Monday, Mar. 14, 2022 - 5:43 pm.
Lord, the weekend went by and I failed to update. It was a busy week, the last one, so I figure it's worth recording it here, even if it's a little later than usual.
See, it's worth nothing that last Monday Andrew and I went to see a friend, C. C and her husband spent years living in an isolated area in the city, and they finally decided to move to the city centre. Andrew and I, along with another friend, went to see them and check out their new apartment. It's pretty neat!
Also very neat was that four out of five people in that get-together were bisexual. Obviously people's sexuality was not a topic, it's just that I'm just all :3 at the thought of actually having a queer social circle, starting with my own spouse. Out of the five of us, only C's husband was straight, but he's a great human being (haha, "he's straight, but he's all right"). We had a lovely evening and great conversations, and I didn't even mind coming home nearly at midnight on a Monday night.
Tuesday and Wednesday, nothing out of the ordinary happened.
NOW, Thursday. That morning my boss received some sort of lifetime achievement award at the uni's start-of-the-year ceremony. Andrew had worked with her for years, I have been working with her for years, and so we both snuck into the ceremony and cried tears of joy. She absolutely deserves it. At a bit over 50 she's had an incredible career as an academic and researcher, on top of being in a male-dominated field. A remarkable woman indeed.
I'm so lucky to have crossed paths with her. I started out as her research assistant (as Andrew did), and now she's a mentor to me. She's always supported my own career unconditionally. I've come this far in the present because she fought for a place for me in this uni.
Speaking of my career, on Thurday afternoon I gave the keynote speech for the start of the semester at the Psych Master's program. Over the last three months I spent hours upon hours preparing this presentation, and I spent 45 minutes picking an outfit the night before.
This event sounds huge but really, there were 11 students, three professors and Andrew, PhD. I do appreciate the audience, and being invited to speak. And they liked my presentation.
On Friday I saw those students again, because I gave a quick talk about my line of research, in case anyone wanted to join for their master's thesis. I don't think anyone will, but some student did approach me the day before and showed some interest. She struck me as a baby queer and I came out to her, given she was interested in researching coming out and being bi, but maybe I scared her, haha. Hopefully not, but I'm not sure she'll follow through anyway because my "lab" has no resources like other proper labs to support data collection and presenting at conferences and stuff.
Back to C, the friend from Monday. She's doing a Master's in social work, and she wants to work on intersex issues. She was talking about this on Monday night, and how she was scared to take on this subject because no one in her department was well versed in LGBT issues, let alone in intersex ones.
Cue Andrew who asked her: "Why don't you work with [simeons-twin]?". I explained to her what I do exactly. We both got excited. She asked in her department if she could have a supporting supervisor from another uni. She can! So we're meeting this week to sort all that out.
With such good news, Andrew and I headed to a friend's birthday party on Friday night. Well, not a party, a get-together. People who sit down in the garden to have a drink and a chat, and to wait for the vegetables and melted cheese to come out of the BBQ. Blessed be.
More good news that day: The new government took over. It is so strange to see a president a year younger than me, and with very much the same vision that I (and the people around me) have. I hope this vision does come to fruition. One must never stop thinking critically about the people in power, but I gave myself permission to feel joy about this. It *is* a victory.
Saturday was also great. Andrew and I went for breakfast and for a bit of shopping. It sounds mundane now, but we had a lovely day outside, and then we came back and watched a movie with food and drinks.
One last note: my home country sucks. I'm scared for everyone there, starting with my siblings and nephew. My parents are somewhat safe and inside a bubble of propaganda, particularly my dad. Can't wait to hear his arguments to defend soldiers getting behind the wheel as the new drivers for public transportation. Sarcasm. I've seen him a few times on his propaganda mode and it's just revolting.