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the_dala at 10:12pm on 28/01/2008
the_dala at 10:12pm on 28/01/2008The cutest news you will hear all day: Tuxedo-wearing beetle named after Roy Orbison. Just - awwww! The end of the article also points out recently discovered beetle species named after Darth Vader and the Bush administration, which seems appropriate, don't you think?
Man, I heart Roy Orbison. He's one of those artists whose voice just makes me smile, all warm and lush and croony.
Uh, what was I going to talk about in post the last...oh yeah, boat recording! On Friday we drove to Watchet, meeting up at SEVEN THIRTY IN THE A.M. for god's sake. It should have taken three and a half hours, but it took more than four because Fraser got us lost. Also, we stopped at a Burger King ("It's just like being home!) along the way, where everybody warmed their hands with hot drinks (the vans were fucking freezing) and some random guy came up and urged Fraser and Darrin to accept Jesus Christ as their personal lord and saviour, which of course became the running joke of the day. The drive up was so early, so long and so cold that we mostly napped, huddled under coats and hats and scarves. A couple of times Fraser raised his voice to point out interesting landmarks, only to be greeted with a rousing silence from the back.
But eventually we made it, meeting Jon at the tiny museum in the tiny town, and we got to work the half-dozen flatner boats lying around. My group consisted of Mehvash, Vicky and Jean, and we mostly did all right. Our plan looked very nice, even if we probably could've doubled the scale and not made it quite so tiny and in the corner of the page. We were lucky to have picked a boat that was simple, stable and firmly planted on the ground, since we could clamber in and out of it to take measurements. Because I suck at it, the only drawing I did was adding the four planks to the plan, and I managed to fuck even that up and had to erase some nice clean lines from previous work. This was about the point that Mehvash's impatience started irritating me. She explained later that it's sort of just how she gets, but an apology might have been more appropriate because it really was uncool. Like, first of all this is all for our own experience and we're not receiving marks based on accuracy, so there is absolutely no need to freak out; secondly, please don't ever grab stuff out of my hands, whether or not you think you can do a better job of whatever I'm doing. And it wasn't just me, either; Jean is fairly unflappable, but Vicky and I exchanged several 'WTF?' looks and once she said, 'Mehvash is kind of intense about all this, isn't she?' I mean, she's my friend and all and I'm very fond of her, but this shit's not going to fly when we're doing our group project for Underwater. For one thing, Kelley is one hell of a lot less patient than I am.
Anyway, we worked from noon to nearly 5:30, with a short break for lunch and also to gawk at a train that sailed by (the museum was in an old railroad storage building). I'm sure it was amusing - twenty-five grown-ass grad students dropping their work and running outside, all 'Ooooh! Train!' - but dude, it was shooting sparks! I dunno how much the other groups managed to accomplish, but we only did the plan and a profile, no time for cross-sections. What we did have looked really nice, so I'm satisfied; and it was good practice. There was more napping on the way home, until Fraser was like, 'Darrin wants to show us a church, guys,' and I absolutely did not get that he meant the BK all along until I was standing in line for my Coke and chili-cheese bites (delicious, btw). At one point, Christen work me from a doze by exclaiming, 'Look at the stars! They're so beautiful!' and I was grumpy until I looked out the window and saw that she was right. Then I put some Iron & Wine on Darth BP (I wanted Nick Drake or Death Cab, but alas, I have them no longer) and stared at the stars until we got back to Southampton around 10. All in all, it was a good day.
I'll ponder 'Sweeney Todd' tomorrow, as I've just watched 'Marie Antoinette' and my head is all full of pastels. This is a rather slow week - end of semester, exams, which for us means no classes or lectures. We do have a stupid fake PhD grant proposal for Research Skills due on Friday, but I'm avoiding it on account of its being totally stupid and Research Skills a complete waste of time. Instead I'm working on this afghan, which is going to take awhile: I'm using H and J hooks, a lighter-weight yarn, and as I want it to be a full-size bed covering, cast on 300 stitches rather than 100. Its main color is the white tweedy wool I made my dad's cabled scarf out of, but I'm also peppering it with blue, tannish-brown (I wanted something slightly more orangey to match the flecks in the tweed, but no luck), and green. So far I'm striping the cable rows at the edge, and we'll see how it goes from there. I don't think the width is going to be a problem, but I can always repeat the middle panel if necessary.
Oh, I should not have bought Jaffa Cakes, and yet...::munches:: Have I mentioned that they put a Hotel Chocolat in the mall over the holiday? I have totally renounced Thornton's, it's the most amazing chocolate I have ever tasted. The chili and orange slab is something I would want at my last meal on death row. I was skeptical of chili in chocolate (which honestly, I only knew about from 'Chocolat' ::suppresses Roux fantasies until post is complete::). It just sounded incredibly weird. But I couldn't pass up the chance to actually try it, and it is...indescribable. The orange is what you taste first, very smooth and not too tart; the chili comes after. If you chew a piece and swallow it, the burn is in your throat; if you suck on the chocolate, it takes over your whole mouth. It doesn't actually taste like anything besides a (very pleasant, I swear) burn, but the taste reminds me more of a good ginger element than, like, chili flavor in regular, non-dessert foods. Okay, I realized it wasn't going to taste like Texas BBQ Chilli, but I did think it was going to be incredibly strange. It is unusual and unexpected, but wonderful. With the shop being right next to a Love Juice stand, I'm going to develop a really bad habit. The other slab I tried was white chocolate that goes strawberry pink halfway down, with real freeze-dried strawberries mixed in, and I do want to try some others; but it's the chili I'll be going back for, I think. It's pretty reasonably priced, too - okay, so the gift and gourmet stuff is way out of my range (especially the collector's library of rare, regional chocolate bars), but the sample slabs are 2.85, and that is a lot of chocolate for such a price - especially chocolate of this quality.
I hope I've made you as hungry for something sweet as I've just made myself. Muaha, I have Jaffa Cakes!
Man, I heart Roy Orbison. He's one of those artists whose voice just makes me smile, all warm and lush and croony.
Uh, what was I going to talk about in post the last...oh yeah, boat recording! On Friday we drove to Watchet, meeting up at SEVEN THIRTY IN THE A.M. for god's sake. It should have taken three and a half hours, but it took more than four because Fraser got us lost. Also, we stopped at a Burger King ("It's just like being home!) along the way, where everybody warmed their hands with hot drinks (the vans were fucking freezing) and some random guy came up and urged Fraser and Darrin to accept Jesus Christ as their personal lord and saviour, which of course became the running joke of the day. The drive up was so early, so long and so cold that we mostly napped, huddled under coats and hats and scarves. A couple of times Fraser raised his voice to point out interesting landmarks, only to be greeted with a rousing silence from the back.
But eventually we made it, meeting Jon at the tiny museum in the tiny town, and we got to work the half-dozen flatner boats lying around. My group consisted of Mehvash, Vicky and Jean, and we mostly did all right. Our plan looked very nice, even if we probably could've doubled the scale and not made it quite so tiny and in the corner of the page. We were lucky to have picked a boat that was simple, stable and firmly planted on the ground, since we could clamber in and out of it to take measurements. Because I suck at it, the only drawing I did was adding the four planks to the plan, and I managed to fuck even that up and had to erase some nice clean lines from previous work. This was about the point that Mehvash's impatience started irritating me. She explained later that it's sort of just how she gets, but an apology might have been more appropriate because it really was uncool. Like, first of all this is all for our own experience and we're not receiving marks based on accuracy, so there is absolutely no need to freak out; secondly, please don't ever grab stuff out of my hands, whether or not you think you can do a better job of whatever I'm doing. And it wasn't just me, either; Jean is fairly unflappable, but Vicky and I exchanged several 'WTF?' looks and once she said, 'Mehvash is kind of intense about all this, isn't she?' I mean, she's my friend and all and I'm very fond of her, but this shit's not going to fly when we're doing our group project for Underwater. For one thing, Kelley is one hell of a lot less patient than I am.
Anyway, we worked from noon to nearly 5:30, with a short break for lunch and also to gawk at a train that sailed by (the museum was in an old railroad storage building). I'm sure it was amusing - twenty-five grown-ass grad students dropping their work and running outside, all 'Ooooh! Train!' - but dude, it was shooting sparks! I dunno how much the other groups managed to accomplish, but we only did the plan and a profile, no time for cross-sections. What we did have looked really nice, so I'm satisfied; and it was good practice. There was more napping on the way home, until Fraser was like, 'Darrin wants to show us a church, guys,' and I absolutely did not get that he meant the BK all along until I was standing in line for my Coke and chili-cheese bites (delicious, btw). At one point, Christen work me from a doze by exclaiming, 'Look at the stars! They're so beautiful!' and I was grumpy until I looked out the window and saw that she was right. Then I put some Iron & Wine on Darth BP (I wanted Nick Drake or Death Cab, but alas, I have them no longer) and stared at the stars until we got back to Southampton around 10. All in all, it was a good day.
I'll ponder 'Sweeney Todd' tomorrow, as I've just watched 'Marie Antoinette' and my head is all full of pastels. This is a rather slow week - end of semester, exams, which for us means no classes or lectures. We do have a stupid fake PhD grant proposal for Research Skills due on Friday, but I'm avoiding it on account of its being totally stupid and Research Skills a complete waste of time. Instead I'm working on this afghan, which is going to take awhile: I'm using H and J hooks, a lighter-weight yarn, and as I want it to be a full-size bed covering, cast on 300 stitches rather than 100. Its main color is the white tweedy wool I made my dad's cabled scarf out of, but I'm also peppering it with blue, tannish-brown (I wanted something slightly more orangey to match the flecks in the tweed, but no luck), and green. So far I'm striping the cable rows at the edge, and we'll see how it goes from there. I don't think the width is going to be a problem, but I can always repeat the middle panel if necessary.
Oh, I should not have bought Jaffa Cakes, and yet...::munches:: Have I mentioned that they put a Hotel Chocolat in the mall over the holiday? I have totally renounced Thornton's, it's the most amazing chocolate I have ever tasted. The chili and orange slab is something I would want at my last meal on death row. I was skeptical of chili in chocolate (which honestly, I only knew about from 'Chocolat' ::suppresses Roux fantasies until post is complete::). It just sounded incredibly weird. But I couldn't pass up the chance to actually try it, and it is...indescribable. The orange is what you taste first, very smooth and not too tart; the chili comes after. If you chew a piece and swallow it, the burn is in your throat; if you suck on the chocolate, it takes over your whole mouth. It doesn't actually taste like anything besides a (very pleasant, I swear) burn, but the taste reminds me more of a good ginger element than, like, chili flavor in regular, non-dessert foods. Okay, I realized it wasn't going to taste like Texas BBQ Chilli, but I did think it was going to be incredibly strange. It is unusual and unexpected, but wonderful. With the shop being right next to a Love Juice stand, I'm going to develop a really bad habit. The other slab I tried was white chocolate that goes strawberry pink halfway down, with real freeze-dried strawberries mixed in, and I do want to try some others; but it's the chili I'll be going back for, I think. It's pretty reasonably priced, too - okay, so the gift and gourmet stuff is way out of my range (especially the collector's library of rare, regional chocolate bars), but the sample slabs are 2.85, and that is a lot of chocolate for such a price - especially chocolate of this quality.
I hope I've made you as hungry for something sweet as I've just made myself. Muaha, I have Jaffa Cakes!
happy
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