Cyberdog

I know it sounds incredibly cliché, being spring and all...that super-magical time of year for change and rejuvenation...but I have to admit I have been thrust in completely new and somewhat unexpected directions. As you all know, I have planned all along on living in London after I graduate and part of the preparation for that permanent transition involves finding a place to live. So who better to live with than my best friend, I ask you? No one, that's who.

He invited me into his housing arrangement as the fourth person. This group grew from four to five soon after I joined in. Most of you (or any of you who know me well, at least) would question why I, the most independent of loners (most of the time), would ever agree to live with four other people. Well, I decided, or was convinced through persuasive and convincing conversation, that this was a sensible idea, first of all...meaning, living with more people, splitting rent, etc. Plus, I consider myself an adult possessing at least the vaguest modicum of maturity, able to handle a townhouse type of arrangement. After all, I lived in a townhouse at Cambridge, I've lived on dorm halls for years, and I'd still have my own bedroom in the end, of course, in this new flat. So I agreed to participate whole-heartedly in the 5-room thing.

The search for a 5 began. And quickly failed. Turns out it's cheaper to live with fewer people and there are more options for 1 or 2 bed places that are cleaner, nicer, and more centrally located. That and it's difficult to get 5 people to agree on anything or make decisions for the best of the group. So when I offered to back out, the group of 5 split. Thankfully, I’m still with my best friend in terms of rooming arrangements. And actually, over the course of time that we'd been looking for housing this best friend transitioned into the 'boyfriend' spot. Yes, Emily has her first official boyfriend in three years. This is big news, people.

In addition to a new BF (all smiles and rainbows and sparkles and happiness!!!) I also got a new tattoo. It's pretty killer, too. See? Look:    (BAM! fast transition from pretty springtime pictures to hard core stuff, from here on out!)

"be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life"

And that's basically permanent, you know. Yeah, I love it though. Took three hours of planning and prep, if you can believe it because it had to be hand written and fitted to me, of course. My artist was awesome, though, and way more friendly and talkative than the girl who did my first one when I was at Cambridge. I'd planned on having my BF go with me and hold my hand through the pain (though at that time he wasn't my boyfriend, yet) but the rooms were so small you couldn't fit more than two people in there so the poor guy had to go wander around Camden alone all afternoon. I felt really bad but there was nothing I could do about it, sadly enough.

Dave...that's my artist :)

So there I was, at Evil From the Needle, with the artist – Dave was his name – and we talked all about the US and how he wanted to live in the wilds of Alaska or Canada or something while he worked and drew and refitted the art on my side. So then, like I said, three hours later, he inked me up. That's the worst part of it, as you can imagine, but we agreed on some rock to blast from his ipod to speakers distract me while that little needle tore me up and thankfully once he got started he was really fast and it didn't take more than 15 minutes of me gripping the table.

One more new-ish thing. I finally got my hands on an iPhone...by signing up to a 2 year T-mobile contract the device was free. So basically I’m staying here no matter what. I mean, I have a frickin' contract, don't I?! No, actually I'll have a job and do it the legal way....don't hassle me!

I TOLD you this spring has been totally cliché. But I’m not complaining...obviously. I'm having a frickin' blast.

My instagram from Camden High St today

The lock

Another change. The time. Moved the clocks forward last night. Now we have lots and lots of light! That means I can go out running later and spend more time outside, in general. Today I took advantage of the sun and the warmer temps to head up to the markets in Camden again. Second time since I got the new tat. (The first time was a few weeks ago when the boyfriend's best friend from home came to visit for the weekend and we wandered up there on foot, for cryin' out loud. That was the same night I learned to play poker!). Anyway, today Camden was packed to bursting. But I got up there early so I didn't bother trying to fight the crowds and just moved at the same sluggish pace of the tourists while browsing the stalls, shops, and market avenues. All the winter items were on sale for dirt cheap. Score. London can be the most expensive place ever, but if you're savvy you can rock it for next to nothing. I got black leather boots, a black hoodie, a hand-designed sleeveless tank, and a Rubiks cube all for £30. Beat that!
 

One place in the market that everyone ought to check out during the day is Cyberdog. It's like neon insanity on acid. Goth + Spaceman. If you're into intergalactic, futuristic dance parties, this is the one and only store for you. In London anyway.....because I hear Japan is pretty kinky these days, after all..... It's guarded by two giant robots at the entrance and one skinny dude, who's alive, to keep the under 18's out (sex shop in the basement). Once you're allowed to pass you descend into a surreal underground environment, where people are literally dancing on the ceiling and there's flashing colored lights and weird electric music mixed by a live DJ on the second floor down and store clerks who look like they've warped here from some futuristic dimension. Unfortunately they beat you down if you take any photos so I didn't get any. I had to steal some from the internet so you could get the gist, though.

See? Dancers up on platforms above the shoppers!

Employees

If you watch the following video this weird Spanish chick will take you on a tour through the store and she shows off some of the crazy stuff you can buy, plus you get a sneak peek inside the store, which isn't allowed if you're filming on your own, like I said. This was was best vid I could find, though. Sorry it's in Spanish. But to be fair, it's not what she's saying that's important, it's what's going on behind her:

Me in 3D

I have about 7 of these lined up in my mind, just waiting to be written. I could make an analogy to a clogged drain, so many ideas and bits and bobs are floating around in the mess of the container that is me that nothing gets out “on paper” unless it's forced to move because too many other things are trying to take up space, as well. But I won't make that analogy because clogged drains are gross and I have two of them right now, this very minute, in my bathroom, that have plagued me since I moved in!

Switching topics, and speaking of moving in, I’m on the search for housing, someplace I can live once the school kicks me off campus. To be fair to them, though, I won't be a student at this school any more so technically they are allowed to do that. My two options, so far, are a 5 bedroom house share OR a two bedroom/studio flat share. The search is on! In fact, I should be able to give a final report on where I'll be living in the very near future because a decision needs to be made before everything is unavailable due to the expected influx of people this summer for the Olympics. All the prices will be jacked sky high and space available will be limited to abandoned parking garages.

And although my time this term, as I've said, has been spent working diligently on school-related things, including a dissertation that began to unravel at the seams this week when we lost access to our sample population of runners, I've been out and about in the evenings and on weekends, occasionally. Being locked away in my room is endlessly boring so whenever I have the chance to escape and take in bits of London, I do.

Interestingly enough, my most recent dive into the city was based on something, an ad I suppose, that I read asking for participants for a different study. Always one to appreciate science and help out a fellow researcher in need of subjects, I thought, 'why not?'. Besides, the study (as all studies are required to be) was highly original: the team from Great Ormond Street Hospital (yes, that children's hospital from Peter Pan IS real) were doing 3D imaging of human heads with the aim of creating the largest database of face shapes in the world. The information will be used by medical teams and researchers to treat patients who have to have facial surgery.

Science Museum

The study, called Me in 3D, was done in conjunction with the Science Museum so visitors can volunteer to have their photograph taken with a 3D camera and explore what their faces look like in another dimension. I was all for that! So I went with a friend and made this recording of what you get to play around with on the computer after your picture is taken:

Dr Chris Abela, Senior Craniofacial Fellow, Great Ormond Street Hospital said: “We know a lot about the bones in our faces but little is known about what makes our face the shape it is and about the skin and muscles that make up our face. By collecting as many 3D face photographs as we can we will have a greater understanding of our complex faces, and have greater knowledge to plan and perform the best facial surgery in the future.  This is a really exciting event and we want as many children, young people and adults to come and see themselves in 3D.”

the 3D camera

Priya Umachandran, Contemporary Science Developer at the Science Museum said: “The Science Museum thrives on engaging visitors in the latest contemporary science issues and our Live Science programme lets visitors meet the experts and involves the public directly in cutting-edge research which has an impact upon all of us.”

Afterward, we explored the Science Museum exhibits, themselves because, oddly enough, I hadn't been to this free museum yet. We remained, mostly, on the same floor as the 3D imaging exhibit because it was the floor that delved into our favorite subject: ourselves! According to the site: “Who am I? invites you to explore the science of who you are through intriguing objects, provocative artworks and hands-on exhibits. Discover what your voice sounds like as a member of the opposite sex, morph your face to see what you’ll look like as you age, or collect DNA to catch a criminal in our brand-new interactive exhibits. Investigate some of the characteristics that make humans such a successful species, such as personality, intelligence and language.”

Stephen Wiltshire at work on a panorama

An analysis of people with autism, asperger's, and savantism was, predictably, my favorite display. I think I've always had a special affinity for that “group” of people since I've been exposed to them since I was young. As many of you know, my mom is a special education teacher for kids with “disabilities” like these....though in some cases what is commonly considered a “disability” to me seems a gift! The kids I've known through my mom's job are exceptional in so many ways, and frankly I always prefer to be around people who aren't like everyone else, anyway. Take Stephen Wiltshire, for example. Not a student of my mom's, mind you, yet similar to her insofar as he is an artist who draws and paints, but he specializes in detailed cityscapes. His particular talent is for drawing lifelike, accurate representations of cities from memory, sometimes after seeing them only briefly.

Rome

Rome, detail

It goes without saying that there's more in the museum than I can describe, but I'll tell you about two last bits that really caught my attention, that were quite memorable, if not merely small stations within one room of one floor in the whole building. On the 3^rd floor in the back is the Launchpad, “packed with over 50 interactive exhibits, plus electrifying shows and lively demos, all from the wonderful world of physics. Launchpad is all about asking questions and making sense of the way things work.” The first bit I liked was the Thermal Imaging Camera which picks up heat instead of light so you can see what parts of your body are hottest, your head, most often (though my shins seemed to be in competition) and coldest....which is why this was so memorable because according to this image there is no heat in my hands!!! SEE, PEOPLE!? I’m not lying when I say my hands freeze from September to May, why I can't survive in the cold! There is no blood circulating in my body except when I’m running, it seems. If it wasn't because I am just plain addicted to it, I'd say this is the reason I run twice a day, to get the blood pumping and to heat my body back up to a homeostatic 98.6.

Last one. This part was so surprising I couldn't believe it at first. It was like a magic trick! I couldn't find a photo so I'll do my best to describe this: there is a small metal bar sticking out horizontally to one side, out of a box. This bar is basically free standing. You slip a plastic drinking straw (new ones are provided for everyone) over one end of this little bar so it rests in the middle. Then you bite down on it. You're thinking, 'What? That's disgusting!', until I tell you that you literally start to hear music playing in your ears. No, literally in your ears. The harder you bite, the louder it gets! Want to know why? It's because metal and bone matter are excellent sound conductors, more so than the surrounding air and tissues in the head, so if music is being transmitted through the bar and you bite that bar the sound is carried around through your skull and your eardrums pick up on it. It literally sounds like you're wearing headphones. 

Launchpad room

Greenwich...and the Equation of Time

Why do I bother to listen to what American's have to say about London, particularly why they've never been? It was for this reason I nearly avoided an entire section of the southeast portion of this city; my hall's RA at Ohio State was meant to attend the University of Greenwich the same term I was to go to Cambridge, so we were comparing travel plans and school locations and other essential elements of a UK study abroad experience, prior to our departures from OSU. It was during this conversation that she mentioned how she anticipated a perfectly horrid on-campus experience for herself owing to the fact that Greenwich is a dirty, industrial, and unattractive part of London. I believe she'd been there once before, if I remember correctly. Nonetheless and despite the fact I was already a lover of all things English, I could hardly refute her claim as I'd never been abroad, myself, nor did I know any distinct characteristics of pieces of London. The specificity of my UK knowledge was entirely lacking, I’m ashamed to admit. At the time, then, I felt a twinge of pity for her knowing I was going to what I considered to be the most beautiful campus in the world.

Alas, I never spoke to her of our foreign exchange adventures post-study to determine the accuracy of her impressions of the school or of SE London. In fact, I wasn't reminded of our concurrent studies abroad until 2 ½ years later, meaning this past January of 2012 when I was invited to Greenwich, myself. Another American I'd met in London had lived in Greenwich while attending Goldsmith's University and, unlike my RA, was a huge fan of the area. Though I anticipated a grungy experience I agreed to go along anyway, never one to turn down an offer to see new parts of London. After all, I’m a fan of grunge and dark, underground scenes. So why not give Greenwich a shot?

Greenwich Park, site for the upcoming Equestrian Games in the 2012 summer Olympics!

Despite the fact it's south of the Thames, just as Roehampton is, you actually have to take a very round about way to get to Greenwich from here, switching trains and going north of the river, just to go south once again. Destination #1: The Meantime Bar at the Old Brewery on the Old Royal Naval College Campus. As we approached, I was struck first by the absolutely gorgeous setting because, as it turns out, Greenwich has been favored by royalty since the 1420s and several increasingly grand houses were built next to the Thames. Greenwich Palace, built by Henry VII on the site of today’s Old Royal Naval College (ORNC), was transformed by Henry VIII into a sophisticated royal residence, modeling both its elaborate decoration and culture on the courts of France and Spain, with the emphasis on pleasure and ostentation. Henry VIII added a tiltyard for jousting together with an armory, kennels, stables, tennis courts and a cock pit. However, the Tudor buildings were demolished in the 1660s to make way for Charles II’s new palace, which was intended to rival Versailles. Its location on the Thames allowed Greenwich to retain its links with the sea, sailors and ships. The transition from sail to steam meant that Naval officers required more sophisticated technical education than they could get as trainees on board ship. 

Naval College at Night

Our position, at that moment, was adjacent to Trinity Laban, the UK's first ever Conservatoire of Music and Dance, ranked number one in both its specialisms, and located within the beautiful Wren designed King Charles Court at the Old Royal Naval College. And that night it appeared that a protest was in session. The night was alight with blue spotlights and hundreds of people spilled into the alleys between buildings. Everyone was shouting and the noise seemed entirely out of place in such a sophisticated setting, to be honest. Being the inquisitor I am, I needed to investigate. Against the will of my exploring buddy, we neared the back of the crowd where a film crew was assembling their gear. Another shout rose up in the night, but no one moved from their positions. I asked what was going on: We're filming a commercial for the botanical gardens.

Really?

Yes.

Oh. Nevermind then.

Moving on. We turned and headed back to the pub. The Meantime Bar at the Old Brewery is “a state of the art research facility and Meantime's experimental home. Here the brewers are able to trial, tinker and ultimately create extraordinary quality, limited edition beers, many in a style unavailable anywhere else in the world, including some wild beers (brewed using non conventional yeasts). Delving into the history books, long forgotten recipes, such as old Tudor style ales, will be given a new lease of life. Ancient recipes that used ingredients such as 'bog myrtle' or 'wormwood' are brewed alongside avant garde beers such as Mojito Pilsners and Juniper Pale Ales which have been specifically crafted to match the flavors and aromas of modern contemporary cuisine. The eight majestic 1000 liter copper clad vats (also called tuns) dominate the main hall of The Old Brewery. From their unique vantage point the Main Hall diners can witness the activity around the copper tuns, the focal point of this extraordinary working brewery. The new brewhouse's amazing high-tech design means The Old Brewery is an intriguing balance of the new and the old. Each copper tun will hold 1,500 expertly brewed pints.”

Royal Observatory

From there we walked along the elevated path following the Thames. It was then I was formally introduced to Greenwich Mean Time (no longer referring to the pub now, though the similarity in words can't be ignored). As we all know, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a time system originally referring to mean solar time and is what later became adopted as a global time standard. What I didn't know, though maybe you did, is that the line designating GMT is at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. In the United Kingdom, GMT is the official time only during winter; during summer British Summer Time is used. For you sciencey people out there: Noon Greenwich Mean Time is rarely the exact moment when the noon sun crosses the Greenwich meridian (and reaches its highest point in the sky at Greenwich) because of Earth's uneven speed in its elliptic orbit and its axial tilt. This event may be up to 16 minutes away from noon GMT (a discrepancy calculated by the equation of time [see below]). The fictitious mean sun is the annual average of this nonuniform motion of the true Sun, necessitating the inclusion of mean in Greenwich Mean Time.

The Equation of Time:

Using the approximation for α(M), Δt can be written as a simple explicit expression, which is designated Δt_a because it is only an approximation:

And there IS literally a line. A bright green line in the sky at night. 

See? Everywhere to the West of this is behind in time, and everywhere to the East is ahead in time.

You'll also notice in this photo, about 1cm to the right, is the O2 Arena. Hadn't been there either. So that was, spontaneously, our next stop. As the name so cleverly suggests, the O2 Arena is (yes, you guessed it) an arena....for events. You know, music...and stuff. Plus a cinema, restaurants, bars, and clubs, all under one gigantic roof. What more could you want for full time entertainment? And yes, it's pretty darn huge; a kilometer in circumference and 50 meters high at its central point. If you turned The O2 upside down, it would take Niagara Falls 15 minutes to fill it, they say on their website.

Metallica at the O2

"One Mo Mile"

 

Paula and Mo

As a running addict, it's hard to top a day that begins with a 5K run alongside the UK's best international track star. Nike sponsored an event, in light of the upcoming Olympic games here in London for summer 2012, this morning featuring Mo Farah. He and Paula Radcliffe are the faces for Nike Running UK and both will be competing this summer on home turf. Today was an invite-only event held at an undisclosed location, only those those who were selected to run out of the applicants were privy to its whereabouts. On a whim, I entered the competition and received the qualifying email announcing my placement alongside other London runners, including Mo, to be followed by a meet-and-greet/Q&A/breakfast with the man himself. Obviously, unless your an avid runner, like I am, this even may not appeal, unless you're into meeting athletic celebrities, I suppose. In any event, I was thrilled and woke up plenty early to get myself up to Arsenal tube station with plenty of time to warm up for the run. In fact, just to log in some extra miles I ran part of the way there, as well, despite the bitter, icy clear morning.

Unlike most running events, this one was free. Plus everyone got matching 'One Mo Mile' Nike training t-shirts in addition to the after-event stuff. But I’m getting ahead of myself. So I arrived at Arsenal tube, literally running. It was far too cold to stand still and I needed to scope out the area and warm up my legs for the run. The grove where all the participants were to meet was admittedly quite well hidden. There is no way anyone would notice the entrance to this grotto if they hadn't been told it was there, specifically. Behind a 15 foot high brick wall with only a small door, up the overgrown dirt path, through the small foresty area, there was a clearing. The sun was still low at this point and hadn't crested the trees enough to even thaw the ice on the ground. I was one of the first to arrive. Slowly, more runners in all their tight spandex gear came trickling into the circle. In the congenial manner of athletic events we all formed small groups of 3 or 4 to discuss the morning proceedings; no one was exactly sure what to expect, including myself. I found myself in a group with a journalist who'd been given Nike gear from his magazine simply so he could participate in today's event; a tri-athlete and ultra-marathon runner from Scotland; and another fellow student who was merely a recreational runner. With 45 minutes or so to spare before show time, we compared training notes and experiences, backgrounds, and the rest, while standing, waiting, in this small clearing. Naturally, in our thin running gear we all began to freeze and the entire hoard of runners was visibly shaking by the time all was in order to begin.

After a mild group warm up they announced we'd be running as a group around the course noncompetitively, with Mo leading the way. That seemed fair enough since the competition would have been a bit unmatched, I think. Thankfully I had a pacer in the ultra guy because my feet were literally numb when we started off. If you've never tried it, it's not easy going into a steady-paced run with no feeling in your feet...a touch unsteady, really.

The group, in our matching black Nike shirts with the dripping skull on the back wound through a suburban course at a decent clip. We passed through a park with a petting zoo in the center, with goats and things milling about on one side, and a children's soccer game on the other (it should be noted the small boys were not members of the petting zoo, though the proximity might be confusing to some). We paced down a small hill and headed straight for the old Arsenal Football stadium which, my running companion inflormed me on the go, had been converted into apartments. My question, which was answered shortly thereafter, was what had been done with the inner circle/field? And then, as we passed through the complex, I got to see it for myself:

Converted Arsenal stadium

New Arsenal stadium

It was less than a mile to the finish by this point, ending at the new Arsenal stadium. The journalist caught up to us here and he and the ultra-runner sped up the flight of stairs, ahead of me. One loop around the perimeter of the stadium and, boom, done. The other runners who'd started at the lead of the pack were already gathering around Mo and the news crews for pictures and autographs. Naturally enough, I snapped a few on my phone.

Thankfully, they brought us in out of the cold for the remainder of the event. Inside Arsenal stadium, there was a big conference hall type room. Enormous, with huge windows looking out over the field. A giant screen played clips of Mo in training while everyone grabbed coffee, tea, and traditional English breakfast items from the buffet. My original group, the four of us, grabbed a table and chatted a bit more while we waited for Mo to take the stand.

Introductions were given and then the surprisingly small runner appeared on stage, all smiles. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and modest as well. Down to earth despite his achievements. His speech covered the highlights of his life and training, beginning with a humble start in Somalia, arriving in London from Mogadishu at the age of 8 and speaking very little English. He grew up in West London and began running at school when spotted by his PE Teacher, despite the fact he preferred football and dreamed of playing for Arsenal one day. But it turns out he had a knack for distance running, instead. He “was a very successful junior athlete winning the European Junior 5000m title in 2001. His major breakthrough on the senior stage came in 2006 when he won a silver medal in the 5000m in the European T&F Championships and later in the year won the European Cross Country Championships. At global level he went on to place a creditable 6th in the 2007 World T&F Championships and 7th in the 2009 World T&F Championships. His career took another step forward in 2010 with a 5000m & 10,000m golden double at the European T&F Championships and one week later became the first British man to run sub 13 minutes for the 5000m with a National Record time of 12:57.94. 2011 was a dream season for the popular 28 year old as he became the first British man to win the 5000m in the World T&F Championships a few days after winning the silver medal in the 10,000m. He smashed the European 10,000m Record with a time of 26:46.57 and improved the British 5000m Record to 12:53.11. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon and is coached by the famous distance runner, Alberto Salazar, and runs for the Nike Oregon Project.”

After his life-story synopsis, a Q&A. As I expected, people asked about his specific training and, as I also expected, it was a mainly high-volume training regimen; twice a day runs, just like me. As a side note: I always find it amusing how people respect that kind of training in professional athletes but question it in anyone else, like they do to me. Anyhow, I was curious, especially, how he avoided over-training and, thus, injury...and someone did indeed ask that question. His answer was simple; his coach watches him train every second of every run. If there is ever anything off with his form or in his speed, suggesting fatigue, it's immediately noted and corrected or adjusted for, accordingly. Plus, it is literally his job to run. He gets paid by Nike to be the best. He doesn't have a daytime gig. He does his two runs a day, eats right, has time for naps and plenty of rest, gets the best athletic training, and constant attention from professionals. That helps ward of injury, too, and keep you top notch.

Someone asked a rather silly question, I thought: How do you get yourself out to do runs when you don't feel motivated? His answer basically was that that doesn't ever happen to him. You don't run that much unless you LOVE it and you're competing to be the best in the world. If you're going to win you just know there is no shortcut; you don't skip days, take time off, chill out. That's WHY Olympians are the best. Their sport is their life and they don't compromise it by succumbing to the laziness of recreational athletes.

Despite the fact it reignites the jealousy in me that stems from the fact it's someone else up there instead of me, it was an inspiring day. Hearing someone talk about their passion, alone, is uplifting, but to hear an Olympic runner talk about the one activity I love more than anything else is exponentially more motivational.