And because I'm hilariously narcissistic and would never pass up on a chance to show off just how goddamn cultured and erudite I am. I mean, just look at me - I can use words like "erudite" without having to look them up in the dictionary. *preens at his reflection in a shop mirror before walking into a road sign*

- Look at the list and bold those ( Read more... )

Apparently this year's Lambeth conference should be quite entertaining:

Cardinal Walter Kasper, who heads the unity council, will reiterate the Catholic position at next week's Lambeth conference.

The ( Read more... )

Today, I went to give blood. Rather more than I intended, in fact. I'm better than most people with the concept of having a needle stuck in my arm that's sucking out my vital fluid, but this took the cake slightly. First, the volunteer who was overseeing the blood extraction calls over a proper nurse to have a look at something I can't see. ( Read more... )

Here's something I don't understand: why is it that giving some people even a small amount of authority over others seems to act as a trigger for a massive ego trip that involves abusing that authority to make people feel as miserable as possible?

I mean, labs haven't been running for three months. You'd think I could forget about them for a while. ( Read more... )

As a result of the wonderful meeting we just had with the new course convenor to iron out some of the question marks about it, Robyn just quit. I'm seriously thinking about following suit.

Well, that was a rather boring two months. There were no posts in this journal because nothing interesting happened to me. But now we're approaching the new academic year (fresher's week next week) and I can actually start using it for the original purpose I resurrected it for: ranting about the second year labs!

Basically, in order to finance this ( Read more... )

 Second order of business is some crazy reception thing they’re throwing that evening, where every stands around drinking flat Coke out of wineglasses with lemon in it. That’s just wrong. During this reception I meet all manner of demented lunatics.

First there was a woman from the OU (our esteemed “rivals”, who after two years have finally ( Read more... )

Apparently I do nothing except read these days.

The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester

In a word, Awesome. But then I'm a sucker for old pulp sci-fi, which this very much qualifies as being written back in 1956. The story of one man's quest for revenge against the company that left him for dead set against the backdrop of a universe gone mad, ( Read more... )

Because god knows I don't have anything interesting to write about.
The Siege, by Helen Dunmore

This was presented to me as a love story. So, really not the sort of book you think I'd be reading. Okay, it's set against the backdrop of the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War - which is one of the reasons why I gave it a chance in the ( Read more... )

Assignment: create semi-infinite plates to test crater formation.

Actuality: spend a couple of hours perfecting a mixture that is oddly reminiscent in both colour and texture to the product of a diseased dog's rectum, dump it in a plastic box and stick it in the freezer so that we can mount it in a Heath Robinson-esque contraption and shoot it with ( Read more... )