New Bike
Sadly, the hooligan who stole my bike never became overwhelmed with guilt to the point of rushing back here to return it to me. Not even an anonymous letter to tell me where it is hidden. No ransom note. I can only assume that it is gone for good. Perhaps the Norfolk Constabulary will find it (yeah, right) because I did file a police report with them. Not because I thought I'd get it back, but just for the principle of it. It was the least I could do.
Anyway, since the bike never came back, I had to buy a new one. An exercise that I was LOATHE to do. Because my £80 bike was stolen, every single additional pence I had to spend was a pence that I detested with every fiber of my being. Well, at first anyway. On Saturday, I trekked around to different bike shops looking for a replacement, but everything seemed so expensive. There was a really nice one for £169 that I was salivating over (the bikes in the £200 and up range were not even considerations, so I didn't look at them). £169 was out of my price range. To be honest, £50 was out of my price range too. I couldn't decide what to get, so I decided to wait and discuss it with Kristen that evening. She seemed pretty ambivalent about it, giving me the straight-forward advice, "Get the one you want."
After much deliberation, I decided to go for the £169 bike. It was the perfect one, a Giant Expression XL (23" frame, 28" wheels, aluminum frame, shock-absorbing seat, mud-guards, all black). I "negotiated" a free combination lock, too. Unfortunately, when I tried to set the combination on the lock I accidentally set a scrambled number because I missed one single dangling fragment in one of the steps in the instructions. Like a rubicks cube, I sat there with it for about an hour trying different combinations to no avail. So, I had to pay for a lock anyway, but I bought a key-operated one with a fatter cable. I consider it an upgrade. As is the bike. Major upgrade. I don't even want to take it outside because it'll get dirty! Speaking of which, it's going to live INSIDE until we find a suitable method of anchoring it outside. I'm thinking one of those armed guards from Buckingham Palace.
-RP-
Envous (n'vuss) n. - a feeling remorse, guilt, fear, or all three that is encountered after purchasing something beyond one's means
Monday, January 24
Tuesday, January 18
Sunday, January 16
Thieving Li'l Bastards!
This morning I was greeted by the "wonderful" surprise that my bike had been bleedin' stolen! All that I have left is the key for the rear wheel lock (which was engaged, by the way) and I can't bloody well ride a key to school now can I!?! Unfortunately, there is nothing out back to lock my bike to, so I have been relying on the rear wheel-lock and my assumption that no one would steel a shite bike. I've left it cruddy and worn for this very purpose. There is/was duct tape on the seat to hold it together. I thought that would be enough, but I guess I was wrong.
Since I don't know who stole it, I can only blame it on the entire British population. So SCREW YOU England! SCREW YOU! I hope you crash into a tree and become a quadropalegic with that bike!
***
PS- The only suspect I have is a friend of our upstairs neighbor. He had someone over last night who he ended up in an argument with. We couldn't really hear what it was about but our neighbor said something like "I'm sick of you accusing me of taking things!" There was a lot of yelling and swearing. Finally, the friend left. We heard his footsteps walking away, but then coming back immediately and leaving again. Perhaps in anger, he decided to take my bike over his shoulder? Maybe he thought it belonged to our neighbor? Going on this theory, I took a walk around the neighborhood this morning to see if it had been dumped somewhere. No luck. I have not been able to ask the neighbor about it yet.
-RP-
This morning I was greeted by the "wonderful" surprise that my bike had been bleedin' stolen! All that I have left is the key for the rear wheel lock (which was engaged, by the way) and I can't bloody well ride a key to school now can I!?! Unfortunately, there is nothing out back to lock my bike to, so I have been relying on the rear wheel-lock and my assumption that no one would steel a shite bike. I've left it cruddy and worn for this very purpose. There is/was duct tape on the seat to hold it together. I thought that would be enough, but I guess I was wrong.
Since I don't know who stole it, I can only blame it on the entire British population. So SCREW YOU England! SCREW YOU! I hope you crash into a tree and become a quadropalegic with that bike!
***
PS- The only suspect I have is a friend of our upstairs neighbor. He had someone over last night who he ended up in an argument with. We couldn't really hear what it was about but our neighbor said something like "I'm sick of you accusing me of taking things!" There was a lot of yelling and swearing. Finally, the friend left. We heard his footsteps walking away, but then coming back immediately and leaving again. Perhaps in anger, he decided to take my bike over his shoulder? Maybe he thought it belonged to our neighbor? Going on this theory, I took a walk around the neighborhood this morning to see if it had been dumped somewhere. No luck. I have not been able to ask the neighbor about it yet.
-RP-
Wednesday, January 12
Ahh... a weight off my shoulders! Today I turned in my Dan Farson paper, two days before the due date. Early, like a good student! My first draft was 6900 words (900 more than the maximum), but after editing it got down to 5980 without losing anything I was emotionally attached to.
Between jet-lag and this paper, I've lost a lot of sleep over the past week. Many nights I laid awake for hours, thinking about the paper and whatever else wobbled through my mind. I took Excedrin PM on several occasions so I'd be able to sleep. Now, a relief... I can sleep naturally!
-RP-
Between jet-lag and this paper, I've lost a lot of sleep over the past week. Many nights I laid awake for hours, thinking about the paper and whatever else wobbled through my mind. I took Excedrin PM on several occasions so I'd be able to sleep. Now, a relief... I can sleep naturally!
-RP-
Monday, January 10
Spring Semester
This morning I attended my first class of the Spring semester, British Silent Cinema. The course is taught by Prof. Andrew Higson. I was torn between taking this class and "The Big Picture", a class about Hollywood blockbusters taught by a kooky German professor with Kramer-like hair (incidentally, his name is Peter Kramer). However, I decided to go for the silent cinema class because it is obviously important for archiving. I never did much with silent cinema during my undergrad days, so I figured I needed the exposure, even if it's only British silent cinema.
Tuesdays I have off. Wednesdays I have silent cinema screenings. Thursday and Friday are the archiving days, as before. It's going to be a busy semester. Not only do we have a lot going on in the archiving course, but the silent cinema class looks like it's going to be a lot of work.
-RP-
This morning I attended my first class of the Spring semester, British Silent Cinema. The course is taught by Prof. Andrew Higson. I was torn between taking this class and "The Big Picture", a class about Hollywood blockbusters taught by a kooky German professor with Kramer-like hair (incidentally, his name is Peter Kramer). However, I decided to go for the silent cinema class because it is obviously important for archiving. I never did much with silent cinema during my undergrad days, so I figured I needed the exposure, even if it's only British silent cinema.
Tuesdays I have off. Wednesdays I have silent cinema screenings. Thursday and Friday are the archiving days, as before. It's going to be a busy semester. Not only do we have a lot going on in the archiving course, but the silent cinema class looks like it's going to be a lot of work.
-RP-
Saturday, January 8
Sorry about how quiet it's been. Kristen has been working and I've been slaving away on my paper for Early British Television, about Dan Farson. Here's my intro:
“You might well ask, ‘Who was Daniel Farson?’ I was. Thirty years ago I was one of the first investigative reporters for ITV. And I had the great good luck of being in at the beginning when everything was new.” Perhaps prescient in regards to his relative obscurity (now), this was how Dan Farson introduced his own segment on Channel 4’s A-to-Z of Television (1990). He seems to have been largely forgotten, drastically under-credited, or mostly erased from TV history. Scan the indices of every British TV history book printed and you rarely see his name. Type his name into any search engine and you receive only two or three pertinent results to his television career, the rest relate to the prolific amount of books (mostly biographies) that he has written – the most frequent hit being his infamous biography The Guilded Gutter Life of Francis Bacon. Though he largely left television in the mid-sixties, he was one of the first “television celebrities”, one of the most riveting television reporter and interviewer and left a notable body of work in the collective of early British television. In his 70 years of life he was a journalist, an American Army Air Corps GI, a photographer, a seaman in the Merchant Navy, a TV reporter/writer/director, and in his autumn years, an author. With so much under his belt, what then has happened to this important figure? Why is this prolific and memorable character so scarcely mentioned when speaking of those early pioneers of television? The following analysis of his life and TV career will show that his present obscurity is a gross injustice to the value of his “Farsonian” contributions toinvestigative reporting in early British television, if not British television as a whole.
-RP-
“You might well ask, ‘Who was Daniel Farson?’ I was. Thirty years ago I was one of the first investigative reporters for ITV. And I had the great good luck of being in at the beginning when everything was new.” Perhaps prescient in regards to his relative obscurity (now), this was how Dan Farson introduced his own segment on Channel 4’s A-to-Z of Television (1990). He seems to have been largely forgotten, drastically under-credited, or mostly erased from TV history. Scan the indices of every British TV history book printed and you rarely see his name. Type his name into any search engine and you receive only two or three pertinent results to his television career, the rest relate to the prolific amount of books (mostly biographies) that he has written – the most frequent hit being his infamous biography The Guilded Gutter Life of Francis Bacon. Though he largely left television in the mid-sixties, he was one of the first “television celebrities”, one of the most riveting television reporter and interviewer and left a notable body of work in the collective of early British television. In his 70 years of life he was a journalist, an American Army Air Corps GI, a photographer, a seaman in the Merchant Navy, a TV reporter/writer/director, and in his autumn years, an author. With so much under his belt, what then has happened to this important figure? Why is this prolific and memorable character so scarcely mentioned when speaking of those early pioneers of television? The following analysis of his life and TV career will show that his present obscurity is a gross injustice to the value of his “Farsonian” contributions toinvestigative reporting in early British television, if not British television as a whole.
-RP-
Friday, January 7
Monday, January 3
New pictures added to various posts in August 2004 archive... in the entries regarding the Denmark trip.
Saturday, January 1
Auld Lang Syne
So, that's 2004 away and gone. Time to get used to writing "05" when you sign on the dotted line or write out a check (if you still do that kind of thing in this digital age). It's also time to make new year's resolutions and wonder what life will bring to you during these next 365 days. Last year we had 366 because it was a leap year, but this year we're back to the usual arrangement. But before we even try to look ahead, it only seems right to look back on the year that has just shuffled off its mortal coil.
2004 was a year of...
...Marriage... Though we've said we wouldn't do it, we did it anyway -- eloping on June 10th in Scotland and haven't regretted it one bit!
...Relocation (again)... On August 30th, we left our beloved Brussels, Belgium to move to Norwich, UK so RP can go to school again. While we have finally started to make ourselves at home in Norwich, we do still have sentimental pangs for Brussels and our life there.
...Anglicizement... Meeting, learning about, and somewhat becoming British people. After all, it is inevitable that you pick up some colloquialisms and maybe a little bit of an accent when you live somewhere long enough.
...Education... After about 6 years out of undergrad university, Rich decided to go back to school for a Masters in Film Studies/Archiving. After getting accepted to the U. of Exeter and U. of East Anglia, he took the most logical choice: UEA for it's Film Archiving course. The fall semester began on September 22nd.
...Car Ownership... We got rid of our vehicles in the summer of 2003 in preparation for moving to Belgium. After a year of pedestrianism, we're back on the bandwagon (sort of) with our old Beemer
...Mold... When they warned us about the "damp" in England, they weren't kidding. A lesson learned.
...Frustration... Working as a "Customer Support Analyst" at So-ny Europe and fielding many an exasperating calls from some world-class whingers (our now fellow neighbors) was a soul-dampening experience and not the least of Rich's motivations to go back to school.
...Vikings... As revenge against our elopement, Rich's father -- aided by the extended Danish and Swedish family members -- launched a campaign to celebrate our marriage Viking-style. It was an unusual, but fantastic celebration. Revenge that we didn't mind being served.
...Family... Us visiting them and them visiting us. A lot of fun! Rich spent a week with his Mom in Florida; Kristen's mom, grandmother and aunt spent three weeks with us in Belgium; We made a road trip to see Rich's family in Denmark (both the Danish and Swedish branches were there... see above); and lastly, a Christmas visit to Oregon where Rich got to meet all of Kristen's family.
...Travel... Belgium in all directions, Luxembourg, England, Scotland, Netherlands, France, U.S., Germany and Denmark. Whew!
...Prince... His rapidly deteriorating health lead to the inevitable decision my mother had to make. RIP.
Looking back on the year makes one thing clear: we are in the midst of an interesting adventure. Where it will take us next is anybody's guess (in spite of how cheesy that sounds). Let's hope that 2005 is just as good.
-RP- & ~K
So, that's 2004 away and gone. Time to get used to writing "05" when you sign on the dotted line or write out a check (if you still do that kind of thing in this digital age). It's also time to make new year's resolutions and wonder what life will bring to you during these next 365 days. Last year we had 366 because it was a leap year, but this year we're back to the usual arrangement. But before we even try to look ahead, it only seems right to look back on the year that has just shuffled off its mortal coil.
2004 was a year of...
...Marriage... Though we've said we wouldn't do it, we did it anyway -- eloping on June 10th in Scotland and haven't regretted it one bit!
...Relocation (again)... On August 30th, we left our beloved Brussels, Belgium to move to Norwich, UK so RP can go to school again. While we have finally started to make ourselves at home in Norwich, we do still have sentimental pangs for Brussels and our life there.
...Anglicizement... Meeting, learning about, and somewhat becoming British people. After all, it is inevitable that you pick up some colloquialisms and maybe a little bit of an accent when you live somewhere long enough.
...Education... After about 6 years out of undergrad university, Rich decided to go back to school for a Masters in Film Studies/Archiving. After getting accepted to the U. of Exeter and U. of East Anglia, he took the most logical choice: UEA for it's Film Archiving course. The fall semester began on September 22nd.
...Car Ownership... We got rid of our vehicles in the summer of 2003 in preparation for moving to Belgium. After a year of pedestrianism, we're back on the bandwagon (sort of) with our old Beemer
...Mold... When they warned us about the "damp" in England, they weren't kidding. A lesson learned.
...Frustration... Working as a "Customer Support Analyst" at So-ny Europe and fielding many an exasperating calls from some world-class whingers (our now fellow neighbors) was a soul-dampening experience and not the least of Rich's motivations to go back to school.
...Vikings... As revenge against our elopement, Rich's father -- aided by the extended Danish and Swedish family members -- launched a campaign to celebrate our marriage Viking-style. It was an unusual, but fantastic celebration. Revenge that we didn't mind being served.
...Family... Us visiting them and them visiting us. A lot of fun! Rich spent a week with his Mom in Florida; Kristen's mom, grandmother and aunt spent three weeks with us in Belgium; We made a road trip to see Rich's family in Denmark (both the Danish and Swedish branches were there... see above); and lastly, a Christmas visit to Oregon where Rich got to meet all of Kristen's family.
...Travel... Belgium in all directions, Luxembourg, England, Scotland, Netherlands, France, U.S., Germany and Denmark. Whew!
...Prince... His rapidly deteriorating health lead to the inevitable decision my mother had to make. RIP.
Looking back on the year makes one thing clear: we are in the midst of an interesting adventure. Where it will take us next is anybody's guess (in spite of how cheesy that sounds). Let's hope that 2005 is just as good.
-RP- & ~K
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