After(math)

The talk went pretty well in the end I think. I was a little rushed for time in the last third of it, and if I could go back I would make some changes to how it all flowed, but for the most part I was happy with how it went, and my friend (who invited me to give the talk) thinks that it went over well.

I was filmed while I was doing it, as they want to produce a DVD of all of the talks to the school maths club this year, so in a couple of months time I could have my own little memento of the occasion!

The thing that was a real drain was the travel; First Class on a Virgin Pendolino train is nice, people bringing you food and drink, decent sized seats, a paper to read - it's just great. But I worked out this morning that I was at the school for a little under two and a half hours yesterday, and in total I was travelling for the best part of eleven hours. Long, long day. Got some work done on the train on the way down, but on the return journey I was just too tired. Ended up reading my Lonely Planet USA guide for a while, and doing all of the puzzles in The Times (I say with all modesty, that even tired I still rock at puzzles...) while listening to Sufjan Stevens.

Cloverfield was good: I thought it was a genuinely original take on the monster movie, cleverly told, excellent effects. The decision to film it and present it as though it was camcorder footage was great, it really added something to the feeling that you were there: a story like this centred around just average people would have been interesting, but then to literally see it all, the confusion and the chaos, from their perspective was a good move on the part of the filmmakers.

More soon, I read a bizarre little story in The Times yesterday that I want to share, and also I have a question to ask of our American readers...

End of the Week

It looks like it will be a fairly busy weekend, which probably won't feel that weird since it has been a fairly week. Hit a bit of a low patch yesterday; I think that I've been kidding myself in the past by how hard I had been working on my thesis when it's come to writing it up. This week has been something of a baptism of fire when it comes to meeting the targets that I have set myself in order to submit by the end of March.

(it should be noted that there is nothing inherently wrong with me submitting after the 31st of March, this is just the date that I have picked and am aiming for)

So I have an A4 sheet with my targets and so on in front of me, next to a Tim Sale postcard from Heroes (Tim Sale was the comics artist who did the artworks for the character Isaac), of Peter Petrelli jumping off the top of a building and flying. Both motivate me, though, it has to be said, from the opposite ends of the motivational spectrum.

Tomorrow I'm getting a haircut, and while my hair isn't usually especially long I think I am going to get it cut pretty short. Does the phrase "a four down to a two" mean anything to you? It has something to do with lengths, and I've had it before. It's short, but you can't see my skull.

After that have to visit my nan at the residential home, then on to shopping for birthday presents (three in the next week, including my sister's on Sunday) and in the evening I am going to see Verdi's Macbeth. It's the latest opera in the Met in High Definition series, where the Metropolitan Opera in New York broadcasts a performance to theatres and cinemas all around the world. I saw Romeo et Juliette before Christmas, which was really good - but the Scottish Play is just amazing (my favourite work of Shakespeare's is The Tempest, more on that another time I hope) and I'm really excited to be going to see it as an opera.

But right now I have to sign off as I am going to meet some friends for dinner, and then possibly go on to see the opening celebrations to Liverpool's European Capital of Culture Year. I'm already knackered though, so I'll just have to see how I feel after going for some Indian food.

Be good!