Quick highlights

Many things have happened since I last posted. Here's a brief summary: let me know if you want to hear more about anything.

1) I went to a BSO concert at Tanglewood, the orchestra's summer home. It was a lovely trip to a very pleasant summer destination, and a nice concert.

2) I joined many MITG&SP friends for a singthrough of Patience. The maidens were indeed very rapturous, including Kathryn as Patience.

3) I went to Australia! It was lots of fun overall: I

3a) Spent a day in Toronto on the way through. I explored the city and the islands. The islands were a great place for a walk: it was just a little unfortunate that my shoe was breaking.

3b) Spent time at Tom's place in Wollongong. It felt very much like undergraduates' house! I also got to see Tom win a squash game.

3c) Spent most of my time with Mum and Dad. I did do some work: Yass has some nice walking but not a whole lot else.

3d) Had two postdoc interviews. One provided a different experience from what I expected: fog kept me away from Melbourne, so I had to interview over Skype. The other was also on Skype, though that was always the plan.

3e) Visited family and friends in Canberra. Life seems to go on there much as I had left it! I was surprised and pleased to find that Fr Laurie is back at ANU.

3f) Visited Jacqui and Vik, and enjoyed the much nicer weather than last time I visited, taking a couple of walks to enjoy the natural world. Food was also very good, both eating in and eating out!

4) I saw Pygmalion. The performance was very good: I liked the set, staging and acting. The last scene dragged a lot, which is the author's fault, not the performers.

5) I went to a concert of Boston Landmarks Orchestra. They started a world premiere of a piece based on the writing of the American national anthem, but lightning forced an abrupt end. It seems that they had this problem frequently on Wednesdays this summer. It's a pity, because I enjoyed what I heard.

6) I performed in 'Trial by Audience', MITG&SP's summer show. This was a parody of the G&S canon, written by Becca and Chris. It was very well received by quite large crowds. I was particularly impressed by "Society has quite forgotten", a parody so good that one could first work out what the original song was like (Utopia Ltd is not a popular show: it's the only G&S I don't know reasonably well), then enjoy the parody.

By far the biggest news is that I received two postdoc offers: at Chicago and Edinburgh. These were my top two choices: I was amused that I received offers at both of them and nowhere else. I decided on Chicago, because I felt so at home when I visited. Perhaps Edinburgh would be the same, but I think it's wise to choose the one I'm sure about. I hope I'll be able to visit Edinburgh eventually.

So now, I have about three months to finish my papers and write a thesis, then I'll be headed west!