Archive for July, 2010
Some realizations, upon having arrived at KnitNation
1. KnitNation is being held at Imperial College, London, where I and many of the other mostly female participants are staying in dorm rooms. It was as I was settling in to mine that I realized the connection: It’s a knitting Gaudy!! At least the baths are en suite these days (and no, I don’t […]
horrible timing
I am home sick today with a fever and gunk in my lungs, which would be OK except for the feeling crappy part, except that I am supposed to leave for Knit Nation in London on Thursday afternoon. If I don’t go, I can’t get refunds on my classes or train ticket; if I cancel […]
losses
This morning I turned in my car: I don’t have one or access to one, for the first time in 21 years, very nearly half my life. I find myself unexpectedly teary over it, but i don’t think it’s really about the car. This is something I’ve been meditating on for a long time: from […]
nothing much
I was virtuous this morning. I woke up early and erged (just a little – an easy 5km, because I haven’t been doing the get up and row thing). Then I walked across the centrum for a presentation I had to attend at the hotel where my department management is meeting, walked back and biked […]
stress: the blacklung of the new fey
Her highness of Elfland was losing her hair – the news was in all of the papers. Her Royal Coiffeuse, she of world-famous flair had taken to bed with the vapors. Consultants were summoned from all through the land, the broadsheets were pasted on trees: “Beauticians, magicians, bring custom or canned regrowth preparations. Help, please!” […]
a slow day
I came home last night instead of staying over at Koblenz because I really needed a nothing day, to relax and do all the stuff you do when hanging out at home. And I *did* relax, but as for doing nothing…. I slept late – all the way to a decadent 8AM. (Party animal, me.) […]
a bit of history
Traveling in Germany is often disturbing, at least when you go look up the history of where you’ve been. I spent yesterday on a cruise down the Rhine; I’m downloading pictures and will do a writeup on the other blog. But while it was interesting and understandable to see a big statue to Kaiser WIlhelm […]
a question and two boring anecdotes
1. YouTube videos suddenly won’t play for me – I just get a black box where the video should be. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why and how to fix it? Other information: it was working as recently as a week ago; I have checked for any software updates to make sure my […]
do what?
How odd. A Dutch friend of mine emailed “Shall we do something for fun the weekend of july 24/25?” That sounds good to me, except I find I have absolutely no idea of what “something fun” here is. I did ask if she has anything in mind; she wrote back “not yet but we can […]
Crowley spoke Dutch??
Half the fun of learning Dutch, for me at least, is hearing the echoes of an older English. (I’m pretty sure that Kind Alfred and his compatriots would have found the Zeelanders of their time intelligible, or nearly so.) On my way home from my second Dutch lesson tonight, I realized that Aleister Crowley, in […]