"Presidents don't have power; their job is to draw attention away from it." Ford Prefect

The primaries are dominating the news here in the US. I’m not taking the ultra-left position (for a change), that elections are totally irrelevant and we should not vote as a matter of principal: although with alarming regularity I say to myself that we should refuse to collude in what ultimately becomes an organisation supporting multi-national business interest and generally failing in its responsibilties to vast swathes of its population. Obviously I wouldn't truly condone not voting: at certain times and in certain circumstances even a small difference between two parties or leaders may be a matter of life and death - people died for this right. But in this case, there are some candidates who are somewhat better than others, but is it really going to make any real difference? All sense of proportion seems to be lost in an election madness-frenzy.

Would I support one candidate against another in this election race? Of course - I always do - but only for the two seconds it would take to make my cross. What I really wish is that we had some real democracy - you know - the kind that demands direct action by people who take to the streets because of things they believe in (or perhaps City Hall - can you be a revolutionary pacifist?). If any of you are interested in the Presidential race here, I was sent this link to a quiz which assesses which candidate's views most represent your own: I thought it was interesting. click here

And for your perusal, a couple of snaps of SF: the view from Buena Vista, the grounds of the Palace of the Legion of Honor, sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf and the compulsory photo of Emma the lurcher.

Fat Lurcher

Further to last week's post, someone commented, and yes indeed, Emma is quite ‘large’ for a lurcher. In fact she is affectionately referred to as the ‘Fat Lurcher’ ( sometimes, in case she's feeling a bit weight sensitive, we call her the skinny lab)and we have written and dedicated a song which is sung to her on an alarmingly regular basis (Kate D-B you really started something with your song challenge last year). Obviously there's a few house jokes in there, but you'll get the drift and Emma loves it when we sing it to her. For my British friends, to the tune of the ‘Blackadder’ theme, after three…

Emma on the sofa with the TV remote

The sound of paws across the park.
Good folk, watch out she’s very nippy.
Beware the sloppy kiss and bark,
Unless you want to end up drippy.
Fat lurcher, Fat lurcher. A kiss is what she needs.
Fat lurcher, Fat lurcher. She's very good indeed.
Black. Her coat of silky hair.
Rough. Her tongue is long and scratchy.
Sweet. Her nature good and fair.
Shame. Her bowels are rather patchy.
Fat lurcher, Fat lurcher. Her gas fills us with fear.
Fat lurcher, Fat lurcher. Good job Laurie’s not here!

I'm having amnesia and deja-vu at the same time...

Blimey! That two week school holiday existed in a weird time/space continuum. Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I've had a few technical account difficulties: Milly/technology/problems...now there's a familiar story. It's frightening to think I have an MSc in Computing! I spent what felt like an eternity of this break, but was actually mere days, hanging out in the Castro trying to set up a new bank account. But, I discovered some decent cafes, one of which never closes and is therefore stored away in the 'potentially useful in the future' recess of my brain for the next sleepless night. I was racking my brain for something to write about and drew a blank as I didn't seem to do especially much apart from study last quarter: writing the blog was so much easier when I was travelling through Central and South America and every day was filled with a wonderous new place or snippet of culture. However, sitting in one of these many cafes in the Castro, I read an interesting piece of San Francisco history which may, of course, not be new to you, but was at least in detail somewhat new to me.

In 1977, gay activist Harvey Milk was elected to the Board of Supervisors. A fellow supervisor, Dan White, a former police officer, had been relieved of his position due to mental ill-health but on improvement of his condition had asked for reinstatement. Milk held the deciding vote and voted against his reinstatement. White promptly went to City Hall and assassinated Milk and Mayor Mascone. His defence was notorious and became known as the 'Twinkie Defense'; the eponymous confectionary and his generally toxic e-number-riddled diet having led to his diminshed mental state. This defence, as successful as the infamous 'South Park Chewbacca Defence' ("No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests." Didn't you love South Park?!), led to a verdict of voluntary manslaughter thereby enraging the population of SF.

After the verdict was announced, one journalist wrote that they were surprised that Milk had not been posthumously charged with 'unlawful interference with a bullet fired by a former police officer.' City Hall was stormed, riots ensued: it became known as the White Night Riot. After serving his very short sentence, White was released and promptly committed suicide. Sean Penn is currently here in SF filming the story so that's one to look out for: myself, I tend to like a Sean Penn film. Also a reminder to me that this Friday was the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King.

I have done some very fun stuff: it's not been all studying. Joanna and I hired a car and took a day-trip with Emma the dog over the bridge heading north into the Marin Headlands (Stinson Beach, Point Reyes). It is really beautiful and exhibits the strangest manifestation of the already somewhat unusual SF weather system. In case you don't know, SF itself has a rolling fog, even in the summer, which apparently will usually burn off by lunchtime. I was standing on Stinson beach, waves crashing, looking out to a beatiful baby-blue sky. See below:


I turned around to talk to Joanna and this was the view directly behind her:



Justine and I went to a magnificent ballet performed by the National Company of Monte Carlo. In fact, there were so many dancers on stage I think only Prince Albert was still in situ. The costumes were designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier and there were some exquisite routines aided by beautiful lighting and music with some glorious gender-bending dance roles. All the way home we were babbling, "and that was brilliant", "and that was perfect". I love it when you go to see something live or a really good film and you can't stop talking about how wonderful it is!

I went down to LA for a few days to catch up with Dave, Arron and Jill. As usual I persevere with the CA shuttle service: at $45 each way, and almost door to door it generally seems like the best option involving no demands on people to pick me up from an airport. But this time...oh dear. It was bad enough that what is usually a 6/7 hour journey took 9 on the way down. Often I have also been blessed with a charming travelling companion in the adjacent seat. This time the person in the next seat spent most of the journey on the phone to every friend she had telling them in great depth, actually word-for-word, how she had 'like-dumped' her 'like-annoying' boyfriend and 'like-why' whilst eating excruciatingly pongy McDonalds. For the return journey they simply forgot to pick me up. 16 hours and one Greyhound trip later I collapse exhausted and, I don't mind telling you, fairly rank, into bed aiming to be bright and enthusiastic to start new classes in 5 hours time. I was greeted at 3am by the loving kisses of Emma the lurcher. Mark says I'm to post as many pictures of her as possible, so here's one of her on her bed guarding her treat stash.


And so to the title of this post...another quarter begins with Medical Terminolgy, the Fundamentals of TCM (at last!) and Physiology. The lecturer was talking about epithelium and cells and things I feel sure I learnt for an exam three weeks ago...I think I've forgotten all of this stuff before.