cheapsophistry

I had really thought there for a moment that there was a good chance that I would never go to Alberta again, or, at least, not for a very long time.

A month ago, something compelled me to submit a paper to a conference that's taking place in Calgary at the end of October. It's an okay conference, not as prestigious as some but better...
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Why is e-mailing professors so difficult? I swear it takes an hour to compose even a brief letter that I feel won't make me sound like an idiot. I guess I need to be less .

I have been so sick. Like, worse than this: . I'm talking this: . I spent five days on my couch, and I couldn't do any real work for...
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Edmonton trip: check.
Best man speech and stag party: check.
Ridiculous drunken wedding shenanigans: check.
Last term paper *ever* submitted: check.
Conference paper sent in: check.
First ever real journal article submission sent in (it's just a review, but whatever, I'm still pretty pleased about it): check.

Any research assistant work done in the past month: not check.
Area exam committee put together: not check....
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I am the best man at my friend's wedding.

Apparently being the best man also means that I am (at least partially) responsible for making bachelor party arrangements.

I have never done this before and am a little bit lost.

This is where the "you" to whom this post is dedicated comes in.

Any suggestions on interesting/unique and fun things to do for a bachelor...
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I like music. Here is some of the music that I've been liking recently:







Yes yes yes.

Also: apparently I am going to being going to the Sleigh Bells/Die Antwoord concert in July? That is going to be the craziest thing there ever was. Ever.

Also: Montreal was delightful. So civilized, what with the acceptable public drinking and pedestrian streets. Montreal: je t'aime (mais seulement...
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Tomorrow: Montreal for a few days. I haven't been to Montreal since I was 18; jesus, that's almost a decade ago. Right. It's conference time once again, which will make five in three months, although this time I'm going mostly to hang out with friends.

Then a couple weeks later it's off Edmonton for possibly the last time in my life. I am not looking...
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I am Chicago-bound in about 12 hours for a conference. I have never been to Chicago.

I will take a cab from the airport directly to the building where I will be giving my talk. Hopefully I will make it on time. I have never been to the university.

I am flying out of an airport that I have never been to and don't really...
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Most days, I don't think about her. Whether it's in a healthy way or not, it just happens to be that she doesn't enter my mind all that often. But it's these nights, these nights when the streets are empty and I'm by myself, and I realize that the only person I've to share my thoughts with is myself, well, let's just say today was...
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One of my favorite books of all time is Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. One of my favorite scenes is when the protagonist Jim Dixon meets love interest Christine Callaghan for the first time, and he is so overcome by her beauty that he wants to do nothing more than run and hide. And then the delightful lines:

"He'd read somewhere, or been told, that...
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Last night I found myself talking to a very cute Quebecois girl (with a boyfriend, obviously) about getting older and the dating issues that one starts to face. I had already noticed this a few years ago, when it was becoming less and less uncommon to be flirting with a girl only to find out that she was not just in a relationship, but actually...
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There is nothing like watching Coronation Street and drinking tea to get over a Hallowe'en hangover. I curse the person who first thought it was a good idea to distill the essence of juniper berries, put it in alcohol and thus create gin. Wikipedia tells me it was the ancient Greeks. Screw you, ancient Greeks.

I met the world's cutest Mad Hatter last night. She...
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