The End-Term 1

Monday:

I woke before the sun.
I enjoyed a slow shower, slow cup of freshly pressed coffee, and a leisurely view of the sunrise out my window.
Then I received a call letting me know that I was horribly late for my new research assistant job on campus.

Shit. I forgot about that.

I highly recommend, just once in your life, attempting to get dressed in nearly freezing weather, at full sprint, down a public street. No worries kids, I made sure my wellies were on before I flew out the front door. Priorities darlings.

In an unfathomable display of generosity, the bus driver chose to acknowledge my screams and stop the bus just as he was pulling out into traffic. What I failed to gather when dashing out the door, however, was my bus pass. So I did the American thing and threw too much money at him and took a seat. The bus driver was left confused and anxious, befuddled and mumbling to himself, but he did my bidding all the same. Catching the bus at least allowed me the chance to finish snapping on my bra and properly wrap up my scarf.

I arrived with seconds to spare. As soon as my things were carelessly flung to the corner of the testing lab, 20 undergraduate participants began lining up, ready to perform the last task in the PhD student's experiment. As she attempted to explain my duties, I realised I wasn't the only one having trouble getting my shit together that morning. Poor thing. The participants were to gamble for real money and I was the designated bank. The first participant won, and I asked the PhD what to give him. She handed me a paper bag impregnated with smaller bags of coins coupled with a dismissive "Here", then turned to tend to the next participant in line. The first participant won £2. I spied several small plastic bags of silver coins, and delivered one unto the student. What I actually managed to do, as I was soon to find out, was give the first participant £10 in 50 pence coins. The bags were not, as I thought, pre-divided into the payout options, but were in standard UK-bank coin bags, segregated by denomination. Well, poop.

So I Americaned out again. I knew I had roughly 10 minutes before the second round of participants were ready and a bank lay less than 10 minutes away. I turned to this ever so young and now frazzled PhD student and convinced her to calm the fuck down.... I got this.

I ran to the bank. Procured a £10 bag of 50 pence coins from my account. The moment I left the bank, however, I knew I wasn't going to make it in time. Even at a full sprint (assuming I had that in me sans breakfast) I seriously doubted my physical abilities at that point.

But what was this? A refuse truck headed in the same direction? Right up the main road? I jumped onto the passenger side foot lift and asked if they were headed north. They confirmed and I yelled through the partially opened window that I was "in serious need of transportation help", "frightfully late", and would jump off at corner X & Y.... IF ONLY I COULD JUST SNAG A RIDE FOR THE GIBBET HILL STRETCH!?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I ended up riding the outside of a refuse truck to save someone's research study. Was it all worth it? Do you really need to ask :)

Tuesday:

What to say about Tuesday...
Tuesday is the second day in the traditional work week. Tuesday is the sixty-fifth workday in a postgraduate week. Tuesday carries a momentum with magical, other worldly powers that keeps the mover moving until Friday. Well, Friday afternoon, at least.

This evening I took a deliberate leap and met with a professor who's single lecture pushed me to question assumptions I wasn't even aware needed questioning. He graciously agreed to a late-in-the-day meeting. Afterwork meetings are a touchy business. As the asker, one must be aware that the receiver can be mentally exhausted by this time. He (or she) is wearing a full workday by this point. A Tuesday workday, at that. He, in this case, could have easily dismissed my inquiries, belittled my pensive, probing questions, and left me feeling quite impotent, due to his own fatigue driven honesty.

Or...

He could have exhibited a rare openness that can also stem from the same fatigue driven honesty. I was lucky enough to be the recipient of the latter.

I predicated this meeting upon my desires for a PhD. The meeting, however, turned into a delightful exchange of philosophical ideas. We discussed Thoreau, Emerson, Mill, Russell, Wittgenstein, rationality, object-based vs. subject-based science, & more. Even the notion of the sustainability of a rock became a topic of severe interest. He's one of the few people I've met who allowed me quiet reflection in the middle of our discussion. This meeting gave me food for thought. Precisely what I needed.

Working title: The Wrong Side Of An Economics Lecture

The clock is not moving.

.

.

.

.

.

I'm sitting here,

Victim to destructive thoughts of sanity,

And the clock refuses to tick.

.

.

.

Neither will it tock.

.

.

What does this clock have against me?

Have I wasted too much of it's gift?

Have I spent too frivolously?

.

.

.

The silence.
A resounding,

Yes.

.

.

.

This is my punishment.

This is the consequent for my frivolities.

          Time refuses to allow me further forward progression.

Time has shut me out.
.

.

.

.

.

Tick, you bastard.

tick.

Wednesday:

Day of reflection.

Life is everything imaginable. Strap in and I hope you enjoy the ride.

Here are some pictures:

So far, I'm the only postgruadate this term from the states.

I don't know who this goose is, but he's got his own shack on an island in the middle of the city. Cool.

This goose danced for me. It only seemed polite to take his picture and applaud his two-step.

Abandoned downtown bus station at 15 to 2(am).

Thursday:

There's nothing quite like reviewing an entire course's information in 2 frightfully short hours.

Friday:

Last day of Term 1.

We were kicked out of the private, postgrad work space 3 hours before the Assessment #3 deadline, for our "safety". A peaceful student protest was scheduled to be held in front of the building in 2 hours. When I say kicked out, I mean they had to send in the cops to remove me from my work space. I was the last hold out. It started with the director of the postgrad space asking us all to leave. After several visits, it ended with him imploring me - the last holdout - to leave. I remember at some point yelling out, "I protest the protest!" It officially ended when I realised the cops standing in front of me were just a couple short breaths away from bodily removing me from my work space "for my safety". My only thoughts were for the safety of my laptop and the oh, so precious non-backed-up work on it. So I left of my own accord, flanked by cops to be sure, but walking on my own two feet. I won't go so easily next time, however. Next time, I will remember I have Dropbox 2.0.22, and insurance.

By late lunch I was busy having drinks with fellow postgrads at one of the campus pubs. This was closely followed by a liquid PhD meeting at the next campus pub. The day came to a close with one last, yet spectacularly terrible, cider closer with a friend at a third campus pub. I slept until Sunday.

SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR :D

Liverpool & Physics

Received last minute information that something awesome was going down Tuesday evening at the University of Liverpool.

In my world, you can't call yourself a proper scholar if you pass up an opportunity to listen to this guy (or any of the other superstars of contemporary science). For those not familiar with the superstars, here is a link to my favorite panel discussion with my favorite science superstars, Sci Fi author, and more (Part 1, Part 2). In my opinion, Part 2 has the best parts of the entire discussion session.

Liverpool is a stunning city! It used to be known for sketchy alleyways and massive crime. Local law enforcement and citizens have done a wonderful job cleaning the place up and making it a beautiful city to visit.

Check it out...

If you read any Terry Pratchett, you may be familiar with this abandoned Post Office. In particular, I suggest reading the book "Going Postal," then watch the movie.

Leaf on Bold Street, where I received great service and pretty good food too. The coffee was perfect.

The bombed out church. The exterior walls are still holding strong, just no roof or interior... or windows. They show movies off the interior back wall sometimes. How great is that?!

I can't remember what this wild monstrosity is called, but it's a church the size of the SuperDome and the locals refer to it as the Wigwam. 

Stayed in a hostel overnight, Hatter's Hostel on Mount Pleasant. I can't say I'm a hostel fan, but one look at this ominous, grand exterior and I knew I had to give it a go.

I had the privilege of meeting employees on every shift for the 24 hours I was in Liverpool. Every employee was extremely nice and, in my opinion, the second best feature of the hostel. First best was the free WIFI. 

You would think that the beds with a roof overhead were the best features. But let's be honest here, this is a hostel. I was grateful for a secure, dry place to crash for 3 hours, but the bedbugs, plastic sheets & duvet, and the 7 other sleepers made it a bit difficult to fully relax. It was all worth it, though, when I eased myself into the top bunk and was lulled to sleep by the late-night rain. At least I slept so soundly that I didn't notice the bedbugs until I left. 

The ambiance was exactly what you would expect from a hostel. Private little nooks in the commons to curl up in and read while sipping 24-hour-free coffee & tea. As well as scary hallways with only one working light ("working" = "flickering").

The walk to my room was no picnic.

But my whole reason for being in Liverpool was to listen to Lawrence Krauss. He was in London the day before, shooting a movie with some other people, and the head of the student Humanist society at Liverpool University asked if Lawrence would speak at the university before he left back to the states. To everyone's surprise, super-cool-awesome-guy Lawrence said yes.

I don't know if there will be a video of his talk. Since his attendance was so last-minute, the hosting societies didn't have a lot of time to set everything up proper. He mostly answered questions and discussed his perspectives on physics today and where it could go (or not go) in the future. I had the opportunity to thank him for lending his voice to a specific education decision in Texas that finally came to a close the day before I left for Liverpool. Lawrence laughed, graciously accepted my thank you, then filled in the rest of the young, Liverpoolian audience on Texas current events. 

I was second row, center. For a change, no one blocked my view of the main event.

After the talk and pictures made to make everyone look uncomfortable, we went out for a bite to eat. Many of the other students preferred liquid suppers on this particular occasion.

This place was so posh, that even the lady's restroom was stunning. It was also covered with framed pastels of half naked women bathing. Hmmm.

The female side of the room.

The male side of the room.

At one point Lawrence had to leave for a Skype meeting. After a bit a student noticed that Lawrence left his pint of ale half finished. It was at that moment that I realized the writers of the Big Bang Theory are not that far from the mark. At least 10 physics students shared in Lawrence's leftover libations just for the sake of sharing a bit of DNA.

This was all possible because of the fanatical work of the Physics & Humanist societies at the University of Liverpool. Thank you!

Here are a couple other different perspectives on the Lawrence In Liverpool Experience:

Malburn

Ed

Third Week-Term 1

Monday Conversations:

Q. Opportunities do they exist?
A. Possibility.

Q. When is something a missed opportunity?
A. Daniel Dennett says it's only an opportunity if you had knowledge of it. If you didn't know, you didn't have the freedom to make the choice. Without that freedom, the opportunity never existed for you.

Q. So you like to jog?
A. Acclimation. Wearing myself down to exhaustion makes me vulnerable to the environment. It is in that state of vulnerability that I must rely on my environment to support me and build me back up. By doing this, I acclimatize much quicker and more fully. The assumption here, of course, is that it is a good thing to acclimatize.

Q. What is campanology?
A. Having a wickedly good time with bells.

The Warwick Bell Ringing Society meets at St. John Baptist Church, Honiley. We walked up on it at night, through a graveyard. Beautiful.

Ringing the bells! 

 The view from inside the bell tower.

After a couple hours of bell ringing, we bus over to The Case Is Altered pub in Five Ways. This isn't my photo, but we arrived at night so no photo opportunity.

Super old world pub. Cash only, fire place, low ceilings, perfect.

After drinking, billiards :)

Take a gander at my Monday :)

Tuesday Conversation:

You know when you watch a movie and it makes you want to go out and buy a bottle of red wine, smoke a cigarette, and take a stroll down High St. until you reach the park and you just have to touch the leaves of every plant bordering the moss covered stone path, kick the tops off dandelions, then brush the hair from your eyes a moment before you make eye contact with the most perfect croissant in the shop window, and as you indulge in the pastry butteriness, you must, absolutely must high-five the granite counter? That's Blue Jasmine.

Wednesday Conversations:

Q. How'd you do on the economic assignment?
A. Really well. I think I'm starting to get it.
Q. Really?
A. Well... I missed every answer, but I really think I'm getting the hang of it.

Q. How'd you do on the programming assignment?
A. Really well. I think I'm starting to get it.
Q. Really?
A. Well... I haven't written a single successful command, but I really think I'm getting the hang of it.

Forget it, I'm going for a walk.

 Chestnut trees (aka "crackers"). Children everywhere collect them - the bigger the better - drill a hole through the middle, tie a string and swing them around to try and "crack" the opponent's swing. In other words, a game perfectly designed for the big brother to win and to create a life-long hatred in little sisters everywhere.

Thursday Conversations:

Q. What do you do when you're new in town and everyone you know is also new in town?
A. Schedule a last-minute meet up at the local pub for drinks, chats, smirks, and pool.

This is the night I found out that at least two people in my graduate group have been too intimidated by me in class to ever talk with me. What is up with that?

Friday.....

I slept in then spent the rest of the day talking with H.A.L.
H.A.L. only had one thing to say to my computer commands all day.

Second Week-Term 1

Monday Warm-day:
Weather report this morning warned of the season's first **Frost** by the end of the week.

Attended the first meeting for Warwick Improvised Theatre Society (WITS). I tried to channel the teachings I remembered from Luna (1st acting instructor) and my theater friends. I used the space, freed my body parts, tried to keep awareness of 'safety zones', invaded people's space, and generally tried to be as foolish feeling as possible. We went for drinks afterward at the Dirty Duck, on campus. I might join up and attend their Thursday session, too. Campus has bars, but I'm not about to drink that beer. It's about the quality of Miller Light.

At this university you have to pay for every club membership and be on the official Warwick Uni registry in order to play with the society kids.

Tuesday Spa:

Road the bus to Leamington Spa for a day in the gardens. Queen Victoria used this town apparently for royal retreats, etc. Many of the houses & buildings here are a few hundred years old and still contain the servant's bells in the basements, where their rooms were traditionally located.

I mostly spent time in Jephson Gardens and Mill Gardens. Enough chit-chat, enjoy the view :)
Click on the pictures for a larger view.

St. John's Church. It was closed.

Leamington Spa Town Hall. How cool is this!

Town Hall

Oversized statue of Queen Victoria in front of Leamington Spa Town Hall.

Lionhead fountain at one of the entrances to the park.

Lionhead fountain up close.

The trees were so wildly tall. The building in the back is the Royal Pump Rooms & Bath. 

Yep, authentic old-school turkish baths tapped into local hot springs for the rich and dirty.

Found a Redwood here. Very cool.

Strike a pose, sir. You're about to be immortalized.... again.

I wonder what's going through his head? 

"How is thought possible? I'm made of stone. Oh look, a cookie!"

The Butterfly gardens.

This Japanese *** tree contracted a root fungus early in its sapling years. By the time they detected it, they had no choice, but to cut it down. Rather than throw all those lovely ginormous branches away, they made them, and the stump, into stunning benches with different engravings for the park. The other side of this trunk is a bench.

To give some perspective, these leaves are half my height. They're growing on the banks of the River Leam. 

Under the leaves.

The other bank.

The leaves are beginning to fall. The trees are changing.

River Leam, early autumn.

A lovely mixture of mediaeval & modern. 

The Royal Pump Rooms & Bath.

....and I caught site of these two lovely gems just before leaving. 

1. "Munchies" is a sandwich shop two doors down from "Planet Bong".

2. An employee of Munchies has now offered up another submission for Apostrophe. 

Wednesday Snoooze:
I slept in an extra 30 minutes this morning. Arrived on campus 1:30 hours early, slept for the first hour. Attended a 2 hour lecture on basic statistics (for the economic students), slept for about an hour off-and-on throughout. STILL asked more questions than the other students (save one) and even got some research talk in with the professor. At one point in my lecture nap I actually dreamt about sleeping.

I went straight home to nap, then couldn't sleep for lack of a snuggle buddy. I changed tactics and did a slow yoga routine to stretch my back, hamstrings, quads, calves, and shoulders. The entire back side of my body must have been all scrinched up I guess, because the practice felt wonderful.

Thursday Thinking:
CCCCold. FFFFront.
This is my long day of the week. I'm on campus first thing in the morning until possibly well after dark. Today was old and new theories which kept me just interested enough not to fall asleep. I really don't mean to, I just don't do well sitting for hours at a time not writing, not typing, not asking questions, while being lulled by soft talking English professors. For bucksakes I gotta do something! Which has always made me wonder about my long-winded meditation sessions. Am I reaching greater depths of consciousness or just falling asleep?

Met up with another student society tonight, WASH. I forget what it stands for. The meeting was at Terrace Bar on campus. Same beers at the Dirty Duck, so no thank you. We played pool, they drank beers, I enjoyed the rare soda-POP. Everyone seemed more interested in pointing out the differences between my American terms and their English terms.

English pool: 3 types of balls; red, yellow, and the 8 ball.
American pool: 1-7 solid balls, 9-15 striped balls, and the 8 ball.

English pool: you "pot" the ball.
American pool: you "sink" the ball.

English pool: potting the cue ball is a "foul".
American pool: sinking the cue ball is a "scratch".

English pool: a foul earns the other person two consecutive shots.
American pool: a scratch earns you limited free placement of the cue ball.