Joyful things

The day I've had - it's been startlingly amazing.

I'd managed to forget that my old friend M., former climbing partner extraordinaire, was back in town for his PhD graduation. But he got in touch while I was still on the train in, and we had lunch in a café with him in his commencement robes, all red and gold and formal.

Turns out, he'd no family coming other than his girlfriend, who was in want of company for the ceremony. When a friend invites you to their two-tickets-only commencement, you don't turn them down: and it was beautiful, and startling joyful to see so many happy people. And M. - I've seen him this happy hardly never: a tall skinny shaved-head geek quite luminous and handsome. He and his girlfriend are delightful together. It makes me immensely happy to see them happy.

(It was an honour to attend his graduation. An honour, which I'm sure he'd brush off in embarrassment if I managed to say how much I meant that.)

(Also, it's going to be a funny story, "How I was press-ganged to M.'s commencements.")

After that - which occupied perhaps the larger portion of the afternoon - the Long Room Hub was holding their New Academic Year Party from 1800, which had free food, free drink, and many interesting people - WHEEEEE PEOPLE - and at 1900 I'd already arranged to meet C.T. and Dr.J. for drinks, so we trailed around to a couple of places. First the Library Bar in the hotel on Exchequer St., and then a place called Wagamama, which I'd never heard of but apparently specialises in doing Japanese-style food fast (I had duck gyoza and plain noodles, since I was both hungry and in distrust of my stomach's reaction to spices): I will call it a definite win, and will have to go back there when I'm slightly richer. Then finally a stop off in the Lombard beside the train station, where I left them because my train was the sooner.

Many things spoken of in passing, which I will not recount.

I have had ALL THE SOCIAL, and will try not to pass out from it before I go home.

(No, I only had one beer. One half-pint of ale, to be precise.)

Today also brings interesting links

Foz Meadows deconstructs The Kickass Damsel:

Over and over again, we limit the competence of our female characters by placing them in perilous scenarios, not to test their skills, but to show how thoroughly they still need to be rescued; to make them vulnerable enough to fall in love, because if we wrote them as being emotionally well-adjusted and romantically inclined from the outset, they’d be deemed too feminine (whereas if we wrote them aromantically, they wouldn’t be seen as feminine enough).

India will shed few tears over the end of British aid:

The crucial issue is the contribution made to India's development – and this is really not about aid but trade and investment, where the news is not good. Minute dribbles of UK aid cannot hope to work PR magic in India when the UK government is seen trying to bully the Indian government into accepting completely unjustifiable intellectual property clauses that will increase essential drug prices in a trade agreement, or pushing the interests of its own companies in getting extra protection and compensation in the face of laws that protect Indian citizens who are adversely affected by the investments, or indulging in protectionist practices against Indian exports.

Amal El-Mohtar blogs World Fantasy.


Genevieve Valentine on Sagan Day.


The most beautiful set of cat pictures on the internet.