Some Semblance of an Update

And we’re back. Getting towards the end of October, and no post in two months. “Where’s Thom?” people are asking, “Does he still live here?” Well, yes, kind of, I’m still here. I must have started this post about six times, but there’s so much and so little to say that I never can decide what’s worth talking about, what’s not, and where to begin on the stuff I think is worth saying. Then, feeling overwhelmed and under-inspired, I quickly log onto Facebook to see if anyone else is doing anything interesting. Which they're not, usually.

So, without further ado or editorial forethought, I’ll begin.

As previously noted, I finished my dissertation. I am now noting that I’m 87% sure I passed. (yay!) I got preliminary results back on my dissertation some time ago, and I got a 72. Okay in the U.S. where passing is 70, but fantastic in the U.K. where passing is 50! (Note: I'm not saying it's easier to pass in the U.K., I'm saying that UK50 = US70. Much like the currency.) So instead of eking out a pass like I was hoping (well, not hoping for a "just-barely" pass, just hoping to pass!), I got a "pass with distinction". Which sounds like a fancy trip to the toilet.

But this is still just preliminary; the "official" results should be out any time. For those keeping score, that’s Denial State Procrastinators 3, Reality U. Naysayers nil.

Other news: I'm hunting for jobs, but am currently being stymied by global government and economy. The Credit Crunch has a name and it's Catch-22: Thom needs a visa to get a full-time job, and Thom needs a full-time job to pay for the visa. And rent. And heating. And student loans. Et cetera. And right now, it'd be easier to hunt wolves on foot with Sarah Palin and Vladimir Putin than it would be to find a job in Leeds. But I digress...

Went down to London earlier this month to get my passport renewed; an interesting experience to be sure, as it's the second time ever, and the first time since I was seventeen. [Sidenote: my old picture is horrible, and probably why I had no problem getting into Spain: the customs official thought no one sneaking in would possibly use such a horribly outdated and unattractive photo. This feeling was also expressed by the check-in girl at Stansted.] This was also the first time I've ever applied outside the U.S. Also, the only time I've stood in lines and watched guys with machine guns watch me. The U.S. Embassy is guarded by police with guns. They take their job very seriously. Their job is to make sure no one looks at the embassy. I know this because while I was waiting in line (outside, twenty feet from the check-in booth, where they x-ray you à la airport, before you get to go back outside, through a big gate and into the embassy itself), a man with a camera walked up and took a picture of the giant eagle chevron positioned on the top of the embassy. He was immediately surrounded by three armed men, who deleted the picture, took the photographer’s details, radioed the details to wherever they check them, and made sure he wasn’t a known terrorist, echo bravo niner, over. Which, I’m assuming, he wasn’t:

Photographer: Uh, what’s up officers?
Guard 1: Excuse me sir, just what do you think you’re doing?
Photographer: Um, I just wanted a picture of the eagle…
Guard 2: You do realize that pretty much means you hate freedom, don’t you?
Photographer: I just thought it lo-
Guard 1: Sir, I don’t believe you did think. Are you a member of Al Qaeda?
Photographer [shocked]: No! The London Photography club!
Guard 2: Al Jazeera no doubt.
Photographer [tearfully]: What?
Guard 1: Sir, we are at WAR. With TERROR. Do you know what that’s like?
Photographer: Well, I’m begin-
Guard 2: Yeah, he’s pretty much an insurgent.
Photographer: I’m from Putney!

If an embassy is the embodiment of the nation it represents, its actual location being a piece of that nation, then what does this say about America? That we are terrified by anything that moves outside our borders?

There’s a great statue of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the park across from the embassy; I was going to take a picture of it, but I was too terrorized.

As mentioned above, I went to Spain. Jo and I actually, and to Seville specifically. There’s a lot to tell about our time there, and I just can’t make this post four times as long to accommodate it right now. I will post about it though. Honestly.

Other trips we've gone on recently [checks through photos on computer to refresh memory] include: Ilkley, Derbyshire, Durham and the North Sea, Haworth and the Brontë museum, Seville, Whitby, Fountains Abbey, and the Royal Armouries in Leeds. I’ll write more about these trips in the next post, which I am tentatively calling “Autumn Trips”. There are some photos floating around the ether that can hopefully be connected with this site, so’s you can see some of the fun things that have gone down.

There may have been other trips as well, I just can’t remember them/didn’t take photos. This is bad. The camera, while being an excellent tool for capturing events, still separates the photographer from the event – the lens becomes a barrier between the event and the witness. So I’m stuck between remaining an outsider at events/places, and being an outsider in my own mind because I don’t remember events/places. I have a photographic memory – if there are photographs of me there, I remember. My mental hard drive’s just a bit faulty.

If all goes to plan, the “Autumn Trips” post should be up fairly soon; I’m only partially employed, and have time on my hands while waiting for employers to discover my brilliance. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy pre-Christmas shopping,

Thom-->
















Me and an orc at the Royal Armouries.