catching up
Dear all
Life has been an odd combination of total unmotivation as well as rare bouts of workaholicism as of late. Nights have been spent lazing about in bed; mornings have often consisted of late lie-ins; days have been consumed by procrastination.
My thesis has finally been completed. As I am writing this, I am sat in the cluster room with my baby - nine months of work - on the desk beside me, looking beautiful in all its A4, 65-pages worth of printed glory. The final presentation is on Monday, which I have not yet resumed rehearsing for. I have a Decision and Risk exam - the first of many exams - next Friday. I cannot say that I feel prepared for it yet, although I've gone through the material once. Whether I am truly ready for it remains to be seen.
Tonight my boyfriend is taking me to see Phantom of the Opera, preluded by a pre-theatre dinner at an Argentinian restaurant in Piccadilly. I am very much looking forward to it (not to mention very much looking forward to seeing him in his suit). I have so far selected a pair of shoes for the occasion, as well as a pencil skirt which I am sincerely hoping I can still squeeze my hips into, however I have not yet decided on a top. Decisions, decisions.
We went on a book-buying (not the academic sort) spree of sorts yesterday, including multiple purchases of Dan Brown's material as well as a travel book for the summer and a couple of other novels. (Thank the Lord for Waterstones' 3-for-2 sales.) The Economist has been occupying the top of our magazine pile as I have lately been refusing to read anything else. We had a few listens to Coldplay's new single, Speed of Sound, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This surprised me as I never, ever enjoy Coldplay singles when I first hear them. I also discovered an energy candy the other day, which I suspect I will soon become unhealthily addicted to. It first tastes dry, almost chalk-like, in your mouth, but once it starts melting, it turns creamy. If you bite softly on it, it begins to fizz.
Life is beautiful. Until next time - eat well, sleep late, and kiss those whom you love.
Missing you all
Happiest Girl x
geekdom and lightbulbs
A couple of days ago, my boyfriend and I went a bit personality and IQ test-crazy. We stumbled across a site purporting to contain the most scientifically valid IQ test available on the internet today. It did not look dodgy, and being the geeks we are, we even paid the $9.95 USD required to obtain our results.
He took the test first as I did the washing up, and very narrowly missed being classified in the 'gifted' (2.3% of the population) category. I got nervous when I sat the test.
This, I thought,
could potentially be embarrassing.
As it turns out, I somehow managed to miss being classified as a 'genius' by four points, beating him in each category except for the one having to do with timing (evidently, I might be of reasonable intelligence, but the cogs in my mind also seem to work rather slowly). In the days following the sitting of the test, I have been beleaguered by the Boyfriend and (quite rightfully, but don't tell him that) labelled a 'geek' or 'freak' and every possible derivative in between. 'Christ', he joked at one point, 'the things this does to the male ego!'
I'll admit to being a 'geek' (the more politically correct term being 'gifted'), but the Boyfriend rather seems to enjoy pointing out that had I completed the test in a slightly shorter time frame, I would have made it into the 'freak' category (the more politically correct term being 'genius'). He conveniently 'forgets' that according to his own dodgy definitions, he too can technically be classified as 'geek' - which he is, I can assure you.
Yesterday, one of the lightbulbs in my flat burnt out. Armed with a reasonably high IQ and a new lightbulb, I proceeded to attempt to replace the offending bulb, thinking nothing of it - after all, as slow as the cogs in my brain might be, I actually have replaced lightbulbs before, which might surprise most of you lot. The bulb made a satisfying click as it slid into place. The problem was this: the lamp refused to turn on afterwards.
So being the apparent
Nerdus officialus that I am, I began thinking thoughts along the lines of the probability of the lightbulb being defective, and what distribution (exponential? Weibull?) could best model the failure rate of bulbs. They came in packages of two - were the bulbs independent of each other? When I patiently explained these thoughts to the poor boyfriend, he sensibly suggested that there was probably something wrong with the filament and that I probably had a defective package. 'What about the independence-' I began. He sighed. 'Why don't you just buy another bulb and try that one instead?'
Poor guy - stuck with someone of seemingly reasonable intelligence whose mental lightbulb has evidently burned out as well (how ironic). Feel free to send him your sympathies.
highlights
30.03.05Doves gig @ Brixton Academy with The Magic Numbers (fabulous) as opening act. It was a brilliant gig - I've come to expect nothing less of the Doves, although upon leaving the venue I was beginning to think that I've become too old for gigs. Top tracks - Black and White Town, Snowden, and The Cedar Room.
31.03.05Million Dollar Baby @ Vue Cinema in Leicester Square. Bloody hell was it ever brilliant. I went in with no expectations at all and walked out speechless with tears in my eyes. A must see - it blew both me and D away.
02.04.05Wine tasting @ Vinopolis. We slept in for a good part of the day and decided that we wanted to do something different that evening. So Vinopolis it was. We even attended a session called 'How To Taste Wine' which touched upon using all of the senses to taste wine. We tried five wines each, including four premium wines (loooovely), and absinthe. I wasn't a big fan of the absinthe, but I've got to say that the Riesling Eiswein was heavenly. Dinner at Fish! in Borough Market just off of the River.
03.04.05Procrastination @ Selfridges. Did we actually need to purchase anything? Absolutely not. But sitting by the window in Salt Beef whilst people watching was lovely. One of my dream cars (a forest green Aston Martin DB7) drove by.
05.04.05Project meeting @ the Department. My personal deadline for my thesis is a week tomorrow. I can do it. Really.
The weather is shite here; we literally had all four seasons in a day, including a bout of hail, thunder and lightning, and blinding sunshine. I have another project meeting tomorrow, and am dreading the afternoon when I'll have to say a temporary goodbye to my boyfriend who is visiting his father in Wales for the weekend. 'See you later' is much more comforting, I think.
a fine line
Do you ever get the feeling that you're walking on a perpetually fine line, that any imbalance is a sign of trouble, that any misstep will end in disaster? The line I am currently walking on is one that involves my family and my personal life. It is wholly difficult balancing the two, and even worse is the feeling of trying not to step too far onto one side that you completely neglect the other.
I thought I was doing ok - that is, until a phone call this morning that almost made me fall off of my chair (and not in a good way either). An adequate word for the feeling I had after that call was 'gobsmacked'. I had no idea where all of those accusations came from. My mother can be so, so,
so difficult to deal with, and she is often worlds away from understanding me and my intentions. What's worse is that she often thinks she understands me perfectly, when in reality only about two or three people in my life actually do.
I was told to 'figure it out' for myself and not come home until I had done so. And before I could say anything at all, there was silence.
Then click.
Dial tone.
