On Saturday we went to the wedding of yet another of my Uni friends. This time the wedding was held in Bangor, Gwynedd (as opposed to N Ireland). It was a really lovely service. Saw lots of old friends, which is always good. I hadn't seen some of them for about 5 years! No one has really changed very much, which is not really a surprise! Everyone seems to be doing ok. The good thing is that we can pick up where we left off, even though we haven't seen one another for a while. I was reminded how much I love certain people and why this is so.
We had a twmpath/ceilidh/barn dance in the evening, which was fun. I was a bit reluctant to dance, especially as I had on shoes that were too big for me and thought they might fall off. However, the shoes stayed on and I was glad I danced.
It was good to see the old place again - memories on every corner though - good mainly, a few poignant ones as well. It felt like going home really - I was quite sad on Sunday when we left.
The town centre of Bangor is not particularly pretty, apart from the cathedral area, but the surrounding area more than makes up for it. Some beautiful countryside, mountain (it's really near Snowdonia) and sea views. Will try to post some pictures at some point. Meanwhile, you can link to the University website here.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Fruhe Ostern
I still have to try not to think about Van Tassel, otherwise I start feeling angry...
In other news, we are my parents' house for the Easter weekend. We came up yesterday, and went to see my aunt, uncle cousins and small second cousin to show them the wedding photos. We had a good catching up session. Hadn't spoken to my older cousin for ages, so it was goo to have a proper chat- as much as we could do with a four-year-old wanting us to play with her at the same time! I had to protect the ducks' food by knocking over the horse with a marble. Very important work.
Mr C's mum is over in the UK at the moment, so she stayed with us on Thursday night, and is now staying in Nottingham with A's sister. We went over there today and ate food and played 'Articulate', which was fun. Also played Chinese snap, which I hadn't played (or heard of) before - it's 'like normal snap with more rules'. You have to have really quick reflexes.
We're clearing out my room at the moment (not right at this moment obviously) to prepare to take the remainder of my stuff down to our house on Monday. We're leaving quite a lot behind to be sorted/kept/given away/thrown out by mum, but there is still lots of stuff (especially books) to be fitted into our small house. I think a lot of it will go in the attic. We're acquiring a new bookcase into the bargain, which is just as well as our current one is overflowing already. This evening we started sorting through all my old letters. It was interesting, but quite sad in a way. Lots of people I don't really keep in touch with any more. I should make more effort. The letters are currently kept in a cardboard sheep, which I would like to keep, but not sure where. I am optimistically thinking he could go in the spare room, but not sure how realistic that is. We're going to move the desk from the bedroom into the spare room, swapping it with the chest of drawers, in an effort to make the bedroom more bedroomy and the spare room more officey. We'll have to see how it goes and how well things fit in.
In other news, we are my parents' house for the Easter weekend. We came up yesterday, and went to see my aunt, uncle cousins and small second cousin to show them the wedding photos. We had a good catching up session. Hadn't spoken to my older cousin for ages, so it was goo to have a proper chat- as much as we could do with a four-year-old wanting us to play with her at the same time! I had to protect the ducks' food by knocking over the horse with a marble. Very important work.
Mr C's mum is over in the UK at the moment, so she stayed with us on Thursday night, and is now staying in Nottingham with A's sister. We went over there today and ate food and played 'Articulate', which was fun. Also played Chinese snap, which I hadn't played (or heard of) before - it's 'like normal snap with more rules'. You have to have really quick reflexes.
We're clearing out my room at the moment (not right at this moment obviously) to prepare to take the remainder of my stuff down to our house on Monday. We're leaving quite a lot behind to be sorted/kept/given away/thrown out by mum, but there is still lots of stuff (especially books) to be fitted into our small house. I think a lot of it will go in the attic. We're acquiring a new bookcase into the bargain, which is just as well as our current one is overflowing already. This evening we started sorting through all my old letters. It was interesting, but quite sad in a way. Lots of people I don't really keep in touch with any more. I should make more effort. The letters are currently kept in a cardboard sheep, which I would like to keep, but not sure where. I am optimistically thinking he could go in the spare room, but not sure how realistic that is. We're going to move the desk from the bedroom into the spare room, swapping it with the chest of drawers, in an effort to make the bedroom more bedroomy and the spare room more officey. We'll have to see how it goes and how well things fit in.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
What about what she wanted? If you don't want to know what happens in All He Ever Wanted, by Anita Shreve, please do not read!
As avid readers of my blog will know, I'm currently reading All he ever wanted, by Anita Shreve.
...and now I've finished it.
I don't think I have ever felt so disgusted by a protagonist in a book before. Van Tassel is a man of such self-deceit, such insiduous evil, that I'm going to have to give the book away rather than have him in my house for too long. His numerous episodes of hypocrisy, deceit and manipulation degrade his moral character and increase in ruthlessness, cruelty and brutality as his tale unfolds.
His wife is caged by her circumstances. It is 1899 when they marry, and her choice is stark: either become the near-servant of her sister and brother in law, or become the wife of a man she doesn't love and never will. She agrees to the marriage because she thinks she will then at least have the 'freedom' to run her own household and bring up children. In the end, however, Van Tassel's jealousy and desire to possess her entirely meant that she is not able to partake of even the small spaces of liberty she starts to create for herself.
The prejudices and attitudes of the time (1899-1933, with the main story set between 1899-1914 (?)) are well in evidence, played out particularly through the the character of Van Tassel. He is misogynistic and racist, although his attempts at corruption through racism are countered (however, he eventually brings about the downfall of his 'enemy' by corrupting his own daughter). The hypocrisy evident in Van Tassel is all too reminiscent of the society of the time, when it was perfectly acceptable for a man to have had previous lovers or even been with prostitutes, but not for a woman to have been anywhere near a man, to name but one example.
The most disturbing feature of Van Tassel's particular evil is that he himself seems to be so full of self-deceit that he seriously believes that, most of the time, he is the wronged party. As a person, a man, of his time this is perhaps somewhat understandable. However, the way he twists perceived wounds (mainly in his own mind, caused by his own jealous and possessive nature) to defend his dispicable actions is sickening. A truly repellent man.
Fly away Etna, fly away...
...and now I've finished it.
I don't think I have ever felt so disgusted by a protagonist in a book before. Van Tassel is a man of such self-deceit, such insiduous evil, that I'm going to have to give the book away rather than have him in my house for too long. His numerous episodes of hypocrisy, deceit and manipulation degrade his moral character and increase in ruthlessness, cruelty and brutality as his tale unfolds.
His wife is caged by her circumstances. It is 1899 when they marry, and her choice is stark: either become the near-servant of her sister and brother in law, or become the wife of a man she doesn't love and never will. She agrees to the marriage because she thinks she will then at least have the 'freedom' to run her own household and bring up children. In the end, however, Van Tassel's jealousy and desire to possess her entirely meant that she is not able to partake of even the small spaces of liberty she starts to create for herself.
The prejudices and attitudes of the time (1899-1933, with the main story set between 1899-1914 (?)) are well in evidence, played out particularly through the the character of Van Tassel. He is misogynistic and racist, although his attempts at corruption through racism are countered (however, he eventually brings about the downfall of his 'enemy' by corrupting his own daughter). The hypocrisy evident in Van Tassel is all too reminiscent of the society of the time, when it was perfectly acceptable for a man to have had previous lovers or even been with prostitutes, but not for a woman to have been anywhere near a man, to name but one example.
The most disturbing feature of Van Tassel's particular evil is that he himself seems to be so full of self-deceit that he seriously believes that, most of the time, he is the wronged party. As a person, a man, of his time this is perhaps somewhat understandable. However, the way he twists perceived wounds (mainly in his own mind, caused by his own jealous and possessive nature) to defend his dispicable actions is sickening. A truly repellent man.
Fly away Etna, fly away...
Monday, April 10, 2006
A birthday party
We had a surprise 60th birthday party for my aunt this weekend. Saw lots of relatives we hadn't seen for a while. My uncle and cousin had done loads of organisation, and she had no idea so many people (about 45) were coming. Somehow we all fitted into my uncle and aunt's house, and it wasn't too squishy. Got some more information about the family tree from one of dad's cousins, so I will have to jot that down before I forget it.
This is George, my uncle and aunt's cat. He enjoyed the party whilst sleeping upstairs. He particularly liked the piece of leftover turkey he ate afterwards.
Had the day off today, as we had to get back from mum and dad's, so that's been nice. Haven't really done anything exciting, just some washing, cooking and surfing (the net). It's been a nice rest though.
I've had some comments about my article for h2g2, mainly ok with some suggestions for improvement. I've implemented most of the suggestions, apart from one, because I need to find out how to do something first.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Article update
I eventually finished the 'comment' article I was writing for the CILIP Gazette. I really couldn't decide what to write. I had several germs of ideas, but nothing really meaty. In the end I did manage to get together 350 or so words on the image of librarians, but I wasn't convinced it was any good, and very nearly didn't send it in. Happily, the lady who asked people to contribute disagreed and thought it was good. She said she would use it in a future issue, once the Gazette has been relaunched, which is happening in June. So, I'm glad I sent it in now!
I have also finished my article on PCD for h2g2 (see previous post). I have sent it in for Peer Review, and am nervously awaiting comments...
I have also finished my article on PCD for h2g2 (see previous post). I have sent it in for Peer Review, and am nervously awaiting comments...
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Who are you?
How well do we actually know our work colleagues? It occured to me today that there is a kind of filter through which we see our colleagues, which they put in place and which we in turn put in place to filter their view of us.
I suppose that, to some extent, this is true of all forms of social interaction, but I think it's truer still of colleagues, because (usually) you only get to see them in one sphere of their lives. 'Work' is a very rigid environment, with lots of rules and expected behaviours and patterns of interaction. There are boundaries on what you can talk about with colleagues, and boundaries on how close you can get (socially and physically) to them (unless you develop a relationship/friendship with them outside of work, but that's a different sphere). It seems something of a shame sometimes, because I think some colleagues would make excellent friends (although they may not feel the same about me).
But anyway, the filter...
People at work, can, to some extent, choose how they present themselves, in terms both of their physical appearance and the information they choose to reveal about themselves. It's kind of like a blog or personal website really - somewhere you can potentially let people see just the 'good' aspects of yourself and handily omit the less attractive ones.
In reality, this only works to a certain extent in the work situation, because people's personalities are quite diffiult to hide, unless they have some sort of pathological disorder (?), or they have particularly insensitive or unobservant colleagues.
In some places, where there isn't much interaction between colleagues I expect you could pretty much hide your entire true personality, maybe your entire life outside of work, from your fellow workers.
I suppose that, to some extent, this is true of all forms of social interaction, but I think it's truer still of colleagues, because (usually) you only get to see them in one sphere of their lives. 'Work' is a very rigid environment, with lots of rules and expected behaviours and patterns of interaction. There are boundaries on what you can talk about with colleagues, and boundaries on how close you can get (socially and physically) to them (unless you develop a relationship/friendship with them outside of work, but that's a different sphere). It seems something of a shame sometimes, because I think some colleagues would make excellent friends (although they may not feel the same about me).
But anyway, the filter...
People at work, can, to some extent, choose how they present themselves, in terms both of their physical appearance and the information they choose to reveal about themselves. It's kind of like a blog or personal website really - somewhere you can potentially let people see just the 'good' aspects of yourself and handily omit the less attractive ones.
In reality, this only works to a certain extent in the work situation, because people's personalities are quite diffiult to hide, unless they have some sort of pathological disorder (?), or they have particularly insensitive or unobservant colleagues.
In some places, where there isn't much interaction between colleagues I expect you could pretty much hide your entire true personality, maybe your entire life outside of work, from your fellow workers.
Monday, April 03, 2006
At the Zoo: Simon and Garfunkel
Someone told me
It’s all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it, I do believe it’s true.
It’s a light and tumble journey
From the east side to the park;
Just a fine and fancy ramble
To the zoo.
But you can take the crosstown bus
If it’s raining or it’s cold,
And the animals will love it
If you do.
Somethin’ tells me
It’s all happening at the zoo.
The monkeys stand for honesty,
Giraffes are insincere,
And the elephants are kindly but
They’re dumb.
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages,
And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.
Zebras are reactionaries,
Antelopes are missionaries,
Pigeons plot in secrecy,
And hamsters turn on frequently.
What a gas! you gotta come and see
At the zoo.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
PCD
I'm writing an entry for h2g2 about Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia. It will appear on the blog when I've finished. I still haven't started the CILIP Gazette article. The vicar wants me to write an article about the new library at church for the church magazine. So, articles all round! (If I ever get round to writing any of them!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
