Because I always seem to blog on a Monday morning. Maybe that is because I am procrastinating the beginning of yet another week. Which I’m usually afraid is going to suck.
But not for much longer!
The perk of being in academia is definitely the summer break. This summer, I have every intention of finishing my second novel, about a group of western or ‘westernized’ Chinese women in Hong Kong. The plot is loosely based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, for anyone who cares. It’s more of a literary novel, but I don’t think that people who like a good ‘beach read’ would turn away from it either. It’s all about relationships and what it’s like to be a white women in a post-colonial setting. From, clearly, my own personal experience with such a thing. It should be fun, and serious, and just a good read. Hopefully, it will also be provocative of discussion about what it means to be a woman, and Chinese or American in today’s world (respectively, I only barely dabble in Chinese-American status, which I know about only from my friends in China classes).
I can’t wait to just sit down and crash it out.
That and a couple of academic articles.
I guess I plan on being productive.
But you know how that works. Doesn’t the weekend always look better on the Friday side of it? By Sunday, I think most people have disappointed themselves. They didn’t do everything on their ‘list’. That’s something that should be on “Stuff White People Like”. Lists.
Well, I say frak the lists. To-do lists outside of work only depress people. Don’t even have a MENTAL to-do list.
Instead, why don’t you try keeping a record of what you’ve accomplished during the day. Shake it up. Yesterday, for instance, I wrote an introduction to a theory paper about the so-called ‘problem’ of China, specifically focusing on the issue of science & technology. I also wrote about the ‘Science Wars’ of the 1990s for my field statement on the anthropology of science. In addition, I read an article in Chinese about China’s economy for today’s Chinese class. I took an hour walk with my lovely boyfriend. I grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. OK, I just ate them and he grilled them, but still. I also managed to call my close friend Mark and gab.
Looking at that list makes me feel pretty good about my Monday. Let’s see if it lasts. . . .
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Hi,
First-time visitor and I can’t find any other reference to it, so I’ll ask: do you know Hong Kong? Do you live there? I loved the place when I lived there - mid nineties for about four years.
Hi Ian -
I guess I forget that I have never posted about my time in China here. That’s the problem with having too many blogs. I should import my other one into WordPress.
To answer your question, I lived and studied Chinese in Hong Kong from late 2003 until August 2006. So, nearly 3 years. I can’t say I loved it, but I think that I had a stranger experience while there than most. However, I did love traveling and spending time on the mainland, and now that I’ve left, I have fonder memories of Hong Kong.
Hopefully, I’ll be back doing research in a year.
Cheers,
Theresa
Your time in Hong Kong might be as strange as mine. The place changed my life entirely. Wish I’d have had more time to travel in the region, but did get to Vietnam, Malaysia and some parts of China.