Taking My Mind Off Things

...with more SAW!!  Seriously, these both fit my mood and make me giggle.  I can't help it--they're just so cheesy.  I love 'em, and it's the kind of mindless entertainment I need just now. 

Besides, what could be more appropriate for Hallowe'en than scary films?

Symbolic

Today was a bad day.  It felt like this:

Everything feels black.  My hopes, dreams, expectations, plans... are dead now.  I know intellectually that there will be light again, that there is a silver lining somewhere, but I am in no place to see it or feel it.  I'm not ready to look for it.  I'm miserable.  I feel like the life I have been living, and the life I want to live, is now over.  What's next but darkness?  I have no idea how to answer that. 

Lordy, Lordy...

guess who's 40! 

We had a 'surprise' fiesta for my supervisor.  It was great fun, and he took it pretty well.  Then again, maybe his hearing is gone so he couldn't hear our teasing.  He is 40 now.  =D

In Preparation...

I'm watching one a day, gearing up to go see the final one in the cinema. Once I see 1-6 at home, that is.  I've seen 1-3 before, but not for a while.  I've not yet seen 4-6...

I'm loving it so far.  These are my kind of film! 

Le Cough

I've been taking this pretty green stuff that Kristianna helped my buy last year in Paris when I also had cough and chesty throaty congestion.  It works a treat, and tastes nice and minty! 

Not that I'm glad to be coughing.  I'm ready to be done with that.

Hunkering Down

...for some serious correcting.  I. Must. Finish. Soon!

Actually, I must finish in 13 days if I'm going to have any hope of graduating the day after Thanksgiving...

Storming the Castles

Lynch came down last night to join us after her Latin Link retreat, and we had a good night of fish 'n chips and goofing off.  I've pretty well lost my voice, and am coughing a bit, but I don't feel terrible.  Which is good, because today was busy!

We hit Castle Campbell down the road in Dollar first, because Lynch hadn't been there (Paige and I explored it last year when we moved her down to Alva).  It was great, except for the scaffolding.  I like that they care enough to take care and restore places, but I wish I didn't have to see it.  =) 

From there we went back to Doune Castle, where the three of us began our Historic Scotland trek with Lynch-- and didn't get to see much at all because HBO was filming a pilot there.  This year, we got to see it all, but we didn't get the folks in medieval dress lined up as we walked up to the entrance.  It was an interesting contrast, seeing what we didn't last year, and not seeing what we did in some ways.  We did particularly enjoy the kitchen, though-- it has the most ginormous oven I've ever seen, and it has two serving hatches!  The girls tested it out:

We also hurled insults from the battlements, a la Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in honour of this its set.  Paige has those photos, though.  Good times. 

We ended the day with one more abby for good measure-- Cambuskenneth.  King James III is buried there.  Kenny said, I'm not sure why he's so significant.  Whew.  I thought it was just my lack of Scottish historical knowledge. ;)  We couldn't get in to the abbey grounds, as they close from September to March (and even when they're open, you can't get in the abbey tower-- just the grounds), but we walked around the fence and took photos anyway.  It was lovely. 

Then we went home.  And played Harry Potter Cluedo.  And ate snacky foods.  And then took the car back and Lynch and I boarded our train back to Aberdeen.  And played theological hangman to pass the time. 

All in all, a good day.  And a great ten days or so with Paige.  Thanks, Paige !

An Abbey A Day...

Having seen four great abbeys yesterday, we decided we needed to see another.  Especially since Dunfermline is only about a half-hour's drive away from Alva, and it was royal palace and abbey and resting place of Robert the Bruce (his heart, however, is at Melrose).  We had some adventures getting there, and then finding the place, and finding a Starbucks (aye, up the stairs in the centre, up the stairs, aye, in the centre up the stairs), and they closed the abbey for lunch at half one and kicked us out.  Oh well. 

It was nice, but it wasn't as impressive as the Historic Scotland brochure made it look.  I'm glad we went, and glad we had a car and got in free as members of HS.  But I'm really glad we didn't plan a whole day around it. 

Scott's View

We spent all of today driving around in the Borders, seeing the four famous abbeys-- Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh, and Kelso.  They were amazing.  I wouldn't mind being a nun if I had a setting like those.  Wow. 

As we were driving between the two, we saw a sign for 'Wallace Statue' and 'Scott's View'.  We weren't sure what either of them were, but we needed a pretty picnic spot, so we struck off to find them.  They were only a mile or so off our route (or so they claimed), but the statue turned out to be a thirty minute walk round-trip once you got to the carpark.  I didn't want to risk missing any of the abbeys, so we opted to drive a further half mile to explore the View.  It was well worth it, I think:

I'm guessing it must be Sir Walter Scott who gives it the name, as we saw his grave at the abbey just before we stopped here (Dryburgh).  I read Rob Roy earlier this year, and had just finished Ivanhoe, so I was quite inspired by the view and the grave (both were unexpected).  I love the Borders, and am so glad Paige is based in Stirling so things like this aren't so prohibitive to get to (from Aberdeen it would not be a day trip, that's for sure!)

Autumn in Narnia

I am feeling poorly today, and the weather has been awful.  But I needed to go in to meet Paige on campus with her passport, so we could rent a car for the weekend.  I've never needed more than my driving license for rentals, but hey.  Whatever, Enterprise.  What. Ever. 

So I couldn't find my return bus ticket (of course) and I had to buy a single (of course) and wait in the rain (of course).  But it wasn't raining when I got to Stirling Uni, and I had some time before Paige was done with all her duties that day, so I decided to walk around the lake on campus.  The leaves were turning and it was lovely.  I fell on my bum on the wet pavement (of course) trying to bend down to take a photo of some vividly coloured leaves-- I blame my stopped up head for messing with my balance.  Anyway.  It was still lovely.  Although it would have been nicer if someone had been around to laugh at/with me when I fell over.  That always helps, when I'm laughing at my clumsy self.  =) 

It was a gorgeous afternoon, on a gorgeous campus.  Stirling may not have the architecture of my King's College, but it's the best landed. 

Yo, Brother A-to-Z... What Time Is It?

Ha, ha... (says Jason Mraz)... it's LAUNDRY day!  (doot doot doot, doot doot doot doooo doodle-oodle-oo-doot...) 

I love that song. And I love that singer.  And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you should.  =D

I Hate iTunes

I have spent the entire day trying to get my music from my iPod back onto my lappy.  I have been putting this off ever since my other lappy was stolen;  I just can't be bothered ripping each cd, one by one.  I knew there must be a way to do it, even though Apple says 'No.  That can't be done.  Unless you own a Mac and bring it in to us in the store.  If you're a PC, well, tough luck.'  My friend Aleithia had shown me a site a while back when my iPod was frozen where I could get the stuff back onto my computer, in case we had to reformat the dang thing, but I couldn't remember the name of the software.  So I searched for programs, and most of them want oodles of money.  I'm not paying for this.  I finally found SharePod, which is free (and the one Aleithia showed me before), but it's been a bear.  It worked at first, and then seemed like it worked, and then didn't work at all.  I ended up having to take EVERYthing music related off my computer (all songs, all media players, everything) and then reinstall them all.  What a headache!  But finally, it all works.  And I have all my music pretty much where I want it.  Now Paige and I had better share our stuff like we planned, because otherwise I've gone through all this trauma for next to nothing....

I was working on my corrections during all this, but not very productively.  Oh well. 

Inspiring View

The following view, and the immediate surroundings, have been most inspirational throughout the past year of my thesis-writing, and that has continued into my correcting currently.  Today I got half of my last chapter restructured... which isn't as hard as it sounds, but it is very time-consuming.  It's a magic spot, I'm sure of it:

Paige, I hope your wee flat brings you as much thesis-luck as it has Lynch and me!  Especially me.  And thanks.  =)

Happy Spider Cake, Paige!

We've had a long and fun weekend in the capitol, but we needed a cake to bring back to wee Alva.  We tried a bakery in Stockbridge, but they were always closed.  So we went to Waitrose, and hit paydirt!  I love his shifty eyes..

This cute guy was even half price.  Now how's that for a birthday gift?!  Happy Birthday, Paige!

Autumn in Paris... Kind Of

I'm not actually in Paris.  I'm in Stockbridge, which is a posh part of Edinburgh, where Paige is flat- and dog-sitting.  But we were getting stuff for our snacky lunch, and bread and cheese and tomatoes and grapes always sounds good, and always reminds us of Paris.  So walking down the street with a baguette in hand reminded us of good times.  And we photographed it. 

Up With the Sun

Not that that's so hard to do these days, with winter fast closing in.  I caught the Megabus this morning around half nine to go meet Paige in Edinburgh for her birthday weekend extravaganza, and was awake before it was light.  I was greeted with this sight as we were nearing Stonehaven:

Gorgeous.  I love this place. 

Old Testament Times

Lynch had a theme party tonight centred on the Old Testament.  We had verses on the walls, and some verses to back up the food choices, and we all had to come in costume.  It was great!  I love theme parties, and I love fancy dress.  Here is the gracious hostess (I'm sure you can guess what she dressed as!):

Very Bad Day

I got my visa stuff back in the post today, after six months.  And it hasn't even been dealt with, which means more questions and no answers, because of a glitch with the cheque (which I'm annoyed about, as I point-blank asked the international student advisor to tell me how to fill it in, and she didn't catch that anything was missing).  But check out those dates.  Cheque... letter... envelope.  Months in between. 

Now what?!  I have no idea, but I have a feeling I'm f*cked.  Excuse my language, please. 

Rearranged

Kenny rearranged the lounge today.  I'm not sure what I think about it yet. 

There is a lot of dead space behind that big sofa... and neither the love seat nor the sofa face the tv, which makes watching it a sideways affair.  Only the recliner, which is where I'm sitting to take this photo, has good access to watching tv and the fire and tables to set stuff on nearby enough to be convenient.  It has both the side table that's always been there and now the chest of drawers.  The others have nothing but the big middle thing.  I'm not so convinced yet.  Unless I get to claim the recliner.  ;) 

Last Legs

I use my iPod a lot.  Pretty much every day.  Sometimes all day.  It gets shoved in my pockets or my bag, the earphones cord wrapped around it, and pulled out and put back and pulled out again.  Those earphones take the brunt of the beating.  Today, sadly, I think my current pair are on their last legs. 

They always short out there, at the point where the bendy bit is.  Now I can only get one side (the left) to have sound consistently.  To get anything out of the right side, I have to hold the cord in precisely the right spot.  Which changes sometimes even as I hold it.  I'm sad.  Now I have to find a new pair of perfect earphones.  That's no easy quest. 

Oh well. 

Swingin'

I love swinging.  And the song 'Swingin' was a favourite when I was a kid.  My best friend Emily and I would stand on either side of the double bench-like swing on the swing set, and get to going higher than the bar while belting it out.  Good times. 

I also love taking kiddies to swing.  There is something about it that just makes everyone happy.  Today I got to enjoy nearly an hour of pushing El Nino in the park, while Liz and The Boy played around with the ball and on the climbing toys.  It was good times.  I took loads of swingin pictures... there's just something about kids in swings that I can't resist.  =)

Lucky Duckies.

Okay, so technically they aren't ducks.  They're goose.  Gooses.  Geeses!  Geese.  Erm... that word just looks weirder and weirder. 

Anyway.  It's a sure sign of fall to see and hear these birdies on their travels south.  Which makes me a wee bit jealous, as it's getting assuredly colder and darker here in the North East. 

University Admin At Its Finest

I got this in the post today-- the form for registering for graduation.  It came in a letter with my list of corrections, which was another fine example of university efficiency.  The corrections part was fine;  the part telling me about graduation gave two different standards in the same paragraph (unless you have everything finished completely by the deadline to register to graduation--which is 15 October-- you can't graduate.  But don't wait to get your results and be finished--register now!).  And this?  Someone printed this off, looked at it, and thought, yup, that's good enough. 

Whatever. 

Evening Comes Early

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the dark creeps in this time of year.  I know, it happens the same every single year, but still.  It always seems so sudden.  Today I was coming home from the cinema at what I thought was a decent time, but still. 

This was well before 6pm. 

The Aftermath

This is a sign of a very good Friday night....

Coffee.  Wine.  And milk shaks.  With Lynch.  If only every Friday night were this good!  =)

Already?!

I popped into Morrisons on the way home from the cinema for a loaf of free bread (I love getting vouchers online like that!), and noticed this. 

In case you can't tell from the photo, that's a whole bunch of Christmas cakes, mince pies, and other holiday goodies.  Now, I love mince pies at Christmas as much as (if not more than) most, but seriously?  It's more than two months til Christmas still!  Oh well.  If I had freezer space, I guess I'd be stocking up.  Or maybe I'll just treat myself early.  =)

Autumn on Campus

Apologies for the delay in these... I realise it's now nearly a month later than what the post date will say.  I haven't had the time to upload photos to my computer, and once I did that, it's been about a week since I've had time to upload them here.  Sorry!  =)


This is the statue of the student, outside New Kings.  I mostly like the ivy changing colours, and it makes me miss all the red ivy that used to grow on Kings.

Settling In?

They aren't best friends yet, but at least they'll both be in the same room now...

Light as Day

They put in new streetlamps not long ago.  Now they've put in new new streetlamps.  I don't know where they're getting the money, since the City Counsel is so broke they've closed schools and rec centres and all.  These new ones are so bright they make the flat as light in the dark as it is in here on an overcast winter's midday. 

This is the lounge, but my bedroom is just as bright.  Luckily I can sleep through anything, but dang. 

Wary

We adopted a new cat today.  His name is Brodie, he's three and a big ole ginger.  He's also a big chicken so far.  As for Dillon, he's not too sure about this new guy...

Back and Forth

This dang weather.  Today it's back to bad again. 

Trying to catch the wind out the kitchen window.  It doesn't really work, but this day was nasty.  Seriously nasty.