That there is no funding for me again this year. Not from the AHRC, and not from the university. But apparently, "the standard of my application was very high". This is no consolation whatsoever, because the time I spent writing it, I could have spent earning money to buy frivolous stuff like food.

So, another year of trying to live off of 3.5K awaits.

Happy Birthday, Cats! Hope you have a fantastic one.

What is this with LJ? I just tried to post a comment on Sel's journal without being logged in, and it asked me to 'confirm that I am human'. I BEG your pardon? That's a bit biased!

On the 2nd of April, I saw a 'joke' post about changes to the LJ layout. It being the 2nd April, and us regularly getting such posts, I lodged a complaint about how this would make LJ more like Facebook.

I've since had two comments, about how I'm an idiot. Apparently from LJ staff.

Now, where I come from, so called 'April Fools' are carried out by children, and have to be done by midday on April the first. To my mind, a company run by adults wouldn't post such mindless drivel, when they know they have people that a) don't read posts every day b) live in different time zones c) frequently don't have time to sift through lots of crap.

I really, really object to these so-called staff mocking me. I'm fuming. It's crazy. Some people in some parts of the world, probably spent time they don't have, trying to translate this into their own language, to see how their journal was going to change. They might not know about this shit tradition. Personally, reading and commenting on this took up maybe 20% of my free time, for yesterday: just after midnight, when I finally settled in to catch up on stuff. Yes, all of ten minutes. I've been using this bloody software for years, and I really do object to being treated like my custom counts for fuck all. Particularly when I paid for this service for some of that time.

I know it's petty, but I'm tempted to ditch the whole f*ing thing.

You know, somehow I don't think I'm going to get through the remaining 967 of the 1265 inscriptions that I was asked to look at the other week by Wednesday afternoon.

I've only skimmed the last hundred or so, and I've not analysed these ones at all. That's no fecking good.

Bugger.

Still, pancakes.

outnorthwest has an interview with Russell T Davies. Starts on Page 23.

http://www.lgf.org.uk/news/outnorthwest/

Five second freakout. Aaaargghhh! Panel Meeting! 29th January!

Where the hell am I going to find a brain by then?

I had a day trip today! I took the local train up two stops (to probably only six miles from the house), and walked from there up to Dove Stones Reservoir. It was beautiful, and the weather was glorious. For anyone that's interested, and who can get to them, there's photos of today's walk, and also graduation photos on Facebook. I can't post pictures here any more since I went over to free LJ.

Hope you're all having a lovely day, whatever you're doing, and wherever you are.

( Video of my graduation ceremony )

I now have a new lodger. He's called Dennis, and he's a taxi-driver. He moved in two days ago.

I have everything I wanted for Christmas this year - in other words, not being alone in this house.

Thank you for the cards, presents, and well-wishes. I'm still feeling pretty low, but I'm thankful for what I've got, which is much more than I had this time last year.

Looks like Miriam and I were both given the wrong day for graduation. It's actually Thursday 18th December at 14:30 instead! (Darn us Athens and Attica pathway people.) So, I've spent a while this morning sorting that one out.

I have submitted an abstract to give a paper at AMPAH, the Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Ancient History, which will be held at Reading University next March. Yup. That guy? Standing on stage and not knowing his facts? Yup, that could be me next March. I'll find out in a couple of weeks. Not sure the abstract will get through, since I wrote it in a rush after getting back from the pub.

Now I have to start thinking what to talk to the MA students about at the start of next semester. Oh, and work. The other jobs....

Not angry any more.

Just had an email from Super No.2, regarding a Major Historical Bigwig coming up to talk to us on Wednesday evening. Reads something along the lines of: 'Dear T, RO will be kicking cans in the street on Wednesday afternoon... might be a good idea if you discussed your research with him. The plan is then to take him to the Ducie (pub on campus frequented by historians and archaeologists) before he gives his talk.'

Fell over laughing at the idea of this guy kicking cans in the street. Just the change of mood I needed.

Oh, shit, now I have to think of something intelligent. That'd be twice this millenia. Should probably start by checking to see if he's written anything specifically in my field. One of his other books has been at my elbow for the last couple of weeks.

Happy birthday, nicci_mac! May it be a fine day full of nice things.

Dear Diary. Was working. Said FUCK IT BIG STYLE. Went home. Did three hours paid work. Drunk prodigious amounts of gin. Listened to disco while still wearing the corduroy jacket. Damn, I am sex on a stick right now. Went on AIM with Teresa. Spoke to Miriam and cancelled Friday's date, since we can't get tickets. But I still have at least one book to read before tomorrow morning. When I will be fabulously erudite. Yes ERUDITE.

Kath, Teresa says hi.

Happy Birthday, selenay936!

May you have the best birthday ever.

Hope the road got cleared for you, and that you're having a lovely time with your aunt.

Turns out, the telly isn't broken. Having tried plugging the TV into several different sockets, I can be forgiven for thinking it was.

Turns out, it's the power to all the electrical sockets in the living room and dining room. But the lights still work, so it's not a simple fuse problem.

'Course, I didn't find this out until after I'd bought a replacement telly.

I caught a sneak preview of my MA results yesterday, and it seems that, unless the exam board pooh-pooh my external examiner, I have been awarded a Merit. (That's one up from a Pass, one down from 'Distinction - let me have your babies', etc, etc.)

Graduation is on Wednesday 17th December, at 12:15, after which I will retire to the Ducie pub on campus for a couple of sherberts, and from there, quite possibly off to Rusholme for Chilli Paneer. Not expecting anyone to be able to make it, but just in case, I have two guest tickets, for anyone that cares to watch me doing my Harry Potter impersonation again, only this time with a hat. Think - HAT, people. SURELY that's got to be worth a few hundred miles round trip? :-).

Before you all think my life is an endless loop of complaints...

Nicci, sweetheart - SO many positive comments on that picture you took of me with Daniel. Everyone thinks he's fabulous!

Xim - do you have a handy bit of software for typing special characters in Word, without going through Insert > Symbol? Setting up the keyboard for one single, other language won't work. I've got this great add-on for Greek, but I find that at the moment, I'm also having to include a lot of French and German (and sometimes other languages) together with Greek in one document.

Anyone else - a while back, I posted a couple of paragraphs of an original story that came to me in a dream. I've not really done much more to it, but that said, it is now 17 pages or so long. Does anyone want to see it? Reason I'm asking is, I'd like to do some fun writing over Christmas, and I'd like a festive cattle-prod, please.

University wise, things are bloody tough, actually. And I still don't know what result I got in my MA. And I'm supposed to be graduating from that some time in the next five weeks. How am I supposed to prepare to be Master of the Universe, is what I want to know!

Okay, right. Better get on with some work for a bit.

Borrowed from Dale. Filled in while waiting for that damn music from the next street to stop.

( Quiz )

Nope, music still going.