my mouth tastes a bit weird.
The thing is, that the widget I have used previously to transmit my ramblings 'as if by magic' in to the etherous tangle that is the interweb has broken. So writing is no longer as convenient as F12, click, typetypetype, submit DONE! Now I have to log iiiinnnn, and navigaaaate and tyyyype and publisssssh and blahhhhh. Which is boring.
Hence my sudden infrequency.
So, sorry.
The project students in my lab are doing their stuff and we are FINALLY up and running. Watch that data pour in. Right on cue, my supervisor wanders over to me today and asks me how the manuscript of my paper is coming along. My what, sorry? You mean the thing I haven't been able to do for the last 4 weeks because we've been doing battle with the ethics committee and getting questions off the project students and discussing protocol and then coding html pages to get these experiments running? *That* manuscript? The one I'd have to have been superhuman to work on? Oh, I shoved that right up your arse, I think.
Also, as a side effect of all the science, my lab is fuller than might seem reasonable of urine. Yes, human. Pots of piss. Yey.
I love my job.
Actually, there are TV people in slow orbit around my lab at the mo. One of them might want to come do some filming, possibly interviewing muggins here. I'll let you know how that goes.
Madgirl at work is going mad again. I am running out of tolerance.
In other news...
Well. In other news, I am very pleased at the moment.
Those concerned will know why.
Gorecki
So this is the idea:
You live in a block of flats, some floors up and are faced with an insurmountable problem. Could be work related, could be something personal, the details don't matter, but this problem is so huge you can't stop worrying about it, and it's causing you stress, and you can't see a solution.
So. You go down the road to your farmer friend, and you borrow his horse. You may need some carrots or sugar lumps for the next bit, but you lead the horse back to your flats, and lead him gently up the stairs to your floor. You give him a reassuring pat, and go back in to your flat. And you wait.
The thing about horses is that the way their legs work means that, while going up stairs is not a problem for them, they find going down stairs nigh on impossible. So when you go outside again to see what all the commotion is about, you will find your neighbours realising that there's a horse on the landing and no apparent way to remove it. Joining in the discussion, you will find that your own particular dilemma pales in comparison to the sheer logistic problems you and your neighbours face trying to move a horse.
And this is the fact:
There is less than 0.1% genetic difference between any two humans on this planet. We are over 99.9% identical.
Do you see?
Looking around myself, I can see that I have quite a lot of friends. My default position is to like people; I find active dislike of someone hard to maintain. I'm not naive. I know there are untrustworthy people out there, but I've found that if you don't bother people like that, they tend not to bother you. In my early days, I gave a great deal of myself to people and didn't always get much back. I learned, through experience mainly, that people who don't give anything back to a friendship ultimately do not care at all if you stop investing. As a consequence, not only do I have quite a lot of friends, but the vast majority of them are great. I consider myself lucky in this regard.
I'm sitting in work at the moment. I'm meant to be jigging html around so that we can start experiments on Monday. Instead I'm trying to work out how to phrase what I'm trying to say.
It's not my style to play games with people, and I have a mild obsession with being "genuine" (which, psychologists in other fields than mine tell me, is consistent with the rest of my personality). I have an advanced sense of humour and am not easily rattled.
I've had great times with the people I know, and have great memories associated with each one of them. Whether that's gorging on roast chicken and dips and watching movies, shocking our systems diving in to the North Sea, listening to tracks given to me on repeat for hours (days), falling asleep together listening to music, reading poetry while playing bongos or just getting drunk and stupid. And the best thing about it is, that there's plenty more to come.
I've been radiating affection for various friends over the past couple of days and I think it has something to do with knowing that no matter what happens, my friends know that at any given moment a horse could appear on the landing.
And (as Gabriel rolls on to my itunes) it seems that in the mean time, there's plenty of hugs to keep us busy.
Digest (metablogs)
Owing to total lack of interest in my life, here's a summary of what's going on in the Blogspace nodes I frequent;
Pete's been going deaf for a fortnight, which has been entertaining me. Touring the Birmingham gigs, dealing with such dangers as not being able to find front door of a venue and a numb scrotum. All things considered, I think it's a shame Pete doesn't have a video camera with him, as the whole process sounds as if it would make a brilliant documentary. "One man, one music scene, 14 days". It's proving an informative guide to alternative / indie music in general, which is always handy.
The other night saw him getting his groove on in the Barfly in Birmingham, which is a very nice segue into...
Kathryn has been working in the Barfly in Camden (aka 'The Monarch') and discovering the delights of dancing while pouring pints and avoiding being kissed by customers. Sounds like the basis of a life philosophy to me. She went to what looks like a
rather spectacular bonfire display the other night. Am I the only one to have noticed that, where people used to content themselves with burning effigies of Guy Fawkes, this year people have started to burn the Houses of Parliament as well? Perhaps we're trying to tell someone something...
Me pal
MandalinRose has beaten her coke addiction. Yey. Yes, yes, so it may be the drink, not the drug, but it's still impressive. Well done her. Her battle against tedium in this small Scottish town continues. Good luck and godspeed, young lady.
Jess has been
feeling a bit lonely recently. This is a shame because she's a good cyber-pal of mine and is also great and destined for dizzying heights of fame and success. Go her. I hearby order everyone who reads this to go check her out and give her a great big hug. She's also recently been in a
retreat with some kids . No idea what that means, I'm afraid Jess, but it sounds vile.
My good chum
Andy's been a bit quiet recently, but then that's life in a big city for you, I guess. Happily, I chatted to him the other night and can assure anyone who is for some random reason checking here to find out how he is that he is very well. Hope you've recovered from the party, mate, haagen dasz is always the way to go.
That's it, I think. A fair summary of my (quality not quantity) blogroll.
Strange post. Don't worry, I don't think I'll do it often.
Fantastic.
I wrote a reasonably long post last night. It wasn't hugely interesting, but it entertained me. Now it seems that the posting widget I use has stopped working. Dammit.
There may be a pause while I get used to that idea.
Hmph.
