"Guys, AIDS doesn't kill anyone!" -Janice

Abstract:
I went to the store; went to class; AIDS doesn't kill anyone; overlapping not touching; violence is violence; Civic adventures; Janice visited; dinner; research proposal; ice cream; more proposal

I meant to wake up early this morning to work on my assignments. I ended up just going to the store for some apple juice. I also bought some apples because they're something good to eat when I don't feel like cooking and I only had one left. I also got my mail and had to get my picture taken for reception. My mail was my TFN (Tax File Number) so that they won't take money away from my interest earned on my bank account and some semi-junk mail. It was about my FlyBuys points. IT technically had a point, but it was still junk to me. I know it sounds dumb, but I was kinda excited about it. It was my first junk mail not from UniLodge or ANU. It made me feel more like I actually lived here. Then I got distracted online and talking to my mom until class.

Class was pretty good. The articles were interesting and we had good discussion. There were, of course, some interesting things. One was the conversation around the title. Graham always tries to tell us that we created AIDS and that it's socially constructed. We were having a disagreement on this because you can say that it is socially constructed all you want, but you can't deny that there's actually a virus. We were arguing back and forth when Janice interjected, "guys, AIDS doesn't kill anyone!" At first we were all confused and then she was talking about how people die because of the weakened immune system and not the actual HIV. Right. That makes more sense. Janice is smart. (I'm adding that because I know she reads my blog religiously.)

Graham was trying to draw diagrams again. He's not very good at that. He tried to explain that he sees the different concepts of structural violence on a continuum and he said, "I think they overlap, but don't touch." In what world does that make sense? I'm pretty sure that by definition of overlapping, they touch. Then he tried to say it was kinda 3D and then Winnon said something along the lines of "so a Z coordinate" and something about bringing in Calculus. Then I reminded him that Graham is an anthropologist and doesn't do maths.

We were talking about the three types of structural violence today; structural, symbolic, and normative.  The differences were really confusing, as my description in the paragraph above should show. Karemah then said, "Remember when violence was just violence?" Back in the good old days! The time before Graham!

During class, Janice kept saying that she REALLY wanted gelato. She gets really bad cravings and we had to go to civic after class so that she could get a tub. First we went to the Apple store because her phone is breaking, the home and power buttons don't work, so she wanted to see how much it would cost for her to get a new iphone. I always feel so awkward in Apple stores. It's like me walking into a Pepsi factory!

Next we went to gelatissimo. Janice got the small tub, so she could pick three flavours. Then I wanted to go to SupaBarn because I wanted to get some Caramello ice cream. I was running low and I'm going to need ice cream to get through this week! Then we tried to find the last part of my Halloween costume. We looked at Top Bargain, but they didn't have it. Then we went to a sporting goods store, where they had it. (I'm still not saying my costume, though) I'm not sure if I'm more uncomfortable in the Apple store or the sport store!

Then I got back and Janice came over for a little bit. She had me read through some of her proposal to make sure that it made sense. We were also talking about how the articles are depressing. She said we'll all going to die in Hell because we're part of why structural violence exists. I told her that I wasn't and then she asked, "Because you're Christian?" Yup. Then I added that technically she wouldn't die in Hell. She'd die then go there. I'm so funny.

When Janice left, I tried to take a nap. Instead I just lay awake in my bed wishing I was napping. Then I made dinner. I was planning on chicken and asparagus, but I was too hungry to wait, so I heat up my pasta in the meantime. I ate some of my asparagus and kept the rest and the chicken for another day. The asparagus was really good. I'm not sure why I haven't cooked that before now. I just boil it. It couldn't be easier!

While I was eating, I started working on my research proposal for qualitative. It's boring. It isn't that it's particularly hard, I say that now but I'll probably fail, but I just can't focus on it. I've been so much more awake recently, but I can't for the life of me focus. I'm not sure if it is because of my anti-anxiety meds or not. The only side effect listed on the bottle is that it may cause drowsiness. Well that's kind of the opposite of how I'm feeling.

Then I watched tv online and ate ice cream to take a bit of a break during writing my proposal. Now I better get back to it. While we're just turning in the draft tomorrow so it won't be graded, I want to have most of it done so that I won't have much to edit when I get it back and need to focus on my other assignments.

Oh, and I added the abstract at the beginning because of a conversation that I had with my old roommate, Caitlin. She said that she rarely reads my blog because she doesn't have time. I told her that I know because it's so long. She suggested that I put an abstract. Not a summary, but an abstract. We're nerds. You can tell we read too many academic articles!