Since I'm still so far behind...

May. 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 am



Thursday, 23 April

I was reasonably productive with my paper, and went through a source before Caitlin and I met up to go to Trafalgar Square. Being St George’s Day, there was to be a show in the National Gallery in front of the painting of St George and the dragon, so we commandeered some seats whilst listening to a talk about the painting. Mostly I was playing with the toddler seated in front of me, though. After the talk, most of the chairs were cleared away and we ended up in the front on the floor to enjoy a “mummery.” If I remember, I’ll look up what exactly that is, but in general it’s a traditional show type that often incorporates music. Several becostumed people danced and sang up to the portrait and then re-enacted said portrait as a beginning stance. They acted out the story of St George in quite an entertaining fashion- the dragon was, of course, French, and the swords were flowers as the National Gallery would not allow them to use fake swords.

We grabbed muffins at Costa Coffee after, then sat on the steps in Trafalgar Square, enjoying the drunken Englishmen who had overtaken Nelson’s column, waving St George’s flag around.

The two of us then met up with Hilary, Kevin, his friend Amy, and Damien to go to Brick Lane, which was delicious as per usual, and a slightly better deal than the last time. Somehow I did not end up with a completely distended belly this time ‘round, so Caitlin, Damien and I went and got dessert at Cookies and Cream after.

Friday, 24 April

After doing a bunch of work, Hilary and I watched Men in Tights in my room, which is a most excellent film, which she had surprisingly not seen the entirety of. We also had a Cadbury hot sticky chocolate pudding which was heavenly; I am definitely buying more of those next time I go grocery shopping!

Saturday, 25 April

To continue our St George’s Day activities, Caitlin and I met up to find St George’s Gardens (near Russell Square), where a local small festival was going on. The Master of Ceremonies was walking around on stilts, covered in British flags, and the two of us watched jealously as small children got to play with the archery set (we wanted a go, but decided we were a little outside the target age range). We got tea and cake and set up on the sunny lawn, reading a bit while there was a Bollywood dance lesson going on a bit aways (taught by two blondes, strangely). Soon after, the Punch and Judy tent was set up and ready to go. That puppet show explained so much to me about the British sense of humour- Judy would leave her baby with Punch, explain calmly that if Punch were to go after her child with a stick, we must call her back. When, as he inevitably would, Punch did indeed go after the baby with a stick- twice- and everyone called Judy back, she decided that Punch should teach the child to walk while she went away again. After Punch tricked the Copper into hanging himself- and rubbing it in his face by saying “you are stupid” rather than “I am sorry” when the officer told him to “say you are sorry!”- Crocodile Dundee was called to settle the matter by setting a crocodile on Punch so she could bite his nose. It was really funny, kid’s show or no!

I spent a long time downloading Huck Finn with Elijah Wood in it to reference for my last paper.

Sunday, 26 April

I stayed up until 4AM finishing my paper. 2500 words exactly, booyah.

Monday, 27 April

I spent an hour wandering through the library and available computer lounges, trying to find a computer to pop onto and print off my paper and some study materials. No luck. I finally ended up in Computing Services, where the receptionist was kind enough to clock me in and let me use their printers- which evidently were free, so I did lots of free printing of materials for my Diff Eq final after I printed my paper.

I had a phone interview with Pearson, which I thought went pretty well (this was the ‘second level’ one, with the managers), and they had worked with Rennie (Mirollo, he was the prof I first graded for). However, I got a job offer from EMC that same day, which I decided would be in my best interests to take- I would get to work for three or four more weeks, get paid five dollars an hour more, and for an hour a day more; I also get two paid days off, which is nice. Rather than studying, I spent a lot of days in communication with the various companies, and also verified that I can live with my aunt in Newton and drive with my uncle to work most days- so I’ll be in the Boston area this summer :-)

Tuesday, 28 April

I spent a few hours making a study guide of the materials from the second half of the term, and going over my midterm study guide, as well as making sure that all my notes and solutions were in order for my exam. I spent an hour or two doing work in the ITL as well, which is where the computer science kids hang out (it reminded me of the math lab, actually); that was overall an entertaining and mostly productive experience. After dinner at Wagamama’s (yay Wagamama Ramen and Apple and Lime juice!), I went over past finals and their solutions while doing laundry so I would have clean clothes to pack for Scotland.