My Life as a Guinea Pig

I'm currently balls deep in writing up my Cornwall project, whilst also trying to get any cash I can together to make rent and generally live. My first, quite successful plan, was selling some of my possessions on ebay. I always said I wouldn't sell anything, but needs must and I'm only selling things which I've either never used, or are simply collecting dust in my admittedly dusty room. My other means of income currently is whoring myself out to medical research.

Okay, I'm not technically prostituting myself, nor am I involved in any medical research as such. I have signed up to help out at the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham with a study that is apparently to do with eyesight. I personally believe it is more to do with how the brain perceives certain images, but no one's telling me anything. So for the last couple of days I've been sitting in a dark room staring at a computer screen which is intermittently flashing a series of dots up on the screen. I then have to press buttons to say whether I think the dots look like a hexagon with its point at the top or on the side. This continues for two hours. I can say in all seriousness that this is one of the dullest things I've ever done. Jesus, I'd even consider getting a job rather than this! Thankfully no one is watching me, and so I've taken to listening to my iPod whilst laboriously pressing "1" or "0" for two hours straight. I'm not sure if this affects the results, but iof no one can be bothered to monitor me I'm just going to keep doing it. By then end I have the appearance of a man who has been awake for three days doing nothing other than smoking marijuana and rubbing his eyes. I'm fairly sure it's not good for the brain to be sat in a room with flashing lights for that amount of time, in fact I'm sure of it as yesterday I was sick in my mouth a little during the "experiment". Maybe that's the point...

I shouldn't complain though, I'm getting paid for it and next week I'll be subjected to an fMRI scan as part of the research. I just hope the study provides some fascinating results. It is paying for me to go to the last weekend of the Edinburgh Festival this weekend with Sam though, so it's all worth it.

One Big Mac and a McCurry Please

Just a very quick one, here's that Steve McCurry photograph I spoke about in my previous blog. I popped back into the gallery to find out what it was called, so enjoy!
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46 Cakes

All is well with the world at the minute. I finally figured out where I was going wrong with my Cornwall data and so my maps are actually looking like they should, or at least will be once I've converted around 800 co-ordinates into the correct format. I've had a great weekend this weekend darting about for Sam's birthday (happy birthday Sam!). She had some friends down from Scotland, and from London, and some more local friends, all of whom congregated at the Yardbird last night for many drinks and eventually wine and cake back at hers. Good times.

Today we went along to see the Steve McCurry exhibit currently on display at the Waterhall Gallery in Birmingham. I was unaware of his work, apart from one very famous picture, but Sam and my brother had been harping on about it for a while so it was nice to finally see what all the fuss was about. I was very impressed I must say, some of the photographs captured the emotion of the subject flawlessly. I wasn't as keen on some of the blatantly set up scenarios, but his use of colour and subject matter is always exquisite. Here are a few of my favourites of those on display.
That first one may be my favourite photograph ever, although it's very hard to look at. There was another picture that looked like an oil painting but was in fact a monastery built into a cliff face, but I can't find it anywhere! If I do though, I'll be sure to post it...

Was I Really In Poland?

Okay so I'm back in Birmingham now but thought I'd continue the blog anyway for the time being, seeing as it's acting as a fantastic procrastination device.

After deciding sorting out my entire room was a valuable use of my time yesterday, I cracked on with some actual work today. First and foremost, I wanted to see if the numerous co-ordinates I had spent the last 9 weeks collecting actually amounted to anything. Unfortunately, this has meant me teaching myself how to use DIVA-GIS, a free online geographic mapping tool. I've realised I am incredibly lazy when attempting to read tutorials, choosing to simply scan for key words as opposed to reading the whole thing. This meant I got nothing done for a good hour, and my first attempt ended up with all my co-ordinates appearing at various places around mainland Europe. Thankfully, I was being a moron, and had in fact mixed up my longitudes and latitudes. Half an hour of cutting and pasting later...the maps still don't look right. This could mean one of two things. Firstly, my co-ordinates are all off, and I've just needlessly subjected myself to 9 weeks in a damp caravan, or the more hopeful second option, the software I'm using is a bit crap because it's free. So tomorrow I'll begrudgingly pay the train fare and head into uni to use the posh mapping software.

I'm also applying for jobs at the minute, which I hate doing. I'm only looking for money currently and not a career job, just whilst I finish the course. I'm so lazy when it comes to this though, and most applications end up with me cutting and pasting my somewhat lacklustre CV onto various forms in the hope that the sheer quantity of jobs I apply for means one of them has to give me a go. We'll see...

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The End of This Crazy Trip...

Today marks the final day of my stint down here in Cornwall; as we speak my dad is heading south to pick me up. I'll actually be leaving tomorrow as travelling from the midlands to Cornwall and back again in a day involves about thirteen hours of driving, and so I'll be sharing my final night in the caravan with my pa.

Yesterday I decided to have a final walk along the coast to take it all in before I leave. I chose to set off late, but on my way back received a phone call from Claire seeing if I still wanted to go over to hers that night. I felt bad because I had remembered making this arrangement but assumed she's forgotten so took my time spectacularly on my stroll. Anyway, I was still back in time to take her up on her offer, and we ended up having a barbecue on the beach, joined by her partner Ben. I must say I'm glad I went along as I finally got to see the sun setting over the sea, but unfortunately I have packed my camera so won't be able to post any pictures. I also enjoyed the best burger I've ever had, no cheese, a tiny bit of salad, but the tastiest burger of my life. I felt like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction... I was also treated to a hot shower and a real bed, all in all a fine way to spend my penultimate night.

This morning I was greeted by Jeremy, the owner of the caravan, who informed me that word of my project had been spreading around the company, and in fact to the local press. This has concerned me somewhat, as I'm beginning to worry that the project might not be up to scratch. This is not technically my fault, the blame lies partly in the hands of time. If I can contextualise my work into the grander scope of food security and the importance of crop wild relatives however, then hopefully it will have all been worth it. I may have my work cut out for me when I get back, but I have around a month to write up which should be more than enough time to create a project which can be referenced by anyone doing similar work.

Today I am mainly waiting around. Uncharacteristically, I have packed almost everything and so just have my iPod and the laptop for company whilst I await my dads arrival. I'm hoping we'll head out for a steak later so I'm passing the time by warming my stomach up.

It's been an adventure down here in Cornwall. I can't claim to have enjoyed every minute of it, but I think overall I'm glad I came down here to do the work, and I hope it will have use and significance to anyone wishing to continue what I have started.

Life Is A Roller Coaster, Wise Words Ronan...

Today was full of ups and downs. I managed to bag a lift over to the east coast to continue where I'd left off several weeks earlier. On my walk down to my starting point in the drizzle, a dense Cornish mist descended on the cliff tops and surrounded me, making me feel like the only man in the world. At the same time I was listening to some fairly bad eighties albums in order to give them a star rating, after a bright idea last night to come up with a top five album list from every year since I was born. Together, these two things made me feel very sorry for myself, and I spent the majority of the morning angrily moping around, watching the clock. The rain got worse and my work became harder, until eventually I gave up and decided to indulge in one of my favourite daily pursuits: scrambling over rocks. I decided I'd give up on the music and instead re-listen to some old Adam and Joe podcasts, and just as I was slipping around amongst the rocks the sun came out and the day improved no end. After a good half and hour of what can only be described as "dicking about", I continued with my work, resembling a damp, sweaty maniac as I walked around laughing heartily to myself.

I got to my final destination earlier than expected, so partook in another of my hobbies here and followed a random footpath to see where it would go. Nowhere particularly interesting it turned out, although I did see a woman and her daughter blatantly collecting poppy seeds which I thought was a bit suspicious. It got to about half three and I headed up to where I knew the volunteers were working today to get a lift back to base. As I approached I saw one of Natural England's tractors leaving site, so I assumed I was just in time. I was not. I walked around the entire site, and realising no one was there rang headquarters. I was helpfully informed everyone was back at base except Steve, who might be able to pick me up if he was still around. I rang Steve, but his phone was off. Perfect. Seven miles from the caravan the anger began to rise again and I set off along the main road for the long journey back. After about two miles Steve rack however, and was good enough to come out and pick me up, which was much appreciated. Things were looking up again, and when I got I had an email waiting for me informing me I'd be receiving a pay cheque for my time here. Hurrah!

To confirm, a day of ups and downs. One of my more boring posts I'm afraid, but what do you expect, I'm almost done!

Nervous on Night Drives

Before I start, just a few of my favourite signs from the last few days:
Today the weather was glorious so I headed out and about to try and get as much done before my return back to Birmingham at the end of the week. Unfortunately, the weather brings out my least favourite breed of people: the tourists. Just look at this beach, this really is a hell on Earth to me:
There's probably a hint of jealousy in my vitriol as these people can lounge around all day frolicking in the sun, whereas I am still unenthusiastically counting carrots every few steps. Not for much longer though! This almost wasn't the case however, as I had a phone call from my lecturer today trying to convince me to stay here for an additional week so I could meet up with a Natural England employee who has done previous work similar to my project. What annoyed me is that he dropped this bombshell on me three days before I'm due to leave and expects me to dotingly go along with it. No dice. I basically explained that my dad has had to rearrange his whole week in order to come and collect me, and I am quite literally down to my last scraps of cash. If he'd offered me some funding, or even informed me of this a few weeks ago I could have made arrangements and possibly would have stayed for an additional week. I was seconds away from telling him I needed to come home for my own sanity more than anything else, but bit my tongue and kept it professional. We both stood our ground amicably and so I am still due home this week, much to his disgust. There's just been too many last minute decisions already on this course, and with the end in sight I think one more may have been the straw that broke the camels back. I think had I agreed, a scene similar to the ending of "Falling Down" may have ensued...