wow I never thought I'd agree with 33% of Bush's statements

You preferred Bush's statements 33% of the time You preferred Kerry's statements 67% of the time Voting purely on the issues you should vote Kerry Who would you vote for if you voted on the issues? Find out now!

He must have some very excellent spin people - though all the statements in the little quiz were REALLY ambiguous.

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Ugh grant applications stink. I feel guilty for not having a chapter written. I am writing applications for a grant for next year so that I can write my dissertation in peace without loans or jobs or other craziness. Of course they already want a chunk of dissertation written when I apply. This seems a little odd to me. They give me a grant to write my dissertation and do nothing else (I'm not allowed to be employed) but they want a chunk of it done already to prove that I will actually be able to do it. So now I have to cobble together an introductory chapter so that I can win the grant to actually write the dissertation. Argh.

In other news, the pizza party was mellow and fun - the pizza actually turned out like pizza, I was quite proud.

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today on TV I caught Ostonasi Tillodan or "from the golden threshold." It is a show about traditional Uzbek culture with mildly nationalistic overtones and today was bakshi day - bakshis are uzbek epic singers who usually play the dombra, a 2 stringed fretless instrument. All the bakshis on the show had duppis on and chappans (robes) which seem to be the rural nationalistic uniform of sorts. Any time someone is trying to display their traditional uzbekness in a villiage context, he is shown in duppi and chappan.

At some point in the show they had a young bakshi on (like many traditions, most of the practitioners are old). At somepoint her made the comment that he knows he's young but that playing the music is a great way to experience the "vattan" or the homeland.

I tried to tape the show through my video camera but the screen looks all wonky - at some point I'm going to figure out how to own a VCR in this country.

I've had a pretty good rate this year of getting American conveniences - we've had pizza and pancakes all in the last 24 hours.

Our friend Hondamir came over for pancake dinner tonight - he told me it was even better than IHOP :)