LaraLoola

1/2

Last day of my half term (and it is actuately referred to as half term not “reading week” or “study week” so in theory I’m not obliged to do anything), and am feeling sort of like I’m at least running in the right race, even if I’m nowhere near winning.

So far I have:

• Completed my report for the world’s dullest practical (put stuff in test tube, heat, cool, put other stuff in test tube, take bits of mixed stuff out, see if it changes colour of other stuff, stop when it stops changing colour of other stuff, repeat). He gave us no word count but said that the introduction part should at the very least equate to an essay. In my head an essay is 1000 words so that’s what I aimed for, and have ended up with a 15 page assignment. Which is going to be one of two things a) too short and I will discover that L (who is by far the smartest in the class by a long mile-she’s also quite nice too, so this is said factually rather than jealously) has submitted something of about 30 pages, or b) it’s far too long and he will pull one of those faces at me.
• Completed my creative writing piece, which was fooking harder than it should’ve been after not having been creative in far too long. The lovely MissMax had a peruse through to check it wasn’t utter crappola. I’m still worried it’s mawkish, but my head is now so filled with enzyme theory that short of making up a story about some jolly lyases I’m a creative void now.
• Almost finished draft three billion of my “I’m really lovely please let me in your university on the basis of this rather than me having to get on my knees” statement. But I have a dangling last sentence, and frustratingly can’t complete the form altogether till Monday at the earliest because I need some info from the course admin.
• Managed for my research project bit-2 email interviews, 1 further one waiting to be replied to and one telephone interview.  Whored myself shamelessly in an effort to get information, and have got very worried that the word limit of 2500 is really not going to be enough for what I want to say. (I did already mention this weeks back to JNBT where I asked if if he “realised you have opened Pandora’s box”, to which his not tremendously helpful response was “I know but it needs opening” and then cackled like some kind of fooking Bond villan).
• Gone for walk around a reservoir.
• Consumed an entire packet of mozzarella, most of a packet of edam and a bit of red leicester.
• Got into an argument about Facebook statuses, and consequently am no longer allowed to mention certain other human entities at all on the internet.

Answers to correspondants

I thought I’d be polite for once and answer all those pesky questions that appear in the spam comments and in my email spam.

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Blog Action Day 2009

This is the first time I’ve participated in Blog Action Day, so do forgive me if it is utter poo. The subject this year is Climate Change and for various reasons I feel like I should at least have an opinion on this.

Reason one: I live on this planet. Perhaps not mentally or emotionally for a good deal of the average day, but the corporeal bit of my is very much of this earth.

Reason two: I am currently a science student. If I didn’t have at least some kind of opinion on one of the biggest science subjects around at the moment there would be frankly little hope for me.

Reason two and a half: The reason I’m a science student is because I’m very very interested (read: I could converse about it for days) in science communication, and the way that science information gets to non scientists.

The thing about reason 2.5 is that an awful lot of things that are communicated about science, be that via television, the internet or the Daily Mail’s ongoing fetish for all things oncological, much of it requires no audience interaction. Generally the audience is expected to passively take in this fascinating/crazy/scary/wasteful [delete as appropriate to publication] set of findings, or at least a cut-down and sexed up version of them. Perhaps there’ll be some whinging about universities having too much money to fund cheese sandwich measuring in the Prove You’re an Idiot Have Your Say section, or a sudden rush on tuna sales in a bid to prevent some previously not heard of, and frankly rare, type of cancer. But that’s about it.

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So…

Readers who are also Facebook friends will have noticed that I was a tad poorly yesterday.

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As the actress said to the bishop

Despite a habit of dressing on a daily basis as though female emancipation never happened (skirts, corsets, stockings, and tremendously impractical but gorgeous shoeage) and a floral hair clip consumption that matches a class of 7 year old girls, I’m not actually that girlie. Yes, I giggle like a naughty schoolgirl* and have a chronic hair twirling/pen in mouth habit, but other girl stuff I find baffling. Consequently there are large chunks of female friendship essentials that I’ve not quite got.
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Ain’t you glad there’s still a few of us left, who know how to rock your world

So I’ve been tormenting the ears of a very (very, very) small audience again for two weeks. After ten years away from microphones I am loving it. Every single minute. I am sooo very glad to be back in a studio it’s like going home*.
I knew I missed it, but I am so very happy that I feel as comfortable as I do.

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