Cute things

Kids trying to figure out old technology (to be fair I didn’t know some of the things). And the fact that they’re French just makes it cuter for some reason.

Pon & Zi

 

The Official Vuvuzela-song music video (10 points for recognising the location)

And of course, some random guy in Brazil playing it on his keyboard…

Today I am:

• Annoyed that I hit ‘cancel’ instead of ‘snooze’ this morning and missed pilates.
• Sore from tae bo (which is SO much fun, even if it still gets me too hyped to sleep).
• Loving the idea of Operation Beautiful, and thinking very seriously about startng to participate.
• Actually getting work done (hence bullet-list vs real post).
• Excited to be unleashed onto a fresh batch of first-years tomorrow *evil cackle* if they only knew…
• Sick of annoying undergrad O-week noise. Vuvuzelas are SO not hot right now…
• Amused by the first-years who always dress up like crazy for the first week, then have loud conversations about how few clothes they have (wearing a school uniform Monday to Friday made it easier) and then become normal people.
• Shocked by how many new students are walking around with their parents. Registration was last week, it’s time to let go…
• Missing holiday traffic
• Nervous to be doing real teaching, but excited too. I get a Real, Teacher-style desk!!!
• Nauseous from the welding-smell coming in from the passage. what’s scary is that nobody seems to know what they’re welding or why, but we live with it.

Yip, it’s January on campus!

On the plus side, they’ve started baking donuts again, so we’ll get a donut-day this week!

the aftermath…

So I took the shiny (literally, it ROCKS!) new hat out last night and it was a major hit! too bad my phone is dead and so there are no pictures, but I can safely say it was loved by everyone, tried on by everyone, and it still looks better on me :) Well it looks best of CG, but she won’t believe me…

And now I’m exhausted, and confused, and I have a weird bruise on my back (I think from when someone tried to pick me up when they hugged me) and trying to finish a batch of data-fiddling before going off to meet the Oracle and the Oxfordian (I will never call her an Oxonian, it makes me think of those stock cube thingies) In the spirit of getting things done (and stopping the awful waffling i seem to do lately)

Things I have learned:

1. I will never be able to play pool as I seem to get worse every time I try. This doesn’t stop me from loving it and doing a happy-dance whenever I sink anything!
2. Hats rock!
3. I love this site
4. Sometimes you run into people you thought you’d never see again
5. This can lead to very strange situations
6. I like having my own hat!
7. It is SO awesome having the group back together and drama-free, I knew I’d missed CG since the mega fight, but I don’t think I realised just how much she holds us all together and how she calms us down when we start going a bit too nuts.
8. I think it might be OK to date someone with longer hair than me.
9. I love my friends
10. Sometimes you have to be nasty if the other person doesn’t know how to take a hint. I’m dreading it though.

Pick me! Pick me!

So the awesome Po tagged me a few days ago in one of those '10-random things about me' posts. Here goes:

1. I hate fakeness. I hate mind games. I hate people manipulating other people. I hate people messing with my friends. As a result I spent many years with only close male friends. Girls are too higher grade.
2. I love stretching. Well no, I hate stretching, but I love the feeling afterwards when everything feels sort of relaxed and cared for. Even if Leia tends to push my feet in weird directions while I'm trying to hold on to my toes... And we stretch in the lab so my shrieks of pain are occasionally investigated by some mildly confused academics!
3. I'm addicted to Ninja Warrior and Takeshi's castle. I think airing them together is such a good plan - ninja warrior is awesome but makes me feel inadequate, while Takeshi's castle is full of people like me doing incredibly silly things! Like Karaoke? I mean who the heck thought that one up? It's awesome!
4. I'm easily amused.
5. Things are changing a lot faster than I'd expected. A lot of it is a result of me changing, but I'm sad to see the end of some things.
6. I am learning how to do some really confusing stats, but right now I think I might just understand it. This scares me.
7. I don't feel old enough for the responsibilities that people think I'm ready to take on. I had a mud-fight and got stuck in the mud a few years ago, had a sword fight in the middle of the night while running down the street less than a year ago, and climb trees from time to time. How on earth am I mature enough to lecture, supervise students and start thinking about getting a job (it has been suggested that I apply for two different ones, and I'm terrified of both of them!).
8. I think applying economic models to everything in the whole world is a great idea. And fun. Definitely breaks the ice at parties.
9. Lately I've changed from conflict-avoidance to getting-it-all-out-there-ance. I'm tired of tiptoeing around things. And things change when you meet them head-on (just wear a helmet).
10. If I don't stop this I'm going to be late for tai chi. And that would be sad.

Thanks Po!

I tag Candice, Leia and Luke for this one (if you think this might be you and you're not sure, just do it anyway!).

I'm alive (I think!)

Sorry I've been quiet, I agreed to help out at a workshop at the zoo, and so my general productivity has plummeted somewhat and so I spend my spare time doing real work so that I can spend my work time trying to get a bunch of strong-personalitied zookeepers to agree on things!

In the meantime I have:

• been interviewed by a high-school student (awkward)
• Had an incredibly awesome tai chi session (the sword can give you hand-cramps, but it starts making more sense after a while)
• Realised that my unofficial therapist is no longer necessary as anything more than a great friend and someone to eat potato wedges with.
• Seen Tattoo, which besides being incredibly awesome and full of shiny things, has made me desperate to go to Burundi (however you spell that).

I promise I will write more about everything soon, but right now I have to go and save the world (i.e. take my laptop into meetings to research for my meetings with the chemists next week, while being supportive of the people in the other meetings).

Or something like that anyway.

Happy Thursday!