The Blog

And off we go...

With just enough time to walk to town and buy myself some fudge and a hoodie, I think I'm done in Cambridge. It's been great, England, I'll miss you.

Labels: cambridge, how do I get home now?, last post, trip09

And another thing...

I got a new book:

Eoin Colfer was charming and funny and very Irish, and I liked that he was just as appalled at the thought of writing this book as the rest of us were at the announcement that someone else was writing a Hitchhiker's book. He's only doing the one (because damnit he has to write more Artemis Fowl right now), and he kinda hopes that someone else will pick up the mantle, so that it's not just him and DA to compare. I have to say I kinda agree. They did it for Sherlock Holmes, why not for Arthur Dent? Oh, and Eoin is a mac. *grins*

Of course, now I need to find a way to fit this thing in my suitcase.

ETA: I had completely forgotten I already had a HHGTTG tag on my blog. This makes me inordinately happy.

Labels: almost but not entirely unlike tea, books, cambridge, trip09

Dear Sainsbury's...

I get that you have problems with giving simple instructions, since the "recipe" for my pasta bake said to pierce the lid, place on oven tray and cook for either 15 or 25 minutes depending on if I read the text or the little graphic. So when it was dinner time, I followed the 15 minute instructions, because I figured I could check up on it and adjust as necessary. Therefore it is completely unfair that I found the inside of the container to be made of roasted cracked plastic, when you said the damn thing was oven safe and I should put it on a fucking tray.

Dear everyone else: just so you know, it's possible to have a good reason to eat crumpets for dinner.

Labels: a godawful mess, cambridge, england, mmm food, trip09

Huh...

There's another iBook G4 in the library today. I feel less outdated all of a sudden.

In good news: I've done by Annual Review paperwork, and it's not even lunchtime yet.

In bad news: I saw part 2 of the new BBC adaptation of Emma last night, and it was terrible. I hated it, and it's my favourite Jane Austen, so I'm usually forgiving of most flaws in the adaptations because I want to see new spins on the story. Very disappointed. (I may still watch part 1 on iView tonight because I can.)

Labels: bbc, books, cambridge, iCatherine, jane austen, paperwork, trip09, university politics have got me down

Back from the theatre...

And it was lovely. Saw My Fair Lady, which wasn't a favourite before, but it is now. There were a few changes from the movie version, very slight, just enough to give Eliza a little more spunk in standing up to Professor Higgins.

Perhaps my favourite change was to the last few minutes of the musical, which went as follows:

Professor Higgins is downtrodden and mopey that Eliza ditched him. He puts on the gramophone recording of her first arrival, and sits down at his desk to mope. There is serious moping to be had.

Enter Eliza from behind. She looks rather gratified at the moment, but also knows that this is somewhat pathetic, so she turns off the gramophone. Adopting her old accent, she says, remembering the incident, "I washed my hands and face before I come, I did."

Henry near falls out of his chair as he stands and cries her name, stunned that she came back. Unsure of what to do now, he sits back in his chair, and tries to adopt his old manner, but he's clearly off balance. "Where the devil are my slippers?" he asks, turning away from her.

Eliza picks them up, an evil gleam in her eyes, and throws the bloody slippers fondly in his direction (taking care not to hit him this time). Henry turns around slowly, realises she's forgiven him, and then races across the room to embrace her, and they pash as the curtain slowly falls.

And in the front row of the audience, Catherine sighs happily, because that was an awesome ending to an awesome evening.

In other news, I think I'm going to a Eoin Colfer meet (maybe signing?) on Wednesday. "His" new book will be out Monday (can I resist buying a copy on the day? I think not), so he's on tour being awesome. OMG, and I have a towel he can sign! Can I pull off being that much of a fangirl with a straight face? I doubt it.

Labels: cambridge, catherine knows where her towel is, music, theatre, trip09

Yum...

It turns out that fresh pot noodles are absolutely delicious.

(By which I mean I found and bought a "just add boiling water" style pot noodle in the fridge section of M&S, full of fresh vegies, and it's very tasty. Even the prawns.)

((Also of note, a realisation on the way back from the shops: if doing something mind-numbingly boring all day long makes me want to kill myself, I should probably put off doing any more of it until I'm home and have a decent support network. By which I mean someone to go drinking with afterwards.))

Labels: cambridge, england, mmm food, trip09

Annoyed Cat is Annoyed...

The only thing worse than being woken in the middle of the night in England by a spam phone call when you're on the do not call list is realising you just paid overseas roaming charges to be woken in the middle of the night in England by a spam phone call when you're on on the do not call list.

(I normally sleep with the phone off. I must have forgotten last night.)

Labels: cambridge, losing sleep, phones, trip09

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

*sobs*...

I have a cold and it's making me miserable. I walked home (via the chemist for some paracetamol and cough lollies) feeling that I would never be warm again (and very sorry for myself) and as I walk in the door Jane hands me a package:

and now I miss my mummy very much.

Labels: cambridge, I want to go home now, knitting, sickly-Cat, trip09

Back in Cambridge...

Little bit exhausted from too much vacation. *grins* Jessie, John and Daniel send their love.

Labels: cambridge, england, london, tired, trip09

What a day...

It was fantastic and awesome and magic, but for some reason I decided to keep what I was doing secret a while ago, so you'll have to wait until I get home for me to squee about it.

(And yet to anyone who was there, I've given the game away already... Fortunately none of you were there.)

Labels: accent issues, london, secretive-Cat, trip09

Having a blast in London...

Haven't really had the energy to blog, so have a chunk out of my diary (I forgot to bring a book so I'm typing into a file). Note that it's not been edited, so may contain typos, sentence fragments and other awkwardness

Somehow my "awesome trip out to see the rest of the Thames festival" turned into "Catherine is entranced by Korean culture, to the point where she buys the soundtrack to the hybrid traditional/modern dance performance and freezes to death watching a kimchee western". And that was okay by me, as the music was great (and the dance too) and the movie was awesome.

No Korean food though, which was sad-making. I had a craving for a bibimbap, and all I could get was an apple and pork traditional english sausage (so good) and an apple and cinnamon crepe (rather average really). Ooh, and a Belgian hot chocolate, made from a chocolate fountain and something else that was nice and creamy and staved off the freezing to death for at least an hour.

Oh, and I finally bought some things at the markets: a terrorist scarf, because I had a feeling I wasn't dressed warmly enough.

Then to the movie, "The Good, The Bad, The Weird". It was awesome, a little gruesome, but I've come to expect that from the few Korean films that are exported to the rest of the world, and aside from a serious lack of female characters (which I expected from a western, but was vaguely hoping they'd subvert) I thought it was definitely worth the time in the cold.

Basically, it's the tale of a treasure map, and the people who will fight to get a hold of it and the treasure it points to. I'm not really sure I got the historical context for the film (they were in Manchuria, which was occupied by Japan, but all the named characters were Korean expats (and clearly feeling 'han' (okay, what is the correct way to use a foreign word for a feeling of sad quiet nostalgia in a sentence? (and where did all these parentheses come from and have I closed them all?)))

The best bit was when about three quarters of the way through I gave in to temptation and thought, "this feels so very Quentin Tarantino, I bet the director's a fan." At that moment, the Kill Bill remix of "Don't let me be misunderstood" kicked in and I couldn't help but laugh, despite it being a very serious moment in the film (an awesome shootout was about to begin).

And in the end, many hundreds of people (and horses!) had been shot, the treasure located (and unappreciated by its finders) and those that made it through went on with their lives. I was very satisfied and wouldn't mind seeing it again with anyone reading this who wants to watch a western with me sometime.

Labels: korea, london, lonely-Cat, movies, the good the bad the weird, trip09

Hey you lot...

I'm exhausted after several days conferencing, but I'm going down to London tomorrow and I'll not be back for a week or more. I don't know what my connectivity will be like, so don't panic if you don't hear from me again until the 21st of September.

I've got my phone if anyone needs me.

And any suggestions for fun things to do will be appreciated.

Labels: conferences, england, london, losing sleep, trip09

When I grow up...

I want to be the Master of Trinity College.

Oh blog, not only did we have drinks in the Master's garden, but then we were allowed to explore the Lodge proper and gaze upon the bookshelves (full of books bequeathed by Masters past) and the portraits, and lounge in his sitting room and dream of playing the piano in his music room and then, best of all, he let us into his office. So many books and desks that have been worked upon by some of the greatest minds in their fields...

I think my favourite thing was the portrait of Elizabeth I in the music room, actually. She's beautiful, and I could have gazed upon her all night long. But he threw us out eventually, as he had to go and wish the Choir luck upon their upcoming tour.

Labels: cambridge, trip09

Hmm...

Realised this evening that I've been in Cambridge three weeks and only visited two of the 31 colleges so far (well, three I suppose, but I wasn't staying on the main campus of Girton). Now I'm feeling slack.

(And to be fair, I've cut across St John's a few times on my way into town when feeling brave enough to face the porters, but again, I haven't really explored.)

Fortunately, tomorrow night the conference I'm skipping my vacation for is hosting a welcome reception in the Master's Lodge at Trinity. Not that I'm excited and gloating or anything.

Labels: cambridge, exploring, holiday, trip09, uni

Party Time!

Today I emailled the boss a more or less "complete" draft of a thesis chapter. For all that it's chapter two, this is the first time I've actually sent him something for this project (honours was 5.5 years ago now, it hardly counts), so I'm a little terrified, but he replied back with a promise that "[he's] looking forward to making comments ranging from the bleeding obvious to the sublime", so I'm going to hope for the best and celebrate the achievement that saw me working all long weekend and not regretting a second of it.

Said celebration has taken the form of a visit to my favourite restaurant here in Cambridge, where I had a delicious Latvian potato bake, a beer, and dessert has just been delivered. I think I may have earned it.

I take it back. I don't even know what one could to earn this - it's simply indulgent and not even the long walk back to my b&b in the rain will see me deserve this kind of deliciousness.

Chocolate Wake-Up Cake, from the Rainbow Cafe.

Labels: cake, death by chocolate, england, phd, science, thesis ftw, trip09

Oh poo...

Yesterday, when I skipped lunch, everyone else got to see Professor Hawking in the cafeteria.

Labels: cambridge, physics, science, trip09

and a beer (Bombardier) as well...

I had pigeon for dinner tonight.

I'm not sure what I can add to that, other than I love England.

Oh, I know: The Isaac Newton Institute has blackboards in the bathrooms just in case the theorists can't hold it in until they make it back to their offices.

Labels: england, isaac newton institute, pigeon, trip09

Ah, Rio...

I think I'll miss you. But before I leave, I must swim at the beach. *grins*

Catch you guys in England.

Labels: beach, conferences, holiday, rio de janeiro, trip09

Explorations in Brazilian television...

Good evening all.

I'm sitting in my hotel room while most everyone else is at the $200R conference banquet. What this means for you is a running commentary of Brazilian soap operas, because they are awesome. Sadly, I don't know what this program even is, but it's fantastic. First they were doing a "who's the father of the baby?" scenario (the poor actress is about to explode), and now there's a chimpanzee running around some person's house, scaring off burglars and playing with his feet in a tin of paint. I don't get it at all.

HOLY CRAP! The supposed father/boyfriend and the best friend were just walked in on by the expectant mother (I actually thought her friends were driving her to the hospital, but no, they were just giving her a lift home), who is about to go nuts with a broom on them. And now the credits are rolling. :(

Now I know I have to be back by 8pm tomorrow night to watch what happens next, because damn you guys, soap operas are addictive when you don't speak the language. And I know the title, "caras and bocas", which now must be googled. (Ed: And it has, but only in Portuguese, damn it.)

In actual news, there's some big scandal going down where a tv personality / reporter has been arrested and is in huge trouble because it seems he's been manipulating the news to the point where he organised killings so he could be the first on the scene to report them. OMG, Brazil!

Labels: lonely-Cat, missing you, rio de janeiro, television, trip09

Ten things I love about Rio...

I kinda feel like I've been very down on the place, when actually I'm having a great time. So here's a list of things I love about Rio, in no particular order:

• the beaches. They're full of vendors selling stuff, but they are also sandy and wet with pretty waves that curl over wonderfully. In the sun you don't notice the humidity, and in the shade you don't feel the heat.
• the games they play on the beaches. People play all sorts of sports, mostly volleyball and soccer. Sometimes they play both at once in a hybrid called futevôlei, which is no-hands volleyball. It's so much fun to watch.
• the metro. It's fast and clean and not necessarily cheap, and it gets you were you want to be. It runs every five minutes, so you don't have to wait.
• the kilo restaurants. These are buffets where you fill your plate and pay by weight. If you like salad it's cheap, and if you live only on meats it's a bit pricey. The big chains are around $35-45/kg, but smaller local places are around $25/kg. The food is good at the cheaper ones, there's just often less choice.
• Bob's burgers.
• the surf rescue helicopter. They were doing exercises on Tuesday, and it was the most fun thing ever. The guys on board kept jumping into the water from a height, and then the helicopter would catch them in a net, or a harness, or just by hovering over the water until they grab on. Traffic stopped to watch.
• Capirinhas. Crushed lime, sugar, and a local liquor made from sugar cane (it tastes a little like rum). Most people use cheap cachaça ($5/L), but it's drinkable. (For the record, a stella artois costs about $1.79 and the cheap local beer is $0.89/can in the supermarkets.)
• Christos. I've still not been to see him yet, as with only one exception all my free days have been cloudy. But you often spot him over your shoulder, just hanging out up there.
• the temperature. Aside from the humidity (hello boofy hair), I could get used to 27^oC days in winter. I didn't bring enough summer clothes though.
• the markets. They're silly tourist traps, but they're good fun and a perfect source of tacky souveniers for the people back home.

Labels: holiday, rio de janeiro, trip09, yay vodka

Space Frosting...

So, a blog, eh?

Well, I suppose I promised. So, I’ve had a day of conferencing, and several days on the beach, and I’m coming to the conclusion that Rio is a bit of a rip off, mainly because people don’t give you the right change when you go for food. This has happened twice now, and I’m really bummed about it. Yes, I’m stupid for not paying enough attention and not realising until it is much too late, but it’s not nice to take advantage of my jetlag like that. Stupid paper money that all looks the same. I’ll be on my guard from now on.

Anyway, I’m still under budget, so that’s okay. Worse, I bought a loaf of bread and will pack some vegemite sandwiches tomorrow. *grins* But I must be sure not to turn a profit on the trip, because that wouldn’t be nice for the boss.

So I’m thoroughly jetlagged. I got myself sorted so I was able to stay awake until a reasonable hour, but now I’m waking up at 3am, and by about 7pm I’m so very dead it’s no wonder the restaurant people can rip me off. This morning I made it back to sleep around 5am and it was the most wonderful thing in the world.

Yesterday I went to Ipanema, as there were some markets there that certain parties wanted to see. They were alright; I managed to pick up birthday presents for the people back home, and a few more small things for the family. Ipanema is more of a surf beach than Copacabana, at least in the winter, and the water was full of young people taking their turns on perfectly curled waves.

I love the beaches here, and wish I could go swimming as I think it would be nice (after the first moment of OMG WINTER SWIMMING AIEEE!). There’s something perfect about sitting in the shade of a palm tree, drinking out of a nice ripe coconut and watching the pretty young men play volleyball or soccer. It’s just wonderful.

The conference started today, so there goes my next two weeks. I hope I will have time to do Sugar Loaf and Corcovado this weekend. Otherwise I might have to miss out on some of the official business sessions to get there. Because, you know, it would be a tragedy to miss out on the vote to pass a resolution stating “the IAU members should continue to encourage and support the female astronomers in their communities.” Why can’t they have some controversy on my trip?

Hopefully as time goes on they’ll come up with some sort of interesting thing to vote on. Or at least discuss meaningfully.

***

Think I’m going to skip the politics, as oh my does it sound boring. It’d be okay, but there are at least an hour and a half of speeches before they get to the music and ddancing. And six hours until the drinking. But really, it’s okay.

Went to a fantastic review talk this morning on icy bodies in the solar system, which is the comets and asteroids and space junk out past jupiter (including pluto). It was really good, given by a David Jewitt, who speaks in a manner quite like that of Steve Jobs, and his “powerpoint zen” (keynote really) was fantastic. I think I might get in touch to get his slides, since he had to skip many for time purposes.

So, the next session is starting. Will post more tomorrow.

Labels: astronomy, conferences, rio de janeiro, trip09

Checking in...

Still alive. Have no internet at my hotel, so I can't post from there, but I'll try and write something tonight to post tomorrow. The conference is okay, only nodded off once today (and the boss saw, oh crap!), although they need more coffee stations and food. Oh, and a few more available IP addresses, as I'd rather like to just be able to switch on my internet and have it work.

Labels: astronomy, conferences, rio de janeiro, trip09

Not that I'm bitter or miserable or anything...

The problem with the "always say yes" school of youth hostelling is that sometimes the crowd of people who take you places leave you in a favella (albeit a 'safe' one) without warning at 2:30 am and later state that they looked for you everywhere when you were standing in plain sight by the bar.

Needless to say I'm back safe and sound and will tell the story tomorrow.

Labels: I want to go home now, jazz music, rio de janeiro, trip09

A short blog about Rio...

I don't have a lot of time this morning, as I'm going to go meet up with a new friend (Shari Breen, for those in the astro circle) and take in some of the sights. Or maybe just walk the beach, we haven't decided and neither have any portuguese.

The first thing you notice about Brazil is the smell. A lot of the cars don't seem to have any muffler, or maybe there's something about the fuel they use, but the road is full of smoke and even in the rain (for I've not seen the sun since circling over the airport) does not do much to help. It's not so bad here in Copacabana, I suspect the sea breezes do much to help with that.

The second thing you notice are the Favelas, which I'd heard about but not quite understood until that moment when I saw just how poor those people really are. I'm told that as part of the Olympic bid the authorities are going to try and fix things up, but I'm not sure I trust them not to bulldoze the homes of millions of people in terrible poverty. A number of youth hostels are having a combined party tonight to raise money to redevelop one of the favelas, I might go (if not I'll send a donation with one of the girls who works here). It seems a small drop in a bucket of "this can never be fixed", but who knows, maybe it can. We have to hope.

The third thing I noticed was that Brazilian drivers are even more scary than Sydney Taxis, and that they do the same thing with regards to ignoring lanes. I'm reasonably certain that this craziness is the reason why most of the streets are one way. In an hour of exploring on foot, however, I nearly died only once, so I'm counting that as a good thing.

Anyway, that'll do for now. I'm here, I'm having an okay time, and once I adapt to the climate and the timezone I'm sure it will be even better. I do miss you all.

Labels: holiday, rio de janeiro, trip09

Hola from Montevideo...

About to jump on another flight (oh dear god can we stop soon please?), but I thought I'd see if this wifi really was free and post quickly to give you all my love.

Labels: montevideo, Oh help I dont speak spanish or portuguese, south america, trip09

*yawns*...

Yes, I know it's only 2pm on Wednesday. But it's the second time this Wednesday I've hit 2pm, and I'm not feeling up to blogging in detail. In the meantime, have some photos.

Labels: international date line ftwtf, santiago, trip09

About to run away...

So I thought I'd get off my busy butt and take the time to blog, to tell you all what's going on and make a vague promise to post lots while I'm away (that never ends well, but here we are once more). I'm about to disappear overseas for several months, hooray hooray!

First up, I'm going to Brazil (Rio de Janeiro in particular) for the IAU General Assembly. There's a few days in advance where I'll be crashed in a youth hostel, hopefully catching up on sleep, but also maybe engaging in some Portuguese lessons and a few tours of the city and surrounds. My conference runs from the 3rd to the 14th of August, and I'm flying out on the 15th.

At which point I'm going to Cambridge. As in the university. As in, SQUEE! I'll be attending a workshop at the Isaac Newton Institute from the 16th to 22nd of August, staying at Wolfson Court.

After that I'm staying on at the Institute as a student/affiliated participant of the Dynamics of Discs and Planets Programme, save for two weeks (5th - 20th September-ish) when I'm going to London for some sightseeing. I don't have my accommodation sorted yet, but I'm hoping it'll be organised by tomorrow.

And then on the 17th of October I head back to Heathrow to fly home. *snores* So I'll likely be busy (I want to get several chapters of my thesis and a paper written), and I'll be exhausted, but I'll hopefully be able to get online enough to keep this place in a better state of update than I've managed so far this year.

The short version, for anyone who couldn't be bothered reading:

• 29/7/09 - QF321 Sydney to Santiago
• 30/7/09 - PU402 Santiago to Montevideo
• 30/7/09 - PU222 Montevideo to Rio de Janeiro
• 15/8/09 - JJ8084 Rio de Janeiro to London
• 17/10/09 - BA15 London to Sydney

And just randomly for sticking with me so far, a link I've been hanging on to forever: The Cute Cat Theory of the Internet.

Labels: Brazil, Cats, conferences, holiday, itinerary, Newton Institute, the internet is for porn, trip09