Tinnitus, Habits, International relations.

A slight persistent background whistle tells me I’m not invulnerable. Years spent happily rocking out in tiny clubs and gig venues, or blasting my bedroom walls with improbable sounds, have taken their toll. Whatever the aesthetic drawbacks of earplugs, I might have to acquiesce or end up a bit too Morrissey-esque for my own liking.

Habits. Habits at the breakfast table. Habits when I log online. An easy way to avoid the here and now, to let things slide a bit. Not that I’m beating myself up about them. That’s another habit you see. Better to give them the old knowing look of a disapproving but loving parent. I’ve got my eye on you…

Apparently I’m now in International Relations. Never in all my born days… I suppose it’s because of the new school reorganisation. SocCul has been broken up, and Anthro, IR and Geography, Development and Migration Studies have now been mushed together into a new ‘School of Global Studies’, casting us adrift from our kinfolk in Sociology and Gender Studies. I doesn’t really matter. But I was rather enjoying my Geographer Status. With its maps, networks, spaces and places, and without any of the romance of Anthropology or the hardnut theory-building of Sociology, Geography is sensitive geek chic par excellence. IR is all War, Order, Treaties, security – its Geography’s military-history obsessed slightly autistic cousin. It ain’t me babe.