Quick life update
I'll make this as brief as I can, even though there's a lot to go through. First off my work at Stromlo is going well, and I've just about done everything that my supervisor wanted me to get done. Now I'm working on the presentation and report that I have to have done two weeks from now. That may seem a fair way off, but we've got a week long field trip next week to see some of the other observatories scattered around the state, so that knocks out a huge amount of my time, fun as it's going to be. Although there's going to be a crap load of driving, and I'll probably be very glad to be home by the end of it.
Campus life has...changed. I came back after Christmas to find that the dinner food has become somewhat more... exotic than my usual tastes can cater for, and while I try it when I can, more often than not I have to go out and get dinner myself, which is a pain. Out of the three main courses usually on offer, is it too much to ask to just serve, I don't know, some roast lamb or a chicken steak?
Also, about 5 days ago we started getting an influx of high school kids, apparently a conglomeration of rowing teams here for some sort of training or competition. They have taken over the building. I can't watch TV anymore because there's always a horde of them watching wrestling or something stupid. When the food is decent, they eat all of it - at breakfast I'm lucky to get the bread I need to make my sandwiches for lunch. They're noisy, and keep charging around the corridors - last night they were doing laps of the upper floors riding around on wheely chairs. They clog up the corridors, hanging around in suspicious looking groups. And they have made getting around on my bike so much harder. Up till now, I haven't had too many problems with getting a decent park in the bike shed. I had a spot that was sort of mine, and although people would occassionally nab it, it wasn't that big a deal. Tonight however, I got to the shed, only to find it was jam-packed full with bikes. As in, you couldn't move, and mine was parked right at the back. I had to shift three of them out of the shed to forge a path just to get to mine, life someone else's bike off of it, and then carry it outside. There are bikes literally strapped to the walls of the shed, off the ground, supported only by their chains and the friction of their wheels of the wall.
So now my bike is parked outside. In the rain. And I am ever so slightly bitter.
Oh, and add to that the fact that for some reason, the wireless internet here has shut down. It keeps flickering back to life every fifteen minutes or so, but goes away as soon as you get connected. That's pissing me off to no end - without the internet, I can't talk to anyone, and it's very easy to get lonely around here.
However, it's not all been bad. I had a wonderful night with some friends on Friday, and spent the whole time playing RockBand 2. I am now officially hooked. I tried the drums and the guitar, and I couldn't get enough of either of them. I'd get my own set for home if they weren't so damn expensive. So yeah, absolutely wonderful night spent chatting and rocking out, and thankyou all to everyone there for having me and showing me a good time. You all know who you are.
Also, I've ridden Stromlo again since I've back - twice. And it doesn't get any easier, either, particularly with a headwind on the way home - like fighting my way another mountain even though I was on the plains.
And on Saturday, I saw a wonderful movie. I had intended to see "The Day the Earth Stood Still", but there weren't any good session times, so I went to see "Seven Pounds", which stars Will Smith. I'd seen the trailers for this film and wondered about it a bit at the time, what the secret was, the seven strangers, what connected them, what the role of Smith's character in their lives was. Half an hour into the film I figured it out, and it all made beautiful sense. But that made it all the harder to watch, because I knew what was coming. For the first time in a long time, I actually cried. Granted it was only over a movie, but I cried. Amazing film.
Now if I could just cry about some of the things that actually matter.
I said I was going to make this quick, didn't I? Guess I was wrong there, huh? Well, I'll wrap this up, but just a couple of last points I want to make:
* Silent Paranoia is on hold until I can get my internet connection back in shape. I'm typing this on the computers in the lab across the hallway, but the download quota doesn't hold out for very long so I can't get my research done. That, and I've been somewhat slack about it, I could have finished another segment weeks ago. Still, once things are stable again, I'm bringing out another segment. Though that may not be until I'm back in Sydney
* Artwise too, I've been really bad. Haven't drawn anything in months, although once I get back to Sydney I've got at least one digital piece I intend to finish. But I do need to get some drawings done, and do intend to start them soon. A transformation is in the works, and it's about time I made a move on it. What that is, some of you already know, and the rest of you will just have to wait :)
Campus life has...changed. I came back after Christmas to find that the dinner food has become somewhat more... exotic than my usual tastes can cater for, and while I try it when I can, more often than not I have to go out and get dinner myself, which is a pain. Out of the three main courses usually on offer, is it too much to ask to just serve, I don't know, some roast lamb or a chicken steak?
Also, about 5 days ago we started getting an influx of high school kids, apparently a conglomeration of rowing teams here for some sort of training or competition. They have taken over the building. I can't watch TV anymore because there's always a horde of them watching wrestling or something stupid. When the food is decent, they eat all of it - at breakfast I'm lucky to get the bread I need to make my sandwiches for lunch. They're noisy, and keep charging around the corridors - last night they were doing laps of the upper floors riding around on wheely chairs. They clog up the corridors, hanging around in suspicious looking groups. And they have made getting around on my bike so much harder. Up till now, I haven't had too many problems with getting a decent park in the bike shed. I had a spot that was sort of mine, and although people would occassionally nab it, it wasn't that big a deal. Tonight however, I got to the shed, only to find it was jam-packed full with bikes. As in, you couldn't move, and mine was parked right at the back. I had to shift three of them out of the shed to forge a path just to get to mine, life someone else's bike off of it, and then carry it outside. There are bikes literally strapped to the walls of the shed, off the ground, supported only by their chains and the friction of their wheels of the wall.
So now my bike is parked outside. In the rain. And I am ever so slightly bitter.
Oh, and add to that the fact that for some reason, the wireless internet here has shut down. It keeps flickering back to life every fifteen minutes or so, but goes away as soon as you get connected. That's pissing me off to no end - without the internet, I can't talk to anyone, and it's very easy to get lonely around here.
However, it's not all been bad. I had a wonderful night with some friends on Friday, and spent the whole time playing RockBand 2. I am now officially hooked. I tried the drums and the guitar, and I couldn't get enough of either of them. I'd get my own set for home if they weren't so damn expensive. So yeah, absolutely wonderful night spent chatting and rocking out, and thankyou all to everyone there for having me and showing me a good time. You all know who you are.
Also, I've ridden Stromlo again since I've back - twice. And it doesn't get any easier, either, particularly with a headwind on the way home - like fighting my way another mountain even though I was on the plains.
And on Saturday, I saw a wonderful movie. I had intended to see "The Day the Earth Stood Still", but there weren't any good session times, so I went to see "Seven Pounds", which stars Will Smith. I'd seen the trailers for this film and wondered about it a bit at the time, what the secret was, the seven strangers, what connected them, what the role of Smith's character in their lives was. Half an hour into the film I figured it out, and it all made beautiful sense. But that made it all the harder to watch, because I knew what was coming. For the first time in a long time, I actually cried. Granted it was only over a movie, but I cried. Amazing film.
Now if I could just cry about some of the things that actually matter.
I said I was going to make this quick, didn't I? Guess I was wrong there, huh? Well, I'll wrap this up, but just a couple of last points I want to make:
* Silent Paranoia is on hold until I can get my internet connection back in shape. I'm typing this on the computers in the lab across the hallway, but the download quota doesn't hold out for very long so I can't get my research done. That, and I've been somewhat slack about it, I could have finished another segment weeks ago. Still, once things are stable again, I'm bringing out another segment. Though that may not be until I'm back in Sydney
* Artwise too, I've been really bad. Haven't drawn anything in months, although once I get back to Sydney I've got at least one digital piece I intend to finish. But I do need to get some drawings done, and do intend to start them soon. A transformation is in the works, and it's about time I made a move on it. What that is, some of you already know, and the rest of you will just have to wait :)