Exciting Adventures in Archaeological Computing, the Xbox and Knitting!

Tomorrow is the interview day for the Manchester job, and I haven’t heard anything so I’m guessing I didn’t make the shortlist.

Annoying,  because it seemed quite cool. It was also the only, I mean only, archaeology job to apply for. With only a few weeks left of my Reading Uni contract things are not looking good. Things don’t look like they’ll pick up in the near future, so it’s just as well I have a really understanding other half. The plan now is to move in with him and make the dinner whilst he beavers away in the lab, finishing off the phd.

I’ll keep my eyes open for archaeology work, but am not hopeful, especially with more and more stories in the news like this: from todays Telegraph. I’ll need a job though, so back to the job pages for normal, non academic, non archaeology people  – its been years since I’ve had to do that! Not sure I remember how! Will I have to make a second cv, one without publications? Do I have to play down my research and teaching experience? Eeek. It’s all quite scary.

Today was the closing date for receipt of applications for the job I applied for last week. Fingers crossed everyone!

Why oh why do job applications make you feel horribly queasy? You haven’t lied, you haven’t done anything wrong or stolen sweeties from a small child or granny yet the act of sealing the envelope and sending the letter to the postbox never to be seen again is horrifying. The next time someone lays eyes on it will be when they decide whether or not to shortlist you. When they are deciding your future career prospects. The other thing about the process that makes you feel odd (well me anyway) is that, reading the cover letter and application back, you seem so qualified and grown up. I know I’m not getting any younger but seeing on paper what you can apparently do just seems to add 10 years.

I have just applied for a job that I’m sure I could do, given the chance, but will I even get to that stage? I need some coffee!

Hours of my time since the end of the holidays have been taken up with running around after artefacts, changing outfits, and delving into mythology and archaeology. Yes, a typical day for an archaeology researcher so ticking all the boxes of my day job but also Tomb Raider underworld.

Yes, the first new opiate of 2009 has been discovered by me! And I love it. I’ve lved all the Tomb radiers. Yes, I know that the controls for the playstation were odd, i know that the pointy boobs in the early games were annoying, that the exact lining up of jumps on the pc was frustrating and that the stories just get more and more weird, but what other game makes Archaeology look so cool and therefore is the perfect antidote to the current crisis in that field? (Actually, the archaeologist quests in Fable 2 are pretty cool.) I’ll post more about it here when I get a few levels through, but so far, so good!

Lego Indiana Jones is now flashing up that I’ve done 100% of the game, a little incorrect, as there are still at least 20 acheivements I haven’t unlocked so should it really be saying 100% done? Not sure.

It was an incredibly fun game to play, with loads of laughs and movie refs which I guess woudl have been amusing even to non archaeologists For example, Indy is, like in the films, scared of snakes. Willie still hates bugs. Gameplay wise, this means that you have to be someone else to solve a puzzle or cross a space that has snakes, adding another level of puzzles!

Free play in this is so much cooler than in Lego Star Wars and the characters so much cuter.  The replayability in trying to find every single piece of treasure and artefact is addictive, but in some levels gets really irritating when you have 9/10 and *really* can’t see the last bit (the treasure detector parcel comes in handy here). The sheer amount of unlockable characters is also excellent, with each fitting into a special ability category so that you might need an academic (Henry Jones Sr, Marcus etc), an excavator or high jumping girly to solve puzzle types.

The vehicles are also way better than in Star Wars, with loads to unlock and the vehicles are a lot easier to handle than the dodgy x, y, b wings so you can have more fun exploring the level and less frustration crashing.

The biggest downside is that the camera is still fixed, so you end up falling ledges and cliffs quite a lot because you can’t quite see where you are going. I guess in a game that is probably aimed at kids then adding a camera manipluation button might have been a bit much. Grown ups might appreciate it though!

…means fun fun fun! Or, being at work till an ungodly late hour. With lots of link checking and button clicking fun awaiting me for the next few hours whilst Mat toils away and does the techie bits. The only good thing is it gets me out of going to the gym tonight!

Only 4 weeks until week 0. This makes me happy, stressed and excited in equal measure. Whilst writing up the training preparations and manuals for the wee students and staff, I must also remember to stock up on gin and tonic and an uzi. Also, I need to work out a system so I don’t have ridiculous archaeology tan for the wedding of the year in Oxford, only 3 days after the dig ends!