PRINTED
BOUND
HANDED IN,
AND
CELEBRATED
I have thoughts about the past year and plans for what I will do next, but for now I am gonna grab my book and read in bed.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
Posts tagged "picspam"
PRINTED
BOUND
HANDED IN,
AND
CELEBRATED
I have thoughts about the past year and plans for what I will do next, but for now I am gonna grab my book and read in bed.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
Bad night at the castle. After a very successful bit of mining in a new branch of the caverns that seem to make up the entirety of the peninsula (and beyond, like I discovered that one time I dug up to the ocean) I got over-confident and was overwhelmed in a dungeon full of skeletons and creepers. I went back to try to retrieve my tools and armour, but it looks like all of it fell into some lava when I died. Also I got myself killed again.
In adition, monsters have now re-infested all of the areas I made safe during this foray, as I discovered when I went in again to get out the 10 diamonds I had stashed in a nearby chest.
So I'm just gonna sulk in the courtyard and take pictures.
At daybreak it begins to rain. I'm sure this is somehow the skeletons' fault, as well.
Recently, I decided to start supplementing my pork and mushroom soup diet by farming. It's quite fun. Makes the place feel like a proper settlement.
The idea for the courtyard in the first place came because animals kept walking all over my fields and destroying the crop.
A little later, I make my way through the hill and climb my highest tower.
Someday soon I will make a boat and explore north, past the draw distance. But first I have to retrieve my diamonds and take revenge on those fucking skeletons.
comments
[Dreamwidth mirror]
In adition, monsters have now re-infested all of the areas I made safe during this foray, as I discovered when I went in again to get out the 10 diamonds I had stashed in a nearby chest.
So I'm just gonna sulk in the courtyard and take pictures.
At daybreak it begins to rain. I'm sure this is somehow the skeletons' fault, as well.
Recently, I decided to start supplementing my pork and mushroom soup diet by farming. It's quite fun. Makes the place feel like a proper settlement.
The idea for the courtyard in the first place came because animals kept walking all over my fields and destroying the crop.
A little later, I make my way through the hill and climb my highest tower.
Someday soon I will make a boat and explore north, past the draw distance. But first I have to retrieve my diamonds and take revenge on those fucking skeletons.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
20. 7. 2011 2:28 am | Personal, Syndicated | Tags: games, it's hard being king, minecraft, picspam | Comment
[Image: an A4 piece of paper taped to a chest-high wall (someone tell me what these are actually called) pointing the way to the SlutWalk meetup.]
I went on the London SlutWalk last Saturday! Which was not, as some coverage would have you believe, an excuse to dress up in sexy clothes, but a protest against rape culture and the notion that only sluts get raped/all people who are raped are sluts, and the way people's clothes, background, and sexual history are used to let their abusers off the hook and I am not feeling very eloquent today GO READ THE WEBSITE. (I also liked this article about it in the Christian Science Monitor. No idea what the exact purview of the Christian Science Monitor is, but this is a really good article.)
Mainly this post is to show off the cool banners I managed to get pictures of:
[Image: A crowd with some banners. A large banner being held up by two sticks reading "End rape culture for all races and genders". IN front of it two smaller signs bearing the Socialist Worker logo and URL and the slogan: "Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes, no means no".]
(Do Socialist Worker just insert themselves into every protest? I saw so many of their signs around uni when the student protests were all going down.)
[Image: Another crowd, this time from behind. Large sign being held by two people in the foreground has an image of a bottle and wine or cocktail glass and reads "I DON'T LIKE rohypnol." Another legible sign in the background reads "Consent is sexy."]
[A single sign is visible, with the backs of others in the background: "My clothes are not LOUDER than my VOICE!"]
[A large cloth sign suspended from a metal frame. It reads: "Turn Off The Blue Light: Sex workers need human rights, not legal wrongs. www.turnoffthebluelight.ie]
[Image: A single sign visible in front of a section of the crowd reacting to the speeches at Trafalgar Square. it reads:" Why am I dressed like a SLUT? Why are YOU thinking like a RAPIST?"]
Also some of my favourites that I didn't get to take a picture of but managed to find on the internet: "I'm a bitch if I say no but I'm a slut if you rape me anyway!", You need permission to Slytherin to my Chamber of Secrets", and "River Song wouldn't stand for this shit!" The rest of the Flickr set is really good, too.
I intended to leave after the walk and get back to my dissertation work, but the speeches in Trafalgar Square, although I disagreed with one or two speakers on one or two points, were so good. I hope some of them end up online, because they were sogood. It's a good feeling to reaffirm that a lot of people who agree with you on things exist, sometimes.
A lot of great-sounding organisations were involved which I must find out more about the future, like Women Against Rape and GAPS.
I am 100% sure I will find a lot of spelling mistakes and weird sentences in this tomorrow, but I'm going to bed now.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
Wednesday was enrolment day at UCL. I got what I'm pretty sure was superhumanly early (I shot out of bed the second my first alarm sounded at 7am because I was excited), and had registered, collected my ID card and picked up my email username and password by 9:30, leaving me with two hours to kill until anything was going on at the Institute of Archaeology. I am just ~*extra keen*~.
I met a few of the other students from my course, and they all seem pretty nice!
Thursday I went on a tour of the institute's collections.
Bone room!
The basement artefact store is kind of amazing and Indiana Jones-y. Shelves and shelves of wooden boxes with the occasional clay pot on a stand.
And after that I went to check out the student societies.
UCL has a huge Freshers'
I also picked up a mountain of leaflets and money-off vouchers. (And free condoms.) (And free packets of lube.) (Proper preparation is important, kids!)
I've also registered my final module choices*:
• Themes, Thought and Theory in World Archaeology: Foundations
• Themes and Issues in the Archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East
• Evolution of Palaeolithic and Neolithic Societies in the Near East
• The Near East from Later Prehistory to the End of the Iron Age
• Topics in Chinese Art and Archaeology
I'm pretty sure that China one was not in the booklet I had when I was looking at modules before, but I'm excited for it! :D I'm going to sit in on some undergrad modules on Chinese archaeology, as well, to get a bit of background knowledge.
My first lecture/seminar is tomorrow, in Themes, Thought, and Theory. Kinda wish I could take the contemporary issues version instead of the history of theory again, but I have become a lot fonder of theory since I figured out how and why it's actually relevant and important, so I'm still looking forward to it.
*Online! An awesome thing about UCL: they seem to be about 10 times more IT-savvy than Durham ever was. POP/IMAP aren't blocked on the email service, I can change all of my personal details online, and most importantly most of the required reading for the courses is available in pdf format!
[Dreamwidth mirror]
LAST AUSTRIA POST I SWEAR. AFTER THIS WE CAN ALL MOVE ON WITH OUR LIVES.
In this post, we finally get to Vienna itself! That means this post is going to be all perving on statues and architecture all the time. B) If Jugendstil was a person I would ask it to marry me right now.
There are also more photos in this than in the previous two entries combined, so be warned.
My dad has some kind of Hilton business membership, so we got upgraded to these ridiculous executive suites with separate living rooms. They were pretty much the size of my flat.
The rooms had the Teachings of Buddha as well as a Gideon Bible. Also a compass rose stuck onto the bottom of the drawer, which I assume is so people can point themselves the right way when they're praying towards Mecca. That's the only reason I can come up with, anyway.
It doesn't really look like it from most of these pictures but you can't step anywhere in Vienna without running into a horse carriage. it's hilarious seeing them hold up traffic on narrow streets.
Moor pharmacy. Yyyeah. ¬_¬
Stephansdom! (St. Stephen's Cathedral)
Monk!
The cathedral has the coolest roof. Also check out the birds circling on the right. Leap of faith point around there Y/Y?
Maybe this has something to do with the crusades? I have no idea.
Pllllague pillarrrrr.
It shows the plague as an old woman, being struck down by the ~power of faith~.
Who can resist those sexy neoclassical ladies? I certainly can't.
Badass double clock and moon-phase indicator.
The Austrians say "Fussgeher" instead of "Fußgänger" for pedestrians, it seems.
Oversized gate for the Spanish riding school.
Tiny little memorial for the fallen of the royal dragoon regiment.
The lion and the angel are seriosuly bored with this funeral already. Just get on with it, dudes.
Court confectioners for the King & Kaiser oh yeah.
Oh hey it's some pictures of me! :O Stuffing my face with delicious mille feuille. ♥ Also that is my dad in the one above this, but whenever I post pictures of him online he complains, so you shall never see his face.
Did not actually try their ice-cream, but I liked the signs.
Café Central: pretty fucking amazing. I could sit in there every day.
Tried to hit on the Café Central papier mache man, but he was not impressed.
Sculpture of L.H.O.O.Q. by Subodh Gupta. I enjoy finding myself suddenly walking past bearded lady sculptures.
We did not actually go into the Secession, but it's a very pretty building.
More importantly, though: that print of the naked woman is obviously hung in the entrance so that when you exit, you walk out of her crotch, right? But everyone I saw go in and out walked around the side of it instead, the philistines. Not I:
Ladies' crotches: totally awesome.
Fat Marc Antony agrees.
The personifications of industry and agriculture are looking down on you creepily.
The prettiest operational art nouveau public toilets you will ever see.
Surprise fire-breathing lion from below!
That Roman on the bottom is totally enjoying his situation. I mean, look at his face:
He is so getting off on this.
I really like this clock. it shows a famous person from Austria's history for each hour, but I neglected to photograph the plaque with all of their names on it. >_>
My BFF Gutenberg! No idea why there's a statue of him there, though.
"In memory of the foundation of the republic." Like this one because it's so different to all of the more classical national hero statues everywhere. Makes me want to read up on who these gentlemen are.
"Those who do not use the chances of democracy see to it that it does not to remain one." I guess there are/were some elections coming up in Austria.
Lastly, here's a video of some super-cool breakdancers we saw when we were walking back to the hotel one night.
Listen out for my mum's "Oh mein Gott!" whenever someone balances on their head, and my dirty laugh whenever something perverted happens! XD
[Dreamwidth mirror]
In this post, we finally get to Vienna itself! That means this post is going to be all perving on statues and architecture all the time. B) If Jugendstil was a person I would ask it to marry me right now.
There are also more photos in this than in the previous two entries combined, so be warned.
My dad has some kind of Hilton business membership, so we got upgraded to these ridiculous executive suites with separate living rooms. They were pretty much the size of my flat.
The rooms had the Teachings of Buddha as well as a Gideon Bible. Also a compass rose stuck onto the bottom of the drawer, which I assume is so people can point themselves the right way when they're praying towards Mecca. That's the only reason I can come up with, anyway.
It doesn't really look like it from most of these pictures but you can't step anywhere in Vienna without running into a horse carriage. it's hilarious seeing them hold up traffic on narrow streets.
Moor pharmacy. Yyyeah. ¬_¬
Stephansdom! (St. Stephen's Cathedral)
Monk!
The cathedral has the coolest roof. Also check out the birds circling on the right. Leap of faith point around there Y/Y?
Maybe this has something to do with the crusades? I have no idea.
Pllllague pillarrrrr.
It shows the plague as an old woman, being struck down by the ~power of faith~.
Who can resist those sexy neoclassical ladies? I certainly can't.
Badass double clock and moon-phase indicator.
The Austrians say "Fussgeher" instead of "Fußgänger" for pedestrians, it seems.
Oversized gate for the Spanish riding school.
Tiny little memorial for the fallen of the royal dragoon regiment.
The lion and the angel are seriosuly bored with this funeral already. Just get on with it, dudes.
Court confectioners for the King & Kaiser oh yeah.
Oh hey it's some pictures of me! :O Stuffing my face with delicious mille feuille. ♥ Also that is my dad in the one above this, but whenever I post pictures of him online he complains, so you shall never see his face.
Did not actually try their ice-cream, but I liked the signs.
Café Central: pretty fucking amazing. I could sit in there every day.
Tried to hit on the Café Central papier mache man, but he was not impressed.
Sculpture of L.H.O.O.Q. by Subodh Gupta. I enjoy finding myself suddenly walking past bearded lady sculptures.
We did not actually go into the Secession, but it's a very pretty building.
More importantly, though: that print of the naked woman is obviously hung in the entrance so that when you exit, you walk out of her crotch, right? But everyone I saw go in and out walked around the side of it instead, the philistines. Not I:
Ladies' crotches: totally awesome.
Fat Marc Antony agrees.
The personifications of industry and agriculture are looking down on you creepily.
The prettiest operational art nouveau public toilets you will ever see.
Surprise fire-breathing lion from below!
That Roman on the bottom is totally enjoying his situation. I mean, look at his face:
He is so getting off on this.
I really like this clock. it shows a famous person from Austria's history for each hour, but I neglected to photograph the plaque with all of their names on it. >_>
My BFF Gutenberg! No idea why there's a statue of him there, though.
"In memory of the foundation of the republic." Like this one because it's so different to all of the more classical national hero statues everywhere. Makes me want to read up on who these gentlemen are.
"Those who do not use the chances of democracy see to it that it does not to remain one." I guess there are/were some elections coming up in Austria.
Lastly, here's a video of some super-cool breakdancers we saw when we were walking back to the hotel one night.
Listen out for my mum's "Oh mein Gott!" whenever someone balances on their head, and my dirty laugh whenever something perverted happens! XD
[Dreamwidth mirror]
Palace time!
When we got to Schloss Schönbrunn these people with oak leaves in their hats were holding a very small parade outside.
Never found out why, but that one at the back looks like he's trying to sneak off into the crowd.
What you should know about Schönbrunn is that it's really big.
Really,
really,
big.
we went on a tour of the inside, as well. Some of the inside. 20 rooms out of 1441. But of course no pictures were allowed.
But that's alright, we took enough pictures of the grounds.
Fffff I want this to be my garden.
What is the symbolic meaning of a statue of a suit of armour sitting on a log held up by lions?
Obelisk out of nowhere.
Entire park area dangerous!
[Dreamwidth mirror]
When we got to Schloss Schönbrunn these people with oak leaves in their hats were holding a very small parade outside.
Never found out why, but that one at the back looks like he's trying to sneak off into the crowd.
What you should know about Schönbrunn is that it's really big.
Really,
really,
big.
we went on a tour of the inside, as well. Some of the inside. 20 rooms out of 1441. But of course no pictures were allowed.
But that's alright, we took enough pictures of the grounds.
Fffff I want this to be my garden.
What is the symbolic meaning of a statue of a suit of armour sitting on a log held up by lions?
Obelisk out of nowhere.
Entire park area dangerous!
[Dreamwidth mirror]
Alright, let's get through some more of these photos. It's entirely my fault that there's so many of them, but I just have a thing stained glass windows, you guys. I can stop any time I want to, ok? I just don't want to.
The first few days we spent at this fancy-pants hotel in the countryside a little way outside of Vienna. It has a biotope-pond pool thing with an imperturbable koi carp and a lot of dragon flies and water-striders.
Beethoven wrote his 9th symphony in a nearby town, so they put up a plaque.
Plague pillarrrr. Giving thanks that the plague left the town.
These next pictures are all from the Heiligenkreuz monastery. Most of the pictures in this entry are from Heiligenkreuz, actually, because they were pretty much the only place that allowed photos.
Plague pillar!
Ok, done with stained glass now.
NO WAIT I LIED.
This is an abbot's tomb. The dancing skeleton ladies are there to show that death isn't really that bad. See, they're having fun.
Creepy Pope baby!
This lectern depicts the common Catholic image of Disco-Jesus fighting a hydra.
Monasteries are nice, but the thing with active monasteries is that along with the pretty and impressive architecture and so on comes the slight pervading creepiness of people still locking themselves up in the place for the sake of a man in the sky. Not that it didn't look like a nice place to live, and it's their choice and all, but Catholicism is always a little bit creepy, even at the best of times.
Let's talk about the things Austrians love:
Austrians really enjoy Mozart.
And Sissi*.
And creepy old men, for some reason.
These two are from an 18th century mansion we visited, which pretended to be a medieval knight's castle, because some prince was really into knights and took a lot of furniture and fittings from old castles and monasteries. It was all a bit silly, but probably the only old castle still being used entirely for its original purpose: to show people around and show off the old things.
Next up: Schloss Schönbrunn, which gets an entry all to itself, even though we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.
*The only things I knew about Empress Elisabeth before this trip (when I did some reading on Wiki) were that she was the main character of this TV series (which looks just as bad as I remember thinking it was back when I was 10 years old and all the girls in my 5th grade class were addicted to it), and that she was killed by being stabbed between the ribs with a file, which I'm pretty sure I remembered because I thought it would dismay all the girls in my 5th grade class.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
The first few days we spent at this fancy-pants hotel in the countryside a little way outside of Vienna. It has a biotope-pond pool thing with an imperturbable koi carp and a lot of dragon flies and water-striders.
Beethoven wrote his 9th symphony in a nearby town, so they put up a plaque.
Plague pillarrrr. Giving thanks that the plague left the town.
These next pictures are all from the Heiligenkreuz monastery. Most of the pictures in this entry are from Heiligenkreuz, actually, because they were pretty much the only place that allowed photos.
Plague pillar!
Ok, done with stained glass now.
NO WAIT I LIED.
This is an abbot's tomb. The dancing skeleton ladies are there to show that death isn't really that bad. See, they're having fun.
Creepy Pope baby!
This lectern depicts the common Catholic image of Disco-Jesus fighting a hydra.
Monasteries are nice, but the thing with active monasteries is that along with the pretty and impressive architecture and so on comes the slight pervading creepiness of people still locking themselves up in the place for the sake of a man in the sky. Not that it didn't look like a nice place to live, and it's their choice and all, but Catholicism is always a little bit creepy, even at the best of times.
Let's talk about the things Austrians love:
Austrians really enjoy Mozart.
And Sissi*.
And creepy old men, for some reason.
These two are from an 18th century mansion we visited, which pretended to be a medieval knight's castle, because some prince was really into knights and took a lot of furniture and fittings from old castles and monasteries. It was all a bit silly, but probably the only old castle still being used entirely for its original purpose: to show people around and show off the old things.
Next up: Schloss Schönbrunn, which gets an entry all to itself, even though we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.
*The only things I knew about Empress Elisabeth before this trip (when I did some reading on Wiki) were that she was the main character of this TV series (which looks just as bad as I remember thinking it was back when I was 10 years old and all the girls in my 5th grade class were addicted to it), and that she was killed by being stabbed between the ribs with a file, which I'm pretty sure I remembered because I thought it would dismay all the girls in my 5th grade class.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
I'm moved in to the new flat! We haven't got internet yet & I don't feel
like writing a big long post on my phone, but I'm gonna attach some photos
so you can see how wonderful this place is. :D
I changed my location to "London" on Twitter and Facebook this morning. So
far I love it here.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
like writing a big long post on my phone, but I'm gonna attach some photos
so you can see how wonderful this place is. :D
I changed my location to "London" on Twitter and Facebook this morning. So
far I love it here.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
I shall not succumb to jet-lag! I shall not.
The flight to the States yesterday was an odyssey. First one engine wouldn't start and they sent an engineer to try to fix it, and then an hour later we taxied back to the gate so they could take the starter motor from another pane's engine and replace ours. In the end we left with three and a half hours delay, and got into Newark at 10pm local time, 4am my body's time. =__=
Today I took the NJ Transit train into New York City to mee up with Grace/Nicola/![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
scintillae (she of many names) for a few hours. It was so good to see her again! ♥ ♥ We had some super fun times together.
FIrst we went to the Rockefeller Center. We poked around the NBC store for a bit (The BSG merchandise was all really lame. Yes, you invented a swearword. Very good. Now design me some t-shirts more interesting than "frak off" in white text on a black background), and then we went to the Top of the Rock observation platform.
There's this great light-room at the top. Different-coloured lights follow you around the room:
There's a screen in one corner that tracks your movement:
We spent ages playing around in there; it was so cool.
After a while we reluctantly descended and made our way to Times Square for some photo opportunities:
MySpace style picture! XD
I also got to see the sparkliest McDonalds in the world:
(Grace calls it the McGlambert.)
In conclusion:
That's what she said.
Right, I think it's time for me to listen to some more of my Discworld audio book and thengo to sleep.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
The flight to the States yesterday was an odyssey. First one engine wouldn't start and they sent an engineer to try to fix it, and then an hour later we taxied back to the gate so they could take the starter motor from another pane's engine and replace ours. In the end we left with three and a half hours delay, and got into Newark at 10pm local time, 4am my body's time. =__=
Today I took the NJ Transit train into New York City to mee up with Grace/Nicola/
scintillae (she of many names) for a few hours. It was so good to see her again! ♥ ♥ We had some super fun times together.FIrst we went to the Rockefeller Center. We poked around the NBC store for a bit (The BSG merchandise was all really lame. Yes, you invented a swearword. Very good. Now design me some t-shirts more interesting than "frak off" in white text on a black background), and then we went to the Top of the Rock observation platform.
There's this great light-room at the top. Different-coloured lights follow you around the room:
There's a screen in one corner that tracks your movement:
We spent ages playing around in there; it was so cool.
The lights! The colours! from Hellen on Vimeo.
After a while we reluctantly descended and made our way to Times Square for some photo opportunities:
MySpace style picture! XD
I also got to see the sparkliest McDonalds in the world:
(Grace calls it the McGlambert.)
That's what she said.
Right, I think it's time for me to listen to some more of my Discworld audio book and thengo to sleep.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
I did another set of hourly comics yesterday, for shits and giggles, as they say. I tried to do them as quickly as possible, thus they are very messy and not particularly pretty. Not an entirely pointless exercise, though! Next time I'll try to strike a balance.
I have lost count of the number of times I've not paid close enough attention to where I was going in Damascus and accidentally jumped into that fucking river expecting it to be a street. akfbhdjkfhdsjfk;hds. I always pay attention where I'm going in Damascus now.
Tomorrow, my parents and I are flying to America! :D So excited. I've been packing:
For once I think I neither under- nor over-packed. Yesssss.
I spent my last Audible credit (I'm going to cancel my subscription for now, for the recovering health of my bank balance) on Unseen Academicals to listen to on the flight. It feels like it's been ages since I last read a Discworld book. I'm pretty excited about that, too. :3
[Dreamwidth mirror]
I have lost count of the number of times I've not paid close enough attention to where I was going in Damascus and accidentally jumped into that fucking river expecting it to be a street. akfbhdjkfhdsjfk;hds. I always pay attention where I'm going in Damascus now.
For once I think I neither under- nor over-packed. Yesssss.
I spent my last Audible credit (I'm going to cancel my subscription for now, for the recovering health of my bank balance) on Unseen Academicals to listen to on the flight. It feels like it's been ages since I last read a Discworld book. I'm pretty excited about that, too. :3
[Dreamwidth mirror]
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