I passed my oral exams!!!  Everyone say hello to...Katy E., PhD Candidate (aka Katy E., ABD)


WOOHOO!!!

Correction:  I'm actually still a "graduate student."  I will be ABD / a PhD Candidate when my dissertation proposal is accepted.  Almost there!

Me on the phone with my mother:  "I'm so glad I brought Scooter (my cat) to come live with me.  He's so much better than a real boy.  Just right now he is laying on my lap staring at me with adoration.  I love this cat."

Scooter randomly takes a fierce bite out of my hand

"Never mind.  He is like a real boy"

I like him anyway.

Kapali G. Swamy, 27, of Decatur died Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007. He was born in Natchez, Miss., and grew up in Decatur. He graduated from Austin High School and Birmingham-Southern College, then completed a master of business administration from The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Kapali was a loving and devoted son, brother and friend who was adored by all who knew him. He was an exceptional and unique person, "the light of our lives," and he will be truly missed.
He is survived by his parents, Dr. Sivappa S. Swamy and Dr. Manjula S. Swamy; sister, Dr. Pooja M. Swamy Dorward; brother-in-law, Dr. Ian G.A. Dorward; many aunts, uncles and cousins; and countless others whose lives he has touched.
Spry Funeral Home of Huntsville is assisting the family.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Spry Funeral Home Chapel.

I do all kinds of neat things, but I'm too busy / lazy to write them all down.  One day I'm going to be sorry.  Here's the quick summary...

1. Levon Helm concert at the Ryman last Wednesday.  Oh Sweet Lord it was amazing.  I'm pretty sure I actually traveled up out of my body a couple of times.  He's had health issues (throat cancer in 2000, lost his voice until 2004), so he hasn't been able to travel outside New York.  This was his first concert at the Ryman and he said it was the best night of his life (actually he said it was the best night of life, but I filled in the blanks as I saw fit).  As Tricia said, it was like music church.  He sang Ophelia, Rag Mama Rag, The Weight, The Shape I'm In...Emmylou came out and sang Evangeline and Rough & Rocky, Sam Bush came out and sang Sittin on Top of the World and played along for some other songs (in case I haven't said it enough, Sam Bush is great.)  Little Sammy Davis came out and played the mouth harp on a few, and at the end those folks I have already mentioned plus John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow (she was in the audience), Ricky Skaggs, Buddy Miller, and probably some others I'm leaving out came on to sing I Shall Be Released.  Pretty freakin awesome.




2. Roller Derby.  I'm happy to report that we have Roller Derby down here in Nashville / Alabama, so I won't have any withdrawal from watching some seriously tough ladies race around a rink.  I was pretty ecstatic when, during the breaks, these guys came out and did choreographed dancing on skates.  (This was in Huntsville, are any of my Hville friends aware that this roller dancing thing existed there?)  Also someone in a kangaroo suit came out and danced, and I'm pretty sure at that point I was embarrassingly overjoyed.  I mean, a kangaroo on roller skates!  Dancing!  It's just too much.

3. My job.  Still awesome, still lots of hours.  My apartment.  The chemical smell has faded and now it just smells like stale cigarettes.  Which is truly a bummer considering I don't smoke and I hate that smell.  But it's starting to feel like a home.  Just a smelly one.

4. Birmingham.  I visited Biggie this weekend and got to hang out with Sarah G and Mikel some as well.  Yay!  We went to Twist and Shout, which is a dueling piano bar where Dugan's used to be in Five Points.  I always liked Dugan's, so I'm happy they put something there.  I loved the whole sing along piano bar thingy, but it was super crowded and there was just way too much touching for my preference.  My advice is to go early and leave before all the drunken guys arrive.

5. Ryan Adams.  I held out long enough.  I like him now, okay?  I like that new song Two alot, and well, I'm pretty much sold on the rest of the material thanks to NPR's friday afternoon concert series.

I just turned in my last paper for a grade ever!  (I hope)  And I'm celebrating by...getting a tetanus shot.  Party!  I realized I'm about to lose my good insurance, so I'm getting everything I might possibly need. 

All I have to finish is my documentary film and I'll be done with coursework forever!  Don't be jealous.  When I finish that, I have to read a zillion books for my oral exams, take an Irish language exam, and fight the machine that is Brown to get my traveling scholar fee waived.

The awesomeness of this weekend is twofold:

1. I found out on Friday morning that I am the new administrative assistant for the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association).  I start June 4 officially, but probably May 29. 

2. Merlefest.  Guess who showed up to jam with everyone under the sun...John Paul freaking Jones!  Of the concerts I saw, he played with Uncle Earl, Donna the Buffalo, and the Duhks (whose new fill in singer is great).  Sam Bush is my new hero, I'd pretty much show up to watch him recite the phone book (as long as he had his mando with him).  He played "Whole Lotta Love" which was pretty much the peak of the festival for me, following "White Bird."  Seriously, sign me up for the Sam Bush fan club, he rocks.  The Duhks also did credit to "Whole Lotta Love," while having JPJ out on stage playing mando with them.  Mom still inexplicibly loves Donna the Buffalo.  I like them too, but they are very very jammy, and Mom usually hates that.  I also got to see Earl Scruggs, (and got an autographed poster, to be hung up in my new apartment next to my autographed Ralph Stanley poster.)  The new (to me) group I liked the best was the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  They are great performers.  I got to see 4 members of the Newgrass Revival onstage, which was pretty cool as well (Sam Bush, John Cowan, Pat Flynn, Bela Fleck).  I saw Allison Krauss, Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Dirk Powell, Martha Scanlon, Crooked Still (they rocked too), Jim Lauderdale, Steep Canyon Rangers, Infamous Stringdusters, Jerry Douglas, Cherryholmes, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Elvis Costello...uhm, and probably some others.
It was tons of fun.

This is an interactive journal entry...Will you please (yes you, all of you, and I do mean YOU too) comment on my journal with something good?  Perhaps something nice that's happened to you lately, an interesting discovery, or just something that makes you grin. 
Here's mine...
I'm planning a trip to somewhere I've never been before.  France, Italy, Bali, Egypt, Greece, The Grand Canyon...  If I don't get my dream job (thus moving directly to Nashville and starting work immediately), I might actually go this summer.  If not, I still really enjoy thinking about it.

And if you like, I've ljcut some pictures of the places I want to visit.


Thanks in advance.  :)

My favorite writer died yesterday.  :( 
Rest in Peace, Mr. Vonnegut.  Thanks for the books.

You know you're too busy when you put a couple eggs on the stove to boil and 45 minutes later you think, hmm, "what should I have for lunch?"  Oops.  So much for boiled eggs.

I hate the smell of onion breath.
It is my least favorite smell.
Somehow onion eaters always sit near me.
In enclosed spaces

I don't like whistling either.
It assaults my ears.
My school has a whistling choir.

Did you know Bob Marley had 13 kids?

I'm worn out all around.  I am just trying to push through until the end of May.  My oral exams are in about a month and I have about 80-100 books to read.  No joke.  I was doing really well working 2 jobs and finishing my PhD coursework, but I've had a lot of medical junk lately that interrupted my groove.  According to all the tests I had, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me, which really doesn't explain the stomach problems I've had for 3 years.  I had 2 moles off this afternoon (ah the joys of being fair skinned), one on the front and one on the back, and I can't find a comfortable way to sit/lay down.  My reading lists are due tomorrow, as is my 8-10 page paper summarizing them (including the ones I haven't read yet), and guess what...I'm not done.  They were actually due last week, but I was endoscopying it up.

All I want to do is go to the beach and sit on the balcony. 

PhDs are hard.

I'm still learning how to write non-academically, but for anyone interested in Americana, Bluegrass, etc reviews, I'm one of the contributors to a new blog. Yes, I am aware my reviews are boring, and yes, I'm working on it.

Lonesome Road Review

Superbowl thoughts...

GM ad with the robot - so sad.  I felt bad for the robot AND it's way not cool to joke about auto workers (robot or not) getting laid off and bridge jumping.  No.

Black History Month / White owned companies trying to sell products by being all yay black history!  - It's great to be all about some black history, but it's pretty lame when you are using it to sell doritos.  or tostidos.  or whatever it was.

Emerald Nuts - um, hello, Robert Goulet was funny about 5 years ago.  Catch up with us here.

Tony Dungy - I like him.  He seemed nice and also happy.  So I'm glad he won.

Prince - I'm sorry, I like him.  I think he's awesome.  He's my favorite Jehovah's Witness.  (Seventh day adventist?  I think it's JW)  He sounded kind of like crap, but hell, he was out there in the rain, being a good sport with some excellent waterproof makeup and a kerchief.  I also like Purple Rain alot.  And his dancers and backup singer lady.  Aside from my personal like of Prince, why was he chosen for the superbowl?  I wasn't aware that football fans really were into the Prince.  I was thinking more John Mellencamp or Kenny Chesney or maybe someone less..high pitched in the vocal region.

I love to have football on in the background on mute.  It makes me feel comfortable.

I am so so grumpy - I'm tired, I got no sleep, I can't freakin eat, and for some reason students and workers have designated the loud echoey hallway outside my room to be the "cell phone conversation" and "loud 2am shouting" area.  It'd be a pointless battle to ask them to be quiet.  I feel like the equivalent of the old lady telling kids to get off her lawn.

I'm pleased to let you know, officially, that you have passed your PhD preliminary written examination in ethnomusicology. Congratulations on this achievement and good wishes for your ethnomusicological future.

Hee.

Dear Friends,
Thank you for your well wishes yesterday. I'm sure it helped! The test wasn't so bad.

Dear Michael Vick,
Um, you were flying back to Atlanta. I'm quite sure you could get some pot there. Why did you need to bring it on the plane with you? You're an idiot.

Dear Liquor Store in Seekonk,
What time do you open?

Dear Written Exam Day One,
Thank you for being interesting, and not near as scary as I expected. I'm sorry my answers were so short. I'll step it up for day two, okay?

Dear Far Side Calendar Comic For Today,
Why are you not funny? I do not get you.

Dear Stomach,
What is wrong with you? Why do you feel funny? Is it something I've done? I need you to be more specific in your needs.

Dear Written Exam Day Two,
Please don't be hard. Please, please ask questions I know the answers to. Please? Pretty please?

Dear To Do List,
Why are you so long? Do I really have to mop the floor? Yes, I know I leave footprints in the floor in dust/dirt when I walk, but is that really so bad? Yes? Fine.

Dear "Queer Public History" Class,
Why are you sending me an email? More power to you, I'm sure you are a great class, but you don't really have anything to do with my course of study. Why am I on your list?

Dear Friggity Freezing Weather,
Go away! I'm cold! I don't care if it's January.

Ok, so if you wouldn't mind...I'd appreciate it if any of you reading this would think some happy thoughts for me today.  Say a prayer, light a candle, whistle a happy tune, whatever.  I'm taking my first day of written exams and I'm pretty nervous.  I have from 9 to 5 to answer two questions, which means typing non-stop.  Hopefully the questions will be something I know about and I won't have to turn on the bs creator.  I'm trying to let my inner genius take over, but I"m having trouble finding it.  If I pass the exams (yay!) I get to be a "PhD candidate" and move on to the next level of exams (what a reward!  woo hoo!).  If I don't pass, I have to retake them.  I think I'm going to pass, I'm just nervous.

I also had a dream I was hanging out with Christopher Paolini (the guy who wrote Eragon.  Yep.), except that instead of looking like he actually looks (no offense to him), he was a hottie.  We were at the mall.  (Keep in mind I hate shopping, but I like Eragon.)

Off to take the test!!!

Have you ever noticed that whenever you are studying, you have to pee every 5 seconds?  It's very bothersome.

I keep saying I'm "studying" or "doing homework."  Those all mean I'm either writing a paper or reading a Music Education book.  All the same thing to me these days. 

My butt actually HURT yesterday from sitting in this chair so long.  Today I'm sitting on a pillow.  You'd think all the junk I've got in my trunk would provide a cushion, but apparently it's only there for show.

My written exams (as in the Phd Prelim kind) are now at the end of January.  My professor gave me no grief about taking them then instead of next week.  My life has improved immensely now.  I'm a big fan of spreading things out.  Takin it easy.  Zen and the Art of Obtaining an Ethnomusicology PhD.

I'm all out of interesting things to say.  Which is unfortunate, because I need 30 more pages of interesting things to say.