Deja vu

Sitting in the Chaplaincy office the other day, I experienced that thing that no doubt most of you have experienced, the phenomenon of deja vu. It just happened to be when the the Anglican Chaplain put on something that was just left lying around and said "It's like a disposable shirt." Yes, I know exactly what you're thinking, days in Chaplaincy when all the undergrads have gone home can be long and strange.

So I went and did some digging about "deja vu" described as the impression of having seen or experienced something before. It's a very common phenomenon but no one seems to know exactly why it happens. There have been several theories from simple wish fulfillment to a mismatch in the brain mistaking the past for the present to relating to an experience from a past life.

I find that these experiences often stick better in my mind than others, due to the fact that it's really weird. Don't know about you but I also often find that I can almost predict what's going to happen next in these sorts of situations. Any theories of your own? Discuss :-)

Team Andy (and others)

After a prod from Rachel, presumably because she's bored, I decided it was time to blog. Today, I have been sent on a "Team Development Course" as part of the School of Chemistry's plan to "degeekify the chemist" as they put it.

This course, lasting two days, is designed to better help us communicate and plan. This obviously involves getting us to do some "interesting" tasks. The first of these involved getting a big container of water over a force field fence (otherwise known as 2 poles with a bit of string). We could only stand on these bits of wood otherwise we fell into the toxic waste (otherwise known as the grass).

The second task was far more interesting, it involved blindfolding us, giving us some rope, then asking us to form a square with the rope with us spaced equally around the sides. Given that we had nine people, it did prove a challenge especially as we couldn't see. You have no idea how difficult it is to known which is "this end" and which is "that end" of a rope you can't see. We also couldn't see each other of course but did have to find each other which led to some people being felt in quite inappropriate places...

The third task involved collecting bits of Lego from various points where they had been hidden in a field and then bring them back to the centre. We then had to make words out of the Lego. For my part, this involved lots of running. When asked for my contribution to the discussion after this one, I pointed out that there is a town made out of biscuits.

I'm sure tomorrow will be just as much fun.

In the Beginning...

Welcome to the Republic of Andy, population: Me otherwise known as The world according to Andy but I think you are going to refer to it as Andy's Blog and so it begins....