G-ness

This meme is from my dear Jackie, who had L as her letter, and listed me as one of her L things.  :-D

Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. Write ten words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation what the word means to you and why, and than pass out letters to those who want to play along.

( G )

Going to bed now.

P.S. - My Xenite friends, please vote for Xena at http://www2.teavee.com/xena-warrior-princess/.

Poor Kerensky and lucky me

After escaping from Russia, Alexander Kerensky apparently applied for a job as the Head of the History Department at the University of Melbourne, but was rejected. A woman got the job instead.

I vaguely feel sorry for him. He spent the rest of his life in exile writing political stuff and memoirs about Russia. And then the Russian Orthodox Church wouldn't even let his body be buried in Russia on account of the fact that he failed to stop Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

I asked mum if she thought the Chinese Cultural Revolution was a good thing overall (given the state of China at the moment - i.e. lookin' good), and she said no. I'm still undecided on the issue. On the one hand, it played a part in modernizing China and making it a growing world power that owes nothing to the bastard Western empires such as those that try to steal Hong Kong *cough* and it really advanced women's equality, like really... on the other hand, the revolution itself was pretty brutal, rural China is still poor, people are still being exploited, and it robbed my grandparents of family heirlooms, jewellery and a grand piano... not to mention it dispersed the family across several provinces.

Oh!  Speaking of China.  The next Phonetics assignment, which is about contour tone languages, is on Peking Mandarin.  Like omg!  How unfair is that?  Unfair for people other than me, that is, and for those who aren't international students that speak Mandarin.  When she announced it, I couldn't help but smile because I have a HUGE advantage, since I'm already familiar with the tones and could tell you which was which if I was drunk, half asleep and deaf in one ear.  I should feel bad for people who are disadvantaged, but... eh, I'm still happy.  :D