![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Weekly review
Dec. 5th, 2007 04:29 pmYeah, yeah, I've not updated in a while. I've had no real reason, other than the end of NaNoWriMo ended my guilt trip about writing, and I've taken to hanging out in Starbucks and not bringing my computer with me.
Since too much has happened, I will give rather short summaries.
-Starbucks- I have discovered to my eternal danger that the Starbucks closest to me is open till 1am, so I have taken up hanging out there in order to get the hell away from my computer. This has translated into productivity, greater use of my paper journal in place of my lj, increased flirting, and my newfound superpower.
-I am the patron saint of lost English-speaking tourists. Twice now, sets of poor lost fools in search of adventure in Vienna have sat down next to me, pondering their lonely fate, and then nearly just out of their skins when I start talking to them in English. (Since I'm reading something very clearly *not* English, it does not occur to them that I can speak English. This is something only tourists would think, because anyone who either sees my shoes or hears my accent has no doubt that I must be an American.)
-My roomie says that she is moving out and into the same place as her boyfriend. I am not entirely sure when this is going to take place, but since it's kind of the middle of the semester, she's of the opinion that it would be difficult for the bosses here to find someone to replace her in my room. I doubt that's the case, but it could happen.
-I've met with the Monasterium guys in Sankt Pölten about my Practikum. Basically, they are running an archive (which in Austria means that they are dealing specifically with handwritten unique objects, mostly the baptismal records of the diocese they live in), and are working through making it digital so that the items in it are available to more people than before. They are also running a transnational organization for ten countries to create an internet portal to all their documents: it's kind of amazing, particularly because the internet is making this possible in a way that was completely unimaginable ten years ago. It's actually really quite cutting edge, in a very ancient sort of way. Mostly, I'm just doing a little translation work on their website at home, and then during the February and March breaks I will work full time for them for three weeks, and that will be that. It's not actually all that much for me to do, but part of the issue preventing me from doing the really interesting stuff is that I have a *lot* of trouble reading the old handwriting. And all the stuff is written by hand, nothing is printed at all. But, if I can get myself to where I can read a little, I can actually start to participate in it, and that would be *really* cool. Particularly since their format is such that, once you scan a document in, you can do a transcription to type (and then a translation) completely online- I could theoretically stay in contact with these people online for years without a lot of trouble.
-I will be in London in about 9 days, and there is a bit of planning going on for me and Emma to have lots of wonderful fun. This includes a little day trip to Canterbury, seat of all Anglicanism and wonderfulness, some markets, seeing the Chinese clay figures at the British Museum, and some wandering around in London, speaking English! YAY!
-I have lost my key. It will cost E30 to replace, and I am entirely sure that I lost in a way that makes it impossible to find- wandering through the city with it in my back pocket. Hopefully I can get it replaced tomorrow, because Jürgen does not work Fridays and so this could be a problem.
Since too much has happened, I will give rather short summaries.
-Starbucks- I have discovered to my eternal danger that the Starbucks closest to me is open till 1am, so I have taken up hanging out there in order to get the hell away from my computer. This has translated into productivity, greater use of my paper journal in place of my lj, increased flirting, and my newfound superpower.
-I am the patron saint of lost English-speaking tourists. Twice now, sets of poor lost fools in search of adventure in Vienna have sat down next to me, pondering their lonely fate, and then nearly just out of their skins when I start talking to them in English. (Since I'm reading something very clearly *not* English, it does not occur to them that I can speak English. This is something only tourists would think, because anyone who either sees my shoes or hears my accent has no doubt that I must be an American.)
-My roomie says that she is moving out and into the same place as her boyfriend. I am not entirely sure when this is going to take place, but since it's kind of the middle of the semester, she's of the opinion that it would be difficult for the bosses here to find someone to replace her in my room. I doubt that's the case, but it could happen.
-I've met with the Monasterium guys in Sankt Pölten about my Practikum. Basically, they are running an archive (which in Austria means that they are dealing specifically with handwritten unique objects, mostly the baptismal records of the diocese they live in), and are working through making it digital so that the items in it are available to more people than before. They are also running a transnational organization for ten countries to create an internet portal to all their documents: it's kind of amazing, particularly because the internet is making this possible in a way that was completely unimaginable ten years ago. It's actually really quite cutting edge, in a very ancient sort of way. Mostly, I'm just doing a little translation work on their website at home, and then during the February and March breaks I will work full time for them for three weeks, and that will be that. It's not actually all that much for me to do, but part of the issue preventing me from doing the really interesting stuff is that I have a *lot* of trouble reading the old handwriting. And all the stuff is written by hand, nothing is printed at all. But, if I can get myself to where I can read a little, I can actually start to participate in it, and that would be *really* cool. Particularly since their format is such that, once you scan a document in, you can do a transcription to type (and then a translation) completely online- I could theoretically stay in contact with these people online for years without a lot of trouble.
-I will be in London in about 9 days, and there is a bit of planning going on for me and Emma to have lots of wonderful fun. This includes a little day trip to Canterbury, seat of all Anglicanism and wonderfulness, some markets, seeing the Chinese clay figures at the British Museum, and some wandering around in London, speaking English! YAY!
-I have lost my key. It will cost E30 to replace, and I am entirely sure that I lost in a way that makes it impossible to find- wandering through the city with it in my back pocket. Hopefully I can get it replaced tomorrow, because Jürgen does not work Fridays and so this could be a problem.
