And now for my next trick…

Bought a car. Brand new. Honda Civic VTi-S 2013 5-door Hatch. Silver. Here’s a picture.

I like that all the specs that used to be high end additions are now just standard. Such as alloy wheels; bluetooth; cruise control; air-conditioning; usb ports and decent sound systems; stabilising/supporting/super dooper clever driving assistance thingies; reverse parking camera; power windows and side mirrors; highest possible 5 star ANCAP safety rating. Our basic model 6 speed manual Civic hatch, which with our trade-in came in at under $AU19,000, is brilliant. Reviews on the 2012 model weren’t too polite because the car was competing against a lot of very good cars at the same price point but offering a lot less, so Honda gave themselves a head plant and upped the specs for the 2013 model. It’s a thing of beauty, even if the engine lacks torque and is a bit “old lady” to drive. So what. I am an old lady.

The interior is very comfortable and high spec, and as I said to the DH, as we spend time inside the car when we are using it, it makes sense for us to be in an attractive, well made interior, which was very roomy compared with the other cars we tried.

We had been looking at new cars for a few months and the guys at Honda knew us from the last time, so they also knew we were potential buyers of their product. There was a very gentle sales pitch from our very good sales person. He knew the product was very good and that if we wanted to buy we would. It didn’t stop him calling us the following morning to see if we had made a decision, but his approach was so understated we felt comfortable in his presence.

On the other hand, Mazda, your sales people are not good. At all. They may make a lot of sales but, frankly, I wanted to punch them in the neck. Hubby and I had nearly come to blows with one super aggressive agent on the Friday, when we just wanted to find out what deal we could get and what payment plans were on offer. Slippery. Then, when I took the kids for a test drive the following day, the sales agents basically just held us in lock down trying to get me to sign for a Mazda3 even though the kids were hungry, DH was at work, and I had given no assurances that we would even take the car. 2 and a half hours later I had to leave the premises because the sales strategy was one of highly skilled torture. Trying to wear a teacher down is not a good idea. We deal with this all day every day, and frankly, I can outlast any sales agent, especially the sociopaths. I am nearly entirely certain the sales manager there was a sociopath. The finance dude was more clever, but even then I wasn’t given clear figures – no idea of the interest we would pay, or whether the terms included a deposit. Nothing. Anyhoo. Mazda, your product is awesome, but I hated your sales pitch and aggressive, slightly hysterical approach. DH couldn’t believe how exhausted I looked. I’m still in recovery mode, although that may be the effects of the Moet from last night.

So, we may have paid $1500 more for a car with more or less the same stuff as Mazda, but we get 5 year extended warranty and roadside assist, so that’s cool. And we got free floor mats. Onya Honda.

Now to pay for it. There goes my cleaner!

By George I think she did it!

She did it, indeed she did.

I submitted my methods chapter to my supervisor. All 9500 words of it. I feel elated and a bit miserable at the same time. Maybe the misery is the hunger bit. I’m starving and still in my PJs because I thought to myself this morning: “Just sit down and start. It’ll all be over in a bit”. And now, it is.

I will have to wait quite a while for the response because, frankly, I’m not sure I’d respond to me if I took so long to write one chapter, but I’m just happy that it’s one chapter down. That makes 4 good chapter drafts out of 7 completed. And what I mean by good, is that I’m happy enough with them that if they were submitted today I’d be able to hold my head high.

Happy happy joy joy. Plus, DH has written 2 articles that we are submitting with my names on them too, which is a nice little present. And now beloved husband has suggested an antiques centre trawl. He knows me too well!

 

What a difference a day makes!

Ok, now I’m not feeling gloomy about my methods chapter. I read it against another narrativist whose methods chapter I thought was AWESOME and mine totally stacks up against it just fine. Mine could probably use some culling, but it’s basically done. I’ve done the conclusion and I’m finding all the references I’ve not included and putting them in at the end so that my supervisor knows I’ve done the referencing right.

I’m a very happy camper. In other great news, I had a haircut today, and what with my new physique and improved wardrobe, I feel like a hotty again. I really do. Just need to stop eating the sweet delights AND the wine. Maybe one a day, but not both, and not multiples. Otherwise food is also going well. Here’s a photo of me (finally, because I now feel awesome enough to put myself out there) – not the whole body shot because I can’t take selfies that work, but a head shot of my nice new hairdo.

I’m having a great day.

 

Feeling gloomy about Methods chapters.

Today I’ve been working on my methods chapter. I’ve headers for all the relevant sections and I feel like I’m on the right track mostly but I also feel there is a heap of information I’m forgetting to include. Driving me batty. Also, I’ve written 8500 words and I’m kinda sick of writing any more.

So, I’m doing narrative inquiry methods, right? So, narrative inquiry is an approach that requires the “storying” of data, because it’s perceived that it’s through stories, or narratives, that we make sense of the world. For Bruner (1996), he even sees our brains having “computational” knowledge and “narrative” knowledge. It’s a great theory for understanding human nature throughout history, I guess, and for those cultures with an oral history, you can see the power of narrative to shape culture, understanding and knowledge.

Ok, so writing stories is quite simple in theory, yeah? Except that in narrative inquiry methods, one has to attend to a bunch of things including the recursive nature of writing, being in the field, the ethics of narrative research, spaciality, temporality and sociality, and other stuff like bumps and tensions in the data. Now, I’m forgetting what I need to write about in detail and I’m concerned that my headers are all over the shop re how the chapter is organised. Stupid, simple stuff but I’m finding it difficult to write about narrative methods because it’s slippery.

I suspect I’m at the part where, yes Jessie, send the damned thing to your supervisor so she can read it and identify the missing links!!!! I’ve still not written the conclusion to my chapter yet. It’s going to be short.

Waiting for Godot the Methods chapter

Next week is project week at Uni, therefore no uni teaching and I have lots of lovely days to complete my methods chapter – Tuesday, Thursday and Friday! It’ll be like old times again. While I know this PhD thing is taking forever it’s not going to get any faster when I look forward to sleeping the way I do.

Fricking sword of Damocles, this thing, except it won’t kill me. But if I don’t finish the darn thing I may never speak to my DH again. Who is being VERY patient.

Baby steps.

Buying “investment” clothes – is it a crock?

Taking some time off teaching and writing and cleaning (it’s called enjoying my weekend), I got to musing about clothes. As you know I’ve lost quite a bit of weight lately, and my more recent purchases prior to the weight loss no longer fit me. I’ve recently had to throw out most of my old clothes, including those I used to wear when I was a young thin thing.

While I still have some workday clothes I am aware of having very few lovely clothes to wear to functions, including dress pants and shirts. Little black dress? Last year I had three good ones. This year: a ten-year-old Table 8 linen shift; and an Esprit knit jersey bought 1 month ago.

Living in humid, steamy QLD means clothes become old very fast. They lose shape, need frequent washing and frequent replacing. Leather goes mouldy, cotton mildewy. In my old life I used to buy clothes almost as long-term investments – I would wear a favourite piece for several years until it fell apart or just became too shabby, but here I can’t – the clothes just don’t last more than a couple of summers. It makes life quite expensive, and I find myself buying a “uniform” of clothing usually consisting of stripy shirts and plain pants, and the occasional wrap dress because at least they’re affordable and replaceable.

Sometimes I dream of being able to buy whatever clothing takes my fancy, including the gorgeous expensive stuff from top designers, but I can rarely afford it. Except every few years. When I buy shoes.

Last night hubby and I went to a do, as we do, and I pulled out my new knit jersey dress and my 5 year old black patent leather Salvatore Ferragamo pumps. They cost me about $AU300 on sale in a wonderful shoe shop in Paris on Rue Capuchin (in Australia 2 years later they retailed at $AU700). I’ve worn them about 10 times a year and this morning I gave them a quick clean and lo – they came up looking wonderful again:

At the time of purchase I called them my “investment” shoes. Hubby laughed, but I was serious. There are certain clothes I buy because I believe they will last a long time, and are timeless fashion. The cost of the shoes means that I spend time looking after them, including regular cleaning, and storing in their original box. With cheaper shoes I am less inclined to do this, but buying these first really expensive shoes has taught me the meaning of quality and care, and they suit most evening clothes. Consequently, my expensive shoes, sober in colour and design, are certainly investment shoes if they can last this long, look this good, and have another ten years of wear in them.

I wonder if men buy investment clothes? Are good Italian cloth suits investments? Should I call them investment garments at all? Because they don’t make me any money, that’s for sure! But I wear these good quality clothes to make a good impression, to look my best at functions where I need to be seen. Which surely makes the purchase of expensive clothing worthwhile, when it can be worn time and again and still look fabulous. Certainly saves the purchase of cheaper stuff year in year out. Except that, darn it, I still buy cheaper stuff year in year out!

I can’t believe she did it!

Yes. I managed to spend more than 2 hours yesterday on my Methods chapter. I feel slightly better now. Still haven’t taken the dog for a walk (have you SEEN my diary?!), nor have I been to the gym since Sunday night, but hey. Can’t have everything.

My Methods chapter is looking like the gaps are nearly filled. I need to write a quick conclusion, add the missing references, and I’m sending it off to my supervisor this week. 2 months overdue. Way to go, me. It’s not perfect, but that’s the job of my supervisor, to point out those bits that don’t work. It will be nearly 10,000 words long. According to DH who knows lots about this stuff, that seems awfully long for a methods chapter. But I’m just following the advice of Supe. And it’s a qualitative study, requiring (apparently, lots of justification).

Anyhoo. It’s off to work I go now. Perhaps there will be an hour in the middle of the day for me to work on the PhD. Probably not. But a girl can dream.

Cheerio!