Cristiana Theodoli

Here’s a link for my new blog, yes it is so far exactly the same as this one, only it won’t be reclaimed back by the university once my course is over!

http://cristianatheodoli.wordpress.com/

Just a quick update , I have now also finished reading:

Roseanna

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke

The Man on the Balcony

Roseanna (The Martin Beck Series), The Man who went up in Smoke (The Martin Beck Series), The Man on the Balcony (The Martin Beck Series)(Paperback) by Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo
Tho all three in a rather more somber Italian edition, published by Sellerio, 648 Pages (total) – on Amazon -

Read the rest of this entry »

At the end of November I somehow came in possession of a mountain of books and graphic novels, some I bought and a few I received from various family members back home. A mountain of books, two weeks ahead of a very long break from classes.

The one thing I dislike about being a student again is that intense guilt that surfaces every time you open a book for pleasure. Your conscience shouting at you until you give up and do your hour of shorthand dictation practice.

A mountain of books and two weeks to go before an actual break. Two full weeks. Two weeks full of essays and presentations, and interview features.

The temptation endless. The possibilities for procrastination available: 17. How I managed to submit everything in time? A mistery.

So here I am, with a month and a half off, work to do, but not much studying (apart from the perennial shorthand), and 17 books, what else to do if not setting myself a challenge? Two I have read, between Saturday December 12, and Monday 14:

Slaughterhouse 5

Slaughterhouse 5, or The Children’s Crusade – A Duty-dance with Death (Paperback) by Kurt Vonnegut
Published by Vintage, 176 Pages – on Amazon -

and

Brief Lives

Sandman, The: Brief Lives (Paperback) by Neil Gaiman (Graphic Novel)
Published by Vertigo, 256 Pages – on Amazon -

And by the start of February I will try to go through…

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Yesterday Kevin sent me an invite for Google wave – the latest of Google’s products.

The company, known for it’s creative outputs such as SketchUp, a tool to create 3d models, and has recently unveiled Google wave preview (beta version).

Google wave, so far only available on invitation, allows you to create waves (!) – in easy terms a form of instant messaging service. It differs from a usual messaging service as it allows you to see what the other person/people in that wave are writing LIVE – word by word. It also allows you to edit someone else’s message as well as yours.

Wave struck me straight away as amazing tool for academia, as two people in different continents could write and edit the same document at the same time.

An extra tool I found is instant translation, just add aunt-rosie@appspot.com to your contacts, than if say you were to write to me in English, and I was to reply in Italian, we could just add the translating robot to our conversation to translate immediately our words (it mostly works quite well, but you do sometimes need inventiveness in un-coding the translation.)

One small logication away (yes, I know, still, I think it SHOULD be a real word…) and all I can see are the applications for wave in the newsroom. Read the rest of this entry »

Just a quick test before i commit myself to a day of cleaning to see if i can post from my ipod. Test over. Hoover etc. here i come! Meh.

The recent case, where a 16-years-old charged and now imprisoned indefinitely kidnapped and raped a 5-years-old boy – eight days – after being given a 3years community service sentence for raping another boy got me thinking.

I’m very interested in the whole criminal area of society, I’ve studied it from psychological, sociological, and anatomical approaches between my first degree (Psychology & Sociology) and a course in forensic anthropology. Read the rest of this entry »

I may pay a wee bit more (to be honest not enough to notice)

but my energy really is Good Energy .

From 100% renewable resources, Good Energy is a proper ethical company, and has the best customer service I’ve come across in a long long time.

I decided to change a while ago after I had MASSIVE problems with NPower, and when I moved to Ibrox it was an easy decision to keep it on.

You all know I go on about the division of labour and it’s effects on big companies a lot, but in Good Energy there is no sign of that.

Bumps in service from most big companies are unavoidable. It’s a natural consequence of increased automation and (once again) the division of labour (diffused responsibility is the death of accountability, one day I’ll do a PhD on that..)

Yet with all the troubles I’ve had, with all the companies I’ve had to deal with since in Scotland, dealing with Good Energy has been a smooth ride from the very start.

This blog seems to be on the verge of becoming a list of praises, so I’ll stop there..

But please, do check it out as it is definitely worth it!

All those who know me are aware of my ineptitude in the kitchen. As with many other ordinary activities, I just can’t be bothered. I feel being  in a kitchen is a waste of time that could be better spent, yet as I’ve been surviving on cheese toasties, sandwiches and nutella for the past month, tonight I decided to cook.

Lamb Chops with Garlic, Rosemary, Curry Powder and Beer

Sweet Potato (yes just the one.)

Roast potatoes with Rosemary

(then a cheeky toblerone triangle..)

The song is -Qui vicino a te- by -La Crus- from -Dentro Me-

Strangers Keep Staring At My Chest!

I WAS at Victoria Infirmary’s A&E for three hours on Friday. Out of those three hours, two were spent waiting. But this is not a post of complaint, this is a post of praise.

I have been getting strong, burning, pains in my chest for a few days, and in the last couple they started getting worse, affecting my back, arms, and shoulders. As I can’t see my new doctor until next Wednesday (my registration appointment) a pharmacist advised me to go to the Victoria Infirmary.

Why Mount Florida’s Victoria Infirmary and not a closer hospital might remain a mystery. But the pharmacist is adamant, so to the Victoria Infirmary I go. Read the rest of this entry »

There are extremely contrasting views on this controversial issue.

Some look at the smoking ban and consequential intermittent exodus of us smokers from bars, pubs, and offices as an opportunity to meet new people, strengthening the perception of smoking as a social activity; others instead find life miserable, with less people smoking, a trip outside can be quite a lonely affair.

So how is life for smokers since the ban?

In my opinion both views apply, depending on the situation.  If out drinking, smoking does become a social occasion, alcoholic inhibition influences people’s will to chat to strangers exponentially, and the fact that we are outside smoking creates an easy connection and rapport.

On the other hand day-time smoking presents different challenges. If no one else in the smoker’s circle at work or university is dedicated to said activity, life can be miserable.

Smokers always have a different agenda, they are always the first to leave and run outside for a quick puff. All other ‘break’ time allowed is planned accordingly. A smoker’s cigarette is the centre of his world, and if said smoker is the only one in need of a quick nicotine fix, life can be quite miserable.

On the whole it is not the smoker who decides which view to take but his/her circle of friends.

*Requested info from NHS Scotland through Freedom of Information act, will update post again once data received.*