Regularly, I mean. It turns out I'm a self-centered egotistical(I think that's just like self-centered squared) person who would only run at someone's else pace if a) they are faster than me and makes me push myself b) they are hot and I want to get in their pants c) I'm in love. And the last one is theory of my own making without any experimental support.
“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body. But rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up,totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming .... WOW what a ride.” Mark Frost(The Match)
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Personal amusement...
It goes like this: "Curiosity killed the cat..."
You've got to face it, BOE!!!
I'm human!, I'm human! and,
Who is able to resist the temptation?
Silence fell when the question was asked
From lost to the Pond!
The worst that could happen is being Exterminated!
Alons-y!
Alons-y!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
A session with an accent...
That's how the chair of the session(and second speaker of it) described us when introducing my talk. It was just a remark as both speakers in that short session are Spanish and both have a remarkable thick accent. That was not a problem for the talks and no one complained about my accent nor my presentation(which is weird, as I'm sure it was kind of al-right but not perfect). Anyway, it was a good experience. I found it a bit difficult to write the talk, it was not for an expert audience but for people with a variety of backgrounds ranging, in principle, from atomic experimental physicists to hardcore condensed matter theorist. So I had to introduce two traditionally different fields pretty much from zero and build up to my work and my results, all in 25 minutes. I think I managed, leaving a trillion details out and only offering a hand wavy picture of everything but that's the most you can hope to do in such circumstances. I was asked a couple of interesting questions but I don't think I offered a good answer to any of them, sadly. That's something I need to get better at.
But anyway, this is not to say that my accent has not troubled me in the past. I can recall at least a couple of times where my accent/mispronunciation of some or many words has made the person I was talking to hear something completely different to what I originally said. Once I was about to enter the toilet and I told my housemate something like "if you need me, I'll be in there doing some vowel stretching" and for some reason he heard "if you need me, I'll be in there doing some balls stretching", hence the concerned look he gave me before I closed the door. A different time, I was discussing bouldering with another climber from the uni club and I was telling her how I am a bad climber but I have some considerable strength hence "I like big jugs". She heard "I like big Jack" and also glanced in a surprised manner at me(There's a guy called Jack in the club too, and he's certainly a big gentleman). These things happen less often nowadays, but from time to time, someone will get the wrong idea about me... :)
But anyway, this is not to say that my accent has not troubled me in the past. I can recall at least a couple of times where my accent/mispronunciation of some or many words has made the person I was talking to hear something completely different to what I originally said. Once I was about to enter the toilet and I told my housemate something like "if you need me, I'll be in there doing some vowel stretching" and for some reason he heard "if you need me, I'll be in there doing some balls stretching", hence the concerned look he gave me before I closed the door. A different time, I was discussing bouldering with another climber from the uni club and I was telling her how I am a bad climber but I have some considerable strength hence "I like big jugs". She heard "I like big Jack" and also glanced in a surprised manner at me(There's a guy called Jack in the club too, and he's certainly a big gentleman). These things happen less often nowadays, but from time to time, someone will get the wrong idea about me... :)
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Once upon a time...
In a peninsula far far away, or so it seems, a past version of me wanted to be a writer. That kid could devour a thick book in a couple of afternoons. Thanks to the horrible education system in Spain at the time(only mentioning it because soon we'll have no system at all) I could basically ignore what was going on at school and concentrate in whatever novel I was reading at the moment. It was good, I did enjoy reading and, I guess it's because I was younger, I had a lower threshold and I would get anything to the end. I'd go an say that as with women, I've grown to have a taste, but with the latter I always had(ie, I've been extremely picky with women all my life and now I'm also with the books I finish). Anyway, I'm not writing this to talk about women. I was just thinking about that boy who wanted to be a writer and who wrote some short stories. I'm sure that literally speaking, they are much better than anything I could write these days but hopefully I've grown to live better stories though. Thing is that, around last summer, I discovered that not only I like theatre but in fact I do enjoy it a lot; both, reading plays and going to the theatre. I even started reading a book on how to write a play. That book has actually been in my bedroom for like a year, until I got it back to the library last week after having read some bits(it's actually good, at least to a neophyte like me) and never made it past the third line of "my play". "my play" is nothing else than an experiment with the LaTeX package for writing plays where I introduced some generic characters and a badly written first scene. That was last summer and I've been busy since then(it's been an awesome year, after all). In fact I haven't read that many plays during term time and only went to see one, Lovesong, which I liked quite a lot. And I just found out that you can rent online(although I am not sure you'll get all the visuals the production has in the theatre):
So, I had kind of forgotten again all about that boy who wanted to write.
Actually, that's not true. I just remembered, I went to see Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, which when I read it, I found difficult and which when played by actors is very good. Although, TOO MUCH DRAMA for my taste. By the way, and so I remember it, they have Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate and it's on my TO WATCH list:
It's like £7, but I think it may be worth it.
As I was saying, it was all a bit forgotten until about three weeks ago I decided I was going to start watching that famous British TV show called Doctor Who. All those carefully crafted scripts made me wonder again, how do they get their ideas? I mean, you've got to be very clever and very imaginative to come up with such amazing story-lines and more importantly, to develop them in 50 minutes of TV. So although I don't think I'll be writing anytime soon(other than my thesis, and I've been already told my writing style is too wordy for science) I am extremely curious about the creative process behind, at this particular moment, Doctor Who. Luckily for me, the first showrunner of the new series, Russel T. Davies, wrote a book just about that. Well, it's not actually a book, it's a collection of e-mails with a Doctor Who magazine writer during some years where the whole process, according to the book extract that I can read on Amazon, was documented for some episodes. And, also, I got the filming scripts for the first season(it was less than £3 and, like right now, it was late at night). So, that will be interesting to read.
PS: To those who ever come across with a play titled "Copenhagen" and feel attracted to it because it's about Heisenberg and Bohr, don't bother. It's the biggest bullshit ever and I can sincerely not understand why on earth it is so famous. On the other hand, if you want to read a good one with a famous physicists in, try Clever Dick by Crispin Whitell
In fact, this is a list of the plays a read and I enjoyed(in no particular order)
And I just bought Mirror Teeth by Nick Gill because I have wanted to read it for a while and because apparently that's what I do when I am in front of my computer at 3am, I buy books.
So, I had kind of forgotten again all about that boy who wanted to write.
Actually, that's not true. I just remembered, I went to see Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, which when I read it, I found difficult and which when played by actors is very good. Although, TOO MUCH DRAMA for my taste. By the way, and so I remember it, they have Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate and it's on my TO WATCH list:
It's like £7, but I think it may be worth it.
As I was saying, it was all a bit forgotten until about three weeks ago I decided I was going to start watching that famous British TV show called Doctor Who. All those carefully crafted scripts made me wonder again, how do they get their ideas? I mean, you've got to be very clever and very imaginative to come up with such amazing story-lines and more importantly, to develop them in 50 minutes of TV. So although I don't think I'll be writing anytime soon(other than my thesis, and I've been already told my writing style is too wordy for science) I am extremely curious about the creative process behind, at this particular moment, Doctor Who. Luckily for me, the first showrunner of the new series, Russel T. Davies, wrote a book just about that. Well, it's not actually a book, it's a collection of e-mails with a Doctor Who magazine writer during some years where the whole process, according to the book extract that I can read on Amazon, was documented for some episodes. And, also, I got the filming scripts for the first season(it was less than £3 and, like right now, it was late at night). So, that will be interesting to read.
PS: To those who ever come across with a play titled "Copenhagen" and feel attracted to it because it's about Heisenberg and Bohr, don't bother. It's the biggest bullshit ever and I can sincerely not understand why on earth it is so famous. On the other hand, if you want to read a good one with a famous physicists in, try Clever Dick by Crispin Whitell
In fact, this is a list of the plays a read and I enjoyed(in no particular order)
- Clever Dick and Darwin in Malibu by Crispin Whitell
- Breathing cropses by Laura Wade
- Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
- Peepshow by Isabel Wright(weird thing, I would have loved to see the original production).
- Kiss me like you mean it by the GREAT Chris Chibnall(I just realized that this little play, that I enjoyed so much is by the same guy who wrote "Dinosaurs in a spaceship" and other Doctor Who episodes :) ).
- Entertaining Angels by Richard Everett
And I just bought Mirror Teeth by Nick Gill because I have wanted to read it for a while and because apparently that's what I do when I am in front of my computer at 3am, I buy books.
And out of the blue, I miss you.
It may seem stupid, it may seem too easy, but this makes me miss you.
This makes me regret giving up on you.
This makes my hands feel a bit shaky and lost without your body, without ever been able to grip you, to tame you with my fingers, to squeeze noises out of you.
I know you're gone. Well, I know where you are, but you'll never be mine again. I've learned to accept that and I can only wonder if life will ever put something like you in my way.
PS: This post is about my, former, acoustic guitar.
This makes me regret giving up on you.
This makes my hands feel a bit shaky and lost without your body, without ever been able to grip you, to tame you with my fingers, to squeeze noises out of you.
I know you're gone. Well, I know where you are, but you'll never be mine again. I've learned to accept that and I can only wonder if life will ever put something like you in my way.
PS: This post is about my, former, acoustic guitar.
Saturday, September 08, 2012
I shouldn't by I am...
a bit crossed because I'm seeing this guys tonight
But anyway, I'll get over it. Enjoy the concert and watch Dinosaurs on a spaceship when I get home. And now, off to do some work, I've got a paper to finish and a talk to prepare(it sounds like I'm a scientist :) ).
and the concert clashes with the new Doctor Who episode on BBC1 :s. I know, I can watch it later, but I guess I'm on my Whovianism maximum.
But anyway, I'll get over it. Enjoy the concert and watch Dinosaurs on a spaceship when I get home. And now, off to do some work, I've got a paper to finish and a talk to prepare(it sounds like I'm a scientist :) ).
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Regeneration
I must admit I have watched far too much Doctor Who in the last two weeks. That's why I have used that title, but far from Sci Fi. By the way, if you don't know Doctor Who, IT'S A MUST! No, seriously, you have to watch it. It's brilliant. And has the potential of being a never-ending TV show, a good one.
But this post is about a different thing. I have have a goal and a plan(well, actually I lack the plan so far). I need to go from being a runner that swims to being a swimmer that runs in two months. Why? Well, during the past year I have tried many new things but I still haven't participated in a swimming competition and there's a chance I can go to my first one in the beginning of November. Hence why I need to change.
I have been focusing during the summer on my running, in fact I have not swam for the last three weeks or so. Currently I am following a training plan designed to bring my half-marathon time down to 1:35 but I've been a bit lazy and skipped the long runs under the excuse of... well, being tired. It's got 5 runs a week and I've been managing to only get 4 in, which I still plan on doing but now I have to put another 3 or 4 swimming sessions a week and some weights(that I'll start as soon as the Paralympics are finished and I can walk to the gym again). So I have a vague idea of what I want to do and some training sets for swimming but which are focused on long distance open water races(or actually the swimming leg of a half-ironman). I'll be using those as a guideline and as a way to recover my endurance and by the end of the month I hope to have gathered some freestyle competitive swimming sets so I can start doing proper training for a swimming competition. I'm very excited about it, even though it's not even sure I'll make the team and I know that if I make it, I'll be off in the heats and possibly with the slowest time. But still, it's exciting and new. :).
PS: Back to laziness and not reading before posting... I may edit it after I have posted it.
PS2: I miss climbing, I haven't climbed in a while :S.
But this post is about a different thing. I have have a goal and a plan(well, actually I lack the plan so far). I need to go from being a runner that swims to being a swimmer that runs in two months. Why? Well, during the past year I have tried many new things but I still haven't participated in a swimming competition and there's a chance I can go to my first one in the beginning of November. Hence why I need to change.
I have been focusing during the summer on my running, in fact I have not swam for the last three weeks or so. Currently I am following a training plan designed to bring my half-marathon time down to 1:35 but I've been a bit lazy and skipped the long runs under the excuse of... well, being tired. It's got 5 runs a week and I've been managing to only get 4 in, which I still plan on doing but now I have to put another 3 or 4 swimming sessions a week and some weights(that I'll start as soon as the Paralympics are finished and I can walk to the gym again). So I have a vague idea of what I want to do and some training sets for swimming but which are focused on long distance open water races(or actually the swimming leg of a half-ironman). I'll be using those as a guideline and as a way to recover my endurance and by the end of the month I hope to have gathered some freestyle competitive swimming sets so I can start doing proper training for a swimming competition. I'm very excited about it, even though it's not even sure I'll make the team and I know that if I make it, I'll be off in the heats and possibly with the slowest time. But still, it's exciting and new. :).
PS: Back to laziness and not reading before posting... I may edit it after I have posted it.
PS2: I miss climbing, I haven't climbed in a while :S.
Somewhat embarrassing or THAT awkward moment...
Yep, that awkward moment when you realize that the beautifully crafted wind-stopper that you have taken so much care on conserving its original properties(that being wind-stopping mainly) because you fucked up a running jacket by throwing it in the washing machine and then it stopped being water repellent.... And you have tried to keep it like new by not washing it(and ultimately due to infinite laziness maybe only rinsing it once) and one day you check the label and it's actually machine washable.
That's exactly what happened to me last week when after running about 1000km(or possibly more) I thought of checking the label to see if I could machine wash it without damaging the marvellous windstopping fabrics, and apparently I can :s. This is kind of embarrassing and I'm not going to lie, that jacket smelled horribly but I run alone and you actually only smell it when you take it off.
That's exactly what happened to me last week when after running about 1000km(or possibly more) I thought of checking the label to see if I could machine wash it without damaging the marvellous windstopping fabrics, and apparently I can :s. This is kind of embarrassing and I'm not going to lie, that jacket smelled horribly but I run alone and you actually only smell it when you take it off.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
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