Sunny Days
Buenas Dias Amigos,
I've decided to shift from the profound to the poignent; it was a sunny day today, and after a hellish 2 weeks of work, teaching, more work and no benders, I took the day off, tested out my shiny new espresso maker (given the ungodly quantity of coffee consumed by yours truly, I figured that even with the expense of coffee, it will pay for itself in 20 days) and layed around in my sun filled lounge overlooking the docklands. And, for those of you wondering, yes, you can get sunburned through a window, even in England...cool. The best part about tanning inside with all the flatmates at work is that tan-lines are a non-existant threat, but despite my nudity, I still have indelible burns from my years on the bike--that's pretty cool too.
Not much to report really. I've read everyone's email and am working through it slowly, mainly because my train ride is the email period, and since my move, it's only about an hour total. Though, buy me a crackberry, and I might respond faster.
I've managed to make vast in-roads both in the research part of my work in that I'm actually doing field work and also in the theoretical bit. I won't bore anyone with that nonesense; I'm convinced that socio-geographic theory is written inaccessably as a mechanism to maintain the regimented power-relations of the academea. As far as research goes, I met the head sommelier for a large wine firm (a french dude with a geography degree, go figure), and besides him getting me some kick ass wine, he's been invaluable in the contact department for that segement of one of my projects--again, I won't go into detail: ask, and I'll email my proposal or something. Oh and I've also cracked Foucault's code in his writting...it's all gibberish, and he's still a paranoid sado-masochist but with cool hair. If I'm ever a renowned social critique, I'm shaving my head too, though bondage still probably won't interest me that much.
Let's see, what else. I've been asked to develope a masters level course for GIS instruction. No big deal really, but it quadruples my hourly rate from PhD student pittence to lecturer bling bling (damn it feels good to be a gangsta). Once I develope the curricula, I'm going to Nice. It may not be the Keys (Adam), but the effect will be the same, and I promise I will match and exceed your vacation-training numbers.
Oh, I cooked a dinner party on Saturday. That was fun; I even managed to make it vegetarian for those of non-meat eating cretans--it's okay though, I had fois gras on Sunday for lunch to make up for it. The best part about having mad skills in a kitchen is what it does for your social life, not only being asked to cook at other parties, but once it's known you can cook well in this country, you might as well be rolling a 64 impala, making the ass drop, smoking the indo, sipping on gin and juice, etc.
Well, I should go. This gibberish is just as incoherant in my head as it is on the screen. hope all's well in North America. Caught the state of the union talk...the US is addicted to foriegn oil? Go figure. Anyway, that's a whole new rant.
take it easy, thank for reading (if anyone still does) and keep it high and hard,
Ben
I've decided to shift from the profound to the poignent; it was a sunny day today, and after a hellish 2 weeks of work, teaching, more work and no benders, I took the day off, tested out my shiny new espresso maker (given the ungodly quantity of coffee consumed by yours truly, I figured that even with the expense of coffee, it will pay for itself in 20 days) and layed around in my sun filled lounge overlooking the docklands. And, for those of you wondering, yes, you can get sunburned through a window, even in England...cool. The best part about tanning inside with all the flatmates at work is that tan-lines are a non-existant threat, but despite my nudity, I still have indelible burns from my years on the bike--that's pretty cool too.
Not much to report really. I've read everyone's email and am working through it slowly, mainly because my train ride is the email period, and since my move, it's only about an hour total. Though, buy me a crackberry, and I might respond faster.
I've managed to make vast in-roads both in the research part of my work in that I'm actually doing field work and also in the theoretical bit. I won't bore anyone with that nonesense; I'm convinced that socio-geographic theory is written inaccessably as a mechanism to maintain the regimented power-relations of the academea. As far as research goes, I met the head sommelier for a large wine firm (a french dude with a geography degree, go figure), and besides him getting me some kick ass wine, he's been invaluable in the contact department for that segement of one of my projects--again, I won't go into detail: ask, and I'll email my proposal or something. Oh and I've also cracked Foucault's code in his writting...it's all gibberish, and he's still a paranoid sado-masochist but with cool hair. If I'm ever a renowned social critique, I'm shaving my head too, though bondage still probably won't interest me that much.
Let's see, what else. I've been asked to develope a masters level course for GIS instruction. No big deal really, but it quadruples my hourly rate from PhD student pittence to lecturer bling bling (damn it feels good to be a gangsta). Once I develope the curricula, I'm going to Nice. It may not be the Keys (Adam), but the effect will be the same, and I promise I will match and exceed your vacation-training numbers.
Oh, I cooked a dinner party on Saturday. That was fun; I even managed to make it vegetarian for those of non-meat eating cretans--it's okay though, I had fois gras on Sunday for lunch to make up for it. The best part about having mad skills in a kitchen is what it does for your social life, not only being asked to cook at other parties, but once it's known you can cook well in this country, you might as well be rolling a 64 impala, making the ass drop, smoking the indo, sipping on gin and juice, etc.
Well, I should go. This gibberish is just as incoherant in my head as it is on the screen. hope all's well in North America. Caught the state of the union talk...the US is addicted to foriegn oil? Go figure. Anyway, that's a whole new rant.
take it easy, thank for reading (if anyone still does) and keep it high and hard,
Ben
posted by Ben-in-UK at 4:47 PM
2 comments
