I never really liked Vimto.
The newspaper man likes my first offerings, so beer is coming my way. Woo. Although his editor, it seems, wants me to include more "psychological profiles" in the blurbs. More personality assassination, I think. I pointed out that not only is there no art to find the mind's construction in the face, but also that physiogamy went out in the late 19th century. Still, I said I'd do what I could.
And, frankly, as long as they keep the beer coming, I'm game for anything... beer-whore that I am.
Monday segues into Tuesday with the regular disconnection from the msn servers which always throws me in to a mild panic and, once again, reminds me that my matrix connect/disconnect sounds are sort of backwards.
I have new discoveries at work that are entertaining and which I shall enthuse about at a later juncture. It's looking good, though. Also quite exciting. I am quite excited.
Salesman is currently enthusing about a
torch. Which is nice. It is a lovely torch though. With a torch like that, a man could do anything. Should he buy it? What do you think, readers? Answers on a postcard.
Apparently, it can do
this. Which is an oddly surreal image and one which shall haunt my waking dreams for days. I am sure.
Other than that, I am tired, my bed is slightly broken and I have no idea where I'm going to live next year. Oh, and the shower has stopped working. Arsecrisps.
Everything else is peachy.
Oh, except that I have to go to London next week for a funeral. Not so great.
But there it is. What can you do?
That's pretty much the only major cloud on my horizon. All else is groovy and I still a very happy camper.
Poetry corner.
So, last night I read
this over at
Pete's and this morning I woke up with this in my head. Not sure it'll mean much to many, but I felt like putting it up. Here:
A Bookseller's Lament
"I'm sorry, but it's not in stock," I said and passed
Nothing but a smile across the counter.
You didn't understand, and I
(although as ever passionate)
didn't really care.
It's hard to be helpful when,
Where your book used to be,
There's only a hole.
Primer.
Apparently, people are becoming obsessed with
this movie .
I can see why.
I rented it earlier today and have watched it twice. It's like a glorious puzzle. My fascination with it reminds me of my continuing love of
Pale Fire; you think you unserstand the plot, but the finer points of the story still escape you. Just to be sure, just to find out, you have to give it another go and when you do, you notice new things, you hear new dialogue. I think I get it... but my brain is humming trying to work it out.
The setup is... I guess quite simple. Two guys build a machine that does something pretty amazing. As a side effect, they discover it does something else even more amazing and, potentially, lucrative. So they set about... using it.
If you have ever watched a time travel movie and been irritated by the failure to address and explore paradoxes, then the only possible answer is to watch Primer. The writer/director/lead was a physisist and mathematician once. He has it covered.
Actually, despite the brain-melting complexity of some of the ideas, and the speed with which the characters discuss them, the story has simple elements. It's just put together so well. First time film and everything.
I might have to watch it again now.
All well and good but my feet are cold.
I'm feeling a bit more focussed about things these days. Do I mean focussed? Generally happier, perhaps. I've been feeling a little lost with my PhD recently, as I may have mentioned. (Did I? Who knows?). Anyway, I've abandoned thoughts of dominance and pheromones for the moment and am concentrating instead on health and skin texture and stuff. Simpler variables and, inevitably, some quite interesting stuff is coming out of it. w00t.
Mainly, though, I've found my self one or two other things to do outside of work. I seem to be in a musical, for example. Little Shop of Horrors. Yes, at last I get to be the Dentist. Oh yes, oh the joy. The audition (which was last week) was memorable for being the first (and last, if I have anything to do with it) time I was asked to be a tree. I kid you not.
Anyway, evidently I give good wood.
Part of what I thought was extra great about the Dentist is that he is a fantastic character, sings a fantastic song and then dies at the end of act 1. This is true. However, the actor playing the dentist also plays (count them) 7 other characters. Three of those characters appear in the same song. Quick change, baby.
Anyhew, I rehearse my songs tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
The main point is that I can feel things slotting back in to place around me. Which is good.
Enuff for now.
I heart you
Ah,
Valentines Day . Woo. This morning, whilst rushing to intercept Miriam in order to get a lift to the lab, I slipped on a small hill of grass and landed on my knees in the mud. Then I slid. It was raining a little.
It's a good thing Valentine's got postponed until tomorrow really, otherwise that would be a really crappy beginning.
Did no one tell you about the postponement? Well, there was a memo.
Could this be the best job in the world?
One of the undergraduate project students just switched the mains off in the lab, thereby immediately killing the computers on which participants were running experiments. The act of turning the mains on again tripped the mains breaker. Once we'd fixed that, we had to go through the experiments with each participant working out where they'd got to.
Go him.
I'm going to the bop tonight. For those unaqiuainted, the bop is a heaving, sweaty mass of gyrating students housed within the concrete superstructure of the students' union building. Cheesy tunes and cheep(ish) drinks. Oh yes, I will get drunk and shake my stuff. Frankly, I'm looking forward to having a bit of a boogie. Boptastic.
And then it gets to be the weekend and I don't have to do any work for a bit. Hoorah. I think i shall finally get round to scouring the evil from the kitchen because it is, to put it mildly, FUCKING disgusting. We're approaching Withnail standard here. Say it with me: re-pul-sive.
In other, exciting news, I've been offered a regular slot writing reviews of faces (I kid you not) in a tongue-in-cheek stylee for a certain trade journal. Monthly installments of around 100 words. Sounds good to me, not least because it brings my dream of being a columnist ever closer. Also, the discipline of writing something regularly should be good for me, even if it's only a 100 word burst. The really great news, however, came when I asked if there was any chance of any moolah attached.
No, they said.
But they can pay me in beer. Monthly supplies thereof.
Beer, eh? Where do I sign?
Test
So, now that my mac is back and working and yey. What are the chances I can post from my dashboard again?
So, the good news is that my Powerbook is back.
The bad news is that they had to replace the harddrive so all my data is gone.
The good news is that at some point I backed up all my music to the Lab's network.
YEY!
So, I'm busy installing all the free things I had running on this guy before now. Quicksilver, Adium, Cyberduck. I'll have to hit the widgets soon and get everything back up to speed. Oh yes, oh yes.
However. I am wracked with jealousy, for my friend John has placed an order for a
MacBook Pro which I badly want. Part of me was hoping they'd "accidentally" send me one, but no. No MacBook for me. Despite my fervent love for all things Maclike. Despite the people I have converted to the wonder of Apple. No macbook for me.
Sigh.
Anyway. There's a new guy in the lab. He doesn't have a key yet so he has to wait for people to arrive befirfe he can get in. I am reminded at this point that I want to change my photo on the lab website. Hmm. I'll get round to that at some point.
It's nice to know that even with my computer back I still have nothing much to say for myself, isn't it? Go me. I'll try to think of something meaningful to say soon.
shove it up your RSS
Still here, still here and feeling endlessly guilty about lack of updates and posts and blah and hah. but my Powerbook's still dead and posting is somehow terribly tedious without it. I've been forced back in to the fetid clutches of microsoft. Big clunky PC. Oh it's slow. Oh it crashes. Oh the colour is so beige.
Anyhew.
My supervisor has gone mad. He never was especially sane, but he's wa-heeey behind on his preparation for teaching and is taking out his stress on the 3 of us in the lab. It's better now Miriam's back from America, because most of the grr was falling about my small (but beautifully formed) ears. Now we all get a go. Just looking at him at the moment makes me want to stab him in the neck with a pencil.
Oh, oh. If you're wondering, never ever bother with
this film. It is pants. Ignore the positive reviews on that there page. Tis boring.
So, there are two pieces of news which are important:
1) I want (and mean to shortly obtain) a Full English Breakfast
and
2) another chumley of mine enters blogspace. Yey. Salute and
read. Much wry amusement will doubtless follow.
Right, on with breakfast plans... then discriminant analysis. Hoorah!
Loving the PhD.
(hmm)
