Poles apart: From PhDs to Pirouettes

So, FINALLY after almost 5 years of blood, sweat, snot and other bodily fluids, we get to graduation (for the 2nd time). And we got to wear swanky red robes instead of black ones.

Alas the rain meant there was no chance for outside photos, but I have a couple here anyway: this one to prove I was actually there, and this one of Dr Harwood and I looking thoroughly academic! Hahahahahaha!

Also, best quote of the day from one of my ex-students (who was also graduating): "Jo, what are you doing here?". I would have thought the cap and gown were a it of a giveaway there...

A small selection of photos from my holiday can be found here.  If anyone is particularly interested in anything I have a ton more, plus sounds and videos.

Toodlepip! 

So, I am now back in the UK after my crazy adventures in South America (link to photos as soon as I can process them, I've got almost 2000).

I wanted to write a quick entry here (whilst I am stuck at home with undisclosed South American bug which has caused me to lose over a stone in weight - woohoo!) due to some shenanigans on holiday.

You see, I spent 8 days on a boat touring the Galapagos islands. Which was amazing, what with the sealions and the sharks and turtles and iguanas and all but pah! This is not a blog about endemic species, no. On boarding our wonderful vessel, called the Spondylus, this is what I saw. The conclusion was really inevitable...

So after one particularly boozy night in a Galapageon (is that even a word?) nightclub where the choice of drink was either beer or bacardi (classy joint), this, this and this happened. Quite how I managed all that without injuring myself I have no idea. Unfortunately one of my traveling companions did not come off quite so easy and ended up with some fantastic bruises on her inner thigh. Alas, no photos of those. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to eat more hob nobs.

It would seem I have become addicted to Inca Kola.  It´s so good.  The above title is how our guide, Ralph described the taste to me when I asked.  Alas, they don´t sell it in Ecuador so I´ll be going cold turkey next week.

In other news, I seem to have just spent 2 days at Machu Picchu.  This morning I was there at dawn to watch the sunrise, and by coincidence it was also the winter solstice.  Which was nice.

Forget that, where is my question mark key.  crazy peruvian keyboard.

I am in the andes, burning my skin in under a minute in the sun but freezing cold in the shade.

Wrgon!  I like eating yukka, tomorrow I am going to try some llama I think.  Hehehehe.

Also, I forgot to say about everything exploding.  The pressure difference between Cusco and Lima means that any liquid in a bottle explodes upon opening (if it ´hasn´t already).  Hahaha, there´s sun lotion and shower gel everywhere!  Hehehehe!

All your PhD are belong to us.

What you say?

You are on the way to graduation.  You have little chance to order your gown make your time! 

So, erm, yes.  It would appear that my corrections have been accepted by my examiners and I've now technically done everything I need to to graduate.  Hurrah!  I found out on Friday but was too busy having fun at the beach party to remember to tell everyone.  (By the way, big salutes go my cheerleading stunt group posse mass-ive.  I'm hoping there'll be some good photos :)) 

Wow, I've been so rubbish in the blog. There are 2 reasons for this:
1) I was super busy and or stressed with my thesis corrections, which have now been completed (and I'm awaiting the verdict)
2) I didn't have anything to write about other than my thesis corrections which in itself was more mind-blowingly horrid than anything I could possibly describe.

Still, I am here now, still with not much to say. Except that I've been having fun at work and last week got to go out on my first imaging job alone. It happened to be in Milan, which was almost fun (weather was terrible and due to missing an early flight I was sat in the airport lounge for far too long, ended up being awake for 20 hours), and I have updated my work map accordingly.

In other news, I'm gearing up for my massive post-PhD holiday to Peru, the amazon jungle, Ecuador and the Galapogas Islands. I'm having my last jab this Wednesday - the final rabies one, and I'm slowly getting all my kit organised. I've wanted to go to Peru since the 1st year of my undergrad degree, when I studied Incan Astronomy. Very excited, but scared of getting eaten by a snake. Or murdered. Or even worse, murdered by a snake.

Anyway, nothing else to report for now. Except that Oblivion on the Xbox360 is fantastic, especially if you dream of being a giant blue cat that likes hiding in bushes a lot.

Wow, two blog entries in one week, I must have been 'busy'.
Thursday and Friday I went up to Swansea to discuss my corrections with Chen.  I feel much better for having been, even though the trains were an absolute nightmare (getting home took 6 hours, door to door).

Thursday evening went out for Japanese with Jase, Dave, TR and Sits.  From the man who invented the immortal words: "chomp chomp chomp more speedy boots for me", came these pearls of wisdom:
"Fish.  Mouth.  Impressive."
"How's the wasabi derby going?"
"Enough of this sake malarky!"

Mister Wheeler, we salute you!

This week I decided that enough was enough, and it was high time I had some pole action to write about on my blog, so I headed to an open class near the Barbican.  It was a great class, a nice supportive atmosphere and some very talented ladies there pulling off all sorts of insane moves.

Unfortunately,  in the six months that I've been away from poling, my muscles have disappeared.  I am now once again covered in bruises and burns, and frustrated that my body wouldn't do what I told it to.  Grrrr!  Still, excellent fun, I'll be going back there for sure next time I want some punishment.

Take one party, one almost doctor,  3 pinatas, some glow sticks and a sombrero, blindfold and sword and what do you get?

A giant pile of tissue paper and squashed chocolate, lots of spilled booze and a glow stick garter.

In short, carnage. 

Oh, will everyone just stop talking about having a viva and have a viva?

:)

4 1/2 hours, quite exhausting, but the outcome is only minor corrections so I'm happy.  In 12 weeks I'll officially be Dr Jo.  MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

So, another week, another ridiculous amount of work. Spent another couple of days in Germany, flew back and put in some extra hours at the office. I filled in my timesheet this week and realised that last week I worked a total of 60 hours (but still only get paid for 35).  Maybe I need to get myself a wife or something to get annoyed when I'm never home before midnight.  But then she'd probably just accuse me of having an affair and coming home smelling of cheap perfume and we'd get divorced.  Ok, so no wives for me then.  

This week I got to 'do' my first ever covert job, which was insanely fun but, well...  How many other glamorous jobs can you work an 18 hour day and find yourself arranging paperclips back to their exact position on someone's desk at 3am?  All this combined work and traveling has finally made me start a map, which you can find here, showing where I've been sent in the last 3 weeks.  Ok, so it doesn't look overly exciting yet but I'm hoping to not have to leave the country this week, so may end up running round the UK a bit more.  Or just round the office.  Hehehehe.

Anyway, must get more sleep and do some more laundry.  And buy some food.  I don't even have milk so I can't make coffee.  Hmmmn, actually, I could have Haribo for breakfast...  Hehehehehehe!

Some of you may (or may not) know that recently things have been going, well, a bit Jo. Work is stupendously busy and I'm not entirely sure what else is happening (and even if I was, I wouldn't be telling you about it). During a late night discussion with Will yesterday, he compared my personal life to a natural disaster* and also made a prediction for my future:

"You may be miserable, but you'll never be poor, bored, or badly dressed"

Oh well, you can't have everything, eh? ;)

*_{Actually, that's not quite what he said. It was: "Jo's life is like: the sky falling in, and only then, when you're running for cover to escape the blue chunks of sky, that you realise it's the ceiling that's falling, and there's a whole world above", but that seemed less snappy than a generic natural disaster. Thus my personal life can be described as a natural disaster with footnotes.}

So, I'm sat here in Germany eating something which google reliably tells me is:
"sea-radish-suspect".

Hehehehehe.

This week has been officially crazy busy(TM).

On Monday, I got to go to glamorous  Banbury and was up for around 20 hours.  I don't think I really recovered from that for the rest of the week, but I was working late every night at the office, until Friday when I was sent to even-more-exotic Stourbridge.  Oh, and tomorrow I'm flying out to Munich. 

Still, it would appear that 1) I love my job and 2) my job might quite like me too.  Well, being referred to as "the posh bird from London" is enough to make anyone smile (even if you are secretly a man).  And if that doesn't, a couple of hours in a Virgin 1st class carriage certainly will. 

Right, off to buy some clear plastic bags and small plastic pots (grumble grumble baggage restrictions grumble grumble).