Omnia Fluunt

longest blog ever

2007-10-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

alrighty.
You may be wondering what I've been up to considering it's been so long since I last updated anything. Really, I wish I had more to say or to at least write that things have been going the way I'd hoped. But they aren't. It's kind of unfortunate to find out that you are apparently unemployable in a line of work closely related to what you want to pursue. For those of you who don't know, I've been applying for jobs with commercial archaeology companies to get more field work experience. It's been over a month and not a single company I've applied for has even given me a call. So I have decided that I had best get a part time job that is allowed under the student visa that I have and that I should find myself a place so that I am not imposing myself onto my friends any more. The trick is that it has to be a job that I could leave should one of the archaeological companies actually choose to hire me.
In the grand scheme of things it's really not that bad. It's just disappointing. If I can't get a job before Christmas I'll see if I can't go back to Greece and do what I was supposed to be doing right now since the opportunity is still there. This, of course, just depends on me getting a visa or something so that I don't jeopardize my excavations this summer, which is definitly something I am not looking forward to having to do.

Enough of that though. The better news is that I was able to spend some time with my mom and oma who came out to my Graduation ceremony a few weeks ago. The ceremony was surprisingly short and efficient. All in Latin too. King's was the first college to go because it was the first of the Royal charter colleges. (oooh, awwe).

After the cermony we spent some time in London seeing the sight. We saw some fantastic musicals as well. First, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. I had been trying to get tickets for this show but it was sold out until 2008 or something stupid like that, but I found some upper balcony style tickets from an unofficial booth that turned out to be better than we thought. The show was also a nice surprise, it turned out to be a lot of fun. But we were still baffled as to why it was so sold out, and, more strangely, why people cheered like mad when Lee Mead, the Guy playing Joseph, stepped onto the stage. I mean, he was good, no doubt about that, but still. Turns out they had done a reality tv show to fill the Joseph role - an amazing marketing ploy that seems to have worked.

Show number two, another Andrew Lloyd, the Phantom of the Opera. I had actually never seen this show, though of course, it is a classic and was very beautifully done. I suppose I had higher hopes for this one than for Joseph so I was left a little bit disappointed. I felt they were holding back just a little from making the big moments as big as they could have been. But still, how could you not enjoy it?
Show number three... Chicago, now starring none other than Kelly Osborne as Mama Morton (those of you who know the musical may be cringing at this moment, and rightfully so). I had heard that the reviews were saying that she was doing a good job. She did not do a good job. This was a marketing ploy that did not work. Thankfully she wasn't on stage all that much to drag down the fantastic job the rest of the cast was doing.
So between the 3 musicals and catching 'dirty dancing' on the tv, and my singing constantly, my mom and oma had an amazingly musical time.

And after London, we made our way up to Edinburgh for a few days. Absolutely beautiful. Some very nice museums and interesting old buildings with tiny little alleyways.

One of the highlights of Edinburgh was Rosslyn Chapel. Started in 1446 (or somewhere around then) the entire chapel is covered in elaborate, and mysterious, carvings. It was mentioned in the DaVinci Code, so it has gained in popularity over the years as a tourist attraction but is still extremely intriguing as a place that has Templar and Masonic connections, heart lines, and an unopened massive vault rumoured to hold things like the grail or the ark of the covenant or a piece of the true cross. (Instead of trying to tell you all of the strange rumours that surround this place, I'll just link you to the wikipedia article...). One of the things I found most interesting, however, was that in their attempts to preserve the sandstone carvings, they covered them in a monochromatic cement mixture. This not only removed the natural colouring of the sandstone and the paint that was applied, but it cause the sandstone to retain water and therefore moss to cover huge amounts of the surfaces. So they had to build an awning to put over top of it to keep it dry. It is interesting that sometimes the acts that we make to preserve our material culture can sometimes do just as much damage.

So. In summation. Had a great time with my mom and oma, and not a bad time just getting things in order. I just wish I had the job I want.

bureaucracy 1, me 0

2007-09-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

so I lose. I definitley have to go back to england. It's complicated and weird and bureaucratic and I'm not so mad at the fact that I have to go back, it's that no one could have told me the information I needed to know sooner. I mean come on now. All it takes is someone to actually listen to what your situation is and what you want to do instead of being to busy to care. I mean, when the canadian embassy in greece and the greek embassy in canada tell you two different things, you know the system is confused.
and I'm also mad at the fact that even the little things are not going right for me today... like trying to call a bunch of embassies and then trying to call airway people. for example... trying to call british airways to change my ticket... first, i just happen to run out of money on my cell. second, the first payphone i can find is decapitated, i.e. no reciever. the second inexplicably non-functioning, the third working, but it is now 5 minutes past five. the office closed at five. i try to call long distance to the one in england and for some reason cannot get through.
any ways. I'm just going to have to suck it up and pay the massive amount they are charging me to change my ticket, but first I have to walk back to lefkandi and get the bank card that is sitting in my room instead of being in my bag only to walk back (30 min. both ways). can't say i'm not getting my exercise.

anyways, enough complaining. I'm bitter, yes, but still. things aren't that bad, just expensive and time consuming. Maybe it's better that I go back to england to sort some stuff out, and on the bright side i have some friends there who have already offered up their couches and floors.

that's it for now, i have to get walking if I'm going to make dinner...

2007-09-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

This is the view from my balcony. Lefkandi can't be beat for seaside views: what it lacks in creature comforts, it makes up for in seascapes. it's basically a place where athenians come and beach it up for the weekend so the weekends are overrun with vacationing greeks, but there are vary vary few people from elsewhere and we are a bit of an anomally as english speakers. lefkandi has a ton of tavernas, but nothing along the lines of a bank (or atm), post office, supermarket, internet cafe, etc etc. so to get anything you have to walk to the next town 1/2 an hour away. That outcropping of land is where the site is located.

these are the workem i'm with and the trench that i'm in. basically, looking for a big wall. the photo heare is just starting to see it come up, but by this point we've uncovered approximately 9 meters of what is now a 19 meter long wall (you can see it running back in the distance of the trench uncovered last year). I don't mind saying that my wheel barrow and shovel boy are probably the cutest ones, thereby making our trench the hottest one by far (not temperature wise either).

we have along weekend which is great because it will allow me to go into athens and attempt to deal with the greek bueaucracy which will either extend my visa so i can stay until christmas or not. I'm looking forward to a day of waiting and incomprehensible organisation. keep your fingers crossed.

2007-08-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

i had grand plans to upload some photos and have this great blog to make up for the length of time that has past since the previous posting... but I can't use my jump drive at this internet cafe. dangit.

well, here's the scoop anyways.

we are now entering our 4th week of digging here at Lefkandi. This last week was nice becasue the first two we were basically digging rectangular trenches of nothing but topsoil. this week we actually reached archaeological levels, just beneath the surface really, but it's all about being north or south of this big wall. (north there is nothing until very deep, south you dig 30 cm and you hit mycenaen beuildings). my trench is all about outlining what the extent of this boundary wall is and how the area connects to what was founf to the south last year. so now I have a part of the large wall and a couple of other, unexpected, smaller walls.
it's exciting. i promise.

I am a trench supervisor, which means that I tell the pickman and the other two workers where to dig, etc. so far I;ve had a greek speaking assistant to communicate through, but things are getting swapped around this week and i will have someone who doesn't speak greek assisting. This should be interesting. It'll be alright, i think, becasue i have picked up enough to generally get the main point across, it's just the details that I worry about. at any rate, my greek should improve by force, which is a bright side.

i'm going to leave it there for now... i promise though that I will flesh it out soon, i think the other internet cafe i go to should be able to upload a few photos which will make all the difference.

love you all and miss you

2007-07-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

So. I'm digging. It's going well: I am slowly gaining confidence and not thinking that I'm going to destroy everything, the heat wave has subsided and is now in the 30's rather than 40's, i have an amazing 'T' shaped tan on my back and am working on the shoe tan nicely, and I am meeting people, slowly but surely.
This weekend is a long weekend, meaning that we have monday off. Most people are heading out to the islands. I might have, but I didn't know about this weekend until recently, and I just don't feel like have the energy to go through all the trouble. Plus, I really need to get some work done on my funding proposals this weekend. But, I also figure that I should at least do Something on Sunday for my birthday. but all the really nice beaches are really far. Though I suppose I could head to one of the closer ones and just suck it up, I mean, a beach is a beach. I can't believe I'm whining about not knowing what I should do when I'm in greece, i mean, really now. I'm just to lazy to plan to relax.
love you all, miss you all.

2007-06-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

one day of digging and just look at the tan lines.

They let us go home early today because of the heat. I was more thankful than you can possibly imagine. Apparently sitting in rainy england writing your thesis is not good peparation for digging in the greek sun. Who knew?

2007-06-24T07:42:00.001-07:00

well. I'm Greece. And it's excessively warm already. Someone said 48 degrees. crazy.
I'm being waited on fo rthe ocmputer, so I'll write more when I have more to say other than am extrememly tired form sleeping on planes and in airports.

blog karma

2007-06-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

I figure I'm on the negative side for blogging karma. So it'll be a long one.

I guess I have to go back to Tuesday, when I handed in my thesis. Had a day to relax and run errands and whatnot, then it was off to Holland to visit my Oma and Opa who are there visiting relatives right now.
It was very interesting to see all of the 'aunts' and 'uncles' and 'cousins' (all second or third I think) that I hadn't really seen since I was 11. Most of the trip involved sitting around listening to conversations in dutch (no, i don't understand dutch), but we also went to a couple of really beautiful, very old, little towns nearby and on the saturday my cousins took me out clubbing dutch style. The legal drinking age there is 16 and the club was huge (4 different dance floors, each the size of one of ours) with full fog, light, tv, and laser effects. oh, and a pool. but I was told if you went in the pool, you got kicked out of the club, which made me wonder why they had it there in the first place.

so after listening a whole lot of dutch, and picking all the cherries a person could humanly eat from the cherry tree in the yard, I returned home sunday night to a Viva Voce exam monday morning. The viva didn't go fantastically well. I think I held my own and babbled a minimum amount, but I did get the distinct impression that one marker in particular thought my topic extremely pointless. So I think I may be looking at an alright, but not great mark coming up (I won't know at least for a couple of weeks). Hopefully it will be enough to get me some funding...

But hey, it's now all over and I have nothing left for my masters but to wait. And I have nothing left to do here but run some errands and enjoy myself. This week holds two huge parties, the King's affair, and the king's graduate formal dinner. The affair is King's answer to a ball (which is what most of the other colleges have) and is instead just a massive party where we are allowed on the lawn (ooh!). I find it amusing that all the other colleges have themes like: 'the moon', 'through the looking glass', and other fancy things that I can't remember right now where they all dress up in formal gear... king's picks 'aftermath'. That's right folks, it's a post-apocalyptically themed affair. That means wearing ripped clothing and gas masks. Sounds like fun to me, and we'll be formal formal for the grad dinner anyways. gotta love king's.

And then I'm off on Saturday night. Weird. So weird. It's definitley coming up quicker than I expected. But I've got myself a 'learn greek' tape on my
(brand new!*) ipod and my trowel so I'm all set.

*my wonderful mother sent me an early birthday present with my grandparents... a fantabulous black 30 gig video ipod! I love it. My old ipod, though also fabulous, was having serious battery issues, so it had to be done. So exciting.

Oh! and the cows are back in the pasture. they're white and lovely.

2007-06-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

The thesis is in folks. That's it. That's the program.
weird.
So, after being severely sleep deprived, and excessively sedentary, I spent the day lounging around with others and punting. I can look forward to my Viva Voce exam in about a week, but until then I will be heading off to Holland to see my Oma and Opa.
Sorry, it's so short, but I am excessively tired and can't think straight.

I will elaborate soon.

2007-06-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

2007-05-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still alive though I know it doens't seem like it from the lack of bloggy-goodness. Just not a lot to say really.
Thesis due in two weeks
Recieved a good mark on that pot sherd project
Am in a new relationship (that is inherently doomed in a month and forced aside due to work but still)
Rainy and cold this week... but I suppose it's better that it get it over with now than when the paper is done

yup. That's it.

Miss you all.

2007-05-13T02:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it's definitely spring. The period where you have to work the most and yet want to the very least. I'm looking back at all you fine folks who are done school and enjoying the thrills of staff training with envious eyes.
Missing the fort pops up at random times and places, like from the smell of my wool jacket in the rain. But at the same time, I'm contented and secure in the fact that I'm heading in a direction I want to go. (you'll hear the following in many posts to come I'm sure but...) I'm very much looking forward to after June 12th - the day my thesis is due. I then have a viva voce exam and some time to enjoy my new found friends and then it's off to Greece for 6 months. I have very little hope for continuing this upcoming year, but I think I should manage to be able to come back in 2008. My marks, though it depends on these last two, haven't been good enough as of yet to warrant admission into the classics faculty, but I could easily get into archaeology which is perfectly fine with me. It's really the funding (or lack of) that matters anyways.
So for now I am in a cycle of procrastination, reading, and writing. I'm not sure, but I _think_ procrastination is winning at the moment (seeing as I'm blogging rather than finishing the draft that needs to get done for tommorrow), but *meh*.

I guess I thought I'd best get you all caught up, and that's pretty much it.

i am an idiot

2007-05-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

seriously. who comes to greece specifically to see an exhibition and doesn't check to see that it's still showing? An idiot. i.e. me.

joy.

2007-04-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

Well, after a very long couple of days I have arrived in greece.

And I mean a very long couple of days.
So my third project, the sherd one I've been posting about for what seems like forever was due monday at 12. My supervisor had been away so I was already a bit behind on everything, but I felt that I was at least somewhat on track. I had worked most of Saturday and had about 5 hours of sleep, alright. That's fine. But then I go to layout all of my catalogue images that I drew and _oh my goodness_ did the technology just about kill me. No matter what I did I could not get my images printed out at the correct size (and keep in mind that the whole point is to be exactly correct in all aspects of everything). So I spent the entire day trying to get this right, and to no avail. Finally I gave up... which left the night to do everything else I needed to do ie. get some maps, and finish and redraft my essay part of the project, write my bibliography, and double check my catalogue. This means I slept, oh, about an hour, and woke up without knowing how in the world I would get my images to work out, and still needing to make some changes to my essay. So yup.
Thank goodness the fates gave me something... a friend who offered to layout my images in her much superior program, indesign, while I finished the essay part... and a slight extension. Even with this girl who has done professional catalogue layouts as a job, the images magically resized themselves the first time and she had to do it again. But it finally worked, and though I don't think it is bug free, I handed it in at 1:15, only an hour and a half late.
So then I run the errand that I had been meaning to run and do little things, like eat, that I hadn't had a chance to do. I just miss the 3:30 bus to the airport, almost miss the 4:15 bus because I hadn't realized they changes the location of the stop, but get the the airport in plenty of time.
I arrive in Greece at 2:30 their time (I managed to sleep a little, but was surprised I didn't sleep more since they were playing 'miss potter' as a movie... can you say boring? I should have been sleeping like a baby). I splurge for a cab to take me to the hostel, and without wanting to pay for another night, seeing as it's like, 4 in the morning already, they let me sleep on the couch. I have just now finally showered and checked in and am raring to go...

Alright, so that's where I'm coming from right now. a combined total of around 11 hours of sleep between three nights and 5 of those being on a plane/couch. Yay.

But the potential abounds and I hope that the journey proves worthwhile.

Natural selection

2007-04-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

This is the short film that I mentioned awhile back, but as a recap... some of my friends did this with super eight film and submitted it to a film festival. I'm thoroughly impressed.

2007-04-20T00:45:00.000-07:00

I should post.
Though I honestly have not much going on here. I'm working, slowly, having trouble getting a hold of anybody in general and my supervisors in particular (being that we are still in easter holiday). I am also having trouble sitting inside working all day when the springy weather outside constantly calls to me. It's telling me that it's okay to go on 4 hour punting excursions or play football all day... the sun hypnotises me into states of non-caring. I can undertand why in edmonton they start and finish earlier because I don't think they could hold us in when spring came full force. Could you imagine going until June? You'd be wasting half the summer studying for exams. Ah well, I'm glad for the time, it'll be crunchy as it is if I keep going at this rate.
(By the way, I hear it is snowing... my honest condolences and hopes that that blasted winter departs, I no longer hope to rub it in because that's so unfortunately absurd)

There is, however, stuff happening at home. I missed two birthdays this month, my sister's and my mom's. Combine this with easter and a random upsurge of internet chatting with my friends and I am missing being home. This is, however, mixed with a feeling that I'm not finished here in Cambridge. I really hope that I get the grade that can keep me here. Not so much for next year specifically, but at least if I get the grade I can reapply for 2008 and really go at it for funding.

Oh, and I just booked a ticket for Athens for the end of the month. I just have to go for a few days to see some of the sculptures I am writing my thesis on, and an exibit that's there right now that's about polychromy. It has a bunch of coloured casts. It's really annoying because I check the websites, make sure the museums aropen on the days I want to go and buy the tickets. Then I find out that the first day I am there is a Greek holiday. Figures. The museums may be closed. I should still have enough time to see what I need to see, but I mean really. one out of 2 and a half days shot. I am so annoyed at myself, but at least I found out before I got there.

You are all going to silently hate me already for complaining that the weather is too nice to focus, so I may as well add in another point. I don't want to go to athens all that much. It's completely necessary for my thesis, it will give me that first hand experience that will make or break the paper, but it's so much effort. I am not looking forward to getting in that plane. It's British Airwas, which is better than olympic, but still. And I am banking on getting funding to go, so I really hope it comes through, but I can't get a hold of my supervisor to write a letter of support for the application so I'll be going first and hoping for the funding later. Besides I am worried that it's going to be taking precious days out of my 90 days allowed in Greece which is the exact amount of time I need to be there for this summer. I hope they don't give me trouble about it.

sorry. I'll stop now. I realise that having to go to athens is most definitely not the worst thing that could happen.

spring!

2007-04-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

The baby ducklings have hatched! This of course results in two things: first, an automatic baby voice and desperate urge to cuddle, and second, a guilty joy knowing it's still snowy where you are and wanting to rub it in. Karma may just hurt me soon, but I don't care. Now all I need for the spring transfrmation to be complete is for them to bring back the King's cows.

2007-04-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

First, an apology for being so very very lax on the blogging. I'v have, though been working a lot... finally. I am finally at the point in the project that I've been mentioning for awhile now, which makes for a very nice change of pace. apart from a wonderful day in london where I went to the museum and had a great dinner with kate, I've been drawing and cataloguing and inking everything pretty much all day for the past few days.

With that also comes watching way to much Xena: Warrior Princess in the background while fixing up and inking.

Ah, the joy that is the pseudo-Greek world that she inhabits. Fantastically bad. So bad. So bad.

For all of you who ask, why draw pot sherds when one can simply take a photo, I shall explain. Drawing sherds is something that you can do that will show both the interior, exterior, and a profile all in one. It also helps to show clearly the decoration when it is not always easy to see on the sherd itself, or if you need to recreate something, you can. So you draw it like:

then you ink it up and scan it so it looks something like:

Mine aren't fantastic. They are fine, but I need more practice. I don't seem to have developed a steady enough hand for illustrative drawing just yet. You have to be so exact it's disgusting. But still, I enjoy it.

I've been swapped softly

2007-03-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-03-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-09T16:54:00.000-08:00

band wagon hopping. Seemed like fun.

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2007-03-09T00:04:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-03-05T01:04:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-02-25T00:53:00.000-08:00

Weird thing about me #4
Though I have to admit, this may be cheating a bit since I have a feeling this is something that everyone does. I don't know for sure, and I'm writing about it, so I justify this as weird thing about me #4.
I keep seeing people here that remind me of people at home. That's not so weird in and of itself, but I think it's extremely strange that the people I see always remind me of only minor acquaintances or lesser friends than the people I really care about. For example: 'hey, that girl looks/acts/has the exact same aura/ as someone in my first year English class.' And I was so sure that I'd seen this younger male with really long blond hair before that I considered asking if he lived in Edmonton, though I really don't know where I would have seen him or what his name is. I have a feeling he went to the same high school as I did, but I severely doubt this is the case.
See, reminding me of people I don't even know. Isn't that weird? I was thinking that maybe it's because I know these people less and just have a general impression of them. So when that general impression is matched, I'm reminded of the person. Whereas with my friends, I know more about you, you in my head is much more complex.
No, but that doesn't really work, because you could also argue that since I know more about you, there are more features and characteristics that could appear in someone else that would remind me of you thereby being statistically more probable.

huh. weird.

what the hey

2007-02-24T09:39:00.000-08:00

I'm jumping on the bandwagon. The really sad thing is that I already did this once on facebook and therefore am doubling my waste of time. But it feels like a time wasting sort of day. I should be starting on my next project or doing some german, but meh. I can justify a day off.

Life SoundtrackIF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?So, here's how it works:1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)2. Put it on shuffle3. Press play4. For every question, type the song that's playing5. When you go to a new question, press the next button6. Don't lie
Opening Credits:
a) The Flaming Lips 'Turn it on'. (Hey one that works well right of the bat!)
b) The Smalls 'My Chords like this'

Waking Up:
a) Mogwai 'auto rock' (This one is perfect... it's like my itunes knows...)
b) Marilyn Manson 'I don't like the drugs (but the drugs like me)' (So it's going to be that kind of a day is it?)

First day at High School:
a) Green day 'The grouch' (Perfect song number 3. this is getting weird)
b) The Trews 'Hollis and Morris'

Falling in Love:
a) Hayden 'pots and pans' (Seriously now... it's not just getting weird, it is weird. I think it's perfect, sort of a quirky falling in love)
b) The Shins 'fighting in a sack'

Fight Song:
a) Damien Rice 'Lonelily' (okay, this one and the Shins, above, should be reversed... itunes messed up a little... but still)
b) Smashing Pumpkins 'slow dawn' (guess I'm not much of a fighter)

Breaking Up:
a) Joseph Arthur 'in the night' (Now we're getting back on track)
b) Clinic 'internal wrangler'

Prom:
a) The Smalls 'domination' (huh...)
b) Big Sugar 'all hell for a basement' (apparently it's going to be an angsty prom)

Life:
a) 'The man who sold the world' sung by Jordi Unga (I love it. Absolutely perfect, it's gonna be a good life)
b) Econoline Crush 'Elegant' (okay, maybe not such a great life)

Mental Breakdown:
a) Chris Bell 'Speed of sound' (a little relaxed for breaking down, but still, it's about being jilted so I suppose it works)
b) Space 'Charlie M' (this is much more fitting for a breakdown)

Driving:
a) the Watchmen 'stereo'
b) Steve Burns 'a snivelling mess'

Flashback:
a) Paul Westerberg 'nowhere man' (only works if the flashback is showing how useless and wasted one's life was)
b) Death Cab for Cutie 'Champagne from a paper cup'

Getting Back Together:
a) The Grapes of Wrath 'I am here' (Fitting song, most definitely)
b) Smashing Pumpkins 'perfect' (what more can I say?)

Wedding:
a) Green day 'nice guys finish last' (oh dear lord. More interesting than my prom)
b) The strokes 'razorblades' (forboding perhaps?)

Birth of Child:
a) Miles Davis 'my ship' (who knew I had this on my ipod? I didn't)
b) The Flaming lips 'Pilot can at the queer of god' (doesn't look good for my child does it?)

Final Battle:
a) The Grapes of Wrath 'see emily play'
b) Ann Reinking in Chicago 'Funny Honey' (much like magnolia, I was wondering when the show tunes would kick in... and also like Magnoia, it had to be in the battle scene didn't it)

Death Scene:
a) The muppets 'ma na ma na' (What a way to go! I'm laughing so hard I'm crying! Not exactly a glamorous way to die now is it?)
b) Daniel Powter 'Give me life' (That's much better)

Funeral Song:
a) Damien Rice 'eskimo' (moving)
b) The Shins 'saint simon' (I'm okay with this one too)

End Credits:
a) hayden 'lullaby' (ah Hayden comes through in the end to close off perfetly!)
b) Damien Rice (again) 'volcano' (one of my favourite songs so I'm happy)

So. In summation: Some extremely fitting songs, some not so much, and I can look forward to my final battle in accordance with show tunes.

2007-02-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

The end is in sight. For this essay at least. I have a) already cut enough words out of it to lie that it's only slightly over, b) found a colour printer, which was surprisingly difficult, and printed off my images, and c) searched out those elusive footnoting and reference bits that I managed to not make note of.

So now, I will go to yoga, try to convince my friends to go for sushi afterwards, and then finish it up and print it out before I hit the sack.

Yay! I have to say, I think this one is much better than the first one, so here's hoping!

Blogging lull

2007-02-20T00:04:00.000-08:00

Everyone seems to be in a blogging lull right now, so I thought I'd do my best to make myself get out of mine so that others might follow suit. You never know, right?

So yesterday I bussed into Oxford (approximatley 3hrs each way) so that I could have an interview with this fellow named John Camp who runs an excavation in the Athenian agora that I would like to be on this summer. It's an intersting locaion to dig, it's in Athens, it fits with the time between school and the lefkandi dig I'm on, you don't have to pay, and they supply accommodation and a food allowance. All in all, not bad prospects. The problems are that I will still be finishing my course and need to be in Cambridge when it starts, missing about a week at the beginning, and the fact that I'm Canadian studying at a British school puts me in the cracks in terms of allegiance on an American dig. So I've been accepted to the dig, but he doesn't want me to take up a bed and would prefer for me to find my own accommodation. Eep. It will be subsidised with €50 a week, but only the cheapest of hostels go for about €11 euro. It's okay, I think I'd be willing to do that since I've stayed in one of those hostels before and it wasn't bad quality wise. But still. I think the accommodation they provide is much nicer. I'm trying to see if the canadian institute in Athens can help me out with anything, but it's so small that I doubt they'd have anything. I'll keep looking, who knows, maybe if I pick the brains of some of my connected friends I can find someone to stay with or something like that.

So there' that. My essay is due on Friday, and it's actually shaping up. It's much too long right now, and I have no idea what to cut, but it has a good point to it and I think that the argument I'm making is much better than in my first essay. It's the writing that still needs some help, but hey, I've still got a couple of days to make it work. I just need to focus. And skip German.
After this week I can start to really focus on my pot sherd project and getting my thesis off the ground. I'm excited for both, I feel headed in at least the right general direction right now.

I think.

What else...? Oh, my soccer team is finished for the season (it's considered a winter sport here, which I think is absurd. I suppose they have to limit it, but still, there is absolutely no reason why soccer cannot be played in the summer as well). As you can tell I'm rather grumpy about it being over. Now how am I going to be motivated to get out and run around? Seriously. This is not a good move for my mental or physical wellness.
We did, I think, perfectly. We tied for first place on points in the league with two other teams (we each won 6 out of 7 games), but we were in third place with the lowest goal differential. This means that although we did really well, the team stays in the third tier and doesn't move up a level. This is perfect because I think that staying in the 3rd tier is good for a team who is not necessarily in it to compete and it's important that those who have never played before but want to join don't feel outclassed. Therefore, we placed perfectly.

Alright, so now, needs must focus.

Nothing of interest

2007-02-16T00:04:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd best post and tell why no post has been occurring.

It's because if I did post, it would be nothing but slight neuroticism about my impending due date with an essay that is nowhere near complete, my continuing to think of German as the 10th circle of hell, and how, despite my anxieties on my work, I still maintain an optimism that things will work out.

see? booooooring. You've all heard it before.

So in addendum, I will add weird thing about me number 3, to make things a little more interesting (hopefully). I have a bizarre obsession with clipping my toenails. They must be kept short and clean at all times. If I have somehow forgotten clippers (say on a vacation or something) it will drive me slightly mad. I think it's for two reasons: one being who the heck wants long gross toenails? and two being the karate factor. I have been cut by someones toenail before, and that is not cool. In karate it's important to keep all nails short and clean, and since I chew my finger nails and don't have to worry about clipping them, the obsession developed only for my toenails. I think it's weird.

SnowSnowSnowSnow

2007-02-08T01:33:00.000-08:00

It's like i'm two. Seriously, I am so excited that it's snowing, the first thing I did when I got up (apart form getting soem clothes on, and yelling SNOW!) was to grab my camera and play outside for awhile. You would think I never saw snow before in my life.

2007-02-08T01:10:00.000-08:00

2007-02-05T05:09:00.000-08:00

gah. small venting required.

I was working really well, finally getting stuff done on my essay, until this girl decided to sit next to me and mouth breath.

okay, fair enough, it's cold season and I can't fault her for what may be illness induced loud breathing. But it bugs me nonetheless and that's all I can think of right now. I keep thinking about something I read about in a turn of the century text about mouth-breathers and their inherently boorish nature...
Maybe I'll go home and try and work there instead. I need some lunch anyways.

Addition: this made me think of weird thing about me #2:
I am oddly fascinated about the concept of mouth breathing and all that it implies. This text I was referring to talked about a student who was below average and a mouth breather until undergoing an operation to remove some sort of nodules from his nose. Surprise surprise... he instantly became a perfect child who was bright, caring, athletic and had perfect posture! (I may be exaggerating somewhat, but the idea is there). And ever since then, as previously noted, I have been oddly fascinated by this. I suppose it is the idea that something as small as how we breath can be, and is, a point for stereotyping and debasing others, and how these ideas can get handed down from periods in time where we can excuse this sort of thinking but somehow manage to linger on.
Okay, I'm over thinking this, I'm in essay mode...

2007-02-03T15:41:00.000-08:00

some things in my life:

My essay is at least on a track. I don't know if it's a good track, but it is a track nonetheless.
My soccer team is on a role. We won our 3rd game in a row, and this one was a hard one.
The disease is coming to get me again. I can feel it invading. guh.

and I've been tagged to write 6 weird things about myself which I think may have to come in instalments.
the 1st weird thing about me is that I have an (unnatural?) tendency to empathize with inanimate objects. For example, when I was younger, my mom bought us new pillows, but I felt too sorry for my old pillow to get rid of it. I actually cried.

2007-02-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

Here are those pictures of the grand "snowfall" that occured last week. Can you see the snow? Huh? Can you? It's kind of like Where's Waldo".

Man, I am such a snow snob.

2007-01-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

I don't know how to start. In fact I don't know what I'm doing at all. My paper that is. I didn't get the best mark on my first paper, which is somewhat disheartening. It wasn't awful, it's definitely manageable, but it wasn't what I'd hoped. This next essay doesn't seem to be doing any better. I know I need to write something tonight, but I just cannot seem to get started because I don't really know what I want to say.

It doesn't help that I was sitting in the library all day trying to find articles to no avail. It's just not flowing together.

Robbie B-ing

2007-01-26T00:52:00.000-08:00

A yes. Good ole Robert Burns. We thank thee for the poem-ing and the giving us a reason to be haggis-ing and ceilidh-ing. Where would we be without poems such as "To a Louse" and "To a Mouse" not to mention "Auld Lang Syne".
We were formal hall-ing in celebration of Scotland's National poet yesterday and though I was denied even my vegetarian haggis (apparently some meat eaters changed their minds about eating the king of the pudding race and sneakily took my food instead) it was indeed good fun.

(Geeze. It's actually harder than it looks to be verbing all these nouns, you really have to think... sorry to all you who don't read hypocriticaconfessions. Inside joke.)

In other news:
It snowed here. Really it did. I was going to put up pictures but I re-instled windows and haven't yet recieved the camera software that my mom sent me. So no pics, but it should be soon. But seriously, it took me a while to realise it had snowed because it only stuck in a few places like roof-tops and on grass. Most of it was melted by the time I even set foot out the door at 11:00. I was amused.

Also, I am very nervous about going to the faculty today. We get our marks back for our first essays. eep. It's kind of like christmas when you know you could be getting something really awful.

I'll let you know how it goes.

2007-01-22T08:54:00.000-08:00

Yup. Magnolia was right.

The little roses didn't even give me a chance to kill them before they died. It's okay though. I never really felt a connection with them. They were too delicate and, though very pretty, also very sharp. They didn't feel like they needed love, they were already too pretty to care.

It doesn't look too bad in the photo, and really it wasn't all dead just yet, but it was crumpling and disintigrating and it had brought in a few little buggy things. So I got a different one. This one I am assured will be easy to care for and will produce some lovely flowers. I like it better already. Simple and easy going. Just what I like.

And the essays are going fine. A little bit of trouble considering about 75% of my necessary sources are in another language. You know that you're in trouble when you are happy to find one in french or italian let alone english. I've said it once, I'll say it again, and most likely I'll say it many more times in the near future... Stupid German. (Sorry Bonobo).

settling in

2007-01-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh.

My books are beginning to pile.

My mess is beginning to accumulate.

My food is stocked.

My life is starting to get back to being solid.

Watch and in a little while I'll be bored with it, but it's a nice thought right now to have some sort of consistent space for a while. Plus now it's a space with a plant!

I really wanted to pick up something alive to cheer the place up a bit, something to share my glad time and my woes. If I can't have some sort of animal, a plant is the next best thing right? Better than talking to myself isn't it? Slightly less crazy? And it's a rose, so now I can stop and smell the roses almost any time I want!

Here's hoping I don't kill it immediately

I'm back, and I'm smelly

2007-01-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

The "back" is pretty self explanitory, the "smelly" will be explained promptly.

So Crete was beautiful.
My new year's resolution to be better with photos has already fallen to the wayside because I am looking at the photos I took and thinking that a) there are not nearly enough and b) they aren't the best photos I could have taken. I missed a lot of stuff like the palace and the pack of dogs or the cats that called the villa their home. I also missed the "skating rink" that was set up in the nearby town. I just about laughed aloud at thes kids skating on a thin layer of ice on what I think was plexi glass. And I us skating here as a liberal term since they were more clomping around and falling all over the place than skating. But C'est la Vie. I will learn from it and try to improve.
But really, there wasn't a lot of sight seeing. I was there to learn about vase shapes and how to draw them and that's mostly what I did. I was staying in the Villa Ariadne which was set up by Arthur Evans himself back in the early 1900's when he was doing the original excavations of Knossos. This was very interesting for me because if you know anything about the founding fathers and places in archaeological history Evans figures very promimently. The rooms we were in had of course been renovated and whatnot, but still. The below photo is a view of Heraklion from where we were staying. Very hilly, very beautiful. Very peaceful this time of year because there aren't that many tourists at all so most things in Knossos are not open.

That's a small view of the villa we were staying in. It's got a garden which was nice and which in summer I'm sure would be beautiful.

And this is an example of some of the stuff I was learning to draw. This is a kylix sherd, kind of like a wine goblet and fairly simple. They get more complex and confusing that that one, trust me.

Crete was also cold. Well, colder than I expected. It's funny how 10C in my head is something completely different from the 10C that was Crete in winter. I mean I survived easily enough, but it was chilly, particularly sitting in a concrete box most of the day without access to the sun. And really, had I packed a bit smarter it would have been more than fine. But that's were the smelliness comes in. I had really only packed two medium sweaters and some long sleeved shirts and some tanks for underneath. When you wear 4-5 layers each day, and both sweaters, they become fairly smelly fairly quickly. Who knew?

So that's pretty much it.

Except you know when you find out something that you just haven't thought about? Did you know that they have hedghogs running around free over here? That they just show up in peoples' gardens nd what not? I hadn't really thought about where hedgehogs come from, in my mind they come from the pet shop. Weird.

back in the act

2007-01-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

Well you'll all be very pleased to note that I have arrived safely with little to no fuss. I apparently stayed up way to late last night (10:00 Cambridge time), because I didn't wake up until a marvelous 1:00 pm (also cambridge time). I'm still telling myself that it's alright considering that's, what, around 6:00 in the morning edmonton time, so really I woke up early.
I'm not usually that jet lagged, but I should have gone to bed earlier. I was so knackered that it wouldn't have been hard.
So things I must do today now that I am out of bed:
Get some books
Get some fruit
Get an alarm clock (forgot mine... hmm maybe that's why I slept so late)
Get unpacked (from Edmonton)
Get packed (for Greece)

Sounds like a good day. And yet I still have this urge to go back to bed.

gingerbread and puppy dogs

2007-01-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

The holidays were good. Very enjoyable indeed. Full of lots and lots and lots of food. Crafty Bean was right in saying that too many people worry about their weight between Christmas and New Year when we really should be worried about our weight between New Years and Christmas. I obviously wasn't worried enough to stop eating everything in sight anyways. But I had fun, and am pleased. (the above photo is a gingerbread house my sisters and I made from scratch. Most of the credit goes to my little sister for making all the gingerbread and the icing, but I helped decorate! very important...)

And that's my puppy. Because she's cute and I miss not having her around when I'm away. I like having someone (or rather something) to cuddle even if she is just a fuzzy version of the devil.

And, as you may have noticed with the photos, I did get a digital camera for Christmas, so I have resolved to try and take more photos of my world and things that excite me so that I can share them. I know you might not be excited by them yourselves, but still. I don't know for sure when I will be coming home, it could realistically be not until next Christmas (and September at the earliest at any rate). Considering I leave on Thursday, I have a feeling I won't be seeing everyone before I go. An unhappy case, but probably true, so keep blogging please. I like to know what's happening in your world.

2006-12-21T19:19:00.000-08:00

I'm such a girl!

2006-12-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

Guess what I did today. Bet you can't guess!
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Have you guessed yet?
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I bought 2, yes 2, hundred dollars on makeup.
My little sister's amazing Christmas present to me was to go to MAC and get some makeup done by one of the girls there and 40 dollars of makeup. And then I bought 200 dollars more. I justify this by the fact that I don't really own any makeup, only a little bit. But I have been wearing the little bit I own quite a lot lately. And it's all good quality stuff that will last me a long time and it's much cheaper to buy it here than decide I want to get it and have to buy it in England.
Then we went to lunch.

All in all, I'm feeling much better, having had a great day with delly then this with my sis.

Not much of a confidence hunter, but somehow I think it's creeping back up on me anyways. Thanks everyone. I really really hope to see those of you I haven't seen soon.

2006-12-17T22:03:00.000-08:00

Wow. Self-doubt sucks. Confidence is indeed a fickle, fickle friend.

2006-12-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

PAR-TEE, PAR-TEE, PAR-TEE...

Joy!

2006-12-11T14:53:00.000-08:00

I'm sick of being sick. So today I went to the doctor and got me some drugs. I am now the proud owner of some antibiotics, cough syrup with codeine, and nasal spray. Yummy. I hope they work, since not only have I still been coughing, but I pulled a miscle in my chest so that every time I cough/sneeze/laugh/twist or reach or move in the wrong way I get a nice stabbing pain. So hopefully I will be disease free before the week is out.

At present I'm also a bit mad at myself. I can never seem to get off my ass and get applications for things in with time to spare. I always leave it to the last minute. Honestly, for this one I have been putting it off in hopes that I would get some inspirational thought of exactly what I wanted to do my Phd on, and I did think I had until early next term. But now I find that, OOPS, if I want any chance at funding the application has to be in by Friday. Shoot monkeys. I think It's do able, if I spend a bunch of money on overnight style shipping, but still. I could have done this while I was still there and saved myself some trauma.

On a nicer note, I feel Christmassy now that I've worked a reflections shift. I was at the front end bonfire. So it was a chilly, but not freezing cold night, with not many problems (apart from a continually drippy nose) and a lovely fire to watch. I'm looking forward to being in Ruthy next shift, but I do enjoy the bonfires because they are just so simple and calming.

But seriously. I haven't actually seen many of you yet. How is that possible? Again, maybe a problem with me getting off my ass.

home again home again

2006-12-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

Ah i's good to be back to stab city.
Apart from the day spent in planes trains and automobiles, the incessant coughing (which made me feel like a social parhia on the plane), and the fact that in my head it's 4 o'clock in the morning, it's good to be back.

contact will follow. But not now.

last chance

2006-12-04T01:58:00.000-08:00

All right folks, seeing as I leave on Wednesday, I figure I should make a last call for anything anyone really would like to see brought home from Cambridge. Anyone? Anything? Well, not anything, but anything within reason.

much love and I can't wait to see everyone again.

Cambridge.

2006-12-02T02:28:00.000-08:00

A place where people study hard, but play harder. Apparently. It's pretty rampant, but I guess I'm just not used to college dormitory life. It's not really that bad but it's fairly constant.

Last night was the 'mingle' entitled 'Fear and Loathing in Las Minglas'. That means an Elvis impersonator and many an undergrad in stockings and hot pants. They turned all of the room in one of the buildings on campus into different places to dance with pretty impressive decor. I danced a lot, didn't drink, but am still tired this morning since I got up at 7 to attend a Founders day mass at the chapel followed by an ale breakfast. Interesting tradition. What's more interesting is the dinner that we are having tonight.
It's restricted to last year undergrads and first year grads (who didn't go the previous year, you can only go once) and is completely free. It includes a 7, yes a 7, course meal including a different type of wine with each course. And it's black tie of course. Wow. I'm sure that Henry VI would be so very proud of our gourmandizing.

speaking of proud...

Look what I managed to do! This is a colour reconstruction of the pediment sculpture that I've been writing on for my first essay that I managed to make. I did it by hand first, but the details didn't come out as clean as I wanted, so I thought I'd try and do it on computer though the program they have here is one I never used before. It took me awhile to figure out how to get things started, and took a long time to do once I figured it out... but I did it! Yay! Small victories.

In honour of Crafty Bean...

2006-11-30T09:27:00.000-08:00

... I will finally post a few photosof my world

This is my college. Isn't it pretty? This was a while ago, it's not as blue or green anymore on the whole.

This is our dining hall. We get dinner every night, but it's usually cafeteria style. When I refer to formals this is what I mean. Its basically a sit down served dinner that's supposed to be fancier than normal. Sorry the photo is so dark, it doesn't really show what the hall looks like very well.

Here is a Cambridge cow. This is the one I think Bonobo should write about. (everyone I tell about your story idea loves it... so I won't tell anyone else because they might steal it. You better get on writing that Bonobo.)

That's it. Not too shabby, eh? And only a week before I'm home.

2006-11-30T00:57:00.000-08:00

At this present moment, I am revelling in my dorkiness.
I get to go draw pot sherds today! Yay! Pot sherds! It's all very exciting for me. This is my first class that is leading towards the project that I am doing in leu of a third essay. I think i've already mentioned that I'm very pleased.

There really is not much else to say. I mean, my first essay is almost done, it's still getting cleaned up but is essentially finished. Which is good because I'll get a bit of time to try and clarify my second essay topic and my thesis proposal. And party. Mustn't forget to make time to party. Although that time seems to make itself regardless of whether you have it or not.

2006-11-27T00:50:00.000-08:00

I have camera consistency envy of crafty bean. I always feel silly for not having the photos to back up my tales... somehow I feel you all need proof and an acurate visual of what I mean.
For example, can you all picture the clown band (complete with tuba) that was outside my building yesterday? I doubt it. You can try to imagine the colourful costumes and the oddly painted faces and the image of clowns playing random instruments, but the fact that I missed the photo denies you the joy of seeing exactly what I mean. Well, maybe it is better this way. I still haven't posted a pic of the tea shop, for example, since I really don't think it is all that interesting of a shop and I would hate to deny you the excitement of picturing me living above a cute little tea house type place.

It is only a week and a bit until I get home anyways. Kind of strange to think that soon I will be transported back to the land of cold and ice where, though away from my school and the work environment, I will have to try and maintain a good work ethic and actually get a lot of research finished. I feel confident that I'll be able to do it, but I do know how fast days can get away from you if you aren't careful.

Well, I am determined to get a (semi-) final draft done by the end of today so to the library I must adjurn.

2006-11-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

yup. Motivation has completely left the building.
There really is a lot for me to get done before I leave but I feel as if it will be accomplished. I want to have my essay completely finished and ready to and ready to hand in on the 1st so that I can spend the few days after that getting my next essay topics in order. But I don't know if that is too optimistic in my present state of mind. Plus this next week has plenty of stuff going on such as:

1) heading into Oxford tomorrow for a reunion with the folk from my Lefkandi dig this summer
2) not one but two formal halls (possibly three)
3) plenty of semester end drinks in faculty, kings, and the hostel I'm living in
4) I hope to go see Troy: the musical! that is playing next weekend
5) There's an advent service I'll be attending at the chapel sunday night

so hopefully i'll be destracted enough to work on finishing my essay, if that makes any sense.

I hear it's downright cold in e-town right now. At least you can all whine about it with reason, people here complain and it's not even below zero. It's chilly, sure, but not what I'd call cold just yet. And we seem to be getting more than enough days of crisp sunshiney blue skies. Sorry, didn't mean to rub it in... I miss snow, really I do.

2006-11-21T07:54:00.000-08:00

The sharp pangs of homesickness have poked me a little. Not that I don't think about being home a lot, it's just that this morning feels like a day where I would much rather be home than here. It's funny how it comes at you from out of the blue. I have no particular reason for being homesick today, it just decided to run up and ambush me from behind. But at least I'm mostly over my sick sickness (the cough refuses to vanish completely, but it has greatly diminished).

Oh well, it's just two more weeks or so until I'm flying home. Really, that's almost to soon considering what I need to do in that time. These upcoming weeks also have lots of things to look forward to including a couple of formal dinners and general end of term cheer, but I am looking forward to getting back and being surrounded by those I love and adore. (ah, cheesy, but true).

I better get going, ancient greek calls

2006-11-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

The tea shop I live above really is the tea shop I live above now since it opened today. Yay! no more infernal banging and a constant source of all things tea. I haven't actually had time to be in it yet, but it seems okay. Although, it's called "Ti" and is a little bit cheesy in it's invocation of the east (you'll see what I mean when I get photos) but it's not bad.

My disease is basically a cough now. A slightly dreadful and inhuman cough, but a cough only. My soccer team played this afternoon two people short, against a team in the first tier (we're in third) so needless to say I really got a workout this afternoon. And coupled with the cough that left me quite unable to breath at times, my body feels quite exhausted. But good. I feel good. And I feel ready to revise my essay yet again before I go to bed tonight in order to hand in a better-than-last-and-hopefully-almost-good-enough-to-hand-in rough draft in the morn.

And I really must look into that butler thing Chautauqua girl suggests...
plus the oil lights are really very handy you know, i suggest we import them into Canada so we can see the bears we're wrestling.

2006-11-17T01:16:00.000-08:00

It's rainy and grey out there this morning. The kind of day where, when coupled with a cough and runny nose, you really just want to stay cuddles under your blankets with your head in the pillow ignoring the fact that you must go see your supervisor in an hour.

yup.

Nah, it's okay. I haven't really been able to complain about the weather here, it's been pretty nice, this is the first really grey day that I've woken up to. I mean, last night it was raining, or rather it had just stopped raining so the skies were clear and starry, but the ground was shiny and wet and the trees were orange and yellow and it looked really very beautiful. I guess I'm just being fussy because I'm still diseased.

Seriously, when I cough, I sound like I'm harbouring a demon of death in my chest. but I'm doing everything I can think of to get better and stay better, even without the coldFX the tudor Rose has offered to send me a couple of times (but yes at this point I'll be home around the same time it would arrive, and I think that I'll stock up then).

I'm sick...

2006-11-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

... again. I'm not happy about this. I feel like I'm in kindergarden where everyone is a snot nosed little germ spreading machine.

It' s not that bad, just not that pleasant. At least I can still function. Although I couldn't very well when I got up this morning to drop off a draft of my essay, but then I went back to bed for another couple of hours and took some aspirin and cough syrup and I'm feeling much better.

Seriously though, I usually get sick once or twice a year, this has been twice in two months. That's not cool, not cool at all.

I went to the store and bought some antibacterial gel stuff because I want to take every precaution so that, like scarlette o'hara, I will never go sickly again!

gah.

its a penguin... with boots!

2006-11-11T04:19:00.000-08:00

2006-11-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

I had a good day. Not that I was overly productive or anything crazy like that, but I did have a meeting with some profs about my project in leu of a third essay and I am so very excited about it.

I am revelling in my dorkiness right now. Seriously, I have been on a high all day because I'm going to be able to draw pottery sherds. Not just any pottery sherds mind you, mycenaean late helladic IIIC and IIIB pottery sherds. You're jealous aren't you? don't try to deny it.
As if I wasn't excited enough about it there's also the chance that my supervisor for the project will let me come to Knossos for a week (using classics faculty money) to teach me how to draw pottery there. The site is actually run by one of the directors from Lefkandi which increases my chances of going greatly since I already know him and managed to make a really good impression on him this summer.
Yay!

So we'll see, but things are coming out roses right now.
I just had a good Greek class where I felt that I had actually learned something and wasn't completely useless, and I am looking forward to going to the pub for a veggie burger. My world is complete.

day of guy fawkes

2006-11-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

Last night in honour of Guy Fawkes day there were fireworks. And not just fireworks, but an entire mini exhibition! Had I known I would have gone over there sooner and gone on some rides, but it was much to much to busy to bother with them after the fireworks. We did, as we immediately reverted to six year olds who are over stimulated by the lights and loud booms and all the people, succumb to that sugary temptation that is candy floss.
Is there anything better on this world than whipped, artificially flavoured and coloured, sugar in a bag? i severely doubt it.

I think we should have guy Fawkes day in canada too, just as an excuse to be pyrotechnically unstable for one day of the year. And the massive bonfire they had is my goal for next years staff parties...

2006-11-04T01:43:00.000-08:00

I can't seem to get any images up for my profile pic. maybe it's just not the right time f day. The two below are failed attempts, but they might not have looked so good in the wee anyways.

So in the meantime, you'll all just have to imagine that there's a brilliant photo up.

2006-11-04T01:06:00.000-08:00

2006-11-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

2006-11-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

well, today went better.

I finished up my presentation and my power point, got a chance to read it over for a friends ahead of time and got everything together right on time. I didn't get a chance to eat until after I presented and even then only hurried before soccer practise... but I did it, and I think I did it well. There were problems of course, but nothing major and nothing I didn't know. Like I need to clarify exactly what I'm doing here. I've got good ideas, but the directing point of it is a bit lost. Nothing broke down, nothing didn't work for me, and nothing got erased. Yay!

I got to run around a bit, and there's a halloween formal hall which means that I get to dress up, eat some food, and have a fun night.

good.

did you ever have one of those days

2006-10-31T18:45:00.000-08:00

today was one of those days. Why could nothing go right today? Why? Come on zeus... buddha... anyone? Please explain to me why nothing could go right. Be forwarned, a venting list will follow. Do not read further if you do not wish to read me whining.

I was scolded for using a really fun picture of gorgo cheese and took it off my blog. (I just really liked it, and I guess i just don't understand this whole broadband "stealing" images thing because it's not like I was going to do anything with it other than enjoy it and proclaim my joy of it)
I was up most of last night trying to direct my paper in a new direction to get past the wall. I think I did, but still, I'm tired.
Still sick, coughing a dreaded cough.
I managed to stress myself into a head ache
I worked until I realised I was late for German. Haven't done any German homework this week (this is no to say I haven't done any german as I have been trying to get through all that german text that I need to do, it just hasn't left me with much of an appetite for doing more, less pertinent excersises) But regardless, since I didn't do my german prep, I was frustrated and ashamed at my stupidity in class.
Ditto for Greek.
I missed the fireworks. Not that I had time for fireworks, but I would have made time had I known they were on. I could only see the reflection of them in some windows outside my room since I was facing the wrong direction.
Made some good progress on my presentation, wrote up a great conclusion, fixed things up, got my power point... and then, just as I was about to go to bed... yup. I got confused about what I'd saved on my jump drive vs my hard drive and saved over it with an earlier version. Craptasticly brilliant.
I tried to plug in at least reminders of what I could remember, but I can't think. It was good, now it's not. But I'm going to bed and hoping that this all hallows eve stupidness will stay with the ghosts and goblins.

2006-10-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

it seems to be the night for random animal noises. Not just any animal noises, but human made animal noises. Its really bizarre. I have heard imitations of a screeching cat, a barking dog, and a parrot. And not all at once, at random points this evening. It's really, really, odd.

I just had to blog becasue it was so weird. I'll blog again later, but actually am in the middle of thinking. so I must continue to think.

2006-10-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

I feel like I swallowed the jagged-metal krusty-O in my cereal this morning. Or rather, that I didn't swallow it and it managed to get lodged in my throat. guh.
Other than the throat thing I feel fine, I just dread my every swallow.

On the bright side, there's a formal hall tonight for dinner. Which means dressing up relatively nice (since it's king's we never wear robes, the other colleges would be wearing robes to such an event) and having a nicer dinner. I'm excited, though not many of my grad friends got off their asses soon enough to get tickets i'm sure it will still be fun.

well, that's pretty much all that's new in my world right now. Not much to live vicariously through i know. I promise to try harder.

The things I heard outside my window were...

2006-10-22T01:10:00.000-07:00

I have decided that a regular feature for my posts will contain random things heard outside my window since the last time I posted.
Last night, for example...
1 group of men singing at the top of their lungs (song unknown)
1 group of women singing at the top of their lungs (song also unknown)
1 moving van to (I think) take away the theater set at midnight and consequent crashing around
1 game of trolley racing into the moving van
1 blood curdling scream
2 probable fights (not really fights, more like turkeys puffing out their chests)

all in all, relatively quiet for a saturday night

during the day yestrday...
1 person playing bagpipes
1 person playing saxaphone
1 group of tam tam/drum players

all in all, a very musical day!

2006-10-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

These people below me are driving me nuts! The store right underneath my window is renovating to become a tea shop. I like that it'll be a tea shop, but right now it's constant construction noise and drilling and throwing of things into dumpsters and just a lot of general noise.
none the less, I actually did some real work done last night. I just sat down and started writing. I meant to get an outline down and some of the questions that I wanted to ask down in writing before meeting with my supervisor tomorrow and I just kind of kept writing. I probably could have written more, but it became 3:00 in the morning and I thought I should just finish it up and go to bed. It was meant to be extremely rough after all. The problem is that it turned out to be around 2,600 words and most (more than half) of what I wanted to say was only outlined and not argued or delved into. The maximum is 4,000. Gah. You'd think I culd control myself and/or pick a topic that wouldn't get ubsurdly too long. It's alright. I think I'll manage. I just have to control some of my more dramatic, long winded tendancies to look into every little detail. Like the lion up top, I wrote a page about it's spots. That's right, don't you wish you were in classics? The sad thing is that I actually find it really interesting. I mean come on... how can you not find a concentric circle patterning that doesn't interact with the base form of the animal (be it lion or leopard) interesting? It raises so many issues about perception of ornament and it's use towards beautification and conceptual design, not just in pediment sculpture but in Greek art in general... right. Don't worry, I know I'm a dork.
Although, I am still feeling proud of myself. I don't have a main argument yet, but it's happening. and I feel like I'm making good connections between things and that I can make a good paper out of this. I think that I need to do that not just for my first paper topic, but start doing some writing for my thesis as well. Just not right now. I'll do some Greek today, but otherwise I'm giving the reading a rest for this evening. I'll talk with my supervisor tomorrow and go from there.
I managed to score some family guy dvd's from Kates (and now my) friend T so that makes me happy, there's only so much reading I can do in one day and it's much better than watching the paint dry while eating lunch. I just have to be careful not to watch them all immediately, Space them out a little.

katekatekatekate

2006-10-15T02:45:00.000-07:00

Yay, i get to see kate tomorrow. I promise to do much work today and clean my room so as to be able to suitably entertain.

And my soccer/football team totally kicked ass! The other team didn't even get a shot on goal. They were barely even in our end of the field. I love it. I mean, honestly, I enjoy playing just to play and my team this summer obviously lost a lot. But it was kinda nice to totally kick ass unexpectedly. I'd been led to believe that the King's team was pretty bad (apparently they only won one game last year) and I wasn't planning on winning, let alone winning in such a unequivocal manner. so that was fun.

Then I went to a pub with the team and had a beer. Then I went to another pub with friends and had food (and a beer), the I went to the bar and had a beer, then we watched "Dude where's my car". all very... ahem... British. quite.

2006-10-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

Now that wasn't too hard at all. It's amazing what you can do when you borrow a digital camera and actually try. But can you see it? Can you see the charm? I think it's better in person. So, i bought the bike on monday, right. I bike to my faculty and back on tuesday. Yesterday I came out and... true to form, it had a flat tire. That's what you get for buying the cheapest bike on the market. I have to admit, i may have been mad at the bike a little. Just a little.
Anyways, I brought it in today and the guy fixed it for free, so i wasn't mad at the bike for long. Besides it's not it's fault, part of it's falling apart sort of charm i suppose.

Okay, enough about the bike already.

BIKE!

2006-10-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

I got a bike! This is the last of my settling in larger scale purchases, so it's no more spending money for me, but I got a bike! I feel so Cambridgey. Everyone here has a bike, you often see moms with three or four small kids randomly piled on in some anti-gravitational manner, and it is definitely the way to get around. This is not to say that I've disowned my skateboard. I love my skateboard very very much and I've managed to find some very skateboard friendly routes that cut out quite a bit of time, so I plan on still using it. But the bike is definitely quicker, and in the rainy weather is better (especially since rain would eventually ruin my skateboard bearings).
No more justifying the bike...
it is literally the cheapest one I could find but is sturdy and in perfectly good condition, just not all that fancy. I hope to figure out how to put a photo up on this thing so you guys can share in the glory that is the bike. But for now you'll just have to imagine a three speed, womens city bike, that is greyish silver, has no brand name or anything, and is slightly rusty. It's perfect and I love it.

oh yah, and studying's going good.

2006-10-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

My room feels like a room. I have now purchased: a couple of posters to brighten up the walls, (they may be a bit "student", it's a Dali and a Picasso, both which I love, but still it's a little typical. Probably not what I would have chosen given more time and effort to look, but they are colourful), a douvet and cover (again, the cheapest ones I could find, which turned out well because it's actually quite nice), a kettle for tea and a mug. I'm still eating my cereal out of a re-used take-ou container, but it works. I plan on "borrowing" a bowl from the food hall soon.
It also has many books and only a slight lived in feel since I cleaned it and got a bit more organised this morning.
Yay.

I have some good friends in the making, and had my first football/soccer practise today. So that's all well and good as well. I think this will work.
I am still tending to be a bit antisocial in the evenings though. It's just that I almost can't be bothered by going out. I did a couple of time, which was good, or else I would be this person who no one knows who shows up every once in a while looking lost. But on the whole.
Freshers week stuff is finally finished, meaning that it is really, seriously down to work now.
seriously.

right now.

yup.

You know what's weird about King's?

2006-10-05T14:34:00.000-07:00

The cows.

Why on earth does King's college have cows? None of the other colleges have cows... but we do. I guess it falls in line with King's not really falling in line with the rest of the colleges, but I mean really now. How are we asserting our independant, liberally minded nature with cows? Don't get me wrong. I like cows and I actually love that we have them at college. It makes me think of the Rutherfords having a random cow in their back yard, just on a bigger scale.
The cows have a great view too. The photo on the post below, that's basically the Cow's eye view. The person taking that photo was probably standing right in a huge pile of cow patty. I figure that when ever I get stressed, I;ll just wander over and look at the cows serenly munching away, oblivious to the stresses of academic life. I mean it's hard writing papers on the ornamental design elements of the archaic mediterranean world. It is... i swear.

2006-09-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

You Know what I like? I like it when things work like they're supposed to. It makes me happy. I'm happy. I managed to get internet connection in my room! It worked! I like it when things work.

Matriculation was fine, you sign a paper. That's it. You line up and sign a paper. Then later we got a group photo of us standing in front of the chapel. I wonder if I can get a copy of that, it might be neat to have. I was, however, in the very last row because of my "B" last name, so who knows if you can even tell it's me.

I'm also happy because I'm feeling a like I'm starting to know the place a little bit more. And it's promising that it's only been one day and I'm already getting my bearings. A little. All it will take is a little bit more wandering and I'll be navigating these cobblestone streets like a pro.
And I'm looking forward to the banquet tonight and the pre-dinner drinks with the classics faculty. I've met a Couple of people, but they're mostly random bumpings into and therefore unlikely or less likely to bump into again, but to meet the others in classics will be good.

And not only do the british like to sing drunkenly, they also like to ring bells. so far not at any inopportune time, but they've been ringing for half an hour already.

2006-09-30T01:52:00.000-07:00

So much to do, so much to think about, nobody to do it with. That pretty much sums up my experience thus far.
Made it here without much trouble, a few foibles and a long walk with two very heavy bags, but not much trouble. My room is amidst a long labarynthian corridor that has multiple ups and downs (and no elevator, after a long walk with two heavy bags, the last thing you want to be doing is hauling them up and down flights of stairs and around tight corridors to find your room). It's a fairly good size, pretty basic in it's flavour, and overlooking a Whyte avenue esque road with very load people. Apparently english teengagers have a penchant for drunken singing at the top of their lungs all night. Who knew?

Well, more will come, I promise, but I have to go matriculate now.

At least it's sunny and beautiful here. I wish you all could see it.

2006-09-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Yay!!!! Thank you thank you thank you thank you people at the British high COmmission in Ottawa! I recieved an email today saying that my Visa has been issued! This is much sooner than the skin of my teeth ten working days that had been predicted!!! Soon it will be in my hands and thus will finally be finished the ordeal of the student visa.

That and the fact that wagon tours was cancelled. Yay for the rain. Did I spend it reading like a good girl? I still plan to , but not yet. Did I spend it working on the manual I'm working on for Ruthy? No, but my mom's been using my computer, so I alas and alak could not. Did I spend it cleaning my absurdly messy room in preparation for my departure? Hell no. What did I do? I shopped. I visited that mammoth thing of a mall with my little sister and spent some dough. Not that I enjoy shopping all that much, nor do I enjoy The Mall, but it is nice to have some new clothes. Add this to the lovely sweater I got yesterday with delly bean and I'm in the clothes. Wooha.

All is right with the world on this rainy rainy day.

2006-09-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

you know what? I feel rather limbo-esque. I can't seem to get grounded and do anything of any value. I suppose I don't want to get into anything to big before going, but at the same time I want to make th emost use of this time available. And now I am facing the fact that the server at Rutherford quit for a real job leaving us high and dry (odd how this is the second time that the server quits when I'm one of very few people available to fill in). It's not that I mind serving. In fact I do enjoy it on occasion and I like that I can be useful when people i adore need me, but this throws kinks in my relaxing three weeks plan. Since now, I have to figure out how wagon tours works into this whole thing. And I will feel guilty every time I tell Ruthy I can't work due to wagon obligations and guilty every time I tell wagon tours I can't work due to Ruthy oligations. Bah. I know that my marvelous supervisors will understand and be as flexible as they are able, but still. And I am also determined to have at least a couple of days of before I go.
seriously... I will have them.
quit laughing...

hame again home again jiggity jig

2006-09-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

So here I am blogging from the comfort of my vey own couch. sitting on my lovely sofa after having put on jeans and a fresh tank top and after having an extremely long extremely superb shower and sleeping in my very own, exeedingly plush bed and waking up to a pancake breakfast. Ooh is it ever good to be home. Now do not get me wrong, I enjoyed my excavation immensely, and while we didn't uncover anything comprable to tutenkamen's tomb, it was grand and interesting and extremely worthwhile. But... is it ever good to be home. For the first time in five weeks I don't smell of sweat, am not covered in a fine layer of dirt mixed with sunscreen, can understand everything that is being said around me, and don't feel like a spectacle. oh yah, and I can flush the toilet paper! Joy!

So now i am looking forward to seeing everyone a much as possible in this next month and enjoying myself terribly before heading off to Cambridge, my next big adventure. I'm trying to give myself a couple of days to et my brain back in order, but am excited to get back to work and to figuringout all that needs figuring out in the next little while.

A shorty

2006-08-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

this ones going to be short, mainly because not too much has been happening that warrent elaboration. We've been digging. and with my new duties as trench assistant along with ensuring that all the soil sample, flots, and residues get done means that I am actually fairly busy. This week though was a shorter week due to a holiday the greeks had on tuesday (since we employ greek workmen we couldn't dig and thus went to the apotheke in the morning and had the afternoon off). but it was also very hot, and i'm still getting used to organising myself to get everything done well and in a timely fashion. I also switched rooms. My old one was not big enough to store all the sieving equipement that I have to look after so I had to move which is alright in that it's bigger, but not as nice in terms of being closer to the street and to the noise. My first night consisted of getting woken up at around 4:30 when the dog had trapped some animal (I think it was a cat, but it shot out so suddenly that I couldn't really tell) under a table and was barking inssesantly at it until we went out and got it out with some prodding.
And the GReek culture never ceases to amaze me. For example, this random Greek woman at the bustop swatted my hand from my mouth and told me to stop chewing my nails. She managed to get across to me using various hand gestures that she used to chew hers as well but then she either stopped or died. I'm not sure which...
can you imagine that happening in Edmonton?
I should start doing that. randomly going up to people and, say, swatting cigarettes out of their mouths. or throwing their cell phones into the garbage. something like that.

anyhoo,
the third week has seen many people tired and grumpy and covered in dirt and extremely hot, thus I have left lefkandi for the night and with only a couple of other people am eating at a real restaraunt and perhaps going to play some pool. If we can find a pool house that is.
so I must leave and go do that.
All the best.

old greek men are oddly attracted to me... who knew i possessed this power?

2006-08-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

seriously. It's weird. maybe it's because i don't mind sitting there drinking reiki while they all talk in greek. Whatever, these guys are nice, and no one has tried to kiss/pet/grab my boob like last year... yet.
Things are still going really well. There is a new trench supervisor coming on monday for whom I'll be an assistant for which means that I will have a lote more to do, since I'll be doing that and, come friday, I'll also be in charge of the sieving since the person doing that will be leaving. More responsibility and more duties are good. I'm learning a lot, definitley, and I'm sure that doing this is a great start for my career. And just the fact that I have so much time to chat with kids from Oxford is great and am learning about how things happen and what I'll be looking forward to when I go to Cambridge.
The site is going along slowly. They have opened up a new region this season so there are a lot of trenches that are in the topsoil phase and are basically scoping out the area (which is also why there had been so little to do in sieving world since no intertesting soil means no sieving). But we are getting down to good stuff and the two trenches that are being carried on from last year are finding interesting layers of flooring and pits and stuff that doesn't sound all that interesting when you relay it, but is actually very neat. None of the finds are really fancy, mainly since we are still in topsoil, but there have been some things like figurines of animals, beads, loom weight and spindle whorls, and of course, some beautiful pottery, plenty of shells and bones as well. The most important and interesting stuff that comes out of the sieves are the chard bits of seeds and pits from food. This not only can be used to study what they ate and the like, but can also be used for carbon dating so it's important that we've been getting good samples. I can now tell the difference between chard barley (both 2nd row and 6th row) and wheat, and pick out thousands of years old grape and olive pits. Now that's a useful skill!
I've been developing some very interesting tan lines, have consumed more oil in what they feed us than what's in Fort Mac, and feel like dirt and sunblock 24/7. But it's great. I'm excited by what I'm doing and I can really see myself doing this for the rest of my life.

I miss you all, and I hope all is well.

I suppose I should blog

2006-08-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hey all. I suppose that I should blog since keeping in touch when travelling was my main goal with all of this. I have to admit that I've had a less than lackluster attitude about blogging of late, but reading all of yours reminded me how much I adore you all and really want to make the effort. Anyhoo,

So I wish I could say that my trip has been all roses and shiny things, and really, it's not been bad, just average. The dig took awhile to get going, I arrived on Wednesday and we didn't start doing anything on site until Monday, and even then the job that I've been allotted to meant that I have had excessively little work to do for the first few days. Today was the first day where I felt I did anything remotely productive. And when you've left home for a month just a few weeks before leaving again for a year, I suppose I just want it to be worth it. I mean, I've travelled before, many times, and I've never felt so homesick so fast.

I feel guilty about being here, and I feel guilty about feeling guilty that I'm here. Enough whining...
So essentially I'm staying in a little taverna right on the water front of Lefkandi. It's not bad, I share a little room with an american who is nice enough, we get along. The rest of the people on the dig are british, or have at least been to school in England and I have fun trying to understand some of the things they say and the terms they use. Usually just the little things... like washing powder for detergent or sun cream when we would usually say sunblock.
THe excavaton is seperated into two main parts:1) being on site supervising and assisting the supervisors as we watch and direct greek workers who get to do all the fun stuff like pick axing and troweling, etc. 2) being in the apotheke where all the finds are washed, processed, and catalogued, etc. Having been the only person the director of the excavation hadn't met before being alllowed on the dig I have been understandabley relegated to a third, more monotonous task, sieving. we get dirt from the trenches and sieve it. Firts dry and then through a wet siever to try and get things like seeds and pits and the likes that can be analysed for dietary information and carbon dating. I don't actually get to find anything, I just sieve it and hand it off to a lab somewhere. Now the good part about this is that I have a bit of freedom in that the job is so easy anyone can do it so other trench assistants are getting trained to do so and I was able to take their place for a bit. I also am getting swapped to the apotheke tommorrow, which means that really, my position is the most flexible and I am able to see at least a little bit of everything that is being done. Which is good.

And I still get ubsurdly excited at the site of anything remotely interesting coming up. It's like "oooooh, look at that rim/handle/base/sherd with a little bit of paint on it!" or, even more exciting there are bone fragments, or teeth, or shells that can come up. No one else seems all that excited so I try and hide it a little, but I think it's so interesting that there's this jawbone or a stone with a hole in it that was used thousands of years ago (right now we're digging at around 800 BCE). It re-assures me that even if I'm feeling tired or grumpy, digging up some little thing like that can still brighten my day and make me nerd-ulously adrenalised - it must mean that I have chosen to go in a good direction.

really hot... funny tan lines... ummm... that's good for now I think... enjoy, my computer access in minimal so I won't post often, but if you email me your mailing adresses I can try and send some post. Do it quick though, or else it will never reach you.

oh, and I'd post a picture, but I'm not that high tech so you'll just have to wait.

B-day party ideas

2006-06-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hey all you people who actually read this thing, I need ideas. I don't know what to do for the b-day which is approaching fairly rapidly. Anything that you might want to do with the Fort kids? Keep in mind that it will necessarily be an evening thing. And no, I don't particularily want to go roller skating, but I'm not creative enough to think of anything better and the vast majority of my attempts at parties have failed miserably (I mean, come on, I can't even make a consortium work). So that's where I'm at right now. Please help...

got our asses handed to us

2006-06-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Boy did we lose at soccer today.
They scored like 3 goals in the first five minutes or so. After that we managed to hold them to only one or two more, but still. And the great thing is that I really don't care. I mean it would be nice to win one this season, which I have no doubt that we will. But I really just have so much fun running around that I don't care. It's a good group of girls (for the most part) so I'm happy. It's really just such a release to go out and think of nothing but the ball for a couple of hours and get nice and sweaty.

It was especially good because I had a minimal run in with an SS that frustrated me after having a very good day. I refuse to blog about it because it is minimal and after talking with T I am no longer all that mad and I don't want to spread the way I felt nor go back to it myself. All will be good. All is happiness and love. uhhh... yah.

Anyhoo... I've decided to start a list called "you know you're an overly historic historical interpreter when...". Feel free to add/modify as I only have a few for now:

1. The use of photocopies in the Fort is only made worse when the edges have been slighly torn and burnt in an attempt to "oldefy" them.
2. you refuse to wear gardening gloves even when weeding an entire field covered with huge ass thistle.
3. You're heart cries a little when someone in costume drinks from the water fountain.
4. Someone comments on the disgust registering on your face at the sight of a "Old West" looking sign at the door of an Edwardian mansion.

Good start, no?

I'm becoming fortified

2006-06-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm starting ot enjoy myself a lot more. I'm still having issues with programming, I think because none of it is all that interactive just yet. It's kind of like "here kids, isn't beading fun? No, no, you can't touch, but I'm having a great time!" I'm working on getting things set up that kids can try as well, like hand weaving. I just need to get a chance to get to the store and buy some wool and/or convince the supers to get some for me.
I'm also making myself a sheath for my knife... so much coolness I can hardly stand it! It makes me happy. I'm not letting the infant hordes touch that.

Yup, being at the Fort is good when you can relax a bit, and I'm getting more and more information to draw from so that's good too. More knowledge means more to play with.

Server at Ruthy is unfortunatley ill so I had to serve again today. More money, but I really don't want to do it tommorrow so I'm sending out e-thoughts for her to get better (get better get better get better get better get better get better get better get better...). Not that I wouldn't want her to get better even if I didn't have to serve. Anyhoo.

Ooh, I should send out an e-thought for more sunshine while I'm at it. Come on summer! I don't want any more soccer to be cancelled even though it has allowed me to watch the hockey games guilt free.

the ups and downs of the week

2006-06-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

I am apparently not very good at keeping up with the blogging.

we'll start at the beginning of the week. And man have I been grumpy. I really don't have any particular reason to be grumpified, but I have been trying to get out of it. I've just been frustrated by the little things and trying to tell myself that they really are just little things. I have to try and stop controlling things so much and letting go. Just let go. I think it's hard for us when we love a place and what it stands for so much that we hate it when it gets toyed with and in less than pleasing ways. I know it will work out. It will. It has too. I have faith in the world. This goes for the other streets as well.

Wednesday nights' function was fun. I made shell oil people in ties and heels play double ball. Hee Hee.

Thursdays crafting consortium wasn't really crafty at all, but a good time was had by all. I sat and crocheted the entire time. Something very cathartic about the whole thing, you know, having been grumpy and all. Crocheting surrounded by the din of happy people and food. Plus I hadn't crocheted in a while. I've been trying to convince myself that I could be knitty, but alas and alak it is not so. Apparently I'm crochetty (and yes, I'm aware of the double entendre).

I've been serving a bit at Ruthy again, covering shifts for the server who is out of town. Not too busy, especially today, so I didn't mind so much. It was kind of nice to do it again for a bit, wax nostalgic and all that. Plus I got myself organized, with files and all that so I feel like I'm actually starting to really do my job there. We also have a new go-to/Pb girl who seem competent, sane, and a good fit. Yay!

Last night I was shopping with a friend B who told me of the unfortunate passing of our dear Bill. He shouldn't tell me these things while driving... I agree with Delly Bean whe she says that he was spared the indignity of suffering but plan very much so to attend the hymn sing tomorrow in the hopes of celebrate him by celebrating what he loved.

woooooooohooooooo

2006-06-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Yay! First soccer game won! Of course, I was playing with the div 4 team, and not my normal rec one, so it's not as thrilling as it could be. The others didn't really seem to think it was a big deal. But still... woooooohoooooo!

Plus I had the day off today. Next week is going to be a busy one with a function at fort ed and the senate having breakfast, lunch, and dinner functions all next week at Ruthy so I don't feel too bad about taking the day to, you know, clean my room and bathroom, do some reading, slack off a bit, stuff like that.
I also think I'm still recovering abit of sleep from the paR-tee Thursday. I didn't get to sleep in as long as I would have liked yesterday (since I did go in to work) and today I also got woken up numerous times before getting my ass out of bed, again much earlier than I would have preferred. Meh. I shouldn't complain, there's people a lot worse out there, like those who actually worked at the Fort on Friday. Sucka's.

It was a very good party regardless and in spite of the aftermath. I was not dissapointed in the least. And perhaps some good hook ups will come out of it, hey bonobo?

a mish mash of random thoughts and events of the day

2006-05-27T01:02:00.000-07:00

I really must stop chewing my nails. They look piteous. meh. Just a thought that popped into my head. Maybe now that I've blogged about it, I will actually stop. Here's hoping.

I hate secrets. I'm not very good at keeping them. Usually if I can tell one person I'm fine, but if you tell one person, inevitabley it will get out. Oh boy am I holding onto a biggy. I also was told a smaller one today that a few others know of too, so that ones not so bad. They will eventually both be common knowledge, but it really isn't my place to tell others. especially the first one. Man I hate secrets. And no, there is no way on this earth that I am going to tell, I just really needed to say that I hate secrets. And maybe that will help me from bursting. Weird to be told two secrets in one day, isn't it?

X-men was awful by T's account, but in my general fashion I thought it was fine and will move on. I just get sucked in too easily to be critical. Sure it was cheesy as all hell, and it should have been called wolverine: the wolverine hour rather than X three, but it had pretty effects. Spikes coming out of cheeks and people being moleculed apart and stuff. I was still naivelyy shocked by the amount of people who came out to see it. we got there around 9:15 hoping to see the 9:45 showing. scoff. yah right. That show and the 10:15 and the 10:45 all sold out leaving us and B and L with 11:00 tickets. I'm surprised I actually stayed awake.

To which you may ask, then why are you blogging at 2:12 in the am? To which I would reply that I have a boy who makes my head spin and I cannot sleep just yet. I should clarify that the spinning is a good thing, just in case said boy is actually reading this.

Hmm, maybe I should research. That'll make me sleep.

I dislike missing soccer

2006-05-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

All has been going relatively well on the fort end of things. Now that I'm happier about my direction this summer all other things seem minimal. And it's fun to watch the newbies grow into interping. Making fun of them can be fun, and it's even better when they really get into the swing of things and find a groove. T thinks that the fear of god hasn't been put into them yet regarding congregating, but I shouldn't comment on that since I'm a pretty bad offender on that front. Though I like to think that I congregate only minimally- smaller groups more often. And I could come up with lots of reasons why I enjoy the small groups congregating, but I don't feel the need to defend myself right now. Maybe later.

Somewhat odd though, is that in the past three days I have felt sick twice. On Monday I threw up a little and was generally nauseous for the afternoon all of a sudden. And just as suddenly this afternoon I just about fainted and actually had to sit on the floor while talking to a visitor. I'm so embarrassed. And I have no idea what to tell anyone because I have no idea why I might have fainted. Usually I faint when I'm sick. So maybe I'm just a little overworked, not yet used to the high energy levels the fort demands? Jokes of pregnancy have abounded and I'd rather they not. and I have also decided that it would be best for me to skip practice tonight just in case it is my energy levels or something connected to to much activity, and I dislike missing soccer. So hopefully enough is enough and I'll be right as rain when I get back after my 'weekend' at Ruthy.

whew

2006-05-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

I feel much better.
People make it better. The era may be different and there may be different problems and benefits, but the people are the same. As much as we tease and moan about them, the people make it better. They are the job. And I love the job.

I think I also feel better because my supervisor, A, is very good. He thought of a good idea for a character which is surprisingly what I needed.
I wasn't able to really figure out why I was feeling so out of place, I couldn't vocalise what I was all that anxious about, but when A suggested a character I felt so much better. I figured out that all of the things that I felt so comfortable doing where character driven: the maid, the suffragette, the temperance supporter, etc. That's also why I guess I thought I would fit so well as the "European" Rowand daughter - a character that I can latch onto and work from.

This one's good too, he suggested a woman kind of in between. Someone who doesn't really fit at the Fort, but doesn't fit with a native group either. I'd be doing a lot of the survival sort of skills like trapping and cooking rabbits on spits. I know, I know, kinda funny considering the vegetarianism and all... but I like it. It makes me a little rough and tumble. Down and dirty.
The back story could be fun too, I think I'll say my husband fell off the boat. :)

the fun and excitement continues

2006-05-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

Things are looking up. I feel better about things now that I've put on my costume completely and been in front of people. (by the way, did I look hot or what?!) Even if these people included Billy who kept asking me
"are you pregnant, are you pregnant?" "Do you want to be?"
"let's do the no pants dance!"

aww Billy.

And tomorrow we get the influx of children. 1600 to be exact.

And I talked to Andrew about my hesitations and anxiety and he's seems committed to making me happy. So we'll work on it. Or it'll work itself out. One or the other. So it should be fine...

And man does it pay to know the costumer and to have bothered her early enough to get not only two costumes, but a belt, a pouch, moccasins, AND bling. Most of the girls are going without moccasins and belts. I guess it's fitting, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

hee hee.

I write blogs like a two year old

2006-05-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

Hey, so I just read the blogs that I've posted and, man, I hope they're somewhat more intelligible than I feel they are. I promise to try harder next time to make sense.

love finally abounds

2006-05-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

I have found love. Just kidding, not love, more of a strange infatuation with running around and kicking a spherical object. Makes you feel really good. Not that my soccer team has won a game yet. We've only played two. Not that we've even gotten any real goals. We lost last game 2-0 and tonight we lost 4-2. Now I say that none of the goals we're really solid because one was scored by them on their own net and the other was when they stopped playing 'cause they thought the ball was out when it wasn't.
My team is hilarious as well because they are sooo supportive of everything. We're a rec team, so it doesn't really matter and the majority of us, like myself, have never played before and are just learning as we go. We also don't have a steady goalie, so we're going to rotate. I volunteered for tonight and learnt that no, I am not the natural goalie I may appear to the untrained eye. But still, I think I did as well as could be expected.
I also get a little bit of an ego boost. Like I said, everyone is so supportive and they seem to think I'm amazing at anything I do. For example, I started the night with someone saying very adamantly that I could not play goal. I was confused, but this was clarified by "you can't play goal, you're our best forward!" Awww shucks. Thanks guys. blush blush.

oh. and T, cut your toenails, those puppies will go right through those moccasins if you're not carefull! ;)

the lost blog

2006-05-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

So I was writing a blog last night all about the day yesterday and how, well, angry I was at them making us listen to the exact same stuff they had already made us sit through. Just this time it also included volunteer stuff that had no pertinence to us whatsoever. I also was writing about how the BBQ was actually a shining light in the day because they actually went through a LOT of effort to get us things like tomatoes and pickles and cheese to put on the burgers (and yes, there were veggie burgers). The blog magically vanished. So here is my new one.

I feel bad about my attitude yesterday. Chautauqua girl and I were chatting at work last night and it seems as if the supers were getting some flack, from both sides. The volunteers, or rather one volunteer, was telling one of our supervisors that the day was a stupid idea and that none of the staff were coming to chat with them, that we were just sticking in our own groups. Said supervisor apparently stood up for us saying that it was a two way street.
I have to say that I had no interest whatsoever in making the effort to mingle with the volunteers. I much preferred to pout and whine and be angry at the perceived waste of my time. I mean, my anxiety about my era change and feeling that nothing thus far in training has been supremely productive combined with what I felt to be a complete waste of my time yesterday brought me almost past the point of frustration to apathy. Essentially, not a good frame of mind for mingling.

But now I feel bad. I forgot to recognize the effort that was put into this all by the supers, and one in particular. It really is not much to ask for us to try and mingle just a bit. They may have gone about it in a less than great manner, but still, they deserve to be cut a little slack from our side of things. Well, from my side of things.

I'm putting an apology out into the karmic space of things and I hope that I can be a bigger person the next chance I get. I really don't want to compete in the world record attempt for apathy.

the training continues

2006-05-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

Well, ms. tudor rose, you may be nostalgic about the Fort, but this training is dragging on and on and on and on and on and on...

I can barely even remember what we did yesterday. We did some sight specific stuff in the morning and then some IDS training (interdisciplinary studies training, or drawing other interests into what we do here) which involved a movie with John Burke (I think that's his name). Amusing, but I admittedly had trouble staying awake.

But on a different note. I started the day literally thinking about what elephant calves I have and subsequently had two separate individuals remark at what nice calves I had. Weird. But that was a nice boost.

Anyways, today's training, more sight specific but it was rainy so we conversed and nothing of importance came out of it. Andrew was asking us where we might like to be positioned at first go in the Fort and I think he sensed my absolute lack of enthusiasm for any of the places a female might be accurately placed... it went down something like this:

A: So does anyone have a preference?
Others: (random conversations of preferred places)
A: okay, how about you Christy, any preference?
C: No not really, I mean wherever.
A: so no preference?
C: well, i mean it seems like the programming is pretty much the same regardless of what kitchen i get.
A: uhh hu...

Anyhoo... I just really need some people in front of me... please make the training end!
And tomorrow we get to work with the volunteers...

really I'm so very sorry about being so negative, there is a lot to look forward to , I know it. I can't seem to help it right now and all I can say is I might just cry if they don't have a veggie option at the BBQ tomorrow...

gramshaw

2006-05-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

So todays training. Where do I start? Well, I had a better day than chautauqua giral did, that's for sure. Emergency procedure was quick and fairly painless. Though they still are making everyone "go to the river". Okay, maybe the fort and '85 I can see getting stuck out there, but '05. Seriously? It's so much further than just going to the front. And I stilldon;t understand what they are going to do with us and all the visitors once we're there. I mean, I guess I don't really understand what situation wouldarise that we would have to evacuate like that. If it's something to do with the weather, it's not going to help us being out over there. If it's a fire, maybe, but we would be still suspiciously close to the fort and lots of wood and we're not any better off than going to the front. Maybe someone can enlighten me I don't feel like thinking abou it any more.

Then Gramshaw (an interp from the previous era, I was a volunteer on '05 one year he was interping there, like 8 years ago or sometng like that) came and gave a talk on presenting heritage. I thought it was a really good talk and gave me a lot to think about in terms of what we do, what biases we choose to present and the value of a site like this in today's society. I never really thought about the difference between presenting history and presenting heritage and about the visitors expectations of one or the other.

Then instead of program planning boredom we went into era specific stuff. Which is not making me excited to be in the fort. I am sad to say. The programs don't excite me one bit, I don't know what I was expecting, I mean I just wanted a change and a challenge, which is what I'm getting, but still. I now I've already said this, but I'm worried. I think it's think long training time. I just need people in front of me and all will be well. even children. They're kind of like people... right?