philandstuff

04:03 pm: PhDage
Hooray! I've started my imperial PhD!

I'm not sure what to do with myself. I've been reading lots of papers and struggling with various braindead software packages (and various braindead Computer Support Group policies which make my job even harder)... It's quite scary that /I can do more or less whatever I want/. Now the problem is thinking of something to do.

The Graduate School in Engineering and Physical Sciences (GSEPS) reception was yesterday. It was rubbish compared to the life sciences one a week ago where I met m0e_m0e - we were crammed into 1/3 of the dining hall which we could have filled whereas they got to use the snazzy SCR with its armchairs and carpets and things.

I've decided to become fit and healthy and join the orienteering club. With Sonia's help I have acquired my first pair of trainers since before I started uni! Now I can go and run around in forests and zap electronic dibby things. Yay!

I'm off to see a band on Sunday who are interested in recruiting me as a piano player. Unfortunately unless they /really/ impress me I'm not sure I can spare the time and money it would require...

11:47 am: Arrrrrr!
For any scurvy dog who be forgettin':

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

10:44 am: Truck
Truck Festival was as good this year as it was last. A Scholar and a Physician lived up to their geeky performance last year, with a bouncy song called "I'm not normal!" being most memorable. Great mosh pit to Hundred Reasons. ¡Forward Russia! were really good on the main stage - I always approve of female drummers! Captive State were eclectic to say the least - Drums, electric double bass, guitar, keyboard, decks, trumpet, trombone and vocalist. Drug Squad were a crazy mix of american folk with ska. Ralfe Band were just incredible.

Yay for Rotary Club burgers. Yay for ice cream sold by the local vicar to save the church roof. Yay for the disco shed (a garden shed with a couple of DJs playing tunes, complete with lights & smoke). Yay for UCPO people. Yay for bands you've never heard of. Yay for random naked people playing guitar and falling into their own tents. Yay for stupid band names like ":(" (pronounced "Colon Open Bracket"). Not-quite-so-yay for banging my knees in a shopping-trolley related accident. Yay for nervous_testpilot and his choonz and his dances. Yay for staying up into the night talking to random people (and watching them run away once they found out we were a bunch of Cambridge grads). Yay for the Truck stage, the Trailer Park, the Lounge, the Barn That Cannot Be Named, and the Market Stage. Yay for crazy men dressed in bear suits encouraging people to dance. And yay for the ticket price being £40 for the whole thing.

12:36 am: From the people who brought you urban dead...


Yeah so I haven't updated in a while. I'm in Edinburgh, working for xilinx for the summer. It's brilliant fun, but very busy.

news:

• I got my PhD place at imperial! w00000!
  
• It's truck festival next weekend! double w000!
  

Also, went to the Lake District last week with Sonia and Dave and Alison from UCPO. It was a family-holiday-with-friends-too, and it was good getting to know Dave's sister and parents. And hills are brilliant! I felt so much fitter afterwards, thanks largely to Dave and Alison being ever-so-slightly keen rambling society regulars and therefore racing about the fells at a rate of knots.

Also also, juggling club seems to be quite cool here. Hopefully I'll be learning to pass clubs on monday :)

hugs to you all,

Phil

10:05 am: Back!
Happy birthday, Dale!

Well, I'm back from 2 weeks in London. It were well good. Highlights:

• Watching a large mechanical elephant walk along Picadilly
  
• Visiting the House of Commons and seeing someone who might be the tallest MP ever debate UK-Polish relations
  
• Thai pub lunch at the Hobgoblin
  
• Coming last-equal in the Feathers pub quiz (though we got 24/40 and the winners got 29, so we weren't rubbish)
  
• Visiting Cambridge to see all the Catz folk again
  
• Nicking a proper old-man pint jug from Catz bar
  
• Page-turning and listening to Sonia and Matt's lunchtime concert
  
• Being there when Sonia found out she passed the audition to do Advanced Performing next year
  
• The ducks in Regent's Park
  
• Coq au vin
  
• Pork chops
  
• Meeting Wayne Luk to get my PhD app sorted
  
• Hyde Park & the Diana Memorial Fountain
  
• Meeting zoologydragon again & seeing his shiny new camera
  
• Meeting Fan and Dave Heath and catching up with them
  
• Doing the crossword with Son
  
• Probably more that I've forgotten
  

So yeah. Anyone fancy meeting up tomorrow? (I speak like there's more than one person in Glasgow who reads my lj...)

08:03 am: Dresden Dolls
I went to see the Dresden Dolls last night. They were goooooood.

Off to London this morning, for a week or two.

12:02 pm: Okay so it's been a while. Sorry about that.

In the last 6-or-so weeks, I've been working as a street fundraiser (or charity mugger if you prefer). It was a crazy, crazy experience, but great fun. I've learned a lot about me, about other people, and about the world in my short stint doing it.

( University of Life. )

07:29 pm: ( The movie meme )

11:15 pm: Stuff and things
Well it's been an eventful few days.

( Phil as a disgraced Tory MP, and as a charity fundraiser )

11:50 am: The afterlife quiz
( The Afterlife Quiz )

11:29 pm: Woo
Just got back from juggling club. Was trying to learn how to balance on a ladder. Yay!

In other news, I have a job. Starting next week. Collecting signatures on the street for Oxfam. Yay!

05:56 pm: 4 is the word. Wait, what?
( Memes, memes, the musical fruit! )

12:26 am: Yay
Happy Phil.

I've had a productive day. Got a lot done in 2 hours working for my Uncle, fixed my bike up and cycled out to Pollok Park with Stuart. I've set up a deviantART account basically to store my pics so you can see what I've been up to. I'm really pleased with my photos - not one turned out badly. I'm sure this has never happened to me before.

Panorama of Pollok House stables
Bells Bridge
Pollok House
The whole lot

Also found a cool piece of software called hugin for making panorama shots. It's rather nifty :D

In the evening I had a jam with Mike. Found that Paint it Black is incredible to play on the piano - you can get so much noise out of one instrument! Still working on My Favourite Things (inspired by John Coltrane).

Fresh air good. Exercise good. Country air good. Pumped up tyres good. Music good. Life good.

06:45 pm: Okay, another meme
Best. Blonde. Joke. EVAR!

04:29 pm: The "How promiscuous are you test"!
( Read more... )

Okay, that's enough random memes for this month...

11:14 pm: Yay memes!
This is slightly too accurate...

Greed:	Very Low
Gluttony:	Very Low
Wrath:	Very Low
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Very Low
Pride:	Medium

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

06:11 pm: Giving Blood
Thanks to Oliver I went along to the Glasgow blood donation centre and tried to give blood today. I've been meaning to do this for a long time but never gotten around to it...

I felt a little funny when I had the needle in my arm, but not faint or anything. However, the nurse didn't like the look of confusion on my face and so stopped the flow early. I really felt the nurses were overreacting with their treatment with me because I wasn't feeling that bad, but I did start feeling a little faint once I was out of the chair.

I think the lesson to be learned here is *eat a proper lunch*. Must remember that for next time. At least I get to find out my blood group yay :)

07:43 pm: Jobs
Went for a job interview with GIFT today. I didn't get the job, but it made me want to get more interviews so that I can get other jobs. Yay for motivation :)

08:45 pm: Bah
I feel rubbish.

In other news, I have a goatee. I stole it from Adam.

02:13 pm: ( The Random Question Meme! )