Image of a PhD dissertation courtesy of raffyd at flickr – reproduced under a creative commons licence.

My 2009 began in a very sober mode (if not mood) – today was the deadline for finishing the edit of my PhD thesis recommended by the panel at my final seminar so it can go forward to external examiners after being checked by my supervisor. So, after Boxing Day, I locked myself away from the world, and with my flatmate being away for the week, hardly spoke to a soul while I madly edited and refined and revised. Obviously, I was quite immersed in the totality of the dissertation and all its pathways and byways (which it was my task to smooth out somewhat), but what I think kept resurfacing in my mind was the need to write an acknowledgements page. I hadn’t realised til I checked the guidelines for formatting a thesis at QUT that this was actually required – my first impulse was to make it as minimalist as possible to avoid the temptation to tell the long and very emotional story of the whole journey towards Doctoral graduation (and make no mistake, every PhD student and PhD has one). But in the end, I enjoyed composing it, and unlike the acknowledgements in my honours thesis ten years ago, I resisted the temptation to include multiple Latin tags. I contented myself with one – from Virgil’s Aeneid – Book 1, line 33:

Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!

[That translates to something like - "what a long hard labour it is to found the City of Rome!"] Make of that what you will… for me it’s got multiple meanings and resonances.

I remember once reading a review of a book on Freud’s footnotes, which I thought was a grand idea. I wonder that no one has thought of writing a book about the acknowledgements in books (and theses). But perhaps I’m alone in finding them quite fascinating? There’s the obvious sociological interest – how much can be inferred from the once standard “and thanks to my wife for typing the manuscript”? But there’s also something to be learned about the personality of the author – even if they’re lapidary in their expressions of gratitude and obligation.

Anyway, all this prompted me to think that it’s about time that we had another thread about what we’re all reading, or indeed what we’re intending to read over the holidays. I’d also be interested in hearing from others how they pick new titles – recommendations, reviews, online, offline? Discussion doesn’t have to be limited to science fiction and/or speculative fiction, of course, but that’s what my piles of books to be read currently consist of!

<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/science-fiction-001.jpg"

<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/science-fiction-004.jpg"

Although it’s been uni break over the last week, I’ve been a busy boy. I now have a date with destiny for my doctorate – I’m presenting to a final seminar on 30 October. This is the internal examination stage of phd completion according to the QUT rules – it’s a bit like a viva voce where you talk about what you’ve done and found and are questioned by a panel of senior academics (and the audience!) – in my case from QUT’s Humanities Program (once was a Faculty…) I more or less wrapped the thing up on Friday, did a little revision yesterday, and lazed around last night and watched Maggie Cheung movies on dvd, and today and tomorrow before the teaching and marking onslaught resumes, I’m giving the thesis a final spit and polish.

So I’m very chuffed!

Folks might also remember I’ve been doing a bit of travel writing – of the insider’s guide to where you live variety. I filed my copy for that and sent in the invoice on Tuesday arvo, and it was a really neat gig. On Monday, I went for a wander around Paddington and took some photos – not for the project itself – but as an aide memoire. It turned out to be a dodgy day to be walking – 35 degrees maximum. But it did also prompt me to decide that walking for about an hour a day was a good custom to be revived – so I’ve been doing that ever since – in the late afternoon on cooler days and at night on hotter days. Anyway, here’s the photographic record of my Paddo perambulations. It’s a really nice part of the world, and somewhere I wouldn’t mind living. But the real estate market would really have to collapse before I could contemplate buying there!

White picket fence II by *phenomenologist on deviantART

If you’d like to see a larger image of the photos, click on them then click on “full view” once you’re inside the gallery.

Steep streets by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Miss Posh Poodle I by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Miss Posh Poodle II by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Colourful cottage by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Paddo house II by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Sassafrass by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Kiln gallery by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Paddo houses by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Spring by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Grey shop by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Kookaburra Cafe by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Paddo shops by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Colourful shop by *phenomenologist on deviantART