I've been swapped softly

Yay! I've received a lovely little bear (and some skor bars). deceptively little that is. He actually built stonehenge he's that cool. seriously, not aliens, not celts, but a lovely blue teddy bear with a scarf (and skor bars). did I mention I also got some skor bars?

OOPs

So, the next two posts are mixed up.... go read the second one (the one with the title) first, then come back up.
And I thought I was being smart.

in the background of the picture above you can see the Abbey which has some interesting relief on the front. basically it's angels climbing up and down ladders, referring to a dream that the priest had that told him to erect the church in the first place.

On the way back to Heathrow we stopped at a couple of places on the way, Avebury, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. Salisbury was interesting for their chapel as well, which apparently has the highest church tower in england and was very beautiful, but also had one of only 4 existing copies of the Magna Carta. Avebury is one of the places with stone circles, like stonehenge, but earlier and smaller stones. It also had larger and more circles that you could wander in and out of. But it was really very windy, and we messed up with the parking machine and were worried about getting a ticket, so we kind of rushed a bit. But the stones there look like this:

Which is compared to stonehenge where the stones look like this:

I thought that Stonehenge would be more touristy than actually interesting, but it was actually extremely satisfying (despite the brutal wind that would not let us be). It intrigued me because it took a lot for it to be built and is in relatively good condition for being 4000 years old. Some interesting facts about Stonehenge: The largest stone weighs approximately as much as 7 elephants. They used woodworking techniques to construct it and even rounded the stones slightly to make the circle properly. Some of the stones came from miles and miles away, but are so heavy that it would have been extremely difficult to transport them here over both land and sea. The rocks are home to over 40 different types of lichens.

Nifty, eh?

After that it was home again home again jiggity jig.

Any questions?

of driving around england

So I have returned from my 'grand tour' around England.
Thoroughly enjoyable and so much fun. It was fantastic to see the folks again and see some great sites while doing so.

Care for a play by play? of course you do, everyone likes to live vicariously right?

So we started in Cambridge where I actually did some of the things I've been meaning to do since I got here, like actually go and visit some of the other colleges, and go up on the roof of King's college chapel, and punt. Punting, by the way, is tricky but very fun and I can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit so we can just punt at random. Maybe next time I'll actually move forward rather than side to side.

From there we went up to York. I am now officially jealous of the Tudor Rose. A very very cool city with both Roman and viking undertones. The shambled was a neat little street of Georgian architecture that looked like it should already be falling down the beams were so warped. York minster is my new fascination in it's oddities and jumble of seemingly random things (like the clock that chimed by two knights that would twist and hit a chime with their axes, the cloister with a large number of seats with intricately carved images of faces, some paganistic, many with demon-esque creatures, some with birds eating their faces, but all different, a tombstone for a woman who had something like 26 children and died at 40...). It was also built over top a Roman principia, where they believe Constantine was proclaimed emperor.

Next stop, Wales. What an interesting language. I would love to learn their alphabet since it looks like ours, but it most definitely is not the same and I have no idea how to pronounce the names. I mean, really, how cool would it be to live in a place called 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch'. That's an extreme case of course, but still. We walked around Conwy Castle, which was very well preserved.

That night we stayed above a pub that was reputedly haunted. Didn't see any ghosts though so I fail to be convinced.

On towards bath, but along the way we stopped and went hiking in the Cotswalds. Stunning landscape and we wandered in and out of farmers fields. This included encountering many, many sheep (I thought a lot of that zombie movie that crafty bean blogged about and was relieved that none of them tried very hard to eat me), an uncomfortable closeness to a (fortunately lazy) bull, horses, partridges, and other random animals. We thought the walk would take around 2 hours of walking and another hour or two of sitting in local teahouses/pubs but, alas, it was 4 hours of pretty much straight hiking in the hills.

The best thing in bath was, surprise, the baths. The roman hot springs was very built up, but still, I like the idea of healing spas and the emphasis placed on bathing as a social aspect of life. I think we could do with more naked hot spring bathing here (though I have a feeling that Big Round Head may disagree?). And let us not forget the whole process of the cold room, the hot room, and the oil message afterwards eh.

I have a feeling this is getting too long, so see the next post for a continuation...

I just wanted to mention that I won't be blogging for a bit. My folks and I are going to be driving around england for a bit. We probably will get lost and spend the entire week driving, but hey, at least I'll get to see the countryside right?

vice journal

Though I realise that continually recording my vices may not be an extremely positive way of looking at the world, I think it will help. So I've decided to keep a journal of sorts that will help me get myself in order.
I have a horrible tendency to forget things, my brain is odd in that I'm not stupid, but I have a very difficult getting things in there and keeping them there. I can learn stuff and test well, but I can't hold onto the information for very long after. Or if something is mentioned or I see something one day and it doesn't have a direct consequence for what I am doing presently I don't bother to remember it. This journal is an attempt to help me learn stuff that people should just generally know. For example: Roman numerals (I never really learnt roman numerals, so I put them in there); Names of people (in particular any one who is mentioned in regards to the academic world I'm in that I should know); singers that I want to hear; authors/books that I want to read; facts that I learnt (new words is a biggy here); the general idea of books that I did read... the list goes on. Basically anythinthat I can, and do forget. I want to train my brain to start remembering things and actively make it a point to remember things better.

I thought since I'm also worried about the weight I've been gaining here it would be a good idea to keep a food journal, at least for awhile. What I eat, why I eat it.

Also, since it's my first time being out of the house and financially strapped, i think i should be keepg a closer eye on the spendature than I have been doing, so maybe keeping a record of what I spend so I can analyse it and make a better budget.

All in all, a journal of vices in hopes that by recognising them in a physical, concrete format I can rule them, and not have them rule me.

And I thought I'd blog about it so that I would actually do it.

Here's hoping it helps.

band wagon hopping. Seemed like fun.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

So wicked was wicked. Such an easy pun to make, it needed to be done. it was perfect musical fodder. Not exactly a deep story line, but witty enough to keep it interesting. The music was fairly standard and extremely emotive, lots of good belty moments since the main role is a lower voice (alto I think, but maybe mezzo-soprano). Nice set, elaborate costumes, good effects and a sweet message about being true to yourself round it off. I'm sure that this musical has become the bain of the auditioner's existence since a few of the songs I'm sure will have already become fast favourites.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it was fantastic to see my folks again.

Academically, I've still been getting nowhere fast. My sherd project has turned towards a nw focus that as left practically all of the work I've done on it thus far obsolete. But I think (/hope) it will be the better for it. And knowledge is knowledge right? never wasted.

I also just found out that the supervisor I thought I was doing my dissertation with is actually leaving the country. So I'm dissapointed about that, I don't think I'll do as well with someone else guiding me. She was fantastic and wasn't afraid to tell me when I was bullshitting. I'll figure it out, but I'm cursing a bit.

I talked with another professor about a project that could form the basis of my Phd. Can you say underqualified? It sounds like the perfect project in that it's interesting and new that has both a specific focus and a broader consequence and it would be linked to an archaeological site. It would be a lot of responsibility on me though to be extremely accurate. I would be in charge of creating a pottery sequence of the materials in close association with the stratigraphy, both informing the other. This would also mean that I would go on the excavation and it would be on me to choose the sherds that are representative samples. I could easily screw this up, and if I were starting tomorrow, I'd be screwed. But I'm not starting tomorrow, I have some time to get m act together and I'm excited for it. It seems that it wouldn't be a problem if I can't start this year due to funding/ acceptance and it would also allow me to take the job at knossos I've been offered for a few months to gain some experience in cataloguing and databasing. The main thing I have to do is get a first on my dissertation so that I can even worry about funding.
It would also mean that I don't really have to focus on learning german... just turkish. Gah.

I was at a film festival the other night since some of my friends had made a 'super 8' film that was being aired. Their film was fantastic (and I;ll post it as soon as they put it up), but they showed this short while the judges were deliberating and I felt it needed to be shared. very very nice. Plus, I'm very proud of myself for even getting it on my blog, rather than just linking but if it doesn't work go to Yuki

I am in a very bad state of lethargy.
I pu it down to having finished my essay last week and having let myself relax a bit. It's just hard for me to get going again. It's not that I haven't done some real work, I've sat in the back of the museum looking at my pot sherds quite a lot, but I seem to be in a general state of apathy at the moment. I know I have to work, and work well since my parents are coming in a little over a week and I want to take a bit of time to travel with them guilt free. Which is fine. I'll get there. I just have a few really boring texts to get through first.

What is more interesting to me right now is trying to sort out my future. Since I won't know if I am actually accepted into Cambridge until July, and since I won't know if I've been accepted with funding until... September, and given the state of my applications, I think I have to assume that I will not be starting my PhD this year and look at what my options are for this year coming up. Why, why did I choose to work in a field where you don't get paid? Where you are lucky if you get subsistence? I mean, I don't mind working for that to gain experience and further my skills and connections in the field, but I now have student loans that will need to be payed off sometime. But I have been shaking the Cambridge tree and somethings have been at least thinking of falling out.
1) there is a early iron age site in turkey that needs someone to help develope a pottery sequence. This would be amazing experience and possibly could be funded through the British institute there, which, I am told, doesn't have a lot of competition for scholarships. So here's hoping.
2) I and some of my supervisors have connections with the British school in Knossos which has a museum full of sherds that needs to be worked through. But they might not have funding / need another person to help do it.

I was also thinking of trying to find some work in one of the many musems in Germany so I could learn german and get experience at the same time, but I think that's a longer shot. I'm trying though.
So if any of you have some bizarre connection to a German museum...

This is my future. Excitingly unknown? financially insecure? reliant on personal connections rather than ability? You bet!