anarchist_nomad (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anarchist_nomad) wrote2008-11-17 06:06 pm
anarchist_nomad) wrote2008-11-17 06:06 pm
I Know It Isn't Easy Packing Stuff At Skullcrusher Mountain
Hurm. I have been informed by Secret LJ GnomesTM that it has been too long since I posted an entry to journal my life. Well, gentle readers, I'm afraid that you all know what this means! That's right -- it's the Return Of The Return Of The Week In Review Post! In fact, it has been so long since I made a proper journal entry that this becomes the Extended Edition of the RotRotWiRP!
So let's turn back the clocks to a week ago Saturday and see what your Friendly Neighborhood Nomad has been up to!
Saturday (Nov 08): Split the day in half. The first half was the fun half, spent packing and moving boxes from Skullcrusher Mountain to the [as yet unnamed] new flat. In contrast, the second half was not nearly as excited --![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat and I headed to Leicester to attend a housewarming party for thehalibutkid and sanjibabes. Being that it was the first weekend after Guy Fawkes Day, the party came complete with a [mostly] self-contained bonfire and a fireworks display in the rain. Having watched fireworks whilst huddled under an umbrella, I have been informed that I am now suitably British. There were many lovely people at the party, some of whom I already knew... and others that it was a pleasure to get to know better. One person in particular was well worth stealing a little bit of alone time with. She knows who she is...
Sunday (Nov 09): Woke up early to ring bells at St. Giles for the Remembrance Sunday services. On Remembrance Sunday, the bells are half muffled[*], changing the quality of the sound considerably. The muffled half of the bells makes a much more somber music. This is the second year that I have joined in the band for ringing on Remembrance Sunday. A large crowd gathers at the war memorial outside of St. Giles Church whilst we ring. As we are the start of the city's Remembrance Sunday services, this is the largest intentional audience that I ring to all year. After the ringing, I went outside to listen to the actual service. Last year was the first that Oxford's Remembrance Sunday service included speakers from non-Christian faiths; a "representative" was present from the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh communities. I have mixed feelings about Remembrance Sunday. On the one hand, I do believe it is important to honour the many dead victims of war. On the side of the fence, though, the service feels a bit too militaristic for me, with marching by more contingents of the armed forces than I can name.
The rest of the day was less eventful -- it primarily consisted of more moving fun. I returned to St. Giles Church in the evening, though, to ring the bells -- now unmuffled -- for the usual Sunday services. I have been practicing the treble to Single Oxford Bob Triples lately; it makes for a good change from Grandsire Triples and is useful to improving my ropesight!
Monday (Nov 10): Went to work during the day. After work, I had my ice skating lesson -- the second one in the Level Seven class. Inside three-turns are tricky! Backwards crossovers are coming along reasonably well. Continuous circles on an outside edge are not bad... but doing the same on an inside edge is challenging. I may end up needing to repeat the Level Seven class. We shall see -- four lessons left. If I do, it will not be the end of the world, nor the end of my ice skating progression. One of our instructors has pointed out that he has never seen anyone go from level one through ten without repeating at least one of the levels. So it will happen to me sometime -- the question is just when.
Tuesday (Nov 11): Went to work during the day. In the evening, I rang bells at Mary Mag with the Oxford University Society of Change Ringers. The OUSCR and the St. Giles bands are challenging me in different ways. This is a good thing -- it allows me to progress my skills on different fronts.
Wednesday (Nov 12): Went to work during the day. In the evening, I had no plans. This is the last such evening for several weeks. I used the time to continue packing up Skullcrusher Mountain... and to have a lovely phone conversation with the even more lovelyperspicacious!
Thursday (Nov 13): Went to work during the day. In the evening, I was supposed to ring bells at St. Giles. However, our weekly group meeting at Imperial lasted too long, so I was unable to get back to Oxford in time to do this. In the late evening, I had a video conference from the comfort of my own home with the US, Switzerland, Canada, London, and Japan. It looks like these meetings are going to be a regular bi-weekly thing now. So every other Thursday will involve a 4pm local meeting at Imperial, followed by a ride back to Oxford, [hopefully] bell ringing at St. Giles from 7:30 - 8:45pm, a quick dinner, and then a video conference from 10pm until midnight! Wowza!
Friday (Nov 14): Went to Queen Mary University of London during the day to meet with RT. It was quite productive. Then back to Oxford, collectingcheshcat, and off to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Love's Labours Lost. Overall, the production was..... okay. However, this play rates with Measure For Measure and Troilus and Cressida as one of my least favourite Shakespearean plays.[**] Joe Dixon, the actor who played Bottom when I saw A Midsummer Nights Dream with Darelle, was cast as Don Armado... and, once again, he managed to steal the show! Absolutely brilliant he is -- especially with accents! I did not initially realise it was the same actor -- his voice sounded so dramatically different! Still, as good as the performance was, the text just leaves me mostly dry. At best, it seems to be a poor person's Much Ado About Nothing. And what is up with the dancing Russians, anyway? Did Shakespeare add that bit on a dare? Did he lose a bet??
Saturday (Nov 15): Started the day with a visit to the Earth From The Air art exhibit on display at the Oxford Castle. This particular showing is 120 photographs taken from around the world at a wide variety of altitudes. You have crowd scenes on the Ivory Coast, ice floes in the Antarctic, gorgeous shots of Yellowstone, and more.[***] We spent a couple of hours there and made it through fifty-three of the prints; we will return before the exhibit ends in January to see the rest.
Sunday (Nov 16): Woke up early to ring bells for the 9:45am service at St. Giles. When I arrived, several people looked rather startled -- I am notorious for never making it to the ordinary Sunday service ringing. Quite frankly, I prefer to sleep in on Sundays if I am not out of town or otherwise engaged. One ringer jokingly asked me if I was now just arriving late for the Thursday ringing practice. I replied that I was... but I was really not joking. Since I missed Thursday ringing, I decided to make up for it by doing additional Sunday ringing. The rest of the morning was spent on the mundane task of buying some essentials for the new flat; nothing really exciting there. The afternoon and evening was largely spent packing... with two notable exceptions. One was a return to St. Giles for evening service ringing, the other was a delightful exchange of text messages... culminating in an equally delightful phone conversation! By the end of the day, I had removed all of my personal belongings from the old flat. Not quite done with the place (e.g., there is still cleaning to do), but very nearly there!
So that is the ever-exciting Week (Or So) In Review post! Still here? Still awake? If so, leave a comment and you automatically get fifty points for sheer perseverance! Alternatively, if you attempted to read this and fell asleep, let me know! I can market this entry as a sleep aid and make millions![****]
[*] Although it is customary to say that the bells are muffled (or half muffled), the muffles are actually put on the clappers, not on the bells themselves.
[**] For those who seem to think that the History Plays are boring, I say a most resounding "fooey!" Seeing the fully History Cycle in February was one of the most intense theatrical experiences of my life. Don't believe me? See here for an example of feedback at the time.
[***]perspicacious, I would be particularly interested in your opinion of this exhibit, if you can get a sense of it from the website. Obviously, it is not the same as viewing the large prints in person in their outdoor setting at the Castle... but I would still be curious to know what you think...
[****] Millions of what, I am not yet certain!
So let's turn back the clocks to a week ago Saturday and see what your Friendly Neighborhood Nomad has been up to!
Saturday (Nov 08): Split the day in half. The first half was the fun half, spent packing and moving boxes from Skullcrusher Mountain to the [as yet unnamed] new flat. In contrast, the second half was not nearly as excited --
cheshcat and I headed to Leicester to attend a housewarming party for thehalibutkid and sanjibabes. Being that it was the first weekend after Guy Fawkes Day, the party came complete with a [mostly] self-contained bonfire and a fireworks display in the rain. Having watched fireworks whilst huddled under an umbrella, I have been informed that I am now suitably British. There were many lovely people at the party, some of whom I already knew... and others that it was a pleasure to get to know better. One person in particular was well worth stealing a little bit of alone time with. She knows who she is...Sunday (Nov 09): Woke up early to ring bells at St. Giles for the Remembrance Sunday services. On Remembrance Sunday, the bells are half muffled[*], changing the quality of the sound considerably. The muffled half of the bells makes a much more somber music. This is the second year that I have joined in the band for ringing on Remembrance Sunday. A large crowd gathers at the war memorial outside of St. Giles Church whilst we ring. As we are the start of the city's Remembrance Sunday services, this is the largest intentional audience that I ring to all year. After the ringing, I went outside to listen to the actual service. Last year was the first that Oxford's Remembrance Sunday service included speakers from non-Christian faiths; a "representative" was present from the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh communities. I have mixed feelings about Remembrance Sunday. On the one hand, I do believe it is important to honour the many dead victims of war. On the side of the fence, though, the service feels a bit too militaristic for me, with marching by more contingents of the armed forces than I can name.
The rest of the day was less eventful -- it primarily consisted of more moving fun. I returned to St. Giles Church in the evening, though, to ring the bells -- now unmuffled -- for the usual Sunday services. I have been practicing the treble to Single Oxford Bob Triples lately; it makes for a good change from Grandsire Triples and is useful to improving my ropesight!
Monday (Nov 10): Went to work during the day. After work, I had my ice skating lesson -- the second one in the Level Seven class. Inside three-turns are tricky! Backwards crossovers are coming along reasonably well. Continuous circles on an outside edge are not bad... but doing the same on an inside edge is challenging. I may end up needing to repeat the Level Seven class. We shall see -- four lessons left. If I do, it will not be the end of the world, nor the end of my ice skating progression. One of our instructors has pointed out that he has never seen anyone go from level one through ten without repeating at least one of the levels. So it will happen to me sometime -- the question is just when.
Tuesday (Nov 11): Went to work during the day. In the evening, I rang bells at Mary Mag with the Oxford University Society of Change Ringers. The OUSCR and the St. Giles bands are challenging me in different ways. This is a good thing -- it allows me to progress my skills on different fronts.
Wednesday (Nov 12): Went to work during the day. In the evening, I had no plans. This is the last such evening for several weeks. I used the time to continue packing up Skullcrusher Mountain... and to have a lovely phone conversation with the even more lovely
perspicacious!Thursday (Nov 13): Went to work during the day. In the evening, I was supposed to ring bells at St. Giles. However, our weekly group meeting at Imperial lasted too long, so I was unable to get back to Oxford in time to do this. In the late evening, I had a video conference from the comfort of my own home with the US, Switzerland, Canada, London, and Japan. It looks like these meetings are going to be a regular bi-weekly thing now. So every other Thursday will involve a 4pm local meeting at Imperial, followed by a ride back to Oxford, [hopefully] bell ringing at St. Giles from 7:30 - 8:45pm, a quick dinner, and then a video conference from 10pm until midnight! Wowza!
Friday (Nov 14): Went to Queen Mary University of London during the day to meet with RT. It was quite productive. Then back to Oxford, collecting
cheshcat, and off to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Love's Labours Lost. Overall, the production was..... okay. However, this play rates with Measure For Measure and Troilus and Cressida as one of my least favourite Shakespearean plays.[**] Joe Dixon, the actor who played Bottom when I saw A Midsummer Nights Dream with Darelle, was cast as Don Armado... and, once again, he managed to steal the show! Absolutely brilliant he is -- especially with accents! I did not initially realise it was the same actor -- his voice sounded so dramatically different! Still, as good as the performance was, the text just leaves me mostly dry. At best, it seems to be a poor person's Much Ado About Nothing. And what is up with the dancing Russians, anyway? Did Shakespeare add that bit on a dare? Did he lose a bet??Saturday (Nov 15): Started the day with a visit to the Earth From The Air art exhibit on display at the Oxford Castle. This particular showing is 120 photographs taken from around the world at a wide variety of altitudes. You have crowd scenes on the Ivory Coast, ice floes in the Antarctic, gorgeous shots of Yellowstone, and more.[***] We spent a couple of hours there and made it through fifty-three of the prints; we will return before the exhibit ends in January to see the rest.
Sunday (Nov 16): Woke up early to ring bells for the 9:45am service at St. Giles. When I arrived, several people looked rather startled -- I am notorious for never making it to the ordinary Sunday service ringing. Quite frankly, I prefer to sleep in on Sundays if I am not out of town or otherwise engaged. One ringer jokingly asked me if I was now just arriving late for the Thursday ringing practice. I replied that I was... but I was really not joking. Since I missed Thursday ringing, I decided to make up for it by doing additional Sunday ringing. The rest of the morning was spent on the mundane task of buying some essentials for the new flat; nothing really exciting there. The afternoon and evening was largely spent packing... with two notable exceptions. One was a return to St. Giles for evening service ringing, the other was a delightful exchange of text messages... culminating in an equally delightful phone conversation! By the end of the day, I had removed all of my personal belongings from the old flat. Not quite done with the place (e.g., there is still cleaning to do), but very nearly there!
So that is the ever-exciting Week (Or So) In Review post! Still here? Still awake? If so, leave a comment and you automatically get fifty points for sheer perseverance! Alternatively, if you attempted to read this and fell asleep, let me know! I can market this entry as a sleep aid and make millions![****]
[*] Although it is customary to say that the bells are muffled (or half muffled), the muffles are actually put on the clappers, not on the bells themselves.
[**] For those who seem to think that the History Plays are boring, I say a most resounding "fooey!" Seeing the fully History Cycle in February was one of the most intense theatrical experiences of my life. Don't believe me? See here for an example of feedback at the time.
[***]
perspicacious, I would be particularly interested in your opinion of this exhibit, if you can get a sense of it from the website. Obviously, it is not the same as viewing the large prints in person in their outdoor setting at the Castle... but I would still be curious to know what you think...[****] Millions of what, I am not yet certain!