Hmmm…
I got a 66 on my paper from Susan Manning on Johnson and Boswell’s Tour of the Highlands. Bah Humbug. According to the University grading scale, anything between a 60 and a 69 per cent is considered “a very good performance”; a 70 or above is the highest with description of “an excellent performance”. I thought this essay was better than my last two essays from last term, but I scored higher on those (a 70 and 68). Ah well. Now I’ll just have to produce an amazing dissertation!
Good news, Susan’s asked me to be her research assistant for a large work on the History of Scottish Literature published by Edinburgh Uni Press. It’ll mainly be some basic proofing, inputting her editing, fact and reference checking, etc. The job pays a total of 1000 GBP but will be a job lasting for most of the year and won’t have consistent hours (so I’m not sure how good the pay will work out to be). Now I need to figure out what’s up with Holyrood Conferences (do I keep working with them as a report writer? That is, if I even have a consistent job there…they haven’t made it abundantly clear.). Any advice would be most appreciated on that front.
In other news, Bryce’s last final is tomorrow. I’m madly working on getting the report written for Holyrood before we leave on holiday next week. The Christianity Explored course is tonight. I’m working tomorrow at Plaisir du Chocolat (just pray it isn’t busy). Bryce has a game of football (soccer for all you Americans) tomorrow evening after his finals are completed. And I have a few meetings to attend on Friday (and hopefully the bit of work Susan needs me to do and the conference report will be finished by then!) and then we’ll go to dinner at the Hays’s. There’s a Scottish Reformed Conference on Saturday that the Randalls, Hays, and Bryce are going to. Then we’re going to dinner at the Randall’s (yay, two nights in a row without cooking or washing dishes!). I want to go as well, but it may be better for me to stay home and work (either on my own academic work or on paid work). Then church on Sunday and then Monday we fly down to London, stay with my parents’s friends and then fly to GREECE on Tuesday for a week of relaxation, sun, warmth, olive oil and feta cheese! The Hays are flying back to America next week; so we’re trying to hang out, enjoy the nicer weather here, study and get work done. Whew, I’ll be so thrilled to get on that plane to Greece! We need a holiday. 
May 12th, 2004 at 3:35 pm
Susan’s comment about the mark if anyone cares to know:
“I don’t think 66 is a weak mark at all! A high 2.1, and it was a good paper. To improve the mark from there into a First, you’d want to contextualise the argument a bit more, and perhaps pay more attention to both the /Journey /and the /Tour /as textual performances — ie not records of personal opinions, but composed literary interventions. We could talk more about this if you’d like some more detailed feedback — perhaps you could bring it along after you get back from your break? But don’t be downhearted; it was, as I say, a good piece.”
May 12th, 2004 at 4:12 pm
Wow! Congratulations on all fronts! So excited that you got the job with Susan. What a learning experience that will be! Along with your own research, I think that is maybe all that you should take on, that way you won’t get into a time crunch and you can do quality work all around. Loved the detailed update…have a wonderful week of fun and study. Know you are so looking forward to Santorini! Love, Mom
May 12th, 2004 at 9:08 pm
Except 1000 GBP for several months’ work isn’t so great when rent is about 360 per month…
May 14th, 2004 at 3:22 pm
A woman in my class got a 70 on her paper. Oh well. I asked her to email it to me, so I could get some pointers for the future.