A month ago today, i.e. Thursday 26 May, I gave a lecture to mark World Dracula Day in Bradford ( LJ / DW). Since then, my life has managed to unfold with immense intensity on almost all possible fronts - generally with very good results, but it's just been A Lot. Here's my attempt to narrativise and capture the main outlines of it at least. For ( Read more... )

Ten days ago, I was tagged in a Facebook meme which has been going the rounds. The rules were simple: 'Seven day b/w challenge. No people, no pets, no explanations ( Read more... )

I'm afraid I am completely rubbish at livejournal at the moment, because I am busy trying to meet article deadlines - and this state of affairs is guaranteed to last until at least November. Still, the good news is that I submitted one article today, bang on the required deadline. This is a Wordle of the final product:


( Read more... )

So, remember how last Friday morning I woke up to find out that my fence had blown down? Well, this Friday morning I've woken up to this:


( Read more... )

About a year ago, the University library here at Leeds started selling coloured canvas bags with the word 'Sshhh!' printed on them, for people to carry their library books around in. For the sorts of unfathomable reasons that I suppose usually lie behind such fashion trends, they became a massive hit, quickly selling out and having to be re-ordered ( Read more... )

OMG, why am I reading an article which contains sentences like this:"Sahlins' argument is thus for a dialectical relationship between externally generated events and localized actions"
when I could be doing this Who meme taken from snapesbabe?

( Who's game? )

I'm finding it rather hard to concentrate on article-writing this weekend, because the deadline is too far away, and I already know my basic arguments for most of the bit I'm writing up at the moment. In some ideal academic world, I would be writing like a demon anyway, getting it finished so I can get on to the next thing, and maybe even enjoy ( Read more... )

I seem to have rather good work mojo on at the moment. Not in an achieving incredible things sort of way - but just in a rather satisfying getting on with it and ticking things off the 'to do' list sort of way. I'm in a run of busy teaching weeks which will last for another fortnight - but I'm keeping on top of things in a way which suggests that ( Read more... )

I attended the first meeting of the book group I've joined at work today - the one I read I'm Not Scared for. I hadn't been too sure about the group previously, but actually I really enjoyed the meeting. Having a good old chat about the book was fun, and I'm getting to like the other people in the group more, now that we've interacted a bit. There ( Read more... )

1. Last Wednesday - went off for the day with Mum on the Severn Valley Railway. We saw partridges, pheasants, rabbits, butterflies, great crested grebe, elephants, bison and gazelle. Although I suppose it's only fair to explain that the last three were in a safari park visible from the railway. Enjoyed a lovely picnic at Arley, then walked along ( Read more... )