Sultans of Swing

I'm glad that this week, one of the busiest I've had in months, is drawing to a close. The meeting with my supervisors on Wednesday went very well and saw much inspiring discussion about where to go with my research. Yesterday's symposium was a resounding success. So tonight I shall stay in with Kat and watch Batman Begins on DVD, an early birthday present. Tomorrow will be grocery shopping, working on my thesis, and a shift behind the concession stand at the Hyde Park Picture House (whose website has curiously been down for a few days now). Sunday Kat and I are going down to London to catch an exhibit, Gothic Nightmares, at the Tate Britain, and an early birthday dinner for me at Yo! Sushi, both of which I'm very much looking forward to. Our return train will be arriving in Leeds at 2am Sunday night/Monday morning. Fortunately, Monday is a bank holiday, so we can sleep in.

Ramble On

So I thought I'd share what passes for humor among post-graduate students in medieval studies. In the UK, Easter Break lasts for one month, and we get no other holidays during term time. Over break, my classmate, Zsuzsa, went back home to Hungary. She left some of her library books here in Leeds, in the post-graduate shared office, AKA the Le Patourel Room. While in Hungrary she received an email notice from the Brotherton Library stating that one of her books was due back soon:

Brotherton Library
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
0113 343 5663
20-04-06

Medieval Studies FT
Zsuzsa
INSTITUTE FOR MEDIEVAL STUDIES

Dear Library member,
Another customer has requested this item. Please return
by the due date below. The item is not eligible for renewal.
A fine will be payable if it is not returned by this date.
Thank you.

Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig,
The king's two bodies : a study in
CALL NO: Philosophy M-4.2 KAN
BARCODE: 30106000745306
Brotherton Main level DUE: 26-04-06
DATE CHECKED OUT: 07-02-06 05:41PM

8:59

Zsuzsa's solution to returning the book in Leeds while still in Budapest was to email the following message to all other post-graduates in the Institute for Medieval Studies:

Congratulations!
You won!

Participating in the 'Work for Zsuzsa' communal programme you are eligible for the amazing new challenge: The Great Dungeon Experience!

Grab Ernst Kantorowicz and you might be the lucky runner-up for the next round!

All you have to do is find him on the top shelf in LePat and dunk the King's Two Bodies in the gaping orifice of the Great Hall of Brotherton.

Enter our amazing medieval-themed sweepstake by collecting the most dragon-points and gremlin powerscores!

Who knows? You may be the next winner who will have the opportunity to spend an entertaining night out with Leeds's only Hungarian celebrity!

Unbelievable!

You may even be eligible to enter the bonus mega-challenge and end up paying for the superstar's snakebites* too!

Don't miss it! The chance of a lifetime!

To enter the sweepstake report on your successful mission to our headquarters in Budapest.

Many thanks for participating.

To all those not wishing to be involved in the project: sorry for spamming.

The Zsuzsa

*A snakebite is a type of alcoholic beverage, consisting of blackcurrent juice and cider.

Communication Breakdown

So, I had a presentation yesterday evening that didn't go as well as it could have. Just as I began to talk I became very nervous, and consequently abandoned the sequence of my speech. I managed to recover after a couple of minutes, and apparantly aside from the shaky start, the paper was well received. I think the pretty PowerPoint slides I used impressed them. However, I'm a little ashamed about having been so nervous. After all, I presented a paper for a conference at King's College London last month, and I wasn't nervous about that at all, even though that was a more intimidating venue. Ultimately, I just wasn't as fully prepared as I could have been. That will not be the case for the conference in Iceland. The conference organiser requires all papers to be submitted beforehand. So, I've got to finish writing my paper, the travel grant application, the book review, and the other paper I owe to that editor.

Valhalla I am coming

I'm going to Iceland! I found a travel grant that I am eligible for, and really cheap tickets at Icelandexpress.com. So I purchased the tickets, and hopefully I will get the travel grant. The grant is from the Royal Historical Society, and the deadline is May 8th. It was difficult finding a travel grant for which I am eligible. Many funding bodies only give you grants if you already have a PhD. Also, being an American studying in the UK limits my eligibility. Now all I have to do is renew my passport and transfer my visa.

From Roman Provinces to Barbarian Kingdoms

Although it is mid-April the mercury in the thermometer is still hovering just above freezing. We had a brief warm spell last week but now it's back to miserable.
I went to the train station this morning to get tickets to Liverpool for Friday. The university is shut for Easter, so Kat and I are taking a day trip. We'll be going to the Lady Lever Art Gallery, which has many pre-Raphaelite works of art. That evening we'll be taking a ghost walk tour of the city, run by a company called Shiverpool. Maybe we'll see the grave of Eleanor Rigby. Kat and I have been on many haunted history tours in a few cities, including London, Dublin, Edinburgh, New Orleans...and others that escape me at the moment.
I got a surprise in my inbox this morning. A couple of months ago I read about a conference this summer in Iceland on saints and geography, which is closely related to my thesis. I emailed the organiser and asked about the cost and whether or not any travel grants were available. The organiser emailed me back with more details and asked how it related to what I was doing. Being in Iceland, the costs were a little high, but the papers being presented had a technologoical focus, discussing the use of databases, something that is very relevant to my current work. So I wrote back explaining what my thesis is and what I'm working on. The organiser replied and asked if I could give a paper. I explained that I would love to attend and present a paper, but only if I managed to get some sort of travel grant, because I am poor as dirt. I didn't hear anything after that for some time, until this morning a mass email about the conference appears in my inbox. It includes more conference information about travel and accomodation, and the conference schedule. Listed among the speakers giving papers is me! I guess I was accepted, and I think I should start looking for travel grants. The good news is if I go, I can recycle the paper I plan to present to the University of Leeds Medieval Group in two weeks. But I still have a book review to write and work to submit to my supervisors. Oh, and I just rememberd that other paper I owe to an editor.

After Rome

ho hum. I'm meant to be working on my thesis, but the temptation of the internet is too strong a distraction. I've got too much work to do: a book review, a presentation in two weeks, a database to build, a supervisors meeting quickly approaching, travel grants to find, and Guildor to frame for it.
Kat, my wife, and I saw The Princess Bride on the big screen last night, as part of a kids film festival. I don't know but I don't think I saw it when it originally ran in cinemas. Also saw The PianoTuner of Earthquakes. Very strange, like David Lynch meets Jan Svankmajer.
Saturday saw a great live show at the Royal Park Pub, with Frances Rodgers and Curtis Eller, both fantastic musicians.