A chronicle of my attempt to gain my Mountain Leader (Summer) Award, probably with reviews of kit and techniques along the way, and postings on cooking, knitting and anything else that takes my fancy.
One of the two main draws for doing an MSc was the opportunity to do an extended research project. My program requires a 10,000 word dissertation on an original historical topic and I've picked the UK government's response to Israel's 1980 de jure annexation of East Jerusalem contrary to all international law, and formalising a state of affairs that had existed de facto since the end of the Six Day War in 1967. My research centres around British government documents from the time at the National Archives, and contemporary broadsheet and academic journal writing. The biggest problem I seem to be facing is how to organise that much information, but the lovely folk at Sciplore have written a tutorial on how to use open source software to manage not only your references but your notes and structure as well.
So my workflow looks like this:
Track possible sources in Open Office spreadsheet
For every source I make notes on, create an Open Office document with one page per page reference from the original source. So if I'm taking notes on pages 5, 90-100 and 253 I will have three pages in my Open Office document. Save this as an OO file, then export it to PDF (in a different folder).
Open the PDF in Foxit Reader and add a bookmark with a meaningful name to every page of the PDF (which is why different pages for different page references mattered in the last step).
Use Sciplore MindMap's monitoring function to automatically import PDFs and their bookmarks, giving me ready made notes of key facts and thoughts, complete with hyperlinks back to the notes I've taken. For journal articles or digital pictures of original documents I can also use Foxit's comment feature as well as bookmarks.
Rearrange nodes within Sciplore into a sensible structure, still retaining the hyperlinks.
Update my spreadsheet with the source's status (to read / first cut / finished / useless)
Theoretically, JabRef will pull references data from Sciplore and then link back into Open Office to manage citations and styles. I haven't tested this bit of the workflow yet though...
I went to Israel for a week or so just after Easter. I was (un)lucky enough that my Rain God status came into play again (Douglas Adams reference here) so as well as getting wet I got some lovely moody photos which you wouldn't necessarily associated with a Mediterranean country in late April.
Firstly, on a "Jesus boat" early one morning, the overcast sky and occasional shafts of sunshine made for some lovely effects:
Looking back to shore was a splash of green:
and a very moody mountain:
Shortly afterwards, of course, we got soaked and very cold because nobody had packed for this sort of weather:
There were compensations, as this sunset from a couple of days earlier in Tel Aviv shows:
And finally, some true Mediterranean weather, taken from the old port town of Jaffa (mostly Arab-population) looking back towards the modern city of Tel Aviv:
I've been incredibly rubbish about keeping up with Finishing School of late. I blame trying to do an MSc while juggling a long distance relationship and a mounting sense of "What on earth do I do when I leave uni?". Here's a whistlestop tour of my thoughts on each of the last couple of month's worth of challenges.
Yes, I still haven't done I is for Image. This is an important one so I'd quite like to tackle it at a time when I can do so properly. It's just not happened yet...!
M is for Moisturise
This is directly proportional to my stress levels. When life's good and in a stable it happens naturally as part of a daily routine. When life isn't, it doesn't and there is absolutely no point in worrying myself about it. The only thing that almost never slips is my hands because along with a weak knee, I've inherited very dry skin from my mother's side of the family.
N is for Nails
Again, fingernail condition is directly proportional to stress: more stressed = more bitten. Toenails are generally in better condition, and I will find time to paint them tomorrow. Just not tonight when it's already half eleven...
O is for H2O
My take on this challenge is to drink less tea. I get plenty of liquid each day, but a dripfeed of caffeine via a pint-sized mug of tea every couple of hours does nothing for my stress levels. I am noticeably calmer when I limit myself to two such mugs a day (but I also don't function in the mornings without at least one of them!). So I'm sticking to that limit, and replacing the remainder with sugar-free fruit squash, diluted more than the bottle recommends just to take the taste off the disgusting London water that comes from my taps.
P is for Posture
Mine is better than many people I see, but it's still not great. 7 years of ballet wasn't entirely wasted, and nor were the years of horseriding that followed. I have a tendency to stick my chin out and to walk with great long strides: efficient for getting places, but not for looking elegant in the process. Tomorrow marks the start of a return to the 200 sit-ups challenge for me. It's not quite the 2 x 30 mins a week Lottie recommends, but it's a darn sight better than what I'm doing at the moment, which is absolutely nothing!
Q is for Quick Fixes
I've been taking advantage of the current trend for vintage-era head adornments. My hair is my single biggest bugbear (as you'll remember from H is for Hair) but the ability to throw on an alice band and still look fashionable is wonderful. I rarely leave the house without eyeliner, mascara and lipstick and have go-to shades which don't draw attention to the fact that that's all I've done. I always wear stud earrings and a gold chain plus a right-hand ring, so jewellery is covered by default. Similarly, I have key outfits and a couple of pairs of shoes that will improve an ensemble. I'm not yet back into the habit of laying out tomorrow's outfit tonight because as a student who doesn't always have to leave the apartment it feels kind of pointless. I have no doubt though that now I'm into Dissertation research and having to actually Go Somewhere almost every day I'll get back into this one quickly enough.
Learning to dance was on my 30 Before I'm 30 list. While I wouldn't say I've learned to Swing Dance yet by any stretch of the imagination, I have taken great strides recently in the right direction.
I spent the weekend at the London Swing Dance Festival and had a fantastic time. I also introduced my friend Adam (who's danced solo in the past but never done partner dance) to the joys of both partner & swing dancing. Swing dancing, incidentally, in this case refers to Lindy Hop / Charleston / Jitterbug / Shag / Balboa / Blues. It doesn't include West Coast Swing, which is a style all in its own right with its own classes & festivals.
Friday night was the competition for all those who actually know what they're doing, and gave some idea of how big the vintage dance scene in London actually is. It's huge. Really!
I've danced on and off since I moved to London, racking up maybe 10-12 lessons over an 8 month period. Certainly, the guy in the Beginner's stream who most closely matched my skill & knowledge had been dancing for about 2 months, which given how long it takes me to master new hand-eye-foot-coordination tasks seems about right. Saturday was Charleston - solo & partnered. Up until this point, I've very much disliked Charleston because it just wouldn't click in my head as a rhythm. Finally, I began it get it. We ended the day with a Lindy Hop class, restoring my by-then waning confidence that I could actually dance at all. Not just because it was moves I knew, but because we covered more ground - Lindy is easier, which at least explains why I found the Charleston so hard the rest of the day!
The highlight of Saturday was the Jumps & Lifts taster class. I think 5 of the 15-20 beginners were brave enough (or stupid enough?) to give this one a go. We all coped, and most of us managed to put them into practice on the dance floor later. We had a further Jumps class later on Saturday, and covered one of them AGAIN on Monday evening, so they're now firmly in the repertoire, at least for partners I've danced with before and feel confident that they won't drop me!
Sunday was mostly Lindy Hop and some styling elements, as well as getting the hang of following the different styles & confidences of the leads. Following is not something I have found easy in the past. I had a couple of social dances on Saturday night with guys I didn't know, and had never seen before, let along danced with. Somewhere in one of those, it finally and completely clicked in my brain how do to it. Switches between moves and rhythms I'd never managed smoothly before fell into place and stayed there. And it was GREAT. There was a also a dance with a coursemate where we did almost nothing (other than the lifts) which we'd been taught, but still had an exhilarating time with him leading and me following steps and rhythms I couldn't repeat now.
It's not plain sailing - just because I know I can do it doesn't mean I always go on the dancefloor in the right state of mind. But I know what it feels like and Sunday was definitely better than Saturday in terms of following the guys' leads. Also for the first time, I found a partner where it very much clicks in dance terms. It'll be interesting to see if that connection persists when we haven't been dancing together for two days!
Finally, here's a video of the Charleston routine we did in front of the entire festival on Sunday night. 1 hr of tuition and a further hour or so rehearsals scattered through the day. We're pretty damn good!
Now, if I can just justify spending the money on the upcoming Swing weekend in August...
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