Random Things.

I had a great meeting with my adviser this afternoon. We went over various things related to the semester; my upcoming paper, outstanding applications, and technical issues with the classes she's teaching this term. K. is planning to spend the spring break in Japan and is leaving a little early, so I'm going to proctor a test and possibly give a lecture. We also talked about the first stages of forming my dissertation committee. Given that I'm going to be out of the country all next year, we're not sure if I absolutely must begin the formation of my committee right now or if I can wait until I get back. But we'll figure it out. Anyway, with business concluded we talked a bit about hobbies and discovered a mutual love of mysteries. K. loves Josephine Tey and has read all of her books! (I knew there was a reason she struck me as being so great right from the first meeting.)

In other news, in a totally random--but totally cool--twist, my friend A. lent me a copy of an article on ghosts in Japanese photographs the other day. She hypothesized, rightly, that I would find it interesting. Imagine my surprise when I flipped to the back to examine the author's sources and found my undergraduate thesis listed in the bibliography! I'm pretty sure the mention was mainly due to my having written one of the few articles on the subject in English, but it was still a really delightful surprise. I have to confess that I showed it to all of my friends in the department because I could not contain my excitement. I called my parents and told them about it, too. I suppose it's a testament to how naive about and new to this lifestyle I am, but I hope that I never get blase about being able to be part of the exchange of information. It's such a privilege.

And, finally, on a completely different front, I've discovered that my cat has a passion for potato chips. How bizarre is that?