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Music for an astronaut's funeral
Under the stars
10 March 2008 @ 11:46 pm
12 February 2008 @ 04:30 pm
This is utterly selfish as I'd like to join the website asmallworld.net to ease my transition into Miami life next week, but it's bloomin exclusive and by invitation only. If anyone who reads this on a Friends page doesn't feel affronted by such a blatant cadge and would be able to join me up then, I thank you!
x
Jon
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Jon
08 December 2006 @ 12:43 pm
I am a Doctor!
I had my viva yesterday, and instead of the harsh cross-examination I was expecting, it was an almost pleasurable experience. Even better, I only have about an hour's work to do correcting typos and the bibliography, and it's done forever!
Then, quite unrelated to the finishing of the PhD, I got an email 3 hours later offering me a lecturing job at Sussex for the next 5 months. 2 Early Christmas presents!
I had my viva yesterday, and instead of the harsh cross-examination I was expecting, it was an almost pleasurable experience. Even better, I only have about an hour's work to do correcting typos and the bibliography, and it's done forever!
Then, quite unrelated to the finishing of the PhD, I got an email 3 hours later offering me a lecturing job at Sussex for the next 5 months. 2 Early Christmas presents!
12 October 2006 @ 10:22 am
I have handed in my PhD thesis! Did it on Tuesday but everything's been a bit hectic. 274 pages which I wish I never had to read again but I suppose I will have to before the oral exam.
25 July 2006 @ 07:07 pm
I'm still here. I've made a few comments on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
katell_keineg in the last week but I'm not that good at updating here. I'm working hard on my PhD thesis and hoping to have it ready in 5 weeks. Make that "I'm going to have it ready in 5 weeks". Then I'll be free!
katell_keineg in the last week but I'm not that good at updating here. I'm working hard on my PhD thesis and hoping to have it ready in 5 weeks. Make that "I'm going to have it ready in 5 weeks". Then I'll be free!12 January 2006 @ 04:57 pm
I just found out that a mate (my bessie mate) reads this occasionally as we live far apart and don't see each other like we used to, or like we should do. And I haven't bally updated it since the 3 or 4 childlike-excited "I'm Inter-railing!" posts in November.
I'm still feeling the positive effects of that glorious trip, but it also feels like a lifetime ago. This is the first week of 'normal' term for me in my new job, and today I taught my first class.
I haven't written about it on here before but I LOVE teaching. I also am growing to love research as well, as I am in such a great team at the new place and it is, tautology ahoy, the team work that makes or breaks the project.
What with a daily appointment with Pete Burns, courtesy of Big Brother, our trip to see the first Scritti Politti gig in 26 years last Saturday, and N's essay completion imminent, things are looking up.
I'm still feeling the positive effects of that glorious trip, but it also feels like a lifetime ago. This is the first week of 'normal' term for me in my new job, and today I taught my first class.
I haven't written about it on here before but I LOVE teaching. I also am growing to love research as well, as I am in such a great team at the new place and it is, tautology ahoy, the team work that makes or breaks the project.
What with a daily appointment with Pete Burns, courtesy of Big Brother, our trip to see the first Scritti Politti gig in 26 years last Saturday, and N's essay completion imminent, things are looking up.
23 November 2005 @ 04:52 pm
I spent most of the morning skirting this vast lake. None of the pics I have found on line really do it any justice but this one is pretty nice:
23 November 2005 @ 04:45 pm
It's my Mum's birthday today, Happy Birthday Mummy!
Not very interesting side points:
1) this is a Croatian keyboard and the z and the y are swapped around. Also, č is where ' would be and there are extra č ć ž š đ as well all over the shop! Wicked.
2) The Croatian for Croatia is Hrvatska. Where's that at? I mean, (one) I would have thought I should have known that, but it is another of the mysteries that this trip is teaching me: I know very little and it's good to remember the fact. (two) Doesn't it need a few more vowels? Now I'm just being silly, the 'r' is quite pronouncable in that position if you trill it enough.
3) Does anyone ever say Croat anymore or is it a hangover from Tito-imposed Serbo-Croat unity?
EDIT: I'm so der. Croatia is a country. Croats live there. They speak Croatian (and I wish I did too, it's a wicked language).
Extra note: can you tell I have spent an average of about 40-50 hours per week on long train journeys this last month - and can you also tell that I never get bored as these are the sort of musings I seem to thrive on?
Not very interesting side points:
1) this is a Croatian keyboard and the z and the y are swapped around. Also, č is where ' would be and there are extra č ć ž š đ as well all over the shop! Wicked.
2) The Croatian for Croatia is Hrvatska. Where's that at? I mean, (one) I would have thought I should have known that, but it is another of the mysteries that this trip is teaching me: I know very little and it's good to remember the fact. (two) Doesn't it need a few more vowels? Now I'm just being silly, the 'r' is quite pronouncable in that position if you trill it enough.
3) Does anyone ever say Croat anymore or is it a hangover from Tito-imposed Serbo-Croat unity?
EDIT: I'm so der. Croatia is a country. Croats live there. They speak Croatian (and I wish I did too, it's a wicked language).
Extra note: can you tell I have spent an average of about 40-50 hours per week on long train journeys this last month - and can you also tell that I never get bored as these are the sort of musings I seem to thrive on?
14 November 2005 @ 07:38 pm
Suddenly each hostel I stay in has got limitless free web access. What was I saying about liking not being able to go online? In fact I am only checking gmail and reading LJ friends page.
Last night I was in a gorgeous hostel on the main square in Krakow.
ETA: There was a lovely image here but they took it off their site :(
Sadly there was a fire downstairs and damp in the attic or something so at 9 this morning we all had to leave. I moved into the place next door, and was hoping the nice fellow guests from the old place were coming too but I've just got back this evening and no sign of them yet. I'm not in the mood for befriending more people, I reckon I have a limited amount of make-friend-energy for each day and today's is all used up. Also, I hear too many American voices, oh god the sound of approaching xenophobia from![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
ruchbah. I don't mean it really.
Cracow is a fine beautiful city and I urge anyone within striking distance of Stansted and $30 (well quid really) to blow on Ryanair fares to come here. Yes, you,dinosaurcostume, how about meeting me in the Jewish quarter for a pint in about an hour? By the way the reason you haven't seen me for 2 weeks isn't because I popped out to buy Revels from the offie, I am actually hiding out in Hove library and helping out with the renovations (god those IKEA shelves we put in the kids section were hard work).
Tomorrow I am visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau so I may be in a soberer mode.
Last night I was in a gorgeous hostel on the main square in Krakow.
ETA: There was a lovely image here but they took it off their site :(
Sadly there was a fire downstairs and damp in the attic or something so at 9 this morning we all had to leave. I moved into the place next door, and was hoping the nice fellow guests from the old place were coming too but I've just got back this evening and no sign of them yet. I'm not in the mood for befriending more people, I reckon I have a limited amount of make-friend-energy for each day and today's is all used up. Also, I hear too many American voices, oh god the sound of approaching xenophobia from
ruchbah. I don't mean it really.Cracow is a fine beautiful city and I urge anyone within striking distance of Stansted and $30 (well quid really) to blow on Ryanair fares to come here. Yes, you,
dinosaurcostume, how about meeting me in the Jewish quarter for a pint in about an hour? By the way the reason you haven't seen me for 2 weeks isn't because I popped out to buy Revels from the offie, I am actually hiding out in Hove library and helping out with the renovations (god those IKEA shelves we put in the kids section were hard work).Tomorrow I am visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau so I may be in a soberer mode.
23 September 2005 @ 01:54 pm
If you see this on your friends list, quote Shakespeare
CALIBAN:
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep
Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.
The Tempest
CALIBAN:
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep
Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.
The Tempest
21 September 2005 @ 03:55 pm
LJ Interests meme results
- basque:
Once my all consuming passion, maybe will be again one day. A beautiful, unusual language that I learned while living there 10 years ago, and everyone finds it kooky and amazing that I speak it. - christine brooke-rose:
Often mentioned as the great missed/underrated British author of the late 20th century, I have only read one of her books but it was mind-blowing in technique. Also, every time I read an interview with her I just think "Would like to have the integrity to live like that". - derek jarman:
I think I like him almost more for his diaries than his films. He was an immense role model to me as a gay man in my late teens (even though for a long time I knew him only as "the bloke who made the Panic video for the Smiths and summat in Latin"). Little known fact (I don't get much chance to boast about it) I once met him down the pub, and gave him a little kiss. Ah. - gene loves jezebel:
My favourite band of my teens: Welsh identical twin singers, was impossibly encrushed by Jay the long haired poetic one. Show off that I am, I'll also mention that I met him once (it's not that hard to meet your idols, is it) and a few weeks later he waved and said hello to me from onstage in Camden Palace. Their early music is unbelievably good, later they became very American-rocky but I'll always have a soft spot for them. - jeanette winterson:
I can't claim her as my favourite writer, but I love her words and all that she stands for, and she is inextricably linked with the night I met my other half for the first time. Him: "Hi, I'm starting a book club and the first novel we're doing is Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, do you want to join?" Me: swoon. Misremembered but romantic, eh. - lars von trier:
Maker of some of my favourite films (I have only seen 3 of his: Europa, Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark). We have just joined a DVD club and I'm looking forward to seeing some of his dogme work. Apparently he is impossible to work for.
ETA: I have now seen Dogville (in a super free screening at our horrid local Odeon) and it has jumped to one of my favourite films of all time. - múm:
After Basque, my other wannabe-adopted culture is Iceland. Went to see múm last Monday and they were spellbinding. - philosophy:
This makes me feel pretentious. I like the idea of a framework of ideas to see me through things but I don't really read philosophy for pleasure. - rilo kiley:
I fell in and out of love with this band really quickly -- maybe they should come off my interests list. But their song "The Execution of All Things" is perfect pop and the words make me go all wobbly. - victoria wood:
I have loved her sketches and stand up for about 20 years, and quote her far too often -- about 5 a day on average. "I'm sorry this is a shoe shop, not a soft porn video merchants, and I should know because my husband runs one. Well, he's not my husband but he rubbed up against me in a sports jacket so he's as good as." etc.
Enter your LJ user name, and 10 interests will be selected from your interest list.
26 August 2005 @ 04:51 pm
I don't normally link to other's posts, and anyone who reads this is probably already reading dinosaurcostume in any case, but this diatribe from last week is hilarious. All of it, but particularly from "Watching Dr Gillian's mad food makeover show, after following her 'regime' for just over a week now, was a particularly bad experience: like staring up close at the problem page of 'Closer' magazine for half an hour while somebody at Holland and Barrett rang through a list of stock renewals directly into my brain." onwards.
dinosaurcostume in any case, but this diatribe from last week is hilarious. All of it, but particularly from "Watching Dr Gillian's mad food makeover show, after following her 'regime' for just over a week now, was a particularly bad experience: like staring up close at the problem page of 'Closer' magazine for half an hour while somebody at Holland and Barrett rang through a list of stock renewals directly into my brain." onwards.19 August 2005 @ 11:19 am
From kateorman:"Go to MusicOutfitters and put your birth year into the search box. The first link is likely the top 100 songs of that year. Cut and paste that list here. Bold the ones you actually like. Understand that the word "like" in this case means, at the very least, "wouldn't immediately change the radio station from." Pick a favorite. Underline that favorite."
( The List )
Wow! I recognise much more than I thought I would, though it gets a bit thinner in the lower reaches. That was fun.
kateorman:"Go to MusicOutfitters and put your birth year into the search box. The first link is likely the top 100 songs of that year. Cut and paste that list here. Bold the ones you actually like. Understand that the word "like" in this case means, at the very least, "wouldn't immediately change the radio station from." Pick a favorite. Underline that favorite."( The List )
Wow! I recognise much more than I thought I would, though it gets a bit thinner in the lower reaches. That was fun.
16 August 2005 @ 02:43 pm
Two and a half weeks into the healthy food thing.
I haven't written about it since the first few days, as I had fears of it degenerating into "I had shiitake mushrooms and avocado for lunch today --- mmmm" but it is going quite well.dinosaurcostume has been forced to join the regime. In fact, only giving up coffee was the hard bit for me, and that was both the headache thing and the realisation that having a coffee was well ingrained into my daily routine. But it's ok now, and I have had the occasional decaff (I know, I know, it's as bad for you as the real stuff but this isn't a prison diet after all).
I only started doing the food thing because I was bored by the things I knew how to cook (chilli, curry, tortilla) and was getting concerned about the amount of takeaway stuff I was having. I hoped too that it would make me feel better, and although it's a slow process, I think it's working. My skin is clearer, my semi-hayfever is lessened (I have sneezes all year round and take too many antihistamines, but haven't had to this week) and I'm much more aware of what boozing does to my body: strangely, after a pint or two my legs feel heavy and crampy, and I am getting drunk on less drink than before. STOP DRINKING THEN, I hear you cry, but I tried that on the first weekend and realised I was turning into a detox straightedger. I think it's OK in moderation.
I even enjoy eating lettuce now. How silly.
I haven't written about it since the first few days, as I had fears of it degenerating into "I had shiitake mushrooms and avocado for lunch today --- mmmm" but it is going quite well.
dinosaurcostume has been forced to join the regime. In fact, only giving up coffee was the hard bit for me, and that was both the headache thing and the realisation that having a coffee was well ingrained into my daily routine. But it's ok now, and I have had the occasional decaff (I know, I know, it's as bad for you as the real stuff but this isn't a prison diet after all).I only started doing the food thing because I was bored by the things I knew how to cook (chilli, curry, tortilla) and was getting concerned about the amount of takeaway stuff I was having. I hoped too that it would make me feel better, and although it's a slow process, I think it's working. My skin is clearer, my semi-hayfever is lessened (I have sneezes all year round and take too many antihistamines, but haven't had to this week) and I'm much more aware of what boozing does to my body: strangely, after a pint or two my legs feel heavy and crampy, and I am getting drunk on less drink than before. STOP DRINKING THEN, I hear you cry, but I tried that on the first weekend and realised I was turning into a detox straightedger. I think it's OK in moderation.
I even enjoy eating lettuce now. How silly.
03 August 2005 @ 06:55 pm
I never would have believed it possible to drink 2 litres of water a day, but I'm managing it. Somehow before plain water just seemed really boring, but now it's OK. I won't list food I have eaten again today in case I look sad, but it has been a real eye-opener. It's tasty, and most of it is raw-ish so I feel like I've gone macrobiotic without intending to. Oh, I had coffee today, but it was decaff and a) didn't get any lovely caffeine rush so I assume it was genuinely without caffeine and b) the remains of Monday's headache and listlessness are still here so I'm more or less convinced I'm still getting over withdrawal.
02 August 2005 @ 11:10 am
I would've written one more entry yesterday but for the fact that my body, and especially my poor head, went into total shutdown... not what I was expecting from day one of a poncy 'health programme'! But as I hinted in the afternoon I was pretty sure it was lack of caffeine that was causing it. It was a really weird headache, and thank god it had gone when I woke up today.
(About 4 years ago I was paid to be in a 3 month experiment to test the effect of caffeine on appetite, where I had to only drink the "coffee" and "tea" the investigators gave me -- hilariously, I went through supposed withdrawal tiredness without headache during the start of the experiment, only to find out after 3 months that I had been in the control group, and the granules and bags they had given me were the same coffee and tea I usually drink. That's why I took the psychosomatic side seriously yesterday and tried to think myself out of it).
I slept for nearly 11 hours last night as well, which I don't think is entirely good for me but I'll let myself off. Now I feel great. Maybe cigarettes will be the next to go.
The food has been delicious -- I had salmon and spinach for tea. I note what Kate said about carbohydrates: they are somewhat missing from the plan I'm following. It's not Atkins or any of those protein-tastic ones (he he -- Atkins Inc. went into receivership yesterday, I'm glad that fad is starting to die) and I think I'll have rice tonight. Hurrah.
(About 4 years ago I was paid to be in a 3 month experiment to test the effect of caffeine on appetite, where I had to only drink the "coffee" and "tea" the investigators gave me -- hilariously, I went through supposed withdrawal tiredness without headache during the start of the experiment, only to find out after 3 months that I had been in the control group, and the granules and bags they had given me were the same coffee and tea I usually drink. That's why I took the psychosomatic side seriously yesterday and tried to think myself out of it).
I slept for nearly 11 hours last night as well, which I don't think is entirely good for me but I'll let myself off. Now I feel great. Maybe cigarettes will be the next to go.
The food has been delicious -- I had salmon and spinach for tea. I note what Kate said about carbohydrates: they are somewhat missing from the plan I'm following. It's not Atkins or any of those protein-tastic ones (he he -- Atkins Inc. went into receivership yesterday, I'm glad that fad is starting to die) and I think I'll have rice tonight. Hurrah.
01 August 2005 @ 03:40 pm
I know it's really early days, but I'm going to keep track of how I feel on better food. I had a banana-blueberry smoothie for breakfast (unusual in itself, I'm normally a pot of coffee and a roll up man), drank loads of water, and then carrot soup and pine kernel salad for lunch. All of it home made. I was expecting to find it a hassle to make meals from scratch, instead of buying a sarnie and stuff, but it's really easy. In fact, looking at how we eat in our house, we haven't really been massively unhealthy and do usually cook from raw materials.
What I think I miss (though it could be psychosomatic) is caffeine. I'm a bit foggy headed and have the beginnings of a headache, but hope this will only last a day or so.
What I think I miss (though it could be psychosomatic) is caffeine. I'm a bit foggy headed and have the beginnings of a headache, but hope this will only last a day or so.
01 August 2005 @ 11:33 am
I'm slightly reluctant to turn this into a food diary, but I've decided to have a week of healthy eating and I will report back on here if that's not too boring. Yesterday I was aware that it was my last chance to eat rubbish for a while, and noticed how expensive it was buying snacks. I'm glad to be out of that for a bit.