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radio silence
Aug. 25th, 2011 12:13 ami've been remiss in explaining my absences from LJ, this year, and this particular absence is likely to last a while longer. long story short: i've been on holiday on and off over the past month; i am getting ready to leave the UK for... at least a long while, if not for good; when i get to singapore, i will be busy unpacking and recovering after four years mostly away; and as such i'm unlikely to catch up flist-wise until early september. at which point i begin indentured servitude.
take care, you guys. see you in september.
take care, you guys. see you in september.
dear reader:
Apr. 4th, 2011 11:28 pmi have been in kaamanen, a village in northern finland, since the evening of march 31. the first three nights were overcast, but last night the sky was mercifully clear - so we went out onto the frozen river, in search of the northern lights. it was nearing 11 pm, but there was still some light on the western horizon.
long story short: we saw them. it was still going on when we left at 1 am, though the most intense displays were across an hour or so between 11:30 and 12:30. it was possibly the best hour of my life so far, and i can't really think of an experience which would rival it.
photos to come at some point; we used my travel companion's DSLR, since point-and-shoot cameras are apparently terrible at photographing the aurora, so i don't actually have the image files. photos are on facebook, but the album is on his account and the privacy settings are 'friends of friends', so.
long story short: we saw them. it was still going on when we left at 1 am, though the most intense displays were across an hour or so between 11:30 and 12:30. it was possibly the best hour of my life so far, and i can't really think of an experience which would rival it.
photos to come at some point; we used my travel companion's DSLR, since point-and-shoot cameras are apparently terrible at photographing the aurora, so i don't actually have the image files. photos are on facebook, but the album is on his account and the privacy settings are 'friends of friends', so.
i realised that i've yet to send postcards from cambridge, and i'm also off to finland and estonia (well, at least tallinn) next week* - so here's a postcard request post!
comments are screened; if you'd like postcards, comment with your address, where you'd like a postcard from, and any special requests. :D
*so this post is also a PSA: i'll be away from 30 March to 14 April.
comments are screened; if you'd like postcards, comment with your address, where you'd like a postcard from, and any special requests. :D
*so this post is also a PSA: i'll be away from 30 March to 14 April.
while i'm here:
Jan. 3rd, 2011 12:55 pmi marathoned all the videos
diplomacy!
Oct. 30th, 2010 03:55 pmhello, flist! would any of you be interested in a game of online Diplomacy? i've started playing the face-to-face game, but the Diplomacy Society meets every fortnight and i find the game-free period too hard to take. :D;;
if there are six takers, then we can start a private game on one of the various online platforms. *_* the speed can be set to whatever's convenient for everyone - 12 hours/24 hours/2 days per move, say.
if there are six takers, then we can start a private game on one of the various online platforms. *_* the speed can be set to whatever's convenient for everyone - 12 hours/24 hours/2 days per move, say.
my undergrad experience:
- two courses a term (out of eight/nine final courses)
- one to two essays a week
- tutorials with one tutor and zero to two other students
- no coursework; exams count for everything
my postgrad experience:
- four courses a term (= all the courses i am taking)
- no regular essays (except coursework which counts towards my degree)
- discussion seminars with up to 20 students o_o;;
- no exams; coursework counts for everything.
i am getting the impression that my undergrad experience was an anomaly (though this isn't new to me), and that my postgrad experience actually resembles that of the standard UK undergrad, maybe. except that undergrads have exams.
thoughts? i really can't get over the facts that 1) i don't have regular essays, 2) seminars are so huge. how does one have a coherent/useful discussion in such large groups? :|
- two courses a term (out of eight/nine final courses)
- one to two essays a week
- tutorials with one tutor and zero to two other students
- no coursework; exams count for everything
my postgrad experience:
- four courses a term (= all the courses i am taking)
- no regular essays (except coursework which counts towards my degree)
- discussion seminars with up to 20 students o_o;;
- no exams; coursework counts for everything.
i am getting the impression that my undergrad experience was an anomaly (though this isn't new to me), and that my postgrad experience actually resembles that of the standard UK undergrad, maybe. except that undergrads have exams.
thoughts? i really can't get over the facts that 1) i don't have regular essays, 2) seminars are so huge. how does one have a coherent/useful discussion in such large groups? :|
okay, f-list, i need your help! especially those of you based in the UK. i'm looking for a plain v-neck sweater vest, of the sort which preppy men wear over shirts. sadly, the only ones i have been able to find in my brief survey of high street shops are, predictably, for men - and hence too large for me.
any ideas? i've tried M&S, H&M, and Next. i would go to Primark out of desperation, but the nearest one is ages (read: half-hour walk) away.
any ideas? i've tried M&S, H&M, and Next. i would go to Primark out of desperation, but the nearest one is ages (read: half-hour walk) away.
psa, actually kind of significant for once
Jul. 8th, 2010 01:52 pmhi guys - just to say, as of tomorrow i will no longer be based in oxford, alas. meaning that my associated snail mail address will no longer apply.
i don't know exactly where i'll be next academic year, but i'll be in singapore over the summer, until late september or thereabouts.
i don't know exactly where i'll be next academic year, but i'll be in singapore over the summer, until late september or thereabouts.
postcards?
May. 26th, 2010 05:47 pmi feel like sending out postcards, now that i'm coming to the end of my undergrad career. comment if you'd like:
a) a commercial postcard of Oxford;
b) some sort of hand-drawn postcard, in which case please also give some kind of prompt: oxford scenery, fandom, something completely random, whatever;
c) a postcard with a fandom drabble on (it's been ages since i've written fic, heh)
and please state which of the above you'd prefer. picking more than one is fine! please leave your address, too, if i don't already have it.
all comments are screened.
edit: also, i will probably not get around to doing any oxford-involving b) postcards until mid-june, just so you know. :D;;
a) a commercial postcard of Oxford;
b) some sort of hand-drawn postcard, in which case please also give some kind of prompt: oxford scenery, fandom, something completely random, whatever;
c) a postcard with a fandom drabble on (it's been ages since i've written fic, heh)
and please state which of the above you'd prefer. picking more than one is fine! please leave your address, too, if i don't already have it.
all comments are screened.
edit: also, i will probably not get around to doing any oxford-involving b) postcards until mid-june, just so you know. :D;;
flying to the UK tonight, then off to eastern europe as per previous post. may be checking email sporadically, but am otherwise incommunicado until early october.
am also idly contemplating not signing up for yuletide this year, but we'll see...
am also idly contemplating not signing up for yuletide this year, but we'll see...
another serious post. o_o
May. 31st, 2009 09:48 pmFor the second Asian Women Blog Carnival, and its (optional) theme of Inter/intra/transnationality.
This was going to be a much longer post with a bit about social divides in Singapore, but offline life struck. Still, perhaps that discussion would have worked better in a separate post, anyway.
---
( An imperfect script: calligraphy and being Chinese, for some given value of Chinese. )
This was going to be a much longer post with a bit about social divides in Singapore, but offline life struck. Still, perhaps that discussion would have worked better in a separate post, anyway.
---
( An imperfect script: calligraphy and being Chinese, for some given value of Chinese. )
in which this lj is momentarily SRS BSNS
Apr. 3rd, 2009 03:15 pmFor the Asian Women Blog Carnival.
I thought a lot before deciding to make this post. I don't use this lj for serious posts; I dislike talking about myself before an audience; and I don't know how much my perspective can offer.
( But here goes. )
I thought a lot before deciding to make this post. I don't use this lj for serious posts; I dislike talking about myself before an audience; and I don't know how much my perspective can offer.
( But here goes. )
so i know that i kind of defaulted on the earlier call-for-fic-prompts post (i... might get around to writing those during my travels? maybe?), but i am bored, so: give me six relatively non-cruel* words, and i may write a sestina. fandom optional.
*or massively cruel, whatever, it might be more interesting that way.
*or massively cruel, whatever, it might be more interesting that way.
