The Man with No Time

The end of the year is nigh! Like most of the blogosphere, I’m going to mark the occasion by taking a look back at the year that’s ending. 2012 has been a pretty good year for me all told, but how well did I meet my aims and goals for the year? Spoiler Alert: I missed a lot of my targets for 2012.

It’s the end of the year 2012? Well, almost. Over the next few days I’m going to be writing a series of posts based around reviewing the year that’s gone, and looking ahead to 2013. To start it off, I’ll be using a meme that my friend James has posted every year. It’s a set of questions designed to test your recollective powers. Or at least that’s how it felt! I rather liked this image. Quite appropriate. (Credit: liveoutload.com)

<Insert appropriate greeting for whatever winter festival you celebrate, if any> I hope that everyone out there in internet-land has had a pleasant, relaxing day, or at least found it not too stressful! I’m writing this from the sofa, in front of the television, after what’s been a pretty good day. Merry Christmas everyone! (Credit: speckyboy.com) Over-indulgence has, of course, taken place; food is a big thing in my parents’ house, with plenty of snacks everywhere, and we’ve spread our Christmas dinner courses over the entire day for several years now. But this year, for a change, my brother and I managed to help out with Christmas dinner without getting in the way too much. There’s a first time for everything. My traditional Christmas activity of lounging on the sofa with a new book for the afternoon fell by the wayside this year, but we did spend the early evening playing board games instead. I call that a net gain, particularly when it’s games like Tick...

Today was the last day of the autumn semester here at the University of St Andrews. It’s been an interesting one for the most part, and I want to take a quick retrospective look at it today. Hooray, it's the end of semester! (Credit: harringayonline.com)

Just a quick update today. I’ve heard back from the job that I applied to at Oxford, and I’ve managed to get an interview for the position! It’s going to be on the 22 nd of January, but sadly I won’t be travelling down there. Instead the interview is going to be over Skype, which will be interesting. I suppose, assuming they’re interviewing everyone in the same fashion, that it makes things fairer if they have a lot of international applications, but it’s going to be an odd experience. Still, and interview is an interview. Time to get practicing! (Credit: kwasistudios.com)

After "The Dark Knight Rises” , I think that “the Hobbit” was the film that I was looking forward to the most this year. I loved the book as a child the first time I read it, and have a beautifully illustrated version, as well as the Radio 4 audio play from many years ago that I’ve listened too many times. I also really enjoyed Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy (LotR), and was when I found out that he was directing the Hobbit I was very excited. Sadly, my excitement was tempered this year when I  found out that, rather than the two films that were planned (already a stretch), it would be a trilogy. The book is only 300 pages long, around 20% of the length of the Lord of the Rings, so how on middle Earth was he going to get 9 hours of film out of it? Even with the fleshing out of the side-stories that was going to happen? Martin Freeman is  Bilbo Baggins. (Credit: theweek.com)

Today marked a momentous occasion. One that is penciled into calendars at work months in advance. That’s right, it’s time to switch on the office Christmas lights!

It’s time for another lifesaving competition report.  Yesterday saw the London Universities’ competition, held at the University of London Union (ULU). This is always a slightly odd event, and doesn’t start until the afternoon owing to the BULSCA Rules Meeting that takes place in the morning, at the same venue. It’s usually a great competition though, and in the last couple of years has seen success for St Andrews, with a Bronze medal two years ago followed by a Silver last year. We weren’t aiming for medals this year, but I was confident that we could get a strong result. The Seacows team for London Competition. (Credit: David Brown)