Well, first week back in class. It is nice to return to some sort of daily routine. There was no easing back in to school though. On Thursday, I had my first major examination in Anatomy. I felt like I prepared well for the exam, but I really didn't know what to expect. The exam was 50 True or False questions. Sounds easy, but it really wasn't. The questions were worded oddly and it made me second guess some of my answers. To complicate thing, the Anatomy Department practices negative marking, so wrong answers count against you. This is meant to discourage against random guessing, but in my opinion it only hinders the person taking the test. You can be 90% sure about an answer, but instead of going with it, you skip it so you don't risk losing points. So who knows how I did. Results will be available in a few weeks.
In my other classes, I finished both the Biocultural and Mortuary Theory courses last year. This term, I continue with the osteology and statistics course and add a Paleopathology course. Paleopathology is a fun course and I look forward to it. I am not too worried about the course as I have taken it while at UCLA and was also a Teaching Assistant for it. I am most interested to see what approach is undertaken on this side of the Atlantic. Also interested in learning more about some of the old world diseases that are as prevalent in the Americas.
I am currently working on an essay for the Biocultural course. I am having a hard time writing the paper because I just cannot bring myself to care about the topic. Trying to force the writing just isn't working either. I am commonly taking very long breaks (a day or more) just to try and get the creative writing juices flowing again. But nothing is seeming to help. I have until the 16th of January to finish it, so I still have plenty of time to get it done.
Well I guess that about wraps this week up. I am sure the next few post will be me continuing to whine about this essay. So, I apologize ahead of time.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Happy New Year
Happy New Year!
I want to start off by thanking everyone who puts up with my tardy posts and actually reads this silly, ranting, and narrative of my life. This blog has been viewed over 750 times since its creation back in September 2011. So thanks for that!
Now, onto the actual post. My new year celebration was not what I expected nor what I had planned. My original plans for the evening fell through, as per the usual. I was on my own for the evening. Though I was determined not to let this get me down. I decided that I would still go out to my favorite pub in the city. This pub isn't your typical pub. When you think of an Irish pub something very different comes to mind. For the most part, that image in your head is quite accurate. But this pub is different. It looks like it belongs on the Sunset Strip than it does on a small riverside street. The pub doesn't have an Irish surname as its name, nor does it look like a humble establishment from the street. The outside is painted with flames and its known as Fred Zeppelins. Inside the pub is dimly, but adequately, lit. The music over the speakers isn't the latest pop hits nor is it traditional Irish. Instead it is an assortment of classic and modern rock hits ranging from Queen to Rob Zombie. As you would expect, the average customer is not your average person. As the only alternative pub in town, everyone who is different tends to gather at Fred's. Its one of the few places where I can go and feel like I am back at home, surrounded by equally weird people. Its a place that if you go alone, you will end up making a friend pretty quickly. When ever I venture out on my own I tend to stop by Fred's at some point. So that was my plan for the evening.
I headed out to Fred and after ordering a pint of Guinness I was joined in conversation by several members of a motorcycle club. The guys were very nice and I was quite surprised to find a group of Harley riders here in Cork. After sharing a drink with them, the pub started to get a little more crowded as the midnight hour approached. I was separated from my new biker friends end ended up talking to a new group of people. They were a mixed lot, some from Ireland, some from England. They were very nice, and someone kept buying rounds of drinks for everyone, myself included! I couldn't turn down a free drink. With midnight only a few minutes away, the bar staff walked around and handed out several bottles of champagne and packets of noise makers and poppers. The bar counted down the final 10 seconds of 2011 together and on the stroke of midnight, popped the bottles of champagne. Unlike back at home where we counted down to New York's celebration, here we counted down to London's celebration. It looked like quite the party in London! Big Ben is an impressive sight to see at midnight on New Years!
The night wound down after midnight. And after another round of drinks, I headed home. It was a unique new years. I do not like spending holidays away from family and friends but I guess it has given me the opportunity to make new friends. I am back in class starting Tuesday and back to the daily grind from then until the end of the semester. I am excited to be back in class as it gives me something to do during the days.
Happy New Year Everyone!!
I want to start off by thanking everyone who puts up with my tardy posts and actually reads this silly, ranting, and narrative of my life. This blog has been viewed over 750 times since its creation back in September 2011. So thanks for that!
Now, onto the actual post. My new year celebration was not what I expected nor what I had planned. My original plans for the evening fell through, as per the usual. I was on my own for the evening. Though I was determined not to let this get me down. I decided that I would still go out to my favorite pub in the city. This pub isn't your typical pub. When you think of an Irish pub something very different comes to mind. For the most part, that image in your head is quite accurate. But this pub is different. It looks like it belongs on the Sunset Strip than it does on a small riverside street. The pub doesn't have an Irish surname as its name, nor does it look like a humble establishment from the street. The outside is painted with flames and its known as Fred Zeppelins. Inside the pub is dimly, but adequately, lit. The music over the speakers isn't the latest pop hits nor is it traditional Irish. Instead it is an assortment of classic and modern rock hits ranging from Queen to Rob Zombie. As you would expect, the average customer is not your average person. As the only alternative pub in town, everyone who is different tends to gather at Fred's. Its one of the few places where I can go and feel like I am back at home, surrounded by equally weird people. Its a place that if you go alone, you will end up making a friend pretty quickly. When ever I venture out on my own I tend to stop by Fred's at some point. So that was my plan for the evening.
I headed out to Fred and after ordering a pint of Guinness I was joined in conversation by several members of a motorcycle club. The guys were very nice and I was quite surprised to find a group of Harley riders here in Cork. After sharing a drink with them, the pub started to get a little more crowded as the midnight hour approached. I was separated from my new biker friends end ended up talking to a new group of people. They were a mixed lot, some from Ireland, some from England. They were very nice, and someone kept buying rounds of drinks for everyone, myself included! I couldn't turn down a free drink. With midnight only a few minutes away, the bar staff walked around and handed out several bottles of champagne and packets of noise makers and poppers. The bar counted down the final 10 seconds of 2011 together and on the stroke of midnight, popped the bottles of champagne. Unlike back at home where we counted down to New York's celebration, here we counted down to London's celebration. It looked like quite the party in London! Big Ben is an impressive sight to see at midnight on New Years!
The night wound down after midnight. And after another round of drinks, I headed home. It was a unique new years. I do not like spending holidays away from family and friends but I guess it has given me the opportunity to make new friends. I am back in class starting Tuesday and back to the daily grind from then until the end of the semester. I am excited to be back in class as it gives me something to do during the days.
Happy New Year Everyone!!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
12, 13, 14, and 15 Down
Sorry about falling off the blogging grid for the last several weeks. Below you will find a post that will fill you all in on the last few weeks of 2011.
Week 12
It was the final week in the fall semester so there was a lot of wrapping up going on. Nothing too crazy in the form of exams or anything, just the ending of courses. I finished the Bioculteral and Mortuary Theory courses. I will now have to write an essay for each of those classes. They aren't due until mid/late January. I am going to be continuing to take the anatomy, osteology, and statistics courses in the next semester. I will also be adding a course in paleopathology and eventually a course in archaeogenetics. Week 12 ended with a little lunch party for the Osteo class. This included a few of the PhD students and our professor. It was mostly finger food and alcohol, mostly alcohol. Nice little party, was good to be able to talk to everyone (professor and PhDs) in a relaxed social environment. The party ended around 5:00pm and everyone had a bit of a buzz. As it was too early to head out on a Friday night, we decided to all go to one of my classmate's house, and continue drinking there. Our plan of going out never formed and we just continued to drink at the house. By midnight, everyone was calling it quits and heading home. 12 hours of drinking takes a lot out of you. Fitting close to the first semester.
Week 13
This was my first official week off. However, it did not start out as such. I had an assignment that I still needed to finish that was due on Tuesday. It wasn't anything exciting and, in fact, I had been putting it off for at least a week already. For this project I had to measure the lengths and thickness of the upper limbs from about 3 dozen skeletons as well as record the presence of musculoskeletal stress markers. It was a lot of boring data collection. But, it was a graded assignment and I will need the data again in the course so there was no more putting it off. I was happy to see that all my other classmates were in the lab as well and in a similar situation as myself. After I finished that assignment, I was officially done with classes until the next term in the new year.
On Wednesday evening, the Archaeology Department held its Christmas Party. They rented out a medium sized room above one of the pubs in town for the small private party. Most of the faculty and staff was in attendance as well as a lot of PhD students and pot-docs that I had never seen before. Our Master's group tends to stick together so we had our own mini little party. After that party came to an end, most of the students decided to carry the party to another pub. The night was fun and it was the last time I would see most of my classmates as they would all be returning home to their families.
The week ended with both of my house mates returning home and leaving me entirely alone in the apartment. It has been a long time since I truly lived on my own. It was nice to be able to blast my music and not have to worry about being considerate of others in the house.
Week 14
Nothing much to report for this week. Spending my time reading about ancient Egyptian magic and religion. Trying to complete as much background research as I can to prepare myself for the onslaught of research I am going to have to conduct in the new year. I am also trying to begin writing my essays that will be due in January. I have decided upon the topics I will be discussing in my papers; now it is just a matter of translating the ideas in my head onto paper. So far, this has not been an easy task. Hopefully I will be able to get some work done over the next few weeks.
Week 15
Well, Christmas was Sunday. First time I have not been with family for the holiday. It was an odd feeling. It was much like all my previous days here on this break. Spent most of the day reading, playing computer games, and watching TV. Later in the afternoon, I was able to Skype with everyone back home. Got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa, Ashleigh and Mom. Also had a very brief conversation with my dad, but internet connection problems prevented us from having a conversation longer then 30 seconds. Later in the evening, a friend came over and we watched a movie together. She was alone for Christmas as well, so we decided that we should at lease see each other so we weren't totally alone for the holiday.
Cork was an interesting place over the Christmas weekend. It was virtually a ghost town. All the shops, stores, and pubs we closed down. The streets were empty except for the rare family out for a stroll. The weather was fairly warm, in the upper 40s. This is quite a departure from last year where the temperature was about 15 degrees. Only have had one 5 minute episode of snow, if you can call it that.
The rest of the week was filled with rain and crappy weather. Spent most of my time doing my normal routine of reading, trying to write, failing at writing, watching TV, and playing computer games.
Well that's it for my end of the year summary. I will post some picture from around the city after this post and should be back on tract and up to date with my post in the coming days. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Week 12
It was the final week in the fall semester so there was a lot of wrapping up going on. Nothing too crazy in the form of exams or anything, just the ending of courses. I finished the Bioculteral and Mortuary Theory courses. I will now have to write an essay for each of those classes. They aren't due until mid/late January. I am going to be continuing to take the anatomy, osteology, and statistics courses in the next semester. I will also be adding a course in paleopathology and eventually a course in archaeogenetics. Week 12 ended with a little lunch party for the Osteo class. This included a few of the PhD students and our professor. It was mostly finger food and alcohol, mostly alcohol. Nice little party, was good to be able to talk to everyone (professor and PhDs) in a relaxed social environment. The party ended around 5:00pm and everyone had a bit of a buzz. As it was too early to head out on a Friday night, we decided to all go to one of my classmate's house, and continue drinking there. Our plan of going out never formed and we just continued to drink at the house. By midnight, everyone was calling it quits and heading home. 12 hours of drinking takes a lot out of you. Fitting close to the first semester.
Week 13
This was my first official week off. However, it did not start out as such. I had an assignment that I still needed to finish that was due on Tuesday. It wasn't anything exciting and, in fact, I had been putting it off for at least a week already. For this project I had to measure the lengths and thickness of the upper limbs from about 3 dozen skeletons as well as record the presence of musculoskeletal stress markers. It was a lot of boring data collection. But, it was a graded assignment and I will need the data again in the course so there was no more putting it off. I was happy to see that all my other classmates were in the lab as well and in a similar situation as myself. After I finished that assignment, I was officially done with classes until the next term in the new year.
On Wednesday evening, the Archaeology Department held its Christmas Party. They rented out a medium sized room above one of the pubs in town for the small private party. Most of the faculty and staff was in attendance as well as a lot of PhD students and pot-docs that I had never seen before. Our Master's group tends to stick together so we had our own mini little party. After that party came to an end, most of the students decided to carry the party to another pub. The night was fun and it was the last time I would see most of my classmates as they would all be returning home to their families.
The week ended with both of my house mates returning home and leaving me entirely alone in the apartment. It has been a long time since I truly lived on my own. It was nice to be able to blast my music and not have to worry about being considerate of others in the house.
Week 14
Nothing much to report for this week. Spending my time reading about ancient Egyptian magic and religion. Trying to complete as much background research as I can to prepare myself for the onslaught of research I am going to have to conduct in the new year. I am also trying to begin writing my essays that will be due in January. I have decided upon the topics I will be discussing in my papers; now it is just a matter of translating the ideas in my head onto paper. So far, this has not been an easy task. Hopefully I will be able to get some work done over the next few weeks.
Week 15
Well, Christmas was Sunday. First time I have not been with family for the holiday. It was an odd feeling. It was much like all my previous days here on this break. Spent most of the day reading, playing computer games, and watching TV. Later in the afternoon, I was able to Skype with everyone back home. Got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa, Ashleigh and Mom. Also had a very brief conversation with my dad, but internet connection problems prevented us from having a conversation longer then 30 seconds. Later in the evening, a friend came over and we watched a movie together. She was alone for Christmas as well, so we decided that we should at lease see each other so we weren't totally alone for the holiday.
Cork was an interesting place over the Christmas weekend. It was virtually a ghost town. All the shops, stores, and pubs we closed down. The streets were empty except for the rare family out for a stroll. The weather was fairly warm, in the upper 40s. This is quite a departure from last year where the temperature was about 15 degrees. Only have had one 5 minute episode of snow, if you can call it that.
The rest of the week was filled with rain and crappy weather. Spent most of my time doing my normal routine of reading, trying to write, failing at writing, watching TV, and playing computer games.
Well that's it for my end of the year summary. I will post some picture from around the city after this post and should be back on tract and up to date with my post in the coming days. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Monday, December 5, 2011
11 Down
Well, December is here. There are several great things about the arrival of this month. First, it means that November is over and I can finally shave my mustache off! November is also known as 'Movember.' The point of this is similar to 'No Shave Novemeber' but is commonly restricted to just growing a mustache. In order to participate, you are supposed to shave the 1st of November and not again until the month is over. Men participating often get sponsors and all the money raised is donated to men's health causes. Silly contests for good causes. It was fun, but to be honest, I hate this thing on my face. It has to go.
The next thing about the arrival of December is that the weather has finally decided that it is winter. As such, the temperature ranges from cold as shit to fucking freezing (major bonus nerd points if you can identify that quote). I commonly wear a long sleeve shirt, hoodie, and my pea coat when going out. On the really cold days I add a scarf, gloves, and maybe an undershirt. Its times like these that I am happy I have longer hair again as it really help keeping my head warm. The rain has been a little bit more than normal this week. Even got a thunder storm mid week. The temperature during the day has been in the mid to high forties and close to freezing in the evening. It dipped below freezing the other day and looks like it will be doing that several more times in the next few weeks. Snow is becoming more likely as well.
On Monday, I had a meeting with the lady who conducted the original investigation into the mummy and coffin at UCC. The meeting was mostly pointless, more a show of good will on my part. I was able to examine some of the original x-rays and CT scans. Its amazing how far imaging technologies have come in the last decades. The CT scans were practically worthless. This meeting just proved how important it is to get a modern high tech evaluation of the material. I have also been in contact with several of my friends and colleagues back at UCLA who have advised me on several aspect of study that I could possibly pursue with this material. So while things seem to not be moving forward, they are. Just at an immeasurably slow pace.
On Wednesday night, our class celebrated the holidays by having a potluck dinner and a secret Santa gift exchange. The secret part of the secret Santa only lasted about 2 days. Our class sucks at keeping secrets. Being the only guy, I knew I was in for some type of prank. Even more so when I learn who had drawn my name. Of all the ridiculous things I could have imagined, nothing could have prepared me for my gift. I was given a bunny onesie, complete with hood and ears and a pink heart-shaped tail. Yep. Giant bunny onesie. Everyone one else got scarves, stuffed animals, jewelry. Not me. Nope. Even worse, they made me put it on. It felt exactly like the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie is forced to put on his pick bunny onesie. Dignity remaining after that night: none. Wonder where they got the inspiration. Not cool!
So December is off to an interesting and cold start. I have only one more week of class before the Christmas break. That will mark the end of the first semester and I will be that much closer to my master's degree. I will post some more picture from my trip last weekend soon. I took over 80 pictures at the Rock of Cashel so I need to shrink that down into a slideshow. It should be posted in the next few days.
The next thing about the arrival of December is that the weather has finally decided that it is winter. As such, the temperature ranges from cold as shit to fucking freezing (major bonus nerd points if you can identify that quote). I commonly wear a long sleeve shirt, hoodie, and my pea coat when going out. On the really cold days I add a scarf, gloves, and maybe an undershirt. Its times like these that I am happy I have longer hair again as it really help keeping my head warm. The rain has been a little bit more than normal this week. Even got a thunder storm mid week. The temperature during the day has been in the mid to high forties and close to freezing in the evening. It dipped below freezing the other day and looks like it will be doing that several more times in the next few weeks. Snow is becoming more likely as well.
On Monday, I had a meeting with the lady who conducted the original investigation into the mummy and coffin at UCC. The meeting was mostly pointless, more a show of good will on my part. I was able to examine some of the original x-rays and CT scans. Its amazing how far imaging technologies have come in the last decades. The CT scans were practically worthless. This meeting just proved how important it is to get a modern high tech evaluation of the material. I have also been in contact with several of my friends and colleagues back at UCLA who have advised me on several aspect of study that I could possibly pursue with this material. So while things seem to not be moving forward, they are. Just at an immeasurably slow pace.
On Wednesday night, our class celebrated the holidays by having a potluck dinner and a secret Santa gift exchange. The secret part of the secret Santa only lasted about 2 days. Our class sucks at keeping secrets. Being the only guy, I knew I was in for some type of prank. Even more so when I learn who had drawn my name. Of all the ridiculous things I could have imagined, nothing could have prepared me for my gift. I was given a bunny onesie, complete with hood and ears and a pink heart-shaped tail. Yep. Giant bunny onesie. Everyone one else got scarves, stuffed animals, jewelry. Not me. Nope. Even worse, they made me put it on. It felt exactly like the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie is forced to put on his pick bunny onesie. Dignity remaining after that night: none. Wonder where they got the inspiration. Not cool!
So December is off to an interesting and cold start. I have only one more week of class before the Christmas break. That will mark the end of the first semester and I will be that much closer to my master's degree. I will post some more picture from my trip last weekend soon. I took over 80 pictures at the Rock of Cashel so I need to shrink that down into a slideshow. It should be posted in the next few days.
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