This semester has been a doozie for administrative issues in my life.
First, there was the thing where I didn't get registered with the university-- when I went and asked about it, it turned out that my PhD program wasn't even in their system. (That one wasn't just me, of course, but all 13 of us in the TCC program; still, I was the one who discovered it.) Then, there was the part where my login information for the university's computer system got mysteriously blocked. I wasn't able to use the NUIG wifi or any of the school's computers. Computer services never did figure out what happened, but eventually they fixed it and reset the password.
Now, there is yet another problem with my stipend. We normally get our monthly stipend transferred around the 23rd of the month, or if the 23rd is on a weekend then the nearest Friday. Since this month the 23rd was on a Saturday, I figured it would come on Friday 22 October. When that didn't happen, I thought "Well, maybe they're rounding it back, and I'll get it the Friday after the 23rd." Which is today! But I checked this morning, and still no. This wouldn't be too big a deal-- except this is a really skinny month for me, what with my annual €150 immigration registration fee. (I usually have about €150-€200 left over at the end of the month, so this fee pretty much tapped me out.)
So this morning I emailed Marie, the Moore Institute's most excellent secretary, asking if she knew what was going on with the stipend. This is the response I got:
Hi Ayla
I have spoken with Research Accounts and there has been an error over there where your end date had been set to 2010 in stead of 2012. They had done this with all the students but managed to correct all the others except yours. Darran is going to arrange to transfer your stipend into your bank account but tells me that unfortunately this may not happen until Monday as the person in Accounts is out today and he’s not sure if anyone else over there will do it.
Wow. Administrative errors strike again. This is not the first time that I have had problems with my stipend. I'm pretty annoyed that there is apparently only one employee in the university who deals with Accounts. "Oh, he's out today, so you can't get the paycheck we've owed you for a week." What the hell, NUIG.
Oh well. This is exactly why I have a credit card: emergencies. I actually used it for the first time ever this week-- to buy groceries. And it's possible that the money might get transferred this afternoon anyway. You know, if someone in the Accounts office decides to do it.
After all, it would be nice to have money for the weekend... because it's Halloween! Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. Even though my costume this year isn't exactly an original for me, I still love any excuse to dress up. I love seeing big groups of people wearing costumes. I love dead leaves and crows and spooky trees and pumpkins. I love Halloween!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
PhD students need to rock out too
This weekend, I went to a rock concert.
I went with a friend of mine, who is also a doctoral student. I'm studying Irish-American theatre history; he's looking at the Roman empire around the 4th and 5th centuries. We both are the recipients of a prestigious fellowship and have presented at numerous professional conferences. In a few years, if all goes well, we'll both be professors. And this weekend, we went to see the Northern Irish heavy metal/punk band Therapy?, at a small crowded sweaty bar. We headbanged, screamed along with the songs, threw up the horns, and generally rocked the fuck out.
Really, I spend too much time being a Responsible Adult, focused on spending my time in grad school being a Young Professional. I spend so much mental energy learning to be an academic that I sometimes forget that I have a whole 'nother side... a side that likes to go to rock shows and headbang. Letting that side out once in a while is good for the soul.
I went with a friend of mine, who is also a doctoral student. I'm studying Irish-American theatre history; he's looking at the Roman empire around the 4th and 5th centuries. We both are the recipients of a prestigious fellowship and have presented at numerous professional conferences. In a few years, if all goes well, we'll both be professors. And this weekend, we went to see the Northern Irish heavy metal/punk band Therapy?, at a small crowded sweaty bar. We headbanged, screamed along with the songs, threw up the horns, and generally rocked the fuck out.
Really, I spend too much time being a Responsible Adult, focused on spending my time in grad school being a Young Professional. I spend so much mental energy learning to be an academic that I sometimes forget that I have a whole 'nother side... a side that likes to go to rock shows and headbang. Letting that side out once in a while is good for the soul.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
has it been two years already?
"I, Ayla Zachary, a qualified and registered elector of the _4th_ precinct in the township of _____ or village of Spring Lake or of the _____ ward of the city of _____, in the county of Ottawa and state of Michigan, apply for an official ballot, or ballots, to be voted by me at the election or elections as requested in this application."
-from my absentee ballot application
I've decided to vote in the upcoming midterm election.
Politics is something that I'm always, theoretically, interested in. (Let's deconstruct that sentence! Two possible meanings: "In theory, I am always interested in politics" or "I am always interested in political theory." Yes. Both are true.) However, due to the nature of my life and of myself, that interest tends to slip firmly into the theoretical and away from the practical most of the time. I read the news, but not every day; my first resource tends to be BBC News, and on any given day I'm most likely to have an Irish or EU news story brought to my attention. Most of the time I spend in front of the computer is during my work day, when reading news websites feels like procrastination and is something I try not to do. Also, I don't have a television, so I'm not going to stumble onto it that way.
This means that my attention to and knowledge of U.S. politics tends to be really lacking these days. For example, with the upcoming midterms, I didn't even realize that Michigan was having a gubernatorial* election! It didn't occur to me that Governor Jennifer Granholm's term limit would be approaching. Then, this week, I suddenly realized what is at stake in this election-- in addition to my home state's chief executive position, there's the risk of the Democrats losing the majority in Congress. And suddenly I became interested to the point of distraction in the current American political situation, obsessively consuming analyses about what's been going on in the U.S.A. for the past year.
This happened before the last election, too-- for the month leading up to the November '08 Presidential election, I was passionate about reading the news every day. Then Obama won, and my interest waned again... it was rekindled a little when he took office in January '09, but then slipped again. I'm sure after this election is overwhen Republicans take control of Congress I'll go back to my normal state of self-absorption and mild disillusionment. But right now, voting in the midterm election seems like the most important thing I can do, as an adult citizen of the world.
*To tie into a recent post here, I'd like to point out that truly excellent word. Let's all say it together: GUBERNATORIAL. Fantastic.
-from my absentee ballot application
I've decided to vote in the upcoming midterm election.
Politics is something that I'm always, theoretically, interested in. (Let's deconstruct that sentence! Two possible meanings: "In theory, I am always interested in politics" or "I am always interested in political theory." Yes. Both are true.) However, due to the nature of my life and of myself, that interest tends to slip firmly into the theoretical and away from the practical most of the time. I read the news, but not every day; my first resource tends to be BBC News, and on any given day I'm most likely to have an Irish or EU news story brought to my attention. Most of the time I spend in front of the computer is during my work day, when reading news websites feels like procrastination and is something I try not to do. Also, I don't have a television, so I'm not going to stumble onto it that way.
This means that my attention to and knowledge of U.S. politics tends to be really lacking these days. For example, with the upcoming midterms, I didn't even realize that Michigan was having a gubernatorial* election! It didn't occur to me that Governor Jennifer Granholm's term limit would be approaching. Then, this week, I suddenly realized what is at stake in this election-- in addition to my home state's chief executive position, there's the risk of the Democrats losing the majority in Congress. And suddenly I became interested to the point of distraction in the current American political situation, obsessively consuming analyses about what's been going on in the U.S.A. for the past year.
This happened before the last election, too-- for the month leading up to the November '08 Presidential election, I was passionate about reading the news every day. Then Obama won, and my interest waned again... it was rekindled a little when he took office in January '09, but then slipped again. I'm sure after this election is over
*To tie into a recent post here, I'd like to point out that truly excellent word. Let's all say it together: GUBERNATORIAL. Fantastic.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Quick update
Just a note, following up on my last post detailing my Immigration woes-- yes, I was finally able to register. I got to the GNIB office at 4:30 in the morning, a full three hours before they opened... and I was the fourth person in line, there were three guys there ahead of me! I brought with me a blanket, travel pillow, leftover pizza to eat, and a travel mug of hot tea, as well as a fully-charged iPod, so I was as comfortable as I could be for the long cold wait. Which was still pretty damn uncomfortable.
And then of course I had to deal with The Shouty Lady, the one infamously mean GNIB officer. But in the end I got registered, so now I don't have to do that again... for a year, anyway. *sigh*
And then of course I had to deal with The Shouty Lady, the one infamously mean GNIB officer. But in the end I got registered, so now I don't have to do that again... for a year, anyway. *sigh*
Thursday, October 7, 2010
There has to be a better way
I'm starting to think that Galway's Immigration office is guilty of human rights violations.
(Backstory: if you're a non-EU or non-EEA national, and you want to stay in Ireland for more than 90 days, you have to be registered as a legal immigrant. Registration permits you to stay for up to a year. If you're a student, as I am, it's not terribly difficult-- all you need is a few pieces of easily-obtainable paperwork. Fine. I could do without the accompanying €150 fee, of course, but overall the process is fairly easy. One of my first blog entries was about my first registration.)
So I have no beef with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, as a whole. I don't even have beef with any specific employees; they are generally pretty friendly. I have a major problem with the administration of the Galway GNIB office, though.
This is the fourth year I've had to go through the registration process. The past three years, it has been like going to the DMV or Secretary of State's office or whatever-- you go to the office, take a number, and wait until you're called. In the past I've had to wait for up to 3 hours, but whatever, it happens. This year, however, they are giving out all the numbers as soon as they open their doors at 7:30 am, and since they can only process so many people per day, if there are more people than that they don't get in. Yesterday, I arrived 20 minutes before the office opened; there was already a huge line, and I didn't get in.
[Here it is worth mentioning that the GNIB office is a 35-minute walk from my house, or about a €10 cab ride.]
Today, I left the house at 5:30am, arriving just around 6am. There were already probably 35 people in line when I got there, standing or sitting on the sidewalk outside the office. I sat, in the cold, on the cold pavement, for an hour and a half until they opened. By this time there were maybe 15 more people behind me. The single employee that was working let in about 20 or 25 people, but then stopped the rest. "I can only see this many people today," he said. "Come back tomorrow, or maybe next week, and try again." More than thirty people, more than half the line, were turned away, after waiting outside in the pre-dawn cold for hours. I am young, strong, and healthy, and I found the experience miserable-- there were small children, pregnant women, and elderly people who had been waiting. For hours. Outside. In the cold. Thankfully it wasn't raining today, but in Ireland it often is.
On Monday I'm going to try again. I'm going to leave my house at FOUR O'CLOCK in the morning, to walk for 35 minutes, to get there THREE HOURS before they open. Because apparently that's what you have to do, if you want to register as an immigrant. And when I get there, I just have to hope all my paperwork is in order and they don't arbitrarily decide I need something extra. One of my friends was turned away three times in a row, after going through the same thing I did. There has got to be a better way-- more employees would be a start. Maybe if you know you only have 25 slots available, have people make appointments. Whatever it is, leaving dozens of people out in the cold for hours only to be turned away is not the right way.
(Backstory: if you're a non-EU or non-EEA national, and you want to stay in Ireland for more than 90 days, you have to be registered as a legal immigrant. Registration permits you to stay for up to a year. If you're a student, as I am, it's not terribly difficult-- all you need is a few pieces of easily-obtainable paperwork. Fine. I could do without the accompanying €150 fee, of course, but overall the process is fairly easy. One of my first blog entries was about my first registration.)
So I have no beef with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, as a whole. I don't even have beef with any specific employees; they are generally pretty friendly. I have a major problem with the administration of the Galway GNIB office, though.
This is the fourth year I've had to go through the registration process. The past three years, it has been like going to the DMV or Secretary of State's office or whatever-- you go to the office, take a number, and wait until you're called. In the past I've had to wait for up to 3 hours, but whatever, it happens. This year, however, they are giving out all the numbers as soon as they open their doors at 7:30 am, and since they can only process so many people per day, if there are more people than that they don't get in. Yesterday, I arrived 20 minutes before the office opened; there was already a huge line, and I didn't get in.
[Here it is worth mentioning that the GNIB office is a 35-minute walk from my house, or about a €10 cab ride.]
Today, I left the house at 5:30am, arriving just around 6am. There were already probably 35 people in line when I got there, standing or sitting on the sidewalk outside the office. I sat, in the cold, on the cold pavement, for an hour and a half until they opened. By this time there were maybe 15 more people behind me. The single employee that was working let in about 20 or 25 people, but then stopped the rest. "I can only see this many people today," he said. "Come back tomorrow, or maybe next week, and try again." More than thirty people, more than half the line, were turned away, after waiting outside in the pre-dawn cold for hours. I am young, strong, and healthy, and I found the experience miserable-- there were small children, pregnant women, and elderly people who had been waiting. For hours. Outside. In the cold. Thankfully it wasn't raining today, but in Ireland it often is.
On Monday I'm going to try again. I'm going to leave my house at FOUR O'CLOCK in the morning, to walk for 35 minutes, to get there THREE HOURS before they open. Because apparently that's what you have to do, if you want to register as an immigrant. And when I get there, I just have to hope all my paperwork is in order and they don't arbitrarily decide I need something extra. One of my friends was turned away three times in a row, after going through the same thing I did. There has got to be a better way-- more employees would be a start. Maybe if you know you only have 25 slots available, have people make appointments. Whatever it is, leaving dozens of people out in the cold for hours only to be turned away is not the right way.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
And now for something completely different
Instead of an update about my life, here is an update about one of my favorite things in life: words. I love words-- not just because of their literal meaning, but because of the way they look written down, the way they sound, they way they feel in your mouth when you pronounce them. I learned a new word today, and it just too wonderful not to pass on.
Petrichor: A pleasant, distinctive smell frequently accompanying the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions.
This is why I love language.
A few of my other favorite words, to use, to write, to say:
-ephemeral
-bracken
-gloaming
-crepuscular
What are some of your favorites?
Petrichor: A pleasant, distinctive smell frequently accompanying the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions.
This is why I love language.
A few of my other favorite words, to use, to write, to say:
-ephemeral
-bracken
-gloaming
-crepuscular
What are some of your favorites?
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