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Welcome, gentle readers, to my first post written at the age of thirty-six. Wowza, it has been a long time since I wrote in this space; probably the longest gap in the seven and a half years that I have been keeping this journal!
My apologies, dear friends, for going AWOL. Twas not my intent, but there has been a lot of life going on of late and somewhere along the line I simply fell out of the habit of updating. Let's try to re-establish that habit, shall we? After all, most of you are a continent away and I only get to see you a couple of times each year, if that. This journal serves as the primary means to keep in touch en mass, and it should continue to fill that noble function!
To this end, I shall attempt to bring y'all up to speed in the near future with a "State of the Nomad" review post. That should at least summarize the past month of recent events, from our explorations of England[*] to bell-ringing milestones [**] to a lovely nine day visit from my darling![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tawneypup[***] to theatrical escapades[****] to Paganesque goodness... and more!
For now, however, I want to resume journaling by picking up from the very topic where I left off: Namely Japan and its recent earthquake problem. It is with some sadness that I have learned of the latest quake that hit a short while ago today, recently enough that it was still red (indicating "within the last hour") on this map when I first saw it. It was "only" a 7.4 magnitude, compared to last month's 9.0, and so the tsunami waves are "only" expected to be about three or four feet tall. Only. My heart really goes out to the people there, with all that they have had to endure in the past four weeks.
The whole situation in Japan has had me very wound up over the past month. All of our foreign collaborators were repatriated safely, including the four students from Imperial College who were on long term assignment there. For the three who were in Tokai when the quake hit, you can see that they were severely affected. At one point, I took the arm of one and shook it, explaining that I was illustrating the worst quake I have ever felt in Japan. I then offered my arm and asked him to show me what he had felt in Tokai, where the quake was about a six. He declined to do so, saying that he would have to pick me up to demonstrate, as he had been "tossed around like a rag doll" when it hit. Oi. No wonder they are having trouble re-adapting. One student has taken a month off to go to Israel and recuperate; it says something when one heads to Israel and the Middle East -- especially now -- for relative rest and relaxation!
Besides our people, there is the J-PARC facility to consider. At present, it is not operational. Damage assessment is still ongoing, so there is no definitive estimate of when we will turn T2K back on and resume collecting neutrino data. Optimistically, it could be by the end of the year. Time to cross fingers and touch wood.
Ironically, despite the quake, this will be the first time that I attend the middle collaboration meeting of the year on schedule. We have three big meetings per year, early middle and late. I began attending in January 2009, shortly after I joined the project. In 2009, our middle meeting was cancelled with less than 24 hours notice due to an outbreak of swine flu in Japan, then rescheduled for two months later. Some people were already in flight when this happened. Whoops! In 2010, the middle meeting happened on schedule... but I, and many others, were unable to attend due to the Ash Cloud That Ate Europe (i.e., the eruption of the Icelandic volcano that grounded flights out of Europe). Now, in 2011, the worst disaster of them all hits -- one of the four greatest earthquakes on record. In response? Our meeting is moving location, as Tokai is not currently suitable to accommodate us, but will take place in Tsukuba (at the KEK laboratory) on the appointed dates. Go figure!
By coincidence, today was not only the day of another large quake in Japan... but also the day that I learned that the meeting will be taking place when it was originally planned and that I will be travelling to Japan next month to attend. I've some Super-Kamiokande shift to do afterward, so I am planning to be in Nihon for about two weeks next month. Very much looking forward to the returning, as I do love Japan!
The Oxford Tube has almost returned me home now, so I should post this and get ready to disembark. Probably for the best, really, as the only other things that I have to say about Japan involve commentary on the news coverage in recent weeks. Given that the coverage has been sensationalistic and horrendous -- focusing an undue amount of attention on nuclear reactors and all but ignoring the fact that half a million people have been homeless and without food, water, or power -- it is probably best that I not launch into that rant now.
Hope all is well with you, dear friends! Hello, LiveJournal, it's good to be back!
[*] E.g., Dover, Windsor, and Chester
[**] E.g., my first attempts at ringing spliced methods, half a quarter peal of Grandsire Triples on a working bell, and touches of Stedman Doubles and Triples
[***] Replete with an awesometacular party, a road trip, and lots of gaming!
[****] E.g., Derek Jacobi's King Lear and Chess and Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece performed by the RSC
[*****] E.g., Equinox dawn at Stonehenge withtawneypup and the lovely miss_amaranth and josington, experiencing ritual by the local Druids... plus a fantastic Oestara ritual run by my beloved cheshcat and making contact with local Oxford Pagan groups.
My apologies, dear friends, for going AWOL. Twas not my intent, but there has been a lot of life going on of late and somewhere along the line I simply fell out of the habit of updating. Let's try to re-establish that habit, shall we? After all, most of you are a continent away and I only get to see you a couple of times each year, if that. This journal serves as the primary means to keep in touch en mass, and it should continue to fill that noble function!
To this end, I shall attempt to bring y'all up to speed in the near future with a "State of the Nomad" review post. That should at least summarize the past month of recent events, from our explorations of England[*] to bell-ringing milestones [**] to a lovely nine day visit from my darling
tawneypup[***] to theatrical escapades[****] to Paganesque goodness... and more!For now, however, I want to resume journaling by picking up from the very topic where I left off: Namely Japan and its recent earthquake problem. It is with some sadness that I have learned of the latest quake that hit a short while ago today, recently enough that it was still red (indicating "within the last hour") on this map when I first saw it. It was "only" a 7.4 magnitude, compared to last month's 9.0, and so the tsunami waves are "only" expected to be about three or four feet tall. Only. My heart really goes out to the people there, with all that they have had to endure in the past four weeks.
The whole situation in Japan has had me very wound up over the past month. All of our foreign collaborators were repatriated safely, including the four students from Imperial College who were on long term assignment there. For the three who were in Tokai when the quake hit, you can see that they were severely affected. At one point, I took the arm of one and shook it, explaining that I was illustrating the worst quake I have ever felt in Japan. I then offered my arm and asked him to show me what he had felt in Tokai, where the quake was about a six. He declined to do so, saying that he would have to pick me up to demonstrate, as he had been "tossed around like a rag doll" when it hit. Oi. No wonder they are having trouble re-adapting. One student has taken a month off to go to Israel and recuperate; it says something when one heads to Israel and the Middle East -- especially now -- for relative rest and relaxation!
Besides our people, there is the J-PARC facility to consider. At present, it is not operational. Damage assessment is still ongoing, so there is no definitive estimate of when we will turn T2K back on and resume collecting neutrino data. Optimistically, it could be by the end of the year. Time to cross fingers and touch wood.
Ironically, despite the quake, this will be the first time that I attend the middle collaboration meeting of the year on schedule. We have three big meetings per year, early middle and late. I began attending in January 2009, shortly after I joined the project. In 2009, our middle meeting was cancelled with less than 24 hours notice due to an outbreak of swine flu in Japan, then rescheduled for two months later. Some people were already in flight when this happened. Whoops! In 2010, the middle meeting happened on schedule... but I, and many others, were unable to attend due to the Ash Cloud That Ate Europe (i.e., the eruption of the Icelandic volcano that grounded flights out of Europe). Now, in 2011, the worst disaster of them all hits -- one of the four greatest earthquakes on record. In response? Our meeting is moving location, as Tokai is not currently suitable to accommodate us, but will take place in Tsukuba (at the KEK laboratory) on the appointed dates. Go figure!
By coincidence, today was not only the day of another large quake in Japan... but also the day that I learned that the meeting will be taking place when it was originally planned and that I will be travelling to Japan next month to attend. I've some Super-Kamiokande shift to do afterward, so I am planning to be in Nihon for about two weeks next month. Very much looking forward to the returning, as I do love Japan!
The Oxford Tube has almost returned me home now, so I should post this and get ready to disembark. Probably for the best, really, as the only other things that I have to say about Japan involve commentary on the news coverage in recent weeks. Given that the coverage has been sensationalistic and horrendous -- focusing an undue amount of attention on nuclear reactors and all but ignoring the fact that half a million people have been homeless and without food, water, or power -- it is probably best that I not launch into that rant now.
Hope all is well with you, dear friends! Hello, LiveJournal, it's good to be back!
[*] E.g., Dover, Windsor, and Chester
[**] E.g., my first attempts at ringing spliced methods, half a quarter peal of Grandsire Triples on a working bell, and touches of Stedman Doubles and Triples
[***] Replete with an awesometacular party, a road trip, and lots of gaming!
[****] E.g., Derek Jacobi's King Lear and Chess and Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece performed by the RSC
[*****] E.g., Equinox dawn at Stonehenge with
tawneypup and the lovely miss_amaranth and josington, experiencing ritual by the local Druids... plus a fantastic Oestara ritual run by my beloved cheshcat and making contact with local Oxford Pagan groups.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
Know it well although I was wondering where you'd got to :o)
You may (or may not) be aware that LJ has been a bit of a mess of late and I'd suggest that if you don't have a backup mirrored somewhere like DW, now would ba a good time to do so!
We're off to Italy on Saturday (wedding anniversary celebration) so will be out of touch for a week or so.
Good to see you back in circulation :o)
From:
no subject
Meanwhile, thank you for the kind words... and enjoy your trip to Italy. I love Italy -- whereabouts are you off to?
Looking forward to a travelogue and photographs when you return!
From:
no subject
Dreamwidth is becoming a good place to set up a mirror account just in case. I've run out of invite codes, but I think Ace still has some if you need one!
We're off to Siena which is where we honeymooned and very much a favourite place :o)
From:
no subject
From:
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I don't know how much I've mentioned of our current situation, so please pardon if I repeat.
First, a bit of backstory: We moved to the UK in March 2006. First on a Work Permit that was tied to my job, I switched to the more versatile Highly Skilled Migrant Programme when the original expired in March 2008. Last year, when that visa ended, I renewed into the Tier 1 (General) scheme, which had replaced HSMP (but was largely the same beast with a different name).
That March 2010 renewal is good for three years, so we are all set through March 2013. However, in January I learned that, under the coalition of evil, the UKBA has been trying to stamp out immigration. Much tougher requirements and higher fees are being brought in at all levels. The Tier 1 (General) scheme no longer exists, strict limits are now in place on the number of Tier 2 visas (which replaced the Work Permit scheme), et cetera.
As such, I had a long think and, in January, I decided to go for Indefinite Leave to Remain (a.k.a. "settlement" or "permanent residency") now, rather than wait until my current visa expires. Although the UKBA had not announced changes to settlement at the time, it seemed likely that they would move on to revise those rules. Thus, when I became eligible to apply in March 2011, we did so. Good move, as shortly thereafter they did indeed announce much higher fees and new rules for settlement that kicked in on April 6th. Under the new rules, we would no longer qualify! Happily, having submitted our applications on March 1st, we are considered under the old rules... and paid the old fee (of £1150 -- still not inconsiderable!).
Anyway, since then we have been waiting. I know that the applications were received on March 2nd, as they have sent us a note to that effect. I imagine, however, that they received a glut of applications in March, as others also wanted to get in before the rules changed. Therefore, I have no idea how long it will take. We were planning a road trip to the continent for the upcoming eleven day vacation; with that starting in two weeks and no passports in sight, we are now formulating backup plans for travel here in the UK. Maybe hit Northern Wales, where we have not yet been, and a few other spots...
So that's how the application thingie is progressing. Bit of a mouthful, really. Aren't you glad you asked! ;-D
From:
no subject
The Tories always were good at complicating every issue then blaming it on the dem furriners while that overprivileged bag of horse shit, Clegg, claims it wasn't him- he's the good cop, y'see.....
Certainly pricey! My passport comes up for renewal fairly shortly and I thought the asking price for that was bad enough. I sometimes regret not taking Belgian dual nationality while I had the chance- theirs is somewhat cheaper!
From:
no subject
As far as Dreamwidth goes, I do have an account there, with the same username. Set it up about two years ago, when they were first coming into existence. Have never actually used it, though. Just imported all my LJ entries up to that time, then let it sit as a placeholder.
I like LJ quite a bit and would prefer not to move... especially as I've a permanent account here that finally breaks even in June. I guess I shall wait and see if the DDOS attack was a one-off or if this is a sign of things to come.
Have a most excellent trip!
From:
no subject
We certainly intend to :o)
From:
no subject
I will be posting an update on my own most recent adventures in a little while.
From:
no subject
To clarify, though, Fermilab is not closing. At least not yet. The largest of the accelerators, the Tevatron, will shut down later this year, but Fermilab will go on. Tis a shame, really, as there were good reasons to run the Tevatron for another three years. But other projects are slated to come online soon. If they avoid being cancelled and do materialize, then even without its flagship accelerator, Fermilab will continue to do good science.
Meanwhile, I'm keeping fingers crossed that we can get the S-man over to Europe for his next job. Preferably London or Oxford! *crosses fingers*
P.S. I read your latest news from the usual e-mail list earlier tonight. Thank you for the update. I apologise for having been so quiet in your recent adventures. It's not just LiveJournal -- I've been mostly offline for non-professional communication over the past few weeks. Trying to ease back into it now, though. Which is no excuse, but is at least an explanation. I know that
From:
no subject
Through all my medical experiences, Chesh has been a constant source of support, reiki, and bad puns, all of which are very effective at promoting healing ;-) I realized you were too busy to comment much about anything, but I have to admit that I'm glad to know you were following along. You just owe me a couple of extra hugs the next time we're in the same time zone! (And, speaking of particle accelerators, I think that might be what they're going to use on me. Now that will be a new experience...)
From:
no subject
Glad you're back to updates. I don't post much myself these days, but I enjoy reading your updates. :-)
From:
no subject
As for Japan.... yeah. It's really quite a situation there and the news media do not do it justice. From all that I have heard, the Japanese earthquake preparation was a tremendous success, one that saved a couple of hundreds of thousands of lives. Additionally, from the first-hand accounts that have been passed on to me, it sounds like they were friendly, competent, and efficient at evacuating and aiding those in the afflicted areas. Meanwhile, the culture is so civilized and decent that there were no outbreaks of looting by Japanese during the disaster. All the while, back home, the news talks about the nuclear reactors and mismanagement. Talk about tunnel vision!
This is not to say that it is a perfect society. There are still problems, I know. But I really admire how they have handled this crisis, and my heart goes out to the Nihon-jin who have been affected.
To end on a positive note, I will mention an e-mail exchange that I had earlier today with a Japanese colleague. Starting a work-related e-mail, I asked politely how he was. Starting his reply, he responded:
"Mozumi is quite peaceful. Cherry blossoms have just started to come out in Toyama today."
Something about that reply, as reports of chaos come in over the airwaves, was very heartening. Probably aided by the fact that I used to live near the village of Mozumi and the city of Toyama, so I remember well what they are both like at this time of year, as the sakura (cherry blossoms) come into bloom. Honestly, it is my favourite time of the year to be there; I fondly recall this time in 1999, when I would grab a book -- The Lord of the Rings, if I remember correctly -- and sit down by the river in Toyama, as the sakura blossomed all around. Simply lovely!
Okay, I should probably stop babbling at you and get ready for bed. I hope that you are well, hon, and will talk to you soon. Have a fantastic evening!
From:
no subject
Just wanted you to know.
If you need to talk, you know where to find me.
xxxxxxx
From:
no subject
And, yes, I know where to find you. Roughly. Somewhere in city centre at the moment, I believe! *grin*
xxxxxxxx
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Don't worry about finding the right things to say. I know all too well how difficult that can be with situations like these. One of my fellow ringers here in Oxford lost her husband of many decades to cancer a fortnight ago. I gave her a ride home on Sunday and just had no idea what to say, whether to express sympathy (and if so, how) or whether to focus on cheerier topics like the lovely Spring weather. I felt for her and wanted to express that, but had no clue how to do so without possibly making things worse.
\
All of which is just to say -- in my usual
long-windedlong-keyed style -- that I grok, and am just happy to have you here!Oh, and lest I forget, a very happy (and ever so slightly belated) birthday to you, sweetie! *makes appropriately festive birthday noises* :-D
From:
no subject