Since no-one else ever posts anything...
...I'm just going to go right ahead, as usual. Especially because I have some urgent phonology homework to do. My work is spiralling out of control so rapidly that sometimes it's all I can do to suppress my screams of terror. So in the meantime, here follows an excruciatingly-detailed rundown of my weekend.
What can I tell you? Spent Friday standing on a street corner trying to get passing Brits to sign petitions to lobby parliament for improved anti-retroviral access. Newsflash: the poms don't give a flying fuckeroony about Aids. And generally, the only people willing to stop and listen to your shpiel are homeless loons. Oh well. A signature's a signature. And it felt great to be back in the activism saddle.
Friday night was our college guest dinner, to which you invite friends, and then dine in Harry Potter-esque splendour. Bec came, and Seth bussed in from London. My lowest point of the evening: Bec and I get inroduced to this American astrophysicist. Clearly, I have nothing to say to her. The conversation goes as follows:
Her: Oh my god, it's just so great that you guys are both called Rebecca! It makes it so easy!
Us: Yes.
*deafening silence while we all stare at each other*
Me: [in total desperation] So, do you find that you meet a lot of other people called Lydia?
Her: [icily] My name is *Lindsay*.
Me: [total panic] Oh ja ja, I know that! I'm just asking, you know, out of interest! Lydia isn't a very common name! I study names!
It went downhill from there.
Saturday night was the occasion of the 'Hallowqueen' bop, which sounds promisingly gay, but is actually just an excuse for straight guys to wear a dress, because you know they just can't get enough of that shit. Simone came down for the evening, and we had decided in advance that we would go as mummies. (After I rejected Sim's first idea, which was to tie dolls to our asses and go as 'babysitters'. Oy vey.) When it came to the crunch, though, and Bec saw how totally ridiculous and skanky Sim and I looked wrapped in bandages and nothing else in hypothermic conditions, she 'drew the pretty line' and went as a man instead. Just for the record, though, the mummy costumes were bitchin'. In a last minute genius amendment, we wrote 'thank you', 'a million thanks', and 'i owe my life to you' all over them and went as -ta-dah! - the Grateful Dead. Genius, I tell you. Genius.
Sunday (aren't you glad we're almost through?) was pretty uneventful. I saw Borat: The Movie, which was so pantie-irrigatingly funny that I struggle to describe it. (Just WAIT till you see the scene featuring 'The Running of the Jew'. And is there anything on earth funnier than some good clean gypsy jokes?) After which, we attended the South African dicussion group, which happens every Sunday evening, where a motley assortment of South African students at Oxford meet up in a pub and someone leads a discussion on a relevant South African issue. It's a sweet idea. This week's topic was 'same-sex marriage'. Interesting. Some super-religious folks who you could see were struggling to stay vaguely liberal-sounding, and some total jocks (Sample quote: 'Hey okes, did you know that some female dolphins use each other's flippers as dildos?'). It felt just like home.
I do hope you guys have an excellent week. I'm going to at least *attempt* to start this homework. Keep your chins up in the madness of exams, farewells, etc.
Love you lots, and so excited to note that 'll be home in almost exactly a month!
0 comments 2:03 PM Bec