Photo meme!

[raven]

The photo meme! People commented to ask me to take photos of things, and here I am being obliging.

I actually had a really good time getting all of these. First of all, gamesiplay wanted to see my bookshelves.



Here they are, in all their glory. I'm lucky to have such nice ones - most college rooms have one shelf above a desk. I should point out here, before you see the rest of the pics, that I am one of the messiest people you'll ever meet. It should therefore be clear that this isn't all my books - quite apart from the ones at home up north, there's at least another shelf's worth strewn around the room.

Moving on, yes! The bottom shelf was supposed to be all my own personal books, with the middle shelf for reference and textbooks, but it didn't quite work out like that. That said, the bottom shelf is the fun one. It has lots of Doctor Who in the middle, and the book on its side is my birthday present from gamesiplay herself: The Portable Beat Reader. It shall be devoured in ninth week.

Along with Catch-22, still lurking unread on the shelf above. But apart from CDs and DVDs, those are mostly dictionaries and Oxford handbooks. The big grey book on the far right is the University Examination Regulations. Yes. I know. Most people use them as doorstops. The little red one in front was a present from Sky - The Little Book of New Labour Bollocks.

The two pictures at the top are my sole concession to religion in the room - the one on the left depicts Saraswati, goddess of learning and education (I should imagine most Hindu students have a picure of her somewhere) and the one on the right is Durga, who is my kind of goddess. Yes.

speccygeekgrrl wanted a picture of the notebook I write the most in.



I would dearly loved to have shown it to her - it's a purple hardback notebook with Eeyore embossed fluffily on the front, which hathy_col brought me back from New York - but I idiotically left it up north this term and have missed it sorely. So in its absence, I can only give you the once-160-page-now-sadly less pad of lined paper that my revision notes are slowly filling up. (Those are my political theory notes you can see. Yes, my handwriting is atrocious.)

le_parapluie wanted to see my favourite shoes!



I couldn't decide, so you get two for the price of one, so to speak. The boots are my winter favourites - they're big and warm and make wonderful clunking noises and are girlie while still pointy enough to kick arses. What's not to love? (Also, girl_doctor has them too, in brown.) And the red ones are the ones I'm living in at the moment, although to be honest I haven't really been wearing shoes lately.

icepixie wanted the attic in general, and jacinthsong wanted to see what was up on my noticeboard.



Here is is, and I have to say it's not the world's most academically focused. The photos are all my favourite ones - the two on the bottom at the right feature Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman! - and the bit of paper on the right is the lyric sheet to the Gordouli. The purple flyer, which I like very much, is for Wyrd Sisters, and thus has sebastienne as Nanny Ogg on the front. Of course, all the rest are examination entry forms, because you can't have everything in life.



The attic in general, taken from my desk. Yes, such a mess. The whiteboard usually hosts my to-do list - the_acrobat, I advise you look closely at it! - and the bed is usually made. Honest.

cscottd wanted to see my desk.



I thought about tidying it up, but thought that would be missing the point. In retrospect, maybe I should have got rid of the socks. Or the boots. Or the mouldy coffee cup. Ohgod. But that's my beloved Loki with LJ on screen, and you can see the amazing fluffy pink speakers and the attic porthole, so I guess it's not that bad.

minttown1 wanted to see my favourite piece of jewellery.



Again, I couldn't decide, so I give you my favourite earrings and necklace. The earrings are from India, nice silver and I absolutely love the flower design. The necklace doesn't really match, but I wear them together anyway - it's an ordinary silver chain, but the pendant is an ankh I got in Cairo.

jessikast wanted the view from my window. For some reason, I'm never in my room during daylight hours these days, so you get the night view, taken just now, and the day view which I took back in Michelmas.



That's the Randolph, where Inspector Morse used to drink, with the Martyrs' Memorial just out of shot.



And that's the Ashmolean.

jessikast wanted to see where I study, and in_purple_skies wanted to see the Social Science Library. This was a slight problem, as I can't take pictures in the library proper - my camera makes odd noises and everyone glares at me - which I think is a shame. The SSL is a marvellous place, but decidedly surreal. The best way of describing it - and I've given this quite some thought - would be, um, well, can you imagine a head-on collision between a university library and the International Space Station, if they then took out all the walls, replaced them with glass, added a water fountain and upholstered all the remaining furniture in lurid purple?

So, yes, it's a shame I can't show you that. But this is the Bodleian, where I study sometimes-



and this picture was taken from the balcony above the Social Science Library, which at least gives you some of the space station flavour. (Well, sans the clasutrophobia.)



And for good measure, Pat, sitting there watching me and demanding to know why I was taking pictures of everything. (The table looks like we work very hard, doesn't it? That top sheet is actually a list of Fun Things To Do Once Exams Are Over.) Here at least you can see how pretty it is outside the library, what with the trees and the river and the punts. It's enough to make you despair of ever finishing exams.



elyim wanted to see the next spider I saw. Well, the SSL has lots of the things. Sadly, it was much too dark to make out this monster, and as he was oside the window, I couldn't use the flash. I am including the picture so you know I tried.



the_acrobat wanted to see the tower window I threaten to throw myself out of during Economics tutes - sadly, going up there is a perilous exercise now I have no legitimate excuse. I shall do so during ninth once the man has moved out!

She also wanted to see some swans - I haven't met any recently, and while I did want to take pictures of the college pet ducks, the Colonel and Martha - I had sadly misplaced my camera at that moment.

But I can offer up a picture of me wearing my "well-behaved women" t-shirt.


I have to point out that jacinthsong took this, not me, and captioned it "the Eleventh Doctor."

Also for the the_acrobat, the café where I hang out.



This is the Alternative Tuck Shop, which is not only right on the way between Balliol and the SSL, but serves the best food in the universe. Ever. No, really. Best food ever. It's also small with only a few people working and there's no room to breathe inside and it's wonderful.

orientalflower wanted me against the backdrop of my college. This wasn't possible, because I was doing my photo-taking solo and couldn't get anyone else to take the picture. Regardless, I offer a Michaelmas photo of Balliol.



It's much, much less grey now.

bekkypk wanted a picture of my hands. It had to be hand, singular, because of one to hold the camera, but here we are:



And looking at that, I begin to think I have the scariest hands ever. Look at the length of my fingers! Jesus.

And lastly, for balthaser, my favourite place to go to. This is the view from Balliol's garden quad, just after dinner on the lawn, looking out through the long grass at the fellows' garden and the library.



It's quite possibly my favourite of the bunch.

All the others were, for various reasons, technical impossibilities! But I enjoying procuring the ones I could.

And now, as I have procrastinated quite enough, to economics! Oh, yes, wonderful stuff.

Comments

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

The pictures are all very, very lovely.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*glomp*

[elyim.livejournal.com]

Thank you for trying; I appreciate the effort :D

I think everyone would be much more worried if your room was tidy than not...

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heh, I still wish I'd got a good one of him. Size of a tuppence piece, I swear, and so horrific that no one would sit next to him.

It's a STATE. Usually it gets messay and I tidy it about once a fortnight; this time I haven't tidied up in, ooh, about two months. It's quite hideous.

[me-ves-y-sufres.livejournal.com]

Nonsense. From those pictures your room looks pretty clean, at least compared to mine, where every inch of the floor is covered in books and random bits of paper. I ran out of shelf space well over a year ago and I've been storing books in sad little huddles on the floor ever since. I'm kind of a slob, though.

[in-purple-skies.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely! I visited Oxford a week or two ago, doing the tourist thing, and I remember walking past some of these places. It's a gorgeous city.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

It really is. I love it so much.

[le-parapluie.livejournal.com]

Your view is spectacular. Hell, that window is spectacular. I cannot even articulate my obsession with circular windows, but it must be wonderful to sit at that big old desk and have the city streetlights shining up beneath you. Your café is quaint and charming and I want to go there quite badly!

And I love your pink shoes.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heh! Come and visit, and I'll show you around. It is an absolutely beautiful place. And I say that sat here at my big old desk. *g*

[me-ves-y-sufres.livejournal.com]

Oh wow- stupidly, I've just realised that if you live right opposite the Ashmolean, I must've stood outside your building on numerous occasions. (I spent a while squinting at the photo before reading the caption going "hmm, I recognise that!")

Is it a bit bizarre, living in a landmark?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

If you stand outside the Ashmolean and look across at Balliol, you can see a standard-looking college building, with a triangle top to it as if it were the Parthenon, with a circular window in the middle. That one's mine.

Normally it just seems normal, because, well, I live here. But when I'm crossing the quad and get in the way of tourists taking photographs, that's very weird indeed. And just yesterday, a graduate student was looking around room-choosing for next year, and he stepped into my room and instantly fell in love. I'm pretty sure he'll grab it off the ballot.

(And that's reminded me this is only my room for two weeks more, and now I'm all depressed. Woe.)

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. The view out your window is so... urban. I had actually forgotten that people go to school in civilized areas. :)

These are all so pretty. And your hair looks good! I don't know if I said that when you first dyed it, but it does.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heh! I think I'm a special case, because I live in college. The flat I'm in from October has a very pretty view over the Master's Field.

Hee, thank you! The sun is sadly bleaching it orange at the moment!

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

I'd wear your black boots, no problem. I have a pair of hiking boots like those. But I have to confess I'd not wear the pink ones. Trinny and Susannah would probably just execute me on the spot.

What's so urgent about the Guardian that it's on your whiteboard in all caps with an exclamation point?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Those black boots are the most expensive shoes I've ever bought, and the best. I would marry them if it were legal. *g* The red ones are more comfortable than they look, honest! They're flat and made of very soft leather. But yes, very girlie. *g*

I am attempting to apply for a Guardian internship this summer (very long shot, but I want to try). But I cannot sit down for long enough to fill out the form! I'm always in the library and I don't get time - hence the big caps, because I think I'll just end up not doing this if I don't motivate myself.

[jessikast]

Omfg, I can't get over how beautiful you university is. It looks like a university should, unlike the ones I've been to in New Zealand, which each have one georgous old building (like, a hundred years old!) which appears on the covers of all the promotional brochures, and then a bunch of ugly 60s and 70s building, and then one REALLY ugly building from sometime this century, which is all glass and concrete.

And your hands are terribly elegant.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

We do have some ugly buildings, I promise! Two of the staircases the freshers are housed in here are collectively called the ghetto, because they're that awful. But mostly they're rather nice.

Thank you! *g*

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

That cafe looks wonderful. I love it. And the t-shirt is fabulous, too.
You can erase that off the whiteboard though... it's done now! *loves*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Come here! Come here come here come here! *g* We'll go there and it will be utterly awesome.

And erased it has been, my dear. :)

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

can you imagine a head-on collision between a university library and the International Space Station?

Yes I can, and oh my, I'm enjoying it greatly!

It helps that two of my favourite mission controllers played a big role in getting the ISS built...

*sigh*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Are they the sort of people who would have advocated purple furniture? :)

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Probably not, alas. They're the sort of people who wore really narrow black ties. Geek chic and all that, you know...

[orientalflower.livejournal.com]

Aha. Balliol. I was trying to work out which college you were from from the Randolph/Ashmolean photos!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heh! Could only have been Balliol or John's, I guess.

Which one were you at?

[orientalflower.livejournal.com]

I'm a relic of SHC's all-female days!

[annikah.livejournal.com]

OXFORD! Aw... I miss it. I didn't get to really be in England while it was Spring either. Thanks for posting these!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heh, you're welcome! And yes, it's such a shame you're missing the lovely weather here. I think it stayed grey up until the end of Hilary.

[kuteki.livejournal.com]

Aww these are so lovely, good old SSL, haven't been there in...a day. Am doing a tour of Oxford libraries, have found that a change of scenery is a good thing. Have you been in the Rad Cam? It is the most beautiful place, which makes it very hard to concentrate but it did inspire to write something.

And your room is not that messy, like I want to do that meme too but my room is so, so bad right now...

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I've never been to the Rad Cam! I didn't even know PPEists were allowed in there. I avoided the really messy bits with the camera. Trust me, it's AWFUL.

(Coffee in ninth? You must let me know when you're free!)

[kuteki.livejournal.com]

You should go! It is the best library ever, it has the spiral staircase from HP! We are all allowed to go into any of the libraries, I was in th Radcliffe Science Library yesterday, but I do work the best in the SSL, and it is the only place with food.

(Will do! Cannot believe it will be over within a day an a half.)