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talfryn.net (10 unread)

• July 21, 2010
• 3:02

  On the road

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  Spent hardly an hour in Zone 1 since arriving in the UK on Saturday. Been travelling about, up to Oxford, back into London, south-west to New Forest, back again, and now I’m more than 340 miles up north, past Newcastle, putting up for the night – and the next few nights – in Belford, in anticipation of some island hopping in the Farnes.

  The weather’s been lovely so far. Everything has been brilliant. Had a reunion with QuGee, ate Nandos, scampi, shot deer and wild ponies, dozed on grass in a moor and had some deep thoughts, strolled about in quaint towns, visited the coast, explored a bit of rocky shore, watched Inception, met up with some really really international friends, listened to the awful Magic and Heart and what have you, was inspired by BBC Radio 4, stepped in sheep poo, travelled through mist at night, got aphid-ised. More to come later, for now Flickr’s the most updated.

• July 15, 2010
• 19:27

  Aborted bat foetus

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  I like to keep my eyes to the ground as I walk from the carpark towards the office. There are, from time to time, interesting things to be seen. Dead things, usually. Like dead shrews and snakes, and sometimes really gross sights.

  This is the second common fruit bat (Cynopterus brachyotis) foetus that I’ve come across at the same spot, under the batty corner of the office block where the bats hang from the rooftop ceiling beams by day. Looks freshly-aborted, unlike the first one which was being over-run by ants by the time I got to it.
  
  This one’s in a more advanced stage of development, somewhere between stages 20 and 22 according to this embryonic development chart. Its placenta is still attached.

  I’m keeping it pickled for the time being, in a vial with it lying on its back and wings outstretched. Kinda brought to mind this series of disturbing images. All dead stuff.

  (Keeping images thumbnailed so as not to irk the squirmish!)

• July 12, 2010
• 5:41

  Running into stickies

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  Blackadder:

  We’re in a sticky situation all right. This is the stickiest situation since Sticky the Stick insect got caught on a sticky bun.

  A last-ditch attempt to un-pooh another pooh-ey weekend wrought by Things Gone Wrong and emotional hijacks saw brief respite in a night prowl at Lower Pierce last night.

  
  A keen-eyed duck spotted this lichen huntsman with her newly-hatched brood

  
  Huntsman spiderlings snuggling between Mommy Spider’s legs

  
  These brown stick insects in various instars were found mainly on fish tail palms

  
  Also saw a few of these smaller, green stick insects

  
  Lantern bug nymph; it kept inching to the side and out of sight

  
  Colugo which was scrambling on the branches and rustling in the foliage above us

• July 11, 2010
• 7:08

  The family crucible

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  The difficulty is as often in children’s relationships with their parents as it is with their peers. They seem unable to label their feelings accurately, showing instead a sullen irritability, impatience, crankiness, and anger – especially toward their parents. This, in turn, makes it harder for their parents to offer the emotional support and guidance the depressed child actually needs, setting in motion a downward spiral that typically ends in constant arguments and alienation.

  Such parents are typically disapproving, harsh in both their criticisms and their punishments. They might, for instance, forbid any display of the child’s anger at all, and become punitive at the least sign of irritability. These are the parents who angrily yell at a child who is trying to tell his side of the story, “Don’t you talk back to me!”

  ~ Daniel Goleman

• July 08, 2010
• 19:51

  Avalanching

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  I want to be able to wake up, and have nothing ahead of me, nothing to prepare, nothing to tend to. I want to have a night where I don’t have any work to do, no meetings to attend, no obligations to fulfil.

  Every Friday I look at the weekend coming and by thinking about it I already feel tired. Every weekend I look at my schedule for the new week and I get even more tired. Every day, unexpected and new poo comes and…

  I wonder how I would manage to survive the next onslaught. I survive, and it’s a mystery, but it’s also tortuous.

  It’s always just a bit more to go…

• June 29, 2010
• 17:17

  Cease, I say!

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  At the heart of every frustration lies a basic structure: the collision of a wish with an unyielding reality.

  The collisions begin in earliest infancy, with the discovery that the sources of our satisfaction lie beyond our control and that the world does not reliably conform to our desires.

  And yet, for Seneca, in so far as we can ever attain wisdom, it is by learning not to aggravate the world’s obstinacy through our own responses, through spasms of rage, self-pity, anxiety, bitterness, self-righteousness and paranoia.

  A single idea recurs throughout his work: that we best endure those frustrations which we have prepared ourselves for and understand and are hurt most by those we least expected and cannot fathom. Philosophy must reconcile us to the true dimensions of reality, and so spare us, if not frustration itself, then at least its panoply of pernicious accompanying emotions.

  ~ Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy

• June 25, 2010
• 17:20

  Floods and erosion

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  Today was exceptionally bad. Not just the weather.

  Stared at emails, couldn’t reply. Stared at the screen, couldn’t type. Stared at papers, couldn’t read. Sat in meetings, couldn’t talk.

  Feeling so fatigued all the time, although I’ve already been getting more sleep than usual.

  Being poooh-ed into a downward spiral.

  Since when did I start becoming so self-destructive? So full of doubt? So irritable, so full of anxiety? So unable to cope?

  Lunchtimes, the outdoors, the cinema – these are but temporary relief, only for as long as they last.

  This crippling inability to do pretty much anything at all, including the thing I need to do most urgently, is such torment!

  So much counts for nothing; so little for so much.

• June 23, 2010
• 18:28

  Suuuck

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

• 11:34

  A stretch of wild grass

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  On Monday – new grounds for exploration. A bumslide down a slope onto the undisturbed banks of a canal, knee-high vegetation and hidden pits. A little tame on the faunal side, lots of butterflies, skippers and about two dozen species of spiders – the coolest one we found was this dung spider which I overlooked and a colleague spotted.

  
  Concrete divide

  
  Bird dung orb spider (Pasilobus sp.)

  
  Grasshopper nymphs

  
  Lawn wolf spider

  
  Crab-eating frog (?)

• June 20, 2010
• 17:49

  Back to Venus

   » ‎ talfryn.net
  
  

  Last night’s foray into Venus Drive was a much-needed break from civilisation. I am starved for such trips, which have become a luxury in these months of late. Fumbling over my set-up and missing critters along the path at the beginning, it took a while to get back into the swing of things. Hearing the high-pitched buzz of mozzies or feeling the strands of spider silk on the face… ahh. It may be annoying, but… ahh! I feel alive.

  Having experienced a relatively rainy week I thought that we could see the bioluminescent mushrooms out in force, but alas, only singlets were found.

  
  Praying mantid with ootheca (egg case)

  
  Tetragnatha spider strumming her web

  
  A Gnaphosid spider

  
  Possibly a Pisaurid?

  
  I was shining my UV torch onto a tree looking at the scorpions, when I noticed that the
  bark had glowing dots. Fungi perhaps?

  There have been reports of the dense vegetation along the stream being cleared; that night under the light of the torch, I saw the scene of destruction for myself. What distressing silliness for what we suspect may be a want for more concrete!