Fille des algues

2007-12-27T12:03:00.000+11:00

...and now I am in Australia.

2007-12-17T04:50:00.001+11:00

It has begun, I'm really leaving Paris... starting to say 'au revoir'

click on the image to enlarge

2007-12-12T19:01:00.000+11:00

My last week in Paris...
I shall enjoy wearing hats, scarves, gloves, long socks, multiple jumpers.

2007-12-03T05:52:00.000+11:00

Chez coiffeur: «je n'en ai pas pensé (que vous êtes scientifique), vous avez le couleur d'une mannequin », «merci»

So I have this rash and it's a little bit itchy. But it's not really a rash you see, it just looks like one, red bumpy spots across my neck, chest and shoulders, the kind of thing that nobody wants to touch. Now you have too much information but are still wondering what this not-rash rash-like infliction is? Well, let me tell you: I was viciously attacked, in the Red Sea by a hostile jellyfish! A pink stinging one, with trailing tentacles more than a meter long that were ferociously drifted across me in a most aggresive manner on my first morning in Israel just before the commencement of the diatom meeting. Of course then nobody would believe me, despite my claims of having studied some marine invertebrate biology and being able to tell the difference between a schyphazoa a hydrazoa and those other things that look like jelly fish but don't have tentacles.

Nobody would believe my anguished cries of jellyfish attack were valid because there aren't any jellyfish in the Red Sea. Fortunately we were in a marine institute and there was an expert on such things there and he said my description did in fact correlate with a jellyfish and that once or twice a year specimens have been noted in the area, when a visiting ship had illegally emptied its ballast water in the port. Lucky me.

The five days I spent in Israel were certainly experience filled: very thorough security checks, my first scientific presentation at a very informal international meeting, a visit to Petra, food poisoning, kindness served with mint-tea, walking in the last footsteps of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, stopping on the Wishing Bridge in Tel Aviv, and of course eating lots of falafel.

There are a few photos from Israel here.

Back now in cold and rainy but always beautiful Paris, busy as usual, so much to do in just two and bit weeks, so much work, so many people to see!

Of course I could not return to Australia without one last visit to my favourite coiffeur parisian: Camille Albane...

2007-11-13T06:45:00.001+11:00

I'm a scientist... !!

~ 76% of my thoughts begin with 'I wonder..?'

An accurate representation of the last two years, I'm currently at step 32.

Yes, yes, yes... yesterday!

and I giggle at science jokes..:

***
Some dates have called me a promotor. Others have referred to me as a real operator. Personally, I think I'm just a cute piece of DNA who is still looking for that special transcription factor to help me unwind.

***
A small piece of ice which lived in a test tube fell in love with a Bunsen burner. "Bunsen! my flame! I melt whenever I see you" said the ice. The Bunsen burner replied :"It's just a phase you're going through".

***
The Unjust Salary Theorem asserts that scientists can never earn as much as sales people. This theorem is proved as follows. Start by using the physics formula

Power = Work / Time

Now you probably have heard that Knowledge is Power and Time is Money. Substitute these tautologies into the formula for power to obtain

Knowledge = Work/Money

Solving for Money, one finds

Money = Work / Knowledge.

Therefore, the less you know, the more you make.

***

2007-10-10T01:17:00.000+10:00

Holiday photos...

...we had fun.

2007-09-26T18:56:00.000+10:00

Holidays beginning

I'm on holidays, I will be doing nothing more than enjoying myself in Italy and Spain for the next two weeks. I promise to have a great time tasting the food and wines, sightseeing and sampling other cultural and historical things. I promise not to check my emails, write any emails, update my blog, turn my phone on, send any post-cards, or even think of you. I'm on holidays!!!

I'm seriously the coolest person I know

2007-09-19T06:22:00.000+10:00

The last couple of weeks have been quiet, I've just been filling my days plodding along in my work, various other mildly entertaining things and the occasional evening with un petit verre au bar with friends.

http://www.simpsonizeme.com/

The days are getting shorter surprisingly quicker, fortunately not yet getting colder, yet as there was no summer...!!

Slightly disappointing, perhaps more so because I had some expectations and was looking forward to a few hours spent comfortably in bed.

Now that Autumn is undeniably here: I'm at last going on holiday!!!!!

2007-09-12T02:41:00.000+10:00

Celebrating one

As I wrote in my lab book this morning...

11.09.07 PCR: N replete cDNA, gene C, annealing temp grad 57-68

I realised: firstly, today's date is not a prime number; secondly, it is precisely a year since I last had my feet on Australian soil; and thirdly this is the last time I'm ever doing PCR on gene C, if it doesn't work this time I'm throwing it out the fucking window (I may even take it up to the 9th floor to do it too).

Now, 8 hours later as I stare out the window at the perpetual gray clouds, the leaves on the tree beginning to show the first shades of yellow. I'm waiting for my bacteria to grow you see, then I can plate them and go home, a now very familiar procedure, I should probably be doing some work, reading or writing something but the effort to stimulate my brain to that height of activity on a hungry stomach seems too much. So, I stare out the window instead. Yet, it gives me some time to contemplate what a year living in Paris has meant... What have I learnt? Have I changed? Do I speak French? Am I ready to return home?

Even these thoughts seems rather an effort and my time here has not yet finished, there's still three and a bit months to go, I'll answer them some other time, or not, or maybe someone else will.

So a couple of photos to commemorate this day, of one year;

Me, Vienna, my first days in Europe

Me, Paris, just last week.

2007-09-10T07:29:00.000+10:00

Me and my brother, we have a very supportive relationship...

2007-08-23T04:31:00.000+10:00

July and August have been rather busy months, stretching the capacity of my cupboard and exercising my knowledge of Paris in touristic guidance....

sitting in cafes,

riding bicycles,

in ridiculous shoes (but it was my birthday).

Then, I headed further south to Oviedo in Spain...

where I met some very excellent and well celebrated scientists,

toasted to a scientific future,

visited a fishing village or two,

returned to Santiago de Compostella (but by bus this time)

witnessed some cultural passings,

drank wine and ate tapas,

before returning to Paris on a remarkably fine day.

Where, since then, I have been enjoying evening promenades,

tasting imported beverages,

indulging in wine and cheese at Paris plage,

enjoying the sweet moments of successful cloning (I don't want you to think that I've actually taken ANY time off work, I'm still 8-10 hours a day in the lab during this time),

attempting to enjoy the rain,

taken advantage of moments of infrequent sunshine,

but more commonly grey sky,

to another welcome,

who are still rather jet lagged, it's 4am in Australia but I think it's dinner time, should I wake them?

2007-08-08T00:35:00.000+10:00

PCR troubleshooting

Bad karma hypothesis

Background:
This is basically the "God is punishing you" hypothesis. It sometimes gains a great deal of favour.

Symptoms:
i) All rational explanations have been exhausted and yet PCR still is not working for you.
ii) Persistent feelings of guilt (if you are a Catholic, this symptom could be misleading).

Tests and solutions:
i) Try bungee jumping. If you survive, God must not be too hacked-off at you.
ii) Atone for your sins and start over at the top of the flow chart.
iii) If you end up here next time, have someone watch you next time you set up your PCR reactions.

2007-07-16T22:59:00.000+10:00

A few days this week

Friday: Spain... bliss

Saturday: France... Marc & Lela's wedding, beautiful

Sunday: swimming

Sunday: eating

Monday: Paris... and it's still raining.

2007-07-05T05:49:00.000+10:00

Mum's 62nd Birthday...

Usually I wouldn't disclose the age of friends or relatives but this year seems an exception. Especially as my Mum is so happy to be turning 62 this year. This may or may not be an exact duplication of mine and Mum's conversation last week:

Me: Happy Birthday Mum!

Mum: Thanks, I'm very excited, I'm 62 this year!

Me: 62! That's great. But weren't you already 62 last year?

Mum: Yes, but this year I'm really 62.

Me: ummm...?

Mum: Last year was a mistake: I was really 61.

Me: ah-oui? (1945-2007: 62..Yes)

Mum: Yes! I've spent the whole time thinking I was 62, so this year I'm not aging at all, isn't it great?

Me: Yes that's great, but what happened to 61? Because you definitely turned 60 the year before in Paris.

Mum: I don't know, I must of missed it. You know, I thought it was strange that my friend who is the same age as me was lying about her age, and then last week the doctor wrote my age as 61, I thought it was odd. Then I calculated it to find I was really 61 after all.

Me: But that's ridiculous.

Mum: But it doesn't matter because this year I'm 62 and we can celebrate without the bad feeling of aging. I might even do it again. Shall we have a drink?

Me: Isn't it a bit early for a drink?

Mum: Not on Australian time.

62 again and walking from Vezeley in 'the direction of St Jacques de Compestella'.

2007-06-13T19:15:00.000+10:00

Ginger Kids; we are people too

even if we don't have souls.

The International Ginger Kids Foundation

2007-06-12T20:22:00.000+10:00

Week-end in Inverness

I was not at all disappointed by Scotland, it was just how I thought it should be; quiet, relaxed, raining and friendly.

It was great to see El again.

I was somewhat confused by the automatic check-out, why don't people steal?

Pleased to find reminders of home. And thought it odd that I was told twice that I speak English with a French accent.

The river Ness in Inverness

...more photos.

2007-05-29T06:46:00.000+10:00

Je travail trop, j'espère que c'est pour des bonnes choses...

My weekend last consisted of rather a lot of time spent at the lab bench, undertaking a rather large number of absolutely essential boiling minipreps in the search for positively expressed P-entry vectors. I also spent a lot of time convincing myself that it was absolutely essential that they were done on a Sunday and that they were absolutely essential.

One of the problems with researching the adhesive proteins of algae is that is that it's quite possible to also convince yourself that it is not exactly absolutely essential research.

Later, while walking home in the rain at 21h30, after finding NOT ONE SINGLE POSITIVE CLONE, I shall not mention that I have done the gene/vector ligase reaction 5 TIMES now for gene A, for genes D and F I shall forgive for being ALL NEGATIVE because it's only the FIRST TIME!! Six weeks I've been working on this, it's not my fault that it's not working, it's the nature of molecular biology. But that's all too depressing, so instead: my favourite view of Paris

No wonder I decided to leave uni early today (after, of course, redoing the gene/vector ligase reaction again), by early I mean around 6pm, then knock on Jennifer's door and see if she was up to anything this evening, which ended in us wondering down to Place de Bastille and seeing the lovely film 'Les Chanson d'Amour'.

2007-05-14T20:07:00.000+10:00

Woohoo... I didn't fall over, not once yesterday, nor did I crash into anybody (besides Poonum and possibly Uma) and I've almost learnt how to stop too, at least if the road is flat and smooth, and I've got at least 50m of clear landing space, possibly with a pile of cushions at the end, then I can come to a nice smooth halt. Thank you to the friend of a friend who decided to leaves this equipment in Paris when she left.

Speaking of presents, I have had a great week of presents... firstly delicious soap, tim-tams and macadamia nuts from a friend passing through Paris, thank you! Then a box of home-dried apples, thanks Mum, I have already eaten them all, very delicious!! Then a great excitement when I received a parcel that contained four excellent CDs from my dear brother and his dear girlfriend, thank you!!! I have been listening to them non-stop for the last four days, lucky I live alone. Then the homeless guy who sells books on the corner near uni gave me a CD when I bought a book.

Thanks everyone. xxx

2007-05-09T07:11:00.000+10:00

My favourite foot apparel:

... what does this says about me?

2007-05-04T23:59:00.000+10:00

Un menuisier était arrivé à l'âge de la retraite.

Il informa alors son employeur de son intention de quitter le monde de la construction afin de passer le reste de sa vie paisiblement avec son épouse.

Son employeur fut très déçu de devoir laisser partir un si bon travailleur et il lui demanda comme faveur personnelle de construire juste une toute dernière maison. Le menuisier accepta mais cette fois il était facile de voir que son coeur n'était pas à l'ouvrage. Il accomplit un travail médiocre et utilisa des matériaux de qualité inférieure.

Quand le menuisier eut terminé la maison, son employeur arriva et en fit l'inspection puis il présenta la clé de cette maison au menuisier en disant : "Cette maison est la tienne, c'est mon cadeau pour toi".

Le menuisier était si triste, quelle honte ! Si seulement il avait su qu'il construisait sa propre maison, il aurait tout fait si différemment.

Il en est de même pour nous, dans notre vie. Nous la construisons malheureusement trop souvent avec négligence et insouciance... Un moment donné, avec étonnement, nous réalisons que nous devons vivre dans la maison que l'on s'est construite. S'il nous était possible de recommencer, nous aurions fait différemment mais nous ne pouvons faire de retour en arrière.

Nous sommes les artisans de cette maison qu'est notre vie. Chaque jour nous enfonçons un clou, plaçons une planche, érigeons un mur.

La vie est un projet de tous les instants. C'est par notre attitude et nos choix d'aujourd'hui que nous construisons la maison que nous allons habiter demain et pour le reste de notre vie...

Alors pourquoi ne pas la construire avec sagesse ????

2007-05-03T23:14:00.000+10:00

Une grande fete chez Youcef;
this was back in February I think, one of those nights when, although I didn't drink that much and had a good time, the next morning I awoke with that slight impression of possibly having embarrassed myself...

..it's just that I don't actually know anyone in this photo.

2007-05-03T01:06:00.000+10:00

The best 300 words ever:

CHARACTERISATION OF THE BIOFILM FORMATION AND EXTRACELLULAR ADHESIVE (GLYCO)PROTEINS OF THE PENNATE DIATOM PHAEODACTYLUM TRICORNUTUM

Diatoms are ubiquitous marine unicellular micro-algae (Bacillariophyceae, Ochrophyta), both planktonic and benthic they are one of the most successful microbiological colonizers. However, diatoms are a major contributor to the biofouling of submerged artificial surfaces, producing copious amounts of mucilage, largely formed of carbohydrates and (glyco)proteins that forms an adhering film. Little is known of the chemical composition of the molecules that make up the adhering film and particularly, the proteins involved in cell-substrate adhesion remain a mystery. With the completed sequencing of the genome (http://genome.jgi-psf.org/Phatr2/Phatr2.home.html) and the available EST (expressed sequence tags) libraries (http://www.biologie.ens.fr/diatomics/EST), the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum has emerged as a model diatom for studying many aspects of diatom biology. P. tricornutum is a small polymorphic diatom of which the oval morphotype adheres and secretes a mucilaginous adhering film on a substrate. In this study biofilm formation was monitored over one week by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), light microscopy (LM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM); SEM and LM showed initially small adhesive tethers secreted from the girdle region of the oval cells, and gradual accumulation of these mucilage secretions created a homogeneous layer on the substrate surface. AFM quantification illustrated a curing of the mucilage which resulted in reduced adhesion frequency, loss of small pull-offs but an increase in adhesion strength. Identification of the extracellular proteins involved in adhesion has been approached by chemical identification and genome analysis; extracellular proteins were labelled with biotin-avidin-FITC conjugate and visualised under UV-confocal microscopy showing areas of increased protein, extracted proteins were analysed by SDS-PAGE gel and two clear bands of biotin-labelled proteins were visible. In-silico genome analysis identified putative secreted adhesive proteins by amino-acid composition, based on an amino-acid profile designed by analysis of the composition of known cell-adhesion proteins. Analysis of functional domains, EST profiles and homologies lead to the selection of genes for in-situ functional analysis by over-expression and yfp-fusion.
Poster, Symposium 1

I'm going to Spain, I'm going to Spain, I'm going to Spain!!!! Yipeee!!

2007-05-02T00:44:00.000+10:00

Spring has sprung, so that means I've been spending a lot of time in the Jardin de Luxembourg, because it is just so pretty and pleasant.

2007-05-01T05:13:00.000+10:00

C'est fait!!

Je ne vais jamais encore aller au lycée, jamais jamais jamais refais!!! Toujours scientifique, jamais professeur de l'anglais. A la fin les élèves m’aime bien mais c’était toujours une grande tâche que il fait que je doive me lève très tôt et j’étais toujours très fatigue et je n’ai pas fait tout le travail que je voudrais avoir fait pour mon thèse, c’était difficile comme même !! Je n’aime pas !! Je peux voir les bonnes choses bien sur, mais c’est beaucoup mieux maintenant ; le travail en plein temps est comme une vacance. Boff, c’est tout fini maintenant !!!! Quel bonheur !! Je peux relaxe et m’amuse bien avec toute la chose française !!

Lycée Jean de la Fontaine

Lycée Jean Baptiste de SAY

2007-04-28T22:59:00.001+10:00

I have been told that my recent lapse in blogging is a disappointment to my biggest fan, and that combined with my dismal efforts at sending regular emails… simply they are left wondering where I am, what I’ve been doing and whether I’m eating well and if spring has finally sprung.

On one hand this inspires in me a desire to be more diligent, but then I look out the window, see the sunshine, feel the gentle breeze and I am overwhelmed by an overpowering longing to go and lie in the grass and possibly fall asleep.

Then I remember I am chained to my desk and I’ve avowed not to leave until I’ve finished the meagre 300 word abstract that is required for the submission of an application to present a poster at the 4th European Phycological Congress. Because I’m making my first outing as a real scientist into the real scientific world where I’ll be representing not only the two labs but myself and my work.

So I must put my incredible powers of procrastination back in the box, stop daydreaming, get back to work and write the best 300 hundred words ever in the hope that it’ll be accepted despite being slightly past the deadline (note to self; pay attention).

I’m going to Spain, I’m going to Spain!!! I’m going to be a scientist!!!

If I’m good and write this now then I’ll go and buy icecream in Place des Vosges…mmmm.

2007-04-20T04:21:00.000+10:00

I spent the Easter weekend in London;

where I did nothing touristy, went nowhere near anything recognisable but had a great time seeing some old friends...

and hanging out in a hairdressing salon listening to a band play and drinking beer.

It was all very English, very cool, and an excellent break from Paris and uni and work.

2007-04-20T04:08:00.000+10:00

Spring time everywhere, blossom, tulips and suddenly everything is green....

and the weather has jumped into the 20s

Notre Dame

St Etienne du Mont

There is still sunlight when I get home, last weekend I found the perfect perching place: sitting on my window sill with a bottle of beer.

2007-04-20T03:29:00.000+10:00

Oui, je sais il fait longtemps!

2007-04-01T03:11:00.000+10:00

A dramatic week that leaves me a little....

*****

Tuesday on my way to babysitting I arrive at Gare du Nord on the RER, take the escalates up to the metro to be confronted by the crowd of peak-hour passengers running screaming in the opposite direction to which I want to go.

Apparently I'd managed to catch the end of a riot, something that started because some people didn't like the way the ticket inspectors treated someone they caught without a ticket, or something, something to do with an underlying tension between the police and young people, and something about the upcoming presidential elections.

On a slight digression; one of the presidential candidates (Segolene Royal) is the sister of the guy who blew up the Green Peace boat in New Zealand. She's not the worst candidate, that'd be Sarkozy.

Anyway, the riot ended with massage number of police, military and tear-gas. I was untouched and despite a couple of the metro lines being closed made it to my babysitting soiree with time to buy chocolate and other essentials at the happily placed organic grocer next door.

****

Thursday food poisoning, it was bound to happen eventually; as the weather got warmer, I continued to buy perishables and continue without a fridge. But it's still not fun; the feeling horrible, then all the vomiting. I almost didn't find it amusing when the Chinese doctor in the university's sick-bay looked so disappointed that I flushed before he was able to examine my lunch.

They were all very nice, gave the most disgusting tea I've ever tasted with loads of sugar and some nice anti-vomiting tablets so I was able to get home, where I got to know my toilet more intimately. Luckily a friend of mine, who was homeless at the time (having to have left her apartment early because of difficulties with her landlady and accusations of jumping in the shower, but that's a different story), was staying with me and although she was out sent me messages throughout the night so I didn't feel completely alone in a far far away country.

****

Saturday; undecided, now I'm seeing the black dress and belt but I just can't decide which shoes...

2007-03-22T05:12:00.000+11:00

Spring is coming,

Birdies build your nests.

Weave together straw and feather,

doing each your best.

***

Spring is coming

Spring is coming,

Flowers are waking too.

Daisies, lilies, daffodillies,

all are coming through.

***

Spring is coming,

Spring .....

...oh, no, wait, is that snow? quoi?

2007-03-19T09:04:00.000+11:00

Philippa's birthday;

a Frenchified English picnic (we are all English assistant teachers)

a little later after a lot of caramel vodka.

2007-03-12T06:32:00.000+11:00

Château de Chantilly

Lovely spring time weather, cool but not cold, sunny but not hot. Perfect for a quick sortir de Paris: an afternoon picnic in the park of Chateau de Chantilly, a stroll through the woods picking wild daffodils, and a coffee accompanied by Tarte aux Fraises and Chantilly cream.

Delightful,

and just a touch of the unexpected, very woolly wallabies.

A few more photos.

2007-03-08T08:07:00.000+11:00

Lamentably not French

Some things just seem so French that it annoys me when they don’t happen:

On the weekend I used a different bag to my usual everyday sac, so then on Monday morning when I tipped everything on my bed to find the absolute essentials that I need when running late to my first class of the new term (Macbeth at 8am, where the students didn’t turn up anyway), I didn’t take my umbrella. Tuesday it rained all day. In the evening, when I was again running late to meet a friend to go and see a Malaysian shadow-puppet play, I realised that I’d still forgotten my umbrella and there was no direct metro and I must run across two quartiers. So there I was running through the streets of Paris in the rain, my scarf over my head, slipping around umbrella holding pedestrians, although I got wetter and wetter the romanticism of the image was not lost to me: if only one of those handsome French guys would offer to share his umbrella and run through the streets with me… not one did. Surely if I, a crude Australian, can see this as a romantic opportunity, then surely those silly French boys could too. I am utterly disappointed.

2007-03-08T07:59:00.000+11:00

Pensive at the lab bench

It annoys me so much but I just suck at putting parafilm around the edges of Petri dishes. No matter if I pull it harder or more gently, or use longer or wider pieces, it just always comes off again. It is so frustrating, it looks messy, it makes me look like I’m working with a many-legged octopus, which just does not conform to what I imagine is a slightly unrealistic and anally perfectionist work space image. Damn-it. Does anyone have any tips for this?

2007-03-03T08:21:00.000+11:00

Mathieu, cette photo est pour toi.

2007-03-02T10:44:00.000+11:00

Ummm....

Has anyone seen ‘Marie Antoinette’? Did anyone else think ‘what strange, random, historically incorrect*, thing was that? I mean, a movie, about the last king of France, set at Chateau de Versailles but all spoken in English, with hardly a hint of a French accent? In fact the language was ridiculous, casual modern? The only phrase spoken in French was when the little girl said ‘oooh look a little bug, a pretty bug’, tra la, why bother? Then if they’re going to finish with the storming of the chateau by the angry, hungry peasants, why not finish with them actually being dragged through the streets of Paris and beheaded, because that’s what actually happened – they didn’t escape!

Then there was the music. I am just as much a fan of The Cure as the next slightly alternative nineties teenager but it’s not the kind of music I imagine the newly crowned King and Queen of France walking down the steps of Versailles to. What was that awful song with the misquoted quote, ‘fools rush in where wise men fear to tread’, when she falls in love/lust with the army office, and that random fantasy with him on the rearing white horse. Puh-lease!

A whole movie without dialogue too, as in when one person speaks and another answers. I image the complete script with wavy green underline: Fragment (consider revising).

It was always summer of course, with one brief moment of spring, for the lamb and the flowers and the little girl with her bug.

I offer a picture of Versailles in winter, like it was when I was there.

*I’ve never studied history but it just seemed so wrong.

2007-02-28T08:16:00.000+11:00

Easy steps to saving the planet 1.

How to:

1. reduce greenhouse gas emissions
2. reduce air and water pollution
3. reduce land degradation
4. reduce loss of diversity

-> Eat less meat!

2007-02-27T08:51:00.000+11:00

Three days in Milan

On the roof of Le Dome

After spending three days in Milan, Paris feels like home, my cupboard in the sky is almost comfortable in its familiarity. French is a joy to listen to; I understand almost everything, such a relief, I know when to say 'bonjour', 'merci' and 'au revoir'.

There are some photos, Milan is a different grey to Paris. Paris is grey clouds, Milan is grey fog, and the little lake side village of 'Como', reported as one of the most beautiful towns in Italy, was a rather colder hazy grey.

I hadn't realised how used to Paris I have become, the trees in Milan looked wild and unkempt, they are not pruned into the squares I am habituated to here. It was quieter too, less people, yet pushier.

It was lovely to get out of Paris, to relax on a couch in an apartment that has rooms, a spacious bathroom and a separate kitchen, to be cooked for, cups of tea made for me and patted (I was sick with a cold that left me tired and fuzzy).

Travelling while sick in quite uninteresting but I still endeavoured to try as many Italian pastries, pastas, gelaties and wines as possible.... the verdict? yum yum yum. I shall have to go back and try and fit in some shopping as well.

2007-02-27T08:44:00.000+11:00

The world's second shortest fairytale by “Unknown”

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?" The girl said, "NO!"

And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook, had sex with whomever she pleased.... did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, didn't get fat, traveled more, had many boyfriends, saved more money, had all the hot water to herself, never had pubic hairs under the toilet seat lid, watched girlie movies, never had football on, never wore stupid lacy lingerie that went up her ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked good in sweat pants and shirt, and burped, swore, and farted all the time.

THE END

2007-02-23T07:17:00.000+11:00

The little things that make me giggle:

Law School dean Michael Crommelin said it meant staff were forced to talk to each other rather than sending messages. "Obviously, it's inconvenient … we're just using other forms of communication," Professor Crommelin said.

http://www.theage.com.au/: email-failure-cripples-uni

from The Age as usual, being pretty much the only thing I read in English, besides scientific literature, it is one of my main sources of entertainment.

It does explain why I didn't get a reply from the email I sent to my supervisors, so full of questions, yesterday evening.

Two other small things said to me recently include:

"I'm surprised you haven't gone to the hairdresser, considering the emergency on your head"

"Those guys were attracted to you like maggots"

"I hope so" in reply to: with this cold inflicted nasal voice I could almost be a different person.

Some people do make me feel so special!

But to counter this, some people do make me feel so special:

"come home, australia misses a piece of itself while you are gone, there are so many people who mourn your loss! my sui, i need someone to go out and play with! its so cold since you left despite the heat"

Now I'm going to Milan for the weekend so I really must find some suitably cool clothes to wear in the most fashion conscience city of Italy.

2007-02-17T22:48:00.000+11:00

A weekend of small miracles:

blue sky, daffodils, is spring a month early?

This is actually a big one, 6-months later and I can actually get access to those euros I've been earning teaching English!!

Heart shaped cheeses, just for Valentine's day, the florists had heart shaped flower arrangements and the bakeries had heart shaped tarts, all so lovely, unfortunately didn't have my camera with me last Wednesday.

Glorious food

You mean I can't actually do the work I was planning on doing?

Then there is this! I just love a new book, so many possibilities, such excitement, the first page is like a first kiss - will I like it? will this be a long and happy relationship, will I last to the end.

A quite Sunday afternoon stroll in Luxembourg gardens, looking for somewhere to read.

I have no idea where this is in Paris or what it is, but happy Chinese new year

To complement my msn, myspace, skype, and blogspot I now have facebook. Is it getting ridiculous?

2007-02-13T08:38:00.000+11:00

Definitely shrinking

Sunshine, blue sky, warmth, open space, horizons, room to move, these words are no longer in my vocabulary. Unless it occurs as: 'hey, what's the word for when you can see further than 20m, like as if that building over there wasn't there..... Oh distance, thanks'.

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a cupboard, sleeping in the kitchen, cooking in my study, studying in the laundry, and eating in the bathroom. I travel through tunnels, I walk crooked streets, I climb narrow staircases, I share a shower and toilet with people I've never seen, one is definitely hairy, another smells bad.

I'm definitely shrinking, melting and congealing into a squat, hunched, Gollum like amorphism with long skinny arms. Soon I'll only be seen hunkered down in the middle of my bed, knees around my ears, shifty eyes watching my neighbours, everything accessible with my long skinny arms, everything quiet.

I'll post photos.

This has nothing against Gollum, he was always my favourite character in The Lord of the Rings (original book version), always so misunderstood, despite the murdering his family and friends and living on raw fish, and so essential to the plot; I cried when he fell into the stream of molten hell and saved Frodo and Sam and middle-earth.

2007-02-11T05:16:00.000+11:00

Sometimes doing the right and good thing totally sucks

But in the end its nothing that eating (a rather modest) tub of ice cream and watching The Corpse Bride on repeat won't fix.

I may be pissed-off, bitter and single again this St Valentine's day, but with a clean conscience I'll be able to take the moral high ground and eat more ice cream.

2007-02-05T08:36:00.000+11:00

This weekend was simply delightful, warm (+10 degrees), calm and sunny. This morning I woke late, enjoyed a pain aux raisin for breakfast, skimped on my jogging, walked by a canal, bought post-cards, sat in the sun by budding daffodils, tried some chocolates. Returned home, ate peanut butter from the jar, finished some cake left over from Christmas (it was still good), soft music in the background, prepared pasta a cheese for dinner, flipped through a Paris Vogue while eating...... way to start an eating disorder! Are these girls real? Where are their thighs, arms, butts...??? How is it possible is it possible to be toned and thin without looking scrawny?

Can we please rewind today and add a little fruit to my diet and perhaps a salad for lunch, maybe remove the cake and exchange my breakfast for an apple. Oh, and of course complete the planned jogging.

Luckily I just found the last remaining Mozart Kugeln, hmmm-yum.

2007-02-05T08:08:00.000+11:00

Trusting strangers

Finally a Saturday morning where I found the courage to do something I'd been wanting to do for at least two months. Somehow finding the time always seemed the problem and perhaps a little shyness too. So I continued to hide the split-ends under a big clip and hoped that the colour of my hair would distract everybody from the terrible state it was in.

So here I am, before (left) and after (below).

A joyous weekend of post-coiffeur hair, conditioned and blow dried, and believing I really could be some kind of star.

Ah, the simple (and expensive) pleasures.

Tomorrow will tell if I can emulate somewhat of what the hairdresser did, although at 6.20am without a hair-drier or products I'm a little dubious.

2007-01-28T19:43:00.000+11:00

I learnt about two new things this weekend:

1. Raclette: potatoes with melted cheese - a french traditional meal.

2. Poker.

2007-01-24T20:45:00.000+11:00

It was snowing this morning!!

2007-01-23T08:58:00.000+11:00

Nothing is so French than to walk by the Seine on a Sunday afternoon... a perfect way for Mum to say au revoir to Paris,

and I return toute seule to my chambre on the fifth floor.

2007-01-16T04:36:00.000+11:00

More Paris tourism, Les Invalides

Aren't I just looking more and more French? Although still not enough to stop people to speaking to me in English; blue eyes and red hair, I can never be French. Then my accent gives me away.

2007-01-08T06:26:00.000+11:00

Tell me it's not real and that the holidays really haven't ended and I don't really have get up at 6am in the cold and dark and traipse across Paris.

My first class is Terminal, studying Macbeth.

School tomorrow.. blagh.

2007-01-04T08:44:00.000+11:00

Christmas day

Christmas in Paris.... cold, I froze my little tootsies while walking around the Sacre Coeur.

Lucky for hot chocolate and strawberry crepes!

After such a day the only thing to do is drink red wine and fall asleep.

While in Australia, a brief respite from the enduring 30+ degrees gave them a white Christmas. What the fuck?

Happily the weather returned to the normal summer temperatures, my brother tells me he was able to carefreely chuck his winter clothes back under the bed and head to the beach, with (my) surf board under his arm, for the New Year celebrations.

We enjoyed a pleasant 14 degrees with sunny patches.

2006-12-24T04:45:00.000+11:00

Joyeux Noël

meilleurs voeux pour le nouvel an

2006-12-23T08:08:00.000+11:00

I've been preparing for a house guest. In the last few days I have bought a second glass and another spoon, I didn't manage a bowl so we'll have to take turns to eat our yoghurt and muesli, or should that be yaourt et müesli now? Then I pushed all my clothes to one side of my closest, and I am ready. Then I was just a little late to the airport... but I'm parisian now, so it's expected.

A perfect day to be in Paris.

The Champs-Elysees is really pretty but Mummy can we go up on that?

Getting to feel the chilly christmas air, a little fake snow never goes astray.

2006-12-19T09:55:00.000+11:00

They've turned the trees into sparkling medusa on a street near my house, crazy French.

2006-12-17T11:08:00.000+11:00

Professor Dr. Werner Habermehl: "The study found that "the fiery redhead" lives up to her reputation; it's those feisty redheads who have more fun in the sack ...!"

I just love science!

"Sex promotes our ability to concentrate, lengthens our attention span, and stimulates creativity and ideas," said Werner Habermehl, a professor at the Sexology Institute in Hamburg. "In short, sex makes you smarter."

Need help with your homework?

2006-12-15T10:01:00.000+11:00

Friends of friends playing jazz in a little bar.

Christmas is getting closer!

2006-12-12T09:55:00.000+11:00

Me on Monday

I was pleased to hear this morning that I am not needed to take my 8am or 10am classes on Thursday. Yet then not so pleased, to receive a couple of sheets of fill-in-the-blanks with the appropriate tense, because “I know it will be so easy and quick for you to do, and here is also a copy of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ could you please write out some questions about the play, in the time you have off from the classes this week". What? In two hours read the whole play and then think of a bunch of questions for I don’t know which class, or English level, or how many questions. In two hours, not to mention the pages of blanked-out sentences, by Thursday. And as Wednesday is my day off if I don’t want to spend half the day traipsing across Paris on Thursday to drop off this stuff then I must finish it for Tuesday, so that means tonight!! This sucks. Wish I hadn’t got out of bed this morning, wish I didn’t have to tomorrow either. By the way Madame B, I’m going to spend approximately 30 minutes on this, I’m just going to google ‘questions about AMSND’, open the first five sites and choose 25 questions at random, because I really don’t care, do your own class preparation, I’ve got enough of my own classes to do and if I’m going to think about anything in depth it’s going to be finding the sequence of secreted adhesive glycoproteins. So there!!

Ah, la vie de l'etudiante....

2006-12-05T07:59:00.000+11:00

I find Paris most beautiful at dawn and dusk.

The sunrise often colours all the roofs pink, something I would probably appreciate more if I wasn't also running to school, or seeing it through my classroom window or glimpsing from the train.

Dusk from the window in the office I share can be much more leisurely contemplated, I can daze out the window, chin resting on my hand, tapping my pen and maybe even be perceived to be having great thoughts about diatoms.

Christmas lights are being turned on all over the city, festivities are beginning, I'm childishly exciting about my first cold silly season.

It is only going to get colder; winter has hardly begun.

2006-11-27T00:05:00.000+11:00

'I feel completely defenseless
against this rapid onslaught
of time passage'.

Andy's last day in Paris.

2006-11-26T04:06:00.000+11:00

Just some of the coolest diatom loving young scientists around, sadly hosting Andy's going away party. Uma, on the far right, is the diatomist whose link you can find here too.

2006-11-21T09:53:00.000+11:00

Super Flo -
Tu voudrais te coucher avec moi ce soir?

2006-11-19T09:23:00.000+11:00

Getting into the Autumn colours.

I ventured further from the centre of Paris today, as far as zone 4, to Chateau de Versailles. Where I spent a delightful afternoon chasing leaves of pretty colours, I revealed my Australianness and touristiness by taking a multitude of pictures. The not quite horizontal horizon may be the residual effects of the Nouveau Beaujolais of yesterday evening, a French tradition I could not refuse to partake in.

These photos, and soon more, can now be found at www.flickr.com/photos/filledesalgues, there is also a direct 'badge' link on the right.

Le livre a toute heure! for those after-hour times when a you can't go any long without a book. The selection includes model novels, classics and a French/English dictionary. I can only imagine the situations where these are desperately essential.

A toutes les gloires de la France!

2006-11-18T05:23:00.000+11:00

November in Paris,

It is Autumn and getting colder, not quite hat weather but scarves are everyday and occasionally gloves too. Coffees occur many times each day, that could be the PhD influence or the proximity of our "2nd" lab, which serves also beer and aperitifs, and often dinner on Thursdays, couscous day.

Laboratory work is progressing in the normal slow and sometimes frustrating science way. Have I mentioned that I'm working in a lab with 18 people who all work with diatoms, not just any diatoms either but with Pt! It is such a niche.

Keeping a group of ten English students enthralled and the 8am starts is tres fatiguant. All is well and good if I don't make the mistake of choosing 'Waltzing Matilda', Slim Dusty's version, as the subject - I have translated everyword and heard and sometimes sung it three times for each of my 12 classes, you can imagine the end of that week.

With a fellow PhD and supervisor.

The Seine, from Pont de la Tournelle.

2006-11-15T06:47:00.000+11:00

Someone said to me today, "As-tu le tampon vert?"

Simply translating into, "Have you got the green buffer?"

but I giggled anyway, and then got lost on the way to the culture chamber. You take the lift down 4 floors, through the door opposite on the left (door code xxxx) then wonder around the deserted corridors, past the EM, the real-time PCR, until finding the yellow door, chamber #5 (door code XxxXx), and there are my cultures looking all cute, in a brown-slime kind-of way, lined up at the back on the left.

2006-11-14T07:35:00.000+11:00

The emotion of it all....

My demeanour has been disturbed.

By, my most official (semi ex) boyfriend, reiterating his unfailing love, devotion and patience... a few tears were shed.

Then this evening I received, from a slightly unexpected quarter, an expression of unrequited love of the past year, followed by a pledge of some degree.

And what's his face has called me three times today, it seems there just nothing like French spoken with an aussi accent.

Is there anyone else who'd like to avowal/reveal/confide any or some amount of love/devotion/amour..? Please take a number, #5 is currently available, declarations of unrequited love will be accepted for the next month in pink heart shaped boxes.

I don't understand it all, Jonathan Cainner did not warn me that the third quarter of the waning moon would bring this. Going by what I've been told, it seems I am just a great mix of intelligence, compassion, optimism and gorgeousness... It's almost enough to make a girl feel good about herself.

But I am now going to live with the bats and spiders beneath my bed.

2006-11-02T07:50:00.000+11:00

During cell adhesion, adhesive strands adhere the cells to the substrate, when the cells move the adhesive strands remain adhered to the substrate, and it is this adhesion of the adhesive strands to the substrate after the cell has moved that forms the biofilm, which is formed by the gradual build up of the secreted adhesive mucilage that remains adhered to the substrate.

PhD candidate!

2006-11-01T10:24:00.000+11:00

Browsing through The Age website, looking for recourses for my English classes, I found this little gem. Not suitable for my fourteen-year-olds but hours of entertainment for me in the comments. What is this modern journalism?

2006-10-27T17:29:00.000+10:00

Feeling like a complete fool; it seems I really didn't understand the basic principles of PCR, (you put the forward and reverse primers in the SAME sample mixture) and coupled with a small human error (5 x 5 = 15 of course) it was never going to work.

Yet, I can, with great confidence , say there were no pipetting errors.

Definitely time for a coffee, where is the botany crew? I need you!

2006-10-25T06:20:00.000+10:00

I did this today....
and then I discussed the best way to extract and sequence highly glycosylated extracellular proteins in French!! After taking three English classes. Just the usual 12 hour day.

2006-10-24T06:41:00.000+10:00

"Sometimes I feel I know more than Mum and Dad when they try to give me advice and I have to go, 'Shut up'."

The Age, top quantity journalism.

2006-10-17T07:01:00.000+10:00

and now for something a little bit touristy....

2006-10-15T20:27:00.000+10:00

Connected!
just try going without the internet for a couple of weeks, I wasn't just too busy having fun, I was struggling. Oh what happiness, what joy, what comfort, to have a connection of my very own. I'm back! That said; why is no-one on msn?

The last couple of weeks have been busy busy, organising and working and catching the metro. Generally I forget I'm in Paris, except that the walk to uni is a bit different.

2006-10-15T19:52:00.000+10:00

06.10.06
I got trapped in a café; I went out without my umbrella. Luckily there was a suitably flirty French waiter, cute enough; I may even go back, especially as it’s affordable and just around the corner from my place.

04.10.06
Aaagh the banalities!!! The perfect image of a chic life in a Paris apartment; ruined by a dirty fork. There are always dishes to do.

I admit nothing and deny everything. I went out with English people, wait no, no I didn’t.

03.10.06
An adventure très French
Bonjour, excusez-moi je cherche le préfecture de Paris……. Bonjour, je cherche… oui, pour mon visa,…… le neuvième étage, merci. Bonjour,…je cherche……oui pour mon visa, oui et aussi pour mon carte de séjour,……ah le préfecture de police, ok merci. C’est où, le quatrième arrondissement, rue…, le deuxième à gauche, merci…. Bonjour, je…pour mon visa et mon carte de séjour, … ah oui, pas ici, …le Cité Universitaire, dans le 14eme……oui je comprend, oui d’accord, merci….

À suivre.

29.09.06
Four hours and 20 staircases later my suitcase will never be the same. Gare d’Austerlitz: 2 up, 3 down, 1 up, 1 down; République: 3 up, 2 down; Porte de Bagnolet: 3 up. Here is the key to your room, you’re on the fifth floor. Take the train to station République…
Could someone rub my shoulders and pass me the panadol.

2006-09-30T18:57:00.000+10:00

Now in Paris

Bienvenue, chez moi

the view from my window

I'm only on the fifth floor, to keep me fit.

2006-09-30T18:43:00.000+10:00

Mum, some pictures for you:

Conques

just the same!

Michelle and Pier Paolo's, in the next village from Conques.

Their new land and house..

with Michelle's parents

very beautiful.

2006-09-30T18:35:00.000+10:00

We also went to Italy for a day...

2006-09-30T18:30:00.000+10:00

Mum, did I say fat..? perhpas I was a little unkind.

2006-09-20T20:29:00.000+10:00

I’m indulging in all things French – except dipping my baguette into my bowl of breakfast coffee (yuck) – speaking nothing but, I’m sure, terrible French and misunderstanding most things said to me; my favorite phrase is ‘pardon, répète svp’.

Sospel; some places in France are just so French;

Some village, with my friend's cousin

Eze

French guys being very french over a little french dog

... all things French.

2006-09-20T19:57:00.000+10:00

I spent my three days in Vienna completely vague on too much cough represent ( it seems to repress more than just coughing, I don't think I had two comprehensive thoughts in a row), jetlagged and without sleep, I can't sleep on planes. I think I missed everything you’re meant to do and see in Vienna, I got lost everyday and only found the Mozart Café on the last afternoon. I really don’t speak any German.

St Stephen's Cathedral

for all the scientists: isn't this cell cool!

Outside St Stephen's Cathedral

St Stephen's cathedral

a roof in Viena

a street in Vienna

Les dearest, you're in the wrong country, welcome to glow in the dark packs.

Vienna

2006-09-20T19:50:00.000+10:00

Bonjour tout le monde, I have some photos all prepared on my thumb-drive but I'm using a computer where everything is in French and I can't get it to work. Sorry everyone, you'll have to continue to imagine me looking fabulous, as usual, and add a quant french background.

2006-09-16T21:10:00.000+10:00

...Melbourne,.. Vienna, ..Nice,.. Paris!!

Currently I'm in warm and sunny Nice, when I get a chance I'll post some photos. ;) xoxox

2006-09-12T09:43:00.000+10:00

Au revoir tout le monde, au revoir Australie! Bonjour France!!!

2006-09-11T09:45:00.000+10:00

Buffer zone

What is the blog that you write after a tribute to an Australian idol? How long do I need to wait until it no longer seems crass and unfeeling to move back to talking about my totally thrilling misadventures? It's been almost a week now, and it seems I'm not the only one who hasn't yet posted a thing since. We've had our minute of silence. Besides, I leave tomorrow!!!!! In just a few hours (~48) I'll be in Vienna. So away with feeling sad for our Aussi tragedy. R.I.P Steve Irwin!!

2006-09-05T17:07:00.000+10:00

There are so few genuine people who sincerely care; now there is one less.

2006-08-23T12:22:00.000+10:00

Scientific pursuits

Hey, if you're going to tell me off, do it properly. Non of this, ummmmm, herrmmm, you know, ummmm the other day, hmmm when you used the freeze-drier you, ummmm, didn't re-isolate the other valves. (me: Oh shit, really? I'm really sorry, that totally sucks of me), hmmm yeah, it's just that you have to be ummm, careful when you use it, cos ummm you know, other people ummmm, (me: yes, you're right, fuck, really sorry), ummm, yeah, well just next time ummm (don't squeak darling).

Jesus, girl, (some of you know who I'm talking about), don't be such a pussy, I suck, must've been distracted, late last Thursday afternoon. Tell it to me straight: arrogant self-important anorexic bitch, waltzing through the lab like I own the place, who do I think I am? There are other scientists with deadlines too.

Especially as this is the second time I've fucked up on that thing.

I suck bad-core. But I look good when I do it.

2006-08-11T21:53:00.000+10:00

A happy Mary-Poppins moment

An excellent idea occurred to me this evening. Alone and still tipsy from a glass of house-white on an empty stomach four hours ago, what an excellent time to see if my mentally intended Paris wardrobe will fit in my actual suitcase. C'est seulement un peu plus que quatre semaine jusqu'a je pars a Paris, donc j'ai un peu de raison. I have a certain image of me arriving in France; it involves immaculate clothes, perfect hair, fresh skin and confidence. Maybe I will wear a white dress and heels?

A niggling anxiety has distracted me from important educational pursuits: how many pairs of shoes? My boots - yes, trainers - yes, slip-ons - yes, sandals - yes, heels?? one pair, two? which ones? Is six pairs of shoes excessive? The deciding factor, I wisely decided, would be to see what fitted in my suitcase.

Well, it all fits, six pairs of shoes and room to spare. I might take that extra jacket after all.

But now what? Do I unpack? Do I live out of my suitcase for the next 32 days? Those questions I'm leaving for another day, right now I'm going to take cunt, a celebratory glass of wine and find a more comfortable position.

2006-08-09T22:48:00.000+10:00

I was a victim!

Just recently I discovered a new affliction and then found that I was afflicted by it! Actually it happened the other way round; I noticed some symptoms, then a quick search discovered the disease and fortunately a cure, but with side effects. Now, for all of you who are preparing yourselves for a detailed medical analysis of a bizarre skin rash or something, rest-assured I am speaking of a computer-based reaction. I was a victim of comment spam! I am so naive I really thought someone anonymous was a fan. Although the comments were a bit strange and not quite as if they'd actually read my blog, I suspected an international attention, or someone who's English was just a little bit dodge. My suspicions were aroused when I received seven comments on the one evening, three of which were repeated and two exactly the same. For one day longer I gave anonymous the benefit of the bad English but just super keen doubt. Finally I was convinced when I received six comments inviting me to find more information, just by clicking here.

Outraged I deleted, erased and removed forever all the comments and then activated word verification and blog author approval.

So for you, my dear readers, this slightly annoying side-effect is now in place, I do hope it doesn't decrease comment leaving, for I live for your critiques. To all you nasty anonymous comment spam automated leaving developers: be gone and leave us innocents alone, think of what you're really gambling with.

From this experience I am just a little more educated in the ways of evil swimming the webwaves and a little more bitter.

2006-07-27T22:53:00.000+10:00

I keep checking my own blog to see if I've updated recently, knowing perfectly well I haven't, because I'm so stressed, I don't have a single minute to devote to this, my 2nd favorite pastime. Full updates will be posted post the 14th of August, when hopefully I'll be calm enough to see things in an amusing light, rather than every slight as a personal vendetta by some higher force to destroy me body and mind. Tonight I didn't manage to eat till 10.30pm, at which time I was so starved, my body having gone into catabolism several hours earlier, I inhaled my mashed potatokumeraceleriaccauliflourbrusselsprout and now have indigestion. QED.

2006-07-18T12:08:00.000+10:00

Botany wins

Who would have thought that under the lab-coats were such stylish botanists.

The world cup being over, everything has seemed rather flat, I've searched for meaning in the usual places but not found inspiration. I've thrown myself headfirst into a long and complicated report, attempting to distract myself from my mundane life... to no avail. I briefly broke free from the shackles binding me to my desk, to make a cuppa. While waiting for the kettle to boil I rested my head on the refreshingly cold glass pane over looking the back garden. The sun fleetingly peeped from behind the clouds illuminating the snowdrops that falsely promise an early spring, a bird cheeped. My eyes listlessly wondered and there was my huddle of potted orchids. Braving the biting wind I inspected more closely and found new buds pushing through. My orchids have flourished under totally neglect! Unexpectedly, unpredictably I am infused with a warm glow, enthused. There have been brief moments when I thought competitive sport was in my nature. Botany wins!

2006-07-10T12:38:00.000+10:00

Vivre la Fance

La France est le vrai champion du monde,
Zinedine Zidane est le mieux.

C'est scandaleux comment les Italiens ont gagné! Ils tombent très facilement, sale cafards, ils tous sont menteurs !! Cochons dégoûtant!!!

2006-07-09T23:16:00.000+10:00

One final night, where the sense I so proudly display at my chosen institute of higher learning, leaves the backdoor swinging as it exits in a rapid flurry of soccer final excitement. Another day I may not so casually neglect my sanity and set my alarm for 3am; an hour that will give me plenty of time to dress and wobble down Chapel St on my rusty bike to join the similarly imbalanced Francophiles and actual real French people at Alliance Français. To join a huddle with a café noir and a croissant in front of the big screen behind the library and pretend to know the words to the French national anthem and recognize any players other than Zinedine Zidane. If only because Italy beat Australia… Allez les bleus, vivre la France!!

2006-07-07T20:53:00.000+10:00

Could these be my new heroes? Since Thursday I have learnt to say: allez les bleus. Having exhausted my tears for the loss of Australia from the World Cup and then Brazil, my devotion to the higher god 'soccer' demands that I remain sleepless for one more night. Since I like to cheer for someone... allez les bleus!

2006-07-05T17:47:00.000+10:00

Hmmm interesting...

Sometimes Mum wonders how this happened. Is the phylogeny an environmental response? Could delusions of grandeur lead to over expression of repressed genes? Was it in the country air, something they ate? Too much chicken? Is there a PhD thesis in this? Something more hard-hitting than the extra-cellular polymeric substances of Phaeodactylum tricornutum. They are tall, interesting...

2006-07-03T22:54:00.000+10:00

Ils casseront tes jambes

Have you met my brothers? Ils sont très grands. Faire attention si tu es mon amoureux. Ils casseront tes jambes si tu me fais mal. Not that they're very protective, just as a back-up.

Generally, they're friendly, happy-go-lucky...

this is just a gentle warning.

2006-07-02T21:55:00.000+10:00

When I stepped out of Melbourne Airport, rather worse for wear after traveling from Maryborough at 3am this morning, I was at first numbed by the cold and grey and struggled to face even the concept of uni tomorrow. But after reconnecting with my computer and the heater I am slowly reminded of everything I love about Melbourne. A big thank you to Emma and Les, I have landed with only a minor splat.

2006-06-25T21:07:00.000+10:00

Small milestones

I made a little step, a very small mark on the world today. 150 times has my blog been read!!
Woohoo!! Maybe half of those times have been me, perhaps 45% filled by the botany crew. But I’m sure there’s maybe a 5% other people quotient. I could almost feel like a celebrity but I don’t want to go over board. So as a cautionary measure, to keep my ego in check, I had a quick peek at Emma’s blog counter, 860!!!! Well, I feel smaller. Yet I do like to put things in perspective, and nothing does that better than talking to my dearest Grandmamma.

My dearest Grandmamma has her own small problems, it is only just under a year to her 90th birthday, and as I find turning 25 a bit of a milestone, dearest Grandmamma finds 90 even more daunting. Perhaps people will think that she is OLD, perhaps people will treat her DIFFERENTLY, as if she is SPECIAL, or OLD!!!! Well, I don’t want to seem ageist, or biased, this is my dearest Grandmamma after all. I cast my thoughts back to the last family get-together in Auckland, earlier this year, to peruse the events, to consider – is my dearest Grandmamma old? Hmmm: she cooked for us three times a day; did all the washing and cleaning; drove Mum and I to the mall for a special afternoon; drunk us all under the table while singing all the words to ‘Now is the hour’ , which I slurred on the piano; and still had tips for dressing and deportment.

Some may say my dearest Grandmamma is old, but I say: age is an attitude.

2006-06-20T22:56:00.000+10:00

Paris, Paris, Paris.

Yes I am going to be living in Paris. Yes in Europe, Northern Hemisphere. Yes they do have more ozone layer and it does snow where people live. However, Paris (city of lights and romance) is not that much colder than home-town Melbourne (that's me!bourne). This is what the Lonely Planet guide says:

Midway between Brittany and Alsace – and affected by the climate of both – is the Paris basin. It records France’s lowest annual precipitation (about 575mm), but rainfall patterns are erratic. Paris’ average temperature is 12ºC, but the mercury sometimes drops below zero in January and can climb to the mid-30s or higher in August.

It was 3ºC this morning and there was ice on the car windows. Cold! But please, feel free to join the contest to fill my suitcase with woolen underwear, to save me from otherwise certain death. I am, of course, most happy to accept all donations as gifts for my birthday, as I'm only turning 25 I can't think of anything more appropriate than a pair of fleecy knickerbockers. I am sure that buying such essential garments will not be possible in Paris and, as my Grandma quite rightly says, New Zealand wool is superior.

2006-06-19T13:42:00.000+10:00

Ronaldinho, I would have your babies.

But my eggs are not worthy of your genes.
Your strength, speed and accuracy would only be diluted in my blood.
Today is a day of mourning;
Brazil: 2
Australia: 0

2006-06-14T09:09:00.000+10:00

Hey, I know who I am.
Who the fuck are you?

2006-06-11T21:47:00.000+10:00

Big words go a lacking

Despite many years of tertiary education at a world leading institute of higher learning, being well read and versed in popular and classical fiction, I have an ashamedly small vocabulary. Illustrated, again tonight, by losing scrabble 167 – 295! My meager supply of words oft has me reaching for the ‘shift F7’ keys, but when I play scrabble no such useful short-cuts are available. I become a dyslexic paranoid mess, my spelling disintegrates and any words greater than four letters leaves me gasping and reaching for the dictionary. I felt I had promise with my opening ‘defeat’ this evening, only to be defeated point-blanc with ‘gristly’, scoring a neat 74 points. 50 points down in the first 2 min I collapsed into a quivering nail biting clever-wordless mink, ‘dove’ I counter; zit, keen, raw, food. I am slashed down repeatedly with such superior, high scoring words as: ut, ogres, jape, quest. How can I compete with such word knowledge? I remind myself that I am playing against someone who habitually completes The Age crosswords where I struggle to fill a third, but it does no good, I feel like a postulating buffoon.