Journal Entries
Thanks, Marie Curie!
Posted Jul 29, 2014
I admit it, I'd been getting pretty depressed about my job prospects lately - I'd written nearly 100 job applications in the last year, for a handful of interviews that didn't go anywhere and a lot of "computer says no"s.
But then a friend applied for and got a research fellowship (he's now in Switzerland, working at the LHC!), and recommended their website to me.
I had a look, applied for a few, got turned down, and almost didn't bother with the last one.
A few weeks ago, I was clearing out my spam (
) and found an e-mail from that one asking me for a skype interview.
It was a very strange interview - they barely asked me any questions, just told me how great their company was - and told me they'd get back to me by the end of the week.
Now, 12 days later, they finally e-mailed - just when I'd lost hope, I've got the job!!!
It's a Marie Curie research fellowship in digital cultural heritage, with a possibility of doing a PhD. Perfect.
Oh, and I have to move to Vienna by the 1st of September, but that's not a big scary daunting load of organisational stuff at all, right?
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Latest reply: Jul 29, 2014
Where's Dr House when you need him?
Posted May 12, 2014
My grandfather has been in hospital for four months - allegedly one of the best university hospitals in the US - and in all that time, they haven't managed to figure out what's wrong with him.
Whatever it is, though, it's killing him - he's been moved to hospice, and it's likely only a matter of days now.
It started off with slight confusion and vertigo, and they suspected a stroke, but that's not it and neither is anything else they tested.
And that's the worst part, the not knowing - I'm aware that not everything can be cured, but I had thought that modern medicine had at least progressed enough to figure out what the problem is...
And not to make this about me, but this is the type of situation I really can't deal with. Give me a good hands-on emergency any day - battle the storm, put out the fire, pump the bilges - but not this sitting around waiting for the inevitable and hoping for a miracle. 
Discuss this Journal entry [40]
Latest reply: May 12, 2014
I quit!
Posted Apr 3, 2014
...and that's past tense. I've got so tired of my job that I handed in my resignation. Good Friday is my last day. 
Discuss this Journal entry [22]
Latest reply: Apr 3, 2014
Houston, we have a war horse!
Posted Feb 23, 2014
Well, sort of.
I'm spending comparatively little time on the internet because the horse is gobbling up all my spare minutes, but at least we're making good progress.
Since I also spend a lot of time doing re-enactment and HEMA type sports, I've decided I want to combine the two. I'm training Jack up as my charger. To this end, I've been practicing riding one-handed at all paces and slowly getting him used to scary things moving around his head.
Today, I tested it - with an audience of people who were looking forward to me falling off, I grabbed a lance (well, ok, an aluminium washing line prop with a tennis ball duct taped to the end), mounted my horse, and practiced knocking footballs off traffic cones.
My noble steed took it all in his stride - he wasn't worried at all. The only problem we had that he decided the tennis ball was an apple and kept trying to eat it. 
So the audience was disappointed and I'm happy. Another horse saw the football and bolted off when I was just setting up (it is bright yellow and therefore scary) but Jack didn't mind it rolling around his feet.
This being the same horse that on Friday decided it was afraid of rainbows 
Discuss this Journal entry [75]
Latest reply: Feb 23, 2014
30's going to be an interesting year...
Posted Feb 12, 2014
...if the dreams are anything to go by.
Nice but quiet day yesterday - I've taken the week off work as a birthday present to myself, so I had a long sleep, went for a ride in the forest with Jackson, came home and made lasagne, tiramisu, and a nice salad, and had some friends over for dinner.
So far, so good.
But they brought wine and champagne, and I had a glass of each. 
And that may have been a mistake.
Because I then dreamed that the next time I went to the stables, my horse had been taken away (he was locked out, and I couldn't get to him. And he had his blanket hanging half off, in the rain.) He'd been replaced by a hyperactive white racehorse called Lily, which was owned by about 20 Chinese people who were all milling around.
The kidnapping seemed to be masterminded by one specific man. But then I started getting e-mails from Winston Churchill. Who turned out to be said man's handbag that thought it was Winston Churchill. And it was either trying to help me save Jackson or help negotiate the purchase of a new manure fork, because the Chinese conglomerate had broken mine. Not sure which.
Of course, I knew it was the real Winston Churchill because all his e-mails started with "Hey, Chica", though he promised not to call me that in front of the other revolutionaries. 
Now, the e-mail address he was sending these to is my yahoo one, which I only use for h2g2.
So fess up, which of you has stolen my horse? 
Discuss this Journal entry [19]
Latest reply: Feb 12, 2014
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Malabarista - now with added pony
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