On being on time by mistake

Most people (I think, probably) arrive on time because they plan to. They have a fairly realistic idea of how long it takes to get somewhere and what they have to do on each side of the journey and they plan accordingly, leaving a buffer for emergencies or unexpected events. I, on the other hand, […]

On sleeping through seminars

It seems as soon as I enter a lecture theatre I fall asleep.. At the very latest when they turn on the beamer and start talking. It’s not quite full on sleeping, just dozing off and waking up a few seconds later when my head jolts back up, but it’s frustrating to be completely incapable […]

On the magic in the middle

It doesn’t appear to make any sense. None of it. And yet, afterwards, you can look back and see all the paths and patterns and logical consequences. And it’s kind of beautiful. And strange. And magical. *** *** I’m not there yet, not at the patterns and consequences stage, but I am at a place […]

On the difference between days

Yesterday I mended the tip-ex mouse, helped the secretary with some tricky stuff on her computer and maybe taught a year 8 kid some maths (“maybe” because I’m not sure how much stuck.). I feel those are 3 good uses of a day. Today I have nothing of note to mention. I assume I must […]

On socialising

It was the Christmas party at work today. 3 Β½ social interactions and a couple of plates of buffet food later and it’s time to curl up in a ball under the duvet. I still feel the evening was a success, I just need to hide for a while and recharge :).

On peppers in November

(posted on the 1st, but somehow got stuck in the works) One of my customers brought me a chili-pepper plant today. He wanted to thank me for getting his glass stuff finished so quickly. I didn’t actually have very much to do with his glass, my colleague did 95% of the work, but I do […]

On days without news

Usually, the radio goes on when my colleague gets to work, and goes off when I leave. He can’t stand adverts, so we listen to ‘Deutschland Radio’ and ‘Deutschland Radio Kultur’  which generally makes for a good mixture of news and interesting information about a huge range of topics. Anything from book reviews to current scientific […]

On writing it out

– or “don’t write back in anger” (Written yesterday; I fell asleep in the middle if the last sentence..) Yesterday (Monday) I was mad at a situation involving several people and several opinions. Today (Tuesday), I wrote them all an email. It took me a good part of the morning to get it into something […]

New molecule: Nicotine

Nicotine. For all the early morning smokers out there who can’t drink coffee without a cigarette, and for anyone who’s trying to give them up and needs something else for their hands to do :). The next molecules will be displayed on my new site . It’s all in German, because that’s where I’m based at the moment. If […]