[random] Insane grad student schedule is insane

During the following month I will translate two manga ('One Piece' 13 and '20th Century Boys' 15) and an academic article, mastermind a week of various cultural and academic activities involving a couple of hundred people from six different countries (including two dozen university professors) causing mayhem in about five different locations at the same time, finish pics for Snapely Holidays and Snarry Holidays whose designs are getting more complicated by the day, finish two abstracts, prepare a junior class on Japanese culture every week, make an appearance at a con, and select the final fanfic samples for my research from thousands of candidates. One or two instances of relaxed social interaction with friends are also scheduled. Judging from the strange bobbles growing on the inside of my elbows and knees, I should probably squeeze in "defeat bubonic plague" sometime this week. I wonder if it's a good thing when the to-do list is so absurd that it just makes you laugh and laugh and laugh and want to read PhD Comics instead of worry.

In other news, the number of new undergrads starting Japanese Studies at my university has gone up by forty percent since last year. Forty percent. It's very nice to know we're popular and the new group seems to contain a lot of interesting people, but crazy increase in student numbers + no increase whatsoever in staff numbers = frayed tempers. Hats off to the Japanese language teachers who are bravely coping with the worst of the extra workload.

[fanstuff] OTW donashun drive kitteh!

Moar kittehs!