in britannia

Congratulations to all for a fantastic Torpids regatta. Results:

SATURDAY RESULTS
Keble Men's 3rd rowed over (division klaxoned)
Keble Women's 2nd bumped New 2nd
Keble Men's 2nd bumped Teddy Hall 2nd
Keble Women's 1st bumped St. John's 1st
Keble Men's 1st rowed over

So that's that. Keble College boat club combined for a net eleven bumps over four days. The women's 1st, because they bumped all four days without being bumped, won blades. And the Men's 3rd went and collected all of the possible results for a Torpids regatta: we rowed over, we were bumped by Pembroke, we bumped Oriel, and we had our division klaxoned. A klaxon, by the way, indicates that there is an emergency on the water and the race is to stop immediately. It is unclear why the division was klaxoned; in fact, the girl who klaxoned the division could not adequately defend her actiion. But whatever. I rowed in Torpids, I'm getting my splash jacket, and now I have some work to do.

Let me start off by wishing my younger brother Matt a very happy birthday. I'm sorry I couldn't be home for it, but I know he's having a good time, and I wish him all the best for the coming year. Happy birthday, dude.

Torpids regatta news: WE BUMPED! OK, so it was an ugly bump: one in which the Oriel 3rd VIII crashed into the bank almost immediately after starting, which allowed something like six crews to pass. Severe badness for Oriel, but we'll take it. A bump is a bump, no matter how ugly it comes. Bottom line?

FRIDAY RESULTS
Keble Men's 3rd bumped Oriel 3rd
Keble Women's 2nd bumped Magdalen 2nd
Keble Men's 2nd bumped by Trinity 2nd
Keble Women's 1st bumped Lincoln 1st
Keble Men's 1st bumped St. Peter's 1st

OK, is it horrible to feel schadenfreude at the Keble Men's 2nd today? After all, I was bounced out of their team rather unceremoniously less than two weeks ago, and to be dropped from a blades-winning crew would have made me kind of upset. At the same time, I was proud to have trained with them, and I think that they've done a marvellous job. I don't know... At the very least, I feel kind of guilty for *not* feeling worse for them. At the moment now, only Keble's Women's 1st boat has a chance at blades. Blades, by the way, is a trophy you get by bumping all four days in a row without being bumped. Men's 3rd were out on Wednesday when they didn't bump, as were the Women's 2nd. Men's 1st lost it on Thursday when they were bumped by Balliol, and the Men's 2nd lost it today by being bumped by Trinity. The Women's 1st, on the other hand, destroyed Exeter, Brasenose, and Lincoln, and are gunning for Keble College's oldest and most vicious rival tomorrow: St. John's. St. John's is the richest college at Oxford and have a dislike for Keble that goes beyond annoyance. More photos are online too! :)

Quick Results here:
WEDNESDAY RESULTS
Keble Men's 3rd rowed over
Keble Women's 2nd rowed over
Keble Men's 2nd bumped Osler-Green 1st
Keble Women's 1st bumped Exeter 1st
Keble Men's 1st bumped Teddy Hall 1st

THURSDAY RESULTS
Keble Men's 3rd bumped by Pembroke 4th
Keble Women's 2nd bumped Lady Margaret Hall 2nd
Keble Men's 2nd bumped Trinity 2nd
Keble Women's 1st bumped Brasenose 1st
Keble Men's 1st bumped by Balliol 1st

Tough luck yesterday when we (Men's 3rd) were bumped by Pembroke. They're really really good rowers who couldn't be asked to train, so instead, they're at the bottom of the Men's Sixth Division, and they're destroying everyone just for fun. Pictures are up as well: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kebl2515/Torpids/

Two things that don't really go together, at least not in the best of circumstances. And yet, here they were today: snow and rowing. But before I write about the conflagration of the two, let's take each one in its own right.

It snowed! I mean, yeah, it snowed on Monday too, but it really came down last night. While we were at St. Paul's on Monday, we were thanked especially for coming out in such snow. Honestly, if such a thank you announcement were made in Boston or New Jersey, it would have been met with laughter - there was less than half an inch on the ground. This is what it means, I think, to be in the snow in England. It's pretty funny, though - no matter how reserved or staid you are, no matter how disdainful you are of the hoardes of picture-taking psycho-tourists who clog the streets of Oxford, no matter how long you've been a student here, the instant there is snow on the ground, everyone becomes a tourist. People stop on their cycle-ride to class to snap a picture here and there. Random very-well-dressed Oxford dons look giddy when they step outside. Snow really does make everything gorgeous.

So today was the opening of the Torpids regatta. Remembering that the Keble Men's 3 qualified at the last moment for the race, we're all just thankful for the opportunity to race. Torpids is a bumps regatta - there are only two schools in the world that are known to hold bumps regattas. Cambridge and Oxford are the only two institutions silly enough to spend thousands of dollars on boats which they then knowingly crash into one another. Amazing. The idea is this: thirteen crews in each division line up, single-file with a boat length and a half in between them. At the starting gun, the crews race and attempt to hit the crew in front of them, while they crew behind them does the same thing. A bump means that the next day, the 'bumpers' are moved up one place ahead of the 'bumpees'. A bump is defined as either a) a clear pass - that is, open water between the two boats after one blatantly passes another, or b) physical contact between boats, oars, whatever. If you bump the crew in front of you, you get to stop rowing. If you get bumped, no such luck - keep rowing. The entire course is about 2000 meters, and it's a hard course. So if you bump, good for you. If you get bumped, shame on you. And if you row over, well, that means you didn't bump anyone, so had to row the whole course, but at the same time no one bumped you, so nicely done.

The Keble Men's 3rd rowed over today. We had a decent shot of bumping the Merton 3rd boat in front of us, had they not bumped out of the race early, leaving 3 boat lengths between us and Trinity. We made up 2 of those lengths over the course of the race - we might have a shot at them tomorrow. Pembroke 4th bumped the guys behind us (Wadham 4th) pretty darn early, and Wadham didn't have a chance of catching us. At the same time, tomorrow, Pembroke is going to be behind us, and we're darn sure we're gonna get bumped unless we can bump Trinity early early early and get the heck out of the race. FAST.

If you bump without being bumped on all four days of the regatta, you get to take home a trophy: an actual 12-foot long piece of wood and carbon fiber: you get an actual blade. Sadly, Keble Men's 3rd are out of the running for blades, as are the Women's 2nd boat. But the Men's 1st and 2nd are still in it, as are Women's 1st. Good luck to them.

As for rowing in the snow: WOW. It's cold. And muddy and gross if you're on the bank. I was riding my cycle out there, and one of my coats needs severe dry-cleaning soon. In all honesty, it looks like someone threw up on my back. It's glorious to row in the snow, in my opinion: it's what separates the men from the boys.

Speaking of separating the men from the boys, the choir bathrooms at St. Paul's Cathedral number three. Seriously. There's a women's, a men's, and a boy's. Don't quite know why, but I'd imagine it has something to do with the English choirboy tradition, and having sometimes all of the treble parts sung by boys instead of somen. But that still doesn't explain why they need a separate bathroom.

St. Paul's was glorious - absolutely wonderful. It's an experience I hope to repeat someday. Sadly, photos were not allowed, but I can tell you that it was really something. Absolutely inspirational.

So the Keble Men's 3rd VIII have now qualified for Torpids regatta. Yay!
We had needed to qualify by coming in the top 13 of the 30 crews in the rowing on division. There was, sadly, a 3-way tie for 12th place, though, which means that Keble III, Mansfield II, and Wadham III needed to race another 3-way race in order to determine which two of the three crews would make it. Keble's first attempt, the one which led to the 3-way tie, was fraught with three crabs. Awful.

But today, there were no crabs, there were no errors, and the result was outstanding. Keble came in a full 20 seconds faster than Wadham, which then came in 2 seconds faster than Mansfield. So Keble and Wadham are now in the regatta, and Mansfield has to go home. Oustanding. :)

So tomorrow, we're travelling to St. Paul's Cathedral in London in order to sing evensong. I'm excited, and a bit nervous as well.

I realized that I haven't done a food review of any sorts lately. Especially not one that is pretentious and devoid of wit. I have two to offer in quick succession, and I figure that this is as good a time as any.

Last Tuesday, the Queen's College Music Society had its annual black-tie dinner, to which I was invited. The menu was a little weird, and it still reinforces my belief that Queen's College food is awful and Keble food rocks.

The menu was as follows:
Avocado vinaigrette.
* * *
Braised pheasant
Parsley potatoes
Brocolli
Carrots
* * *
Bombe Alaska
* * *
Chevalier la Tour Sauvignon
Pinot Noir
Vintage Port

The avocado was OK, though the vinaigrette was far too vinegary and not well balanced at all. The pheasant was supposed to have been braised, which is a method of cooking which renders tough cuts of meat extraordinarily tender. This pheasant must have started out like a block of concrete; the only other explanation is that this meat was not braised but roasted, dehydrated, and spraypainted. The bombe alaska, on the other hand, was a delicious rush of sugar heaped upon more sugar heaped upon ice cream. Fantastic. The wines were OK, but not well paired with the vinaigrette (wine with a vinaigrette seems a little silly) and nothing, not even a good pinot noir, could have saved the pheasant.

---

Then on Thursday, Keble MCR had its termly black-tie dinner. Liike I said, Keble food rocks, and this was no exception. The menu for Keble:

Prosciutto, mozarella and mango salad
* * *
Supreme of pheasant with apple, raisins and capers with apple gravy
Braised red cabbage
Creamed potatoes
* * *
White chocolate and vanilla mousse with a dark chocolate sauce
* * *
Coffee and mints
* * *
Red and White Concha y Toro
Port

OK, the mango salad had mint and dill in it, two things that I don't normally associate with a prosciutto and mozarella starter. But still, it was quite refreshing, and did a lot to whet the appetite. The pheasant at Keble was ridiculously far removed from the pheasant at Queen's. Tender, juicy, succulent, and perfectly cooked, this dish was outstanding - the red cabbage was delicious and the potatoes were creamy and soft without being watery. The dessert was the only lackluster part of the meal, especially when compared to the delicious bombe alaska at Queen's. Still, this had the advantage of being far more elegant (we were asked to help ourselves at Queen's off of giant silver platters carried with some difficulty by the wait staff) and less prone to overindulgence. The wine was decent, both better than that at Queen's. It just goes to show that Queen's food really is sub-par; even when they're trying hard.

---

Finally, a potent potable story to share with you. Tonight was the MCR pool tournament, which I did not win. Nor was I on the winning team for the doubles tournament. But there was a prize for the most ridiculous slop shot of the tournament, which was given to me for not one, but a series of amazingly lucky and spectacular shots which I made in two separate games, including two shots which sank two balls each, and a shot which sent my ball the entire length of the table and then back down again, and then back down again before it entered the pocket.

The prize for the garbage shot award is a bottle of Sainsbury's Bucks Fizz. Sainsbury's is a grocery store, so this is bargain basement stuff already. Bucks Fizz, evidently, is "a sparkling blend of white wine and orange juice". The horror... the horror...

So I got bumped off of the 2nd boat last night. I tried to make it up during an ergometer test, but ended up throwing up from nerves. Not from pulling too hard, that's for certain. From nerves.
Which makes it a lot harder for me, actually, since it's not something physical, just more psychological. But I'm on the 3rd boat, which was supposed to have an outing this morning. I say "supposed to" because one of our oarsmen didn't show up and we ended up having to scrap the outing altogether.
So in order to row in the regatta, the 3rd eight have to prove themselves in a race tomorrow. Worrisome, but I think we've got a shot. It's difficult for me to express why being on the 2nd boat meant so much to me. I think it was because I really wasn't much of an athlete in High School, and certainly not in college. And in my professional career, I'd play frisbee every now and then, but I've never been really very good at any sort of sport. Certainly not like my brothers. So to be picked for the first eight in the Christ Church regatta last term and to be put on the 2nd eight at the beginning of this term was a real validation that perhaps I can hack it. Well, evidently, not as much as I'd hoped. The captain and I had a nice chat this morning - he expressed, in words that were a bit more condescending than he meant, I think, that he was surprised that someone with my 'build' and my 'body type' had been holding his own for so long anyway.

I'm spending the bulk of the day polishing a second draft of an essay due on Monday. The weekend is wide open, but I've got a lot of work to do on this thing. And Monday, Queen's Choir is going to St. Paul's for evensong. :) Yes. I mean St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It's going to be sweet.

Just a thought - none of my crew are going to St. Paul's... That's got to count for something, I guess.

So I've got a massive paper that's going to consume the rest of my day, but I wanted to wish Diana a Happy Valentine's Day.

So the racing went really well yesterday, which was good. Huge win for the 2nd VIII, and a solid, but middle-of-the-pack performance by the 1st VIII. This is huge, because the 2nd VIII could be on its way to winning the regatta which starts next Wednesday.

But here's the problem: two Oxford University rowers who are Keble College members were cut from the university team and are now inserting themselves into the 1st VIII. Which means that two of the 1st members are dropping down to 2nd VIII, dropping two of us down to 3rd VIII. This coming off of a huge win as an existing crew is really pretty ridiculous. So I'm fighting for a chance to race next week: and the guy I'm trialling against is a horrible little twit who gets up late for practice every day and is always complaining on land and talking in the boat. I will be severely unhappy if I lose to this kid.

Further injustice, though, heaped upon my friend Tuvia, whose performance on the rowing machines was 1st rate, whose fitness level is unimpeachable, and whose committment to the crew team is being questioned by the coaches. He was just dropped down to 2nd VIII two days ago and raced with us yesterday. Now he's being told that he has to trial just to stay ON the 2nd VIII? Shouldn't he be one of the best on the 2nd, having been on 1st boat? That's ridiculous.

I'm strongly considering not rowing next term, but it's so good for my fitness...

Anyway, back to my paper and thinking about my girlfriend. mmm... :)

I just got my lycra today for crew racing. It is, to be certain, a humbling experience. I am a person who has not worn shorts in public since the summer of 2001. And before that, not since goodness knows when. I don't like how shorts feel, I don't like how I look while wearing them. I went to Hawaii in 2003, and I swam in the Pacific Ocean in khakis. I went to Brazil and I climbed a waterfall wearing khakis and a T-shirt. The only time I've worn shorts outside was on vacation when I was busy washing all of my trousers and had only one pair of shorts left.

But wow. Lycra. Not since my days on the wrestling team in middle school have I worn lycra. I wish I were confident enough to say that there will be pictures, but goodness help me there will not. Not until I lose a few more pounds and tan a little. But that's unlikely, considering that: a) aside from this, I still don't wear shorts a lot, and b) it's England.

Big races tomorrow, but it's really windy and awful. I'm spending the whole day there, so I'm a bit nonplussed. Oh well. Wish us luck.

Some people have too much time on their hands, as evidenced by the comments posted on two previous blog posts. That's insane.

Tonight's a nice big concert for the Oxford University Orchestra - Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations and Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique. I know it's a favorite among the top-notch youth and collegiate orchestras in the US, but I'd honestly never even heard it before being assigned to play it this term. It's going to be an interesting concert - due to scheduling conflicts, last night's sort-of-final rehearsal was not attended by the second bassoon, the first and second trumpet, and the first trombone, and second horn. I'm not sure you get by playing Berlioz without a full company of brass, but it didn't sound like we were last night.

Yesterday's crew outing was pretty grueling - five standing starts up to twenty strokes, two major 3:30 pieces at full pressure and full race pace, and then, just to hammer home the point, a five minute piece at full pressure. The five minute piece closely approximated the full length of the racecourse for the Torpids regatta. We do not, of course, plan on racing the entire five minutes.

Rowing is huge here in Oxford, and also at Cambridge. Anthropologically, this is an interesting thing because the rivers in Oxford are decidedly not. Nor at Cambridge, evidently. In the history of human civilization, what a peoples has more of will most likely be used more often. What a peoples has less of will most likely be used less often. Duh. It's like when I'm say that the Plains Indians didn't have much of a seafaring culture, there's a pretty good reason why. So what on earth allowed rowing to get so massively popular here at Oxford when the rivers barely support any such endeavor at all? No idea. But Oxonians are resilient and they are innovative, and instead of boat vs. boat races, they hold what are called bumps races. Torpids is a bumps regatta.

This is why we don't plan on rowing the entire five minute course of Torpids. A bumps regatta is where all of the boats line up single file with a good amount of open water between them in a predetermined order (usually the standings from the last race, even if that last race was last year). They are all started simultaneously and the race involves your boat trying to bump the boat in front of it while avoiding being bumpted by the boat behind it. And if you bump or are bumped, you drop out of the race and get the heck out of the way as fast as possible. So we plan on bumping everything or everyone that comes across our path, and not having to row very far at all.

Tomorrow's race at Bedford, however, is a head race, which means it's just a time trial. Nothing special about it; just a time trial. Which we could do from the comforts of our own respective boat clubs instead of having to give up an entire day to ship off to Bedford. I don't even know where Bedford is.

My Princeton Alumni Weekly came today. Someone's head is going to roll down at the Princeton Alumni Weekly, and it will roll soon. On the cover of the PAW is, naturally, the word Princeton. It appears a few times, but it's small, and it's tasteful. On the back cover is usually an advertisement for the Princeton University Store. Unfortunately, in this issue, it was replaced by an ad for the Yale MBA program, with the word "Yale" in huge type emblazoned across the back of the magazine. It takes a special type of guts, a special type of hubris, to advertise your school on the back cover of your rival school's alumni magazine.

Happy New Year! It's the year of the Rooster, the year my brother turns 24, which means that he is born under this Chinese zodiac sign. Just got back from dinner at a moderate / modest Chinese restaurant in town. Six of us went for dinner; 'twas a nice way to blow off some steam and have a nice outing with friends.

Yesterday I was in the Queen's Lane coffee house having lunch when I noticed that they were playing Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. An odd choice, I think, for a coffee house, but I was kind of amused. Then, when I was just getting to enjoying the Wagner, on came the Dies Irae from Verdi's Requiem. Now, I'm not sure what kind of coffee house these guys wanted to be, but it sure wasn't any coffee house I'm familiar with. One of the waitresses saw my puzzlement, because immediately, the music changed to random 2nd-rate soul/funk that was less out-of-sync with a coffee house.

The MCR has a new flat-panel TV. It rocks. :)

And finally, another tidbit for Magister V.: I think I've mentioned before that we've got a G&D's Ice Cream near Keble College. G&D's hallmark is that they will take suggestions for different flavors (flavours?). They made a Christmas pudding ice cream once. Two years ago, supposedly, they made marmite ice cream and couldn't give it away. A minging combination indeed. Well, I've got one that's even worse: "Brideshead Revisited: Port wine & blue cheese". I can't even imagine.

This is just way too cute. Thanks to Diana for sending it to me.

I woke up late this morning, and for reasons unknown to me, I checked my horoscope. This is what it said:

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You have the edge. You can be spectacular as long as you don't start putting off things you should be getting done right now. The time is right to excel, so get moving.

Information I could have used when I slept through my alarm 4 hours ago.
I'm sick for the fourth time this season. I can't figure it out - I think perhaps I don't sleep enough. Either that, or my natural immunity to such things has been worked out of my system by a few months of grey, cold, wet British weather. Seriously, when I was teaching, I was being bombarded by low levels of pretty much every illness out there. I had built up an immunity. You could have an outbreak of ebola at the P. school and the teachers would be fine. Now? Not so sure. The faculty would get by - I'd be sick.

Not only did they win, but I had the opportunity to stuff it in the faces of everyone in the MCR who came out to watch and rooted for the underdogs. Stupid Brits... ;)

The downside, of course, is enduring a few days of bad three-peat puns. The worst one immediately after the Superbowl was "we all know the revolution started with the Boston Tea-Party. Well, now we know that the Patriots revolution is fully underway with the Boston Three-Party."

I hate puns. Magister V., I'm talking to you.

I am not letting a distraction like a stolen wallet get in the way of my watching the New England Patriots go all the way tonight. I'm upset, of course, but it's nothing that I can do anything about, and I've got better things to worry about. I just negotiated cheap American beer and cheap American pizza to go with my American football. It just seems weird to be drinking British beer and watching the Patriots.

We've got a nice little bash set up for tonight in the MCR - we're watching The Waterboy and then into the Superbowl. Chips, dip, donuts, pizza... The one day that snacking on an above-average scale is to be encouraged. I love Superbowl Sunday, and I'm gonna love it even more when it's Superbowl Early Monday.

Had a wonderful concert for Sri Lanka last night. It was a great program of English Tudor-era music, Music of the Iberian Penninsula c. 1700, and more modern English Music (Stanford & Howells). Also, Iberian early music from Acapella Portuguesa, which I had the pleasure of being invited to sing with. It's been a big week, and next week will also be pretty huge. I've got the Oxford University Orchestra concert next Saturday, Friday is a party here at Keble, and Sunday will be the Bedford Head crew races. Additionally, I've got a presentation to deliver in a seminar tomorrow, and I'll start work on my second assessed essay on Tuesday. Fun!

wallet.
stolen.
such a hassle.

The Associated Press just reported on a couple of girls who baked cookies for their neighbors and left them on neighborhood doorsteps as a surprise. They caused anxiety and stress in one 49 year-old woman to the point where she sued them and they will be fined $900. The girls' families offered to pay for the woman's medical bills, but she declined saying that the offer had not been sincere or in person. The judge, in his infinite wisdom, decided in favor of the woman. It was, apparently, his opinion that while the girls had not acted maliciously, 10:30 was pretty late for them to have been out. The American legal system is idiotic.

On a different note... it's not just the American legal system. A taxi driver in Cambridge, England was stuck in traffic on his way to court. The presiding judge decided to proceed with the case because she had a full docket that day, and then called him up on his mobile as he was still stuck in traffic to sentence him to community service and to demand a fine. Ridiculous.

It's things like this that question the sanity of people in high places. Nevermind... So I've been preparing for a presentation on universal history due on Monday. This is interesting - evidently, universal history takes as its central premise that all histories are exactly the same, that patterns can be drawn from one civilization to another, that different deities in different cultures have analogues, like Ra and Zeus and Jupiter, and that it all boils down to a single pattern which repeats itself everywhere in infinite ways. In other words, it's a total crock, and I have to make it sounds palatable by Monday.

Here is a statement from an explanation of universal history by Raoul Mortley.

"A thing's wholeness thus becomes its purpose. This is clearly an idea which was ripe for use in history-writing, since the world had been made into a whole by Alexander. Narrow Greek-based histories were now clearly seen to be inadequate, and for this reason the Hellenistic writers look to models other than Thucydides. History now had to exhibit a geographical and cultural breadth, and under these circumstances the Aristotelian idea that the whole gives meaning to the parts, that the whole itself has a meaning and teleology, must have appeared singularly instructive."

WhatEVER. This is Philosophy meets History on the plane of Idiocy.

So yeah, Oxford is a silly place. I got done with the first draft of one of my assessed essays today. Now, Oxford's academic structure is set up such that for the MPhil degree, I must complete four modules and write a dissertation. This is not hard - or rather, it has not yet been hard.

For every module, I must either submit two essays for assessment or sit a written exam. For my Greek module, I'm sitting a written exam. I just finished up with a Thucydides module, for which I am writing two papers, the first of which was done, in draft form, today.

I have also written seven unassessed essays last term in my Thucydides module. They were in preparation for the essay I just wrote and the one I'll start on next week, ie. my two assessed essays. But the seven I just wrote are ungraded. That is to say that I've been here at Oxford for almost a term and a half, and I have no idea how I am doing academically. That's right.

Furthermore, I asked my supervisor today when this actual essay was due. He looked at me, smiled, and said that it was due in a year and a half, ie. in Trinity Term of 2006 (next May). So in fact, I have more than a year to finish up this essay and get it into good working order. The same can be said for my other Thucydides assessed essay, the two assessed essays for my next two modules, and the dissertation. And I'll be taking that Greek exam then too. So no worries, right? I love this place.

By the way, happy birthday to my friend, Chris the Politics guy. He's turning 23 today. :)