a diligent doctoral student that would have been it; unfortunately I had one of my reading courses left before I got the degree. A bit of an anti-climax, really, because the defence is such a large occasion, and a piddling five-credit course is such a minor thing, but obviously all the courses have to be done. So I spent the rest of May studying Old English (and loving it!) and in early June I took that exam and passed. And after that I could finally submit the paperwork for the degree.

And now I am a PhD. I've been wearing the ring since I passed the doctoral defence almost two months ago, but it hasn't really been real until today. I guess it has something to do with the fact that it took some time for it to sink in, too. That I'm really done, that is. Sure, I am going to revise my thesis for publication, but even if I never get it published anywhere I still finished the programme and got the degree, and I have doubted my own ability to do that so frequently that today, I'm going to revel in it.

Unexpected but very nice meme result -- cut for length.

( Which fantasy writer are you? )

Their characteristic of her is partly misleading, but never mind. I admit that I'm not sure I want to believe my "also a lot like", but don't mind being far removed from my "exact opposite" ;-)

( 12 Days of Christmas memememememe )

...and...

( new year's resolutions meeeemeeee )

I really don't resolve to cut down on my reading.

From about five different people on my friends list.

Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done.

1. Hitch-hiked in the cockpit of a passenger jet plane. (I was about 16, going from Skellefteå to Arlanda on a stand-by ticket, and when the plane was full and I hadn't got on it I walked up to the gate and said "I fly gliders, can I travel in the cockpit?" The logic of why my glider pilot licence should make me more suitable for travelling in the cockpit escapes me now, but the staff at the gate were mesmerised by the force of my direct gaze, or else they just thought I was cute.)

2. Been on the stage in two different operas before I was 12. (Dido & Aeneas, when I was 6 - I played an extraordinarily clumsy Cupid - and Hansel & Gretel, when I was 10 or 11, when I was in the chorus of children being rescued from the witch's cauldron.)

3. Sung - in a choir with about 30 people, mind you - to the King and Queen of Sweden, and the Emperor and Empress of Japan. (My choir performed in Uppsala cathedral on the 300th anniversary of Linnaeus' birth, last year. Though the Swedish royals have been around several times when we have performed, generally in connection with installing new bishops. When the new Archbishop was installed a few years ago, one of the procession leaders in the choir wore only underwear under the chorister robe, which is long, heavy and warm, and afterwards said quite happily "I have walked one metre in front of the Queen of Sweden wearing no trousers!" That would have been something to put in a list like this, but sadly, I can't.)

Just for your information, my real actual weblog since 2002, Néablog, is alive again. Over the last couple of years it's been a sort of on-again-off-again thing, mostly because I have been closely reading and analysing blogs for my thesis; this, on the one hand, made me less interested in producing that kind of drivel myself, and on the other hand it made me see how uninspiring my writings are compared to the good blogs out there.

So I'm not making a long-term commitment, but at the moment I am more interested in keeping Néablog alive than I've been for some time.

Povel Ramel is dead.

[added: Finally an English-language news report: http://www.thelocal.se/7520/20070606/ ]

I have seen the Pacific Ocean, and have sung En Vänlig Grönska in a church which overlooked the Golden Gate bridge - an experience which can only be referred to as "really, really cool". And here I am in Palo Alto, in a fairly nice hotel room (but I'm very disappointed in the fact that the bathtub won't hold water - are you supposed to BYO plug for the drain when staying at hotels in the US?).

Our first concert did not, as a whole, go very well (the abovementioned church singing did, but that was Sunday service, not a concert). People made all kinds of weird mistakes, such as the tenors coming in half a bar too early in the des Prez Gloria and throwing us all into confustion - and since we hadn't actually been told until half an hour before the concert which songs were to be in it, I don't think most of us had realised how long and wearying it would be. The Bach motet which was the final number suffered a lot from our general fatigue. To be fair, though, some of the pieces went really really well, the audience applauded frenetically, and I think we'll be better prepared for the next concert.

And since most of you won't have any idea what I'm doing in California, here's a link to an explanatory image: http://nea.pp.se/ccontour.jpg . (I think they could have used a more recent picture for the poster. Hmph.)

Happy Birthday to jophan!

I have posted the book meme I found in greeniezona's LJ over at Néablog, which is where I write things. (Where I intend to write things more frequently than I've been doing this last year, certainly.)

From jophan:


A beer in a fantasy, yay!!

Since about midday yesterday, LJ doesn't remember my login. I haven't changed any settings anywhere, I use the same browser and haven't tweaked it in any way between yesterday morning (when I was automatically logged in as usual) and yesterday afternoon (when I had to log in after having restarted the browser). Since then, each time I quit the browser I have to log in if I want to use LJ. Oh, and it also no longer remembers my password so I have to type it in -- that's also new.

Has anybody else noticed any changed behaviour?

I don't love teaching and don't think I'm particularly good at it.

However, teaching is much more fun than sitting in an empty language lab waiting for the students who choose not to show up.

Let's see if anybody appears for the next two classes....

The two-word meme, from drquuxum, which involves dropping an awful lot of articles and the occasional pronoun.

1. Explain what ended your last relationship? Not applicable.
2. When was the last time you shaved? See above.
3. What were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.? Entering bus.
4. What were you doing 15 minutes ago? Cuddling cat.
5. Are you any good at math? Definitely not.
6. Your prom night? Amn't American.
7. Do you have any famous ancestors? Yes, probably.
8. Have you had to take a loan out for school? I have.
9. Do you know the words to the song on your myspace profile? Have none.
10. Last thing received in the mail? Can't remember.
11. How many different beverages have you had today? Hmm... Three.
12. Do you ever leave messages on people's answering machine? Only sometimes.
13. Who did you lose your CONCERT virginity to? Akademiska Kapellet?
14. Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach? Might have.
15. What's the most painful dental procedure you've had? Regular drilling.
16. What is out your back door? Black cat.
17. Any plans for Friday night? Probably not.
18. Do you like what the ocean does to your hair? Er... Huh?
19. Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different popcorns? Again: Huh?
20. Have you ever been to a planetarium? No, sadly.
21. Do you re-use towels after you shower? Of course!
22. Some things you are excited about? Good books.
23. What is your favorite flavor of JELLO? Never eaten.
24. Describe your keyring(s)? Six Moomins!
25. Where do you keep your change? In wallet.
26. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group of people? Yesterday afternoon.
27. What kind of winter coat do you own? Several, heavy.
28. What was the weather like on your graduation day? Sunny, warm.
29. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed? Slightly open.

I never claimed to use this for anything other than memes....



I'll add Helsinki this coming weekend. And I think I may have travelled on the Budapest metro in 1983 but I really can't remember.

My dungeon is less fun than some since I don't have a lot of LJ friends -- but it's enough to kill you, I'm sure.

I was tagged by jukkahoo.

Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog entry with 6 weird facts/things/habits about yourself, saying who tagged you. In the end you need to choose the 6 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs.

Soooo.

1. I really dislike shopping for clothes and shoes. (These days it's not quite as difficult as it used to be to find shoes my size, but it's still booooring).

2. I eat my lunch rather slowly when I'm on my own, but pretty quickly when I'm with other people. There is a reason -- when I eat on my own (or with jophan) I read.

3. I have a good memory for poems, song lyrics, and pieces of novels. My memory is not as good as it used to be, but I can still quote long, long swatches of Wodehouse novels, the Swedish translation of The Magic Flute and other slightly irrelevant things (and also pretty much the whole of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.) Sometimes when I can't sleep I quote poetry to myself -- it's a good way of switching my thoughts off.

4. I read maps for fun.

5. I watched Aladdin five times in the cinema when it was first out.

6. I sort the books in book-shops and libraries if/when they are out of alphabetical order. (I don't usually sort the books in other peoples' shelves -- it can be seen as rude.) At the same time, I'm hopeless at keeping any kind of order on my desk.

Really difficult, and these things are probably not sufficiently weird. So sue me.

I tag
natika
tuwr
idahoswede
hanspersson
hollowoak
gnapp

This is so well said that I want to print it out and frame it: http://cdybedahl.livejournal.com/381390.html

Here's a meme I've seen in a couple of different versions, in the LJs of apel, krfsm, jukkahoo and natika:
Go to Wikipedia and look up your birth day (excluding the year). List three neat facts, three births, and three deaths in your journal, including the year.
Facts:
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.
1916 - Albert Einstein publishes his theory of relativity.
1956 - Tunisia gains independence from France.

(Of course, it was also the day That War started. I wrote about that in my blog at the time. Hmm. My blog was much more interesting three year ago, I notice. How depressing.)

Births:
1828 - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer (d. 1906)
1917 - Dame Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
1958 - Holly Hunter, American actress

Deaths:
1239 - Hermann von Salza, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights [Never heard of the man, me, but that's a darned nice title]
1874 - Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer (b. 1810)
1918 - Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War General (b. 1828)

From krfsm:
Kronofogde-rappen (mp3 format). (In Swedish.)
My gast has rarely been so flabbered, nor my non so plussed.

Oh, and several people haven't been able to access my Johari window -- if you still wanna judge me, do it here.