The Blog

 Okay universe, much is forgiven...

...because google could tell me what 0.03 g/cm^2 is in solar masses/parsec^2, and one of the builders outside is whistling beautifully.

I'm still not sure about this 'getting out of bed each morning' thing, but right now that's tomorrow's problem.

Labels: astronomy, depression, hating myself, music, thesis ftl, time and space, tired, web stuff

 I can hit a target through a telescope...

Did I ever link you lot to the (Doctor Who) Handlebars vid? Because it's one of my favourite things in the universe, and I frequently leave it on loop for many repetitions at a time.

Speaking of, Eleven is lovely, Amy is fabulous and I want to give her many hugs (especially her young self who took to biting psychologists). Can't wait for the next episode, and have surprisingly high hopes for the Moff's reign. This could just be because Eleven reminds me of a baby Four, but it might be that we went a whole episode without actually killing anyone (correct me if I'm wrong). Also I'm looking forward to seeing River Song again.

Anyway, I'm going to bed, but I thought it might be prudent to check in and say I'm still here and I am not completely useless. I auditioned for a telly commercial last Tuesday before celebrating Gemma winning many ribbons at the easter show. Going to the post office tomorrow or the day after to send off the stack of things I've been failing to send for quite a while.

I'm hoping that as soon as I get over this stupid cold I might actually start catching up on life. It's unlikely, but the hope lives on. While I'm waiting, the giant chapter of doom hit 10,000 words this afternoon. No real end in sight, as I've lost the thread of the narrative, but I'm giving up on it this weekend. Oh, and the boss said the last chapter I gave him was "pretty awesome", which is high praise indeed.

Labels: crafty-Cat, crazy mexicans, cross stitch, doctor who, i can ride my bike with no handlebars, I made this, mail, thesis ftl, writing

 Still alive...

Chocolate-covered crystallised ginger is the nommiest thing I've encountered this week, and I can't believe Ian gave me a giant block of it because it was his birthday yesterday. He should turn 70 more often.

ETA, because I'm too lazy for a new blog post: I may have just turned down my one shot at moving out of home and gaining a measure of independence and self-worth before the PhD is done because I'm too much of a wimp to try. I can't decide if I'm relieved or want to cry myself to sleep.

Labels: death by chocolate, send me love, thesis ftl, uni

 *sighs*...

Today I wrote a page, but my overall wordcount went down by 400 as I nuked about two pages of crap that had previously been commented out. The chances of this chapter actually hitting 10,000 words are dropping about as rapidly as the wordcount.

Labels: 1000 words, thesis ftl, writing

 Well then...

In bullet points, because I'm too lazy for full paragraphs:

• The opening ceremony was fun, yes? I want to watch again tonight, if only for the fun bits with the First Nations dancers, the Bear and the hymn at the end. Also the USA beanies, which are great.
• I didn't get my dream job. Life goes on; I've got a few more to apply to before the weekend is out.
• I'm going to see Nation tomorrow. Looking forward to it muchly.
• I've got the first two sections of chapter one decently drafted so that they're no longer really embarrassing. I've only got one more big section to go, and then two smaller ones, and I think I'll be done. Not where I wanted to be by this weekend, but sometimes life is hard. Writing a page a day of the literature review is not that slack, but I miss the speed of the later chapters. The thesis currently has 80 numbered pages of "quality" content (including bibliography), with 4.5 chapters yet to go.
• I'll likely be switching to wordpress before the "end of March" deadline on blogger. Sorry to say that if they won't work within my blog/site structure I don't want them around anymore. It sucks, but then, so does google. Speaking of, if you don't want everyone to know who you're emailling and what you're emailling about, you might want to jump through many hoops to thoroughly opt out of Buzz.

Umm, I guess that's the important things. To distract, have a couple of fun links:

• Phil Plait - "Seven Ways a Black Hole Can Kill You": A fun lecture on black holes and why they are awesome. (Phil is the author of Bad Astronomy, if you're a n00b to these things)
• Dinosaur Comics on Lady Gaga's facade of bluffing

Now I'd better go write a couple of cover letters and get on with life. Hope you're having a good weekend.

Labels: blogger, jobs, linking all over the place, thesis ftl, web stuff, writing

 So tired...

All I wanted to do today was get that stupid 3rd section of the paper written. I've still got about three paragraphs to go, but at 5pm I realised there was a terrible mistake in my plots, so I had to re-derive the equations and then redraw those instead. But at least I'm still likely to get it done before my meeting with the boss on Wednesday.

But to show I care, here's the uni's Christmas message, complete with snow and talk of the recession.

Labels: club mac, linking all over the place, never going to graduate, thesis ftl, writing

 For those keeping score...

Well, the boss asked me to redo a graph, derive and type up the equations and write "something intelligent" about the plots. I'll leave it to the reader to guess which one I haven't done today (and will have to do before tomorrow afternoon's meeting).

Labels: going to flip out and chop off someone's head, InaDWriMo, thesis ftl, writing

 Thundering Outside...

I hate writing up sections of equations. I'm no good at proofs, and even though the page count goes up as I write it, I know I'll have to rewrite later when I actually know what I want to say and how to say it. I suppose I ought to be glad that I've gotten this section half written up, but I think I'll go back to the paper tomorrow. It feels more productive to be working on the real physics than the maths, even though I know the maths is more important.

I just don't feel like I can see the end anymore. I've only gotten one whole chapter and two half chapters written out of seven, and every time I turn around someone is asking me when I'm going to complete. I don't even have all the results for the main results chapter yet. I want to go home.

Labels: a pity party for one, InaDWriMo, thesis ftl, writing

 They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

...but I decided this should only count for 500 as I'd have to explain what it means to anyone who wasn't me or Mark.

Been a bit rough today; every word's an effort and I just can't seem to do more than fill in minor gaps in the proofs. They all count, but I don't feel like I've achieved anything worthwhile, not even with two pages and the graphic added.

Labels: deadlines hurt my brain, InaDWriMo, strange days, thesis ftl, writing

 Joy... Rapture...

Spent much of today seeing dentists and x-ray peoples and all the rest. Haven't got the specialist's opinion yet, but it's very likely that I'm to have my wisdom teeth out as soon as I can get an appointment. Because they're so nestled, I'll need to get a general anaesthetic, which terrifies me to pieces. The only good thing is it can all be done in my Mum's building, so she'll be able to look after me when it's over. Naturally I'll try and see if I can keep them as a souvenir.

This will bring my total of professionally removed teeth to 20.

Labels: InaDWriMo, sickly-Cat, teeth, thesis ftl, writing

Looking for an excuse...

If this paper mentions "star seeds" one more time I'm going to quit and just go watch Sailorstars on youtube.

Labels: cambridge, sailor moon, thesis ftl, trip09

Labels: internet famous, reporters, thesis ftl

• 1.5 (draft) chapters of my thesis written;
• no real results to speak of (though I have duplicated the results of others, which I'm told is a good place to start);
• only 1 year left in which to get this bitch done.

Labels: astronomy, freakshow, hating myself, latex ftw (but not the fun sort of latex), never going to graduate, phd, thesis ftl, wasting my life