How strange to be the one behind a face

Drive by posting

2011-12-11T15:56:44Z

HATE job applications. Hate them. They are improved by having a job at the time, hence there is less of a sense of "OMG, MUST WRITE BRILLIANT APPLICATION NOW!", but that improvement is, ultimately, insignificant.

Gah. It's just such a completely shit process.

The Census Meme, because ours came through the door yesterday

2011-03-09T11:23:46Z

Relayed from essayel

In 2011 I am living in a semi-detached 1930s house in Devon with my OH, who rocks. :)

In 2001 I was living in a terraced, modern townhouse in Glasgow with my mum and na (who also rock), our Westie and probably three hamsters.

In 1991 I was living in a semi-detached, sandstone (probably Victorian?) house in a tiny village on the north side of Glasgow with Mum and Na.

In 1981 I was not yet born or thought of. My mum and na were living in the aforementioned sandstone house with my granpa.

In 1971 I'm not even sure...! My mum was in her twenties. She might have been living and working Down South in England then. I think my uncle and aunt were in the States. My na and granpa were living in the sandstone house.

In 1961 my mum was still at school and my uncle was at university. They, my na and my granpa were all living in a converted bungalow in a small town near Glasgow.

The ten years between 2001 and 2011 have contained two significant addresses (and life phases) for me, which are not listed above. One at college in Cambridge (...between 2003 and 2010 I lived in a series of varying sized rooms in institutional accommodation...) and one at the small cottage in an English village where Mum and Na now live (from 2004 onwards).

From one end of the country to the other in twenty years...

It's never so much "I was drunk!" as "In vino veritas"...

2011-02-01T17:00:03Z

I do so love reading not only nineveh_uk's entries, but also the comment threads afterwards. Clearly, one never, ever sleeps with anyone drunk who one doesn't, at least subconsciously, want to drag off to bed whilst sober. Whether the sleeping with in any state is a good idea in and of itself is neither here nor there.

The fic in question is here , btw, and is also lovely, even if it clearly Did Not Happen.

ARG, THESIS.

2010-06-07T14:56:24Z

Oh, fuck OFF, chapter 6 - I'm so sick of you now. Stop being difficult and lengthy. How the hell can you be over six thousand words long when you say so little?

On the plus side, it is the last results chapter. And staring balefully at the 10-spot results did eventually force me to come to some sort of conclusion about them. Even if that conclusion is "ladybirds are weird, and Adalia species more than most". I know why I hate chapter 6 quite so much, too. It doesn't say what I want it to say, not in an "I'm wedded to my theory and this CONTRADICTS it" way, but in an "I should have more data than this and I DON'T" way. Blasted collaborators.

I just want it to be over now. Nearly, nearly there.

I have decided

2010-04-30T14:52:43Z

When I am grown up, I will have a sewing machine of my own.

This is prompted mostly by my vast enjoyment of knitting at the moment. I learnt to knit from my Na* when I was quite young, but at twelve (or whatever I was), impatience for the finished product tended to conquer enjoyment of the progress. Knitting didn't really take. The dog's half finished blanket got turned into a coat for when she was shivering after being shorn during a rather cold spring.

HOWEVER, at twenty-four I apparently have greater reserves of patience than I did at twelve. (It wouldn't be hard.) I started knitting last autumn, inspired by Girl Housemate who had knitted herself a rather fetching (HAH, that's the name of the pattern..!) pair of fingerless gloves. I coveted. I begged permission to copy and was gracefully granted it. I went forth and bought wool, and needles, and, lo and behold, it really is like riding a bike. After a brief tussle and the discovery that, no, it is not correct to knit through the back loop (still not sure if Na taught me to do it that way or if I unwittingly transmuted it when I "reminded" myself how it was done), I was away. The coveted pair of gloves for me, a pair for Mum (who has permanently cold hands), a lace (who knew one could knit lace?) scarf for Na, a knitted!ammonite (yes, really) for Boy's geologist best friend and an elephant-shaped tea cosy later, I am empire building. I am knitting a skirt (four whole skeins of really quite expensive wool) for myself and have embarked on a Secret Knitting Project for Boy (socks, but exciting socks).

You can't knit everything though, not even with lace needles. Fabric beckons. I learnt to sew when I was even younger and that did take, probably because the investment of time needed when armed with a sewing machine is quite small. At the moment I do not have space, time (why, hello, thesis...), or the wish to tread on Girl Housemate's toes. She is rather artistic (despite being a physicist) and already has a sewing machine (how she fits it in her room I do not know, though she does have the biggest one). I doubt I could make quilts as pretty as hers.

Ah, but soon, soon, I will move out of student accommodation. Bookshelves will be mine! Not to mention a bigger wardrobe. Sometime after these items, I think, will follow a sewing machine. (Sometime after, because, however much I fantasise about self-sufficiency, it is definitely a luxury item.)

Which brings me to my next point. Freedom may soon be mine also. The thesis is finally beginning to look... Long. Scholarly. (Ha.) Most importantly, almost finished! I wish my brain was stuffed with less cotton wool* today, in fact, because I am beginning to feel that the final discussion is not just an unknown wilderness with "Here be dragons" scribbled across it. I think I may have... {pauses for dramatic effect} CONCLUSIONS! :)

Therefore, back to work.

* It was never this hot in Glasgow in May. Nor, had it been so, were we as stupid as college administration. Un-insulated hot water pipes running through rooms, now there's a good idea...

Procrastination

2010-04-15T09:33:12Z

Amusing myself with silly internet fora when I should be writing chapter 2. :S Anyway, here's my life story in twenty words:

Scottish girl; single mum; happy, eccentric child; successful schooldays; top university - fun :D; now scientist-in-training (PhD); met my match; hopeful: onwards!

I did cheat by making "scientist-in-training" count as one word.

Right - chapter 2. I am beginning to loathe the literature on range expansions as much as I did that on phenotypic plasticity.

New icon = highly appropriate

2009-10-18T09:55:59Z

{blows dust off journal}

There's a cycle when it come to academic job applications, it would seem. It goes something like this:

1. Fantasise about the perfect project you're going to find, in the lab which is so much better funded/organised than your own.
2. Sift through adverts. Be startled at the lack of interesting jobs in your field. However, send applications and speculative enquiry e-mails off in high excitement.
3. Wait.
4. Wait some more.
5. Receive first rejection, a week after the last date they said they'd get back to you by.
6. Guess what? Wait.
7. Realise that, yes, it would seem most PIs are complete bastards who will not do you the courtesy of sending a polite "thanks, but no thanks" e-mail. Not even an obvious form letter.
8. Send some more applications. Get less picky. Anything you think you're qualified for is now fair game - along with a few things you aren't. Give up on speculative e-mails because NO-ONE replies.
9. Be entertained by a rejection e-mail from one of the first jobs you applied for several months ago. Guys, your funding will run out before you've appointed someone at this rate.
10. Wait. Again.
11. Be heartened by a very kind rejection letter from one of the few academics who seems to have mastered the use of the reply button. The e-mail is notable for being personalised and explaining why you didn't get the job.
12. Find the "perfect project". Have a surge of enthusiasm. Begin again...

Gah. Hate job hunting. Hate being told again and again that they want someone who can start immediately. So I'm being punished for thinking ahead and applying BEFORE I've finished my PhD, rather than hanging around doing nothing?

Boy is off to a conference, so the next few days should be very good for work. I might even take myself into the library this afternoon and make a concerted attack on the chapter. I had planned to clean/tidy my room, however. It needs doing. The exotic life I lead...

Reaching across the void

2009-07-31T16:00:55Z

Things I dislike:
- Writing cover letters
- Second guessing people
- Not having any new books (Why did I say I wouldn't buy books until I'd finished the chapter? Why?)
- Reminding our technician that I'm on holiday next week, so HE needs to do the feeding
- REALLY DULL LAB MEETINGS

{deep breath} So, things that do not suck (in no particular order):

1. The modelling being so nearly finished I can taste it.
2. Having a supervisor who listens.
3. Finally, new running shorts! :)
4. My friend F's birthday party tomorrow. (Must remember present!)
5. Next week = holiday!
6. Boy being Boy and just wonderful. :)
7. The merest sniff of a job.
8. Tea. Always good. :D
9. Seeing friends tonight.
10. Being helpful to colleagues.

Sticking my head above the parapet

2009-07-16T13:33:09Z

Ok, so. I watched Torchwood Series 3 with the boy over the past week. We saw the final episode last night on iPlayer. We were both fully aware of the basic plot beforehand, because, after the upsetting-ness of episode four, we wanted to check the world didn't end in a ball of fire and tentacley goo or anything.

We liked it. We are both now filing it under "things we do not regret seeing, but do NOT wish to see again", but we liked it. I thought Ianto's death was sad for viewers, particularly for those more invested than me who hadn't even seen an episode before, and bloody heartbreaking for Jack, but... A risk of the job, yes?

The scenes with the kids in episode four were horrendous, BUT they were horrendous because they were incredibly well made. And the ending? I thought it fitted. Better writers than me have commented on it, but my two cents is that it was both clever and in character. It held up a nice mirror to all those bloody politicians at the start going "Anyone's children, but not mine". When it came down to it, forced to choose between millions of children and just one, who was his own flesh and blood, Jack went the other way and did the right thing. Fucking hard, but honourable. It's his JOB to protect others, right? Don't we applaud people who sacrifice themselves to save other people?

The scenes with his daughter afterwards broke my heart though. I think she did well not to curse him to the darkest pit of hell.

I thought him bolting right at the end was in character, too, not to mention that it was selfish of Gwen to try to get him to stay. She's got a life to go back to. He hasn't.

I may yet go back and have a look at series one and two, because I want to meet the pet pterodactyl and see Jack and Ianto in happier times. One notes they haven't completely slammed the door on there being a series four, either.

Right, back to work.

And I don't believe in this stuff...

2009-04-22T10:48:39Z

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

...Appropriate.

eljay_ @ 2009-03-31T13:11:00

2009-03-31T12:12:21Z

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Grumble.

2009-02-23T11:00:52Z

I have data entry, and I really don't want to do it. I KNOW it has to be done before I can write the paper, but... This experiment took years off my life and I don't want to remember it.

{sets teeth in grim determination} PhD, you can NOT beat me.

Writer's Block: Animal Instinct

2009-02-19T11:12:51Z

What creature would you choose as your spirit animal?

View 505 Answers

I think the word choose is an interesting one here. if I had to choose, I'd probably say a wolf. I empathise with them and think I have certain rather wolf-ish characteristics. (Obligately social, cautious, playful...) My most recently acquired internet nickname is "wolf_girl". On t'other hand, the animal that has been haunting my dreams for as long as I can remember is an orca. Near enough, maybe, since they are also known as "wolves of the sea".

Well!

2008-10-28T12:07:01Z

Credits to those who ran the OMM, despite what must have been MENTAL conditions on the hills. Also, massive credits to the organisers for firstly carrying on and secondly for calling it off when it became clear there would be injuries otherwise.

The media has had a bit of a field day. I can see both points of view. As a hill walker, I'd probably have gone out in those conditions - I did so not so very long ago, in the admittedly much, much tamer Peak District. It's not as though they were aiming to summit a properly high hill, when it actually might have been suicidal, and anyone running that race is an experienced outdoor person and a grown-up. They're not daft enough to keep on if they get into trouble. In fact, quite a lot of them turned back without knowing the race had been called off, just because they knew the conditions had worsened so much. The rest were all holed up on the hills and in for a wet, cold night, but no worse than that. A few brave souls actually made it to the checkpoint and were probably well pissed-off to discover they weren't racing any further.

On the other hand, to anyone who's never been out on the hills in Britain in rough weather, it must have sounded absolutely horrific. Most people probably would have needed airlifted out by the emergency services. Some of the runners did, through ill-luck or bad judgement, though precious few really, considering the number who started. One thing I do know: anyone who knew someone running it must have been terrified out of their wits. I know if Will had been up there I'd have been very, very scared, even knowing that he is more than capable.

Glad he stayed home.

Current state of being:

2008-07-31T10:30:04Z

The Orange
Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange-
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave-
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It's new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I'm glad I exist.

I aten't dead.

2008-06-05T12:12:42Z

...Real life just ate me.

Most of what ate me is interesting only to me, but I will eventually get round to being interesting again. For the moment, have a poem.

“Invictus”
William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Twa' memes

2008-03-16T00:35:31Z

1. I've come to realize that my butt: is never going to be comfy on a rowing machine.

2. When I talk: I wave my hands about and smile a lot.

3. If I love someone: I will be loyal to the end.

4. I need: more time and more courage.

5. I've lost: umpteen hair bands, and my nerve more often than I care to admit.

6. I hate it when: stuff goes wrong that I can't fix, or when I waste time unnecessarily.

7. If I'm drunk: I'm certainly among friends and probably laughing like a hyena.

8. Money: is necessary, but something I wish I didn't have to consider.

9. My mother: is my rock, my best friend and the person I most want to be like.

10. I'll probably always be: an eccentric academic.

11. I have a crush on: someone who I care about enough that I am scared to tell him.

12. The last time I ate my favorite kind of pie was: I don't really like pie....

13. My cell phone: is a four-year-old Samsung clamshell.

14. When I wake up in the morning: I instantly reach across to silence the alarm.

15. Before I go to sleep at night: I read and moisturise if I can muster the strength.

16. Right now I am thinking about: having another cup of tea, then setting to on tidying my room.

17. Babies: are something I know I want to have, some day.

18. When I get on livejournal: I love the feeling of communication.

19. Today I will: [Or, rather, today I did] teach kids about ladybirds at the science fair, get marginally drunk on G&Ts with the other demonstartors afterwards, cook macaroni cheese for tea.

20. Tonight I will: HOPEFULLY go to bed early, after tidying.

21. Tomorrow I will: go to work (sigh), have lunch with Mum and Na, maybe train in the evening.

22. I really want to: make a decision and execute it, so that I have some sense of closure on my current dilemma.

23. Who is most likely to repost this is: not a clue.

24. Relationships: make us what we are.

25. Love: can never be wrong, though what you do about it can be.

26. My best guy friend(s): keep me sane. :D

27. My best girl friend(s): knows me as only someone who has known me eighteen years can.

28. Food: is always fuel and should be a pleasure.

29. When I'm a girlfriend: I am honest above all else.

30. Girls and boys: are fundamentally different on a biological level.

31. Over the summer: I'm going to Scotland and South Africa!

32. Heartbreak: is part of life.

Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Ask for anything!

So, I've no idea if anyone will reply to this, since no-one on my flist exactly knows me, but go ahead. Ask away!

My day has just been made.

2008-03-12T13:51:50Z

The German word for bat is "Fledermaus".

Flying mouse! :D

That's almost as much fun as die Meerschweinchen. The little sea pig, or, as we might call it, a guinea pig.

Little things.....

We dine in hell...

2008-02-28T10:37:33Z

If we lose again today. Stupid crabs. But we're going to bloody well get Emma, so it doesn't matter.

Oh, but I am not feeling up for work today. I am all set to go race and I can't be arsed thinking about anything else. I always get hungry before I have any right to on race days, so just considering this is making me drool. This is somewhat compounded by my immediate thought being "THAT'S what I'll do on Sunday! I'll come back from work and bake yummy chocolate bread and drink tea with W - oh, wait.... I'm meant to be going to Oxford. Oh."

I should really really want to go and see the Boy in Oxford. :(

Oh what a circus, oh what a show....

2008-02-26T12:29:51Z

Thursday is looking like a beautiful, beautiful day of relaxation, and reading, and not having to run to places at the speed of light. This despite it being slap bang in the middle of Bumps. [There will undoubtedly be a post about Bumps. I might even just post an essay I wrote a while ago on the subject, just so people know what I'm talking about...]

I don't know how this week got so mental. It was meant to be all about sitting back and concentrating on the rowing and not worrying about anything else. Then L, my best friend from school, decided to come and visit me. Of course, I am terribly glad to see her and it is lovely to chat and find out what she's doing and hear about AUSTRALIA, but last week would've been better.... But then she had a job interview. Ah well.

Then the supervisions had to be moved, because at the time I would usually supervise I will be on a river. Fine. Then two of the students missed their supervisions last week because they are incompetent, so instead of six supervisions, there were suddenly eight. Less fine.

Then the Boss asked me to come to one of his lectures, because it's new material and he wanted "someone he could trust there to tell him if it's good enough". Ah. Flattering, if......inconvenient.

Then Mum decided that me having chest pains which I were pretty sure were heartburn, but were nonetheless a New Thing, called for a visit to the doctor. Even though said chest pains have since vanished. Right. Book appointment.

Then my friend F decided he wanted us to have a drink this week. I dunno why. Possibly to re-hash his first PhD interview, which he had yesterday, possibly to enquire as to the status of my ongoing indecision, possibly just to have a catch up and hear my dulcet tones. (Really? Gosh, F, why couldn't you have felt like that when we were both single and I was crazy about you?!)

So. Suddenly, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have disappeared in a haze of work and entertaining and Friday is getting written off more quickly by the second. Thursday remains as an oasis of calm.

Wish me luck making it that far.

Oh, GAH.

2008-02-11T17:10:23Z

So, college have decided to enforce their bloody network regulations. Never mind the people who torrent films or TV programmes, but heaven forbid I should have a wireless router in my room.

How, precisely, does this interfere with the network? It barely reaches further than the kitchen! And since no-one except me and the housemates, who have all coughed up for an internet connection anyway, use it, it isn't even costing them money. Not to mention the fact that there isn't any other way to GET wireless at our antiquated hovel.

So, I will have to unplug the wireless, thus making sure we can't check our e-mail in the sitting room or work-faff together in the kitchen. Or even investigate a recipe mid-dinner. Either that or write a grumpy e-mail to the computer officer, which would rather involve admitting I had a wireless connection in the first place......

Grr. Stupid college bureaucracy.

Need sleep.

2008-02-01T12:55:47Z

Today is now officially one of those days when working/feeding ladybirds/moving is just way too much effort. It started with an outing that should, by all rights, have been cancelled (river red-flagged, changed to yellow JUST as I got home and called El Captain to declare that I was going back to bed) and doesn't look to be improving anytime soon.

Boy is coming back tonight. I wish I knew what I wanted.

I shall now drag myself to my feet and contemplate feeding or experimenting. Experimenting sounds like a plan.

One recipe, one book rec, two memes and a poem!

2007-12-31T00:58:55Z

Exactly what it says on the tin.... I made chutney last week and it turned out rather well, so I thought I'd post the recipe for other folk to play with.

Apple and Tomato Chutney
Ingredients:
1lb apples, peeled and chopped small
1lb tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1lb sultanas (I only put in three quarters of a pound, as that's what was in the store cupboard)
1 pint of vinegar
1lb Demerara sugar
half tsp ground ginger
half tsp pepper

Boil the vinegar and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add all the other ingredients and simmer for one hour or until fruit is mushy.

I also re-read a serious competitor for my favouritest book ever - Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. It combines all my favourite things: biology, mountains and people being people in the best possible way. It's all about love and God, which in my world are essentially the same thing.

Now, the scheduled commercial break for seasonal

In 2008, eljay_ resolves to...

Apply for a new literature.
Spend less time on metallumai.
Stop reading with fernwithy.
Start a lupinslittlesis fund.
Give up people-watching.
Give up animals.

I'd love some more literature, but no chance of me giving up people-watching, animals OR metallumai and fernwithy (PARTICULARLY no chance of me stopping reading Fernfic...)

On the twelfth day of Christmas, eljay_ sent to me...

Twelve lupinslittlesis drumming

Eleven loupnoirs piping

Ten genetics a-leaping

Nine dragons people-watching

Eight mountains a-rowing

Seven beaches a-writing

Six ladybirds a-reading

Five ani-i-i-imals

Four sunsets

Three books

Two bright ideas

...and a literature in a pear tree.

I love the image of nine dragons people-watching! :D

I am tempted to just post all of The Road Not Taken, because I'm still standing at the crossroads and have the terrible feeling I will be for some time, but dwelling on it will do me no good. Instead, then, I'll post an old favourite.

When You Are Old by W.B. Yeats
When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And his face amid a crowd of stars.

Meme and ancientness

2007-12-18T10:23:10Z

Well, hell, twenty-two feels much the same as twenty-one. If anything, more confused than ever.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

That is just exactly how I feel today. It is terrifying, because a month ago I would have said I knew my path and any changes were just little detours. Now - now I'm not so sure.

I took that meme that's floating round. It's actually quite a fun one.

Your Score: The Wolf

You scored 41% domestic, 51% gregarious, 14% trickster, and 50% intellect!

Wild, Gregarious, Serious and Emotional: you are the Wolf!

Wolf people tend to revere individualism, but retain a predominant sense of family. Wolf represents all aspects of sociability, and the need for variety (in internal and external affairs) to remain healthy. Wolf is a strong symbol of loyalty and patience. Wolf medicine is deeply rooted in the importance of learning through teaching, new ideas, freedom of mind and body, and responsibility for self and others.

This test categorized you based on four different axes of personality, which were then associated with a different animal. The four axes, as well as all possible results are explained below.

Wild/Domestic: This first axis categorizes you based on how much you are drawn to the outdoors, versus how much you are drawn to civilized situations. Domesticity has many shapes and forms, and varies from the joy of dolphins leaping next to a ship to the steadfast loyalty of a family dog.

Gregarious/Solitary: This axis measures how solitary you are. If you scored high, it means that you enjoy the company of other people, while a low score indicates that you prefer a more solitary lifestyle.

Trickster/Serious: This axis measures how well you line up with conventional trickster archetypes. People who fall into this archetype have a sense of humor and an excitable, highly chaotic streak. Scoring low doesn't mean that you don't have a sense of humor; it just means that you probably don't think dynamite is very funny.

Intellectual/Emotional: This last axis determines whether you are more emotional -- acting based on feelings and instinct, or rational and intelectual -- acting more on thought than on your gut feelings.

Wild	Gregarious	Trickster	Intellectual	The Hyena
Wild	Gregarious	Trickster	Emotional	The Otter
Wild	Gregarious	Serious	Intellectual	The Antelope
Wild	Gregarious	Serious	Emotional	The Wolf
Wild	Solitary	Trickster	Intellectual	The Weasel
Wild	Solitary	Trickster	Emotional	The Coyote
Wild	Solitary	Serious	Intellectual	The Raven
Wild	Solitary	Serious	Emotional	The Frog
Domestic	Gregarious	Trickster	Intellectual	The Fox
Domestic	Gregarious	Trickster	Emotional	The Dolphin
Domestic	Gregarious	Serious	Intellectual	The Horse
Domestic	Gregarious	Serious	Emotional	The Dog
Domestic	Solitary	Trickster	Intellectual	The Rat
Domestic	Solitary	Trickster	Emotional	The Ferret
Domestic	Solitary	Serious	Intellectual	The Cat
Domestic	Solitary	Serious	Emotional	The Squirrel

Link: The Animal Archetype Test written by crumpetsfortea on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

I've always identified heavily with wolves, so that makes me happy. :) The changing of one answer does make me a raven, so I think I might be borderline. Ravens are very cool too, though. One could do a lot worse than be one of the Corvidae.

Skittery flittery little Elj

2007-12-13T12:15:03Z

I am, for some as yet unknown reason, a happy little scientist today.

It could be because THERE ARE NO MORE LADYBIRD PARCELS! Yes! Finally! To let you understand, October/November is the silly season for people sending us samples, because it's when harlequins aggregate to overwinter. In their thousands. Inside houses. Cue frantic telephone calls from the women my Boss calls "the desperate housewives". There's nothing quite like telling someone that there is sod all they can do about the hundreds of beetles oozing yellow gunk over their curtains..... Anyway, my office was until recently filled with anything from one to seven (at its zenith) massive postbags of parcels. Yesterday, however, a push was made and all the parcels were converted into piles of paper and petri dishes. No longer my problem. :D

Or it could be because it's a stunning day out. It froze hard last night and I walked home from the pub through a misty winter wonderland. The mist was hanging near the ground, so trees seemed to rise spectre-like and streetlights dyed pools of it a malevolent looking orange. It made me wish I had a camera on me..... Today the frost is still lying and the sun is shining brightly. I need an excuse to take myself into town before this weather breaks - Cambridge is at it's best in winter sunshine.

Or it could be because I'm going to see The Golden Compass tonight with some of my favourite people ever. I'm going to be terribly sad when my flat posse is broken up by someone leaving. Nevertheless, for the moment we are all still here and making plans to enjoy what time we have.