UK Watercooler 35: I'm Goin' Back To NYC, I Do Believe I've Had Enough

...no, not really. Though I do have to say I'm tempted after spending the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art looking at Renaissance Italian pr0nography.

Also... WTF at what they have done to LIC? I got off the 7 and crossed the road on autopilot, and it was a good thing I did coz I DO NOT RECOGNISE WHAT THEY HAS DONE TO MAH NEIGHBOURHOOD!??!?!? Half my block is now a condo. There's a Faux Foods at the end of my block. We are overrun with YUPPIE SCUM.

However, there is now the best Japanese restaurant in the WORLD on my street. (BANY Fusion Foods) You lose some, you win some.

What's up back in the UK?

I know, I know, I started this waaaayyy too late for UK people to even post to. But, you know.

Frost. Woolies has gone and Zavvi may be following it.

I'm here, another 13 hour day at school, picking up chinese on the way home as I have run out of stew.

As they warned this is drinking from the firehose.

What does drinking from the firehose mean?

Too much too quickly?

I really need to stop looking at classical pr0n. No more pans or satyrs for me. And also no more Potter videos for me. I thought I was over this. I guess I'm not. I just spent an hour showing Kaliflwr a selection of Potter's gayest outfits. She says he transcends all known levels of gayness.

(I think it was the billowy sleeved gold ... thing that did it.)

((Also, there is a shop that sells sparkly gold velvet pillowcases. Do you think I need these? I know they will not *actually* attract passing Potters.))

mmmm, Chinese. But Asian Fusion is where it's at in LIC.

A real eye-opener was seeing all those religious paintings in the Tate Gallery (London), and realising it's all pron as well! Godesses lactating, etc.....

LIC has changed a bunch since I first went there in 2001.

I'm rather enjoying this whole studying thing. I actually have stuff to do every hour of every day, which is not like being a tech support monkey.

Frost. Woolies has gone and Zavvi may be following it.

― Pfunkboy Formerly Known As... (Herman G. Neuname), Wednesday, January 14, 2009 12:51 AM (17 hours ago) Bookmar

So good news basically (apart from the redundancies obviously).

Damnit america, you froze my beard solid on my way to scholl this morning.

whoa

We have 11f with wind chill down to -2 today.

^swimsuit weather in MN.

Hello there. It's not frozen in England any more; just rather dull and grey

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3435/3198607167_e920e876f6_b.jpg

Ooh, nice.

I have a photo I'd like to post but I'm not sure if Kate would approve

(she will be able to guess the one I mean)

I am back.

Man, it SNOWED!!!! while I was there. I miss snow so much. I miss NYC so much. I'm really really fighting the desire to move back, please tell me that would be a BAD idea. There's no jobs there, either. Spent WAY more money than I planned and now desperately skint.

However... a new gold standard for carrot cake has now been set.

Amy's Bakery on Bleecker Street. I was never allowed to go there when I lived in NYC as they were Tomcat's main competitor. But MAN, that was the best carrot cake I've ever had. It was so succulent and moist and the icing was so lovely and slightly sour in the best possible way and it made me so high I floated back to Union Square.

If you mean the pic of the giant floating silver ball in Bristol, FP, yeah, sure, go ahead and post that.

I need to go through my cameras (yes, my dad gave me a new one) and my sketchbook to see what needs to be posted from my trip.

Tell me good things about being back in Britain to make me feel good about living here again. Though, actually... I was so relieved to get home that I practically kissed the immigration officer at Gatwick because hers was the first English accent I'd heard in nearly a month.

Welcome back!

Welcome back, can you say that when you aren't there?

As you know, I love new york, but I also love London, two greatest cities on the planet. I'm also growing to love pittsburgh, although this might be being in the university and being surrounded by frighteningly clever and talented people. School for geeks and nerds that also has the US's best drama programme. I have already had thoughts along the lines of, if I do a Phd, I'll never have to leave.

New York vs London, I find New York politer and more exciting, but it is the politeness of detente and the excitement of unfamiliarity. It's a hard choice.

NYC politer? Are we talking about the same city? Friendlier, I'd give it - but politer, no.

It felt like such a relief to get back to somewhere "real" after two weeks in California. The kind of... aggressive friendliness of Cali drove me insane. It just seemed so faked. People in NYC just seemed so much more genuine. Like... they're so cranky and cynical most of the time, that if they actually smile at you or are nice to you, it's because they mean it?

Yeah, cali is a bit much, if you go up to WA you get the same level of politeness but it seems a whole heap more genuine.

NYC has this kind of politeness that is all that is keeping the city from descending into civil war, London is just plain rude. NYC is way friendlier too.

I'm excited to see photos and sketches, btw.

Most of the photos just didn't turn out, because I was learning how to use the camera and really pushing the "film" (seeing if digital cameras can do low-light like film - answer is, no they can't.)

Also, because I'm just plain a shit photographer.

Plus, well, for some reason there are 80,000 photos of naked greek statues and dive bars I used to drink in when I was younger. Which is interesting to no one but me. The colours will probably go all wrong as soon as they are out of photoshop. :-(

I think this is actually my favourite photo... just a shopfront on Broadway, but I just really like the lighting on it.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3513/3205936471_93b901a2e1_o.jpg

Nice, I like the rainbow effect on the columns.

Today I have to deal with my post (more bills I can't pay... and argh, stupid council I am not looking forward to seeing how they answered my complaint) and sign on. BAH. Why did I come back? Oh yeah, because I ran out of time and I ran out of money.

Welcome home Kate

Welcome back to the UK. You are now officially dole scum again. Hurrah.

I had to ring from a freaking payphone because Gracefield Gardens are so utterly USELESS.

And I still have to fill out the council tax benefit forms, but can't do that until I have proof of being dole scum, which I won't have until Thursday. Sigh.

Oh yeah, maybe I should update my C.V. and pester some headhunters.

Hello there

I think the advice on our council tax benefit forms said: fill it in straight away; and if you don't have the evidence right then, supply it later. But I'm not sure how well the system works, to be honest.

Here's that photo

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3426/3193082571_cd41aefa70.jpg

That is a very good photo. And I'm not saying that coz I'm in it, I like it as a photo, it's hard to work out what's going on if you're not familiar with what/where it is.

Mmm - I've never thought of it that way, because I'm so used to seeing both the thing itself and pictures of it.

I went biking in the snow yesterday, it was wonderful.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3312/3207320654_6be86f634f.jpg

I really like the disjointed reflections in that photo.

I have a photo of A&A at that globe, however as I don't file them undere any other method other than "month of download" I dunno where it is. It'll be on this laptop tho.

it's hard to work out what's going on

I know what's going on. You're smudging the ruddy orb young lady. Step away from the globe.

NOOOOOOO I WILL NOT STEP AWAY FROM THE ORB, I LOVE THE ORB, I WANTS TO BE ONE WITH IT!!!

(It is full of stars - no, really it *is* full of stars, for reals! It's a planetarium!)

yeah, we did it! wow!!

It's such a *good* science museum! It was the right mix of interactive and informative, of learning and fun.

Yeah, spent a good day there, actually pleased to hear it's still going! The eword was it was just abot to close when we were there.

They also had a "Alice in Wonderland" theme on at the time, which pleased Alice, obv.

Stupid jet lag. When is the sun ever going to turn up? I've been awake since 5am, dammit!

it's INAUGURATION DAY!!!!!!1!1!

squeeeeeeeeeeee

squeeeeeeeeeeee indeed! what time is it on TV?

I have a new TV arriving on Saturday, a Panasonic 32" LCD one. Which will be great after having to subsist with an ancient Sony CRT portable one for so long.

So, inauguration and new TV to look forward to, and I need things to look forward to now because I have shingles! Arghhh! I look like I have been in a fight and it is quite painful, especially if I change facial expression. I have to keep checking to make sure I don't get it on the surface of my eye coz then I need to report to the eye hospital.

~5pm GMT

Jesus, shingles?!

yep. Thank you Herpes zoster virus. You give me chicken pox in 1983, lie dormant inside me for almost 26 years and now....this.

Aw, man, the shingles SUCKS. So sorry to hear that, hope it clears up soon.'

I do not have TV so I have been looking at inauguration pics in newspapers. Except newspapers are making me cross with all the bank bailout hoohah. I spent too much in NYC, can I has bailout pls?

God, I want a nap - I want a nap so badly, but I'm scared of f*cking up my anti-jet lag routine. How soon after flying does one get over jet lag properly so can one go back to one's habitual mid-afternoon naps?

If you are strict with it you should be back on schedule in 4 or five days.

Shingles, ouch, can you fill the bath with camomile lotion?

I think I will be in class when the moment hits, I wonder if I might be permitted a jig in the aisle. (it's a B-School course and they have a laptops closed policy in the Business school so I can't hang at the back and watch it with the sound off).

Laptops closed policy? WTF? How is this supposed to prepare you for business?

I'm only on my third day so I suppose it is hitting me hardest now - though usually I find the second day the hardest. Meh.

Though I have nibbles from headhunters now, which is a good thing. Yes, yes, yes, I want to work in Croydon. That would be so convenient.

I'm making a big Chinese dinner to celebrate today; we'll be eating homemade dumplings as the man gets sworn in.

Oh man, get well soon Mark, that sounds most unpleasant.

Love the ORB (...a huge ever-growing pulsating brain that rules from the centre of the watercooler...). Is that at the place that used to be the Exploratory? One day I will stop just going through Bristol in a hurry for flights and actually visit some places.

I think business school have, in recent years, had a problem with people trading and managing their portfolios when they are meant to be listening to the man in the front.

Croydon would be most convenient. Hope you get a job soon.

I am currently trying to swing a summer internship in portugal, I think this would be most beneficial.

you can do the crossword puzzles online!

WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS ARTICLE?!?!?

I know what you mean, but surely the point of the article is to inform and entertain those who are not so knowledgeable. My mother doesn't use the internet at all and has no interest in it so she would ignore the piece, but there's a kind of intermediate person who may have heard of many of the things on the list, but not really know much about them. Not everyone is an internet wizard or obsessive, even though they may use a fairly restricted range of websites and online services every day.

You have to pay to do the crossword puzzles online. :-(

It's just... I don't know why it annoys me. Maybe it is actually the assumption that those intermediate persons are too stupid to know or figure it out themselves... or even that people *should* have to keep abreast of every single tiny little sub-meme of the internet, when they recombine and regroup all the time. And it does just fuck me off, treating a lot of things that have been around FOREVER as being some HIP! NEW! MEMETIC! THING!!! I mean, is slash going to go overground now? If it didn't happen back in 1998 when Entertain Me! was getting all the press attention - LIKE OMG!!! GIRLS WRITING PR0N ABOUT POP STAR BOYS GETTING IT ON!!! - it's not going to happen now.

It's just so demeaning, like shine a searchlight in all these little subcultures of the internet for fifteen minutes and watch the denizens scurry for your amusement.

Not to mention that it doesn't actually *explain* what some of these things are. (Maybe I am just feeling old and out of touch, because it's become such a hilarious interweb meme, especially on IAPT, to joke "put a donk on it" when I have yet to encounter what anyone actually means by that. I kinda don't want to know, either. If I don't understand it, it's clearly Not For Me.)

I relate to the feelings of apoplexy but not on this particular subject. My attitude is that the intermediate persons are ok, provided they don't do something to annoy me, like think they're cleverer than they are. Plus, to some people, I'd be an intermediate person, so I'm very much aware that it's all relative.

You don't have to pay for the online crosswords any more, as of a couple of weeks ago I think. You can do 'em online or print them out. I've been... I was going to say I've been doing them at work all week, but in fact I've been looking at them at work all week, failed to get more than a single clue on any of the cryptics, and gone to do the NYT's online Kenken (like Sudoku but with added sums) instead.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crossword/

it's not the intermediate persons I'm mad at, (hell, I'm an old lady who doesn't get it, myself.) it's just the whole sodding Guardian.

Why is there the expectation that people *should* have to keep up with every sodding minutia of youth culture?

I mean, I had to explain who Suede were to a teenager on the Erol Alkan borad last night. Why *should* I understand their culture, or they understand mine?

Ned posted this over on ITR but it deserves reposting

http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3109/3178190119_23c96258d4.jpg

Psychedelic AND tasty. Wonder if we can get Lisa to bake us one for our album launch.

I am still having trouble choosing between Stereolab and St.Etienne. Two bands that sit next to each other in my CD collection and go so nicely together.

Also, Dani lent me Luke Haines' Bad Vibes. What a brilliantly funny book.

Stereolab! Stereolab! Arrrrgh, don't make St Etienne win. I like them, but they just have *nothing* on the 'lab.

Yeah, I did vote for Stereolab. But I have been listening to So Tough and my god, when they were good, they were GRATE.

We're well over 1000 posts. Are we going to bother having another Cooler thread?

What's 36?

apart from the classic 36-24-26 of the sixties..

Yeah, the only thing I can think for 36 is bra sizes. And I really don't want to go there.

We're talking about beards on EA. I wonder if I can squeeze in a quick poll "EA: beard or no?" before he gets back from LA or Mexico or wherever he's tweeting at today, before I get thrown off the board.

Or, the classic "36 Hours" by John Cooper Clarke?

(OK, only me then)

I could just google 36 and see what comes up.

Apparently it's a popular French placeholder number - i.e. "I told you that 36 times already..."

36 situations. 36 proverbs.

The internet is boring me today, I might go back to bed. Not that I ever left the bed to start with...

well, I have a second interview with this place. This looks... I don't know how it looks.

promising?

From the getting the job PoV, but I'm still not sure I can stomach (literally) the industry.

Beggars can't be choosers, etc. Need to stop reading Luke Haines, he's making me very negative. But the book has just ended, so that's alright.

Now have Metal Fingers In My Body stuck in my head.

ah, memories...

Now thinking about robot pr0n. Sigh, how twee and dull. The poor girl in the video never seems to get an orgasm, though, does she?

ain't it always the way?

Did that record really come out 10 years ago? I feel SOOOO OLD now.

Morning all, today I have adventures in the american healthcare system as I have had back pain over the weekend.

Went to a great st patricks party on saturday, there was live music in the form of a fiddle and a guitar and everyone was surprised I knew all the words.

Oh noes, American healthcare.

I finally went in the Polish-Greek-Turkish shop I've been avoiding because they have the scary MEAT COUNTER in front and they have ANATOLIAN BREAKFAST!!!!! I'm gonna start stockpiling for Emsk.

need a new thread,yes.
Kate do you have a favourite Best Track on Tangerine Dream - Force Majeure?

OK, am I a humourless bint for finding an animated gif about Chris Rock knocking Rhianna's head off not only not funny, but patently offensive?

I've got the people's names right, right? I am so bad with celebrities.

From wkipedia The thirty-six officers problem is a mathematical puzzle.
I thought Kate would have known that!

not chris rock

but maybe that was why you didnt find it funny

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-six_officers_problem

i havent seen the gif btw incase you think im condoning it.

I can't keep track of all the celebrities that the kids today are into. I'm like The Lex in reverse. I've probably got the wrong name. I just don't find men beating women funny in any circumstance, whoever they are.

And I've been trying and trying to make Ableton run on this computer, and it just isn't working. I suspect that the young man sent me a PC version and not a Mac. :-(

So no The thirty-six officers problem thread then?

Chris Brown.

Me neither. (found it funny, or seen it)

I am bemused by the healthcare thing, so far no one has asked me for any money, I have insurance and I'm sure there are co-pays but I have no idea when, how and how much they are going to be.

That gif does sound offensive rather than funny. Although I've not seen it, I'm not sure how one can make light of domestic abuse without being a complete dick.

Other 36s:

In the year 36, Marcellus becomes governor of Judaea and Samaria.
People who died in the year 36:
* Thrasyllus of Mendes, Egyptian astronomer and mathematician
* Jesus (according to some theories)

36 in maths:
It is a 13-gonal number.
The number of possible outcomes (not summed) in the roll of two distinct dice.
The sum of the integers from 1 to 36 is 666.

36!
* In the UK, a standard beer barrel is 36 UK gallons, about 163.7 litres
* The atomic number of krypton
* Many early computers featured a 36-bit word length
* ASCII code for the symbol '$'
* Messier object M36, a magnitude 6.5 open cluster in the constellation Auriga [5]
* The New General Catalogue object NGC 36, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces
* According to the Midrash, the light created by God on the first day of creation shone for exactly 36 hours; it was replaced by the light of the Sun that was created on the Fourth Day
* The Torah commands 36 times to love, respect and protect the stranger
* in every generation there are 36 righteous people (the "Lamed Vav Tzadikim") in whose merit the world continues to exist

36!

Our next door neighbour died on sunday, just found out. Him and his wife had been in a home for a year or so since she had a stroke and he couldnt look after himself.

The house had been let since november,but that family are moving when the 6 months are up and there's a to let sign up. But it was James who wouldn't sell it so maybe it will be sold now.

Ah ha ha... OK, I just got a call from a headhunter, asking if I knew the Integra system... um, yeah, I do... then proceeded to talk me through a role - basically offering me my old job back at RIBA.

Laughed very dryly and tried to think of a tactful way to say "YOU COULD NOT PAY ME ENOUGH MONEY TO GO BACK THERE."

I don't think they'd have me back, either, though, to be honest or they'd have contacted me themselves.

But still, it is funny - because they would have had to hire someone to take my place. And if they're looking again in March, that means whoever it was took over from me only lasted 3 months on the project themselves.

THIRTY SIX

also new cookies posted

Kate, just asked my husband for help in recalculating slouchy hat pattern. he rolled his eyes when I started going on about needles and different yarn. "It's SIMPLE MATHS! Cast on 110 stitches." I have and now am off to knit your slouchy hat. Hopefully it'll fit. I'm a pro at fucking up things (esp in knitting). :-)

http://www.thewire.co.uk/images/artists/sunn_o/302cover.jpg

Nath was this you? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7947984.stm

Jane Blayne?

Not our own Nath Plath...

Eyelash wool????

Hurrah for new hat!

Sorry, I've been out MAKING PLANS with Emsk for Shimura Curves album bobbins.

I will make a new Watercooler NOW.