Q2 ANNIVERSARY: 6 months and counting

This anniversary is definitely more special than the first one. The thing about these last three months is that they involved all very good things, with the exception of a few disturbances. And to continue with what is now my quartelry anniversary tradition, these are the highlights:

• Best days: my birthday :) , the day I finished my thesis proposal, the week I spent in Brno and the workshop, the day I got my iPod.

• Worst days: the first night and first few days I moved to the flat, and the days of the bombings in London and Sharm el Sheikh.

• Exciting things: the first time I walked down Snakes Lane while listening to my iTunes :), the day I went to Oxford (although I like Cambridge more), and the day I knew about my paper being published in the conference proceedings.

• Cutest name for a bus stop: Ye Old Cherry Tree

• Cutest name for a pub: The Occasional Half

• Where I live: same old Ponders End till 26/6 when I made the big move to the city, you know, where life is. The best thing about this flat is the fact that I have my own space, the loneliness issue was very bad at first but I think I have come to realise its good side too. It's also nice to have a bakery right across the street owned by a Sudanese guy with Arabic written on its sign.

• Best joke I heard on TV: Q: what is the first thing the Brits will buy if money was not an issue? A: France, just to close it down :)

• The people: I have been meeting more and more people. One of the most exciting things was meeting a bunch of people from all over the world in the Lexicom workshop who were fascinated by the idea that I can actually write from right to left :) yeh, language people!! :)

• What I really want to do tomorrow: get on that plane and fly home.

• What I really look forward to: coming back to London to start the real work (dedicated, aren't I? :) )

• Best way to celebrate this anniversary: to end my online chat with mum, dad and miro by saying: see you tomorrow :)

So, after 6 months on my own in London, how do I feel? Well, I can say I've changed a lot. I learned a lot, laughed a lot, cried a lot, read a lot, went out a lot, stayed alone a lot, worked a lot, played a lot, stressed out a lot and walked a lot (I have a record of 12000 steps to prove it too :) ) To tell you the truth, I never thought I could actually stay away from home for whole 6 months, but I did it. And if I can do this, I can do anything :)

Mai

fooling around

I can't wait anymore.. I am trying to make myself busy with anything but.. I reached the point where my mind actually stopped working. I start reading things but nothing is taken in, and I end up fliping pages aimlessly. Then I did some shopping (there is a sale now), which was fun to be walking around with my iPod, but then I stopped when I realised I am spending a lot of money. So we're back to doing nothing, except thinking of all the people I want to see and things I want to do back home. Still, I have been busy lately thinking of the 'cheapest' way to go to Heathrow.

One not very pretty scene was at Euston station yesterday. I have never seen before this number of armed police in one place. I know they are supposed to make you feel safe, but I have to admit: they look scary too with all their guns and stuff.

And to make my boring evening complete, on BBC 1 right now there is "Independence Day", the crappiest American universe-saving-alien-destructing movie of all time. I especially like the part when they are arranging the universal counter-attack and send a message to the British, then the British soldier says: "about bloody time" then says "what are they planning to do?" in a fairly American accent. And of course the "we will not go quietly into the night, we will not vanish without a fight" all-inspiring speech. Oh.. but of course the "oops" part is the ultimate favourite.

Anyway, it's just 2 more days to go. When are those 30-day months when you need them?

Mai

lost for words

Is there a word to describe your feeling of being bored, excited, sick, sleepy, worried, stressed, and thoughtful all in one? If there is such a word, shouldn't I know about it? If I don't know about it, what does that say about my linguistic career? Ok, now I am even more bored, excited, sick, sleepy, worried, stressed and thoughtful.

Mai

godspeed and terror

"Good luck, godspeed - and have a little fun up there."

This was the messgae from the launching director to the Discovery astraunats, according to NYT. And we all know that the expression 'godspeed' is used to wish someone success. But checking the OED, I also know that there are other constructions such as:

- the godspeed (of a thing) = the finsih
- in the godspeed = in the nick of time
- at the back of godspeed = at the back of beyond

Moving to another play of words, watching the news there was some high ranking American general saying that instead of the expression 'war on terror' they are using now 'war on violent extremism' which uses terror as a method. Don't they just know everything? ;-)

Mai

freaking cold

Ok, so I generally don't mind cool weather, but this is freaking cold in the middle of summer. And this is particularly bad for 2 reasons: (1) the weather shock will be too great for me when I arrive in 40-something-degrees-hot-and-humid Cairo, and (2) now I have a cold which is the last thing I need.

Mai

iFun

These are the basic ingredients of my new iLife: iAlone sitting in an iPark drinking an iCaffe mocha and listening to my iTunes. This is iFun. I love my iLife i :)

iMai

now bombings in egypt :(

latest news from egypt: there have been 5 explosions in sharm el sheikh, the hub of toursit activity. this is horrible. the world has gone mad. so much for happy endings :(

Mai

ipod, I mean Ipod.. err.. iPod :)

At least this day ended on a very happy note. Finally, I am an iPod person. I have been contemplating the idea of buying one for a long time, but was trying to be careful with money things, then couldn't take it anymore and decided what the hell. But actually I finally did it because someone got it from the States a little cheaper than here, so it was a good deal for me. And I just got it half an hour ago. It's cute, it's silver and it's 6 GB :)

You know what, as I started blogging now and was writing the title I have been thinking about the weird way of writing the word. It's funny, isn't it, how we've come to manipulate upper and lower case letters like this. And, as odd as this may seem to some of you, I can't help thinking now of e.e. cummings (American poet). I remember when I first came to know about him when I was a 3rd year undergrad I think, and I used to say who is this weird guy who insists on writing in small letters, even his own name :) Well, apparently, he was ahead of his time. But of course e.e. cummings is weird in more than way.. I guess the following 'poem' can be said to reflect more than just 'orthographic ingenuity':

l (a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l
iness

Weird, isn't it? But brilliant in its own way.

anyway, to celebrate the beginning of the iPod era, i decided to start writing things in small letters more often, a la e. e. cummings :) ok, i'll go play with my iPod now :)

p.s.
i will continue to write my name with a capital M because I like the way it looks in this font :)

Mai

Closed off

Ok, this is getting very worrying. Today I actually couldn't go home as I was out and someone called me saying that there have been shootings somewhere and another 'major incident' at Harrow Road which I have to pass to go home. So after a while I thought I should go home and call it a day. But part of the road was closed and the bus I have to take was not running. So I was basically walking around, passing the time till it cools down, hopping on and off buses. I went to Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Covent Garden. I finally got home 15 minutes ago. I am tired, I am hungry and I am stressed out.

Mai

He goes, and I'm like

So being stuck at home for the rest of the day, I thought I will do some reading. I remebered listening the other day to a nice conversation between two sales ladies in a clothes shop, with one telling the other a story involving her boyfriend. While telling the story, almost every sentence started with either "he goes" or "I'm like". So I was reading today an article entitled "He goes and I'm like: The new quotatives revisited" (I. Buchstaller, 2004), which was generally discussing the linguistic and social significance of these expressions. I especially liked the comparison between these expressions and other speech verbs such as "say" in terms of the latter focusing on "the semantics, the propositional impact of the quote" while the former focuses on the presentation as they are often used to "perform the reported event rather than merely telling it". Interesting, because I think I do notice that with these two expreessions the speaker is often trying to 'mimic' the tone of voice or gestures of the person he is quoting.

One other interesting thing mentioned in the paper is the "Birds of a Feather Effect", roughly the common lexical behaviour of certain items. Although, I found it a bit weird when the author says: "The 'Birds of a Feather Effect' has been defined by Scherre and Naro (1991, 1992) as 'birds of a feather flock together'". I mean, is this really a definition?

Anyway, I'm like it's an interesting paper.

Mai

10 days

Yes, I am counting the days. This minute, it's officially 10 days left for me till I go home. Actually, they will be 11 days till I physically arrive at Cairo Airport at 1:30 am of the 2nd of August. I think I am going to start packing early this time, maybe even 1 whole day before travelling :) Well, you know me, I don't pack my things until late the night before travelling, even if I am packing for 3 years :)

Mai

Bombings again

Ok, this time I was really scared. I was on a bus when I got a phone call from Egypt asking if I am ok. I didn't know what had happened. Minutes later we were told that the bus is terminating just before Euston Road, and lots of police cars were passing through one after the other. I decided to head home. We have been standing at the bus stop for about 35 minutes, while rumours started to spread that this bus is not passing this stop now due to route diversions. So we had to walk to a following stop to take it from there. Finally, I just got home. Very bad mood.

Mai

It's band, and it's broad :)

Yes, finally I have broadband at home. I am alive again. It feels so good. I just logged on, and of course my first stop is to blog about it. Ok, now I have to go talk with mum and dad and check loads of things.

Mai

How well do you spell?

I was watching a spelling contest the other day on tv, and I was thinking why don't we have spelling contests in Egypt? We have all kinds of shows like these, but I never knew of one that asks about spelling. Personally, I think it will be hilarious. Having the wonderful experience of teaching and correcting translation for undergrads, I know it will be funny. And by the way, in that show, I couldn't spell "chihuahua" but I got "onomatopoeia" right :)

p.s.1
according to a survey published in El Mundo, Dan Brown's El Código Da Vinci (Da Vinci's Code) is the number 1 read in the past three months among the Spanish. So, what's the connection between this book and these particular months? hmm..

p.s.2
i finally got to watch 10 minutes of the infamous Big Brother, and.. yak.

Mai

Best academic news of the day

I will have a published paper, my very own first published paper :)

I had an email telling me that the one and only paper, so far, I submitted to a conference will be published in the conference proceedings. The strange thing is that I didn't even go to present the paper. And, to tell you the truth, I didn't expect at all that it will be chosen since it doesn't really present strong arguments as much as review existing theoretical frameworks. I was still in the heat of writing my thesis when I knew about this conference and I thought why not? So I put together a paper from my thesis work and sent it. Of course I immediately had a look at it today, but you know what? I actually wanted to do a lot of changes. I guess I have matured academically, which is a good sign. Well, even if I am not completely satisfied about it, at least I will not be completely satisfied about a published paper ;-)

Anyway, I was thinking that relevance theory (which is in the title of the paper) is very good for me. Ever since I had RT in my life, very good things have been happening. I love RT :)

Mai

New food, new city and water on the side

This was a very nice weekend. I tried a new cuisine I never experienced before, I visited a new place I haven't seen before, and I tried a new water activity I never did before. The cuisine is Ethiopian, the city is Oxford and the water activity is rowing, not punting, rowing.

On Saturday, I went with Sherif, Lana and their friend Lara to an Ethiopian restaurant "Addis" (which in Amharic means 'new' but don't ask me what Ababa means). Lana loves Ethiopian food because she lived there for a few years while her dad was working. It was the best meal I had in a long time. On the menu there were many Arabic words like 'Salata Aswad' (='black salad', a salad mainly with aubergine and butter) and 'Samak Muhamar' (fried fish). Ethiopian food is mostly spicy, but there are some mild stuff also, and of course I went for the mild. I had lamb kebab, which was great, but I also tasted Lana's dish which was spicy minced beef served on a bed of a special kind of bread that has a weird, but good, taste. And the important thing is that it's not expensive.

Oh, and we went for a movie afterwards. And yes, of all the movies now showing we did go for the animated one: Madagascar. The story wasn't that great, compared to others like Shrek or Finding Nemo. It needed more action, more drama. The best part I liked was when the squirrels were dancing and singing "I like to move it move it, you like to move it move it" :) The four little penguins were cute too. Anyway, it was fun.

On Sunday, again the four of us, joined by Hadeel this time, went to Oxford. I always get excited about visiting new places. We walked around a lot, seeing all the great university buildings and churches and chapels, including of course Christ Church. We had lunch in a nice restaurant. Then we went rowing, and this is the hilarious part. Poor Sherif, the only guy with four girls who knew anything about rowing, was stuck. He is actually an expert, did it many times before, but when we girls started taking turns to try it, that's when things went out of hand :) To make a long story short, let's say that there was a lot of splashing and screaming. But there was A LOT of laughing too. Finally, we sat in a very nice park for a while, playing a game of Taboo and chilling out. It was a very nice day.

Mai

Ten thousand

Wohoo.. today was my first time to reach the 10,000 steps goal on my pedometer. 10,182 steps to be exact. It's not much of an achievement after over 2 months, I know. But, for the record, I forget to put it on many times and my average has been around 7000 steps. Ok, these are lame excuses, but at least the average is not that bad, especially that my average in August will probably be 700 steps as I will be driving everywhere (that is, if I still remember how) :)

p.s.
a French girl on a bus in London carried a bag with this written on it: "Elvis is dead, live with it". Interesting.

Mai

Language questions

Why is it that some use 'log in/log out' and others use 'log on/log off'? Prepositions are always causing problems, aren't they?

According to Lacan, mental illnesses in order of seriousness are: neurosis, psychosis and perversion. So from the second we have 'a psycho', and from the third we have 'a perv'. But what about the first?

The verb 'iterate' means 'to repeat something'. But then we also have the verb 'reiterate' , which is a case of 're-repetition'. Interesting. Someone should do a corpus-based study of the use of these two verbs and detect stylistic effects, right?

Mai

Strange meeting

What are the odds of meeting someone who you know comes to London in the summer but you know nothing about when exactly or where she lives? Not very high. Today I just bumped into a professor of drama from my university in a shoe shop which I only happened to pass by because I was changing buses. I stood there for a couple of minutes to make sure it was her, then went over to say hi. It was a very nice and strange coincidence. We chatted for a while about our department and people there, and she gave me her number. Well, it is a small world.

p.s.
this has to be the strangest and loveliest name for a bus stop I have seen so far: "Ye Olde Cherry Tree". It sounds like poetry to me. Isn't it nice?

Mai

Living with a TV

I was meaning to tell you about this earlier but I always forget. The best thing about living in this new flat is that I can wake up in the morning and watch Frasier. I love having Frasier back again in my life. Of course watching the news and a movie every now and then is great too. And do you know what else I like to watch? Ads. It's very interesting to see ads of a different country, it says a lot about the way of life and culture. From the short time I have been living with a tv, I can say that the ads are mostly about mortgage, insurance, cars, gadgets and health and beauty products. Food ads are not that common, I guess, that is of course compared to our ads, where food comes first, followed by, ironically, all the expensive things one can buy from luxurious cars, to dream houses, to mobile phones, etc. And I also like to notice the use of language in ads. For example, I liked this ad which says "tax doesn't have to be taxing". Oh, and through the tv too I came to know that, apparently, England and Australia have a very special relationship in cricket. Of course, cricket means absolutely nothing to me, but I hope one day I will at least get to understand how it's played.

Mai

Blogalization

I decided to work at home today. This was a very bad decision. By the time it was 4:30 I was bored to death, so I got dressed and went out. Initially I wanted to walk to Hyde Park, I knew it is supposed to be close. I didn't try to go there from my flat before. So after 20 minutes of walking I found myself opposite Kensington Gardens instead. Anyway, I went in and it's a huge park. I walked for a while, sat down under a tree and read for some time too, then I went out and did some more walking until I did reach Hyde Park, then I started my way back. And of course it had to drizzle while I am walking. I was home by 9:30, tired, and then remembered that all I had today was an apple and an ice cream. It's amazing how one can actually forget to eat when he's alone. Good eating is all about good company, isn't it?

So at the end of the day, the best thing is that I can blog about it. And speaking of blogging, checking my emails today, there was an interesting one about a conference on the 'Computational Approaches to Analysing Weblogs'. Check out these terms which involve blogs:

• Blogosphere vs. mediasphere
• audiovisual blogs processing
• ranking/relevance of blogs
• blogging tools
• cross-blog name tracking
• semantic blogging
  

Wow, the world of blogging has gone a long way.

Mai

Touring London

I had quite a road trip today. I still had my bus pass and thought I would go to Trent Park by bus and see how it goes. The tube lines are still closed and it seems that they will be closed for some time. As I expected, it took me about 1 hour 45 minutes and 3 buses to reach Trent Park. It took less time on my way back. But, strangely enough, I didn't mind the long ride today, I can even say I enjoyed it. Maybe this is because I had stuff to read so I wasn't bored, or because when I wasn't reading I was looking out the windows and seeing places I didn't see before, or simply because I enjoy going out at 10:30 am, spending the day out, and coming back at 9:30 pm. Plus I always enjoy walking down Snake's Lane to campus, it's so relaxing and very useful too: I always make use of this walk either to clear my mind of everything or to deeply think about my work. Today I was thinking, and I actually had pretty good ideas during the walk which I started jotting down the minute I got on the bus before I forget them.

But of course the nagging problem that was bothering me today is the lack of music. I definitely need an ipod. I just want more time to sort out things with the new flat expenses and upcoming conferences before I spend another hundred plus quid (there I said it, but of course writing is not as speaking and actually saying quid didn't happen yet :) ). In the meantime, I'll just keep on whistling and singing my way through :) .

Anyway, these are two language comments from today's trip. First, is it allowed for shops to drop the apostrophe in whatever they write on their fronts? Under a shop's name today it said "ladies, mens and childrens footwear". Maybe this won't come as a surprise given that the name of the shop is "Walk n Talk". Second, I think this is probably the third time I've seen a pub called "The Unicorn". What is it with pubs and unicorns? They don't even exist :) This, on the other hand, shows that we better think of the definite article as meaning uniqueness but not necessarily existence of its referent (if you're not a linguist, please ignore this last comment :) ).

So, quite an active day for a 27-year old ;-)

Mai

Spacing out on my birthday ;-)

Seriously, I had a wonderful day today. The weather was perfect, the setting was beautiful, and above all the company was great. And I had it all: birthday cards, gifts, flowers and cake. So my thanks to Inas, Omar, Farida, Nahla, and Aisha for coming today. But my special thanks to Billy who suggested coming to Primrose Hill and for the very nice gift. I mean I wouldn't have guessed that I would be listening to a song called "Night Boat to Cairo" on my birthday :) (I am listening to it now, I like the music, it's zingy).

As much as I missed you mum, dad and miro, I couldn't have hoped for a better birthday :)

Mai :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

la la la

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

la la la

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Mai :)

Last day of 26

So today is my last day in being 26. How do I feel? Well, I always thought that after 25 it's all the same. I was so excited about being 25 and always referred to it as a quarter of a century of life experience. But I still believe that the twenties is the best decade in life. Childhood is fun of course, especially if you had a very happy childhood like me. But it is like unplanned, dependent fun. Then through the years until you're 20, it's time for immature fun. You know, when you think you love every boy you meet and spend hours listening to Brian Adams' "Everything I do I do it for you" :) . But the twenties, this is the time when you realise it's the prime of being young and you really have planned, mature fun that is only interrupted by the stress of studies and exams. For the record, I also think that the thirties are probably the worst years of life because you will be reminiscing about being twenty, you will probably have a family to take care of, your career responsibilities will definitely be more stressful (or worse, you wont have either a family or a career to worry about). Then comes the forties which I think you will come to terms with the level of achievement it brings to your life and you start having fun again with a more enthusiastic spirit. As for the fifties, well.. I didn't really think that far.

But I have to admit this new beginning of a new year in my life is extra special. Of course it all has to do with where I am and what I am doing. Apart from the fact that I am living in a place I always wanted to visit and I am doing something I love, it seems that I will be also fulfilling another dream of mine. I always wanted to have my PhD degree by the time I am 30. It's like a closure of both an academic era and a stage of life and the beginning of new ones. Sounds like I've been thinking about this a lot, right? :)

Anyway, I know this will be a very happy year in my life.
WELCOME 27.

As for my final words from the 26th year of my life, well, I can't find better than Robert Browning to say it all:

Grow old along with me.
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith 'A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half: trust God: see all nor be afraid'.


p.s.
I just noticed that this is also the 101 post on my blog, more reasons to celebrate. Happy 100 bloggings to me too :)

Mai

London today, definitely :(

It's amazing how quickly a mood of a whole city can change overnight. Today I was getting ready to go to campus when I got a text then a phone call saying that the whole underground network is shut down due to power problems. So I thought, ok, change of plans I'll take the bus and go to the British Library instead. But minutes later news of terrorist attacks started to spread. All plans cancelled of course. Watching the news all day I couldn't believe it was actually happening. On my way to campus I pass by two of the tube stations that were attacked. I could hear sirens of ambulances and police cars all day long. What a world we've come to live in. I can't imagine how there are still people out there who actually believe they are doing this for a cause. It's just sad.

And as if this is not enough, a couple of hours ago there was also news that the Egyptian ambassador in Iraq, who was kidnapped a few days ago, was murdered. This is very very sad.

Anyway, I just managed to get dial up internet today until I get broadband. Thank God for that because it seems I may have to stay in for a while.

Mai

Olympics in London :) or :(

I was here at the graduate center in Trent Park and there were two other people in the room. We started chatting about the Anglo-French Olympic rivalry and it turned out that both are not in favour of the idea of hosting the Olympics at all. They are English by the way. They mentioned a few things about squandering a lot of money that would be best spent otherwise and crowding the city even more. Then minutes later someone called and told one of them the result. They were both upset. But I am sure there are a lot of happy people out there. As for me, I started thinking after that: can I actually extend my thesis 4 more years so I can be here in 2012? :)) Imagine, 4 more years of studying 'it'.. mmm.. ok, may be I can finish my thesis on time and then do something else for 4 years :))

p.s.
yesterday I was soaked in the rain on my way home, yes, again. But you know what? I am used to it now. I am also used to forgetting my umbrella on cloudy days. I just can't stop wondering: where did summer go?

Mai

My current state of mind

Well, it has been a while. Sorry, can't help it. You didn't miss much anyway. So, what have I been doing? With the exception of watching Live 8 and the Wimbeldon final, this pretty much says it all:

I'm feeling mighty lonesome
Haven't slept a wink
I walk the floor and watch the door
And in between I drink
Black coffee
- - - - -
I'm talking to the shadows
From 1 o'clock to 4
And lord, how slow the moments go
When all I do is pour
Black coffee

("Black Coffee", Ella Fitzgerald)

Don't you just love it when a song really reflects your cognitive, emotive, social and physical states? Oh, the 'cognitive' part should tell you that I have been working too. Why else do I need black coffee?

p.s.
Miro, the short video of mum's birthday is great, you made my day. Thanks bro.

Mai