Who's asking?

Knock knock. Who's there? Dr. Who. Dr Who? Wow - I think I'm hilarious! I really do - I just snickered at my own joke. Yes, that's right fellow earthlings - today was the Dr. Who special exhibition! At (wait for it) the Spaceport.

My fellow Sci-fi MA students Jason and Chris and I schlepped eagerly through the city, talking about particle transfer, teleportation, and how having the power to read minds could be both a blessing and a curse. The Spaceport lies across the Mersey, and so to get there, one has to take the infamous ferry. As you board, that's actually what they're playing - the cliches abound, but that doesn't dim the entertainment value.We were undeterred by the hordes heading towards the ferry and clambered on, found seats near the rail, and proceeded to watch Liverpool fade into the distance as we drew closer towards the hallowed halls of Dr. Who.

The Spaceport has a bunch of space related stuff (hence the clever name), from anti-gravity hands-on demos to a machine that tells you how much you weigh on various planets. Apparently I'm 110 kgs on Jupiter, which is vaguely disturbing. This suggests that my smoothie this morning had a little more ice cream than usual.

It's Saturday, so the place was crawling with small children screeching in delight as they were bounced violently in the virtual reality rocket simultation and their slightly green parents, who screeched as well but with less delight.

Finally, the moment we'd all been waiting for arrived, and we got to the entrance of Dr. Who.



We sat in the theatre for about half an hour to watch an episode on the big screen in which this big green monster (creatively disguised as a human) meets the scientists searching for Dr. Who and absorbs them into his body one by one. You can see the faces poking out of his green globby stomach. It's funny stuff. Dr. Who naturally arrives in his phone booth at the last minute to save the sole remaining adventurer, thus covering himself once again in courage and glory. As he should - anything else would be unnatural!

There were life-sized displays of the various monsters. Please note the pure terror in my eyes in the evidence below:



In a fit of continuing Britishness, we went for fish n' chips in the pub before recrossing the Mersey and toasting our triumphant Dr. Who extravaganza with milkshakes at this fabulous 50s diner.

Tomorrow sees me returning to the books, as we have a discussion on half lives coming up Monday that I'm only a quarter of a life ready for! In other news, our kettle exploded (really), thus melting the plastic casing and exposing the copper wire. In the grand tradition of domino effects, this shorted out the entire electrical system, leaving only one socket that works, which is on the floor beside the fridge. We're taking turns huddling over it to make toast and boil water, like desperate zeks (Polish prisoners for you history laymen) over the only winter fire in the dead of January. I made toast on the floor this morning. It was amusingly rustic, although I do hope not to repeat the experience anytime soon.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and that at no point do you see anyone you know dissolving into the stomach of a green Jabba the Hut type creature.

Actually learning stuff.

Good afternoon, my dulcet darlings. I have begun classes, and am now well on my way to being even geekier than before. An almost insurmountable goal, I know, but one should always shoot for the stars. My first class was Genre Definitions on Monday afternoon, where we got into a lively discussion over whether Frankenstein should be classified as Sci-Fi or Gothic. Note for the laymen (or people or whatever) in the audience - Frankenstein was actually the name of the scientist. The big green guy with the bolt in his head of movie fame is actually (very creatively) deemed 'The Creature'. There was a period for the first few years after my goddaughter was born where my best friend and I used to call her "Creature Baby" - I guess that should end since "The Creature" is all green and murdering and stuff, and we'd hate for her to pick up inappropriate habits.

Anyways! Moving on! Time and Consciousness is tomorrow at noon, where we will be working on time travel. Am going to see what I can do about a teleportation device, as that would save me the enormous sums of airline dollars that leave my bank account.

Other than class, there has been great sightseeing accomplished. I am going to attempt to paste pictures below - someone will have to let me know whether or not it works.

Made it to the beach. Yes, Liverpool is a port city, and therefore does have actual sand. There was this artist who apparently had a lot of time and a huge sense of personal worth - the government gave him an enormous grant, which he wisely spent on 100 casts of HIMSELF and he then scattered his bronze selves along several kilometres of sand. It's really offputting from afar - you see all of these solitary figures standing in various parts of the beach, looking morosely into the distance. Below is me bonding with one of said statues. Please note the anatomical correctness:



The sand on the top of that stretch of beach is really light, and scatters through the wind and runs in eddies around you - it's really neat! And yes, those are high heeled boots that I've been schlepping around in.

Have also begun the process of museum and gallery-ing...there are five in town, all of which are enormous and free. I have made the acquaintance of the others in my program, and took Christian, the nice boy from Luxembourg, with me into the five-floored mega-museum.

There are also several churches of note - the one below is my favourite because it looks like an enormous spaceship, both inside and out. You aren't allowed to take any photos from inside, but here it is from the steps:



(I won't totally fill this up with photos because then it will take decades to load, and then I would no longer be entitled to be annoyed with Ronna, who does just that (luckily, she makes me dinner often enough and has enough charm that I forgive her for it :) ).

I am going slightly stir-crazy with the amount of time I have on my hands at the moment - hoping to be gainfully employed fairly soon , just to keep me busy!

Dinner and a wander down to the student guild building beckon me, so I shall bid you all a good evening and send warm fuzzy thoughts in the general direction of Canada (and in the directions of those who are elsewhere, such as my friend Paul, who HAD to move to Thailand when there was a coup!).

The end of a successful first week.

Yes, my children, it's time for another blog story from Auntie Sunshine! I should add a note here that several people have emailed me nagging for more updates. It's been THREE DAYS, people! I do (despite my jokes to the contrary) actually have other stuff to do, so I'm aiming for once a week, more if something interesting has happened. If you want more frequent and personal contact, you know how to hunt me down!

I'm yawning as I type - the toddler bed and I are at war and it's winning. Because it's so narrow, I nearly fell off twice...which is much less funny at 3am than it probably is to you. I'm hoping this is just a period of adjustment and that I will learn to sleep in a mummified state of rigidity, which will prevent said 3am bungee-bed dives from happening. Or I can just put some gymnast's mats on the floor to prevent any concussing.

Have gone appliance-crazy and am now somewhat up to speed with modern society. Got a used computer for £100 (about $225 Cdn), which is slower than molasses going uphill in January, but fits my highly limited student budget and allows me access to that great behemoth of usefulness, the Internet. I can't believe that we've only had the Internet for just over 15 years. I vaguely remember looking in an actual phone book for numbers, and occasionally, even an encyclopedia, but it's a dim recollection that must be my imagination. Also a curling iron (so that my golden perfection can be curly!) and a blender that doesn't seem to want to work, despite my urgings.

My supervisor met with us yesterday - me and the ONE OTHER PERSON IN MY PROGRAM. I'm exaggerating slightly - there's actually two. Three including me. There's an American from Georgia named Jason who is completely wordless until Star Trek comes up (and then just watch the morphing into a chatterbox!), and another guy from Luxembourg who hasn't made his grand entrance yet. Apparently, I have a whopping four hours of class a week, which strikes me as rather bizarre. I did triple that during my undergrad! This is slightly moderated by the enormous amounts of reading to do, but still. Class starts Monday with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And about halfway through semester, we get to go on a field trip to Manchester to MEET TERRY PRATCHETT! Those of you who are sci-fi/fantasy fans will know how cool that is. He's one of the biggest authors out there.

Spent last night in a pub watching a friend's band and making acquaintance of actual British people (as opposed to the hodgepodge of Canadian/American/Indian/etc people in my residence building), and am about to run off and catch a train to Sheffield to visit my (enormously pregnant) friend Emma.

May the Force be with you. (Just keeping up with others in my program. It will pass)

NB Have just returned from Emma's and have been requested to amend the preceding passage. Please note that Ems is not enormously pregnant. She is apparently only moderately pregnant, although she's due in about two months and then the original description will be accurate. Emma's fabulous - and has a penchant for really disturbing British TV programs about people's lives gone horribly awry. When we first made each other's acquaintance, she would regale me with tales of feral wolf children raised in a cave, and people who rinsed their contact lenses with tap water and then had bacteria eat out their eyes. Sadly, we arrived home last night too late to catch the program on the man whose biceps exploded from too many steroids.

Let the Beatles begin!

I'm here, all in one piece after the gruelling 20 hour trek through airport after seemingly endless airport. Really, it was only Vancouver, Amsterdam and Manchester, but it just felt like more. It may have been the lack of moisturizer and lip balm, though, and the flaking of the skin that went with the desert-dry airplane air.

Some people have learned, after years of travelling, to pack light. Sadly, I am not among that select group of wise adventurers. I staggered to the check-in counter with two huge suitcases, two carryons, and an enormous green winter jacket. Usually, I heft my luggage onto the scale myself, thereby playing a visual mind game with the airline person. They look at all 115 pounds of me and just assume that it must be light for me to lift it, thus not checking the scale and letting me get away with ten tons of stuff. That effort didn't work out so well this time - it took two tries and an eventual running start to get it up there myself. The portly woman behind the counter raised her eyebrows ominously at me. "Packed a bit too much, did we?" she asked sardonically, before proceeding to charge me $40 in overweight luggage fees.

Certain people (Dan, this means you) seem to think that perhaps I bring things that aren't necessary. I would just like to state for the record that when I finally got to my dorm room, my favourite mug, the sheets and the quilt my grandmother made me were worth their weight in gold. So there. (Is sticking tongue out at all who mock my luggage attachment).

Ah, my dorm room. Not exactly a thing of beauty and a joy forever, but I have heaps of storage space and my own little sink. Thus far, there's no one else on my floor, so I may get lucky and have the (slightly dodgy) bathroom to myself. The bed is so far beyond small that I'm not even sure of the right word. It's actually been directly imported from Lilliput, and my 9-year-old goddaughter has a larger one. One of my arms actually dangles off the side - I can't imagine how someone taller than me manages - maybe they fold themselves up like a bat!

I've spent yesterday and today running around and getting things done - library card, cellphone (hooray for the cellphone!) and yes, unfreezing my funds. Tonight involves a truly massive shopping trip to put food in my uber-scary dorm kitchen. I am the owner of cupboard 67 - thinking of putting some stickers up to give it a little panache.

Met my supervisor for coffee and mulled over my thesis (Non-traditional protagonists in fantasy trilogies - FUN!), had lunch with my friend Phil, and went to the International Student Welcome Dinner, which involved both the Village People and chickpea stew. Not sure how I feel about either of those yet.

More later, but my epic shopping journey has to begin sometime, and now's as good a time as any!

Almost there!

Well, it's officially my last day in the office. Not my last day of work, because in a fit of 'feeling responsible' insanity, I'm coming in Saturday before I leave for the airport to be around if Heather has any IELTS issues. (I can see you all shaking your heads. Really, though, I'm the one that chose to leave, and therefore it's my responsibility to do everything in my power to make it as easy as possible on everyone else).

My going away party was last Friday at a fine, upstanding establishment in Coquitlam known as Boone County. The decor involves animal antlers, two-stepping is the name of the game, Garth Brooks is on the regular playlist and my Daisy Duke attire fit right in. There were about 25 of us throughout the night - thank you all for coming! Particularly given the location - I can never get anyone to come and be a country redneck with me, so I had to put y'all into a situation where you had no choice! (Ah, nobility of purpose - always the first descriptor that comes to mind when summarizing me in words). There was dancing, there was a strange hockey-type game created on the spot that involved attempting to flick a quarter through a series of narrowing goalposts, and there were A LOT of people wearing plaid. I'm working on figuring out how to post pictures - be patient with my lack of technological blogging ability. It will come, young Jedis.

There have been many lunches. Many farewells. Some tears. Certain people (who shall remain nameless) who have rolled their eyes and uttered the words, "Honestly! You're leaving AGAIN? Can't you just buy a globe or something instead?" Certain people who refuse to acknowledge that I'm leaving at all (denial, thy name is Ronna) , and actually plug their ears and sing 'la la la' when the subject comes up. So feelings are mixed. I'm actually finding it really hard to tear myself away. Ironically, I've made some new friends recently that I wish I'd met earlier - think of all the trouble we could have all gotten into earlier! Alas and alack. I love Vancouver, and I have so many friends and family here, so I will be back. And I do actually have a return date this time around, which is kind of a novelty!

For anyone who will see me tomorrow, please be aware that pretty much everything I own is packed, which means that I look a bit like a reject from a Lucky Charms commercial. Ah, well - things we do for adventure!

It will take me a week or so to get up to technological speed and update, but I will endeavour to let you all in on my classes on such weird and wonderful subjects as Alternate Realities, Robots and Utopias and Dystopias, among others. For anyone who wants to see what's on my reading list, you can find it at: http://www.liv.ac.uk/english/pdf/ma_module_outlines/ma_sf_info.pdf

My contact info will remain mostly the same. I'll email out my new phone number and address when I get them, and in the meantime, my emails sprinz@sfu.ca or sunshine.prinz@gmail.com will both still be working.

See y'all at Christmas - and a happy early Thanksgiving!

Life in the Scrabble fast lane!

Well, here I am in Portland for the 2006 Oregon Scrabble Open. So for those of you who haven't yet paid homage to my word-nerding majesty, this is your opportunity. It'll be good for my battered ego - I'm losing by a landslide!

My shiny new board arrived today, with custom graphics, resin tileholders, and its own built-in turntable! This cements my position as the coolest kid at the Scrabble tournament. (Yes, I can hear all the jokes - y'all just don't appreciate the inherent coolness). Hooray for my new board!

I've played eight games today, and have won only two of those. This is partially salvalged by the playing of 'qwerty', one of my favourite Scrabble words which I've never gotten to use before. The hotel we're playing at celebrated this momentous use of 'qwerty' by having both the elevator and the air conditioning shut down simultaneously. We're on the sixth floor. It was 32 degrees today. Try to imagine 150 or so Scrabble wizards all locked up together in a room with no windows that open and no air conditioning on one of the hottest days of summer. Then be glad that you weren't part of the magic!

In other news, moving has finished, and great rejoicing was had by the end. I drove the behemoth moving truck from Port Moody to UBC, then out to Abbotsford, and then to Surrey and back to Port Moody. It was made rather stressful by its size and lack of windows - I kept waiting to hear someone yell as I squished them! I send my blessings as a reverend (see notes on me to be updated on my holy status) to Beckie, Joergen, Scott and Jens for their assistance in the Liverpudlian Preparation. I'm now officially homeless and am relying on the kindness of friends and family and their various couches and rooms.

I have less than 11 Scrabble-free hours until tomorrow's ten hour session begins, so I shall bid you all adieu to study my two and three letter words like a good little linguist. Send triple word score thoughts my way!