British Student .ca

Last Wednesday was eventful, being a lecturer, using my medical cover/insurance, some geography fun, and ending the night with some chain metal dancing girls.

I’ve mentioned that in my geography GIS class we’ve been ending the year on OpenStreetMap and Neogeography. My lecturer has become aware that I’m really obsessed with OpenStreetMap and so asked me the take half of the Wednesday lecture showing my stuff. I showed how to edit OSM and why it’s cool and got a little bit of feedback on how it went. There are mixed opinions on if I was too complicated or not, but it seems it was interesting either way and hopefully my passion came out.

From about Monday night my little finger had been a bit swollen. After the lecture I took of a plaster that I slept with to at least keep it clean and it looked like it might explode with puss. So I went to the pharmacist in the village to ask what cream I should put on it. He said it had got to the point I needed to see a doctor for antibiotics. So I went above Staples stationary shop to a walk in medical clinic. I never wanted to be in medical trouble abroad, but at least I now have my (required) medical insurance paid to date I just had to show my Care Card and not worry about it. The doctor stabbed my finger and pushed the goo out. A little bit of squirming (I would have been fine doing it myself) and a plaster, then I was on my way. He didn’t even give my jip for biting my hang nails. When I got back to my room, Steph was there to be house mum and hug it better.

Later that day I was lying on my bed thinking I should go out and enjoy the sun and grass in some summery way. Oh, it was the GSA(Geography Students’ Association) last Bzzr Garden and BBQ. I went to that, the burgers were delicious, as was the beer. Chatting to folks was fun (you could call it networking practice), and OpenStreetMap is really known these days. I even spoke to someone in my class who said she did an assignment on my Living With Dragons blog, apparently it’s the top search result for GIS neogeography blog or some set of terms.

Later that evening I went downtown to The Media Club for the CD release of Scythia. They had a cage with some dancing ladies wearing (not much) chain metal, but more importantly the music was great and a good end to the day. Me and my sensitive injured finger decided to avoid the mosh pit, despite one guy repeatedly trying to get me to start it with him. I’ve done enough anger-release moshing in my younger years.

It’s been a tough week. My computer decided to become unusable, my bicycle got a puncture (I now have that fixed), and my websites went down for a bit. Although extremely unhelpful, it’s probably a good detox not having a computer, and I always think it’s important to spend time away from it. I’ve been extremely bored in the evenings, so I created a list of things to do without a computer.

• Watch TV
• Go cycling and map surveying
• Go to Brooks Bar, and chat to someone I know
• Cook biscuits, cakes, or marmite cheese pastries
• Sleep
• Tidy my room
• Make a den in the lounge
• Go chat to a housemate and distract them from work
• Bully Dave, or start a Nerf gun war with his guns and the other housemates
• Listen to music

Watching TV is just another computer screen and so still bad for me, plus it’s only 60% commercials here. It’s either too dark or too wet to go cycling most of the time that I have free. Brooks Bar is one of the cafe/bars of my college in Durham, where I’m sure to always see someone I know. There are only two bars here, they aren’t really day-time places and I won’t see anyone I know. I don’t really have access to an oven, just a microwave and sink.

I’ve been sleeping far too much recently, it saves waking up and remembering all the things I don’t like right now. I went to bed at 10pm one night, crazy. My room is spotless tidy, cleaned, and dusted. It’s pretty much ready for me to leave and go home, not that I’m counting the weeks or anything. It’s a little more strange making a den in the lounge when you share it with 30 people than with 6, and it’s dirty. I did make a castle wall out of some phone books that were delivered to every single room (what a waste!).

I sometimes wonder round the floor for someone to talk to but they all seem to hide or are actually working. I feel bad about distracting people who have something worth working for. Dave was one of my housemates that lived next door, I miss him being in the room next to me.

The only music source I have is my computer. Until last night when I was driven to get out my PDA, which is old enough that it’s only useful as an mp3 player, and charge the battery again. I have a few CDs on there, and it was nice to finally have vibrations from electricity flowing into my head.

The 11th November is a date known in the UK, Remembrance Day. A minutes silence is observed at 11:11am, In British Columbia, Canada, it is a public holiday. I think all bank holidays in the UK are on Mondays, but in Canada the 11th falls on a Wendesday and so that is the day when the university and public organisations are closed. So on Tuesday evening everybody can party and not worry about waking up in the morning.

Sam, the RA (residential advisor) of the floor below me, plays drums in a band Scythia and was performing at a pub in Gastown (part of downtown). I was keen to go along and offered to take some photos for the band. After partying with my floor (who are mainly under 19 so couldn’t join me) I went to meet others at the pub. My plan to take the 44 bus was foiled by it not running past 9pm, and then the underground/subway train was disrupted due to a train being held by the police. My transit skills were not as strong as in London, but I eventually got myself to the Pub 340

I walked in and the music sounded good, plus I could see Laura and Tamara at the bar so I was ready for a good night. Mmm beer from a tap and in a glass, how I don’t see you enough. Unfortunatly Sythia had started a little earlier than expected, with a prompt finish, so I had walked in on their last song. As I walked away from the bar with my Rocky Mountain beer they finished and started packing up their gear. Oops, no photos taken then. We stayed around for another drink and left before the place closed. Now for me to get the two girls from 5th floor home safely.

We walked past the road that the N17 goes down without realising, we having that good a conversation about hobbos and alleyways. So after backtracking 2 blocks Jesus called my name from the bus stop. Ah my good Mexican friend and his friends that love my British accent. The bus ride back to campus at 2:30am was filled with very noisy singing, including attempting the hey macarena dance.