magicaddict | Once More Unto The Breach, My Friends...

...never thought I'd see this day.

Today, I went to an interview for a postdoc position back in my recent haunt in the Bath chemistry department. It'll be for about eight months, and pay just over £20,000. I thought I was going crazy enough being interviewed for an industry position with Dow, but a postdoc? Back at university?

Keeping me in Bath, able to easily commute to LARP and living with Emma while I apply for HMRC?

Not bloody 'arf. Pity it was a mess.

I had to present my recent work for half an hour. This would have been easy if I hadn't been away for the weekend and hadn't thought the interview was on Wednesday back as far as last Wednesday. Upon realising back then that it was, in fact, today, there followed some rather rushed work on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in order to get a presentation that I could talk through with some structure ready in time. Almost inevitably, I noticed two errors while I spoke, one of which was fairly obvious. I was not impressed. One of the academics looked like he was going to cry. I don't think it went all that well.

My sit-down interview was ten minutes shorter than the other guy's. Make of that what you will. Ho-hum...
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The weekend of drunken madness in Swansea with my mate Chris almost devolved into a perfectly reasonable and respectable couple of days, to include bitching about work without prank calling the office, long walks on cliff top paths without pushing anyone off, finishing drinking and moving on to water in order to keep a clear head, and wearing sun tan cream. We'll be sitting out on the decking at the back of the house talking about the youth of today next.
Transformers was as crap as I thought it was going to be, with the bad nods in the direction of the original, the saying of "my bad" by Optimus Prime and the baboon-shaped Starscream, but it was no more than I expected. Wonderful piece of action filming, but I find myself agreeing with people who have had their favourite comic series turned into a film and wishing that they hadn't named it after what I remember being so very much cooler. Maybe it's because I grew up.
Finally got to watch the first two Bourne films (Identity and Supremacy) in time for the third and final one to come out, and have to say I was a great deal more impressed than with Transformers. Unfortunately, the shine was rather taken off it by having introduced Chris to the genius that is Team America the previous day, so having this (sound but no swearing or nudity) rolling around inside my head for the duration of the films. I feel that it may have taken itself a little too seriously at times, but Hollywood trying to be serious with its action movies never works particularly well; the last time I saw one of these type of films was the equally excellent Long Kiss Goodnight, which jammed its tongue firmly in its cheek as the opening credits rolled and didn't take it out until ten minutes after the film finished - you know, to make sure that no-one noticed it doing so. All in all, definitely worth the money to go and see the third and final instalment in the trilogy when it comes out on the sixteenth.
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My life, other than that, is lacking excitement if not contentment. Emma is tired a lot from work, and all the time I am spending on things that aren't already acting as fixed overheads (work, LARP and tabletop) goes on the PhD. Consequently, we sort of do this kind of zombie dance - she from fatigue, me from blocking things out. Yay for saying hello after we've both got home, eating together and eventually collapsing into bed. We will have free time again. Probably.