It’s winter here. For the last while the temperatures have been downright frigid and since yesterday we’ve been snowed on and blowed about. One of these days I’m going ot get a picture of the lovely frost on our window to post and a picture of the snow. But that is not to be until we get a couple of batteries for the digital camera. 
The term is nearly over. I have two papers due this week that I have yet to start (I’m starting tonight and hope to have it done late tonight or early tomorrow sometime and the other one will be done in the next couple of days. Then I have to study for finals, three of which are next week.
I volunteered to go out and help with the queer youth retreat that is being organized. I’ll be there in the evening and overnight (awake overnight) in case a kid or two needs to debrief about any issues that might come up during the activities. So, on the Saturday, I write a final in the morning (stats, oh joy) then I nap in the afternoon and then go out to the retreat to be a sort of chaperone.
I’m going to Winnipeg in January!! I’ve never been there. I’m going to a Queer Conference. I’m rather excited about it. I’ll probably be the oldest from our university going, but I hope that I’m not the oldest one there. Bran is giving me his centre volunteer time and 22 hours he’s accumulated in his Safe Walk volunteering so that my conference fees are paid. That means that the weekend away will cost me only what I want to spend on junk food because all of my meals are prepaid with the conference fee and my accomodations are free because we’re being billetted out. Transportation will be covered because the centre coordinator has to take one of the vans anyway. I love that concept. Even if I have to pay into a transportation pool, it won’t cost a whole lot of money.
After class today I waited for the bus. It was 40 minutes late. The bus was so crowded that the driver had to turn 2 people away to catch the next late bus. Then, when we about 10 minutes or less from my home stop, the bus that was scheduled after her drove by. At the high school we were told to change to the other bus and she (the previous, really late driver) was going to do a quick jog over to the other side of the route to get back on her designated schedule. Instead of arriving home at a little past 4 pm, I got home at 5. I hate the way traffic gets all stupid when it snows at the beginning of winter.
I finished reading my source material for my research proposal. Now I have to come up with a hypothesis, create a questionnaire that has some standard measures on it, attempt to make it have validity, write up the literature review, and try to predict how the statistics will pan out. This is nuts, but it has to be done. Oh, I also have to cite my sources. The subject I’ve chosen is domestic violence, contextualizing not only women’s acts of violence in intimate relationships, but also attempting to contextualize men’s acts of violence with questions that are similar.
There are studies out there quoting that there is symmetry of violence in interpersonal relationships. These studies don’t put the violence that partners inflict on each other into context. Is the violence primary, or is it in self-defence? What is the background of the individual? Did they grow up in violent homes? What sort of abuse did they experience prior to the acts of violence in the relationship? These are questions that feminist (and other) researchers want answered in terms of male violence and female victimization. However, missing in this are the questions to men who commit violence and those men who are victimized by violent women. Also, these questions need to be answered in terms of same-sex relationships. So really, what I want to do is attempt to figure out the root causes of much interpersonal violence in intimate relationships. At least, that’s the goal. What my hypothesis (or hypotheses) will be is unknown to me right now. I think that will come as i create the questionnaire.
It’s chilly in the house. I think I need to get me a sweater and make me a pair of fingerless mittens/gloves for working on the computer. However, because of the sheer quantity of work I have to get done, that will have to wait until I volunteer Saturday after this one coming up.
I have a doctor appointment on December 11 in the afternoon. That’s when I’ll be talking to her about how the antidepressants aren’t working as they should. There’s a blood work requisition at the office for me to pick up to see if my thyroid meds need to be changed. I think they should, but that’s up in the air because it could be that the depression is causing me to have weird sleep patterns and chronic fatigue. I guess I’ll find out. I bet my cholesterol is out of whack though, regardless of the thyroid levels. I’ve been quite the sloth.
Anyway, I must get some actual work done. I don’t like the idea. I’d rather knit and watch TV.
Rattle.
). I used to know people there because my parents knew people there but not anymore. Anyway, there are a couple of other places that I recognize, but there are new people there too. I guess that people have more time on their hands when they have 4 or more days off because of a national holicay (yes, most of the hits were from the USA).
