Monday, May 25, 2009
21 Guns
Does anyone still come here? Rest assured, gentle readers, if you decide to abandon me, I won't blame you. I know it's nothing personal. After all, it's been over a month with nary a quip or comment from the Invisible Ben. For all you know, I might have packed my virtual bags and disappeared into blissful anonymity somewhere else on the Information Superhighway. Or maybe I finally struck it big and the tales of my teaching prowess have somehow caught the eye of a bigshot movie producer who wants to put them on the silver screen. If that ever happens, it'll likely be farewell to blogging...or at least the anonymity that has gone along with it since I started this site so long ago. And what would the Invisible Ben be without invisibility? Just Ben...and who would read about him?
Probably about as many people as are reading this now. But not to worry, folks. Today, appropriately enough Memorial Day, I've remembered you and have prepared a 21 gun salute of sorts. A barrage of all the stuff that's happened in my life since the last blog update a month ago.
1. Attended the wedding of my two favorite classicists.
2. Traveled to Cambridge to see the Skiing Chemist, Caseator, and Rambling Dave...among others.
3. Presented my dissertation prospectus at a conference and avoided completely embarrassing myself.
4. Earned a fellowship back in my former hometown for the coming academic year.
5. Hosted my first solo pub quiz when my regular partner was called away on a family emergency.
6. Learned that one of my friends from high school is now a father.
7. Cooked my own bagels and made granola from scratch.
8. Helped setup for a conference in honor of my former professor, who died last summer.
9. Ate lunch with a large number of former solid state engineers and technicians.
10. Watched productions of Oklahoma and Grey Gardens.
11. Pitched a winning game with the history department softball team. (Next game is tomorrow!)
12. Caught a great lecture at a local science museum on Galileo and his relationship with the Church.
13. Scheduled dental surgery for the beginning of June.
14. Photocopied and scanned readings for my advisor's new history of science course.
15. Got a paper accepted for a conference in London this September.
16. Submitted an application for a "summer school" in France, also in September.
17. Spent far too much time taking notes in an archive that will likely be inaccessible by mid-summer.
18. Debated the merits of attending my 10 year high school reunion. (Pro: interesting event. Con: many of my friends will not be attending)
19. Thoroughly enjoyed the new Star Trek movie.
20. Read the latest volume of the Wild Cards series of novels in fewer than 24 hours. Also finished The Life of Pi and Q&A. (All 3 were enjoyable but in very different ways.)
21. Started looking for a new one bedroom apartment.
There was more, but this gives a good snapshot. Consider it a Jackson Pollack style splatter painting of my life in late April and early May. There may be more hidden in the negative space, generating future discussions, but for now this should suffice.
(1) comments
Does anyone still come here? Rest assured, gentle readers, if you decide to abandon me, I won't blame you. I know it's nothing personal. After all, it's been over a month with nary a quip or comment from the Invisible Ben. For all you know, I might have packed my virtual bags and disappeared into blissful anonymity somewhere else on the Information Superhighway. Or maybe I finally struck it big and the tales of my teaching prowess have somehow caught the eye of a bigshot movie producer who wants to put them on the silver screen. If that ever happens, it'll likely be farewell to blogging...or at least the anonymity that has gone along with it since I started this site so long ago. And what would the Invisible Ben be without invisibility? Just Ben...and who would read about him?
Probably about as many people as are reading this now. But not to worry, folks. Today, appropriately enough Memorial Day, I've remembered you and have prepared a 21 gun salute of sorts. A barrage of all the stuff that's happened in my life since the last blog update a month ago.
1. Attended the wedding of my two favorite classicists.
2. Traveled to Cambridge to see the Skiing Chemist, Caseator, and Rambling Dave...among others.
3. Presented my dissertation prospectus at a conference and avoided completely embarrassing myself.
4. Earned a fellowship back in my former hometown for the coming academic year.
5. Hosted my first solo pub quiz when my regular partner was called away on a family emergency.
6. Learned that one of my friends from high school is now a father.
7. Cooked my own bagels and made granola from scratch.
8. Helped setup for a conference in honor of my former professor, who died last summer.
9. Ate lunch with a large number of former solid state engineers and technicians.
10. Watched productions of Oklahoma and Grey Gardens.
11. Pitched a winning game with the history department softball team. (Next game is tomorrow!)
12. Caught a great lecture at a local science museum on Galileo and his relationship with the Church.
13. Scheduled dental surgery for the beginning of June.
14. Photocopied and scanned readings for my advisor's new history of science course.
15. Got a paper accepted for a conference in London this September.
16. Submitted an application for a "summer school" in France, also in September.
17. Spent far too much time taking notes in an archive that will likely be inaccessible by mid-summer.
18. Debated the merits of attending my 10 year high school reunion. (Pro: interesting event. Con: many of my friends will not be attending)
19. Thoroughly enjoyed the new Star Trek movie.
20. Read the latest volume of the Wild Cards series of novels in fewer than 24 hours. Also finished The Life of Pi and Q&A. (All 3 were enjoyable but in very different ways.)
21. Started looking for a new one bedroom apartment.
There was more, but this gives a good snapshot. Consider it a Jackson Pollack style splatter painting of my life in late April and early May. There may be more hidden in the negative space, generating future discussions, but for now this should suffice.
