Journal Entries
So how about a h2g2 mini-meet in July?
Posted Dec 7, 2012
I know, I know, haven't been around in ages. Still have a load of backlog to plod through, and still need to update about my cousin (since quite a lot happened since April), and about my life in general, but first, some really awesome news.
Possibly[
] the best birthday present I got this year was this email:
>>Many thanks for your interest in participating in the International Medieval Congress 2013, to be held at the University of Leeds on 1-4 July 2013. The Programming Committee has now had the opportunity to consider all the submissions and we are pleased to inform you that your proposal has been accepted.<<
This is really really really cool. And, in case the smiley-attack above didn't make it clear, incredibly exciting to me. I've never been to anything in this scale before, let alone spoken in it. I'm a bit nervous, but very much looking forward to it.
(I still need to figure out the funding issue through my university, since I got confused about how these things go and didn't apply to the IMC bursary on time, but hopefully it'll all work out okay.)
So, I'll be in Leeds in early July. If things work out alright, I'll probably take a few extra days to do non-convention things, like seeing London for the first time since I was 12 (which was not a very good age for fully appreciating a city, although I do have fond memories of feeding the ducks). And if there's any chance to arrange some sort of meet, I'd love to see you lot in person. 
How about it?
[] My mum got me a food processor, so it's a tough competition.
Discuss this Journal entry [38]
Latest reply: Dec 7, 2012
No procrastination Without Representation!
Posted Dec 11, 2011
...Okay, that title doesn't make much sense, but the only other option I could think up was 'Hootoo Represent!' which just smacks of 90s-era trying-to-be-hip. 
And nobody wants that.
So, having discussed that, here's the thing I wanted to bring up:
Are any of you familiar with the website TV Tropes? It's here --> http://tvtropes.org and it's a fun way to spend much more time than you intended, since every topic has many many links and examples and you want to check all of them, and then you get links from _those_ and follow them, and then you remember you wanted to check that one thing about that film/book/TV show/whatever, and suddenly it's hours later and you haven't done a word of your thesis yet, and, errr, I said too much haven't I? 
[Note: For the record, my thesis is actually doing very well, and will be finished soon. But I still get distracted a lot.]
So, great site. And yesterday, I wanted to check if h2g2 has a page there, and found out it doesn't. Nor is it mentioned in the Douglas Adams page (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DouglasAdams ). The only mention of it I could find is a few lines on a page called 'Other Sites' (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OtherSites ), and even there, it's linking to the wrong place (old BBC version) and it's factually unsatisfactory - they say: >>An early effort by fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to create a wiki-style "Earth Edition." There are articles on all topics at any point on the serious/silly spectrum. Some are informative, some are just people gushing about their hobbies, but there's always plenty to do<<. I'll drop by there later today to (a) fix the link, and (b) fix the description to say that it was in fact started by DNA himself, and perhaps to add in a bit about edited guide entries versus, well, everything else.
But it's really not enough. I feel that h2g2 should have its own page (if they have a page for eBay, I think a place like h2g2 deserves one too, no?), with links to the various tropes that are in effect in this wonderful and weird community - like 'Cargo Cult' (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CargoCult ) for the nighthoover phenomenon, perhaps, or 'Saving the Orphanage' (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SavingTheOrphanage ) for the community effort to find a new place for h2g2 after BBC let it go, or whatever it might be that the Thingites are... or other things.
Which is where you lot come in, hopefully. While I _am_ a great procrastinator, this kind of project is a bit too big for me to undertake on my own. I would love it if you could help me write the h2g2 TV Tropes page - both with coming up with the general description, and any tropes that you could find for what's going on here (or past happenings of note).
It could be a great way to let people know about the site, and I think it could just be a lot of fun in general.
What say you?
Discuss this Journal entry [11]
Latest reply: Dec 11, 2011
Hardheaded
Posted Sep 12, 2011
I have a cousin who is one of those people so bright you gotta wear shades. 
Seriously, like, stereotypically smart. He's always been incredibly bright, and he actually did a PhD in String-Theory-related theoretical physics, and is currently in Los Angeles doing his postdoc in... umm, let me find it------ah, here we are: 'adiabatic quantum computing, entanglement in spin systems and field theory, quantum-classical dualities and the applications of ideas drawn from geometry to quantum information'. 
Sounds kinda mambo-jumbo-ish to me, but it's very impressive, innit?
Anyway, at the moment said cousin is not doing any theoretical physics, since right now he's in hospital. A little over a week ago he had a bicycle accident (apparently someone opened a car door in front of him, and he ran into it - or maybe tried to go around it and couldn't keep balance, I'm not sure - and flipped off the bike, landed on his head, then got hit by another vehicle). All things considered, he's relatively okay; no broken bones, or any major injuries to the body, and although he's still unconscious there are no signs of any serious brain damage, and his hematomas are slowly receding, which means there's no ongoing bleeding in his head, which is good. He's showing some reflexes and such. That's about all I know; since he's in LA, any news about his condition goes from his doctor to his parents (who of course flew over there as soon as they heard), and from them to my parents, and from them to me, so it usually ends up being pretty vague. But he does seem to be slowly improving, and there's some cause for optimism.
It could have been worse, basically. He's a young, healthy man, and as the title implies, kinda hardheaded. 
Also, he was wearing a helmet; that probably saved his life. Wear a helmet, people.
But it's still a very stressful situation. He's still unconscious, and could stay that way for weeks. With this type of injury, it's always pretty hard to tell with certainty what's going to happen. His parents are devastated (and being in a foreign city, not doing anything beside going to hospital to see him every day, doesn't help; it's kinda like a lens focusing all the worry into one ongoing struggle). My mother, who is worried as well, needs to be strong and supportive for her sister and her mother, in addition to having a load of work stuff to take care of, so she ends up under a lot of stress. My two other cousins over here act as a sort of local HQ, taking care of a whole lot of technical things (and one of them will be flying to LA tonight to join her parents and help them). Everyone's trying to help, even if there's not much we can do. It's hard to deal with something like that.
I don't think I have much of a point to this journal entry, other than sharing my news. But hey, that's what a journal is for, right?
But if there's one thing to take from this rambling jourmal entry, it's this: Wear a goddamn bike helmet. 
Seriously. Be careful out there.
Discuss this Journal entry [145]
Latest reply: Sep 12, 2011
But I DO mind the Buzzcocks!
Posted Feb 3, 2011
Oldschool pop(ish)-punk band the Buzzcocks are going to have a show in Tel Aviv on 15/3.
And I just bought a ticket! WOOHOO!
This is gonna be fun!!!
Assuming, of course, they don't go the way of the Pixies, Costello, Devendra Banhart and others, cancelling their visit at the last moment... I don't really want to go into the politics of all this (I haven't written a political journal post in a long time, and I don't intend to make this into one) but the whole boycott thing feels like a trend more than anything else, and an annoying, pointless trend at that.
Me, I just want to see a show.
Discuss this Journal entry [16]
Latest reply: Feb 3, 2011
Recalculating route...
Posted Jan 25, 2011
Holy wow, it's been a while! So much backlog.
But, well, as sad as it is to say, I guess there just isn't just that much of a draw in h2g2 for me... a lot of the people I used to talk to are no longer around (some have died 
others just wandered off). The few I am still in touch with, I'm in touch with through other means (Skype, email, even Facebook, although I'm not terribly active there). A lot of the societies where I used to go outsane with the other nutters went silent, and I suppose the whole 'going outsane' thing really feels like a phase more than anything else, now. I am still very fond of this place - it means a lot to me, in many ways - but now it's more like nostalgia. Like the house where you spent your formative years, and then moved somewhere else, or maybe more like your old school; you still pass by there sometimes, and you remember the good times and the bad times and the interesting times, but it feels slightly weird to actually go back in. 
I feel bad that it's become like that, but I suppose it's inevitable.
Anyway, I dropped back in - at least for a while - because, well, first I got an email from Amy about the uncertain future of h2g2, and then, while looking for a certain quote, I was going through a bunch of old threads, and I got nostalgic. So here I am again. *looks around, touches the walls gingerly* It's just like I remembered, and yet different.
~*~
Anyway, that's not what the subject line is about.
Back when I last wrote here, I was still looking for some final answers from the US, about a PhD. Well, those answers were negative, and I was pretty upset for a while, but then I contacted my old professor (and a kind-of sort-of mentor, in a way) and he confirmed that he'd love to have me do my PhD for him, and we figured out what I'll be doing for the MA thesis I need to do in order to do a PhD here, and since that thesis is actually a part of what is going to be my PhD (it's a translation of a medieval Arabic satirical work called The Epistle of Forgiveness, which has a rather interesting premise and a lot of tedious details; the thesis will be a part of it, the PhD will be the whole thing), that part's pretty much figured out as well, and I went through a bunch of bureaucracy at Uni, and am now officially a Masters student (again), and trying, every day, to get myself to sit down and do another bit of translation (procrastination is a terrible thing, but I'm working on that with my therapist), in between doing some work on work, like, for money, because I do want at some point to be able to move out of my parents' house, and, well, this segment is already one long run-on sentence as it is, so it's time for a break.
Anyway, yeah, that's life for me right now. Dan, in case you've been wondering (Yeah, remember that guy? 
I sure do), is doing pretty well, too. He's gone back to school, so now actually has more of a daily routine than I do, but he's just on his third quarter there and is already on the Dean's List, so I'm proud of him. He might be able to come here in summer for a Hebrew course, but that might be too expensive, so we're still not sure how that'll all work out. We'll see.
Anyway, as long as I'm still around, and since there is no way I'll actually read through all my backlog, how about you lot? I mean, you lot who are still here, of course, how's life, the universe and everything, and how do you feel about h2g2, and the upcoming change, and all that?
Discuss this Journal entry [40]
Latest reply: Jan 25, 2011
Lady Pennywhistle - Back with a vengeance! [for a certain, limited value of Vengeance; actual amounts of Vengeance may vary]
Researcher U250656
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."