A new spot to post our personal trials & accomplishments.

Congrats, LOST_MY_HEAD! I will toast you on Fri, when I will be out getting hammered (or screwdrivered, as the case may be) myself.

Yes, LMH, congrats to you! Tonight is a Scout meeting, so no alcohol, but tomorrow I'll raise a glass of lovely New Zealand sauvignon blanc to you.

okey dokey then....let's get hurling's off topic thread up at the top of the page again.

I'll start....

I'm planning on watching all of the BBC's productions of Shakespeare's plays. I've started with the dramas. I love Hamlet and Othello. I like Romeo & Juliet and Julius Caesar. I have never been able to get through MacBeth.

I'm also going to start adding to my collection of classic Hollywood movies. My grand kids don't know who Errol Flynn is! Robin Hood, Captain Blood ... so we will be have sleep overs and watching old movies together.

Books: Not long ago I finished David McCullough's biography of Teddy Roosevelt, Mornings on Horseback. I really enjoyed it.

I've got a stack of books I want to read. Next on my list is a biography of Rosalind Franklin, the physical chemist whose research and x-ray photographs of dna provided the key for Watson & Crick's discovery of the double helix. She never received the recognition that was due her.

Islander: I read The Time Travler's Wife. I think we even discussed it here. I loved it!
It's going to be a movie soon.

so that is that.

I'm leaving in the morning for Nationals bowling. Until Monday when I return back from that all else is on hold.

U, how goes the job-hunting?

I bought a grill and have been sacrificing everything in sight on the propane altar - animal, vegetable & I think some mineral as well. Everything tastes good burnt!

Not much time for TV, don't even feel like reading. There's a Talmud class starting in a few weeks, I'll go to that.
I went hiking in the state park a couple of times. Not at all like being out in the desert, but it's too expensive to go to Arizona for a long weekend.

pc, good luck! We expect to see pics of your trophies.

pagecarl, good luck bowling!

undaunted, please let me know how the bio on Rosalind Franklin is. I've heard of her through articles in Smithsonian (I think) but would like to learn more about her.

hurling, if I see smoke rising to the southeast, I'll know you're experimenting w/another dish.

I'm still slogging away on the deer-scent-dispenser book. Don't watch any other TV than LOST, so am now trying to get caught up on back magazines. I have two copies of Northern Woodlands, a Girl Scout leader magazine, a Nature Conservancy, & Shape to catch up on. And am considering going back to school for an MLS. Freelance editing is just not a career that I can use to support myself!

Awesomeness all around. An update on my situation. I got accepted into University of Illinois Chicago Medical School so that is the new plan. Much better than going down to SIU in Carbondale, IL. I would miss downtown Chicago WAY too much.

quote:

Originally posted by LOST_MY_HEAD:
Awesomeness all around. An update on my situation. I got accepted into University of Illinois Chicago Medical School so that is the new plan. Much better than going down to SIU in Carbondale, IL. I would miss downtown Chicago WAY too much.

So tell us about the path you have ahead of you, how long, residencies, that sort of thing.

And Alais, help me. What is an MLS? I understand the back magazines. I am forever catching up with National Geo. I am scanning all my old slides onto the computer and ran across my old Boy Scout slides. I had remembered myself as being so cool. I was SO wrong and such a geek. At a young age I was also the designated mascot on my sister's Girl Scout outings. Oh, had I known then ....

And last but never least, Dauntless, any news on your job application? I have yet to hear about any of mine, except that my application for the Medford job met initial qualifications and was being passed to the review team. But that was weeks ago.

Now we need to hear from Hurling.

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:

quote:

Originally posted by LOST_MY_HEAD:
Awesomeness all around. An update on my situation. I got accepted into University of Illinois Chicago Medical School so that is the new plan. Much better than going down to SIU in Carbondale, IL. I would miss downtown Chicago WAY too much.

So tell us about the path you have ahead of you, how long, residencies, that sort of thing.

Congrats again, LOST_MY_HEAD! Are you decided yet on a specialty?

quote:

And Alais, help me. What is an MLS? I understand the back magazines. I am forever catching up with National Geo. I am scanning all my old slides onto the computer and ran across my old Boy Scout slides. I had remembered myself as being so cool. I was SO wrong and such a geek. At a young age I was also the designated mascot on my sister's Girl Scout outings. Oh, had I known then ....

An MLS is a master's of library science. I'm hoping to go to the University of Buffalo, as I can take many of the classes online, & the campus is not much more than an hour away for when I do have to be physically present. Next step is to figure out how to pay for it...

As far as being cool goes, I usually figure whenever I think I'm being/looking cool is when I'm not.

quote:

And last but never least, Dauntless, any news on your job application? I have yet to hear about any of mine, except that my application for the Medford job met initial qualifications and was being passed to the review team. But that was weeks ago.

Good luck to both of you on your job searches...keep us posted!

quote:

Now we need to hear from Hurling.

Didn't you see the smoke signal from your window?

Well done everyone, it's really interesting to see what you're all doing.

I always seem to have too many balls in the air myself:
I work partly at home, as I am a freelance translator for the wine industry here in Italy.

I also teach English to adults, this year I've taught two evenings which I had given up doing 5 years ago (too stressful with a family as well).

My daughter and I both have black belts in Shotokan karate and we train at least twice a week.

I'm also rehearsing another play (I co-run a local English language theatre group). Last September and February we put on "THe IMportance of Being Earnest" which I co-directed and also acted in.
This time we are preparing "Noises Off" by Michael Frayn.

Oh, and I have a husband and a couple of kids who sometimes need me....!

BTW Alais both my children are in the Scouts, it's been fantastic for them. They've become really independent, they love to cook themselves food, sleep in tents and so on...
(ok they are 13 and 16, but we are in Italy where kids get coddled to the point of helplessness!).

Undaunted, the BBC Shakespeares are great! But there have been some really good movies too - I loved Ken Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" for example.

Oh and books - at the moment I manage about 3 lines before I fall asleep but I am reading "The Long Way Round" - Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's account of their motorbike trip round the world.
Wow, I would LOVE to do something like that!

quote:

Originally posted by Alaïs_Longthought:

quote:

Now we need to hear from Hurling.

Didn't you see the smoke signal from your window?

Well, Alaïs, he either meant someone else or didn't see me. Either way, I'm seriously insulted. This is not good for an attention-hog.

I love theatre! Right near us is the Hedgerow Theatre (click link), the oldest repertory theatre in the country. They do about 6 shows a yr & we see at least half. We have seen both Earnest & Noises in recent yrs. I don't like Shakespeare much, but they did The Compleat Works, which we saw 3 times. OOB! This yr is their 85th anniversary & a playwright wrote a biographical play for them. Very funny. They do Ray Cooney farces in the summer & murder mysteries for Halloween. (I've won costume prizes 6 out of the last 7 yrs. Last yr, the hubby & I were.....a hedgerow!)

LMH, I'm very impressed that you got into your top 2 choices. I shall be pleased to come down with whatever ailment you eventually specialize in so you can treat me. (Who am I kidding? I probably already have it.)

Must go to work. :-/

Hurling, I should have been more specific. I thought you were close to moving to Arizona and your previous message seemed, well, east-ish. I was curious mostly about your coming out plans.

Be nice. Coming out west.

Hello All.......As of this morning I am officially temporarily employed at Fort Sill! Temporary will do temporarily. I'm just happy to be working again! I have apps in for permanent full time work and will continue to submit more. But for now...I am delighted to be among the employed again!

Lost My Head: Congratulations on U of I Chicago!

Good Luck pagecarl!

Alais: I will let you know about Rosalind's story.

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:
Hurling, I should have been more specific. I thought you were close to moving to Arizona and your previous message seemed, well, east-ish. I was curious mostly about your coming out plans.

Be nice. Coming out west.

ROTFL! Thanks, pagecarl, that was my laugh for the day.

We had thought we'd be moving soon, but now decided to wait. As much as we hate the weather here, we have some wonderful friends & many activities we enjoy. That makes it hard to move there permanently. Now we're thinking of a vacation home, which means we'd both have to be retired to use it, and we're not as old as we look. That'll be cheaper to buy, since we'll get something small, but the airfare will even it out.
I think our next trip out there won't be till next spring. I'm thinking a week in March or April just in Sedona. I've never gotten to spend hours & hours playing on the red rocks. (Don't worry, I won't go near the Vortex People.)

quote:

Originally posted by hurlingDon't worry, I won't go near the Vortex People.)

Let us know if you see a polar bear popping out of nowhere...

quote:

Originally posted by undaunted:
Hello All.......As of this morning I am officially temporarily employed at Fort Sill!

Congrats undaunted! What will you be doing? Now we need to send some good job-offer vibes pagecarl's way...

Glad to hear about your job, U!

OK, pagecarl, I'm sending you Hawaii job karma. Lockheed-Martin has a facility there. You'd have to get into the whole large corporate culture, which you're unaccustomed to, but speaking from experience (I'm at a huge bank now), once you get past the initial BS it's not terribly painful. And the salary & benefits are pretty good. Here's a link to search jobs:

Lockheed-Martin

My son has a summer internship at L-M here, and if it goes well, he may get to go to Hawaii next summer. (We're hoping that's enough incentive for him to study more next year.)

Well, at this point I want to go into Neurosurgery. After four years, who knows, but that's the specialty I've wanted for quite a while now. That means four years of school and five of residency.

quote:

Originally posted by LOST_MY_HEAD:
Well, at this point I want to go into Neurosurgery. After four years, who knows, but that's the specialty I've wanted for quite a while now. That means four years of school and five of residency.

That is so cool! When I was about 8, I used to say I wanted to be a brain surgeon so I could see what a brain looks like. Then I found out how many years you had to go to school. Much later I discovered I'm much too squeamish to cut into anything that's still alive (& expected to stay that way).

Actually, if I may quote Richard Roundtree when he guest-starred as a surgeon on an early episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when I say, "the cutting is my favorite part!"

quote:

Originally posted by hurling:
Glad to hear about your job, U!

OK, pagecarl, I'm sending you Hawaii job karma. Lockheed-Martin has a facility there. You'd have to get into the whole large corporate culture, which you're unaccustomed to, but speaking from experience (I'm at a huge bank now), once you get past the initial BS it's not terribly painful.

Thank you for the good thoughts, but think Medford, Oregon. I quit on Hawaii. I actually needed good thought for bowling in Albuquerque, where I was the picture of average. But our team had lots of fun.

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:

quote:

Originally posted by hurling:
Glad to hear about your job, U!

OK, pagecarl, I'm sending you Hawaii job karma. Lockheed-Martin has a facility there. You'd have to get into the whole large corporate culture, which you're unaccustomed to, but speaking from experience (I'm at a huge bank now), once you get past the initial BS it's not terribly painful.

Thank you for the good thoughts, but think Medford, Oregon. I quit on Hawaii. I actually needed good thought for bowling in Albuquerque, where I was the picture of average. But our team had lots of fun.

Medford & bowling, got it. I will go meditate about Medford, bowling & golf over a piece of chocolate cake now. Just for you.