Since I've been mostly blathering about what I've been up to in my personal life, I thought I'd also do a post about what I've been consuming in terms of media, since it's been quite a lot ( Read more... )

I managed to lose my house keys yesterday so had to call a locksmith, which I don't recommend not because said locksmith wasn't a really nice guy (he was) but because it cost a load of money. Since he couldn't pick the lock, he had to drill it out and replace it. And I'd just picked up my car from its MOT and was rejoicing over the fact that it had ( Read more... )

Apologies to the folks who find my recent foray into the world of fitness etc. of zero interest - in recognition of that, I've put the next part of my post behind a cut so you can skip onto me whittering about other things instead!

( blah, blah, rowing machines and fencing... )

Okay, so I'm no Arya Stark but I have just come back from my first fencing lesson, which was good fun. The local club does lessons for adult beginners and I was delighted to discover that I'm not the only newbie in town - there's a guy attending who's done 3 weeks more and another woman who's done 6 weeks more. I was warned by the guy that my legs ( Read more... )

So, I've been using this website called 750words and it's really helped me to get a reasonable amount of writing done in terms of fanfic, and those days when I can't turn my hand to that I just blurt out whatever's in my head. I'm currently on 226 days and nearly 208,000 words written since August (which is cool ( Read more... )

As we rapidly head towards the Easter break, I am looking forward to trying to get ahead of the game in terms of course preparation for the two classes I'm teaching - I'd already got a lot of material I could use since I'd taught stuff at a similar level in the last academic year but (of course) no two courses are completely alike. I've also had to ( Read more... )

It's funny how you run across snobbishness in the oddest of places... I recently had a passing conversation with a couple of folks at the place where I teach, which went a little like this ( Read more... )

Oops, how has it been a month since I last posted? Anyway, last time, I was making plans to go down to London and then do some work, first for the university and then getting back to teaching again.

I highly recommend the Cosmonauts exhibition at the Science Museum, in case anyone here has the chance to go and hasn't yet - all sorts of cool stuff ( Read more... )

Final reminder for London-based or London-adjacent folks that I'm off to that London tomorrow for a couple of days and you are welcome to join me/meet up for dinner and/or mooching around various museums with myself and other folks who've already indicated they can get with the program ( Read more... )

Every year, about this time, folks often post about what they've written over the previous 12 months and I mostly end up hiding under the desk because I am a lazy slob. But not this year! Thanks to temaris and her recommendation of 750 Words, along with the fortuitous arrival of the Man from UNCLE movie, this year I have been all productive and stuff ( Read more... )