[	Tags	|	cambridge, i want to go home now, knitting, sickly-cat, trip09	]
[	Current Location	|	Bed	]
[	Current Mood	|	cold	]

*sobs*...

I have a cold and it's making me miserable. I walked home (via the chemist for some paracetamol and cough lollies) feeling that I would never be warm again (and very sorry for myself) and as I walk in the door Jane hands me a package:

and now I miss my mummy very much.

Having a blast in London...

Haven't really had the energy to blog, so have a chunk out of my diary (I forgot to bring a book so I'm typing into a file). Note that it's not been edited, so may contain typos, sentence fragments and other awkwardness

Somehow my "awesome trip out to see the rest of the Thames festival" turned into "Catherine is entranced by Korean culture, to the point where she buys the soundtrack to the hybrid traditional/modern dance performance and freezes to death watching a kimchee western". And that was okay by me, as the music was great (and the dance too) and the movie was awesome.

No Korean food though, which was sad-making. I had a craving for a bibimbap, and all I could get was an apple and pork traditional english sausage (so good) and an apple and cinnamon crepe (rather average really). Ooh, and a Belgian hot chocolate, made from a chocolate fountain and something else that was nice and creamy and staved off the freezing to death for at least an hour.

Oh, and I finally bought some things at the markets: a terrorist scarf, because I had a feeling I wasn't dressed warmly enough.

Then to the movie, "The Good, The Bad, The Weird". It was awesome, a little gruesome, but I've come to expect that from the few Korean films that are exported to the rest of the world, and aside from a serious lack of female characters (which I expected from a western, but was vaguely hoping they'd subvert) I thought it was definitely worth the time in the cold.

Basically, it's the tale of a treasure map, and the people who will fight to get a hold of it and the treasure it points to. I'm not really sure I got the historical context for the film (they were in Manchuria, which was occupied by Japan, but all the named characters were Korean expats (and clearly feeling 'han' (okay, what is the correct way to use a foreign word for a feeling of sad quiet nostalgia in a sentence? (and where did all these parentheses come from and have I closed them all?)))

The best bit was when about three quarters of the way through I gave in to temptation and thought, "this feels so very Quentin Tarantino, I bet the director's a fan." At that moment, the Kill Bill remix of "Don't let me be misunderstood" kicked in and I couldn't help but laugh, despite it being a very serious moment in the film (an awesome shootout was about to begin).

And in the end, many hundreds of people (and horses!) had been shot, the treasure located (and unappreciated by its finders) and those that made it through went on with their lives. I was very satisfied and wouldn't mind seeing it again with anyone reading this who wants to watch a western with me sometime.

When I grow up...

I want to be the Master of Trinity College.

Oh flist, not only did we have drinks in the Master's garden, but then we were allowed to explore the Lodge proper and gaze upon the bookshelves (full of books bequeathed by Masters past) and the portraits, and lounge in his sitting room and dream of playing the piano in his music room and then, best of all, he let us into his office. So many books and desks that have been worked upon by some of the greatest minds in their fields...

I think my favourite thing was the portrait of Elizabeth I in the music room, actually. She's beautiful, and I could have gazed upon her all night long. But he threw us out eventually, as he had to go and wish the Choir luck upon their upcoming tour.

[	Tags	|	cake, death by chocolate, england, phd, science, thesis ftw, trip09	]
[	Current Location	|	Cambridge	]
[	Current Mood	|	accomplished	]

Party Time!

Today I emailled the boss a more or less "complete" draft of a thesis chapter. For all that it's chapter two, this is the first time I've actually sent him something for this project (honours was 5.5 years ago now, it hardly counts), so I'm a little terrified, but he replied back with a promise that "[he's] looking forward to making comments ranging from the bleeding obvious to the sublime", so I'm going to hope for the best and celebrate the achievement that saw me working all long weekend and not regretting a second of it.

Ten things I love about Rio...

I kinda feel like I've been very down on the place, when actually I'm having a great time. So here's a list of things I love about Rio, in no particular order:

Space Frosting...

So, the next session is starting. Will post more tomorrow.

[	Tags	|	holiday, rio de janeiro, trip09	]
[	Current Location	|	Rio de Janeiro	]
[	Current Mood	|	jetlagged	]

A short blog about Rio...

I don't have a lot of time this morning, as I'm going to go meet up with a new friend (Shari Breen, for those in the astro circle) and take in some of the sights. Or maybe just walk the beach, we haven't decided and neither have any portuguese.

The first thing you notice about Brazil is the smell. A lot of the cars don't seem to have any muffler, or maybe there's something about the fuel they use, but the road is full of smoke and even in the rain (for I've not seen the sun since circling over the airport) does not do much to help. It's not so bad here in Copacabana, I suspect the sea breezes do much to help with that.

The second thing you notice are the Favelas, which I'd heard about but not quite understood until that moment when I saw just how poor those people really are. I'm told that as part of the Olympic bid the authorities are going to try and fix things up, but I'm not sure I trust them not to bulldoze the homes of millions of people in terrible poverty. A number of youth hostels are having a combined party tonight to raise money to redevelop one of the favelas, I might go (if not I'll send a donation with one of the girls who works here). It seems a small drop in a bucket of "this can never be fixed", but who knows, maybe it can. We have to hope.

The third thing I noticed was that Brazilian drivers are even more scary than Sydney Taxis, and that they do the same thing with regards to ignoring lanes. I'm reasonably certain that this craziness is the reason why most of the streets are one way. In an hour of exploring on foot, however, I nearly died only once, so I'm counting that as a good thing.

Anyway, that'll do for now. I'm here, I'm having an okay time, and once I adapt to the climate and the timezone I'm sure it will be even better. I do miss you all.

*yawns*...

Yes, I know it's only 2pm on Wednesday. But it's the second time this Wednesday I've hit 2pm, and I'm not feeling up to blogging in detail. In the meantime, have some photos.

About to run away...

So I thought I'd get off my busy butt and take the time to blog, to tell you all what's going on and make a vague promise to post lots while I'm away (that never ends well, but here we are once more). I'm about to disappear overseas for several months, hooray hooray!

And just randomly for sticking with me so far, a link I've been hanging on to forever: The Cute Cat Theory of the Internet.

[	Tags	|	crafty-cat, mina de malfois	]
[	Current Location	|	Home	]
[	Current Mood	|	accomplished	]
[	Current Music	|	Where is My Mind? - Placebo, Live at the Wireless	]

Here's my brief guide to making my version of Mina de Malfois' Internet Sampler, as shown below.

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