This is the most hilarious thing I've seen today....

Koan What is the sound of one cow mooing?

Answer: Mu.

Friday evening trauma....

Well, Friday passed off OK. Group meetings are always a bit of a torture - though I still havent worked out why, used to love doing all that stuff in soton.....again, maybe it's a self-pressure thing. Hmmm. Anyhow, a very relaxed friday afternoon, filling in the lab book and discovering that I had managed to make the simple stuff that I had wanted to - albeit full of bloody pyridinium salts still. And no, I cant wash them out 'cos I tried and washed out loads of my stuff too......alas, alack, methinks I shall have to try TEA......and now enough chemistry blatherings.

Bit annoyed, since the bar stop on my bike basically fell off today. Probably from too much hard riding earlier in the week. Kudos to the guys who fixed it though; let me explain the whole story. After the incident of 'some arsing car driver knocks my bike over and totally dents the bar stop, the screw threads in them were totally bent and shafted. So when I got my repairs done, they appear to have drilled out the old screw (lodged in there) and just really wedged the new one in - and to be fair, it's held for a long time and I always used to keep unscrewing my stops on ride without realising it (too much squirting with the wrist....). Anyhow, I cant seem to repair it myself and dont want to resort to superglue because that's a kind of no-going-back thing. Which means I've got no stop on my right handlebar again, arse. Make the bike look more tatty than it is.

Anyhow, I scooted off again this evening for some very stressful riding to Huddersfield where I became completely lost and took a detour to Halifax on the way to Barnsley. Oops, eh? Never mind. And then headed for Rochdale and crossed over Bronte country and headed for Skipton. Where some idiot decides to sit up my arse along the dual carriageway. Now, I'm kinda at fault here since I was in the RH lane and not passing any traffic - but I was already doing about a hundred (tut tut, yes I know) and there was no-one behind me at all! Which means he must have come up behind me doing at least 130 in his crappy little Vauxhall. And then undertook me. Gimp. So after going over the roundabout further up, I decided to burn him out, which I did - with a little bit of a bashing-the-bishop symbol going on, and I left him quite far behind. Until he decides to come up after me at speed (I was slowing for another roundabout, turning right and again in the RH lane) and do a right hander round this roundabout from the LH lane - when there were actually lane markings explicitly showing the contrary. Twat. And so I decided to tail him for the rest of the way, and he couldnt get away much as he might try! So I gave him a little wave in his mirror and kept at him.

Git. And he got royally cut up on another roundabout by a perfectly normal and sensible driver, which really made my day.

But I fell really bad with all the speeding and the road rage incident.. I shouldnt let myself get dragged into these things, and so the lesson for today is to let these things go, and become a better (and more alive) rider for it all.

*exhales*

Anyhow, I didnt end up stopping in Skipton after all this, but came home by a circuitous route! Back along the moors road at immense speed, following another biker and, while not keeping pace completely, trying to do so. Showed me a lot of things that I need to work on - like concentrating the whole time and not taking things faster than I am comfortable with anytime, but also that I can afford to be a little bit more decisive when overtaking, rather than hanging about. I'm getting more of a fine judge of what I can do. Though my chain will definitely need a sort out soon!

Back home now to a distinct lack of food in the house. Arse. Never mind, eh? Nothing for breakfast tomorrow either! But then I'm off to bonnie Scotland to see Carole.....

Guilty culinary secrets

Just an idea for a post. As some of you will know, I'm a bit of a food addict. That's in the sense of gastronomy rather that 'eat to live'. And I have an inordinate number of cookery books for one so young, male and not in the comestible industry.

This hasn't always been the case. When I were knee-high to a very large grasshopper, I was particularly fussy and ate such a small number of things, it's a wonder I didnt have rickets. But survive I did, and long enough to experience something of a Damascene conversion by means of reading Time-Life books. The family had inherited a (not quite) complete set of 'Foods of the World', which sits in the lounge. And one late evening, for some reason, I pulled out the one about Japanese cuisine and started reading. I was instantly hooked to this series, and perhaps not least because of the most disgusting thing I read in this japanese cookbook, something called the odori. Basically, it's the eating of still-live prawns, which are gutted and deveined in a matter of seconds by a highly trained chef - and so dance about in rigor mortis on your plate as you grab them and nibble on them. Extreme sashimi, you might say. Suitably vile to entrance a male teenager (not that I wanted to try it - in fact it made me retch rather successfully). And so I devoured (ha ha) the rest of that book, and progressively the rest of the series in the course of two months, being more than a little amused by the 1960s worldviews and the descriptions of British cuisine, oh so out-of-date.

This is by way of being a long ramble to introduce the theme of my post, which was to try and list all of my own hideous crimes in the name of food. These are things I make and eat, which I'd never dare to offer anyone else for mere shame, and destruction of my foodie credentials. But they do taste quite nice.......

1) I had this today. 'Pizza' made using tomato ketchup as the sauce. Actually works really well, and in my defence I always bother to make the base myself!

2) Random bacon/onion/cheese pasta thing. Totally unrelated to anything italian, and would probably in fact give heart attacks to real italian, but I like it; fried onions and bacon poured over pasta with a large amount of cheddar grated over the top, which then melts. Incredibly fatty.

3) My patented soy-chicken. This has undergone so many variations and fiddles over the years that I've lost count. It's incredibly bad for you. If you think of chicken, stir-fried and then allowed to braise in a load of rich soy sauce until all the water from the soy sauce has evaporated and you get quite a syrupy coating to the chicken. I've taken to putting sugar in with it these days, or using the indonesian soy sauce which they put sugar and/or caramel in, which cant be good. After you've obtained your brown chicken (soooo salty!), add lots of cold boiled rice and stir it about until it's well coated. Add sesame oil. I can feel my arteries hardening from here.

4) The 'whoops it's not a tortilla' potatoes thing. Potatoes fried in butter or lard until crispy, and then bacon and onions till they are nice and done, followed by beaten eggs which are scrambled over the top. I've even thrown pieces of cheese into it before now, and let it melt.....yum. Again, not for the hard of artery of the queasy!

And that's enough for now. More kitchen confessions later.....

Sore feet

My feet are sore. Been on them a lot today, and today is Wednesday, as I've been having to remind myself! This week has gone past unbelieveably quickly so far, and now we're on the home stretch to the weekend (:-)

I'm having a lot of trouble with my nucleosides, they're all refusing to play nice. Well, mostly because I'm whacking them with a lot of DMF and pyridine, both of which are a pain to deal with. And not very nice to smell, either. Tomorrow heralds more in the way of purification, if only they'd all column nice and clean and vac down to lovely solids, but they hold onto solids like no-one's business and it's annoying me now.....

Busy making dough again, for very cheap version of pizza. And also have to make sandwiches for tomorrow. Cleaned the kitchen, so I'm feeling very virtuous, but also have managed to squish a snail, not so karmically good. I leave my bike cover in the front garden while I'm at work, as it's a bit unwieldy to be dragging inside and out all the time, and every evening it's got a number of snails on it. Today, I managed to crush one in my hand as I picked it up, not a nice feeling! But poor little snail gets the worst of it, really.....though I've heard a rumour that they can survive without shells, like slugs do........

Paid road tax finally today, and I get a nice purple tax disc this time, very nice. Have to spend a while on saturday morning fiddling with alan keys to put it in the little window though! Pain in the arse, really; might actually detach the thing and fiddle with it indoors. Anyway. And perhaps a wash down too.

No luck so far with guy phoning me about room; I reckon he's found somewhere else already and just wanted an easy way out of not turning up. Fair enough, really! Does mean I may end up having larger utilities bills than before though, less good. Who knows, might end up living here by myself for a bit which would be quite alright, for a while at any rate! Master of the House......

Other stuff to do......must not blog random shite too much......

Mixed Bag

Bit of a mixture today. As usual, post-Brighton Monday was a bit traumatic for a while, though I'm getting more used to having to deal with it (and the 'I've got no food, bugger' problem). Work today was much more evenly paced, I've worked my way past the 'get all excited and try and do too much work' thing, at least I hope. So slightly more relaxed than before - though I've still got this report to trog through (:-( .

Have also discoverd something interesting. I tend to sit in my chair with my comp in my lap (s'why we call it a laptop, huh?) and my feet stuck on the end of the bed, it being a convenient height. Except that extended periods sat in this position mean that I do something funny to my legs, so that when I stand up again, the tendons are used to being a little under tension and so are trying to overcompensate. Net result: walking like some kind of idiot and nearly falling down the stairs. What do bruises mean? Prizes!

Also spent a bit of this afternoon just kicking back and being a bit daft, like I used to in Southampton. A good feeling, though towards the end for some reason it started feeling like a bit of a guilty pleasure. Less of a good feeling. Dont know why, but I get some inkling of something funny about that in the air in the group. *shrugs* Maybe I'm not used to feeling a bit of pressure at work, JDK certainly never turned the screw on me, so I perhaps am just unnerved by it.

Also, with my demotion from top-spot google hit of myself, I discover that Steve in the group has plenty of namesakes, but that they've all been complied onto a single webpage in a 'which Steve are you looking for' stylee. I'm not jealous at all, no sirree.

Had a bit of a chat to Carole on the phone this evening, and I will be going to visit next weekend. That's a trip to Edinburgh, lovely lovely lovely, which mean almost from one end of the country to the other over two weekends! I get around, huh? Will be nice to see her again, I used to enjoy living with her (oh so long ago it seems). Though all the travel may kill me, since I'm back off to Brighton the weekend after! May never spend another weekend in Yorkshire, who knows!

Apologies also go out to the Very Nice Friendly Young Lady Who Is Amazing And Fab And Not At All Like Alces alces, because it appears I've been a little offensive. Was not meant, perhaps I should think about these things a bit more!

Off for a bath. And then a nice big cup of tea after the bath. And then bed. Fan-tooting-tastic.

Some Q&A

Inspired by a certain moose (:-P, I've decided to nick the Observer quiz (today's edition: Madeleine Albright, no less) in a slightly snobby fashion. So here goes.....

1) Shakespeare or Bible? Deffo Shakey. But mostly because I've already read all the new testament (more than once, as it happens) but not all of Old Bill. And I cant be having with the authoritarian schtick.

2) A word I like? Cantankerous. Perfectly formed word, almost onomatopoeic!

3) Most romantic moment in fiction? Hmmm, I've not read a lot of books with ostensible romance, and I've never been the romantic soul at the party (cynic to go, anyone?), so I guess I'll say......

4) Most overrated writer? Dickens. I cant cope with it, I really cant!

5) Favourite book in translation? Not sure what I've read in translation, to be fair; only thing I can think of off the top is Miserable Les (yes, the whole flippin' lot), and that was a bit pants. So maybe I could say my Buddhist texts? Not sure it qualifies though, since a lot of it is a bit heavy, though s0me of it is excellent, Nagasena!

6) Most underrated book? Probably something obscure, or one of my cookery canon.....

7) Best meal in literature? Easy. Hands down it's the eating contest in Guys and Dolls by Damon Runyon. I really wouldnt mind having a bit of all of those twelve courses - though maybe not in such prodigous quantity!

8) Favourite children's book? Probably something Dahl. Or The Wrestling Princess whose author I do a great disservice by not remembering.

9) Book beside my bed now? There's a stack. I've got An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Liz David, some motorcycling guide I'm reading slowly, something from my aunt I dont have a clue what it is, technically Tess of the D'Urbevilles by Hardy (though that's been on hiatus for about six years now) and a stack of Pratchett. Natch.

10) Sexiest book? I dont read porn, thankyou! Well, actually.....no, I really dont. But I did read some very sexy stuff on tinternet here (which isnt for a worktime browse, I hasten to add).....


There you are! A nice way to pass some time, and show to me that I'm not really all that well read.....

I'm gonna wait 'till the midnight hour....

That's when....well, I post my blog, I suspect.

Great weekend of truly lazy proportions. After having arrived early in Brighton on Friday evening thanks to me spotting an earlier train at Victoria and smooth running of the tube system (shock horror), spent the next hour or two cruising the aisles in Asda with P. And literally just cruising, filling up a trolley with sundry goods, and not what you lot were thinking (do you really think that of me? (:$ ). Turns out P doesnt like my foody habit of going ummm and aaah over every single item, something I positively enjoy! Never mind. Had a rather nice argument along the way, one of those 'we're having a strop but we're not really having an argument' things, but I refuse to turn into a couple that tiffs in public. It's not pretty and it's not clever. And then home to some long-awaited hugs (hugs are the best part of weekends with P) and prawn curry, courtesy of Crazy Prawn Man in the supermarket who was very adamant about people having some cheap knock-down prawns. Lush.

Saturday was a lovely sunny day, so of course we spent it indoors, lazing about. P, bless, isnt sleeping very well at the moment, or at least not in my rigid 7 hour slumber fashion (though I can appreciate why - see later). So I let him sleep in late come the morning, while I had a nice bath and played a little Chuzzle. A nice morning. And in the afternoon we were heading out to the beach for a sit, but it was rather warm for P (he doesnt take it well, maybe I should move to Svalbard with him in tow for tepid moose action) so we had an ice-cream (panna cotta, people - should be high on your lists!) and then went and saw Fearless after P's protesting earlier in the day that he wasnt so bothered about seeing it! Quite a decent film, I'm turning into quite the cinephile to the detriment of my theatre-going! Have to maybe remedy that one.....

Sunday is always a bittersweet day for me when in Brighton. Sweet, for obvious reasons, and bitter because I know I have to take the long journey home (since the getting-up-at-0430h-to-catch-the train thing was tried and was painful). Always get a little emotional and down over it, dont know how P remains so upbeat with it all (but I love 'im for it). Still, it's brought me home safe, and I get to blog about it again. Ready for early morning work again (though NO coffee for me this week, or at least no more than one cup per day), and the realisation that it's two weeks since the really hot weather and my lunchtime trip to Morrisons with the council tax bill.

Reminds me: need to get a final bill for the end of June since folks are moving out! And need to ring this other guy in the morning about him visiting, since he called. Hopefully will turn out nicer than current crop (though fair play to them, they arent as bad as I first thought).

A couple of other observations from this weekend: saw some crazy biker guy along the seafront sitting on his fuel tank going along no hands.....mad! Looked quite fun though, I must admit; though my throttle rolls shut when you let go, so it aint happening (not least because I havent got the bollocks for it). Also, I need a long hard look at the whole 'future' thing, to see if I can get somewhere nearer where I want to be, geographically and career-ially. Though both of those things are worrisome thinking all around, since moving is such a chore and inertia is my favourite pastime right now.....

Wednesday

And the cupboard was bare. Well, it wasnt, but it pretty much is now! Let's see, in the fridge I have some cheese, some oyster sauce, raspberry jam, lemon curd and plum sauce. Rather heavy on the sauces, no? In the freezer are the herrings, a very few peas, the chicken bones I'm saving for stock and a load of mozarella and frozen baps (of the floury variety, I'm not some hack-up-a-woman freak, at least not yet). Cupboard has the delights of flour, some onions and garlic, one egg, some chinese noodles, the amazing chinese chicken powder with its heartburn inducing properties, cashew nuts, some lasagne sheets and pasta quills, the curry paste, cornflour and cocunut milk, and an odd collection of spices. I'm not getting any ideas from that lot. There's a missing ingredient from everything I can think of to make tomorrow! And I only need another couple of meals.....not even any butter and marg left to make sandwiches.......I might be resorting to toasted cheese, to follow the cheese sandwich of tomorrow lunch....and a one-egg omelette would be more than pathetic. So I'm open to suggestions. And 'go to the supermarket' doesnt count. And vile combinations of crushed up dry pasta coconut milk, dusted with paprika also dont count.

What has happened today? Isolated a very tiddly amount of my useful amide, so I'll be repeating that reaction methinks. Listened to the last of the 3rd-year talks (congrats to Barry) and copped a very timely free lunch - tuna overdose - and seemed to do a lot of washing up. More is on the cards since I'm scrubbing the floors tonight (and not the other day like I said). Rather a nice day, all in all, what with the much appreciated text messages from P. And the load of forbidden coffee. I badly need to rehydrate......

Also a hello to Miss Nelson and best house-moving wishes! Load distribution in your car is less important than actually being able to get inside it to drive. But I'm sure you'll sort it all out....

What? MOT

Bike just had MOT and passed, always a relief! For some reason I was incredibly nervous, but it was actually quite pleasant to sit out in the sun and play mobile phone backgammon for a while....

Hands are paying the price for the coffee overdose yesterday, or alternatively the excessive amounts of scrubbing and detergent on both bike and pots. Not pleasant. Even had to slap on some steroids this morning, as I had a interlock-the-fingers-and-twist-for-all-you're-worth moment (fellow sufferers will understand what I mean). But I think it's easing off, and what with one thing and another I've not had the opportunity for a cup this morning. Admitedly, this has been coupled with a complete lack of breakfast - literally not a sausage - and so lunch has been a pleasure to buy. Reckless extravagance!

Rest of the day to be spent listening to talks. And then I shall set up some reactions, and go home for a delightful evening making frikadellen. Lush.

Fancy studying?

Have discovered there is actually an institution of higher education on Svalbard, of all places. It's more populous than I thought. Must be odd, living in such a small community. And yet, kind of appealing (though I suppose it'd be hideous if you didnt like the people!). I probably just want to live out my Northern Exposure fantasies.....

Thirsty

People really are fascinating, arent they? Yes, they are. There are a couple of blogs I tend to check up on regularly - some people I know personally (or have at least met in the flesh), and others who I have randomly surfed in on. But it's amazing how fascinated I've become by all their scrawlings.....

Totally nosey on my part, I guess, and part of the greater 'living vicariously' master plan for world domination that I have, but I'm just as entertained by thoughts of what these people omit from their blogs. I find it hard to belive that everything they do and think goes in there (hell, if it were, they are some pretty boring people), and so what is missing is all the more interesting. Or at least to me.

Just out of the bath and dying for a drink, only trouble being, there's water from the tap and nowt else. Shame. And I want something cold. So water it is then. *sigh* And then to bed, for a little light reading about cookery and a nice dream about something interesting. Or something. I dont know, dreams arent volitional!

Harumph

Monday again. Never the best day of the week, is it? This week was no exception. Having spent yesterday at Dad's and Saturday on the roads, I've neglected to do any shopping whatsoever, so of course this meant no breakfast-type foods. Actually that's a lie, just no carbohydrate-based breakfast-type foods. So I ate half of the yoghurt I did have and headed to work, all bright and cheerful.

Nice to listen to music, and today has been rather musical all round, what with the CD player, my listening to the iPod and humming Prokofiev a bit too loudly and Dan's whistling of 'Winter Wonderland' in a highly summer-themed afternoon. Great stuff. Much of the morning spent setting up a few reactions, one of which has actually turned out to work rather nicely if in cruddy yield, but I'm just happy it's worked as it will make my life one helluva lot easier. And I might be able to throw away the hideous mess that is my oxidation.....but by the by......

Much coffee consumed today, and I'll be repaying it tomorrow with itchy arms that I can feel busting through already. I think I shall be purchasing a big load of juice for tomorrow, as I really cant be having with crap skin, it's just so painful. Though tomorrow is actually going to be a day away from the lab, as it's the day of presentations by final years PhDs. Should be interesting, though it's a shame I have to run away half-way through to take the bike to the MOT squad. Though that shouldnt take too long, and I can be back by 2, hopefully! Also means that I can buy lunch and not worry about making it, a bit of a relief.

Dinner this evening has been part of the healthy drive of today, consisting of lots of lard items. Pasta carbonara, to be precise, so quite fatty yet very nice. And salty. My kidneys must be having a whale of a time, eh? Speaking of cooking, I've got another treat for you all, with my housemates weird cooking thoughts. This is the 'mince-in-a-stir-fry-(that-isnt-a-stir-fry)' guy, who today decided to cook some eggs in the microwave. The mind boggles. Two sodding eggs in a plastic tub, zapped in a microwave. Like cooking eggs on the hob-top is so arduous and creates so much mess and is actually far simpler not to balls up, right? Bejaysus, but my inner gastronome is having kittens.........

Tomorrow evening will be scrub the bathroom evening. Just for fun. Life is dead good, isnt it?

Blame it on the weatherman

No, I'm not a secret fan of female irish chirrupers, just that I'm a tad annoyed that the forecast was completely wrong for today. If I'd have known, I'd have gone to see Dad yesterday. As it is, I've had to come home in more than a little rain - nothing too heavy if you are standing still, but makes a difference on the bike. That, and the wind! So stuck to a steady sixty all the way back down till the mahoosive traffic jam on the M1, where I decided to cut across country, except for the toilet break in Harrogate. This courtesy of far too much tea and coffee at Dad's.

Home is a very quiet place. I've always had this romantic idea in my head of being a country boy at heart, when I more fit the bill of suburban boy (goes with my white-boy dancing non-skills), but Yarm seems ever more quiet every time I return. I guess this is partly owing to the fact that my street, where once every single house had two kids, now has no children at all. Shame really, I'm so glad that everyone in the street used to play outside with all the other kids. A little bit of bullying every once in a while, but nothing that wasnt ever amicably sorted out - or less so in the case where someone was teasing me and I just planted one in his face (an event I do not remember, but am often regaled with). Rather nice. Bit of a same that it's a bit retirement city now, because my street is a very pleasant and safe little enclave.

Dad's looking a lot older these days, but then I do have to remind myself he is pushing seventy. Scary thought. House is much as it always is, and I am reminded again of how much rubbish I have, to deal with and get rid of or whatever. And no family to palm it off on, since Deb+Jason have far too much crap of their own!

Back to work tomorrow, where I shall spend a morning doing lab work and an afternoon doing paperwork. Or at least this is the plan. We'll see how it turns out......and I'm off to run myself a bath now!

Oops, forgot before!

Wanted to note down the two enormours prangs I saw today; one on Kirkstall Rd blocking up one entire side of the road, nasty that one and lead to the most enormous jam! Lucky I was heading the other direction. And then other way on the Ring road of all places, luckily on a dual carriageway but they were queueing back up it for MILES! What a pain for all those car drivers, bet there was a lot of road rage going on with the delays there....this is why two wheels are so useful, even if 4x4 drivers are out to kill you.......

Jon-ster smells BAD.....

And by bad I mean kinda good. In a bad kinda way. Let's just treat it as my guilty little secret, eh? And by secret I mean not at all. Enough crap......

Woke up this morning shockingly early and then promptly snoozed for a further three hours. My fantastic idea of getting up early and having breakfast at work isnt paying off, since it means I get up shockingly early of a weekend. This is not good. So maybe we'll have a rethink there. Anyhow, after deciding that fried eggs with a lack of toast were not to be contemplated, I headed out to do my little errands for the day; booked my bike MOT (at a crazy time, but I suppose I can just have a half day or something....and I'll be scrubbing her down on Monday evening) and acquired socket set. Forgot to go to phone shop. And discovered that although this past week has been quite mild, it was stonkingly warm today - especially dressed in black. Very cunning, eh? Anyhow, I finished off all I had to do (or at least half of it - procrastinate, me?), went home and got out of the black clothes. Decided the day was far to nice not to go for at least a little ride, and so headed east with the aim of hitting the coast and the lovely weather and the cheesy seaside hats and whatnot. Did not get that far.

Arrived in Selby, sweltering at each set of traffic lights (riding is fine in motion - wind chill hooray! - but as soon as you stop, it's like your own personal sauna) to discover a classic bikes fair I was not expecting. Nice. So had a little look and random conversations with old blokes (Demographic: male, over 40, balding, white wispy beard or big specs) before heading to York instead. Still have not found satisfactory parking arrangement for central York. Also a pain even getting into there because of the avenue arrangements and the strict speed limits and huuuuge numbers of cameras. Took a photo of the Minster and sent it to Carole as a little bit of nostalgia for her, though she hasnt replied or anything *huff*. Also had a disgusting text message conversation with P - really should just ring - and was conveniently ignored by Wolfie, buggrit. Then decided to head for Nidderdale and my favourite roads, but got sidetracked in Harrogate and read the paper instead. And then a jaunt to Ripon to discover it was a lot later than I thought, more coffee, and then home via Knaresborough and then Boroughbridge - which isnt exactly direct, I know, but *shrugs*. Home now, to discover my 'little spin' has actually covered about 150 miles. Oops.

Have lubed up my chain real nice, really needed it, and everything is ready to head to Dad's tomorrow. And once inside and open up my leathers, and the foetid cloud erupts....I badly need to wash....but it's such a nice disgusting feeling (see previous entries) that I dont want to just yet.....like how I used to feel after matches; tired, mucky and dirty, yet enjoying it all the same. Hmmmm, yes.

Dinner tonight is to consist of little more than chicken, to assuage my carnivorous appetite and to make up for the fact I've actually eaten nothing but a very small burger and a banana muffin. Healthy, eh? Also means my plan to do careful marketing for the food, with the cheap stuff from the supermarket has flown right out the window, since I wont be doing any shopping tomorrow either! At least I've got all those bread rolls in the freezer; come to think of it, I've actually got enough meals in the freezer, though no fresh veg kinda stuff, and I'm not sure that 'herring and rice' is a combination I want to try just yet.......

Sitting here naked now and blogging has turned out to be rather fun. Though my hands are totally cacky and I'm getting white hand again - this could be a bit of an issue. At least I remembered my ear plugs and am not deafened; far fewer people on the roads than I was expecting, and certainly fewer bikers (for all the event in Selby).

Maybe another post later? Have to see.....

Back on the wagon

Well, seem to be back to normal after yesterday's head-in-a-spin situation; only goes to show that these things are only temporary, eh? To quote: 'this being, that becomes; upon the arising of this, that arises; this not being, that does not become; upon the cessation of this, that ceases'. Need reminding of that more often, maybe.

A semi-productive day. Mostly putting things into order and doing quite a bit of thinking, though of course I managed a sneaky little reaction on the way (with the immense fun of distilling half a litre of nail varnish thrown in for good measure), which is busy forming lovely crystals as we speak! A big chance to think about this idea the boss has gotten into his head, which I'm more than a little dubious about in terms of how successful it'll be! Have to discuss it next week. Also have to steel myself to the writing-up of my previous work never the most interesting thing to do and a right pain in the arse in fact owing to the low computer-to-person ratio in the lab. This is why I should have already installed Office onto my comp, a bugger that ChemDraw doesnt link with the software I have. Anyhoo. A problem group meetingy thing in the middle of the day, and I'm getting a little bit annoyed with myself that I feel so absolutely thick in them all the time. I mean, I know I'm not, and what I should probably do is actually look at these things in more detail, but I seem to have got it into my head that I should find them easy when I blatantly dont. Perhaps investing some time at home puzzling them over would be a good thing to do. *shrugs* Perhaps the lack of motivation to do so is a bit of a clue to something or other......

Weekend is shaping up to be rather slow. I'm going to do some errand running tomorrow and maybe treat myself to a shop in the covered market for purchase of nice foody stuff. A socket set also needs to be bought, a chain needs to be lubed and an MOT needs to be booked! Not to mention washing of bedsheets and trousers and probably tons of other stuff. And then I'm going to see Dad on Sunday, for no other reason than I havent seen him for a while and havent been home since I shifted all my rubbish down to Leeds back in January. And it's supposed to be good weather, so it'll be a good run out! Nice.

Slightly worried I havent been able to raise P on the phone yet, hope he's OK. Not been sleeping too good, poor boy......

Back to life at this end. Little bit of tidying, cup of tea, bath. Bed? I think so!

Head together?

Slightly more easy now, and perhaps even coherent! Went for a little walk outside - quite warm - across the road and past the Abbey. Continued along a track past the rugby pitches and further along the river, where the path slowly became more and more overgrown until it petered out in a patch of ivy. Pretty sure there was a path underneath there, but it was quite a slope (walking along a 50-degree incline aint so easy when it's loose underfoot!) and I really didnt want to find myself wading. Plus it was right by what looked like a sewage outflow, so I turned back and eventually scrambled up a bank to the main road. Bit of a detour, but never mind! And then walked back down the road and home for a cup of tea and a bath.

Much time to do some thinking and some calming down. Perhaps I've been over-stimulating myself (fnar), in that I havent just sat and done nothing, or gone walking with my own thoughts (I never walk anywhere these days, what's happened to me! Used to walk down to the sea from my house quite regularly - and that was a couple of miles each way) in quite a while. Obviously I need the downtime, and an escape from my internet delights, music and biking. Perhaps I'll take this opportunity to walk into Horsforth come Sunday, just for the hell of it. Would be nice.

Still havent booked bike MOT or gone to the bank. Must do that either tomorrow or Monday. I has sssss-poken!

Life is a little easier if you dont take it seriously, and step outside your head for a while. I'll be doing this more often, I think.....

Slightly uncomfortable

What is a boy to do? Get back in some quality meditation time, no? I used not to care what people thought of me, why have I suddenly decided to become all touchy? Well, such is life, I guess......never mind.

Today has been rather a melange (a word that always makes me thing of sauce hollandaise, for some reason) of tasks and things, not that I've achieved very much by it. Have to get down and dirty with things again next week, maybe even *gasp* put in some late evenings of work, much as I'd hate to. But then again, what else am I going to do? Get out of my rut, is an obvious answer! Not going to happen anytime soon though.

Ummm. Broken train of thought. More blog later. Ummmmmm.

Memory Lane

Isn't Friends Reunited both a wonderful and hideous thing? Just been having another perusal and stirred up very few memories, either good or bad. The more scary aspect is that, having seen many photos and recognising everyone there, I couldnt put a name to lots of them! This is a scary thing, as it never used to happen to me and the idea of creeping old age is upon me. An old chestnut I know, but a couple of hundred years ago, I'd be considered a very middle-aged man and quite past it! Certainly puts paid to my eidetic memory.

Still, got me wondering about what happened to everyone else from school. You see, I completely lost touch with everyone there, some almost instantly and others over the course of the following years. Part of this was due to my year away in Germany, so I never got the chance to catch up with everyone come first university holidays. Part of this was due to the wilful neglect on my part, shockingly bad form considering some of the nice people I did it to, and part of this was due to a redefiinng of myself and not wanting to return to the person I had played at school. To some extent all of this still holds, but I would be curious to know what other people ended up doing. And how they remember various events. Curiosity of the n-th degree, not that it'll come to anything because most people will probably be either a) loath to meet people they havent seen in nearly ten years, and b) I woulndt go myself either!

Makes me think about whether I've actually done anything to be proud of. Well, on a superficial level I know I have - quite a lot, really - but I have a niggling impression that I could have done more. A lack of satisfaction in what I've achieved. Or perhaps that others will think that of me. Hmmmm. Or, even worse, intense jealousy of others who've done a lot more, when I feel I deserve it. Not a pretty sight, eh? Still, I think I'm more accepting of my identity as a non-entity than I was, but still.......maybe the 'what if' game isnt something I should ever play.

And so back to thinking about where my life is going at present. Not very far in some respects! But to be fair, a large part of me just wants to rest for a few years and not have to do anything. This is not really a viable option if I dont want to live from hand to mouth for the rest of my life - or is it? I get the niggling suspicion that I'm never going to be truly satisfied, and having realised it, there's never going to be a contentment in just coasting. But every day, and in every way, it gets a little more difficult.

And where I really want to be right now is with P. Any generous people willing to pay me for writing this crap, I'll be most grateful!

Job review thing

Well, apparently I'm getting on alright and am appreciated. Nice. Not that it was very comfortable to sit through it all! Just feel now that I've got to do more and more and strive, strive, strive! Never-ending stress or something like that......so much easier to deal with being at school where it was never an effort to do work! When did I become weary of it all?

Feeling virtuous

Yes. I am. Or rather, self-satisfied. After totally random phone call from landlady at work this morning, she had gone through the whole university phone system to get to me. Daft bugger, why she hadnt kept contact details before is beyond me! Seems a sensible thing to have for your tenants, no? Obviously not.

Anyhow, she's been showing people around without telling us. Rather illegal, no? Well, she shouldnt be surprised if it's less than perfectly clean, which it never is (because a certain housemate never does any washing up, buying of loo roll or any kind of cleaning, but that's another story). So why the fuss - you tell us you're coming, we clean up, simple equation no? Well, I resent the guilt trip on the phone when the worst mess isnt mine. Yes, I contribute to the dust on the floor and surfaces, but I do all my washing up and am the only one to ever wash the floors!

So I've gone and spent a load of money on cleaning stuff, since I get the impression (scratch that - I know already) that I'm going to be doing all the cleaning. I resent this though; everyone should pitch in a bit! Only fair......

Memo: need to collect cash from people for bills, various.

Footnote

Oh yes, and for those of you that know me.....I'm back with beardage again. Not scruffy either, just a little goatee jobby just for the hell of it. It may be gone by this time tomorrow! But I'm not re-creating the amazing ginger sideburns, there are some things that only ever should occur once in a lifetime.

That's it for the trichological news!

A piece of justice

Just arrived from spending the weekend with P again, seems like I missed out on the really hot weather. Not that it was cold in Brighton, you understand, but I've arrived back home in Leeds and my room is sweltering (maybe shut the blinds next time!), it feels warmer than when I left the south coast and the news reports agree. So it's a trade off for last time around when I got the good weather at it rained at home. Fair enough.

Was a very nice, relaxed weekend with P, poor boy is suffering with the heat something chronic! Maybe I should dip him in ice next time, or whisk him away to northern Norway (not that they dont have warm summers either). Though winter-time would be hideous, I was bad enough up here in Yorkshire in January with the SAD, couldnt cope with the month-long night! Nice idea though, wonder if I could claim unemployment benefit in Scandinavia......

This week promises to be a bit of a bastard. I've got the monthly meeting with the boss tomorrow, for which I have to prepare the little written report (always a pain in the rear), and then probation meeting jobby on Tuesday. For which I have to drop off my lab books and spectra tomorrow. Nice. Or even, noice. Not looking forward to it, but hopefully it will go well (at least, I've not heard any threatening noises, so I'm hopeful!). It will also give me a spur on to look for other work, I think......time running out on this job, need to make plans of some description or other (and giving it all up and joining a monastery doesnt really count as a plan, not least because a certain someone would be after me with a wakizashi!)

And so to bed. Shopping tomorrow, when I must remember to buy washing powder. And cleaning tomorrow evening, to include bike&chainlubing...... a chemist's work is never done, is it?

Tactical Error

More than one as it happens.

Now rather later than I meant to be going to bed (error 1), but instead of actually getting my head down, I'm blogging it (error 2). It's very warm this evening, but I havent had a shower (error 3) so sleeping will be a rather icky and sticky affair. Speaking of which, I've been wanking too much recently and so havent got much of a storage (please, please can I have some kind of prize for that statement, error 4). It also seems that Blogger has gone tits up, so typing all this may be a waste of time (error 5). After my hugely excited ramblings about solid-phase earlier today, my nucleotide completely failed to couple (error 6), hence I've had to make some more. On pondering this failure, I decided it might be due to having a sodium salt rather than a free acid, hence tried to acidify it and precipitate it (error 7, since idiot me forgot that oops, that acetonide protecting group might well just fall off). And I have to get up early in the morning to make sure I get the train, and spend a day at work trying to do far too many things.

Well, I suppose it is all my own fault! But I dont care. Tomorrow evening I shall be sleeping with P wrapped around me, and little else seems to matter. Though of course I'll be that much more pleased if I can couple my nucleotide, or obtain a nice free acid by careful titration..........

Eh?

Somehow this morning has managed to be inordinately fantastic and chilled. Having come in early, I proceeded to pour peach juice and yoghurt all over myself. Warning people: ripe peaches are juicy. And very nice too.

Anyhow, it turns out my solid phase stuff yesterday worked fine, so that got me in a good mood. And I've now been sat typing stuff up on computer, plugged into my music - Crowded House at the moment - and getting lots done in general. Afternoon of chemistry to do though. But I'm happy to do it for a change!

Badly need a pee, will be right back!

Word to the wise.....

This is a special post to say sorry to my man, so that it goes on the record. I'll not be putting umming and aahing thoughts about him on here any more, because it isnt fair to him and I forget sometimes that he might not appreciate it. So no more.

Sorry tiger..... (:-)

Lovely weekend

It has been. Weather wise, to be sure. And with my toy sitting out in the street whispering my name, I had to go out on it....

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. A really nice summery day, and everyone but everyone was out enjoying it. For my part, I got up early and spent the day heading back-and-forth across the Dales, stopping in many places and burning up loads of fuel. Getting more comfortable with the whole cornering job, and positively enjoying it. Shame there are quite a few tossers out there too, myself included at times - though I hope it's minimal! Saturday evening I added several inches of cholesterol to my veins by overdoing the butter in dinner. Never mind. Slept really well, with the intention of staying at home for sunday. Best laid plans, huh?

Sunday I stayed lying in bed, puzzled as to why it was sunny outside; forecast had been contrary. So, to make use of a good day I decided to go out for just a little spin on the bike. Seventy miles later and it was 'whoops, I appear to be in Kendal', by which point I was blatantly spending the entire day riding. Managed to get lost around Keswick and ended up going along beautiful country roads up Borrowdale and over Honister Pass and through Buttermere, beautiful country and first gear job, up and down. Can imagine it's lethal in the wet weather, glad it was nice! And then found myself in Cockermouth, rather a bit further than I meant to go!

Turning around, I should have headed for Penrith (if I had any real sense of where things are) but instead went back to Kendal and up Garsdale through Hawes. Nice, except for the blatant speeding Germans (we'll forgive them that) who literally sat up my arse for quite a while. Most rude, and no need for it. Still, lost them on the road to Leyburn, so I was happy, except then there were the crappy kids in the back seat of the orange car I was following, pulling stupid faces and mouthing obscenities. Little shits. Took great pleasure in overtaking that one once I could.

And so back home, to find that in my absence no miraclous cleaning of my laundry had taken place (it's getting silly now, I have to at least do two loads tonight!) and that I was absolutely knackered. No surprise there. Also feeling slightly deafened and have strained muscles all up my arms. A good kind of ache.

But now back at work, and lo and behold, I cant be bothered with it! Never mind......

A full day!

Went to work this morning and got on with stuff. Not a lot to report there - and I must start writing a report soon! Dammit.....

Anyhow, the day really starts at half five when I get on the bike and go burning up about an extra sixty miles! Lovely, all over the dales getting lost and paranoid about running out of petrol, since the garage in Pateley Bridge seems to be shut in the evening, daft really - they'd do a hell of a trade on petrol!

One tale to report: just as I was coming home, got undertaken by two idiots in a black VW being stupid and speeding like mad. Well, they werent going anywhere, and I took great pleasure in burning them off at the traffic lights, despite the fact that they were revving back and forth and obviously wanting a race. And then I got around some other traffic and left them behind. Well, they obviously came up behind me again, since I was sticking to the speed limit, and they obviously were going to undertake me again. None of that, thought I, and just kept ahead of them, pissing them off no end, and I was barely ticking over. Do not race with me, car boys, because you will fail. And doing seventy in a city road is not clever, is it boys? Made my day, that.....

Why? Why? Why?

Why didnt I already know about this? Title is rather too perfect, no?

Hmmmm

Dearie me, I'm not being very good at updating myself these days, am I? And then I return with flurried promises of long posts which trail out into nothing, because there's nothing I've got to say (or want to!)....well, this post promises nothing, and it'll be as long as it is.

Spent the long weekend in Brighton with P, spending a lot of saturday having scary thoughts that I dont love him anymore, and spending the rest of the weekend falling back into it again. Met a good part of his family, and the words 'chalk' and 'cheese' spring to mind as regards our backgrounds. Good for me, I suppose, but it made me funnily sad - a sense of lost opportunity on the part of P. Of course, this is not a good way to behave, or a good thing to say, and I did descend into a funny mood that P immediately sensed, bless him. I really dont know what to say without sounding a) bigoted b) harsh c) insincere and d) not what I really mean. Difficult. Stil, he'll get the delights of meeting my nearest genomical relatives soon. Though I got a message from Dad yesterday saying he was away till today. Nice. Wonder where he's been........

Feeling slightly less poor than before at the moment, but I'm sure I'll soon have spent most of the spare I have; may aim still being to pay off some overdraft before they start to charge me interest, full on! Note to self: debit account to break-even come September.

Picked up my bike again on Wednesday, and immediately fell back into the swing of it. Really felt like taking the afternoon off for a scoot, though it would have been rude! And had to get used to brakes again, which seemed unresponsive - but they are better now than before, 'specially since the drive is recoupled properly. Mission for the weekend - acquire cheap socket set for self-adjustment of chain, so much better when taut! Though I think I'll be nervy about doing it myself first time round.....anyhow, have had a couple of marvellous rides around up Airedale already yesterday evening and today, sporting about in my new leathers and feeling so much more the part (though I need to be careful and not get too cocky, I'm still learning slowly....). Also have solved my red lid problem, as the lining was slipping and giving me pressure across my forehead (a fantastic torture device it would make), but with adept putting-on, it's back to the snug fit it always was! Arent I clever? Well, sometimes. Busy planning for a jaunt out to York tomorrow evening and somewhere big for the weekend! Shame I badly need to tidy up around home, but I get the feeling that there's always something like that to do, and I'm only young once; Sunday is supposed to be rainy, I'll sort it all out then.

Planning to go back and see P again in a very short while, though I think it'll be costing me a lot more this time since there's less advance booking. Bit of an arse, but there's not much I can do about that!

Time to wash pots and prepare for work tomorrow.....