New intro post
Sep. 10th, 2015 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12Hello to all the new people now following me as a result of the friending meme (and for those of you who haven't seen the meme yet, it's here).
I thought I'd introduce myself to all of you. Feel free to ask me questions about anything.
My name is Ronni, and I'm a library assistant at one of the academic libraries within the University of Cambridge in the UK. I'm an immigrant — I moved to Cambridge from Australia about seven years ago to do an MPhil in medieval Irish literature. I followed the MPhil with a PhD in the same subject area (my thesis was on literary representations of authority, dispossession, land and history, and the interaction thereof, in five eleventh/twelfth-century Irish texts), which I finished just over a year ago. Academia left me intellectually and emotionally exhausted, and I knew it wasn't for me, so I didn't pursue it beyond the PhD.
I began working in libraries as a weekend job as a way to make some extra money during my PhD. The first library job I took I normally call Original Library Job. I worked there for five years and only recently handed in my notice. In January of last year I began working part-time in another library (New Library Job), and added to this with an evening job in a third library (Newer Library Job). (Cambridge has A LOT of academic libraries.) Since January this year I've been working in pretty much my dream job (Newest Library Job). It's in reader support in yet another academic library in Cambridge, and mainly involves providing teaching and training in information literacy for the library users. I really love it.
Before my postgraduate studies, I worked as a book-reviewer and subeditor at a newspaper in Australia.
My partner is Matthias, and he also did a PhD in an area of medieval studies (in his case, Old English philology, hence my occasional reference to him online as My Favourite Philologist) before moving on to work in libraries. Last academic year he worked in four different libraries, but this year he's full-time in one, also an academic library within the University of Cambridge. He's working on a library and information studies MA via distance learning.
I'm the oldest of five sisters (the next sister down has the same mother and father as me, the other three share a father with us but have a different mother), and talk about them from time to time. Other people I mention here from time to time:
Sraffies are friends I met originally on a His Dark Materials fan forum. Most of us have met in real life now, and our friendship is based more on shared online/real-life experiences than HDM fandom.
Obernetters are friends I met originally on a forum for fans of the Australian YA series Obernewtyn. Again, most of us have met in real life now.
ASNCs are friends I made through the department in Cambridge where I studied for my MPhil and PhD.
I tend to talk about a mixture of fannish and real-life stuff, with a slight preference towards discussing fannish things. I'm interested in people's reviews and reactions to stuff, and finding out why they like (or dislike) the stories they do. I love discovering new books and TV shows with other people.
Forever fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, His Dark Materials, a huge number of books which I will outline in another category.
Current more well-known active fandoms: Mad Max: Fury Road, Orphan Black, Sens8, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (book and TV show), Orange Is The New Black, Pretty Little Liars (although the most recent season finale is making me question my desire to stick with it), The Raven Cycle, Jane The Virgin, The 100, Peaky Blinders, and, for want of a better description, folklore and mythology with a focus on female characters, particularly those that don't get much narrative attention in the source material (a representative example being Briseis and Chryseis from the Iliad).
Tiny fandoms-of-one that are really what I want to talk about: The Romanitas trilogy by Sophia McDougall, The Pagan Chronicles series by Catherine Jinks, Galax Arena, and the Space Demons trilogy by Gillian Rubinstein, The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon, The Demon's Lexicon trilogy by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Troy Game series by Sara Douglass, the Legendsong series by Isobelle Carmody, the Tomorrow series by John Marsden, basically the entire output of Victor Kelleher, the Crossroads trilogy by Kate Elliott, and Juniper and Wise Child by Monica Furlong.
In other words, if you're a fan of any of these books, or might like to be, let me know!
I also post quite a bit about fannish culture and community issues, within both the pro-SFF and transformative works sides of fandom.
As well as Dreamwidth, you can find me at:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dolorosa_12 (a mirror of my Dreamwidth blog, and if you have accounts in both places, I'd really prefer to be added on Dreamwidth)
![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
ronnidolorosa
![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
dolorosa
![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Dolorosa
I also have a Wordpress blog where I post reviews and essays; I'm a contributing reviewer at Those Who Run With Wolves, and I've recently got really into making and listening to playlists and fanmixes at 8tracks (where you can find me here).
Feel free to add me at any of these places, although if your username is really different to your Dreamwidth handle, could you let me know, so that I know who you are.
I rarely post under lock. You are welcome to link, share, mention, or reblog any public post I make in any of the places I've listed (so, for example, I have no problem with a fic on Ao3 being shared on Tumblr, a Dreamwidth post referenced on Twitter, a tweet linked on LJ, and so on).
I think that's enough to start with. I look forward to getting to know you all.
I thought I'd introduce myself to all of you. Feel free to ask me questions about anything.
My name is Ronni, and I'm a library assistant at one of the academic libraries within the University of Cambridge in the UK. I'm an immigrant — I moved to Cambridge from Australia about seven years ago to do an MPhil in medieval Irish literature. I followed the MPhil with a PhD in the same subject area (my thesis was on literary representations of authority, dispossession, land and history, and the interaction thereof, in five eleventh/twelfth-century Irish texts), which I finished just over a year ago. Academia left me intellectually and emotionally exhausted, and I knew it wasn't for me, so I didn't pursue it beyond the PhD.
I began working in libraries as a weekend job as a way to make some extra money during my PhD. The first library job I took I normally call Original Library Job. I worked there for five years and only recently handed in my notice. In January of last year I began working part-time in another library (New Library Job), and added to this with an evening job in a third library (Newer Library Job). (Cambridge has A LOT of academic libraries.) Since January this year I've been working in pretty much my dream job (Newest Library Job). It's in reader support in yet another academic library in Cambridge, and mainly involves providing teaching and training in information literacy for the library users. I really love it.
Before my postgraduate studies, I worked as a book-reviewer and subeditor at a newspaper in Australia.
My partner is Matthias, and he also did a PhD in an area of medieval studies (in his case, Old English philology, hence my occasional reference to him online as My Favourite Philologist) before moving on to work in libraries. Last academic year he worked in four different libraries, but this year he's full-time in one, also an academic library within the University of Cambridge. He's working on a library and information studies MA via distance learning.
I'm the oldest of five sisters (the next sister down has the same mother and father as me, the other three share a father with us but have a different mother), and talk about them from time to time. Other people I mention here from time to time:
Sraffies are friends I met originally on a His Dark Materials fan forum. Most of us have met in real life now, and our friendship is based more on shared online/real-life experiences than HDM fandom.
Obernetters are friends I met originally on a forum for fans of the Australian YA series Obernewtyn. Again, most of us have met in real life now.
ASNCs are friends I made through the department in Cambridge where I studied for my MPhil and PhD.
I tend to talk about a mixture of fannish and real-life stuff, with a slight preference towards discussing fannish things. I'm interested in people's reviews and reactions to stuff, and finding out why they like (or dislike) the stories they do. I love discovering new books and TV shows with other people.
Forever fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, His Dark Materials, a huge number of books which I will outline in another category.
Current more well-known active fandoms: Mad Max: Fury Road, Orphan Black, Sens8, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (book and TV show), Orange Is The New Black, Pretty Little Liars (although the most recent season finale is making me question my desire to stick with it), The Raven Cycle, Jane The Virgin, The 100, Peaky Blinders, and, for want of a better description, folklore and mythology with a focus on female characters, particularly those that don't get much narrative attention in the source material (a representative example being Briseis and Chryseis from the Iliad).
Tiny fandoms-of-one that are really what I want to talk about: The Romanitas trilogy by Sophia McDougall, The Pagan Chronicles series by Catherine Jinks, Galax Arena, and the Space Demons trilogy by Gillian Rubinstein, The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon, The Demon's Lexicon trilogy by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Troy Game series by Sara Douglass, the Legendsong series by Isobelle Carmody, the Tomorrow series by John Marsden, basically the entire output of Victor Kelleher, the Crossroads trilogy by Kate Elliott, and Juniper and Wise Child by Monica Furlong.
In other words, if you're a fan of any of these books, or might like to be, let me know!
I also post quite a bit about fannish culture and community issues, within both the pro-SFF and transformative works sides of fandom.
As well as Dreamwidth, you can find me at:
dolorosa_12 (a mirror of my Dreamwidth blog, and if you have accounts in both places, I'd really prefer to be added on Dreamwidth)I also have a Wordpress blog where I post reviews and essays; I'm a contributing reviewer at Those Who Run With Wolves, and I've recently got really into making and listening to playlists and fanmixes at 8tracks (where you can find me here).
Feel free to add me at any of these places, although if your username is really different to your Dreamwidth handle, could you let me know, so that I know who you are.
I rarely post under lock. You are welcome to link, share, mention, or reblog any public post I make in any of the places I've listed (so, for example, I have no problem with a fic on Ao3 being shared on Tumblr, a Dreamwidth post referenced on Twitter, a tweet linked on LJ, and so on).
I think that's enough to start with. I look forward to getting to know you all.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-17 08:46 pm (UTC)The library world in Cambridge is...weird. Very cliqueish, and somewhat insular
Yeah, that was the impression I got. Unfortunately coming in as an outsider I never did get that foot in the door, and I felt pretty dejected after my three month stint as a temporary library assistant. (It was a tiny faculty library where the head librarian wasn't very good at anything people-related, and tried to keep the fact that they were cutting my contract a month short under wraps until they could go on vacation, so. Not the best experience.)
It does seem like it would be a fascinating place to work, though! Once you're in the system, it seems like there are plenty of networks and interest groups for various aspects of librarianship, which is something you don't really get in a public library in my experience. Plus some of the most amazing collections, of course - I've never done any rare book stuff, but just the fact that so many treasures exist right here is exciting to my nerdy little soul.
And to be fair to the library I mentioned, the fact that they let me go early is how I ended up with my current job, where I'm very happy! I've got an awesome line manager - she's totally a mentor-figure who looks out for me, and I learn a lot from watching her in action - and work with a great group of people in a role where I can develop a lot of useful skills.
Coming from Australia, which has terrible public transport (or indeed transport of any kind, unless you're flying between major cities), and where a trip to the coast with my friends necessitated an eight-hour bus ride, Britain's trains actually seem fantastic to me!
It's nice to put things in perspective! I suppose Britain does quite a lot better than for example the US in the public transport department - but then again, US roads are way more convenient (if less safe) than UK ones. The smallness of the country helps too - it's a haul with plenty of changes, but you can be in gorgeous places like Wales and Scotland in 5-6 hours of travel. It's just for short getaways that Cambridge is inconveniently located - I'm sorry, East Anglia, Wicken Fen is not an exciting destination, no matter how long it's been part of the Natural Trust. :/ As for Cambridge's immediate surroundings, it's just... very flat.
Ah, right now we're in the middle of getting my wife
Wow, what fascinating places to have lived in!
Thanks! Though I think Australia would be pretty cool too - I've never even been there. (We're sort of holding off until our relationship is legally acknowledged there.)
Really, the only one of those places I went to myself was Japan - my parents are Swiss and Swedish! We moved from Switzerland to Sweden when I was very young, but drove the 2000km down to Switzerland every summer to spend 6-8 weeks living there.
I first went to Japan on an exchange - my MLIS was a 2-year program, and as soon as I realized my University had an exchange with Japan I decided I had to go. A very close friend had done 6 months in Kyoto and loved it, another friend had been in Tokyo, and I had studied Japanese... It was brilliant.
I went to Kyoto, loved it, came home and finished my degree and then headed straight back to Japan because... why not? So all in all I lived there for three and a half years - one of which was the international exchange program (we had lectures in English and also studied Japanese). I returned to Japan to study at a language school for six months, and then I got a job as a conversational English teacher out in the countryside. I did that for a year, then worked as a teacher in an English-language preschool for Japanese kids near Osaka. I had a blast, and only returned to Sweden to work on my librarian resume as a step to moving countries to be with my then long-distance girlfriend (now wife).
It sounds like you've got the same feelings for Cambridge that I did for Kyoto! It's a wonderful thing to find a new place to make your home and belong, and find people to share that with. ♥
no subject
Date: 2015-09-19 01:45 pm (UTC)That sounds awful. I had a similarly frustrating experience (although for different reasons) at my previous job, which I will tell you all about in person if we do so in the future. (On that score, no rush. Sorry to hear about your cycling accident, and I hope you're on the road to recovery soon.)
It's just for short getaways that Cambridge is inconveniently located - I'm sorry, East Anglia, Wicken Fen is not an exciting destination, no matter how long it's been part of the Natural Trust. :/ As for Cambridge's immediate surroundings, it's just... very flat.
I hear you! There's only so many times you can go on day trips to Ely, and a lot of the smaller villages are only accessible by very erratically scheduled buses.
right now we're in the middle of getting my wife doctorskuld a spousal visa, so we're without passports.
Ugh, the endless wait for visas. If I understand your circumstances correctly, she may be applying for the same type of visa that I recently received (I have a spousal visa through my partner, who is German, so it's one of those EEA-route visas). I had to wait 4.5 months for the stupid thing! However, you are able to request your passports back without affecting the application, as long as you've done your biometrics and received your certificate of application (basically the acknowledgement that your visa is being processed and that you are allowed to remain and work in the UK until a decision has been made). I successfully reentered the UK with only my passport and the certificate, about four months into the wait for the visa, although I did have my partner with me. We were travelling back from Germany. I'm not sure if all this is relevant or helpful, but I just thought I'd let you know. But yes, visa applications, particularly in the UK, are the absolute worst. Good luck to your wife!
Your experience in Japan sounds incredible, and I can see that it really became a home for you, a place of great importance. I've only been to Japan once - to Kyoto, Nara and Hiroshima - on a school trip in 2000 (my secondary school had a sister school in Nara). It was a wonderful trip, but obviously not the same as living and working there for many years. I hope you have a chance to go back there at some point.