The place where lost socks go...

This is one of those days where I really enjoy being an Oxonian.

It started off with a drive into work with my beloved cheshcat. I dropped her off at her new job on my way into Oxford University. Then I spent the day meeting with a small group of colleagues that I am working with on a very interesting neutrino oscillation project. At midday, we had a nice lunch at the French restaurant on Little Clarendon Street; at five o'clock, we went to the Lamb & Flag for drinks.

Around half six, I bid my colleagues farewell and picked up my dear cheshcat on the way home. We spent a little bit of time, then I was off to St. Andrew's Church, here in Headington[*], to ring bells. Tonight was the monthly "advanced practice", so I got some good practice on my Grandsire Triples and, more importantly, my Stedman Triples.

Just before the ringing practice ended, I ducked out and drove over to the Barton pool. Jumped in and managed to swim 2000 meters before it closed for the night. Came home to tuck cheshcat into bed, and now am writing this entry.

I didn't leave Oxford once today but, all in all, it was a pretty full day. The sensible thing to do would be to go to bed now; however, I am heading over to Littlemore[*] to attend an Election night party hosted by the ever-excellent ayaron. Yes, I know that it is a bit crazy to go out to a party at half past ten on a Tuesday night -- especially when I have a meeting in East London tomorrow. What the heck, though; tis only once every four years!

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[*] The neighbourhood in East Oxford where I live.

[**] The neighbourhood in South Oxford where ayaron lives.

Also worth noting:

Tonight, in the Barton Pool, I set a new personal distance record. I swam 100 lengths of the pool, for a total of 2500 meters.[*] My usual workout is 1600 meters, or one mile, but tonight I felt like pushing for a bit extra. My previous distance record was about 2135 meters, set many years ago when I was an undergraduate.

It took me about 66 minutes to cover 100 lengths, meaning that I kept up my usual speed of one and a half lengths per minute. This corresponds to an aquatic speed of about 1.4 [non-nautical] miles per hour.

Interestingly, I didn't feel particularly tired when I had completed the challenge that I had set out for myself. Methinks I may increase my standard workout from 1600 meters to 2000 meters.

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[*] I write this in full knowledge that this is in no way an impressive accomplishment on any absolute scale. Nor am I under and delusions that this may interest my dear readers. Nonetheless, I am recording it here, to refer back to later, if needed.

In the hopes of getting back to blogging more, here is a simple entry that details what I did yesterday:

The day started with the annual ritual known as The Imaging of the Kidneys, which originated in my 2009 kidney stone incident. In addition to the stone (now long passed) that was being problematic on my left, the CT and ultrasound images also showed a small (3mm) stone dwelling in my right kidney. The good people of A&E (or the ER, if you prefer), observed that this might never be a problem. So long as it stays small and remains in the kidney, this stone should not cause any harm and no action need by undertaken to pulverize it. In short, the stone and I reached an understanding to continue our coexistence on good terms. To ensure that the stone is indeed meeting its end of this bargain, we now take annual images of my kidneys via ultrasound. Just to be certain. Yesterday's peek showed that all is indeed well, so the stone and I shall continue to peaceably cohabitate. Stay tuned next year, gentle readers, for the next exciting installment!

After cycling back from the Churchill hospital, I hopped a bus to the Oxford rail station. There I met my darling miss_amaranth and a couple of people from channel 4 who are making a seven part documentary series on love & relationships. One of these parts will focus on polyamory, which was the focus of yesterday's meeting. The four of us strolled to the St. Aldate's G&D's where we proceeded to chat for two hours over bagel sandwiches and hot drinks. I indulged in a new creation known as the "holy cow", which adds a scoop of ice cream to a mug of hot chocolate -- delicious!! More about this experience will likely soon be found on the lovely miss_amaranth's polyamory-dedicated blog, Love Is Infinite. For now, I will just say that my initial impressions were positive -- much more so than when we were dealing with Nina Clement at ITV2, earlier this year.

Around 13:00, miss_amaranth needed to return to Winchester and I came back to Chiron Beta Prime to attend the bi-weekly collaboration-wide T2K analysis meeting. The collaboration has a rotating pool of people to take meeting minutes and, as one of the suckers who volunteered, it was my turn once again. So I paid even closer attention than usual and jotted everything down as we went. After the meeting ended, RT and I had a brief follow-up meeting one-on-one, then I did some work on my own.

In the evening, I hopped a bus back into town and made my way to the University of Oxford's Examination Schools. The Exam Schools building dates from the Victorian-era, completed in 1882. Although I have walked passed it many times, I had never before been inside of this architectural lovely. cheshcat once did a tour, via the Oxford Newcomers' Club back when we were newcomers in Oxford. However, before last night, I never had the opportunity or the pleasure. So yesterday evening started on a high note just from getting to stroll about within. I had come to the Examination School to hear the inaugural lecture from Oxford's new "Programme on the Impact of Future Technology." Last night's talk was titled: "Exploring A Timeless Landscape: What physics tells us about the potential of advanced nanotechnologies." The speaker was Eric Drexler, the so-called "father of nanotechnology", who I had met the week before at a Halloween party. The lecture was interesting and largely focused on the increases in manufacturing productivity that could come about from developments in nanotech. It also introduced me to the concept of "exploratory engineering", which is a term that Eric invented to describe the region that science says is possible but is beyond the engineering scope of current technology. When the talk ended, I stuck around for a few minutes to ask another question, then hopped on a bus to get back home.

After a grazing a light dinner, I cycled down to the Barton Leisure Centre for some exercise. I jumped in the pool and swam my canonical mile -- sixty-four lengths of crawl -- which felt great. Due to recent travel, it has been some time since I last did this and it was excellent to get back in the water. I then cycled home again and did various and sundry chores whilst waiting for my beloved cheshcat to return from an evening out with colleagues. When she did, we wound down for the evening together before retiring to the bedchamber.

All in all, I can say that yesterday was a splendid day! I did not leave Oxford at all, yet there was much local goodness to be had. Ah, I do so enjoy living in the City of Dreaming Spires!

The countdown to Japan continues apace. In preparation, I had a phone meeting on Friday afternoon with my partner-in-crime colleague RT. On finishing that call, my weekend officially began!

The weekend fun started off with the arrival of my beautiful bunnypip. We shared some quality alone time in the Flat With No Name before heading out to meet the charming cheshcat at Gloucester Green; once united we hit Angry Thai[1] for a yummy dinner! I find their pad thai to be particularly delicious!

After our heroes were properly nourished, they made their way to the Oxford Playhouse for the evening's entertainment. This week's show -- my ninth of the year -- was Sweet Charity[2]. Alas, we forgot to bring the crackers... which was quite a shame because they would have gone so well with all the cheese! I liked the show and am glad that I saw it -- several of the songs were quite good, Bob Fosse's choreography is always enjoyable[3], the corny humour made for some wonderful laughs... and the costumes made for some very delicious eye-candy! Still, having seen it once, I don't think that it is a piece that I need to see again; it was cute, but not terribly compelling. As I mentioned to my lovely companions afterward: "The list of my top five favourite musicals..... is completely unchanged."

Heading home after the theatre, cheshcat and bunnypip and I read the final three acts of Kit Marlowe's Edward II[4], in preparation for seeing it at Oriel College on Thursday. I am still utterly amazed at how blatant the homosexuality[5] is in this piece! Quite different from Shakespeare, where characters like Antonio are probably gay[5]... but not explicitly so. Overall, the play shows off Marlowe's classical education quite extensively... though it is not as subtle as some of his other works. Nonetheless, I've not seen a Renaissance history play in some time, so I am quite looking forward to this production.

After finishing the play, it was after one o'clock in the morning. Thus, we all went off to bed and, eventually, sleep.


On Saturday morning, bunnypip and I woke at nine, then made our way to the Barton Pool. We hopped in and she swam the breast stroke for a new personal record whilst I front-crawled for my usual mile.

Back at home, we showered, ate breakfast, and packed. As we did so, we were joined by the marvelous miss_amaranth and the xtreme xmakina. Then off we went to the quaint little town of Hitchin, where miss_amaranth and xmakina went exploring whilst cheshcat, bunnypip,[6] and I attended a performance of Henry Purcell's British opera Dido & Aeneas. This was my tenth theatrical performance of 2010... and it made for a nice counterpart to seeing Sweet Charity the night before -- on Friday, we saw a 1960s musical; on Saturday, we saw a 1690s musical!

After the show, we all reconvened and made our way to Nottingham, to attend the birthday party of the fabulous fire_kitten![7] This was gangs of fun and involved good food, good company, good conversation, and many cuddles! I met many lovely new people, some of whom are newly added to my LJ f-list. Yes, I'm looking at you lost_house and dragonmamma. Of particular enjoyment was the musical theatre singalong that spontaneously erupted late Saturday night in the library![8] As we talked and sang, I watched the birth of a Totoro, crocheted by the talented lost_house! Hooray! It was well past three in the morning before we all finally passed out. There are far worse ways to end an evening than snuggled up between cheshcat and bunnypip in a king-sized bed!


On Sunday, I had a lie in until after ten o'clock. Then it was downstairs for breakfast and more fun! Some of that fun involved an Easter egg hunt in the backyard! Yay! Eventually, around half one, our tribe gathered into Peter II and we made our way back to Oxford, dropping miss_amaranth and xmakina off in Eynsham en route.

Back at the Flat With No Name, bunnypip and I snagged some quality alone time before we needed to leave -- her to London and me to St. Giles to ring bells for Sunday evening services. I managed to practice my Plain Bob Minor with a nice touch, as well as continue learning my Stedman Doubles.

Finally, I returned home once again and spent some lovely time reconnecting with my darling cheshcat. It was a wonderful way to end an excellent evening. After we finished, I curled up in bed with my current book -- Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair -- and read myself to sleep.

Overall, a most excellent few days -- a very nice mix of activities! Twas also a fantastic way to spend my last full weekend in Merry Olde England.[9]

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[1] Okay, to be quite honest, the restaurant is called "Angrid Thai". However, it has quickly become rechristened in our circles...

[2] Bom bom BOM!

[3] Particularly the tap dancing. For some reason I find myself especially fond of his tap dancing.

[4] Technically, it is Marlowe's The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer... but, between friends, we will call it Edward II, yes?

[5] Or bisexual.

[6] Note the Oxford comma, those of you who clicked "What is it??" in my previous poll.

[7] Thus making six consecutive weekends of parties! Whilst it has been great fun, the warm weather and sun is calling me to get out and explore more. Thus, I am quite excited that I will be breaking the streak of party weekends when I fly out to Japan this coming Sunday.

[8] With the lead pipe.

[9] Until I return from Japan in mid-May, that is!

Saw an incredible production of Pride & Prejudice with my beloved cheshcat last night! It was performed at the Oxford Playhouse, by a touring company from Theatre Royal Bath. This was the fourth show that we have seen together this year... and, by far, the best![*] The house was packed, as the show apparently had a number of fairly famous actors in it[**], for this excellent performance! The acting was incredible, the sets were extraordinary. Everything about this show -- except, on certain occasions, the lighting -- was utterly wonderful. Much humour was injected, as well, which fit perfectly. I am not certain where this tour will be going... but if it comes near you, gentle reader, I heartily recommend seeing it!

Hurm. I really do need a theatre icon for shows that are neither musicals nor Shakespeare.

Other than that, it has been a relatively quiet week. Just for the sake of journaling, here are some recent comings and goings of everybody's favourite Nomad:

On Tuesday evening, the fantastic wolfpeach came over for ice cream and gaming and hanging out. This was -- as always -- good fun! We taught him how to play Dominion and played two games (the so-called "first game" and the "interaction" game). I won both... although just barely on the latter!

On Monday evening, I made my way to St. Aldate's Church in the centre of Oxford for an extended ringing practice focusing on Plain Bob Minor. I feel that my work here is getting better and I would hope to participate in a quarter peal before this year is out.

Also of note, I hopped in the pool this weekend and swam a mile for the first time in Far Too Long^TM. That felt good! Being a water elemental, I need my immersion on a much more regular -- and frequent! -- basis! Must remember to make more time for swimming in the near future!

Finally, my dear friends, I know that I inundated many of you yesterday with my fairly technical post of sciencey goodness. I appreciate your collective indulgence and would not normally inflict such on you again so soon. However, there is one more piece of news that is so awesome, so totally bounce-inducing that I cannot hold it back! The news is actually from yesterday... yet I was not able to mention it publicly until the press release went through this morning. Here it is:

Ta-DAAA!!!


This, dear friends, is the first T2K neutrino event seen in the Super-Kamiokande detector. The brand new neutrino beam was fired down into the Earth... travelled nearly 300 km across Japan... then was detected in an enormous water tank on the other side of the country! How cool is that??

The three rings of light that you see are from particles resulting from the neutrino detection. The first two are probably from what we call a π⁰, which decays immediately into to particles of light. The other ring -- barely visible -- is from something else. Possible a nuclear interaction?

Anyway, I have been saying for some time now that T2K is moving into a very exciting era. This event marks that... and is the start of much more niftyness to come!

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[*] The first three were a stage adaption of Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop, a fairly bizarre rendition of Medea, and a delightful Ayckbourn piece entitled My Wonderful Day.

[**] So I am told, anyway. I am notorious for being clueless about celebrities. Want to know who was king of England in 975 C.E.? I can help you. Who are Susan Hampshire, David Beames, Natalie Burt, Peter Ellis, or Carolyn Pickles? I have absolutely no idea[**]... except to say that I saw them on stage last night and they all did a superb job!

[***] To emphasize my lack of cluefulness, I should point out that I have read their bios in the programme and, even after seeing all those television and film credits, I still have no idea who they are! Mainly because I have not heard of all these television shows and movies! cheshcat is frequently embarrassed by my profound ignorance.

At Mom's place in NYC now, touching a computer for the first time since leaving Skullcrusher Mountain last Thursday. Don't have oodles of time[*] -- I am only online via a "borrowed" wireless connection[**] while she is out running errands -- but I wanted to post a report back on how the Super Sekrit October Pagan gathering went this year.

Short Version: Freakin' incredible!!!

Middle Version: P**T*** is usually a very Good Thing^TM, but some years are better than others. There have been years, for instance, marred with drama. In 2001, the war in Afghanistan began while I was at P**T***, which put me in a very bad headspace. This was my twelfth P**T*** and, until now, 2003 was the absolute best year -- a year in which everything went right. I started grading my P**T***s that year, giving 2003 an A. This year was at least as good, maybe better, earning another A grade for P**T*** 2008.

Longer Version: I don't have time to write in full detail about the weekend, but here are selected highlights...

Overall
The weekend weather was phenomenal! Without a doubt, the best that I have ever seen at this gathering. Perfectly clear skies from Friday through Sunday, and temperatures in the mid-70s during the day! Gorgeous! Certainly a far cry from the flooding we had in 2005, when GH brought a canoe to paddle around in the fire circle! Only last year even comes close, and this was even better! Also, the trees in the area are in their full Autumn colour now... and, for some reason, those colours are more vibrant than usual this year! I don't know why that is, but I certainly appreciated their stunning beauty!

Friday

• Arrived at the site with cheshcat at about 5pm. Once again, there was the strange temporal magick where, upon driving onsite, the entire year in-between vanishes into a very, very small time. It felt like I had last been there just a day or two before.
  
  
• Gave the usual barrage of welcoming hugs to people as they arrived.
  
  
• Embarrassed myself in front of pomoloco's mother. I had not seen this incredible woman in nearly a year. Thus, when I saw her arriving, I bounced up to her with great enthusiasm. Some woman I did not recognize was near the car with her. pomoloco asked me: "Do you mind if I sleep on top of you and cheshcat?" What she meant, of course, was the bunk bed above ours. I knew this, but responded with: "Sweetie, you can sleep on top of me any time you like!" At which point she said: "Oh, by the way, have you met my mom?" Er... oops! I apologized immediately but, apparently, the only person even slightly phased by all this was me. Her mom knows about our relationship and has heard far more shocking things -- not about us! -- from other people without blinking an eye.
  
  
• Found PS, one of the organizers for this year's gathering. He handed me a program and opened to Sunday evening -- one workshop in particular: "Physics -- It's What I Do". I had not volunteered to present another installment in the popular Physics For Pagans series this year... so apparently I had been drafted into doing it, instead. I laughed pretty heartily at seeing my name on the program after all!
  
  
• The opening of Aphrodite's Temple was particularly memorable this year. Just before said opening, I had been cuddling with the lovely perspicacious and getting to know her a bit better. Thus, when the opening began at 10:30pm, we went to it together. We stayed on in the Temple afterwards, enjoying some quality not-so-alone time. Finally left the Temple shortly before 3am. It was quite a splendid way to spend the evening!

Saturday

• Was recruited by TinMan 2.0 to play a small role in the Archetypal Shakespeare Company's production of The Magic Flute. It was a small role, essential given that the performance was that very night and the rest of the company had been rehersing for months. Nonetheless, I was pleased to have been asked and excited about trodding the boards again for the first time in many years!
  
  
• Participated in a Wild Hunt. This is my third one. I always end up as a hunted creature, although now it is by choice. During my first Wild Hunt, at Samhain 1995, I had automatically assumed I would be a hunter, despite the random selection of roles between hunter, hunted, and hearth-keeper. It just fit who I was. I was genuinely surprised to be selected as one of the hunted... and the ritual turned out to be intensely profound for me. At the time I was caught, I experienced what could be best described as a "near death encounter." To say that it shook me up a lot would be an understatement. In any case, the Wild Hunt has taken on quite a bit of meaning for me since, despite the fact that it is essentially just ritualized "hide and seek." The next time I participated in one such Hunt was Beltane 1997. I still have the horn that I won from that one. This time, I also won and eluded capture from the hunters by leaving a clever false trail and wading across a river in bare feet. I did such a good job of hiding that, by the time I returned, there were actually people worried about me because no one could find me!
  
  
• Enjoyed a nature walk with GH and a group that he was leading. Indeed, their turn-around point was very near where I was hiding during the hunt, so I simply joined them for the second half of their walk. People were surprised to see me appear out of nowhere at the point where they were deepest in the woods. When asked where I came from, I just mentioned that I had been experimenting with my transporter back in the bunk houses.
  
  
• HIGH POINT OF THE DAY: Was asked by the 2009 P**T*** organizer if I had ever been approached to run the gathering. When I said that I had not, he asked if I would be interested in doing so in 2011. Um.......... YES! I had to discuss it with cheshcat before agreeing, but we decided that we were definitely up for accepting!
  
  
• Performed The Magick Flute with TinMan 2.0 and pomoloco (who was one of the stars) and others. This rock opera version was a lot of fun and very well received!
  
  
• Main ritual! Good stuff! Very musically oriented, including a P**T*** version of "My Favourite Things"
  
  
• Dancing and drumming by the bonfire! Fun, with the added treat of watching some very talented poi spinners!

Sunday

• Attendend a fun workshop on tying knots in Aphrodite's Temple. It was recommended to bring a partner to tie knots with, so I brought the aforementioned delightful perspicacious. We remained after the workshop was done to admire our handiwork.
  
  
• Canoeing and swimming! There is a pond and a small waterfall on the site. Weather permitting, I always try to take out a canoe for at least a little while. After all, I am a water elemental! At lunch, just before I was ready to grab a canoe, ES and some of her friends grabbed me and said: "We are going to take out a canoe. You have to come with us." Good timing! We were joined on the lake by perspicacious and some of her group (SB, JW, and JF). We paddled across the lake, then hiked to an area behind the waterfall. SB had never been there before and suggested we go for a swim. She asked how cold I thought the water would be. I said, "Very." I had no intention of swimming in it. She looked at the long drop off the rock we were on and asked how one would get down. I showed her a place where one could climb down the rocks. She asked if I would go in if she did. I said, "Maybe." Guess who ended up first in the water? Yes, it was me. And, yes, it was cold. Upon jumping in, I began treading water furiously to generate heat. It didn't work. When we got in, we clutched each other tightly to share body heat. It didn't work. I got out after, with SB and ES following behind me. I was in the cold water for less than five minutes... but it felt very good and invigorating to have had this little swim!
  
  
• Back at the central part of the site, I was informed that the P**T*** board had turned down the idea of cheshcat and I running the gathering in 2011. cheshcat looked hurt and rejected. As it turns out, they decided that we should run the show in 2010. Also, cheshcat already knew this and was faking her reaction to take the piss out of me. Brat! I am very excited about this... but it means that we have only one year now to plan the 2009 Main Ritual! Eeeep! I am very excited to be selected to organize a P**T***; this community has been a part of my life for a very long time -- over twelve years. The site is my spiritual home and the gathering is a pilgrimmage for us. It feels very good to be acknowledged as capable by the community and it feels wonderful to be able to give something back after all these years!
  
  
• Gave the latest "Physics For Pagans" talk. It was a bit impromtu, having not known it was on the program. However, I think it went reasonably well. About twenty people attended and there were some good questions. I have already been asked by a 2009 organizer if she can put me on the program for next year. What can I say? I agreed. At least I know that I get a break in 2010! I promised Chesh that if she puts me on the program then, I'm putting her down for an all-day writing workshop intensive!
  
  
• More fire! More drumming! More dancing! More poi!
  
  
• Dance party in the main hall! With lots of cheesy 80s music! I was spending time outside with perspicacious when I heard Footloose playing inside. I told her that I had to go because I could not resist the lure of cheesy 80s music. What a great surprise to learn that she was right there with me!
  
  
• Post-dance party: Received an astounding massage from perspicacious in the massage space. It was just what I had needed; my back and neck were so tense! Afterward, we retired to enjoy the last night of the gathering.

Monday

• Attended only my second business meeting ever in all the years I have been attending P**T***. Usually, I avoid them. I guess that, for the next few years, I will really need to attend. Chesh and I were formally confirmed by the community as the 2010 organizers. Very cool!
  
  
• Learned that the Wiggly Bridge on the site has apparently been added to a list of national historic bridges or some such. Peachy keen!
  
  
• Lots and lots of long goodbyes and farewell hugs.
  
  
• Lunch at a Japanese restaurant with a dozen P**T***ns who did not need to rush right off! It was good to spend extra time with people, especially those who I may not see for another year. After the meal ended, they gave us little bowls of pineapple for dessert. This made me think of a certain person and smile...

And that, gentle readers, was my weekend! Hooray! I feel grounded and centered and well connected with this community, which has been a part of my life for so many years now. Only fifty-one more weeks left until P**T*** 2009!

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[*] Which means that I will not be checking personal e-mail or my LJ friends page.

[**] Mom has no internet connection of her own. This is the woman who, until three years ago, still owned (and used) a rotary phone.

Oh, wait. It is Sunday! And I don't think that it could be properly described as a "lazy Sunday", either. To summarise, here is what I have done so far today:

1. Finished the novel that I was reading
   
2. Went to the final two lectures (and the final lunch) in the Astronomy Weekend
   
3. Took a nine mile walk with C&M
   
4. Rang my first ever quarter peal
   
5. Swam a mile

Not a bad day at all! ( Here are the details )

Finally, just for fun, there is one last detail from today. Courtesy of cheshcat, here is the view from the Skullcrusher Mountain this morning:

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( Footnotes )

Just because the hits seem to be coming relentlessly of late does not mean that I have to be relentlessly negative -- either in this space or otherwise. As such, here is a post to focus on some positive things from recent days.

Monday evening, I had my fourth ice skating lesson. There may have been a bit of attrition in our class. We started with seven people in the first week -- and that number jumped up to nine in the second, when we were merged with the Level 2 class -- but only five of us showed up on Monday. Hmmm... In any case, most of us have most of the Level 2 skills down by now. For me, learning the snowplow stop is the main task left to me in the remaining two weeks of this course. If I can get that down, then I should pass the Level 2 test and move on to the Level 3 course next month.

Tuesday evening, I cycled to the sports centre, jumped in the pool, and swam a mile. It felt good to get back into the water; swimming is my main form of exercise these days. It had been a couple of weeks since I did this -- the addition of ice skating lessons meant that all of my weeknights were full during term time. With Hilary Term now over, Tuesday evenings are freed up for the next six weeks. Since nature abhors a vacuum, Tuesday can be my regular swim night... and, once again, I have all my weeknights booked.

I came back to Skullcrusher Mountain at lunchtime today... and found a birthday card from ms_katonic waiting in the mail for me! There is now a neat little pile of cards waiting to be opened when the Big Day arrives... tomorrow!

Finally, to round off recent fun and positive things by reaching slightly into the future, I am ringing bells tonight at Mary Mag with a small group of OUSCR people who are in Oxford between terms. This is a good thing, as my Thursday practices are disrupted this week by birthday plans and next week by Jonathan Coulton (who was so inconsiderate as to book his London gig on a Thursday night). Don't want to go too long without a bellrope in my hands, lest I get rusty!

Spring is here, spring is here! Life is skittles and life is beer!

With apologies to all my dear friends in the Midwest, who are being buried under ludicrous amounts of snow, the weather here in southern England has been just amazing lately. The temperature is warm and the skies are sunny and clear. I have been wearing a lighter coat when I go out... or sometimes no coat at all. Perhaps it is premature to declare winter over... but I am going to do so anyway!

So what has the Nomad been doing in all this gloriously warm weather? Not posting in his LiveJournal often, that much is certain. Let's see if I can briefly catch the world up on my comings and goings.

( Saturday was Brighton BiFest )

Sunday was a lazy morning, and we did not get out of bed until after noon. When we did, I drove ms_katonic to a date with one of her other boyfriends. I made the following observation: It is a good sign that polyamory is working well is when, at the end of one date, your boyfriend drives you to a date with somebody else. Hooray for healthy relationships! After dropping her off, I drove back to Oxford under much the same conditions -- sun, speed, and singing to loud music -- that I had enjoyed on my way to Brighton the day before.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be less busy than originally planned. I had expected C&M to come over for a long walk -- we need to start training for our next attempt to walk across the Isle of Wight in May -- and to play Puerto Rico with cheshcat. Then I was expecting to ring bells for services at St. Giles and to end the evening with a swim. I did ring bells, but all the other plans fell through. C&M canceled at the last minute and by the time the pool was open, I was feeling tired and decided to postpone for a day. Besides, I realised that Sunday was the last day that I had no plans until Saturday February 23^rd[*] and I should take advantage of that. So, except for bell ringing, I stayed in and took care of boring-but-necessary household chores. cheshcat and I also spent some fun time together: We played a low scoring game of Bohnanza (I won 10 to 8) and a game of Skip Bo (she won 30 to 17), then ended the day, by watching several episodes of Smallville.

Monday was a fairly ordinary work day. Nothing terribly exciting to report. I have undertaken to execute a set of major changes in the hardware attached to the K-400 cryostat; thus, there was no cooldown last week and will not be one this week, either. In the evening, I headed to the sports centre, jumped in the pool, and swam the mile that I had defrayed from the previous day.

Today, I spent a very large portion of my day finalising my application for another two years to remain in the United Kingdom. After cheshcat double checks it, it should be ready to go into the mail tomorrow. Time to cross fingers. I also spent some time outside, running various and sundry errands. This was somewhat deliberate, as I wished to take in the still-spectacular weather. In less than an hour, I will head out for this evening's activity: bell ringing practice with the OUSCR at Mary Mag. Also, later tonight, I have a phone "date" scheduled with the delightful frogcastle. We are currently in the midst of our longest separation, which will continue for another couple of months, so it will be very good to hear my Beloved's sweet voice once again.

Oh, and although I cannot go into detail in a public forum, cheshcat continues to rock mightily!

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[*] Oddly enough, despite a fairly full calendar, I seem to have no plans at all for the weekend of Feb 23/24. I am open to ideas and suggestions if anyone knows something nifty that is going on (within a two hundred mile radius of Oxford). However, I suspect that after being continually on the go for twelve days running, it would not be terrible if I stayed in that weekend to rest and deal with mundanities.

First things first: I should follow up on this post, wherein I asked my dear friends to tell me which super-hero (or villain) I seemed most like.

There were many thought provoking answers, and I thank all who said something. In particular, there were a handful of replies that need responding to:

theentwife and llamachameleon each thought I was most like Tony Stark (the Invincible Iron Man). Ah, you are both beautiful, beautiful people and I must buy each of you a drink next time I see you for saying so. Tony Stark has been my hero since I was thirteen years old -- way back in 1988 -- and was my gateway into super-hero comic books. He is the hero I would most want to be like... and there are similarities, to be sure: The jet-setting lifestyle, the polyamory, the experimental science and love of machines. Thank you very much for the comparison.

After some reasoning -- and she showed her work, which was most helpful, the lovely resourceress likened me to Hank Pym (also known as the original Ant-Man, the original Giant-Man, the original Goliath, and the original Yellowjacket). He is not somebody that I would have thought of, to be quite honest. It might be due to that domestic violence incident, back in the 1980s. But, to be fair, there is much more to Dr. Pym than that. In any case, seeing the reasoning that led to this conclusion was most fascinating.

Then there is cheshcat. In his song, Summer Highland Falls, Billy Joel has a line: "For all our mutual experience, our separate conclusions are the same." She came up with the same answer that I had for myself: I am most like Peter Parker. Again, not a bad guy to be... but not my ideal. On the other hand, I know where the key to our Cabinet O' Radioactive Sources is. Maybe I should go find myself a little spider...

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Right. So, with that covered, what has Nomad-Man been up to in recent days? I really have not updated with any details about my life since cheshcat and I finished seeing the Henriad last Saturday.

Sunday was largely filled with necessary -- but mundane -- tasks that I will not dwell on here. In the afternoon, C&M came over for a game of Settlers of Catan. I had a most impressive victory, building all of my available roads and all of my available settlements. The game ended with me at ten points, C&M at 6 each, and Chesh at 5. In the evening, I went to the sports centre, hopped in the pool, and swam another mile.

Monday evening, cheshcat and I went to the Oxford Playhouse to see a production of Alan Ayckbourn's play A Trip To Scarborough. The Ayckbourn script is an adaption of the eighteenth century play of the same name, written by Sheridan. Sheridan's play, in turn, was adapted from John Vanbrugh's 1696 Restoration comedy, entitled The Relapse. As if that were not enough, Vanbrugh's play was written as a sequel to Colley Cibber's work, The Fool in Fashion. Quite the history in this one work! Perhaps, then, it is fitting that Ayckbourn's Trip to Scarborough simultaneously takes place in three different time periods: 1800, the 1940s, and the present day. Once I caught on to this fact, I could stop being uptight about the fact that some characters had cell phones while others were discussing the war with Hitler. From that point on, I enjoyed the play very much.

Tuesday, I went to London to see what the Poly Meetups there are like. It was most pleasant to run into pogodragon again... but, overall, I was disappointed. There were many people, but the pub was so noisy that I found conversation to be exceptionally difficult. Poly Chicagoans, take note -- your karaoke nights still hold a special place in my heart. The irresistible ms_katonic met me there, which made the entire evening worthwhile. After leaving the pub, we headed back to her home. However, I must confess to having swooned with delight at her company and, as such, cannot recall any further details to report here from the evening.

This evening, I rang bells at St. Cross with the Oxford University Society. Between Stratford and London, I missed several ringing practices and, thus, had not rung for a week before tonight. It says something that a week without ringing now feels like a very long time. The St. Cross practice went very well. I am getting control of these difficult ropes once again, and the new master is still focusing on advancing the learners, which makes a world of difference.

And that is what your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Nomad has been up to of late. Tune in next time for... well, that would be telling, now wouldn't it?