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May 28th, 2012
09:55 pm - Making my mark
YAY, I've been offered the position of Teaching Assistant for PSYC3015 next semester!
Coupled with tutoring (and possible Pinnacle courswork) for the Perception course, and the research assistant position (which is finally about to happen after almost six months of stalling), not to mention getting my own research done, I'm gonna be one super-busy PhD bee. It was always my intention to super-load myself in the first year of my PhD to see what I could manage, then drop back in later years if it got too hectic, so we'll have to see how I go.
Mnn, onto niggling worries. Dad's currently wearing what we kindly term his "explosive collar", a cardiac monitoring device he'll need for a week. Hopefully this'll give us at least part of an answer as to what was/is up with his scary blood pressure drops. Ongoing concern about his health ('caus it literally came out of nowhere last time, I'm super paranoid!) has been wearing a little, making me a bit more anxious than my usual cheerful-bordering-on-manic self. Recently I've been gripped by a bit of a mid-year feeling of unease; six months in and still no data collection at the point of analysis... Perhaps it is due to the sheer amount of time I've been spending marking; the past week has solidly been pretty much exclusively dedicated to it. I really hope to be done by Thursday, and back to actually working on PhD stuff, but my pathalogical inability to turn down extra marking will likely lead to a longer stint. The second year essays are taking extra long as I need a mental break between each one to make sure I'm not confusing the contents of one with another (as they're on similar topics). Anyway, I hope to embark on more meaningful data collection SOON. OhYes.
Ok, so worrying niggles aside, Snarfie bought ID software's "Rage" (or as I call it, "the angry game). The texture streaming is weird, but once it all loads it is quite a fine looking game. Fuggy bad guys, 'n that.
In other news, I'm very happy with how Eurovision turned out - Lithuania made it into the finals, and I liked the winning song (especially the interesting choreography) - go Sweden! Here is my (now traditional) annual Marijonas Mikutavicius fanart, may LT United's 2006 entry be forever remembered!
MM 2012 by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Ok, lets see if I can mark one more essay before my brain falls out and sleep ceases to be optional...
Current Mood:  busy
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May 23rd, 2012
09:25 pm - Today...
Today was characterised by yet more marking (15 1003 summaries DONE! HYES!), getting the Trevor, Graduate Teaching Program teacher, to (rightly so) include "shitty readings" on the whiteboard as part of a list of problems that can disrupt tutorials, and attending a Surprise!Bayesian statistics lecture (surprise because I didn't get the email about it).
I had a rather vivid dream last night which involved people with late-manifesting telekenetic abilities being corraled and forced through extensive neurosurgery to become glorified, vegitative state biological routers (because Dream!Intenet needed human brains as a substrate). As multiple surgeries were required, the first operation included leisioning the Fusiform Face Area so all the captive telekenetics became prosopagnosic - this made them much easier to spy on, as it is the social equivalent of turning the lights (here, facial recognition) off and giving your guys night vision goggles (the ability to recognise who is a prisoner, and who is a guard). Though I was greatful for the relatively rich world-building backdrop, the majority of the dream was stock standard running-away-from-a-threat-right-behind-you fare. It did have bonus compelling lead surgeon guy (the pioneer of the brain/internet setup), who sort of looked like this.
General Surgeon by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Current Mood: busy
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May 22nd, 2012
08:08 pm - Second time lucky
Bleeeh, just typed out a big entry and then my internet connection crapped out and lost it all. The highlights - have spent all day marking, am still marking, lots of marking. Slum Dogz - For All Time makes me think of Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future and I don't know why. I've been re-re-reading my old eighth Doctor novels, and rediscovering my fondness for Fitz. He's so very endearingly personable. I also reaaaly want to draw McGann fanart RIGHT NOW, but must continue marking instead. Perhaps someone is going to get their assignment back with a little Eighth Doctor in the corner.
Current Mood:  blah
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May 19th, 2012
09:52 pm - Aha!
Phew, it took all day but I've got my websites as up-to-date as I can without .php support: Negaleg Repository is done, but the photography sub-sections, comics galleries, and programming page from my main website are still broken, and the minecraft site is still broken. I also finally uploaded the series of fun screencaps and captions from my first playthrough of Skyrim.
Here's the dregs of art I finished off...
Nowhere but Forward - 1 of 2 by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Nowhere but Forward - 2 of 2 by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Ever onward by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
The People Scientist by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
20s by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
All that's left is backing up the HD, tomorrow. Goodnight!
Current Mood:  accomplished
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09:57 am - So, um, its been a few months.
I seem to have fallen into a schedual that has left little room for LJ etc, but today my friends, for NO REASON IN PARTICULAR, yes, today I shall break the cycle!
Remarkable things that have happened since last update include:
- Dad collapsed and we had to call the ambulance. I stayed with him overnight in emergency, then visited all day every day until they let him out again. He recovered quickly and seems fine according to all the tests he's undergone so far, but we still have no idea what caused his collapse. He's not allowed to drive until November.
- I bought Mum a Wii for mother's day. So far we only have Wii Fit and Mario Kart, which I happily suck at.
- I went on a three day holiday to Jindabyne with Mum. Took many photos, which I still need to process.
- I've got all the theory stuff done, and have booked my first driving lesson for early next month.
- Langley has been gorgeously beautiful, and beautifully gorgeous
- I finished The Void, Limbo, and a couple of other great games
Here's a synopsis of the daily grind, to explain why I've been so LJ absent.
Every weekday I drag myself from bed, stumble through the morning routine of feeding myself and Langley, and make it to the bus just in time. I start work proper at Uni at 9:00am - I did eventually get my PhD office, so I happily perch on my exercise ball and get down to the day's business. Aside from puttering along with the stock standard literature review, I go to as many professional development seminars as possible (especially the teacher training ones) with an aim to buff out my skillset and CV. I'm currently collecting data for three studies (two my own, the third a collaboration not for my PhD), and lining up four (three for my PhD, one in the position of Research Assistant). I'm also tutoring for Biological Bases of Behavior, preparing for the tutorials and subsequent marking (Essays will flood to me next week) are a surprising time sink. I have an hour off with Snarfie for lunch most days, then finish up and catch the bus home again at 5:00. I'm usually completely zonked by the time I get home, and beyond dinner and encumbent housework usually manage about half an hour of keeping up with my illustration committments, or something easy and fun (gaming/TV/book) before sleep. Saturdays are housework days; as Mum is limited in what she can physically do, I go through all the tasks she can't manage. Sundays are my day out with Snarfie, a good way to stop ourselves from being completely housebound.
Lots of stuff has fallen by the wayside - stuff I hope to catch up on today. It's been too long since I last made an LJ list, so let's have one! By the end of today, I hope to...
- Catch up on both my LJ and Deviantart friend's happenings and stuff
- Update my minecraft website, which currently appears broken and is waaay out of date
- Finish all the half-finished arts lying around, then clean out my art folder (both on DeviantART and on my HD)
- Update my art website, which is similarly decrepid
There's heaps more to do, but hey, I should set realistic goals, right?
Here's half the art I've drawn since last update, I'll share the other half later today so as not to spam you too much in one go!
One True Snuv by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Doc Cochrane by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Got a brain by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Aargn by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Over The Shoulder Boulder Holder by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Mantis Watches by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Directed by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Dog Walk by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Be Careful, Janice by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
You've Missed The Point by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Current Mood: busy
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February 9th, 2012
03:58 pm - A belated update
Hey there livejournal, long time no update! I've been ensconsed in a flurry of PhD work, domestic work (Dad had a tooth out in some pretty hefty surgery, so I had to cover his jobs as well as mine), and sewing stuff. A quick overview of recent happenings... Umm...
- I got the 2011 Australian PSychology Society prize in psychology for my honours thesis, plus a year's membership
- My first paper has been rejected twice, but both journals were nice about it (one gave me a year's free membership to their society, woo) - it is now submitted a third time
- I've been playing a lot of Terraria
- I've had lingering guts issues (flatulance, nausea) for a month; some unmentionable samples have specified I'm clean of parasites, so it looks to be just a sit-and-wait for it to get better dealie.
- I've done budgetary acrobatics for my PhD, involving setting in motion convincing the department to buy a fleet of digital devices (so I can use them for my study, even though they belong to the department)
- I actually have a PhD project! Yay!
- I finished the Skyrim main quest
- I'm gonna be a tutor for the Biological Bases of Behavior course
- I'm gonna go to weekly how-to-be-a-good-academic-teacher training
- I've been invited to present my thesis as a poster at the upcoming Australian Psychology Society conference in Perth later this year
- I have the world's most gorgeous lizard
- I continue to be a campus hobo; they have not yet given me my own office.
Hmmm... Yep, that's pretty much everything of note.
I'm off on a plane to Adelaide with honours student Cloudy and Statistics God Professor Mike Smithson, we're going to the annual Australian Mathematical Psychology conference. OOh so exciting!
Oh, yes, recent art...
Manical Laugh by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Baron de Laistard - Coloured by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
(I did the colours for the one above; they're not my lines)
Snake Mimic by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Iridescent by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Just a little bit further... by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
I built you a rocket by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
A man and his mop by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
How I Chose My PhD Topic by ~muffin-wrangler on deviantART
Current Mood:  cheerful
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January 19th, 2012
11:12 pm - Phew, finished with only two days to spare
THIS is largely why I've been so tardy updating here on LJ... I've been busy with working out how to sew convincing Zygon knobbly bits.
Current Mood: accomplished
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January 17th, 2012
11:02 am - Hupdate
My lack of updates in the past while has been due to the onset of my PhD schedual - up at 7:00am and stumbling through getting the basic bathing and feeding before hopping on a bus at 7:50am so I can be at uni for a 9:00 start... A day of working my butt off but somehow failing to get any work on my PhD done, then back on a bus and home at about 6:00. Cue household chores and family stuff to see me through until 9:00pm, then squishing in some work on the Zygon plush I'm making (he's called Dave, he has to be done by this Friday so I can enter him into an ABC Doctor Who competition). Any other scerics of spare time have been spent getting Ziggy (Desktop PC) back up and running, following his catestrophic health issues.
I need to buy a mouse at some point - I have my eye on the Razer Abyssus 'caus as a gamer I need something better than an el-cheapo Microsoft mouse, and as I've been developing alarming muscle twinges in my right shoulder blade I think it is time to get into ambidextrous mousing.
In recent news - my "Mad Scientist Coming Of Age" dinner was a conglomeration of delightful company, it was great to see my honours friends and Loggods getting along, and super good to catch up with Loggods who I'd been missing for ages. I also went to see The Muppets with my family, and as always, very much enjoyed the villain - it was great to see Chris Cooper rapping ahahaha ha ha ha haaa. I wonder if it is physically possible to watch Kermit singing "The Rainbow Connection" and not cry (even a little bit).
As always, my personal to-do list is falling by the wayside. Top priority is Dave Zygon; it is just a matter of his knobbly bits. Then a backlog of art ideas must be completed - Muppets movie fanart ("Manical laugh!"), Aargn (my Terraria character), a Demon Headmaster scene, and something about the Destiny of the Doctors game. And to finish that damned Edge of Dawn/Nontek stipple.
Whoop, this morning's immunology talks have begun again, I had better get back to paying attention.
Current Mood: busy
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January 13th, 2012
03:03 pm - The silence is broken...
Just submitted my first academic paper (with me as first author) to a scientific journal.
WOO.
This illustrious occasion is marked by my borrowing $2 from a delightful lady and buying chocolate.
The next challenge; returning the $2 to the delightful lady (as I always think of her as the delightful lady and don't actually know her name... Or where she works...Um...)
Current Mood: cheerful
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dark_pheonix's journal
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