j4: (dodecahedron)
j4 ([personal profile] j4) wrote2004-03-23 10:54 am

What I did at the weekend, etc.

Weekend:
Drove down to Haringey for [livejournal.com profile] timeplease's party. The party was excellent -- good food, great beer, and some nailbitingly exciting games of Jenga. :-) The pub is great -- almost makes me wish I lived near enough for it to be my local, but [livejournal.com profile] sion_a has firmly pointed out that it would be impossible for me to live in London.

Got back on Sunday feeling tired and hungover, but still managed to do a bit of vaguely useful pottering around the house -- just clothes-washing and tidying. I can now stand on the floor, on two feet, in my room! Without standing on anything! I have also set aside enormous heaps of clothes to sell/give away, which I will probably post hereabouts at some point.

Not weekend:
Yesterday evening was spent watching Jesus Walkingshaw on University Challenge. I won't spoiler it in case anybody's still got it taped to watch, but it was one of the closest matches I've seen on UC for ages, real edge-of-the-seat stuff.

Work:
Work is still good, I'm slowly starting to get things done. We've started planning the design/structure for this year's Graduate Prospectus -- starting by looking at this year's and seeing what could be improved. (Lots!) The prospectus will be largely 'my' project, which is a bit scary (because it's approx. 700 pages of stuff that's actually Really Important to Real People) but also quite exciting.

And even if I have days when I'm not really making any headway with anything long-term or large-scale, I'm still getting the Reporter and the Bluesheet out every week (though we're about to have a welcome break from the Reporter now full term is coming to an end), and keeping up with the little bits and pieces that come in.

[identity profile] bellinghman.livejournal.com 2004-03-23 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, it was a pretty close match - I don't think I've ever seen such a high score for a losing side.

Mind you, we're rooting for Gonville & Caius with Rosemary Warner.

Why is it that other places field a team for a whole University, whereas Oxford and Cambridge can do one per college? Is this an attempt to make life fairer? One thing that is noticeable is that post-grad/mature student teams do tend to do well.

[identity profile] keirf.livejournal.com 2004-03-23 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
I think Granada contacts all the SU presidents and all the Oxford and Cambridge college JCR presidents inviting them to put together teams to apply for the show. They can actually submit more than one team (when I was at South Bank I think one year three were submitted; none made it through).

[identity profile] bellinghman.livejournal.com 2004-03-23 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, yes. The SU problem, in that Cambridge (and presumably Oxfnord) doesn't really have an SU in the way that most other establishments do.

That would certainly explain it.

[identity profile] hoiho.livejournal.com 2004-03-23 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
Glasgow has two SUs (The GU [men's] and the Queen Margaret [women's]).

I can't remember which of them did the UC thang, though.
taimatsu: (Default)

[personal profile] taimatsu 2004-03-23 10:55 am (UTC)(link)
Well, Oxford *does* have an SU, itjust doesn't have a Central Student Venue. I don't see that it makes a difference when it comes to UC teams.

[identity profile] timeplease.livejournal.com 2004-03-23 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
Being annoyingly pedantic: Harringay. See "The Trouble with Harringay (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A842942)" for an interesting explanation.

[identity profile] j4.livejournal.com 2004-03-23 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
Coo. Complicated! I originally thought it was "Harringay", then I saw "Haringey" on an official-looking building (town hall or summat) on the way back, so I thought that was just how it was spelt, & I'd misremembered (or somebody had misspelled) before. Are they both pronounced the same?

[identity profile] timeplease.livejournal.com 2004-03-23 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, mostly. Some pedants try to make a slight difference, but end up sounding silly.

[identity profile] imc.livejournal.com 2004-03-26 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
Yesterday evening was spent watching Jesus Walkingshaw on University Challenge. I won't spoiler it in case anybody's still got it taped to watch, but it was one of the closest matches I've seen on UC for ages, real edge-of-the-seat stuff.

Bother - missed it, owing to still being in Dulles airport at that time.

[[livejournal.com profile] bellinghman]
Mind you, we're rooting for Gonville & Caius with Rosemary Warner.

Whom I met at an AFP thing in 2000. I wonder if this is the first series of UC in which I've met more than one of the contestants.