Stupid Australian Scientists

Note to new-ish readers:  there's some back-story to this post which you can read, if you like, here. 


I'm sure you have been lying awake at night wondering whether it was my Mum's barnacle or that ridiculous snail which was eventually named Australia's Top New Species.

Let me say: I feel your pain. The bad news is I still don't have an answer; the results were meant to have been announced by now, but because of some unspecified problem I don't know the details of, they haven't.  My Mum has heard a few whispers, but nothing concrete and I would hate to raise your expectations only for you to have them dashed.  So I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait a bit longer.

I don't know if the hold-up has been caused by an overly-complicated preferential voting system, but given how long the Labour party leadership announcement took yesterday, it wouldn't surprise me.  The one thing I do know is that the winner won't be a Miliband.

In other news: I am navigating the murky, unknown waters of what might be described as a burgeoning new relationship at the moment; with someone who is neither stupid, Australian, nor a scientist, and as such could hardly be less relevant to this particular post, but whatever.  I'm not really planning to mention much else about it around these parts, mainly because, well....you know.  I'm just not. It's nice, though, and I do sort of think he is the bees feet.*

Finally, also from the department of burgeoning things which are not very scientifc: I started making a batch of sloe gin yesterday. Sloe gin is made from sloes, gin and sugar; the proportions of which vary wildly depending on which of five different recipes you believe.  In fact, there are almost definitely more than five recipes available on the inernet; that's how many I read before I decided my head was going to explode and I just dumped as many sloes as I could fit and what looked like around about enough sugar into the amount of gin I had left in the bottle that has been knocking around in my kitchen for a while.

 It is going to be another two months before it's ready, making me think they don't call them sloes for nothing and also making me think that there is no way in the world I can be the first person to ever think of that joke.

*Any scientist worth his or her salt could tell you: they don't have knees.

In which I have a little bit of a boast. But only a small one, and I promise not to do it again.

It's late.  I've already posted today, and I really should be in bed.  Especially because I have a busy day of writing scripts for Microsoft Office training videos to look forward to tomorrow. I'm quite rock'n'roll, me.

But seeing as I come here when I want to have a moan about something, I kind of think it's only right to come when something good happens as well.  And tonight it has.

I've just been reading the feedback on a short story I wrote last week as an assignment for my writing class.   I was pleased just to get something written, to be honest.  I think it's the first full, finished piece of narrative fiction (ie a whole story I've made up, not a rambling blog post) I've written since I was at school, and when I started, I didn't think I would be able to do it.

We had the choice of writing a fiction or a non-fiction piece, and I very nearly went down the non-fiction route because  it's much more in my comfort zone.  But then I decided to take a risk.  And then, just to make it a bit more difficult, I ended up writing a story from the point of view of an old woman. With Alzheimer's disease.**

I wrote it, and re-wrote it, and then had to cut it right down to fit the word limit, and I sort of liked what I ended up with, but wasn't quite sure.  I handed it in anyway, and this is what our tutor said:

Fluid, engaging style and deft story telling…
Excellent – you have left me with very little to say.
Thoughtful, intelligent writing & a well crafted story

I can't begin to describe how I felt when I read her comments, but I am dead chuffed.  She said some other things too, which were more specific, which also made them more helpful.  They were equally positive, and just as chuff-inducing.
.
I really don't mean to make a habit of shouting about these sorts of things, by the way; and that statement alone is a little presumptious as it assumes there will be more occasions like this, which certainly isn't a given. (Or even particularly likely.) But tonight, for one night only, I'm shouting.  Because this made me really, really happy.



**Seriously, I don't know why I do these things.  But, never let it be said I don't like a challenge.  I once went to a tarot card reader (please don't judge me) who said something along the lines of "your life will never be easy, because you strive for great things".  He had NO idea.

Three things you probably already know about Formula One racing

1. Button, not Bunsen.

2. Races can be won or lost on tyre tactics alone.  Those cars might look fancy, but when it comes down to the line, it's all about the tyres.  Strategic decisions need to be made about when to change from hard to soft and back again; get your tactics wrong, and you're history.

3. The Canadian course, in particular, is excellent. If you are going to only ever watch one Grand Prix race during the season, make it Canada.  It's the most exciting one.

I'm crazy busy today but recently I promised, for reasons now completely beyond me, to write a blog post about Formula One.  This is the best I can come up with.  I watched for the first time ever on Sunday, and was more surprised than I can say that I really, really, enjoyed it.


.