10.15.2004
aww...
So yeah, today's my 25th birthday, and my family sent me some wonderful cards (and, as is the case growing up with just brothers, really silly ones too), and a really nice looking white shirt. I have cufflinks for my tux that I've periodically stolen to use on a shirt I have that requires them. This white shirt is a good deal more refined, and I may have to spring for the Keble College cufflinks in order to do this shirt any justice. Yes, we have Keble College cufflinks. As I said in a previous post, my younger bro got me a fantastic egg-boiler shaped like a chicken. I've used it several times already (mmm... softboiled eggs...) and it's phenomenal. They advertise these rooms as having a 'small kitchenette' but it's tucked away inside a closet. I honestly can't imagine what I could cook on two hotplates in a closet. But all the same, I like the microwave, I love the fridge, and the hot water kettle is coming in very handy for tea. And now, I can boil eggs too! Outstanding!
My best friend Diana sent me a poster for my room and a lovely card as well. I just wish that I could frame the poster and hang it rather than having to stick it up with blue-tack. Unfortunately, they get awfully peeved about things like nails in the wall so I'll have to find some alternative way to hang it. Thank you to all involved: my day is off to a wonderful start.
Yesterday's lectures were all pretty interesting. The Classical Political Thought was extremely good: the lecturer has a gravitas that lends extra importance to what he is saying, but every so often he breaks into a hilarious sort of digression and loses all pretense. It's a great pedagogical tool. I ended up sloughing off the Greek Coinage I lecture: heard from some folks that it wasn't very good, and I'm not really that into numismatics anyway. As for the Roman Architecture class, it's pretty far outside of my scope of study (like Philosophy of Math isn't, really...) but the lecture was quite enjoyable. The lecturer talked far too quickly for my liking (I had trouble typing it all) but the information was well-presented and easy to follow.
Now, the Works in Progress Seminar is designed to give graduate students a forum for presenting their papers in a faculty-free, friendly environment. These papers are, as stated in the title of the seminar, works in progress. Tonight's was very good, though the presentational style needed some help. What freaks me out is the question and 'answer' session afterward, in which graduate students who are far more brilliant than should be legal pepper the presenter with questions ranging anywhere from "could you clarify this?" to "but what about this source here?" One gentleman, a graduate student at All Souls' College (more on this later), not only asked a question about a certain Greek source, he actually quoted the Greek source off the top of his head! If I'm ever brave enough to give one of these talks, I am banning him from the room. Seriously.
All Souls' College is the Oxford equivalent of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. It's where the smartest students go to have everything paid for. All they have to do is think. They don't even have to produce anything at the end (though, by and large, they do). From what I have been told, you're recommended by the head of your Oxford college (Warden, President, etc.) and then you sit an exam which, legend tells, is one of the hardest exams you'll ever have to take. Ever. Part of it is tailored to your specific subject and part of it is just out of the blue. The Classical and Political Thought lecture was in All Souls' College. One of my friends is taking the lecture just to see the inside of the college.
Anyway, thanks Mom, Dad, Andrew and Matt, for your kindness and support these 25 years (well, not Andrew and Matt for all of it, as you're younger, but you get the idea). It is amazing to think that the past 25 years has led me to this place, in this time in my life, and I am blessed to have had the help of so many along my way. The past three birthdays have been celebrated at the P. school and, having chatted for ages with a teaching student last night, I can say with even more certainty that I miss everyone there. I have a lucky coin in my wallet: it's a 2-Euro coin featuring the head of Dante Alighieri. My quiz bowlers should know it well: it's the one we flip in competitions. I'm adding to it a £2 coin with the words of Sir Isaac Newton inscribed around its edges: "standing on the shoulders of giants." I want to remember always that if I have seen further than most men, it is not because I have stood on the shoulder of a few giants, but that I have been lifted up by the collective advice, love, support, and guidance of hundreds upon hundreds of friends, loved ones, colleagues, and students. Bless you all, and thank you.
My best friend Diana sent me a poster for my room and a lovely card as well. I just wish that I could frame the poster and hang it rather than having to stick it up with blue-tack. Unfortunately, they get awfully peeved about things like nails in the wall so I'll have to find some alternative way to hang it. Thank you to all involved: my day is off to a wonderful start.
Yesterday's lectures were all pretty interesting. The Classical Political Thought was extremely good: the lecturer has a gravitas that lends extra importance to what he is saying, but every so often he breaks into a hilarious sort of digression and loses all pretense. It's a great pedagogical tool. I ended up sloughing off the Greek Coinage I lecture: heard from some folks that it wasn't very good, and I'm not really that into numismatics anyway. As for the Roman Architecture class, it's pretty far outside of my scope of study (like Philosophy of Math isn't, really...) but the lecture was quite enjoyable. The lecturer talked far too quickly for my liking (I had trouble typing it all) but the information was well-presented and easy to follow.
Now, the Works in Progress Seminar is designed to give graduate students a forum for presenting their papers in a faculty-free, friendly environment. These papers are, as stated in the title of the seminar, works in progress. Tonight's was very good, though the presentational style needed some help. What freaks me out is the question and 'answer' session afterward, in which graduate students who are far more brilliant than should be legal pepper the presenter with questions ranging anywhere from "could you clarify this?" to "but what about this source here?" One gentleman, a graduate student at All Souls' College (more on this later), not only asked a question about a certain Greek source, he actually quoted the Greek source off the top of his head! If I'm ever brave enough to give one of these talks, I am banning him from the room. Seriously.
All Souls' College is the Oxford equivalent of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. It's where the smartest students go to have everything paid for. All they have to do is think. They don't even have to produce anything at the end (though, by and large, they do). From what I have been told, you're recommended by the head of your Oxford college (Warden, President, etc.) and then you sit an exam which, legend tells, is one of the hardest exams you'll ever have to take. Ever. Part of it is tailored to your specific subject and part of it is just out of the blue. The Classical and Political Thought lecture was in All Souls' College. One of my friends is taking the lecture just to see the inside of the college.
Anyway, thanks Mom, Dad, Andrew and Matt, for your kindness and support these 25 years (well, not Andrew and Matt for all of it, as you're younger, but you get the idea). It is amazing to think that the past 25 years has led me to this place, in this time in my life, and I am blessed to have had the help of so many along my way. The past three birthdays have been celebrated at the P. school and, having chatted for ages with a teaching student last night, I can say with even more certainty that I miss everyone there. I have a lucky coin in my wallet: it's a 2-Euro coin featuring the head of Dante Alighieri. My quiz bowlers should know it well: it's the one we flip in competitions. I'm adding to it a £2 coin with the words of Sir Isaac Newton inscribed around its edges: "standing on the shoulders of giants." I want to remember always that if I have seen further than most men, it is not because I have stood on the shoulder of a few giants, but that I have been lifted up by the collective advice, love, support, and guidance of hundreds upon hundreds of friends, loved ones, colleagues, and students. Bless you all, and thank you.
