Today

I've grown to like xkcd more and more as I look through the archives. This strip seemed to mirror perfectly my own thoughts on relationships recently...

I sent off my application for the job I mentioned previously. Was good to get it sent off, but at the same time the stress of preparing for it has collided with the relief of it being sent, so am feeling a bit numb.

My nan is still in hospital; she had another operation yesterday to remove a drainage tube that was mistakenly left in after her first operation two weeks ago... Luckily there was no infection as a result of the tube being left in, but due to the heating failing on her ward for a day last week she has a touch of pneumonia now too.

My dad would have been 60 today. I guess the thought of that has been playing on my mind a little more than I thought. Last night I had a dream where I met him. He looked exactly the same as he did before he passed away (nearly ten years ago). In the dream I remember telling him that I knew it was a dream. We sat for a while and I think I said more but I don't remember what. I think I told him about my what I was doing now, but I can't say for certain. In any case, he didn't say anything, just smiled as I talked, and finally we stood up and shook hands.

"And then I woke up" - the end of any story about a dream.

Right. Off to play squash and football again, burn off some of the stress.

More soon.

Life Goes On

Is it really 3 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami? I suppose it is. I mention it because at the moment the cricket world is discussing the test match currently being played between Sri Lanka and England at Galle, a city which was devastated during the disaster and where thousands of people died. This is the first time that the stadium has been used since that day in late 2004 - it has taken that long to make it serviceable again - and it almost didn't happen, because some in the cricketing fraternity thought the pitch might not hold up for the full five days. I'm happy to say that the England cricket team have acknowledged the importance of the event for the people of Galle by refusing to even entertain the notion of postponing or moving the game. This match isn't about winning or losing or even the quality of cricket; it's about bringing back normality to a place that sorely needs it.

It seems like an utterly banal point to make, when you think about it: life goes on. What isn't banal is that it shows an important characteristic of human beings (and indeed life itself) - the refusal to lay down and die, to be a victim. The show must go on. Three years on and ordinary Sri Lankans are still dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami, but they're getting there, slowly but surely. Here's to them. I hope Sri Lanka win the test.

Break In Service

First some apologies. I have to apologise to some people who have commented and who I haven't replied to; thank you for taking your time to comment on whatever nonsense I was writing about. I will work harder in future to return the compliment. I also need to apologise to noisms, who has been carrying this blog for the best part of the last two weeks by himself. We set out to have something where we both regularly wrote about whatever was occuring to us, and I've left it to him pretty much over the last few weeks. I've been crazy busy with work, but that's not a great excuse, and I will be working harder in future to write.

I think I might change my "writing model," and rather than worry about finding a subject that I can say a lot about, I'll write shorter, tighter posts about things I'm thinking or have come across (kind of like Warren Ellis' blog, but with a bit more commentary, not just links to cool and interesting stuff).

So what has been going on while I've been silent? Well, I've been forgetting to bring my kit in to play five-a-side football, but that all changes today. Despite my stupid phone waking me up at 5am ("BEEP! BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP! My battery is low, plug me in!") I'm going to play in a couple of hours. The last time was quite good fun, even if I don't particularly enjoy team sports (apart from rounders, as previously discussed).

The chapter of my thesis that I'm working on is going quite well, but just when I think I have something stated as cleanly as possible my supervisor will come up with some other idea. It's a little wearying, as the maths is pretty much all there now, it all comes down to re-writing and re-writing. I'm quite pleased though as I came up with a corollary to the main theorem of the chapter the other day, and while the notation I've written it in might be slightly off at the moment I think that what I'm trying to say is true. Presented it at a meeting this morning, where I was given a ton of corrections for the chapter.

All for the good though, and I think that I am still pretty much on track for submitting as planned.

National Novel Writing Month is fast approaching, and I'm starting to get ideas. I had one thing that I was planning out in my head, but I think that I have abandoned that now in favour of something else which is, I will be the first to admit, utterly ridiculous. It's an idea that is, broadly speaking, science fiction, but leaning towards mainstream fiction as well I guess. I'm not going to go into the idea just yet (in case I decide on something else) but some of the influences and inspirations are Mike Hammer stories, JPod by Douglas Coupland and a variety of songs I've been listening to recently (too numerous to mention).

And that's it. I should do some maths (well, typesetting).