Titters

A little bit out of date now, but I still cracked a smile. Enjoy your viewing! It can be found here.

Bouncier

Yes, sleeping did me no end of good and I'm feeling much more bouncy today. Helped by a spate of much better weather, I was getting sick of riding in the rain. Had a nice breakfast for a change (rolls are such a good idea, a shame they're so pricey), and have got quite a few things done this morning including pulling some capillaries. For those of you not in the know, capillaries are very useful things for a synthetic chemist - fine, almost hair thin tubes of glass for extracting tiny samples of liquid from your reaction. You can buy them ready made in a number of sizes, but this is actually quite pricey so most people resort to pulling their own from glass pipettes. (in theory) You just heat the pipette up till is starts to melt and becomes pliable, and you can pull and extrude it into a fine capillary, and repeat alnog the length to get several. Not hard, but there's an art to it. I always end up pulling to hard and so instead of extruding the glass, it just snaps off in the middle, which is just useless! So I've spent about an hour doing that and occasionally burning my fingertips *ouch*. In case you didnt know, people, hot glass looks exactly the same as cold glass. So I've got some nice blisters now, which will no doubt sting like a bitch when they pop.

Going for a pub lunch with the group today to celebrate Catherine's birthday. First time for doing that, so should be good (though spending more money! I'm getting really paranoid about that). She's the really smiley one that blushes lots, it's really quite sweet. If I wasnt such a poofter I'd probably be really interested. Such is life. And before that comment really freaks some people out, I can appreciate nice persons of all genders - hey, some of my best friends are women! (:-)

Probably going to go to yon theatre tonight for a spot of Ibsen, if the twenty-five spondooliks I gave out to see Jerry Springer again on Saturday wasnt enough. Good to see that again, but they've had to really pare down the cast for the tour so it loses a lot of the impact of thirty freaks shouting at the other freaks (or 'chorus' as we could call them), and they've got a less attractive set - but they do have to take account of the fact that they are moving it every week. The quality of the writing does show through, and they had a mighty fine looking Steve again (what is it with me and skinheads) - which of course I had to tell Ade about straight away. Though he hasnt replied yet - maybe it wasnt appreciated! Anyhow, if people want to buy me the DVD for my birthday, that's fine. If you can get hold of it, since there's a clamp down on retail. Thinking of which, there was very little protest outside the theatre, all very York in fact. Just some flyer-givers and that was about it.

Ummmm, better go and check on the still - I *am* at work after all!

Katharsis

Apologies in advance to all my dearest readers, but this entry is going to be devoted to moaning, just for my own mental health. We return once again to the issue of my housemate, who is consistently getting on my nerves. The thing is, I dont think he even realises this so it's entirely my problem and I've got to deal with it. If I blow off steam in his direction, I'll come off looking like the unreasonable one!

I'm still having issues over his hogging of the kitchen space. I mean, it's only polite that the space gets shared evenly, right? In this case there doesnt happen to be four cupboards we could all use, but the space is definitely weighted as him:the other 3 of us 1:1. Which is totally unfair. I mean, fair enough he was by himself here for quite a while before we moved in, and you naturally spread out a bit, but he doesnt seem to appreciate that now there are other people living here! Even to the point of shoving stuff in the other fridge, because people seem to be putting stuff in the other one. Oh my, using the fridge so that there's no space for him at all! Depsite that fact that most of the stuff in the fridge is his, he feels the need to use the other one AND place items randomly in that one all over the place. Space hogging, it's really, really rude. But to actually have a little moan about it makes it just that much worse.

Speaking of which, it's something he's ALWAYS doing. Moaning, that is. Since I've been here (just about 2 months now), I've not heard him say a single positive word about anything. It's bizarre. I mean, we all have those things that just piss us off totally (hey - why am I writing this?), and we all blow off steam by moaning about it....but we also all have things we enjoy, and rave about, and like to talk about and praise. Not him. I've not heard him speak but to put a black outline on anything. This perhaps goes with the 'gruff Yorkshireman' thing, but even they have a sense of humour. Not him. Not that I can see. It's as if everything in the world is personally out to get him. I mean, there was the incident with the swimming. He's started to try and go swimming, but apparently he cant cope with the idea that other people want to do this at the same time. Most of us would just get on with it, or try and go when there are less people there (no brainer, huh?), but this is too difficult. No, he's just going to moan about it. See, everyone is just there to piss him off. Likewise us with actually living here.

I'd accept it more, I think, if it wasnt for the fact that he'd been having blazing problems with the landlady and actually doesnt like her very much. Everything she does is a problem these days, and has to be moaned about. Well, OK, we've all had bad landlords but most of us, having had this bad experience, would the MOVE and find somewhere else to live, no? Not this geezer. He just cant face the idea, I think. But it does give him something to complain about. I mean, I've had no troubles with the landlady myself, she' done everything we could've expected, and have not had any problems. Even when the lock broke and I had to ring her - she was not at home at the time - she came up with suggestions of how to get the problem sorted. And rang when she got home to check up that it was all sorted. That's rather nice, other landlords would have just left us to break in by ourselves. But no, in his book, this was entirely her failing and the fact she didnt immediately drop everything to sort it out was an issue. Bizarre, bizarre.....

There's the issue with the plants, too. This one is from today, so it's kinda rankling at the moment. There are a couple of ferny thing dotted in the lounge and dining room, yeah? Nice, but not essential to the living environment. He's been watering them and complains (oooh, the surprise) that he wishes that they'd hurry up and die. Well, there's me thinking that if he didnt water them, they'd die a lot quicker, and kinda suggest this. I mean, we arent contracted to keep the house plants at all (I thought they were his in the first place), but he gets in another sly dig at the landlady by saying she'd probably complain about it if we didnt keep them. Hmmmm. Yet again, if this is a problem, bloody well go somewhere with a different landlady. Or just let 'em die and say they died - I mean, plants dont live forever anyway! Bejaysus. I really think he positively enjoys complaining and would really find it hard to believe that someone would do something for him with less than ulterior motives. Persecuction complex, obviously.

And then there's the phone line issue. Makes sense to have a phone line in a house, no? Yes. Well, there always was one, but he had his own independent line installed for his own private broadband and connection. BB I can understand, if he uses a lot of bandwidth (what for? Bet it's porn), but then when the rest of us move in and need a phoneline for the house, you think he'd at least discuss the issue about sharing the line or clubbing together on a BB rate? Not a word. His line, his connection, anything else is no dice. So I had to sort out this line myself, which is bloody annoying. And he even has a phone handset he's keeping to himself! Not to mention he HAD A LOCK INSTALLED ON HIS BEDROOM DOOR, which shows an incredible amount of paranoia, which he locks even when going downstairs - like I'd want to nick any of his junk. But it's like he wants to live alone but doesnt want to move. I dont get it. He even has a little ensuite business in there. So it's like he's keeping entirely seperate. Arse.

But there's the annoying habit and hypocrisy with the door locking. I mean, sure we need to keep security up and keep the front door locked is a way of that. And it makes sense to lock the door properly if you are going out and arent sure if there's anyone left in. All sensible right? Why the bollocks then does he lock the door properly when we are all blatantly still in the house? Once or twice I could put down to automatic pilot, but it's consistently happening. But the rankling issue is that he seems to have a problem that we dont put the alarm on when we go out. Well, hello, why arent you putting it on too then - if it's enough to lock the door for, why no alarm? Hypocrite, hypocrite, hypocrite.

Grrrrrrr.

I'm feeling a lot better now for this now, obviously it's doing some good. And it sounds really petty when I look at it, but he really is in this negative state of mind that refuses to see anything good (the ultimate nihilist? Perhaps). And is blatantly trying to live solo whilst in a house full of people. With a landlady he has problems and issues with. Move into your own bloody flat then, it'd solve all your problems! Too much inertia to do that, but it's like he cant see it. I mean, if there was a problem but I couldnt be arsed to sort it out, I'd be accepting that the problem continues because I'm being a lazy shite. Not that it continues because the world is out to get me. And yet, I get the inkling here that it's ME who's the crazy one!

Badly need to put this into a metta meditation, it'd help a lot I think. Need to develop my carapace and have it wash off, but it may take a while to develop. In the meantime, it does get me down.

Again apologies, and hopefully I'll be more bouncy on Monday morning!

Up late

...for a little change. Never mind!

More comprehenisve musings to follow (since I am unable to type properly right now, being tired), but a funny little day all round, I think! Hmmmm, yes.

Yawnables

Getting to the end of the week and I'm winding down. I've got that nice 'I really feel like I've achieved something' feeling, which comes with reactions having worked properly. Great! Thing is, I've got loads of crappy little jobs to be doing, which is much less fun *grumps* But I dont mind, I'm in a rather chilled out state. I'm putting it down to the green tea which I've been knocking back today, it's been a while as far as that is concerned!

One worry is my blatant lack of snack at home. I've got apples and that's about it! There's the pasta, but not even some sauce to put on the top. And what with my comp warranty having gone out today, I'm feeling poor and dont want to spend more money. But I really have no store cupboard meals, unless I want to re-defrost the remains of last night's dinner and have the same meal AGAIN (since I already had it for lunch today, as well as last night!). No bread for brekkie tomorrow either! I think perhaps I *shall* be going to Morrisons. Bread, juice, cheapy jam and bacon, methinks.....and then at least I can have some sort of pasta jobby for the next few days!

Getting all excited about tomorrow (that one's for certain members in the audience), do me good to get out of the little working rut I've dug myself into. Change is as good as a rest, they tell me, but change in this case is better!

Another quizzie!

Going back to a conversation the other day, a nice little quiz for you all.....apparently I'm a lot less buddhist than I thought! But I think it's in the phrasing of the questions......

Here it is.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............

Just found something *highly* intruiging that I feel the need to pass on. Once again, cribbed from wikipedia here (if you want a little more!), I should really consult some other sources at some point....

"Maltheists go even further than the Gnostics, in a sense, by saying that God simply is evil himself. To them, the problem of evil is not a problem at all, and is neatly resolved by acknowledging that an omnipotent benevolent God would not create a world in which there was evil, concluding that God, assuming he exists, is either not omnipotent, not benevolent, or perhaps both. (They frequently add that if God is not omnipotent but claims that he is, he is thus lying, and consequently is also justifiably deemed evil in nature.)"

I can see the logic in this argument, yet it must have upset a lot of orthodox people!

Delicious, delicious

Cadbury's snack biscuits. Yum.

Well, I did get to bed before 11 last night, and feel wonderfully rested this morning. Did most of my tidying up, but it has just revealed my dire need to do laundry. The cycle of domestic tasks never ends! This is why people used to employ servants, I guess, it aint the most fascinating work in the world.

Work this morning: owing to the action of TMS triflate, my reaction had turned into solid black tar. But bizarrely enough, it hasnt actually done any reaction at all - my starting material is just sat there smiling back at me! Ah well, the mysteries of life......no great loss, really, I wasnt expecting it to be wonderful! But my other one, aaah, differetn story.

Someone keeps on phoning me on and 0808 number and not leaving a message, it's really starting to bug me now. Just tell me who you are! Or leave me alone!

Best to get on with writing up my lab book now, methinks....

Two little warm glows in a day

Because of this. I send the best of thoughts to the council worker, and hope that they continue to do so. Dirty bastard deserves all he gets.

I didnt get home till just before 8 this evening. Arse. Quick snack for tea, and then I need to go get more bread and sort out my room! And have a nice cup of tea, and probably soak my hands. Need to get myself some rubber gloves!

A lovely warm glow

I love it when good things happen. This issue has been worrying me for a while, but now I feel glad that something's been done about it. Hooray for independent traders!

Very boring morning of demonstrating, there's not really that much for me to do. Which is good I suppose, means that they arent blowing themselves up (and me with them). But it doesnt make for interesting mornings. Hands still chapped though, and no doubt will feel a bit worse after an afternoon of acetone. Yick!

Narcolepsy

I feel completely knackered. I know exactly why, it's a very simple syllogism: People who stay up late feel knackered, Jon-ster stayed up late, therefore Jon-ster is knackered. The breathtaking simplicity of deductive logic! Aristotle would be so proud.

Anyhow, another late night thanks to comversations online with Mr Wolf, I really should hold myself there but it's just so easy to talk bollocks continuously for ages. I'm neglecting myself and other people! Damn this constant internet access. Plus I'm kinda getting a bit of a dilemma on my hands, and have stopped meditating again. All because too tired. And my hands are in a bit of a state too, bit chapped. Best break out the steroids again tonight, methinks.

But I have found out that I can distill things properly. I was so ridiculously chuffed about that yesterday, it's daft. The little things, maybe, that keep a contented chemist from fiddling about with *really* nasty stuff!

MUST print off my colour pages today and send them to southampton, best to get it done as soon as poss!

Sulk

I'm still really tired. Not happy. Had to wait ages to use bathroom this morning owing to lying in for ten extra minutes. Obviously I have to get up at my time or I miss my slot! And a little stressful moment when the bike wouldnt start.

Isnt my life just totally hideous? *breast beating* Just feel like going home and sleeping, and it isnt even nine o'clock yet. Alas, alas.

Bit of a tizz on the whole social life front as well now, have no excuses not to have one now, but really cant be bothered. Jane, I'm ringing you this week for a grumble and moan and a kick up the arse, OK?

Sublimation of mild irk

Instead of going mental like I did yesterday. This is a better thing to do, and let everyone know about it!

Keira, I'm sorry I'm nicking your housemate tic, but I need to today just to blow off a little steam. I really cant understand why my housemate feels the need to spread his food between the two fridges. It's a bit much! Having monopolised the one in the kitchen, it now seems he begrudges any one else putting anything in it, so he's also using the one (that *I* scrubbed out) across the room and hogging that too! Some of the rest of us might want a bit of space, you know....or you *could* perhaps come to terms with the idea of putting your things in a smaller space.

And while we're on it...why d'you feel the need to have the heating on the fling the window open wide? Turn your bloody heater off, and keep the warmth in (plus amazingly, it'll cut down on the service bills! Woooo!)

Sorry for that. had to be done.

Freaky

Stuff like this tends to blow my mind (the bottom of the page!). Most, most strange.....well, actually, there's a very obcious explanation, but it's still quite amazing! But I do notice no use of the word 'miracle', which is reassuring.

Feel very, very tired today. Must have been the extreme effort of rant yesterday, taken it out of me. Tonight will be spent shopping, making myself some nice dinner and tidying up my room. Badly needs it.

Little observations

Odd what you notice, really. Now that I've gained my doctor's wings (going in for the operation to make me surgically unable to write legibly next week), I feel that my commentary can carry that much more weight (despite the fact that I'll no doubt descend into prentension without delay). But I just wanted to note two little things. One is that Oscar and Sara are getting hitched - that's the two loved-up italians from my old lab, for those of you who arent aware, and the other is that they live in a house full of empty tins of coffee. I mean, I spent five minutes trying to find coffee this morning, it was like a Krypton factor test or something. Every sodding jar was empty but for some dregs (and I contemplated collecting the few grains from each of twenty jars just to get a cup), but they were all still there in no particular order or artistic arrangement. Odd. And it wasnt like they were being saved to store things in, otherwise they'd have been washed out, no? Strange, most strange.

Anyhow, I'm most grateful to them for letting me stay, and I wish them both all the best for the future!

How to induce schizophrenia

In a continuing series of articles on the egogenesis of a variety of conditions, both physiological and mental, we turn our attention to the psyche. Today: through a process of sheer rage, we can turn ourselves into complete nutcases, with very little effort! Be warned, ranting to follow.

I love our national rail service. Though admitedly it's not really entirely their fault. Well, I'm so bloody glad I got on an earlier train than I was supposed to, since it has taken me a full NINE SODDING HOURS to get home. Yes, that's right. Thank crap I had copious amounts of literature with me, though that may have been part of the problem with the induction of insanity. Anyhow, let's go......

Get to Soton Central to find out that they are actually digging up the line somewhere in Oxfordshire, which means I have to get a bus between Didcot and Brum. Arse. Well, logic forces me to admit that the tracks do need maintenance (lots of it, really) and that Sunday is probably a sensible time to do it when in theory there is less traffic (though to be fair, just as many people travel on a Sunday these days, they should just work at one part solidly and just get it all done rather than fannying about). Anyhow, a smooth trip up through Hampshire, Bershire and Oxon, where we all troop out onto our bus. Oh no, it isnt going to Brum, but only to Leamington Spa, where we need to catch onward trains. Fair enough, and after a trip up the M40 we reach Leam no trouble and on to Brum with only a small delay. No problem, just about a half hour adrift from normal expectation. This is where the trouble begins.

I love Virgin train services. Not only do they waste a good third of every carriage with a fancy walkway affair to no purpose (which they could have used for luggage storage - it's a chronic problem on Virgin trains, no space for luggage, so people have to use the seats, ergo no space for passengers either. Wonderful thinking.), but they also have the worst automatic doors in the history of existence. These I count even worse than Douglas Adams' doors on the spaceship Heart of Gold which thank you repeatedly for using them. No. May the designers rot in Purgatory for eternity (always sounded worse than Hell to me). Ever noticed? They stay open for just enough time for you to get through, but then mercilessly close on anything. Well, this happens with automatic doors a lot anyway - but normally they have a little sensor so that if anything is in the way of the closing doors, they spring back open again. Not these ones. I watched almost everyone get mercilessly clamped in their vice-like maws, since they refuse to open again (even if you are wedged inside them) until you press their little opening button. Which you cant actually press with your hands full of suitcases, surprisingly, so you hold up the entire flow along the train. Multiply this by each and every passenger, and you have a startlingly effective prayer-wheel device for generating low-grade irritability. It's a wonder that more of us dont do a Michael Douglas in that wotsit film and roam about spraying people with shot. I of course could witness all of this, being stuck squated in the carriage-end owing to lack of seats, owing to NO BLOODY SPACE. Nice. Not that I could do anything about it either, since there was no space. Lovely. May the designers be reincarnated as oak-trees containing many, many nests of woodpeckers.

Right, well, On this little trip from Brum I find out we arent stopping at Leeds, but going via Doncaster. No great problem, there's a nice network of trains across Yorkshire for connecting services, but since there is a choice of where to change, I check with the guard who consults his little electronic book and reliably tells me to switch in Doncaster. Anyone see the deliberate mistake here? Anyone? You? See, it wasnt that difficult, was it? What else, but there's an almighty fuck-up with the train system. There should be a steady flow of trains through Donny to Leeds coming from Hull, but they are messing with the tracks out that way too, so all the east-west services are bolloxed. But, and this is the person I am truly, truly annoyed with (and that is the biggest litotes you'll ever read) some git has chucked themselves under an early morning inter-city at Barnet and completely arsed up the service on the east-coast mainline, making every train out of London (and of course, almost all the services north out of Doncaster) hopelessly, hopelessly delayed. Twat. Now this may seem hopelessly heartless of me, to have so little compassion for my fellow human being who felt the need to commit suicide, but to be fair, I have greater compassion for the thousand upon thousand of other people who were arsed about just like me because of their desire for oblivion. Where was their compassion for the rest of us? Completely selfish. They could have just quietly made up some poison ivy tea or shot themselves or gone and visited some war-zone dressed in luminous pink, but no they had to make sure they generated a great deal of stress and irritability. Why dont people think a bit more before they top themselves?

So now I'm on an achingly slow local service crawling across Yorkshire. I'm also at the limit of my reading. Newspaper long finshed, I've even read the chemistry papers I printed (the fantasticly overblown guff about organocatalysis) and am slogging through the existentialist philosophy at far too quick a rate. This is the perfect combination for crazy, and to be fair I'm not the most mentally stable at the best of times. Kierkegaard may have something to say to people, but when you've been arsed about with travelling, have eaten nothing all day but railway-station shite at overblown prices (people be warned - Tesco's are aiming for the same captive market situation, where you have no choice but to buy the shit at the price they say. Buy independent!), then the last thing you want to hear is about how you need to take responsiblity for you own choices and how truth is subjectivity and other such high-falutin' concepts and stuff. Wonderful for inducing a state of paranoia and frustration and a desire to stab someone, anyone in the eye with scorpion.

Eventually we trog into Leeds, with a rather pretty view across a fairground. This is an incongruous image, since I then find the service (this one actually being on time) just makes it into Leeds to miss any connections for west Leeds, and in particular, Headingley. So I'd have to wait another bloody hour for the connecting service. Under other circumsatnces I'd have quite happily have sat and waited and nursed a snack, but I'd been doing this all day and couldnt face the prospect of another hour with nothing but the Kierkegaard. Desperate situation. I make may way out to look for a bus.

Not to bad, I think, there's a good four routes heading my way, with the slight problem that they just dont bother to tell you where the bus-stop is. Marvellous. Working on the assumption that if I walk towards home, then I'll pass the stop, I head on my complete-anithesis-of-merry way. Only to see the bus sail past me from behind. When I finally reach the next stop, oh joy, I find out it'll be another half hour wait.

Are you forming some conception of my great irritation here? Me? Mister easy-going? Not at the moment. Something to be said for buddhist tranquility and calm, but even the bodhisattvas themselves would have been cracking open tins of Prozac to keep from abject genocide of innocent bystanders. I however had to make do without.

In the end I walk all the bloody way from Leeds station to home in Kirkstall, a good forty minutes trog with a bag full of mind-numbing verbiage and a suit&shoes. And it gives you some degree indication of my instability at this time that I was talking to myself in a geordie accent for the whole, lonely, neon-lit way. Past Yorkshire TV, past the viaduct, past the indian restaurants and the cinema and on and on.....until I reach home, see that my bike is still blissfully untouched and upright, at which moment I nearly burst into tears. And then come and update my blog.

One slight footnote needs to be made. I've been tanking on coffee all day, so the mental state could have been induced by the dehydrative combination of caffeine and ground-up bull's testicles I've been forced to eat. But I prefer to blame someone else, and for want of anyone else, I'm sticking with Kierkegaard. Bloody Danes, always pissing people off.

And well done to you, too!

*grin* Little Louise didnt tell me she was having her viva today too - in the afternoon! Also another pass, well done matey! Doctors both, now for a little rest.....and a big dollop of alk.

Cheers and celebrations!

Hooray, hooray, all is well and I have done my viva. Some corrections to do, nothing horrendously major, so I should be able to get them all corrected in the next couple of days! I'm all excited! I can start putting the letters after my name, and officially in a couple of months! Roll on graduation!

Oh, and Wolfie, if you are checking this (I think you are), they've just offered me a course to go and learn LaTeX.....synchronicity at work? Who knows!

Last Post

Hopefully not literally, as in lone rifleman on a hilltop with a bugle! No, just my last post for a while, since I'm getting the train this afternoon to Southampton for my appointment....*very* nervous right now, but at least I got the morning OK!

My, it's heavy on the posting tonight!

Obviously I'm in a pensive mood, as the dreaded event draws closer. Maybe I'm just avoiding thinking about it, would make sense.

Anyhow, just realising how much of a mystery life still is to me. In both a good and a bad way. For one thing, I'll never be stuck for something to ponder! Or read, or think about (OR think about? What the bollocks is pondering then? I do astound myself). But sometimes that makes me believe I'm missing out on feeling things, or just experiencing them. Do I have to decode every sensation? Is there no acceptance of things 'as they are' or do they have to be processed. Very much something to deal with in some meditation, and as they arise, let them pass away. Dynamic stillness, it's a nice concept.

Got to go put the bike to bed and then go to bed myself. Must get some good sleep! Oh, and I need to have a shave TONIGHT, cant be looking like a scruffbucket.

Been reading up on a friend's website (DO NOT view this at work, you'll get into trouble) and it really perturbs me. I dont understand it, and not in a repulsed 'it's gross' kind of way. I really just dont get it. I mean, T's a really nice guy, but I cant add up the two images!

Ummmmm.

A nostalgia trip

Strange how life takes you round, isnt it? Had a quick look up at James again, who I havent thought about in a while, only to realise 'Crikey, I never really knew you at all, did I?'. Never really asked much about him, or even wanted to. Maybe it shows my own rootedness in the present. Who knows? Still, hope you are well (if you find and read this! How do I flatter me, let me count the ways), but to be fair, I'm not sure I'd want to see you again because I wouldnt know what to say to you at all!

Dunno why I just felt like blogging that. Still, there it is.

The Naomis

In the run up to the Brits, we have the Naomis. I agree with almost everything on this list. Shocking stuff.

Happy St V's

As if I could forget! Happy day of cynicism to you all! You are alone and will never, NEVER be with someone unless, UNLESS you buy our cheap tacky shite......I do so love these subliminal messages let out by private companies. There's no hope for me, I'm doomed to an existence of belief in insincerity! And I dont mind, because it's really funny!

Bejaysus, this crazy wisdom lark really gets to you after a while. Jon-ster the tantric siddha? Who knows? But somehow I dont think so.

Chemistry

C-glycosylation: did not work.

Hydrogenation: has done something.

I love the precise physical sciences.

Oops

Well, spent far too long last night up surfing the internet just because I COULD. Hours and hours of looking at wikipedia, which neve ceases to astound me. But it does mean that I'm positively knackered this AM and cant be bothered to do any sort of work. Good job that I dont have that much to do, what with skiving off for most of the week. Good stuff. I shall NOT being staying up late this evening. Early bed to rest and recouperate - and I'll spend the evening tomorrow reading papers! *thunderous music of portentous DOOM*

Interesting conversations with people for York going on at the moment. Suppose it's an excuse to go there a bit more! And the Zen buggers have got back to me, here we go with some zazen....though dont worry, it's not the lot who beat you with a big stick and ask you to about your original face clapping one hand.....Koans are NOT what I need right now!

Oooh, it's all exciting!

I'm back with a wireless broadband connection! Hooray! Can now sit in comfort rather than on the wooden floor of the kitchen, and surf to my hearts content. And update this thing every second of the day or night. Yippee!!!!!!

That'd be about it, then.

Chemists? They be weird.....

...and I say this as a card-carrier myself. The following story will seem like utter nothing to most of the world, but it made me a bit miffed! Only confirms the title, I suppose, eh?

Anyhow, looking up a nice procedure in a paper (making the TMS-enolate of pyruvate, if you must know) and they go and 'dilute with Skelly F'. Hmmmm, never heard of that before, thinks Jon-ster, but it could be some odd little reagent that gets used that I've not come across before, and chemistry is renowned for all it's little acronyms and odditites. So I ask around the lab. Nope, no-one's heard of it before either.....recourse is then made to the internet (google is lovely, what would we do without it? Be warned of people introducing charge by stealth people, freedom of information!) and it turns out that this so-called Skelly F is nothing but bog-standard petroleum ether, that everyone uses everyday and calls 'petroleum ether' or, daringly, 'petrol'. Why the HELL did they bother giving it an odd name?! Grrrrr.........

*steps down*

I feel somewhat better for that! Get to install my broadband connection this evening, that's going to be even more fun. Not. I'll spend hours fiddling with cables, no doubt....

Change of tack

Got to completely change what I'm doing at work! Ah well......throw out what I did last week!

Observational

My, there are a lot of 'Hand Car-wash'es in Leeds/Bradford! Well, more specifically Bradford, I've passed about thirty today just poootling about! They cant be having all that much to do, but to be fair all of them have had a team of six going at some motor, every one I've passed! Strange, eh? Maybe it's the new version of Hitch-Hiker's guide shoe-shops.....*shrugs*

Anyhow, Bradford. Must have been a once great city, it's got a lot of *inverted commas finger signals* architecture lying about. Unlike Leeds, quite strange that Bradford must have been the posher of the too, lying more westerly, and now it's a hole. So I'm told, the centre was totally deserted (what is it with northern towns and sunday trading?) but not completely ugly. Reminded me a lot of Berlin in a number of ways that I cant quite put my finger on. Except one. They've got a quarter of the town called 'Little Germany' which was a business district or something (I've got a good memory, I read it on a little green plaque) and I toddled over to it.....walking round a huge big building site in the middle of the city in the process. So Bradford does resemble Berlin, in that it's got it's very own Potsdammerplatz situation going on. Hopefully will be tasteful once it's finished!

Have thrown caution to the wind and bought myself a new lid, for the sheer joy of it. It's spangly and red and light as a feather, turning my head is a dream in it! Cant wait for a bit nicer weather when I can thrash down the M1 and really see this aerodynamic wotsit it claims to have. Not that I really need it, but I'm spending my disposable income the way I choose! Leaving me not actually anything to live on. Oops. Well, I'm not going to be doing any shopping this week anyway, since I'm coming to Southampton on Wednesday night. Starting to get very, *very* nervous about the whole thing. Meditation tonight, to give me a little calmness, I think!

Got to get up early tomorrow so i can get to work and prepare for meeting with boss, first official one. Not really got a lot to say but ooodles of ideas to talk about. There really arent enough hours in the day to do all the chemistry! Glad it's working so nicely, to be fair. And then most of tomorrow shall be spent eyeing up my thesis and doing paperwork, though I'd far rather be in the lab. Next position I go for will have to be purely research based, cant be having with this teaching lark!

Little crappy kids

What do I find this morning? Some shitty little kids have decided it's oh so amusing to tip my bike. Criminal damage. One cracked lens and a shagged wing mirror, £30 part replacement and prob some labour putting it back on. Arseholes. What's the bloody point? More money I dont want to spend, plus on a cheapy replacement mirror for the time being so I can actually see something. Thank bollocks nothing else is wrong with it, though I've been managing to overrev her somewhat and miss gears, so I'm paranoid about the chain now! What's more worrying is having to leave it for almost a week while I go to soton for my viva.....maybe I'll take it to work and leave it there, might be a bit safer, for that length of time! Plus it means less of a hike home on the way back.

Trolley stuffed full

...there was at the supermarket! With a little baby in it, piled around ABOVE it's head with shopping! Funny sight. Never mind. Just had a little bit of a worry with the bike, seems to be slow on burning the fuel. As in, when I open the throttle and let the clutch out, it's a good while before it pulls, and I generally have to whack it open quite a bit! Not due to empty tank (cos I just refilled it, thinking it was that!), am charging battery now in case that's the problems (not enough juice for the spark plugs, could be, I've been doing not much but to work and back and it's a lot of stopping and waiting), so we'll say. Had a little difficulty undoing the screws on the terminals though - resorting to gripping the screwdriver in my teeth to get some purchase! No doubt looked completely daft. We'll see how it goes tomorrow....did want to get out a bit.....though I have to go into work on Sunday, of course.......

Amazingly cheap thrills at a good rate

Wow. I never cease to astound myself. A rather tragic little story follows; be prepared for the hideous punchline!

Anyhow, you've all heard of googling for yourself? Ego-googling? Where you type your own name into Google and see whether you come up, and it's a good place to start for namesake-hunting in a Dave Gorman type fashion (who people say I resemble in many ways - but more on that story later). Well, I've done this before, and know already about some of the guys, and had decided to blog about them here with useful links - just in case anyone came here looking for them. There's a local activist in the Highlands, for example, and a Prof (at southampton!) of some oceanographic science or other, and a rising star on the college basketball circuit in the states, and a medical student somewhere in New England - reassuring to note that there's no psychos or rapists amongst that lot (which could just mean that I'm the weirdo). All well and good. Perfect material for a random blog entry, but first I needed to check up on them again.

In goes my name into the search engine....*cue the slow motion sequence* Make that quick stab with three fingers at the enter key that you always use when you want to do something decisively....and up come the results. BANG. Wow! There's ME as the first entry in Google! And how AMAZINGLY chuffed to bits I am by this! And yet, how terminally, terminally sad and tragic......I'll get over it eventually.....

I stink of cloves

Courtesy of marking loads of undergrads practicals and handling their eugenol samples, I am now redolent of clove. Lovely. Now you all know why I keep sniffing my fingers. It is not pleasant - plus I've spent all morning talking and yacking about boring stuff. This afternoon I shall be subjected to seminars, DULL DULL DULL. Well, I think so. No chance to get on with any actual chemistry work, have to be doing that tomorrow - when I also have to do one of these tutorials, more fun! Best look up the whole shebang - and actually mark some more work. Oh joy.

Paid of credit card this lunchtime, most painful. Get the feeling of being broke again, since my rent went out today too. Not fun.

Also, anyone remember this? Didnt realise there was so much on with it - plus I seemed to only have caught the first two series, maybe I was just being a surly teenager and didnt watch the other lot (or my sister was busy watching this at the same time). Who knows? Anyhow, a nice trip down memory lane at any rate.....

Happy Monday

Quite. Well, it's been rather productive so far, with much done and little phaffage. I seem to be very good at phaffage these days, but I've got through several of the things on the LIST. And you should always make lists!

Got bike cleaned at lunchtime whilst coating hands in crap. Obviously IPA-spray (what it basically is) is not good for fairy-soft hands, and certainly hands on this fairy are rather rough at the moment. Coffee intake has been moderated, but it'll take time for my hands to build themselves back to their healthy state. Dammit. And my legs and back are all itchy at the moment too. Have to go sit in a bucket of lard and remoisturise. Yick.

Have the delights of hoovering to look forward to this evening; other than that, not much to do! Life's just so traumatic, isnt it? And actually managed to get 5 mins of 'sit' in yesterday, double-plus good. I just need to fish out my cushions and sort out proper seat for myself! Was quite painful on the back yesterday, need more support from my knees. Fascinating, huh? Bet you werent expecting this flood of quality literature today, eh?

Sunday

A bit of a slow day. Didnt really get out riding like I said I would, though did manage to purchase chain lube, another huge amount of chinese and some coffee. And had a good eye up of one guy sitting in the coffee shop *titters* naughty me. Really shouldnt do that!

Had a bit of a domestic cleaning moment and did the kitchen and some laundry, including mopping the floors. Hoovering of my room will be done tomorrow, bathroom can wait. I put it all down to enthusiastic purchasing of bleach this afternoon. Lovely stuff. Makes your OCD compulsive dreams come true! Damned spots come out no trouble with bleach! Also I've had a soak in the tub and a shave (of my face - head still needs doing), this time without hacking half my cheek off like last week. Yes, I've been walking around with a big gouge out of my face for the past week, but I refuse to put a plaster on it in a Nelly-type effort (mostly because I'd just look like a gimp). Shows how cack-handed I am, really. Never give me babies, Faberge eggs or Doomsday weapons 'just to hold for a moment'....consequences could be disasterous.

Monday tomorrow, and bizarrely I'm really looking forward to it. To get on with some more chemistry - because since it's all going rather nicely, I'm rather enjoying it! Will have to make an effort to talk to the rest of the group about their chemistry though, find out what they are doing (since we dont get 'wednesday group meetings' here, cant keep tabs). And have to sort out my little unergraduates, bless. Do I need to acquire a bad item of clothing, just to make them feel comfortable? I think so. Anycase, I've got the marking-binge to deal with come Wednesday, since it's my lab lots last day; they'll be clammering for me! I'm sick of looking at spectra of bloody phenylalanine......not like I didnt get to do enough of that during my phd, no?