curiouswombat: (K Baby pic)
[personal profile] curiouswombat
Our internet connection has been playing up - poor S2C has spent ages trying to get it working properly, and this is the first time for a couple of days that I have been online for more than 10-15 minutes. So far, so good...

I have been looking for a picture of me and my motorbike - I am sure that I saw a particular one only within the last couple of weeks, but now I can't find it - I have found a couple of others though, so I'll scan them in eventually!

D-d has started her Finals - in the British sense, not the American one, so much more scary! First one went well, and she is now wrapping up her dissertation.

Even now, she asks her Dad and I to beta read things like that, hence the following phone conversation.

The title of the dissertation is "Eighteenth Century Homosexuality: Molly Subcultures and the Societies for the Reformation of Manners". As you can see the subject is unusual, and open to humour...

S2C suggested a minor word change - because she had written It is apparent that men were aware of their own tendency towards sodomy and that they were not alone in this: and he pointed out that, as written, it meant all male humans, and so, if they were not alone in this, there must be others who were not men...

So - phone conversation involving all three of us -

"It could be women with strap-ons, or possibly porcupines..."

"Not hedgehogs though, because the hedgehog can't be buggered at all..." (Terry Pratchett ref. there!)

"Martians, perhaps... new slant on Mars attacks..."

"Well it makes me look at daleks in a whole different light..."

"You will be sodomised!"

"The Borg! The Borg! We put the ass in assimilate!"

The last, I hate to admit, was mine - and then I had to leave the room for fear of doing myself a nasty injury - from laughing too much, I hasten to add!!

PS - corrected version reads - "THESE men were aware..."

Date: 02/05/2009 10:29 pm (UTC)
deird1: Fred looking pretty and thoughful (Default)
From: [personal profile] deird1
*collapses in giggles*

Date: 02/05/2009 11:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Which is exactly what I did...

Date: 02/05/2009 10:40 pm (UTC)
jerusha: (adgrin)
From: [personal profile] jerusha
HEE! Good luck to your daughter. I'm sure she'll do brilliantly as always!

Date: 02/05/2009 11:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
She was pretty happy with the first final - although she said that there was a slight freak-out in the middle when she went 'OMG! This is it! These are Finals! Eeek!' but she recovered!

She has another two or three to go, and the deadline for the dissertation is Thursday, I think.

Date: 02/05/2009 11:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petzipellepingo.livejournal.com
"snorfle"

Good luck to D-d!

Date: 02/05/2009 11:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
It is scary to realise that she has reached Finals - in the British system 'Finals' are the exams at the end of the three years that determine whether you get the degree or not, and what class of honours you will make - so Very Big Exams!

She is also taking her mind off them by looking for somewhere to live for next year, before all the good accommodation near the Law School is taken. When she isn't considering sodomy in the early eighteenth century, that is!

Date: 02/05/2009 11:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] artykat.livejournal.com
THIS IS THE WEIRDEST POST (oops, cat put the caps on!) of yours that I've ever read! And I definitely heard the Daleks say that, in their voice! LOL``````````

Date: 02/05/2009 11:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
There are sometimes all sorts of odd phone conversations (http://curiouswombat.livejournal.com/151133.html) between my daughter and her father...



Date: 03/05/2009 12:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fangfaceandrea.livejournal.com
huh you're really cool parents. I could never have that conversation with my mom, even if we change the Dr. who references, of which we don't know anything about, it would be an unfortunate chat to have with her.

Date: 03/05/2009 08:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Once she had decided on the subject of her dissertation we either could have looked shocked or, as I did, say 'That sounds interesting.' But once picked, unless we had ignored it all totally, it was bound to lead to fairly open conversations!

Although I guess she could have simply not mentioned it at all, or lied about it - but then she would have known that I would have wanted to know why I couldn't read it.

Date: 03/05/2009 01:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vilajunkie.livejournal.com
I have to ask why she picked such a topic. :D

And I must admit that you're much cooler parents than mine own, as I don't think my mom is aware of eighteenth-century homosexuality, let alone Daleks and Terry Pratchett!

Date: 03/05/2009 08:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I'm not sure why she picked it - four of her friends from school, three guys and one girl, are gay, and she was fascinated by Oscar Wilde in her teens - so I guess that sparked it off. She has done a module in her degree on Sexuality in History as well.

They have a subset within the History Department at York who specialise in what they lovingly know as 'Queer History' so finding a supervisor would not have been hard.

We are the generation that hid behind the couch from the daleks first time round, and got into Terry Pratchett when the Colour of Magic first came out in paperback...

Date: 04/05/2009 04:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vilajunkie.livejournal.com
Oh, I'm not saying you (and my parents) wouldn't have known about Whoverse and Discworld when they came out, but my mom isn't interested in science fiction and fantasy, except for the brief period during her college/uni years as a literature and communication major when she bought LotR and the Silmarillon (sp?). Her favorite non-American author is probably Maeve Binchy, hardly one known for surrealistic ideas.

On second thought, I she knows vaguely about Dr. Who when it first came to the US, as some of her boyfriends dabbled in Anglophilia, and she and I have watched a few episodes of the 9th and 10th Doctor together on BBC America.

Date: 03/05/2009 03:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pfeifferpack.livejournal.com
What a lucky girl your daughter is! What a delightful family with such fun discussions. I love all of you to pieces!

We Americans are uptight and rarely discuss ANYTHING openly. The look of horror on my parents faces when they finally saw the beginning (they refused to sit through the entirety) of Clockwork Orange after I had said it was a thought provoking film and they should see it. The response was, "You LIKED that?" I felt quite cheap and tawdry.

Kathleen

Date: 03/05/2009 08:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I have to admit to still not having seen A Clockwork Orange - but then there are a lot of films I should have seen that I haven't!

Actually she was quite happy to explain to my mother what her dissertation was about, too. Although Granny would have been a bit fazed by the Borg, and probably the person who mentioned the strap-ons would not have done so in front of her!

Date: 03/05/2009 03:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bojojoti.livejournal.com
Your finals sound like our licensing tests. Our son took his GMAT (business test) and Bumberjean took the NCLEX (nursing). So, you can graduate from college with honors and a degree, but it doesn't mean a thing if you don't pass your licensing test. The NCLEX can take up to six hours to take!

I'm thinking the Borg are more like hedgehogs...

Date: 03/05/2009 08:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
They do sound similar - the Big One! D-d's Finals are spread over a four week period - that first one was a two-day job (!!) - something that I gather is more or less unique to the History Department, and there are another three to go, I think.

You could be right about the Borg...

Date: 03/05/2009 04:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] appomattoxco.livejournal.com
A gay member of Starfleet International once dressed as the Borg Drag Queen for Halloween. So I had a very clear and funny picture in my mind LOL!

Date: 03/05/2009 08:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Oh wonderful! You so would have!

Date: 03/05/2009 05:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zanthinegirl.livejournal.com
I'm trying to visualize having that conversation with my parents, and am totally unable. You guys have obviously done something right! :D

Granted the most "interesting" topic I remember writing about when I was in college was TB...

Date: 03/05/2009 08:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Once she had decided on the topic for her dissertation such conversations were almost inevitable! On the other hand I can see that some people's upbringing would mean that the subject would never have occurred to them in the first place...!

Date: 03/05/2009 06:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozma914.livejournal.com
Fun conversations are fun!

Date: 03/05/2009 09:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
My family all have a strange sense of humour!

Date: 03/05/2009 10:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozma914.livejournal.com
i know how that goes!

Date: 03/05/2009 06:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com
LOL! What fun you all have! All the very best to your daughter with the rest of her exams. I remember that moment of panic myself on realising so much rests on those final few hours.


Date: 03/05/2009 09:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I remember that moment of panic myself Me too. Scary, wasn't it?

I have a family with a weird sense of humour - conversations can swing from a deep discussion of historical accuracy to the ridiculous in a few seconds!
(deleted comment)

Date: 03/05/2009 09:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
She is hoping for a good 2.1 at the end.

One of D-d's friends is at Edinburgh, and she is now at the difficult point of deciding on a topic and title for her dissertation, too - the two of them were discussing it when both home over Easter.

Date: 03/05/2009 11:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellaygee-09.livejournal.com
Snerk! Now there's a family conversation you don't see everyday.

Good luck to your daughter.

Date: 03/05/2009 12:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I think it was the way that we could have ridiculous conversations that really drew S2C and I together - and, fortunately, the daughter has inherited the same sense of humour!

Date: 03/05/2009 04:51 pm (UTC)
ext_47048: (Default)
From: [identity profile] jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com
LOL! What a topic of conversation.

My daughter's just finished her dissertation on 'The Misrepresentation of Science in the Media' but there's not nearly as much room for humour!

Date: 03/05/2009 05:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Maybe less chance of terrible puns and jokes - but probably interesting. My poor husband didn't really find D-d's all that interesting - he'd have preferred your daughter's. Although I was quite fascinated by my daughter's one, and learnt a whole lot of things I hadn't known before - ranging from why no-one was ever found guilty of sodomy for many, many years, to what 'ingling' was...

Almost totally off topic - but I often look at this pic of my daughter and want to give her ears little points!

Date: 03/05/2009 04:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] framefolly.livejournal.com
> "We put the ass in assimilate!"

*dies laughing*

You are such a cool family! Best of luck to your daughter -- I'm sure she'll succeed with flying colors!

Date: 03/05/2009 05:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Glad to amuse! She seems fairly content with the Finals so far. (Finals in Britain are just that - the final exams which determine whether or not you get your degree, and what class it will be - so scary!)

Date: 04/05/2009 08:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] caegey.livejournal.com
I cannot get over in my mind that she has finished University and is going to Law School. When I first joined LJ and we became friends, she was applying to University and taking her A Levels. This is one of those obvious time flies moments, but I am a little bit shocked. That conversation was killer - very funny.

Date: 04/05/2009 11:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
It is scary, isn't it? We had her twenty-first birthday a few weeks ago, and she will soon be a graduate!

I have to say that I rather like the young woman that she has become, though.

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