wtf?

http://www.colorofchange.org/oscar/

Get on the horse!

This is one of my favourite new Chinese vocabulary words:

马上 = mǎ shàng = at once; right away; immediately

马 = mǎ = horse; horse chess piece; Surname
上 = shàng = on; up; on top; upon; first (of two parts); previous or last (week, etc.); upper; higher; above; previous; to climb; to go into; above; to go up

So 马上 could be literally translated as, "Get on the horse!"

Masked

I had a great time again in Ithaca for New Year's. Here are Kates, Elizabeth and I with masks painted on for a New Year's Eve masquerade party by Kate's tattoo artist housemate Phoebe:



I got some good family time in as well.



I'm back in London now for a late start on the new year. This is (hopefully) my last leg in London. My postdoc applications are mostly done. So now I'm just working on finishing my thesis and preparing for my viva while waiting for word on where I'll end up next autumn.

Essen

After a full day of talking maths with the number theorists at Universität Duisburg-Essen and Institut für Experimentelle Mathematik, I'm back in my hotel, practicing writing Chinese characters (叔 = shū = uncle in direct address), with my Berlitz German phrase book audio CD playing in the background ("Wo ist die Toilette?").