Life as a Science

So this is actually it. Tommorrow I get on a plane and leave this city....leave this life. Saying goodbye to my friends tonight was so hard....still in tears. Seeing a back dissapear around a corner has rarely been so hard.

I'll miss you England. You've got some fucked up ways, but I'll really really miss you.
posted by sordaria @ 9:27 PM

I went into London today. I had some work to do at the History of Medicine library. I was a little unnerved, as it's the one-week anniversary of the bombings, and part of my trip was going to entail using one of the attacked stations. But...life goes on, and Londoners have returned to the rails, so, so did I.
The entire trip consisted of 6 hours of commuting and 7.5 hours of sitting in front of a tv, watching video after video for my dissertation. The whole day was worth it though, for an 2-minute opportunity which presented itself, during which I felt....I can't explain it really. For 2 minutes today, at 12 noon exactly, London came to a complete standstill. Office workers, bank accounts, shoppers, students, librarians, grocers, bartenders -- they all stopped what they were doing, and stepped out into the streets. Cars and trucks came to a stop, and people got out of their cars and stood in the middle of the road. For two minutes, no one did anything. Anything other than stand with the rest of their city, united against something they cannot fight, cannot understand, but will not fear. They paid it tribute, as something that has hit each of them, and as something that has, in a perverse way, brought them closer together as a community.
I stood out on Eusten street, with the crowd pictured in the third shot above. I guess I hadn't expected such a massive turnout....but to look as far as I could down both sides of the street, and see nothing but crowds of people, not talking, but staring straight ahead, and seeing all street traffic stop and people climb out to stand in the road....everyone standing in London today felt like they were part of a greater whole. And I think it helped make us all feel just a little better.
posted by sordaria @ 6:09 PM

I love www.phdcomics.com
It is so freakin' funny....go check it out.


....no, no one is paying me to say this...I WISH.....
posted by sordaria @ 7:47 AM

Every so often I meet people who make me think, 'holy crap....people are awesome'. Someone interesting and kind and funny and generally just interested in making this world somewhat better than what it was when they came into it. Someone who tries to understand other people, and when they can't, at least respects them for their differences. I recently met one of these people....someone who just is an absolute pleasure to be around in every possible way.

And then I know some others.....people who are just downright mean....mean in a sense that is beyond crude words...beyond physical hurt.....people who know you inside out and use those minute and personal details to break and hurt you. They are capable of the greatest disrespect, and can't be trusted as far as they could be thrown. People who are so unwilling to take any responsbility for their own actions and own behaviours, and look for a scapegoat wherever they can find it -- often, unfortunately, a good friend who perhaps 'knows too much'. They make me re-think my elatedness at the possibilites of the human race. I just don't understand how someone can be so cruel -- but I know it happens. It just did. Not to me. But it may as well have, I'm that angry.

But then again, I know the first kind is out there. I have met them. I hang out with them on a daily basis. The second type just serves to highlight how important and rare they really are. And how lucky I am to be able to call so many of them my friends.
You guys are awesome. Thanks.
posted by sordaria @ 9:03 PM

Monday night -- someone sets fire to our college boathouse. 26 boats are lost along with massive smoke damage to the interiort.
Thursday morning -- 4 bombs go off on London public transport during morning rush hour. At last 37 dead, not yet counting the casualties from the doubledecker bus whose roof and back half blew off in the explosion. A friend exited one of the targeted tube stations 10 minutes before the blast, and a cousin happened to sleep in this morning, causing her to be a few minutes late to her regular tube station, and thus missing the exploding carriage.


Time to get out of this country. I hear Canada calling.
posted by sordaria @ 6:22 PM

Unsure of what my emotion is right now. I think I'm actually quite sad....a bit melancholy, but more simply just sad. It's weird....it's odd how quickly you can start to get used to something being around and how much you can start enjoying something -- it can happen in a matter of days. And then when that thing leaves....you really feel it. Even more so when you know that is something you would have learned from, laughed with, and basically just thoroughly loved having around for a lot more than a week and a half. I guess sometimes certain things just make a mark on you, right from the get-go, and you feel it when they're taken away, no matter how shortly they were around.

To be fair, it could be worse. (haha).

Take care. :)
posted by sordaria @ 7:55 PM

Remember how I said I went to Henley? (The Royal Regatta...the rowing...think people, pay attention). And remember how I said I was going to tell you more about that later? Yeah, well, later's never going to come, I reckon, cause (in the words of the newfoundlander), I can't be arsed. So, here's a pic instead. A picture's worth a 1000 words, isn't it?
I tried to post more than one pic, but Blogger froze up on me. So, we'll see what happens this time.

Anywya, that's that.
OH! And my parents arrived in Oxford today. Free food!! hahahahahahahahah

hmmm...apparnetly this photo thing isn't working at the moment...I'll try it again later. Stay tuned.
posted by sordaria @ 11:40 AM

I hope you all are familiar with Marvin Gaye's classic 'Let's get it on'. Besides being a rather amusing subject matter, this is a DAMN AMAZING SONG. I had kinda forgotten about it, and it came on a playlist I hadn't listened to for ages tonight, and I suddenly was struck by just how DAMN AMAZING it is. That opening...waa waa waaa...man, it rocks. ROCKS.

That's all. Just wanted to point that out.

:)
posted by sordaria @ 6:58 PM

Just watched War of the Worlds. Man, THAT was good fun. Lots I could be critical about, but I've decided to no longer be critical of the little things that never make sense in movies, and just enjoy them for their pure, fictional entertainment value. This one had big nasty robots, lots of cool blow-em-up special effects, gross-looking aliens and a still pretty hot Tom Cruise, so really, what's there to complain about? :)
Definitely makes me want to go read H.G. Wells' book and see what he actually wrote....probably would scare the crap out of you -- bet it's awesome. ;) However, first I have to finish Moby Dick. I decided it was time I stopped pretending I knew what this whole 'Ahab and his white whale' thing was all about and just read the thing. So far, it's a total adventure. Makes me miss the ocean though. And my whales. It's July now, so the humpbacks will be up feeding off our coasts with their little ones....sigh. I miss Newfoundland.

Also, on the way home, I saw a lone latex glove laying abandonned on the sidewalk. I decided it would be better simply not to think about how it came to be there. Cause...that could be grosser.
posted by sordaria @ 8:27 PM