Campus revisited

Master's
In my previous post I gloried in overcoming the injured knee to consult Unisa's library. On Monday, I made my way to the library at Tukkies (the University of Pretoria). My friend Anja of Coram publico is often to be found there (which is part of the attraction). She is also a Master's student.

Tuks's campus is mainly level and offers pleasant walks. No crutches needed. I know the library and its lifts well. The main benefit of working in the library and in the general area of another Master's student is that I concentrated and got some work done. With work I mean actual dissertation writing instead of taking notes, thinking or creatively procrastinating. Anja was similarly productive.

I rediscovered the joys of being at Tuks while the students are (mostly) away. The library is quiet, no herds of students stampede building entrances every ten minutes before the hour and, since no-one seems in a hurry to get in and out of the library, my access card functioned perfectly. And let's be honest, it is also less depressing not to have to face droves of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and inescapably juvenile students. I hate to admit it, but they remind me that I'm older.

There are also other advantages of being on campus and fraternising with other post graduates. As usual, I didn't plan ahead and inform people that I would be on campus so instead of having lunch or coffee I got to see very cute critters and surprise another friend of mine.

A cute elephant shrew - photo by Sasha Hoffman

She is doing a study on the little things. It was great fun to explore a new building and see the arena where the shrews run around. I also had a giggle at the notice which asks researchers not to put the animals on the floor since the basement sometimes floods. (I'm sure that it's a serious matter for the animals, but the note amused me.) Asking questions led to an interesting piece of information: these shrews can be kept as pets.

Guess what I want?

Finally, Abinger Harvest is mine!

Master's
I took a week of completely undeserved doing-other-things time. This included the Great Wash (laundry and dishes), visiting Madam Marthie Leach the Awesome and sorting through papers. The Universe also responded to my wavering faith in the Master's degree by not allowing me to start gainful (in the monetary sense) employment in the corporate world. This message was delivered via a very kind and courteous you-are-not-the-successful-candidate email on Wednesday.

Today was a veritable triumph of endurance and sleuthing.  I broke through the conspiracy to halt my progress by finally going up to Unisa's library and making copies of the essays in Abinger Harvest by E. M. Forster. This sounds relatively simple, no?

Fun fact about me:

I have a bad knee.

In general it behaves itself, but it is not too happy with things like slopes. If you have never been to Unisa, the slopes look something like this:

View Larger Map

So halfway up the slope which my daring accomplice claimed: "was very short", both knees were very unhappy. Luckily a kind security officer assisted us and made us a special, dare I say it, disabled parking close to the entrance. Despite my stiffness and pain we continued on our brave search for the Essential Resource. We pressed through despite the queue and a general sense of slow moving. I limped my way to the shelf to miss, at first, and then find, with infinite relief, the book I've been looking for for over a month.

The essential resource

I should be mobile again soon - I've already started on the dicloflam (the disgusting generic of Cataflam, which works like a charm) and I hope to hobble less by tomorrow. I'll decide then if the whole shebang was worth it.

Gym
Murphy's law: if you go to the gym and walk far on the treadmill, you'll have to walk even further under less ideal conditions the next day.

Project 36
As discussed in my previous post, I had an appointment with Marthie Leach yesterday. I have mixed feelings about the results. My weight is up by 100g (which can be just winter clothing) and I've gained 0.5% body fat. I've discovered that your body retains fat when you get ill (and not just for heat as I supposed before).

Part of the joy in visiting Marthie Leach is that she is always supportive and always has ideas on how to handle whatever situation arises. The answer to my current need-to-feed problem is to eat popcorn. Live and learn. Act II Lightly Buttered popcorn (found in the local Spar in my case) is low in fat and high in volume. A whole pack of crunchy, warm deliciousness is the equivalent of two slices of bread (carbohydrate wise)!

I'm considering also posting recipes and low/no fat cooking tips. Leave a comment if you'd be interested :)