Tuesday 21 September 2010

Professional Adventurer/Archaeologist (Desk Based)

So, a lot to talk about this time - it's been a busy week. The flat is sorted - the supervisor sent me a beautifully printed Durham University reference, and so as of this week I have somewhere to live! It's incredibly exciting - just the thought of having keys again to somewhere I can call my own! Not that living with Alice hasn't been lovely - it certainly has - but I'm sure she is ready to get rid of the clutter that my belongings are causing, not to mention the general air of charcoal smoke that pervades some of my clothing...

Let's face it, on my budget the flat isn't up to much on my budget... but it'll do for now. It really has the feeling of a struggling artist's hole...


More good news, I am no longer merely a struggling unemployed graduate hopeful, I'm now officially a freelance environmental archaeologist! OK so I only have one client - the Nevern Castle Excavation, but it's good work - essentially continuing my masters for payment. Not bad eh!? I also have a second job as a tutor for students with disabilities, something I'm actually really excited about - I've always wanted to do some teaching - I think I was made to be a mad professor...



So things are looking up. In other news, my wonderful girlfriend got me tickets to London to see Avenue Q last weekend so we had a wonderful time seeing the sites - though it feels like we've walked miles. Definite recommend for the show - just go see it before it closes!

I'm writing this in the sun beside my floatation tank watching the mud break up off the stones and the charcoal spill into the sieve... it isn't a bad life. I'm poorer than the proverbiable ecclesiastically inhabiting rodent (sp. Mus musculus), but I'm outside in the open air, gaining data about a specific environment, and all seems good. I just hope I get paid soon enough to pay the rent......

Monday 6 September 2010

Will Dig For Food...

Just a brief update on what's going on...

The Dissertation is printed and goes for binding tomorrow... it's very exciting, and fairly nerve wracking - I have to force myself not to look at it because I'd be sure to find many small mistakes...



I found a lovely little room to rent right in the centre of town for an absolute steal...unfrotunately they need an employer's reference. Supervisor/employer has said he'll give me one, but nothing yet. Also I need another job. The CV has been distributed all over the place, but no response yet. I'm sitting by the phone and computer refreshing my inbox over and over. It's all very tense. I have one interview on Wednesday to work as a disabled tutor/note-taker at the University. Which would be cool - very worthy, lots of interesting lectures (it'll actually be interesting to go to not Archaeology ones for a while), it'll keep my academic brain in good working order (like it ever was) and the pay's good. The downside is that the pay is not secure... don't know what I'll get week to week.

Sometimes I understand why graduate schemes are (were...) a good idea.


Keep Smiling!

Thursday 2 September 2010

Dissertation Down!

Hello Blogosphere!


Well, it's over. Its finally finished! It's a bit shorter than I'd have liked, but it turns out there just isn't that much literature on Wales. It turns out that the forest around the castle where we're digging is pretty much as you'd expect for a forest in South Wales, and the cereal remains are exactly what you'd expect for a 12th century society in South Wales. Excellent. I did find lots of peas though, which was quite exciting given my previous experiments!  The results and analysis are fairly huge sections to show all of this, and also show various chronological developments in the castle as it was slowly rebuilt in stone. That's the beauty of doing some form of scientific study - you're sure to find some usable data which you can shoehorn into a pattern and comment upon.

So there's Omnigeek Top Tip (or O.T.T.) number one for all you undergrad Archaeologists out there. If at all possible (and I realise it's much easier in an Arch. Science context) find some excuse to use numbers. For instance, an experimental study, or if possible using data from site records - even better if it's data you've produced yourself. You're always guaranteed to be able to comment, even if the comment is "no discernable pattern". Also you can use graphs, and graphs are pretty...

Yes, I'm on a massive Star Trek kick again - it was my Birthday last week and so I finally replaced my lost copy of the film... It even passed girlfriend approval. I'm just not sure what to do with all of this coolness...ahem...

So now what? Well, job time. I'm supposed to be getting some money from the excavation to continue post excavation work until christmas, but because of everyone's precarious financial situation the details of this are not forthcoming at this time. So it's C.V. circulation time in the streets of Durham, which is fun for everyone involved...

I've found a flat (well... a room in what feels like creaky old College accommodation - more later if I get it) but need an employment reference to get it. Hopefully the excavation director can provide one, but it's all a bit fraught at the moment - I really do not want to lose this room...

So keep your fingers crossed for me everyone!