Sarah’s Blog

In the last 14 days I’ve spent 3 of them at home.  It’s nice to be back.

I’ve travelled at least 2500 miles, camped in two different camp sites, been soaking wet, sunburned, windswept, been on four planes and in three airports, stayed in a hotel, and had a great fortnight.

Highlights:

• Soul Survivor was awesome.  Just superb.  Plus our patching of the mess tent held up.  Phew.
• I didn’t melt while giving my talk at Peroxidase 2008 and also learned so much and am all enthusiastic about my work again.
• Family camp was great.  I loved going there, hanging out with people in a non-youth-worker context and wish we could have stayed longer.

Lowlights:

• Being soaked continually at Soul Survivor wasn’t so great.
• Also, the flies were less fun too.
• Suffered a major sense of humour failure when I realised I’d lugged my laptop all the way to Finland only to realise that the power lead was on the floor in my living room.  But then had to suck it up and go and socialise on an island full of people I didn’t know (surprisingly difficult when lonely, hormonal and feeling a bit poo).  Eventually cheered up, but mobile phone bill may be quite large this month.
• Leaving Family Camp as have to go to work tomorrow (Rob too).

Here’s my entry for Henry’s colouring competition. Had to put it on here because I don’t have a bucket of photos or anything.

So Stu has updated his list… I thought I’d start mine

The game is that you bold the ones you’ve done. Feel free to join in!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea (if this means the lightning storm was at sea then yes, if it means I was at sea then no!)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa (now closed to the public)
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper (NAPPY!)
21. Taken a trip on a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Got drunk on champagne (ugh, no)
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken for longer than when you were in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero (what, you mean I’m *not* a superhero?)
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day (yes, but only whilst ill, I’m really not good at that!)
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites (Does Fishbourne Roman Villa count?)
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (No! Why would you…)
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand (no, never would)
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (I wouldn’t call it fluent)
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over (Just to start over… no)
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication (they’re not published yet)
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart - oh yes… when he found out I’d met a girlfriend.
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone (several, though not simultaneously)
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (here!)
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school (I haven’t left yet…)
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions (haven’t had any to go to yet I don’t think!)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair (does Woodingdean Carnival count?)
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s life

AOJ claimed that this Fun Monday was easy… Hmm! I have so many favourite photographs to choose from that I really struggled to pick one. So instead I’ll show you a few, I’m sure I’m not the only one who will! Check out everyone else’s FM posts via AOJ
Show me your favourite photograph and tell me why it’s your favourite.

It can be one you’ve taken yourself or one someone else has taken, a snapshot or a more professional image. Is there a story behind it? Do you love it for the memories it gives or just because it’s pleasing to the eye?

I love this photo because it represents three years of really hard work and dedication, both by me actually doing the degree and mainly by Rob putting up with me through it all - from dealing with me going away to uni in the first year before we were married and then him transplanting his life down the coast when we got married. And then being solid and secure and always loving when I was stressed with lectures, coursework and finals.

And then when I entirely changed my mind about what I wanted to do he didn’t mind too much!

This next photo again represents perseverance and no small amount of insanity! My youth group took part in an event called Slum Survivor in October 2007 - we built and lived in our own slum for a weekend to raise money and awareness of the 1/6 of the world’s population that live in slums. We were allowed 4 meals of rice and dahl over the 48 hours and slept in the wind and rain under the tarpaulin covered slum (behind us in the pic). Brilliant experience!

This was the last day, just before we had to pack up.

And finally I love my husband’s photography. His Flickr gallery is here where there’s some great photography and some silly pictures of our cat. We have a lot of his photos around our home. From where I’m sat I can see a couple of his photos from our honeymoon and an earlier trip to London and photos of the nearby beach and harbour.

In our bedroom we have this amazing photo he took on a walk in the New Forest one Christmas holiday. I think that this one is my favourite photo.

Not that I necessarily agree/disagree with any of their summary statements, but it’s kinda interesting. Perhaps Rob would be the better one to judge!

If you want to play, check out MindMedia

Your Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 43%
Visual : 56%
Left : 58%
Right : 41%

Sarah, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant and show a preference for visual learning, although not extreme in either characteristic. You probably tend to do most things in moderation, but not always.

Your left-hemisphere dominance implies that your learning style is organized and structured, detail oriented and logical. Your visual preference, though, has you seeking stimulation and multiple data. Such an outlook can overwhelm structure and logic and create an almost continuous state of uncertainty and agitation. You may well suffer a feeling of continually trying to “catch up” with yourself.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor. You can “size up” situations and take in information rapidly. However, you must then subject that data to being classified and organized which causes you to “lose touch” with the immediacy of the problem.

Your logical and methodical nature hamper you in this regard though in the long run it may work to your advantage since you “learn from experience” and can go through the process more rapidly on subsequent occasions.

You remain predominantly functional in your orientation and practical. Abstraction and theory are secondary to application. In keeping with this, you focus on details until they manifest themselves in a unique pattern and only then work with the “larger whole.”

With regards to your career choices, you have a mentality that would be good as a scientist, coach, athlete, design consultant, or an engineering technician. You can “see where you want to go” and even be able to “tell yourself,” but find that you are “fighting yourself” at the darndest times.

I do not want:

• An online profile where I can upload an avatar.
• A forum community where 11 year olds tell me about how much they love Harry Potter (it’s fine that they do, I do too, but I don’t need them to tell me about it).
• The ability to write blog posts to attach to my online profile.
• Tiny writing in my “profile” that after 10 minutes of searching allows me to find my order history.
• Them not to tell me that it’s going to take 6 months for them to ship the book that I want to me because it’s being reprinted.
• A wishlist. If people want to buy me books they can ask.
• To know they won the booksellers retailer of the year award 2007 when they are failing to deliver on my order and not telling me about it.

I do want:

• The ability to easily and quickly order books online.
• Them to be dispatched quickly, or tangible timescales if my order is delayed.
• To track my order history easily.
• Free postage.
• A site that doesn’t whizz all over the place.

Sorry Borders. You lose.

Amazon is still the online winner for me. (Though I would still prefer to visit a bookshop that distorts time and space in the way of L-space, unfortunately those are becoming an ever difficult species to find, and the intermerweb is right here in front of me and doesn’t require parking in Brighton on a Saturday.)

Irish Coffeehouse set our Fun Monday assignment for this week and boy it’s a good ‘un

Careers- Then and Now

THEN: As a child day dreaming of what your future would hold for you, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you ever pursue or achieve it?

NOW: If you could be trained and placed in any career beginning tomorrow, what would it be?

THEN: I went through all the usual “I want to be a …” when I was little, but got fairly fixed on the “I want to be a vet” when I was about 12 or 13 I think.

I got good grades through secondary school (11-16 yrs old) and then went on to college (16-18) doing biology, chemistry, maths and English, all of which would set me in good stead for a degree in Veterinary Medicine.  Unfortunately the competition for VetMed degrees is ridiculously high and realistically you have to be entirely brilliant.

I wasn’t.

A combination of being a bit lazy and meeting my now husband (just as I was finishing secondary school) and really preferring to spend time with him rather than doing any work.  Which meant that I didn’t do as well as I wanted to at college.  Still came out with four A levels but instead of the four A grades needed for VetMed I ended up with two B’s and two C’s.

In the end I ended up at my last choice of university (you had to pick six at the time and only four of them could be Vet schools, then you had two other choices for when you didn’t get picked for VetMed) and I haven’t regretted it at all.  I bucked up my attitude and worked hard through my degree to end up with a good degree from a good university.  So good that when I got the chance to do a PhD here I said yes and am staying for another 3-4 years.  So in the end I’ll still get to be Dr Sarah but it’ll be a different kind of Dr.  When I finish my PhD I plan to stay on in scientific research, though who knows what I’ll be doing or where.

NOW:  This one is much more of a toughie!  Particularly as I really do like my current career path!!

I think if I could choose anything then I’d quite like to be some kind of somebody who works with restoring old houses for the National Trust or somesuch.  The idea of researching periods in history and then recreating the furnishings and decorations of the time really appeals to me.  But then I would also want to be able to dress up (see, still a kid!) in period costume and show people round the houses that I had rennovated.  I think that would be great fun.  I’ve learned that, although I really enjoy research, I am quite a people person and love explaining things to people.  I think a combination of restoration and historical storytelling would be a great job.

And then if I’d worked on restoring an old manor house or castle or something we could hold a jousting tournament in the grounds!

Now you’ve read my Then & Now please head over to Irish Coffeehouse to check out all the other Fun Monday participants

This sums up our bag of fat cat.  And is my new favourite YouTube clip, even surpassing the sneezing baby pandas.

This is a silly meme, but I’m feeling silly this morning and am waiting for the flasks to go through the washer before doing constructive things.
I’m tired of: people using up stuff in the lab (or using all but a tiny bit left) and not replacing it, or telling anyone else.

I am listening to: a fridge making some really concerning noises.  It sounds like a far off fireworks display.

Maybe I should: go down to the cafe and buy some milk

I wish: my neck didn’t hurt, it’s quite annoying.

Chocolate is: better without mint.

I have lost my respect for: the vice chancellor

I last ate: grapes

The meaning of my display name is: it’s my name… It means “princess” in Hebrew.

Right now I’m craving: a cup of tea.

Someday: my house will tidy itself.

Love is: a cuddle from my husband when I’m feeling rubbish.

MySpace is: so last year.

Today: I need to do some work.

Tomorrow: I need to do more work.

I get annoyed: when people say they’re going to do something and then don’t.

Parties: that I go to are more like groups of friends hanging out.

QUESTIONS:

Is your mobile phone right by you? It’s in my bag under the desk.

Are you wearing chapstick? No.

Are you tired? Yes

Are you wearing pajamas? No, that would be weird as I’m at work.

Are you mad? Mad as in irritated?  No.  Mad as in clinically insane?  It could be argued…

Are you upset? No.

FOUR LASTS:

Last beverage? Water in the car on the way to the station.

Last phone call? To Phil to let him know we were on the way to the pub.

Last time you cried? Not too long ago, just frustration I think.

HAVE YOU EVER…

Dated someone twice? No.

Been cheated on? No.

Lost someone close? Not really.

THIS MONTH HAVE YOU…

Made a new friend? Yes.

Fallen out of love? No.

Laughed until you almost cried? Yes.

Is there something you want to tell someone right now? Probably, but not here.

Our cat went off his food earlier this week. Apparently he didn’t feel like eating. Or drinking. Or really doing anything much. But he was quite happy to scratch us when we tried to gently suggest that he drank some water, so we figured he was just having an off day. Then the off day turned to two. He ate a little bit, but not much. On the third day of not eating I called the vet to make an appointment. Since he was still reactive to us and being disgruntled when water was squirted into his mouth I didn’t think it was too urgent so when the vet said they didn’t have any appointments til the next day I accepted that. Then, when we got home, the cat decides that the threat of the vet is too much and starts eating again. Ridiculous mammal. He’s fine now, entirely happy and back outside in the sunshine.

Now on to snails…

One of my friends (who doesn’t have a blog and therefore I felt the need to share this with the world) has a small child, in fact he has two. His son is 4 and a little terror. He is going through a stage in which he draws all over everything and so is not really allowed pencils/pens/crayons without supervision. My friend went into his child’s bedroom where he was (apparently) innocently playing. Alas no. There was a BIG spiral on the wall in crayon.

My friend: WHAT?!? What’s that on the wall?!?!?!

Devil child: It’s a snail Daddy.

My friend: WHY is it on the wall?! You have paper! Paper is for drawing on! Walls are not!

Devil child: (accurately) It was too big for the paper Daddy.

My friend: !!!

And the hamster…

My friend also has a daughter (the Angel Child, 7). She has a hamster. It is now blue. The Devil Child was playing in his room with some cars and my friend was checking on him periodically. My friend returns to find the Devil Child absent from his room. Upon searching he finds the Devil Child in the Angel Child’s room. The Angel Child has one of those hair things that allows one to dye streaks in ones hair of different colours. Unfortunately the Angel Child had left this on her dresser with the blue dye in. The Devil Child had found this, and, not having much hair himself, had decided to try it out on the hamster. The dye apparently takes several washes to wash out. So they now have a confused blue hamster which hasn’t had enough washes yet to wash the dye out.

I’ve tried to persuade my friend to take pictures but as yet none have surfaced.

This strangely reminded me of MMM of simong blogring fame. And why I don’t intend to be a parent. Happy to be an observer though!