The Continuing Tentacular Debauch of Nom

Hauling my PC out into the open and listening for where the Horrible Grinding Noise is coming from has revealed that the power supply fan has not long to live. Here's hoping that it doesn't fry the motherboard when it finally succumbs.

New beetle was intended to be Halloween-themed, though the Other Half proclaimed it "Christmassy". I'm not entirely sure that it's finished yet: it looks rather like it's marooned above a snow-field at present. Mr Green is from last week, more proof that I still suck at colour.



Today is going to be trying to finish inputting this week's batch of psychology scripts, backing up my thesis (again) and breaking the news to Mr Wide that we will not be putting in an offer on the house we've been viewing exhaustively on the grounds that it appears to be about to down itself (+/- weedy trophies) in the weeping brook at the bottom of the garden.

Ho hum.

Lino-cutting = blisters. I think I need to modify my technique *fnar*.



Think it might need to be cut deeper, but I guess I should be able to tell more clearly when it's inked.

Tomorrow is William Harvey Day (journal entries passim): that annual celebration of all things Barts and The London SMD. We shall present posters*, we shall listen to the Schorstein Lecture (Fergus Walsh this year I think), we shall mock the academic procession, sing lustily** to celebrate St Luke's Tide at Bart's the Great, blub a bit when they lay the rose on Rahere's tomb, then proceed to the Haberdasher's Hall where we shall over-indulge in everything. And it will Be Good, as always.

*I've done mine ages back, but I had a mail from my student this morning telling me that he was afraid that his will be "a surprise" as he is still "putting the finishing touches to it". ARGH SURGEONS.

** Warden's orders, else no dinner. Remember, Sir Nick is watching YOU.

...and the entire house is beseiged by Harlequin ladybirds, which are bouncing off the windows and patio doors like a Liliputian version of The Birds. Cluster A in the spare room has now reached epic proportions (up from 17 last night to 37 now) and more are swarming in...

Maybe they are on the internets and have got wind of my beetle-loving ways? This might be the last beetle-related update for a while...




EDIT: 17:51: Pile now up to 45, with another 10-15 elsewhere on the ceiling...

Finally finished the original sketch.



Trying to track down a cheap copy of The Kalevala on the recommendation of a Finnish friend of mine. Not sure whether a translation in the original sung rhythm would annoy me too much, given the loathing of Longfellow instilled in me at secondary school. I guess it is half the point. Anyone read it?

I seem to have stalled on the thesis again. Did 18 pages of methods on the second chapter yesterday, which is good progress. Did 2 hours of data input this morning, but ground to a halt around lunchtime. Annoyed with yesterday's beetle... it just wouldn't go right. Today's is better, even though it is a terrible, unforgivable pun.


That's it, time to give myself a mighty kick up the rear.

Am now officially fed up with academia and trying to find a job therein. Have handed in first chapter, it bounced back instantly for me to make into a paper. Whilst this is a Good Idea and very flattering and all, I do kinda wonder how in hell I am supposed to write another 4 thesis chapters and this paper before the end of December... and that would still be cutting it extremely fine for a graduate-by-Feb-or-else deadline. Today's beetle in honour of hobbit_dave re-reading Uzumaki and the fact that I am going in ever-decreasing circles.



Am probably going to apply for a bunch of jobs back in Histology. At least I'm qualified for pretty much top level now and should get paid pretty well. I quit in the first place on the grounds that Clinical Scientist grade is just never gonna happen outside of Haematol/Micro/Cytology as the consultants are never gonna give an inch to anything that means they might lose income from their private work. Am going to apply for a couple of jobs in London tomorrow.

Have also started viewing houses to buy (well, the other half, obviously). Wonder if it's even worth writing up the rest of the thesis if I'm not going to work in academia? Papers I think would still be good, but the actual PhD? Still not so sure. Maybe if Clinical Scientist EVER came to pass in Histo, being a Dr of pathology would help. Hrm.

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for mount cutting equipment? Seems to me you can pay anything from £15-£300 and no idea what is just useless and what is pro quality. Wanna matt my beetles.

I've acquired a paying job on a very ad hoc basis, doing data entry for a clinical trial so at least I shan't starve in the immediate future. Also I now have a more-or-less working copy of EndNote that doesn't need to connect (HA!) to the web every time I want to use it. Today's beetle is in a particularly flippant vein, to reflect my celebratish mood.



Oh, I joined DeviantArt too, in a spirit of experimentation, but it has the most retarded search function I've ever seen. That or I am just Too Old To Use The Internet. Which is possible. Anyone have a better clue than me? Also is it *really* 90% furry pr0n and bad fan art or am I looking at it wrong?

If yesterday was Blue Monday, then today is Thesis-less Tuesday. After another night of almost no sleep, I tried in vain to sleep this morning instead. Although that's not strictly the case; more that I tried to wake up and failed to do so convincingly so just lay there hoping for unconsciousness to supervene for the entire morning. To stave off potentially impending depression, which I simply do not have time for, I took the opportunity of a head too muzzy to read and got going with my first beetle commission. This one was for a guitarist, can you tell?



This time: watercolour pencil, opaque and metallic inks, collage. I like the velvety texture from the pencil, makes the collage blend in a lot more.

At least it's sunny out now, what a difference that makes! :D

Today I finally started writing the first discussion section of my thesis. This is a relief like you wouldn't believe! Finally all the data wrangled, analysed and correctly presented for half of my project! Now I can start to speculate wildly about its significance. My supervisor tells me that the commonest error in PhDs is to over-analyse data. I can absolutely see why... faced with data that you've ate, slept and breathed for the best part of a year, failing to make any connections with anything else or for it to be trivial is just unthinkable. Must... take... care... must... add... caveats...

In other news, I've invented another beetle:



This one is an ungodly hybrid between an Egyptian dung beetle and a Floridian orb-web spider. He cute! hobbit_dave thinks that I should mount them and flog them on Etsy. I have quite the collection now, and prints sell for around $30 and originals for much more... and MAN am I broke. I've tried to get a part-time job this week, but short of escorts and care assistants, there is sod all around. Even Ikea aren't hiring, Goddamn them.

Also, anyone out there alive? You're darned quiet these days...

...but at least this one matches my journal theme!