Belated birthday (at the ) big bang...and a bonus moment.

There has not been a whole heck of a lot happening 'round the Ox lately. This term is a little packed, work wise, so my life is pretty much theoryessayreadoptionbooks123456and7writeminioptionessaydodissertationresearchrevisetheory essayreadmoreoptionbooksandCRASH.

So I don't get out a lot. But there are some pretty fab people bashing around these days and we collectively decided that if we don't do something fun every once in awhile, it's about to get all revenge of the nerds up in here, aka grad students gone wild. Not like that.

A few of us had birthdays over the term break so a group of us from Kellogg + women's studies went out for a belated birthday dinner at renowned Oxford eatery, the Big Bang. To be honest I don't know if it's really all that renowned but they sure do a good job at making it seem like there's a lot of hype around them. The Big Bang is a bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes) restaurant and has about a gazillion types of each, ranging from their "less delicious varieties" (I swear they said that on the menu) to gourmet items like wild mushroom and garlic veggie sausages or wild boar and pigeon ones.

We started out happy, hoping it'd live up to the hype...

But got a little frustrated when it was the slowest.service.ever. Seriously. Notice that I am wielding a knife. I wasn't entirely kidding about that grad students gone wild thing.

The food did eventually come, though, and it was lovely. Clockwise from the top on my plate we've got one of the aforementioned mushroom and garlic sausages, some purple (red?) cabbage; peas; pheasant sausage; lamb and mint sausage; creamy mash and a red wine gravy.

Whitney enjoyed her veggie sausages when they appeared at long last.

And then there was the piece de resistance, Shirley's and my (not Shirley and I's, not mine and Shirley's. you would never say I's birthday cake, or mine birthday cake, so why would the rule suddenly change because one other person is added? Some folks seem to be troubled by joint possessives) birthday cake, Bob the hedgehog.

I loved Bob. He was so roly-poly, so fully of jollity...he was also made of chocolate. So we ate him.

Bob, a part of you will always be with me...until, you know, it isn't.

I couldn't help but feel a little guilty with him there, staring up so happily, so expectantly, waiting for us to go frolic in a field or whatever hedgehogs do. But he was delicious.

Which brings me to....your bonus moment.

I frequently have "sometimes, in oxford..." moments or "you know you're in oxford when..." moments, and post them every once in awhile. Today's is:

You know you're in Oxford when....

The bit of toilet reading left in your shared bathroom is...

The 150th anniversary version of Darwin's origin of species.

Sorry for outing whichever housemate possesses such intellectual bathroom reading material...it was just too hilarious a moment not to capture. I'm not mocking the choice (okay, maybe a little), but you know, I don't get down with Darwin because Sarah Palin told me that evolution is fake and Jesus rode dinosaurs.

You betcha.