And...

We're back.

Sorry for my prolonged absence.  This year has been all over the place thus far.  The highs and lows are a consistently revolving situation.  As my previous posts alluded too, I was dealing with some depression and home sickness.  Most of this is steaming from a frustration with several things, utmost of which is issues surrounding the mummy study.  The lack of technical support and the difficulties in dealing with the politics has really strained my patience.  I am still waiting for a report that was supposed to be completed last November. I was promised it again by the end of February.  Alas, I have yet to receive the report.  My advisor and I are going to make one last ditch effort to get this project going, but it is looking less and less likely that I will be analysing the mummy for my thesis.  This means I will now have to start a new project, practically throwing away all the previous research I had conducted thus far.  Plan B project is an analysis of several (well over 100) skeletons from multiple locations around Ireland.  I will be identifying markers of activity on the bones and, using advanced statistical methods, compare the sites.  Comparisons will be made along age, sex, and temporal, and geographic lines.  This study is far less interesting than the mummy study, but I do have experience in this area.  My mummy project back at UCLA involved the identification of activity patterns via 3D CT scans, so this isn't super new territory for me.  I will still be involved with the mummy project should it ever come to be, it just wont be my thesis.  There is still hope, I will know for sure in the next week or so.

In other academic news, classes are coming to an end.  I currently am only in 2 courses, osteology and archaeogenetics.  So far the archaeogenetics course has been a review of what I did for 3 years in the population genetics lab at UCLA.  So, not very interesting.  The osteology course is continuing along with the practical side of things.  There is not very much instruction going on, but it is more a source of routine practice with various skeletal materials and recording sheets.

Outside of school, life is pretty normal.  I spend the vast majority of my time at home, alone.  To pass the time, I read (mostly school related articles and books), write (mostly school related essays), and watch movies.  I have yet to really make friends outside of class.  To be honest, not really interested in doing so.  That being said, I have made one friend and we have become pretty close.  Sadly, she will be moving to Dublin in the coming week.  I guess that gives me a reason to visit Dublin.  A few weeks back, myself and a few classmates went on a graveyard expedition.  It ended up being pretty cool. The grave yard was very interesting as it had gravestones dating all the way back to the 14th century or so.  The graveyard was in quite a poor state, it was clear that no one had looked after it.  A few graves were maintained, I am assuming those are the ones where family members still visited.  I took some pictures and will post them soon once I am finished editing them.  There is also a new, and large, collection of pictures on Facebook of me wearing a suit.  This is a rare thing, only happens once a year at the most, so enjoy it.

Well, I think I have rambled on long enough now.  I know I always say I promise to write more, but I will try and be better with it.  Daily life is just so routine to me, it is hard to find things to update about.  I will let you all know about the mummy study and what comes of it.