So long, Oxford

Hi there blog fans (all 5 of you). Long time, no write. I haven't meant to neglect the blog but suppose I've just had less of a need for an outlet being in such a beautiful and inspiring place for the last month, and presently I am reluctant to start packing.

Here I've met several interesting and kind people, accomplished a little bit of work, and seen some great sights (including the Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum-- one of my new favorite places in the world. Yes, world!). But, it's time to move on: start sorting out my next move to Guatemala (forever the nomad) and fine-tune my research goals. The rest of the summer looks to be incredibly busy in this regard so I can't say if I'll keep up with writing over the next two months. More than likely I will pick it up again in August once I get to Central America.

So, until then, I hope you'll enjoy the summer.

Greetings from my Happy Place

Ahh, I made it.

I never thought this moment would arrive. It is actually so quiet here that the sound of my fingers hitting the keyboard is resonate in this room. "Here" would be Marston, England, a few cowfields outside of beautiful Oxford. It is in the country and there are no drunk people yelling outside my flat and there are no streetlights shining through the curtains and I must say,

I absolutely love it.

I apologize if my latest entries have sounded at all whiny. I don't mean to whine, it's just that I am trying to convey the tension and stress that is living in a post-war zone while doing a 3-year doctorate in a new academic field under a prestigious grant all the while without any prior knowledge or experience. It can really wear on a girl, or guy, or anyone. Throw in life's usual ups and down, and well, you can imagine...

And these past few weeks- good god! How terrible and how wonderful. Average of 5 hrs sleep/night, virus that deleted proposal, re-writing of proposal, submission of proposal to geniuses, geniuses saying they are "crazy" about it, disbelief of said "craziness", celebration of alleged "craziness", packing up of 9 months acquired belongings, leaving war-torn country on a late-running bus, barely making flight, attendant paging my name on the loudspeaker, airline losing work which geniuses are "crazy" about (with geniuses' precious comments), airline promising to return messenger bag holding said document containing brilliant comments, feeling body shutting down, sore throat, realizing English accents aren't as cool as Irish ones, buying painkillers, etc., etc., etc....

Have I cried? Not yet. ...

Thanks to everyone who has been there for me this year, and especially these last few weeks.
(and a very special shout-out to: MOM, Colin, Erin, Megs, Nat, Ian, Dave from the bookshop, Mike, and Sanj. Would have died w/out you...)

HLL. aka, Lucky Heart Bear.

Beer can solve your problems, or, Lenfestys kicking ass

Well, today shaped up to be slightly better than yesterday's freakshow. I successfully managed to re-write 12 pages of my experimental design without shedding a single tear and now I am caring for myself with a nice glass of Leffe (in a matching glass nonetheless courtesy of Erin's shining moment of kleptomania in an Edinburgh pub.)

But the event that really made my day was that my superbly talented brother Colin is, for the third consecutive year, a finalist in the Washington State Homebrewer's Association Puget Sound Pro-Am competition. The Rock Bottom brewery of Seattle chose his saison beer "The Farmer's Daughter" to brew on a large scale for the Great American Beer Festival in October. I'll drink to that.



good on ya, bro.

Going to my Happy Place

Mines of Moria, indeed. It has been a stupid day. By lunchtime my best friend had called to tell me her heart had been broken, by 4pm I discovered that a virus deleted a significant portion of my experimental design (which went from 12 pages of brilliance to 3 pages of squares, symbols, and the random phrase "uncooked rice"), and I just read an article about how the Cambridge primate lab is abusing its marmosets.

Fuck.

It's a good thing I have all you fine people in my life and that summer is coming.

The Trilogy of the UK doctorate: Part I

Lately I feel like Frodo in "The Fellowship of the Ring", namely like when he and the rest are passing through the Caradhras mountains, just as it gets real tough:



As you may recall, their next stop after the mountains are the Mines of Moria. This is where I am currently (metaphorically speaking), in my proposal-writing process.

Like the sunken-eyed, malnourished, beaten yet resilient little Hobbit, I too trek on for my life. In about four days, though, I will awaken to a different world (i.e. "differentiated PhD Status")



Ah. Reprieve at last! But wait, something is still amiss...

ah yes, that would be the dissertation. But that's not until part III, 2 years from now.

To be continued!

MARS, b*tches!

I am super excited about the success of the Phoenix Mars Lander. I actually cried watching the mission control celebration (I always do at these). When I was little I wanted to be an astronaut, and I am still a total astronomy freak. But the point is, all of this reminded me of my absolute favorite Dave Chappelle sketch: Black Bush. (the bit on Mars is at the very end)

Hairy Coo's and Cooper's Hair

There are two issues that need immediate address:

1. Hairy Coo's, or Highland Cows, are the cutest things ever. I was reminded of this during my recent trip to Scotland. Just look at them!!





When I was in the gift shop at the National Modern Art Museum in Edinburgh, there was a table of Hairy Coo stuff that I was fawning over. Maybe I feel an affinity with the red hair. Anyway, upon exiting the museum with Erin, Ben, and Jamie, I reached down to put my coat on and, no joke, a Hairy Coo stuffed animal had ATTACHED ITSELF to the velcro of my jacket. No, I did not steal it! Of course, I took this as a sign that he wanted to go home with me, so I went back into the shop and paid his ransom. Here is my new buddy (he likes to drink coffee and read Darwin, apparently):





Awwwwww!

2. What. is. up. with Anderson Cooper's hair??!! Don't get me wrong- I love AC. He brings me my daily dose of American news via podcast every evening. But seriously. A man who can rock a full head of that much gray deserves a decent cut. I have no idea how it went from great to stupidly buzzed with that unsightly tuft at the top. This seems to work on Highland cattle, but not on the Coop.

Good (longer all around, no tuft):



Not bad/Pushing it (sides shortening, tuft begins to appear):



WTF? (this has got to be stopped)


Anderson, come back to us!!!