Nearly Christmas

It's Christmas Eve Eve and I am at home watching the Toy Story Halloween special  - odd time to put it on TV but cartoons are always good. I have been working quite a lot, today was my day off and then I will be working right through Christmas. But apparently they feed us well and we get time and a half, and days in lieu. It's been nice and sunny here, I got sunburnt on my day off last week and it still hurts. I bought Cher a paddling pool to keep her cool and at first she wouldn't go near it, thought it was some sort of trick. Understandable considering that the day before I had to hose her down after she put her face into a mud puddle. But after throwing her toys into the water for a couple of days she finally got used to the idea of the paddling pool, now she gets in after every walk and splashes around for a bit. I know she's spoiled, but today a dog at the park had a go at her and left her with a bleeding ear so she deserves treats.

Today I spent time cleaning my house so that it's nice for Christmas, and made a cheesecake. Presents arrived from Invercargill and now my little Christmas tree looks very happy. I am supposed to be finishing another academic publication but it's really hard to find time - there are other things that need to be done on my day off, so it will just have be a slow effort. I work on it in my lunchbreaks instead, so that I don't feel like I'm completely neglecting it. If I'm going to do work on my days off I would rather look for jobs. There are a few being advertised at the moment that definitely apply to me, and surely more will come up. It would be good to have a job that makes use of some of my very drawn out tertiary education.

In other news, there was a huge bug in my kitchen the other night. I looked it up later and found out it was a huhu beetle. I thought that might be it, and it came in the open kitchen window on a hot night, because the light was on in the kitchen, so it clearly wasn't going to just go back out again of it's own accord. It was up high so even if I had the courage I couldn't have caught it. I tried turning the light off and shining a torch outside to encourage it out but it just fell down into my dishes. So then I really couldn't deal with it (did I mention that it was really late at night) so I grabbed the fly spray, but it seems so horrible and also, maybe it would have flown towards me. So in the end I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and sucked the poor thing up. It was so big that I felt it go up the tube, which made me scream and drop it. Then I left it running for a few minutes just to be sure, and now the vacuum is sitting in the wash house because I'm wary of emptying the bag just in case.

Trip to UK and leaving Ireland

Let's start with leaving Ireland because that is what is at the top of my mind right now. I am sitting at the gate waiting and I have a terrible headache, perhaps because of several late nights and perhaps because of smelling too many duty free perfumes. I was going to buy alcohol with the last of my euro but luckily the lady at the till informed me that you can't actually take duty-free alcohol through transit in Abu Dhabi because there is an extra security check just before the gate and all alcohol over 100 mL not purchased in their own airport will get confiscated. How rude is that?!?! Isn't that the point of duty free? I was so pissed off. But now I just have a headache which has turned anger into self-pity. At least I got the mascara I wanted.

My trip to the UK was really good. I was only in London for 24 hours, and this is the third time I've been, but this time I was there visiting a friend so it was a completely different sort of trip. There was food and drink, lots of talking, seeing the dinosaur display at the Natural History Museum and then going to the Winter Wonderland Christmas market and eating too much, and going on a ride that featured being strapped into chairs and swung up into the air and hurtling towards the ground upside down really fast. It was terrifying and I screamed a lot. After we had seen the Christmas markets we walked through the city, visited the really big toy store, and some other shops. But I am no longer used to be a tourist so by the end of they day my feet were killing me. I made it to my next train on time and it was time to go to Wales.

My trip to Wales was much quieter, less footing it through a crowded city and more scenic drives, small town shops and really old castles. I bought lots of little things (I did in London too) but I only had my phone camera with me and the weather was foul so the pictures to remember my first visit to Wales aren't great. On my second day there we went to a spa in a hotel and hung out in the steam and sauna rooms, then had facials. It was really good. There was of course also lots of catching up with friends, the type that involves too much food and drink and late nights talking about stuff. Hopefully I am now tired enough to sleep lots on both plane rides.

Pictures are coming, when I'm back home and have better internet. For now I have about 30 hours of travel to get through.

Quick update from Abu Dhabi - the airport here really sucks! It is so crowded, despite being so new it is not big enough for the number of people they try to put through transit. To get through the security check for the terminal there was a huge line, thousands of people. And at first it seemed like there was a huge line for no reason, there was no sign saying why we were queueing, and some people were skipping the queue so I did too, only to find that the traffic jam was due to people being herded into the security check area and there were guards at the barriers. But I didn't want to go back so I waited till they weren't looking and ducked under a barrier. Luckily I didn't get caught. Going through the security check was easy and fast, didn't even have to take out my laptop or the perfume I'd bought - but just because that got through, it was probably still wise to not chance it with a bottle of booze. That probably would have been stopped. And the only reason they don't let you have it? So you shop at their shops instead, they sell just as much booze as everywhere else. After security it was still crowded, until I made it through duty free and got to the gate. Which isn't open yet and there is nowhere to sit until it is open. Plus people are lining up already. It's all just so stupid, and I am so tired. I hope this next flight is not awful.

Leaving Ireland

I'm in Dublin airport with 20 minutes to wait until I go to my boarding gate. The last week has been mostly uneventful, except for the fact that I finished my thesis corrections, got my thesis re-printed and properly bound and handed in for the final time. Here's the proof:

I spent the rest of my time trying to spend time with my friends and trying to buy good presents for my dog-sitters. I also watched quite a lot of tv, read a book (The Book Thief) and wandered around Galway for the last time. By the time my next trip to Europe finally rolls around it's unlikely that any of my friends will still be in Galway, so it will be new destinations for me. Though if it were summer and warm I would consider a brief visit.

Now I am at the airport, eating soup for lunch because airport food is so pricey that I couldn't find anything else to match the amount of euro left in my purse. It's not good soup either, it's carrot and orange, and far too orangey. I will have to make up for it by finding something good to eat when I get to London. Hopefully we will find fun things to do to fill in my 24 hours in London, then it is off to Wales, where I have never been before. I will make sure to find some interesting stories to tell, but for right now I need to finish my lunch, go to my gate, and try to fit my laptop and handbag into my small suitcase, because the budget airline here will only let you take on a single item - even though it's the same weight of stuff on the plane and you keep your handbag under your seat and not in the luggage compartments. Once I was holding my book because I had been reading while I waited, and would be reading again when I sat down, and they made me stuff it into my bag, even though I took it straight back out when I got on the plan! What futile bureaucracy is that?!

Anyway, here is a final glimpse of the Claddagh in Galway city, cloudy and grey as usual.

Introducing Dr Jaimie

This morning was my Viva Voce. I had to nervously defend my thesis for three hours, and despite knowing that it was certain to pass, it was still scary. They asked me unexpected questions, some of which I probably messed up. They did not focus on the places that I thought were weak, but found other new ones instead. At the end they simply tell you that you have been awarded a pass and basically now have your PhD, which is a bit of anticlimax after all those years. I have a few small corrections to make, which I hope to complete in a day, then I need to get it signed off on, print it and hand it in to the university. Finally, in a month or so I will be posted the big certificate itself and I will frame it and put it on my wall. I will probably never look inside my thesis again after it is printed. And that's it, the end of four years.

For the rest of the week I will focus on fixing the few mistakes that the examiners asked to be corrected and then getting the thesis printed and bound. I would quite like to see it bound before I go, take a photo maybe, so that I have proper closure. When I go home I will still have more papers to try and publish but the worst of everything is over. Now the next big step is to find a real job, the sort that uses my brain and knowledge a bit more. But I have time for that, things will move forward eventually. Hopefully before my money runs out though. And despite being on a budget I am turning the last of my trip into a holiday and going over to the UK - luckily that was the plan already because with so few corrections I will have nothing else to do here. It is Tuesday afternoon here so I will be back in Wellington in just under two weeks, ready to get straight back into work so that I don't go bankrupt, and also ready to enjoy some proper sunshine and warm weather, because today it is icy cold here in Galway!

Back in Galway

In all the ways that count, Galway has not changed at all. It is still cold, grey and wet. It is not even 4 pm and the light is already going, and I am bulked up in layers of clothes. However, it is not as bad as it was when I lived here, so I guess the world just saved the out-of-the-ordinary extremely cold winters for me and then stopped all that nonsense when I left. In Wellington it is mostly sunny and the temperatures are getting higher, but I am missing out. I'm also somewhat bored here, as I still have four days until my viva and I'm not really sure what to do to prepare. It is odd being a student again, sitting around reading things and working on my computer doesn't really feel like work anymore. Back home my flat is probably just fine but my garden might be dying of thirst as it doesn't really get much rain. Cher is at a kennel, a good fancy one out of town, and tomorrow she will be picked up by my brother and hopefully the shared-care plan I made works out otherwise certain dog-sitters will end up rather unhappy. And I hope that someone takes photos to send back to me so that I can stop worrying that she is depressed and pining away.

The problem with being bored in Galway is that I'm quite tempted to go shopping and buy things even though I know I need to be on a budget. I have already started, because I was cold and things were on sale, so I bought a fluffy Christmas jumper and a warm hat with a ridiculously large pom-pom. But I'm so tempted to go out and find another pair of the boots that I used to love before Cher ate them, and to stock up on clothing brands that I know we don't have at home. Plus I like to have lots of choices in what to wear in the morning, and while I think I packed far too many warm jumpers, I definitely didn't pack enough winter dresses/skirts. Plus I need to buy people presents of course, especially those people helping out with Cher. This trip is definitely going to be dangerous for my bank account. To add to all of that, I'm spending the last few days of my trip in the UK, visiting a friend in London first and then another in Wales. In London we might go see a show, and maybe we will go shopping (because I seem to have a bit of a buying-things problem). In Wales I don't know what we'll do but I'm sure it will be fun. Plus I have never been to Wales before so I'll get to see new places.

But for now I will find some way to spend the rest of the afternoon, as I think I have run out of proper focus and motivation for the day. I'm back in my old office, in my old building, and it is very odd to be here.

Back to Ireland

I leave for Ireland very early Friday morning and the flight is going to be long. I haven't packed yet, I am putting it off just like I have put the whole thing off. I haven't looked at my thesis since I handed it in, and I haven't begun working on the manuscript for the next paper that we are intending to publish. That part is definitely a problem considering that it is supposed to be submitted before my exam on the 19th. The exam is also a pretty big problem, considering that I have no idea if I'm ready for it or not. At least I finally organised what to do with Cher - she will go into a boarding kennel for some of the time, but it is a good one, and she will be looked after by friends for the rest of the time. All in all I will be away for 25 days. I only hope that work stuff isn't too horrible so that I can enjoy seeing my friends that I haven't seen for a year. I even plan on going over to Wales for the first time ever. And doing some shopping to stock up on my favourite brands.

Luckily, I managed to arrange my trip to occur after my birthday. Despite all the stress of having to go back and finish my PhD, I managed to have a good birthday, there was pizza, there was cake (really delicious cake) and there were fireworks. Not really big ones, because they postponed the proper city fireworks till the weekend when I will be gone. So a box of fireworks from the Warehouse, though if I had gone later in the day it probably would have been cheaper, and it was actually the first time I've had home fireworks in years and years, so they seemed pretty good. And that was it, nothing major, another birthday, and luckily it was yesterday and not today because today is horrible, it is so wet and cold that I didn't even take the poor dog for a second walk, and looking out my window earlier I couldn't actually see anything because the clouds were so low around the hill that I live on.

Anyway, I really should make an effort to start packing, so time to go now, and leave you with a picture of a duck waiting patiently at the lights to cross the road:

Life is hectic

Today I am mostly relaxing away my day off, yet it can't be entirely relaxed because I have a lot to do before going to Ireland in two weeks. Yep, two weeks, how sudden is that? The tickets are booked, over 30 hours each way, then I have just over a week after I arrive to get prepared before my exam. That's actually a good thing because I don't have time to prepare before I go. I have to finish my publishing diploma module before I go, which is what I need to do on my days off this week, and my supervisor thinks we can publish another paper before the exam. Which is crazy, especially the idea that I get the draft to her as soon as possible. I work almost full time, I can't just churn out an academic paper in two weeks on top of that. I also need to organise with my friends over there who I am going to stay with, I need to organise with friends here who can look after Cher, and I need to make sure that there will be enough money in my bank account to cover the bills while I am gone and not working, and cover my spending while in Ireland. It's going to be rough. So to add to all that my washing machine broke and I'm about to buy another one. I wanted to get a new one anyway, but I was thinking in about a year, not immediately. I thought my secondhand one would do for a year because they usually do. Perhaps we got unlucky or perhaps we somehow treated it bad? Anyway, luckily it's labour weekend and there are big sales. I will buy it from Harvey Norman because the guy there does a really good job of selling things to me - even has me half convinced to spend way over my budget in order to get a front-loader. I shouldn't though, nothing wrong with a top-loader. Even then I will have to put it on my credit card and just figure it out later; I can't spend my actual money on it just in case the trip to Ireland really screws my finances up. So, long story short, as you can see life is pretty crazy right now.

On a different note, just quickly before I get up and go knock on my neighbour's door to get my washing because she has been so kind as to let me use her machine (lucky that because I just ran out of clean socks), I will tell a Cher story. Yesterday evening I took her for a walk and the weather had improved to become a nice day so we were having a nice walk, except right at the end on the way home we came across another dog which turned out to not be so nice. I put Cher on the leash and I asked the guy with the other dog if it was friendly and he didn't say no and pull it away, so I was pretty shocked when it attacked my poor dog and took a chunk of fur off her back. Perhaps it wasn't his dog or something, but he should have known that the dog he was walking was reactive like that. Poor Cher yelped and cried and then jumped all over me to make herself feel better. Then today we came across another unknown dog and instead of wanting to meet it properly she was quite reserved, so she must remember getting a scare yesterday. She's fine of course, but it wasn't a very nice way to end our walk. At least the start of the walk was good, Cher even found half a tree to drag around: