Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone's having much more fun this holiday today than I. Nothing exciting planned. England doesn't really 'do' Halloween. I don't even have a costume. :'( Too much else going on in my life to try and plan a Halloween party. Anyway, enjoy! Hope you have a fabulous, slightly spooky day.

Baking Day

One of my very dearest friends in the entire world came to visit me this weekend! Jill lives up North, near Sheffield, where I used to live. We were in the same Ward (church congregation), which is how we met. She had to come down to London for a lecture (to do with her MA). Now, the trains are funny in this country. They stop running at very odd times. In this case, trains stop running from London to Sheffield around 7.00pm. That's a bit early, if you ask me, but they didn't. However, it meant that Jill couldn't get home on the Friday night, because the lecture didn't get out til after 8. Because I live just on the inside of the London commuter zone, trains run to Colchester til nearly 1.00am! So, she came to stay with me. Yeay! Friday evening we just sat and chatted. We don't get to see each other as often as we'd like, but we've got one of those easy friendships that you can pick up again at any point, and it's like you've never been apart. Saturday, when we got up, it was raining. Rainy days, to me, are Baking Days. Cakes and cookies turn out much better when the air's humid. So, we dug out all sorts of ingredients and made: brownies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and baked bean/cheddar grilled sandwiches (for lunch). I know, the sandwiches sound odd. But they're really amazing! It's something she and I concocted together several years ago one day when I was round her house. They're really yummy, and perfect for a rainy day! It was awesome to see Jill. I really hated to drop her off at the station to go home in the afternoon. I miss hanging out with her every week.

My Scrap Life

I've got a new Blog. Don't worry, I'm not discontinuing this one. I'm just branching out. I also figured I'd try out a new Blog Writer, so it's over on Wordpress. We'll see how I like it.... Figured, it's good to learn new skills. It's a ScrapBlog, though. It's dedicated to my Scrapbooking Habit. If you want to see what I do with my photos after I take them, that's the place to visit!

Mud Puddle Mayhem

Just got sent this video. Not mine (though I'd loved to have seen in in person!), but I had to share it with everyone! It's so cute :) And proves that the allure of mud puddles spans the species gap. (Elk Calf)

Finally Getting Better

I've been fighting this horrible sinus infection since June. I'll start to get better, then come back down with it. It's been so frustrating! Well, this week I went (back) to the doctor (again), and she's now got me on an even stronger antibiotic, and in addition she's given me a steroid nasal spray. I'm not a huge fan of taking medicine . . . as in, I'd rather use peroxide to kill off the buggies, because they won't develop immunity to that! However, there comes a point when you've just got to get well. 24 hours after starting the new regime, I felt worlds better. I hadn't realised how poorly I'd felt! And I'm still not at 100%! Rather shocked me how far away from 'well' I'd been. But, I'm finally on the road to recovery, I think, touch wood. Let's just hope I can stay healthy for a while.

Gravity's Pull

Contrary to everything you've ever been taught in physics class, gravity's strongest pull does not actually emanate from the object with greatest mass. Going down in elevation does not increase the pull of gravity on your body. Gravity actually pulls towards your mattress. And it's very difficult to escape its gravity field! It keeps pulling me back down.

When Ooops Doesn't Cover It

I think my Grandmother's least favourite word in the English Language was 'Ooops'. I remember as a teenager helping to redo her kitchen, and my Dad told my cousin to say 'oops,' so he did. And Grandma (in the other room) says, 'What?!?' It's one of those moments I'll never forget.

Anyway, I had an 'Ooops' moment today. Except, I'm not sure that 'oooops' quite covers it. I'd made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and had put the cookie sheet into the sink to soak. I plugged the drain, and turned on the water, and made my mistake: left the room. I was sitting down working on my computer when all the sudden I realised I'd been hearing the sound of water, falling water, and loads of it. I jumped up and ran into the kitchen to turn off the water and assess the damage. Fortunately it was really just a bunch of water on the floor, and it cleaned up in a hurry. But it was an impressive mess!

Back In The Saddle Again

My year doesn't start in January. It starts in September. Kind of funny, I guess, but it's true. The calendar year's never made much of a difference, and I guess since I'm 30 and my whole life has revolved around the academic year since I was 5, that's not much of a surprise. But, yet again, the year has started. I'm back teaching at Queen Mary University of London, and I'm back in the PhD game at Essex, too. Yep, the fun never stops.

Leading Cause of Napping

Haaaaa! It's so true! That's the reason the PhD Offices all have the comfy chairs; for 'reading articles'. Uh huh. Right.

You Know It's A Terry Pratchett Book When . . .

As many of you are aware, I'm a huge Terry Pratchett . . . excuse me, Sir Terry Pratchett . . . fan. There are several Hallmarks of a Pratchett book. I just started reading the latest Diskworld, Unseen Academicals, and thought:

You know you're reading a Terry Pratchett book when

1. It takes 4 paragraphs to finish the first sentence.
2. There's a footnote in the footnote (and occasionally a footnote in the footnote in the footnote!)

And that was just reading the first sentence in the book!

I've also got a few for the 'You know you're a Pratchett Fan when . . .' list:

1. You can pronounce Capitol Letters.
2. You swear in Nac Mac Feegle.
3. You have First Sight and Second Thoughts.
4. You can translate Orangutan.

If anyone has any additional items for either list, PLEASE add them in the comments!

Good Bye Summer

Well, Autumn has arrived full blown to Essex. It's gone chilly, damp and term has started. I broke out the woolies, hoodies and jumpers, turned on the heat and am headed to campus to register tomorrow. Yep. Summer is definitely over.