| 2005 |
[08 Nov 2009|02:21pm] |
Aww...
I've been looking back on my livejournal over summer 2005.
I was writing about G8 protest related stuff and realised I'd blogged about the protests in Edinburgh at the time (haha, not very eloquently admittedly, but it's still a record of what I saw/felt/thought when it was all happening). It was sort of the beginning of any political awareness that I've developed too, so I like having a record of it on a personal level.
Anyway, I carried on reading and it brought back so many memories. There were happy memories, sad memories, mixed up memories, confuzzled memories - but most of all, chaotic memories.
It was in the first few months of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cr4k and I living together, when we were working at the Pleasance. Highlights included:
- pink vomit
- accidental poisonings (the moral of the story was never use cooking utensils to make dread soap with)
- worrying about work (the one constant in my life)
- people I didn't know turning up in my bedroom at 4am and telling me that everything was ok, because they'd put Matt in the recovery position.
- pissing around online making cartoons that inadvertantly offended our friends (sorry year_x and superbagelboy, I just found the oh-so-hilarious 'tall tales' cartoon and felt a bit bad).
- my final edg&r freshers' week. The one where Doggeroo the rock kangaroo went missing *sob*.
A fun-filled couple of months.
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[29 Oct 2009|09:22pm] |
It's half term! This wouldn't really feature on my radar, but we've been trying to do funstuff with A in her week-and-a-bit off school.
We took her to the National Space Centre today, which was fun fun fun. Well, sort off, apart from it was really hot and full of small children who weren't as good at queuing up as A! However, despite the noise and stuffiness it was still good to take her somewhere which was fun as well as vaguely educational.
There was this amaaazing competitive-Dad type bloke queuing behind us at one point. He was trying to get his (very young children) to recite back to him what LHC stood for in this film we'd watched (then messed up saying large hadron collider himself)... if that's even the correct spelling. The children just looked a bit bewildered.
I liked all the films and interactive-y stuff about the gas giants and kuiper belt, as they're things I like reading about - so it was good to chat to A about them too. Sadly I don't think the others found that bit as interesting as me. I made them sit through this film about the Voyager probes too (if probe is the right term??) but got the distinct feeling it was only really interesting for me... possibly due to nostalgia value, as I remember a documentary about it when I was little that was really brilliant, it was the first time I found out much about Uranus and Neptune and it just all seemed so new I suppose.
It's weird typing that, I know loads of people who've done science degrees and I sort of feel like a gigantic child who's spent the day running round a museum getting excited about things a lot of people probably think are kind of basic or boring... but on the other hand I've read a lot of stuff in various philosophies of science about how certain planets were discovered/understandings of the universe were developed... it's like I've got these two takes on it that are poles apart, with a massive gap in the middle where the actual 'real scientific knowledge' bit should probably go.
Saying that, I like being excited about things, so don't really mind - even though I probably should do :S
I need to update more often, I like lj looooads more than facebook and want to keep reading - but it's a bit hypocritical if I don't do it myself.
If you're still reading and want to answer a space themed question: what's your favourite moon in the solar system? Mine's Io!
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[19 Oct 2009|09:09am] |
urg... my hair is scabby, my brain is scrambled, but I'm still desperately trying to scape myself off the sofa and do some work! In the meantime, however, I've been looking at the best facebook group in the world ever!
It's called 'I've been on Yarmouth snails and survived'. Any Norfolk people probably don't need that explaining, as the snail ride is a mass shared childhood experience that a lot of Norfolk people share, but for non-Norfolk people, it's basically a ride consisting of a load of psychedelic giant snails that you ride in. When you're little it seems like a rollercoaster, but it's really just this mildly undulating track with loads of plants and things around it.
I've learned lots of fascinating facts from the group, such as Joyland (the little children's theme park that hosts the magic snails) opened in 1948, which means the snail ride is ooold! The group's got pictures of three generations of families who've ridden on it - there's even a picture of a couple getting married on it! What an absolutely ace idea!
In the comment thread people are also talking about this Aladdin Cave ride at Pleasure Wood Hills, which also brought back memories... although this time they were scary memories! Memories of a giant monster coming out of the wall and making me cry when I was little!
In other news, on Friday we handed out free veggie burgers and vegan cake outside of McDonald's again. This guy came up and got a burger and I thought he looked vaguely familiar, and then I realised who it was. Basically the original McLibel 2 had come along to help on the demo and help out with Veggies over the weekend. Even though I know I shouldn't have felt like this, I was kind of a bit in awe. I just think it was amazing that two people stood up to a corporation with so many resources at their disposal. Although when I chatted to them a little, I felt a bit stupid saying it - as they were so modest. Dave just said he was just a bloke and said he couldn't have done it without the support.
I still think what they, and others, did was brilliant though :)
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[11 Oct 2009|10:10am] |
Woah... well, I wasn't really looking forward to this week much. Actually, perhaps dreading it would sum it up a bit better. It wasn't because I was doing rubbish things, more that I was so busy. It felt like I was having to just take one thing at a time.
Friday was a good day. There was a fundraiser at the Sumac centre and vegan pizza was promised on the flyers! I'd volunteered to help, so basically spent the afternoon kneading dough with Martin! He'd never actually made it before, but got quite into it. It was all good fun, but I felt so exhausted afterwards - I ended up in the kitchen from 2pm-9pm, which was cool, but made me realise I couldn't make it as a chef! It's going to be a while before I make pizza again at home anyway.
It was uffishinthought's birthday after that and it was, overall, a really lovely night. It was a bit of an acid test for me too, as I'm experimenting with sobriety at the moment (it's only been since the start of September so far though) and wanted to see how late I could stay up without any form of stimulant. I think we left at 4am, which I didn't think was too bad seeing as I was exhausted before I arrived.
It'd been the end of a tiring week, mainly because of loads of academic stuff kicking off. The teaching had started and Thursday had been a bit brutal (in uni from 9-6 with a seminar every other hour and other work between them). However. It was grrrrrrrrrrrrreat! I mean, I always liked it last year, even with difficult classes, but this time there were talkative people in all the sessions. Even the quieter classes had at least one more talkative person. The students seemed pretty engaged too, they got into debates, understood the key concepts pretty quickly (and showed how they applied in practice by drawing on the theory to make excuses for not doing the reading!). I even received an email after class from a student pointing out how a recent film relates to concepts discussed in the seminar. So overall, I was pretty happy.
There were also lots of other uni things going on, a great talk by Katherine Hayles, then a workshop with her the following day. Unfortunately the latter suffered from a bit of aggression from a couple of people... but seeing as my battery's running out I won't go into that now.
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[03 Oct 2009|11:10pm] |
I've had a horrible headache for a couple of days, which has left me feeling a bit rubbish and useless. Last night I wasn't up to much at all, and was sort of dreading today as we'd promised mrcameraman's daughter we'd take her to the fair and I really didn't think I'd be able to make it.
However, going out and buying cake seemed to make me feel better and - bizarrely - going on a totally brutal ride at the fair cleared my head loads. I've been feeling really overwhelmed with my work recently, it just never seems to end, and it was good to do something where I could totally disengage.
I've handed a load of stuff in recently too, which has made me feel a bit more chilled, but not teaching's started so I've got to get down to that. I hope they're a nice group of freshers this year!
I'm happy and things, just tired.
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| adventures |
[19 Sep 2009|12:50pm] |
A little bit of calm before term time.
I've had such an up and down summer in terms of lovely highs, less-so-lovely lows, and a good smattering of silly stressyness inbetween.
I've had so many academic deadlines and other (nicer) commitments over the summer, but the penultimate thing has just ended - a four day conference at Oxford called 'Monsters and the Monstrous: Myths and Metaphors for Enduring Evil'.
It was really silly, as in a way I was dreading it - I'd piled too much work on (as per usual) and the conference was yet another thing that I needed to do. I was unsure about my paper and not really looking forward to the horrible networking mentality and critical comments that are normally the norm at conferences.
However - it turns out my fears were totally unfounded and it was the loveliest conference ever. We met some FANTASTIC people from around the world - heh, we've been offered places to stay in Australia and the US if we ever have enough money to visit! - and just spent loads of time chatting and getting to know people. We hung around loads with a lovely girl from South Africa called Lexi and an ace guy from the States called Kevan. They were doing papers on the Wasp Factory and zombies respectively!
Great people, great papers, great atmosphere. It was a really intense few days and we felt quite emotional having to say goodbye to people, as we'd got on so well. I dunno, it was a bit of a revelation in terms of conference experiences.
I got really lovely feedback on my paper too, which was nice as I was feeling a bit nauseous before I presented it, but everyone was really positive.
I'm left feeling really chipper, perhaps all the more so because it's all sunny and slightly autumn-y, and the autumn always makes me think of new things and new adventures. I'm feeling almost painfully nostalgic about Edinburgh at the moment, as it's almost seven years exactly since I moved there... but at the same time I'm feeling positive and happy about where I am. So it's sort of a painful happiness about past things, overlaid with a more rar happiness about the here and now. Which is nice.
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[17 Aug 2009|08:19pm] |
It's been the most up and down couple of weeks ever...
The bad stuff's been really bad, but the good stuff's been really good. And really colourful.
In fact, the good stuff will have it's own photo post when I get photos sorted :)
Good thing 1:
New Tattoo! It includes beetroot, yay!
I got it done at the Doncaster Tattoo Jam - it was the first time I'd got anything done at a convention and it was ace. It was a totally different experience having people walk past and watch when I was getting tattooed.
There are some pics at the bottom of the blog post here, but the beetroot looks squished as my arms at a funny angle - it doesn't look quite like that normally!
http://tribetattoo.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2451 I love love love it, especially the sweetpeas.
Good thing 2:
Laura's hen night.
It was definitely classier than the average hen night! Well, to be honest I would say that as I was one of the organisers! But it was really lovely - everyone looked beautiful and dressed up in fantastic stepford wives-esque outfits. I spent time with great people I don't see often enough and danced to good music.
We had table at a cocktail bar to begin with which was much fun - we'd brought a book to commemorate the night for people to write in and everyone spent loads of time making their pages in it look artistic and write nice messages. Lots of pink cocktails were had.
Then we headed off to Madame JoJo's in Soho for their rockabilly/northern soul night - which was fantastic! I'd definitely go again. It had a really friendly atmosphere and everyone was dancing. Everyone there was really friendly too, there didn't seem to be any slimy people just out to pull, everyone just seemed happy and dance-y!
One of the good things was that it wasn't a messy night, like no one got smashed and we all felt fine the next day. It was just happy really!
The best bit though was getting to spend time with people I don't see nearly enough. :)
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| PSTS conference |
[31 Jul 2009|10:35am] |
I got on a roll with posting a couple of weeks back, but now it's seemed to slide away again.
Good things and bad things have happened this week. I'll start with a good things post, as it's a bit more superficial.
I went to possibly the best conference I've ever been to this week, the Postgraduate conference for Science and Technology Studies - it was small enough and nice enough to make me feel comfortable enough to to actually talk to people properly. The talks, on the whole, were good too. I was really impressed with people's presentation styles, to be honest. In conferences that more lean towards the arts and humanities, most of my experience has been of people directly reading their papers (sometimes without looking up and making eye contact with the audience). However, from the look of the conference, papers in the (social?)sciences seem to be done semi from memory, with powerpoint as a visual aid. This was a nice mixture of the two - which made me learn a lot about technique if nothing else.
On the day I was presenting I decided, in my wisdom, to cycle in. Of course, it started pissing it down with rain as soon as I left the house and my rain coat stood no chance. Then the chain came off my bike just as I arrived into uni, and was sort of stuck. Needless to say I managed to get covered in oil, as well as being bedraggled. So - despite my best efforts to NOT look like a dirty hippy, I managed to look like one anyway.
( presentation stuff )
The final nice thing was that they actually provided vegan lunch! And I wasn't the only vegan! The other person was a nice German activist who was doing his PhD on greenwashing in large corporations. (He did a really fascinating presentation on how companies worked out their carbon footprint.) The lunch kind of made us both feel touched at the sort of effort they'd made to cater for us, as they'd made this platter of vegan food just for two of us. It was cool because they'd actually made things like bean salad and tropical fruit salad as well as sandwiches - there was a lot of effort put in. Aww.
Arg. I can't believe a good third of my conference post is just talking about lunch!
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[08 Jul 2009|09:46pm] |
woah, another serious-y post, all apologies!
So. I've been doing my PhD for over a year and a half now and will be coming to my 3rd year in September, arg!
I know I want to teach afterwards. I love it, even though I've got a lot of improvements to make. I really enjoyed it last term and felt like I got on fairly well with my students (on the whole!). It was weird, usually I do new things and it's a lot of trial and error to begin with before I become a bit less rubbish at it. With teaching it was the closest I've got to feeling instinctively like I could do something. Even though I was really nervous I felt fairly comfortable in front of large-ish classes. I know I've got a lot to improve on, as I'm just starting out, but I feel like I could get better if I have more practice. I think it helped because I made sure I was well prepared, which calmed my nerves a lot.
I'm not sure what level I want to teach at though, I'd love to teach at degree level but I think my chances of getting an academic position are slim to none. Jobs are even harder to come by now than they were when I started, and in careers talks etc it's constantly being reiterated how competitive it is.
i.e. how it's IMPOSSIBLE to get a job unless you've got articles published in the best journal ever or got a book published (which is pretty tricky at my level, but you'll be up against other - more experienced - people who will have had substantial things published).
It's making me a bit despondent really, which is silly - I know it'll be impossible, but being pessimistic is rubbish. I always think if you're too pessimistic it can be paralysing, so even though it's unlikely I need to do a sort of (happy) double-think to try and motivate myself into focusing on my research, trying to submit articles to journals and going to conferences etc etc.
If I'm really struggling, I'll see about doing an on the job PGCE for 6th form level - English is one of the jobs they're struggling to get teachers for so at least I know I'm qualified to do that! I'm sure I'd love teaching A level English and I could always do media and/or communications too (which is more or less what I've been teaching at uni).
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| bikes, hoovers and swimsuits |
[05 Jul 2009|02:04am] |
Cycling is my new exciting thing. I went for a bike ride in my swimsuit* the other day, to see a friend who needed us! It was pissing down with rain, but cycling was the quickest way to get there. At least it was invigorating. I don't think we helped our friend very much, but at least the drowned rat look made her laugh :) The rain was so heavy we had to stop at one point as we couldn't see (which on a busy bus lane probably isn't a good thing).
In other cycling news, we went camping the other weekend for a friend's birthday and cycled a 50mile round trip to get there - it was ace. I know it's not that far, but I've only got my bike recently so am just learning the ropes really.
This week's been a bit manic as my Mum was visiting. It was really, really lovely to see her but we had to tidy the flat before she arrived so she didn't see the squalor we live in, argh!
As we were cleaning, we sort of noticed a smell of burning plastic, and realised Henry Hoover had caught fire! Out of the window he went. I feel a bit guilty. He had such a nice smiley face.
Now I've got a few days to chill out I can get back to work again and sort social things that I've been neglecting! Arg, everything's always backlogged for me. Suppose I wouldn't want it any other way though.
*I was wearing a dress too.
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[24 Jun 2009|05:31pm] |
Livejournal seems to have eaten my life this week! I haven't spent this long on it since living in Edinburgh, when I wasted many a happy hour wearing out my refresh key on my friends page when I should be writing essays.
Talking of which, that's exactly what I should be doing now... but it's all sunny outside and I want to go and play! I kind of want to practice poi in the garden, but I'm really rubbish at it and I'm scared the neighbours will see. Some of our neighbours are a bit cool... they 're nice but it makes me feel like I'm back at school, so I don't want them to really see my poi ineptness/general lack of coordination.
Back to the essay it is then! Er, in a bit...
When windyworld was visited, he showed us this TV program he used to watch in Australia. We really enjoyed it but were resigned not to see it anymore, then magically it appeared on BBC 4 last night! Here's a bit of it that I though was good. Mainly because the music and the trojan horse go so well together.
( Read more... )
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| feeling the earth begin to move and my needle hit the groove (maybe) |
[23 Jun 2009|11:05pm] |
I felt like I didn't stop today... I tried (in vain) to sort out computer stuff at (filing) work, ate food whilst walking home, helped my neighbour write her covering letter for a university teaching position, then went for a run with mrcameraman. YES! ME! RUN!
Er, actually it was more of a slow jog because running makes me flip out, although it doesn't make me flip out as much as deceptively simple mathematical problems that give me flashbacks of school maths lessons, the horror, the horror.
On another note, I am loving my new bike. It makes going places a joy. I can get out of the sticky, boring city into some green-ness. We had an amazing bike ride on Saturday, we accidentally tagged ourselves onto the back of this charity bike ride and had a good 20mile-ish ride whilst being entertained by cyclists dressed as Batman and Robin.
arg. I sound so boring (as ever). I'm feeling a little guilty because I haven't done as much work as I planned after handing in the last chapter draft. However, I did have a totally ace weekend with lovely people, so I don't feel quite as bad as I probably should do.
Anyway, one of those lovely people was Flo - who I haven't seen for 3 years! It was soooo good to catch up! I did have a minor cooking disaster though, due to being slightly too drunk to make tempeh burgers properly (at the time it seemed like a good idea to 'fix' them by adding as much curry powder as possible, arg) and deciding to try and make vegan gooseberry cheesecake for the first time ever at midnight. Oh well, it was still a lovely night... for me anyway - I'm not speaking for Flo and Robin as they were subjected to my food!!
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| celebrity masterchef |
[17 Jun 2009|10:47pm] |
I got an email from our departmental secretary saying mail had arrived for me, so I went in and got it and it was a DVD from the real news network about the 'war on terror'. I was a bit confused as there was no letter with it or anything, it freaked me out a bit initially as I hadn't ordered it and hadn't given anyone my uni address or anything.
I asked my supervisor if he knew anything about it, but he didn't either. So I spent a little time being puzzled, then suddenly it struck me that perhaps a certain Norwegian speaking friend might know something about it. And it was from cr4k, yay!
I went to Liverpool on the train today (for a failed work visit) and was a bit knackered, but we've just hung out with the lovely missanthropii and alii_cat which perked me up (even though I failed to finish most of my sentences) and eaten Christmas pudding, which made everything better!
I've realised that because I write in such long sentences with my work, I can't be arsed writing properly in any other context so every livejournal entry for the past few years sounds like I'm 12. Saying that, all of my livejournal entries prior to that sounded like a 12 year old too, although perhaps a more enthusiastic one as I say 'immense' and 'best thing in the world ever' and 'he/she/its really nice' less often now. So I suppose, stylistically, this must be a journal of a more subdued 12 year old. Although paradoxically I'm happier now than I was when I did say 'immense' and 'yay' a lot more.
I got an exciting bicycle for my birthday. I can lift it with one hand! It makes me feel fast and silver and happy.
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[25 Mar 2009|01:26am] |
aaaaaaaaaaaargh, I found a worse one!
(again, don't watch if you're not a spider fan)
I actually screamed when watching this one.
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[25 Mar 2009|01:21am] |
oh god, oh god... the other day llamarines was going on about knightmare and I was thinking of the bit that I found scariest... well, I found it on youtube and it's still terrifying! Well, terrifying if you put yourself in your 6 year old headspace. Don't look at it if you hate spiders.
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| new ways to procrastinate |
[24 Mar 2009|07:46pm] |
eeeeeeeeeeeurgh! I should be doing work or cooking or something...
but I discovered last night that almost every indie chart from The Chart Show has been uploaded onto youtube, complete with graphics that make all writing unintelligible and dodgy photos of bands with music played over the top when there's no video. Bliss.
As ever, I'm loving the Suede. S bands in general really, there's lots of smashing pumpkins and sundays too.
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| memories |
[16 Mar 2009|04:19pm] |
blah blah blah
"Leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember. Don't send a message, leave a comment on here. Next, re-post this and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses."
(Stolen from Matt, Dee and Kate.)
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| when boo were young |
[07 Mar 2009|11:24pm] |
Nottingham's a funny city. I wonder if I'd feel more into it if I'd had a proper summer here (as in hot summer, as opposed to grey and cold summer). One of the things that always comes to mind immediately when I miss Edinburgh is just sitting on the meadows with people in the heat. :(
I've felt rubbishy this weekend, however, I've baked pizza (kneading dough always gets the annoyance out) and made a plan of action for my future (if I fuck up on the academia front). So at least that's something, or two somethings.
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| my favourite books |
[05 Mar 2009|08:58pm] |
I used to read things (normally neoconservative things) that annoyed me a little, or came across things in daily life that pissed me off, or watched the news and felt like crying. I'm trying to channel those emotions into my research now, instead of getting angry. It seems to be working, as a side effect of my work I'm mapping out what I think a bit more in my head. Having your every last thought or opinion peer-reviewed is good in terms of pinning down inconsistencies and working through them.
As a result though, I can't really be arsed arguing and debating anything in day to day life, I dunno, I feel like I don't want my entire life to be about social and political theory. Even though it is.
By means of contrast, here are my top 5 favourite books from when I was little :)
( Read more... )
This should be 'the very hungry caterpillar, but I couldn't find a copy of the UK cover, boooo :(
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