Absolutely Ravenous

I was over in Huddersfield last night - and went out for a meal with Sally. Great time, had all three courses and some wine and so on. I was stuffed by end of things. Which makes it weird that on the train back to Hull this morning, I was absolutely STARVING. Really, really, painfully, stomach-digestingly hungry. Strange how that happens after a big meal? I've been taking it easy today (as per), have had a couple of cups of coffee, and a sedate - if large - lunch. And guess what? I'm *still* hungry. I can't believe it!!

As my Dad always says, I must have hollow legs. :-(

Lack of photos

It's been a little while since I've put a photo up, but worry no longer. About a month or so ago, I was down in Reading for a PsyPAG committee meeting. Since we were a roving band of postgraduate psychologists, we all wanted to stop off in this particular pub. And who could blame us? Well, Rachel could. (As she was one of the locals who organised the meeting/meal, and she was able to tell us that the pub in question was a bit pants). But your intrepid hero needed a photo opportunity so here it is. Apt.




Note: weekends away from Sally appear to provoke demonic possession!

Pitter-patter

Oh, and while I'm blogging,

A huge congratulations for Andy + Fi. Yesterday saw Sam Jack Horrocks brought into the world at 6lbs 9ozs. Well done you two (slightly more credit going to Fi, I suppose!!).

Time Sinks

It's finally happened. I have time on my hands. Not much, granted, but some. Thesis is in - the corrected version - the storm of paperwork is over - so I'll graduate in January - and I've sent the latest issue of the Quarterly - the postgraduate Journal I edit (with lots of help!) - to the BPS for printing. So, erm... what now?

Papers. Writing papers - I'm supposed to scrape up two and send them off for publication by Xmas. Jackson, Coyne & Clough (2006) anyone? But this new-found freedom has coincided with lots of new computer games - and the pressure on me isn't as much as I need to get things done. Civ IV, The Movies, WoW, Guild Wars... I'm just thankful that Oblivion has been delayed. That thing could be the biggest time-sink of all time.

Feeling slightly geeky (this is a 32-year old talking here),
Me.

Wow, what a day!!

Phew. But the good news is that almost my entire workload has firmly shifted into the Out box. In fact, I'm a little unsure about what to do next. Long and short of things is that I'm feeling much better, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I spent some of last night playing "The Movies" on my PC. What a great game. What terrible films my studio produces!! Actually, you have to see them to believe them. Bad black-and-white films set to madcap piano music. I wonder if I can somehow link them to this site? That really would be something. They are terrible, in full 1930s filmorama.

Plus, I fell through a desk today. Yep. Smashed it completely - though not my fault. Not the left desk, not the right desk, but the utterly unsupported curved bit that joined them together. And in the main departmental office too. At least five people came running. Most ran to my aid. One cried out "Thank God it wasn't a student!"

At least I'm not likely to sue(!)

All hands to the pumps.

Seriously, it's a crazy week. So crazy in fact, so snowed under with everything that I am, that the only natural response is to side-step all of it, and write a Blog for myself. The awesome power of distraction.

To tell you the truth, things aren't going well right now. You loyal people who check fairly often, can't have helped but notice that blogs are few and far between at the moment. There are reasons for that, but no need to go there at the moment. When it gets like this, I get reflective - quite possibly reflective for the wrong reasons. But reflective I am. A friend of mine recently lost a grandparent, and knowing the age of most of you, I'm guessing that you have too. I've lost all four, with my Mother's parents passing away quite close together several years ago now. From then on - as an only child - it's been my parents and *me*. And since I don't go home as often as I'd like, they're getting older and frailer each and every time. It's distressing.

But life goes on. Elsewhere, Jason and Serena have brought Lauren into the world. Andy and Fiona were expecting on November 7th and while they haven't heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet just yet, it's a baby over the weekend, or one induced on Monday. As I say, life goes on. I've recently read a book about the Fermi Paradox. The idea that if aliens exist, why aren't they here to be seen? Turns out, we might be living in a dark, cruel universe that just keeps knocking back any civilisation that evolves up out of the slime. Life just happens, and life just keeps on plugging away and coming back in a different form. I kind of like that idea. I think it's reassuring, not desparing. Still enough of my rambling - and this is a ramble - let's all remember that life goes on, and it's worth fighting for.

Thank you for listening. Ridiculous as it may sound, the above has helped me make an important decision. :-)

It's been a while...

I haven't written here for ages, have I? Not entirely my fault, as while I've had my Karoo broadband modem and what-not for a good week now, I still haven't had my line "activated", whatever that may mean. The good news is that it's happening tomorrow - between the unlikely time of 8am and 6pm - at which point I can e-mail from home and have more time to fill you all in on my exciting adventures.

Yay!

Oh, and while I have the chance, fingers firmly crossed for Andy and Fiona, who if all goes according to plan, are expecting their first child *today*.

Double Yay!