and another one
Nov. 30th, 2009 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaJust when I thought that I was done with the question meme (and after I'd resisted the temptation to ask for more questions from some of the newer players), I got a few from from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
callistotoni
1) Are you still doing massage therapy?
I did the occasional massage while in Tasmania, but didn’t have the time to seek out a client base, so it was mostly done in trade for voice lessons the first couple of years, and then in trade for massage the second couple, with only rare cash-clients. I haven’t had a chance since moving, since my things only caught up with me a few weeks back. Now that everything is unpacked it might be possible to set the table up—the living room looks like it will be *just* big enough, but I haven’t had time to try yet, and will be out of town for most of December and the first part of January, so it isn’t looking likely that I’ll find out anytime soon. But if you want to come to Milan for a Massage, I’m good with that. ;-)
(or if you want one while I’m in California, it could be doable, but, obviously, I won’t have my table with me)
2) What is it that drew you to geology?
I’ve written about this one before, but the short answer is “I love mountains, and didn’t want a job”.
3) Are you speaking more English or Italian these days?
Are you kidding? I know only a few words in Italian, and rarely have occasion to use them. All of my colleagues are fluent in English, and work conversations with them are always in English. I occasionally hear some of them speaking amongst themselves in Italian, and have finally gotten to the point where I can tell where one word ends and the next begins. It would have helped if the Italian Language class had been available in July/August, when I had oodles of free time, rather than starting in mid-September, when, it turns out I had no time to spare for it, and kept getting scheduled to do stuff on the microprobe during class time.
4) Where do you see yourself being five years from now and what will you be doing?
On earth! Scandinavia would be nice, if I can manage it—all the advantages of Alaska, combined with all the advantages of Europe. However, five years from now is likely to be two moves from now, so it could be anywhere, really. My contract here runs to Dec 2010. If I do another post-doc position (likely) they tend to run for 1 to 3 year contracts, which means that in five years I’ll have either started my third post-doc or made the transition into a more permanent academic position, or, perhaps, found something else to do all together.
5) What's your best Travel Survival tip?
Do at least 20 minutes of yoga/stretching shortly before boarding the plane (or getting into a car/bus/train). If it is a long trip, get up at least once during the trip and do more yoga/stretching (the wide part of a plane by the exits is large enough, or bring a rug to put on the grass of a rest area).
Always bring a craft project (hand-sewing, knitting, nålbinding, whatever you can work on in a moving vehicle).
Always bring a book.
Always bring your own food, so that you are guaranteed to eat something you like (or is within your current food restrictions). I’m fond of hais as a ready-to-eat food which travels well, but I tend to use fewer breadcrumbs and more nuts than the original. I often also add other dried fruit to the mix, and I never roll them in sugar.
In other news I'm still not happy with my data processing, or rather, the quality of the data I've got to process, and so haven't got my poster finished. This is starting to get worrisome, since I leave Wednesday morning *early* for Stockholm, and while I'll bring my computer, I do know that I won't be putting in as many hours of work while traveling as I do at home. I'll be back on Sunday, and that will give me four days of work (one of which is my birthday) before I fly to California, where I will need the poster.
This evening instead of working extra hours (shame on me), I accomplished a minor project. Some of you might remember photos I posted about a year ago of a Sassafras stylus I'd made for a wax tablet of mine. For most of the past year it has been very handy to have the tablet and stylus to jot down notes of my start and stop time. Alas, early this month I managed to lose the stylus, so I've been reduced to writing on scraps of paper again. When I unpacked my boxes I noticed that in amongst the small bits of potentially useful wood was the handle broken off of a wooden butter knife I once made. Out of the exact same piece of wood from which I made the tablet. The broken bit happened to be about the same lenght as the tablet, and tapered to a sharp point. It took me less than 5 minutes to sand the broken edge smooth and have a functional stylus which also has a flat bit for smoothing out the wax again. But then I needed a way to carry it--that point is so delicate that it would easily break if I just shoved it into my pocket as is (to say nothing of the potential for getting stabbed!). So I grabbed a bit of scrap fabric and started stitching. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I would have liked to have put it down after the first hour of stitching, but realized that if I did it would be added to the UFO* pile and probably never be done, so I stuck it out, and in only just over 2.5 hours was completely done.
I'm quite happy with how they came out, and like the way the stylus fits into its own little pocket with no danger of falling out and getting separated from the set.
callistotoni1) Are you still doing massage therapy?
I did the occasional massage while in Tasmania, but didn’t have the time to seek out a client base, so it was mostly done in trade for voice lessons the first couple of years, and then in trade for massage the second couple, with only rare cash-clients. I haven’t had a chance since moving, since my things only caught up with me a few weeks back. Now that everything is unpacked it might be possible to set the table up—the living room looks like it will be *just* big enough, but I haven’t had time to try yet, and will be out of town for most of December and the first part of January, so it isn’t looking likely that I’ll find out anytime soon. But if you want to come to Milan for a Massage, I’m good with that. ;-)
(or if you want one while I’m in California, it could be doable, but, obviously, I won’t have my table with me)
2) What is it that drew you to geology?
I’ve written about this one before, but the short answer is “I love mountains, and didn’t want a job”.
3) Are you speaking more English or Italian these days?
Are you kidding? I know only a few words in Italian, and rarely have occasion to use them. All of my colleagues are fluent in English, and work conversations with them are always in English. I occasionally hear some of them speaking amongst themselves in Italian, and have finally gotten to the point where I can tell where one word ends and the next begins. It would have helped if the Italian Language class had been available in July/August, when I had oodles of free time, rather than starting in mid-September, when, it turns out I had no time to spare for it, and kept getting scheduled to do stuff on the microprobe during class time.
4) Where do you see yourself being five years from now and what will you be doing?
On earth! Scandinavia would be nice, if I can manage it—all the advantages of Alaska, combined with all the advantages of Europe. However, five years from now is likely to be two moves from now, so it could be anywhere, really. My contract here runs to Dec 2010. If I do another post-doc position (likely) they tend to run for 1 to 3 year contracts, which means that in five years I’ll have either started my third post-doc or made the transition into a more permanent academic position, or, perhaps, found something else to do all together.
5) What's your best Travel Survival tip?
Do at least 20 minutes of yoga/stretching shortly before boarding the plane (or getting into a car/bus/train). If it is a long trip, get up at least once during the trip and do more yoga/stretching (the wide part of a plane by the exits is large enough, or bring a rug to put on the grass of a rest area).
Always bring a craft project (hand-sewing, knitting, nålbinding, whatever you can work on in a moving vehicle).
Always bring a book.
Always bring your own food, so that you are guaranteed to eat something you like (or is within your current food restrictions). I’m fond of hais as a ready-to-eat food which travels well, but I tend to use fewer breadcrumbs and more nuts than the original. I often also add other dried fruit to the mix, and I never roll them in sugar.
In other news I'm still not happy with my data processing, or rather, the quality of the data I've got to process, and so haven't got my poster finished. This is starting to get worrisome, since I leave Wednesday morning *early* for Stockholm, and while I'll bring my computer, I do know that I won't be putting in as many hours of work while traveling as I do at home. I'll be back on Sunday, and that will give me four days of work (one of which is my birthday) before I fly to California, where I will need the poster.
This evening instead of working extra hours (shame on me), I accomplished a minor project. Some of you might remember photos I posted about a year ago of a Sassafras stylus I'd made for a wax tablet of mine. For most of the past year it has been very handy to have the tablet and stylus to jot down notes of my start and stop time. Alas, early this month I managed to lose the stylus, so I've been reduced to writing on scraps of paper again. When I unpacked my boxes I noticed that in amongst the small bits of potentially useful wood was the handle broken off of a wooden butter knife I once made. Out of the exact same piece of wood from which I made the tablet. The broken bit happened to be about the same lenght as the tablet, and tapered to a sharp point. It took me less than 5 minutes to sand the broken edge smooth and have a functional stylus which also has a flat bit for smoothing out the wax again. But then I needed a way to carry it--that point is so delicate that it would easily break if I just shoved it into my pocket as is (to say nothing of the potential for getting stabbed!). So I grabbed a bit of scrap fabric and started stitching. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I would have liked to have put it down after the first hour of stitching, but realized that if I did it would be added to the UFO* pile and probably never be done, so I stuck it out, and in only just over 2.5 hours was completely done.
I'm quite happy with how they came out, and like the way the stylus fits into its own little pocket with no danger of falling out and getting separated from the set.
