Er, what?

So there I am, in the UL writing an essay about volcanic eruption styles, when I get politely accosted by a member of the Japanese film crew that’s been in the library for the past few days.  She asked if I was free to attend a sample philosophy lecture for an hour or so as they needed more students to attend for their film.  Feeling procrastinatorial and helpful, I agreed.

Confusion does not even begin to cover the lecture’s contents.  Words such as “metonymical”, “epistemology”, “hypernomia”, “similitude” and “phalanstery”, along with phrases like “the theory of sublimation” and (my personal favourite) “the binary praxis of neoexistentialism” were bandied about as casually as a football at a kickabout in the park on a Bank Holiday. Other topics included the causes of foot fetishism and deja vu (and that they’re probably caused by the same thing apparently), although someone suggested deja vu is caused by experiencing whatever it is that’s causing the deja vu in a previous life, while another “plausible” explanation was that your spirit flows through time and space in a fluid fashion.

I’m still confused by the whole thing really.  Is philosophy really like that, and everything said is totally serious, or was it an elaborate joke?  Slightly awkwardly, a few jokes were incorporated into the lecture, but (what with me very much being a scientist rather than an arts student) they went completely over my head.  There was a reason why I gave up the arts at school.  Now I can confirm that was a good move!

Don’t get me wrong though, everyone was very nice.  It’s just that philosophy very much isn’t for me!

One Week to Go

This time next week, I shall have left the UK.  However, today was allocated as time to spend with the family, and it was great.  First, we visited a lavender farm over in Banstead (driving through various districts where my family from several generations ago originated, so we got a brief genealogy lesson on the way).  The farm visit was followed by a country walk along the North Downs, ending up in The Harrow (an excellent local pub).  An Indian takeaway eaten outside in the garden, and Quartet (a new film starring Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly, et al.) ended the day.  Overall, lots of fun time spent with my family (with the good weather as an added bonus).

Another Friday Night

This is it, the final day in Cambridge!  Aside from packing and getting my stuff home, there’s been nothing really of note happening.  I’m sticking around and not leaving until tomorrow, as it’s the Corpus May Ball tonight, which I’m thoroughly looking forward to.  The afternoon was spent watching The Shining with MK, RS, and AC, and it’s a great film!  I’m now getting ready for the ball, and am meeting up with the others in half an hour.

The Corpus ticket name change looks super sketchy on the ticket, but they updated their Excel sheet, so hopefully there won’t be a problem getting in.