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23 February 2007
Week-end Plans?→[More:]Spend time with the family
Go out for a movie tomorrow (has anyone seen Ghost Rider yet?)
Relax, fill up the Examination fee application, collect my Voter ID, and go in for the mandatory Blood and Drug test.
Tonight will probably be a chillout night, watching American Idol in front of the TV (in the UK we get the two shows run one after the other on Friday nights).
Tomorrow I'm meeting a woman I used to share a flat with 30 years ago. I haven't seen her since the early 80s. She and her husband are visiting London (they live on Merseyside now), he and his friend are going to a football game, so Debbie and I will probably have a drive out into the countryside and a nice lunch somewhere, catch up on the last couple of decades.
Sunday will be the usual prep for the week ahead - housework, shopping, laundry and, of course, I have a date to listen to Radio Mecha on Sunday afternoon.
Friday: Office warming party for old boss at his new work. Only a few blocks away. Thankfully I will still work with him. Cool.
Saturday: Cooking and decorating spree: kids' birthday party. Late: new rembetika dig in town! Woo! Woo? Sources say it's very authentic and very good. I do not always trust the sources. Should be fun anyway because I am going to see a few friends I have not seen in ages.
Sunday: Need to relax. I will instead go to work. Stuck on a problem. Not good. I need vacation. Or another life.
in the UK we get the two shows run one after the other
We were getting an hour long episode for the past two weeks here in India, two episodes every week, in which they had their audition rounds, and went to Hollywood for the finals.
This week, we've been having two hour episodes, and the group has been whittled down to 12 (or is it ten?) finalists on the Men and Women's sides.
Today's episode will be a special episode, in which America gets to decide who goes forward I guess. That, and it'll be followed up with The Apprentice, so I'm all set for my Friday night viewing.
Tonight: don't know about early, at midnight watching my rugby team (Otago Highlanders) play a south african team (Stormers) in the super 14 tournament.
Saturday: sleep in. organise clothes to give to goodwill. meet friends for dinner at yummy Brazilian place around the corner, go watch live music
Sunday: a little work and then Maryland plays UNC at 5pm.
Tonight: bead shopping before my pseudo-blind dinner date with a guy that seems very sweet...I feel I should be more excited than I am but maybe that will come as the hour draws closer.
Saturday: thinking about skipping my mandarin class in the afternoon in favour of spending the day sourcing beads for jewelry I'll be making for a fashion show to be taped on the 5th and then a dinner party at my best friends' place.
Sunday: brunch with my best friend after which I'll take her to the store where my jewelry's showing, then more wire wrapping and stringing.
Filling out a tax worksheet.
Glutting myself on movies.
Laundry.
The Spain exhibit at the Guggenheim.
Watching the Oscars in a hotel room.
Finishing my piece about interesting things to do with blueberries. ;-)
Straightening up the front hall.
tonight: finishing painting the trim on the baby room, then watching some tv... probably catching up on Lost and Gray's Anatomy (I kind of hope she dies) and Slings & Arrows
saturday: my day to myself, as the wife works. going to the gym. finishing painting the trim on the baby room (as we'll probably both be to tired to really do it tonight). maybe go for a walk. maybe do some reading. maybe do some writing. need to relax. bowling birthday party saturday night.
sunday: we. have. no. plans. maybe hit a museum. (still need to see the body exhibition) do some cleaning, i imagine. lament the end of football season, again. probably watch the oscars. definitely spend some time with my hand on my wife's belly, feeling the baby.
(i have no idea why i wrote this all in lowercase. forgive me.)
I'll be cross country skiing with my mom tomorrow, meditating at the Zen center on sunday morning, and probably going for a bike ride on the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway, on a newly restored section of road that's closed to cars.
Bedrestin'. Gestatin'. Perhaps listening to the mister install our new dishwasher. (I nest at Best Buy. I do not clean, decorate, or organize like normal pregsters. I feather my nest with electronics and large appliances.)
According to twitter, chrismear has gone down to London to pick up suits for the weekend. But yeah, an MA is definitely a cause for celebration. You don't get those things without a lot of work so unless he's being modest then, w00ts are in order.
I'm not meaning to be rude here, and I'm sure Chrismear will back me on this, but he really didn't do any *extra* work for his MA.
Ancient Scottish universities give out MAs as the basic arts degree. The two old English universities do something similar, except they make you wait a year or so after graduation and then hit you up for some money for it. So you leave Oxford or Cambridge with a BA but if you wait a while (and pay a fee, possibly attend a ceremony, more than likely obey some ancient custom like not having any debts of wages owed to your servant come Michaelmas) then you get an upgrade to the MA.
Some people ignore it (and remain forever bachelors), but that's foolish if you plan on an academic career and for those who love ye olde ceremonies it's really rather nice.
Ahh, interesting GeckoDundee. I didn't know that custom still went on. It's how my dad got his MA from Oxford and he's always considered it a fraudulent qualification he didn't deserve. Still, he's almost completed a PhD; not only that, but finished it over a year early!
GeckoDundee's spot on -- it's a completely automatic upgrade, no additional work required, so no congratulations are in order! Just an excuse to meet up with old friends and parade through town in our gowns and hoods, really.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
