Apparently not, judging by the bench and bin half hidden under water.
Still cool though. I think a pond in the park on a sunny day is lovely.
Wednesday 27 February 2013
Seaton park
Was wondering is Seaton park was meant to have a pond.
Apparently not, judging by the bench and bin half hidden under water.
Still cool though. I think a pond in the park on a sunny day is lovely.
Apparently not, judging by the bench and bin half hidden under water.
Still cool though. I think a pond in the park on a sunny day is lovely.
Friday 22 February 2013
Thursday 14 February 2013
Singles Awareness Day and a brilliant idea that would never happen
In my glass: Pomegranate and Raspberry juice
From my iPod: Good Feeling, by Flo Rida
From my Bookshelf: Anatomy (surprise, surprise)
Outside: Dull, grey, wet
My Mood: Meh.
Todays Hairstyle: Knot bun with my 5" Glass Octopus hairstick, by Emergent Glassworks
Supposedly, Singles Awareness Day is the day after Valentines day. I've never really been a fan of valentines day. I've never recieved a card, or flowers, or gone out for a nice dinner with someone. In fact almost every year I've been single on Valentines day. And I know I'm not the only one out there.
For some people, Valentines day is a day of happiness, and romanticism, but for plenty others of us, its a reminder that, in amongst the sickeningly sweet pink, and hearts that adorn all the shop windows we pass, and even cover that treat of a cake you have with your coffee, we are still alone.
We have our friends, but of course, that isn't what Valentine's day is seen as - its seen as a day for couples - something in which unnattached people often don't feel they can participate in.
I don't know about the rest of you single people out there, but today AND tomorrow, I plan to just have a normal day, go to the NaNo group tonight, and have a chat and a can of coke in the mess tomorrow night (we're going away for the weekend again), on the assumption that I'm not on guard duty or something.
Meh. I don't buy into all this commercialised stuff. I am a pagan. I don't celebrate Christmas (though my family does), nor easter, nor the vast majority or the commercialised holidays. Even Hallowe'en (I celebrate Samhain - the end of summer, and of the harvest, the start of the dark half of the year, the dying of the sun-god, the thinning of the veil between the worlds, and so on) is way over-commercialised for my liking. Trick-or-treat seems odd to me - we had guising instead, where the kids would dress up,, taking lanterns (traditionally turnips, but more often pumpkins because there were less cut fingers when carving them) and go from door to door, singing, or telling jokes in return for sweets or cakes. It originated from the celtic custom of "souling" on All Hallows Day (the term Hallowe'en comes from the old name of All Hallows Eve) where people would go from house to house singing and saying prayers for the dead.
About our brilliant idea - we've been doing a project n depression, and it has so far being going okay. The first draft has to be compiled and sent into our tutor by the end of the uni day tomorrow, and its hard keeping up with everything whilst still keeping anatomy ticking over (theres a test next week), but we're just about keeping on track. Anyway, the weather here has been horrible the last couple of days - the burst of sunshine didn't last longer than half a day, and we've had rain flooding down since in between spells of dullness. We had been talking about seasonal affective disorder and its effect on depression. Apparently, according to our tutor, as many as 49% of people in the northeast of Scotland (that is, right where we are) could get at least some symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, especially around now, in February - the No Money Month, and the one which usually has the worst of weather.
We got onto talking about those lights - you know the ones, the "happy lights" which are meant to help with sadness and depression in the winter months (this was just a random lunchtime discussion, y'all), and looking outside, someone said "Why don't we just have tunnels underground, so we can avoid the crappy weather in the winter?"
The reply to that was "Why don't we have the "Happy Lights" in the tunnels?"
Yeah, yeah, nice idea - avoid being soaked to the skin or sliding on ice when walking between lectures - but never going to work. How on earth would you ever manage to build such a massive network of tunnels underground to link all the uni buildings without compromising the structure of the buildings above. Not to mention the cost of the whole project.
But it got us thinking, we wondered, why not paint all the rooms white (instead of that strange beige and odd blue colours a lot of the buildings have) to reflect more light, and put some "Happy Lights" in the light fixings? Now that could make a difference. It would still be an expensive project though, so it will likely never happen.
Which is a shame, but we can all hope.
On another note, I should really try and find another bulb for my bedroom. Since it last went on me, I could only find energy-saving bulbs in the shops, and its so dull when I turn it on. When I get up in the morning, I need brightness, or I feel grouchy and moody all day. I managed to source a normal one for the hall, so I might go out and get another, because I would rather have a bulb that uses a little more electricity (like 20 watts more
), and be my normal self in the mornings.
From my iPod: Good Feeling, by Flo Rida
From my Bookshelf: Anatomy (surprise, surprise)
Outside: Dull, grey, wet
My Mood: Meh.
Todays Hairstyle: Knot bun with my 5" Glass Octopus hairstick, by Emergent Glassworks
Supposedly, Singles Awareness Day is the day after Valentines day. I've never really been a fan of valentines day. I've never recieved a card, or flowers, or gone out for a nice dinner with someone. In fact almost every year I've been single on Valentines day. And I know I'm not the only one out there.
For some people, Valentines day is a day of happiness, and romanticism, but for plenty others of us, its a reminder that, in amongst the sickeningly sweet pink, and hearts that adorn all the shop windows we pass, and even cover that treat of a cake you have with your coffee, we are still alone.
We have our friends, but of course, that isn't what Valentine's day is seen as - its seen as a day for couples - something in which unnattached people often don't feel they can participate in.
I don't know about the rest of you single people out there, but today AND tomorrow, I plan to just have a normal day, go to the NaNo group tonight, and have a chat and a can of coke in the mess tomorrow night (we're going away for the weekend again), on the assumption that I'm not on guard duty or something.
Meh. I don't buy into all this commercialised stuff. I am a pagan. I don't celebrate Christmas (though my family does), nor easter, nor the vast majority or the commercialised holidays. Even Hallowe'en (I celebrate Samhain - the end of summer, and of the harvest, the start of the dark half of the year, the dying of the sun-god, the thinning of the veil between the worlds, and so on) is way over-commercialised for my liking. Trick-or-treat seems odd to me - we had guising instead, where the kids would dress up,, taking lanterns (traditionally turnips, but more often pumpkins because there were less cut fingers when carving them) and go from door to door, singing, or telling jokes in return for sweets or cakes. It originated from the celtic custom of "souling" on All Hallows Day (the term Hallowe'en comes from the old name of All Hallows Eve) where people would go from house to house singing and saying prayers for the dead.
About our brilliant idea - we've been doing a project n depression, and it has so far being going okay. The first draft has to be compiled and sent into our tutor by the end of the uni day tomorrow, and its hard keeping up with everything whilst still keeping anatomy ticking over (theres a test next week), but we're just about keeping on track. Anyway, the weather here has been horrible the last couple of days - the burst of sunshine didn't last longer than half a day, and we've had rain flooding down since in between spells of dullness. We had been talking about seasonal affective disorder and its effect on depression. Apparently, according to our tutor, as many as 49% of people in the northeast of Scotland (that is, right where we are) could get at least some symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, especially around now, in February - the No Money Month, and the one which usually has the worst of weather.
We got onto talking about those lights - you know the ones, the "happy lights" which are meant to help with sadness and depression in the winter months (this was just a random lunchtime discussion, y'all), and looking outside, someone said "Why don't we just have tunnels underground, so we can avoid the crappy weather in the winter?"
The reply to that was "Why don't we have the "Happy Lights" in the tunnels?"
Yeah, yeah, nice idea - avoid being soaked to the skin or sliding on ice when walking between lectures - but never going to work. How on earth would you ever manage to build such a massive network of tunnels underground to link all the uni buildings without compromising the structure of the buildings above. Not to mention the cost of the whole project.But it got us thinking, we wondered, why not paint all the rooms white (instead of that strange beige and odd blue colours a lot of the buildings have) to reflect more light, and put some "Happy Lights" in the light fixings? Now that could make a difference. It would still be an expensive project though, so it will likely never happen.
Which is a shame, but we can all hope.On another note, I should really try and find another bulb for my bedroom. Since it last went on me, I could only find energy-saving bulbs in the shops, and its so dull when I turn it on. When I get up in the morning, I need brightness, or I feel grouchy and moody all day. I managed to source a normal one for the hall, so I might go out and get another, because I would rather have a bulb that uses a little more electricity (like 20 watts more
), and be my normal self in the mornings.
Monday 11 February 2013
Bogged Down Already...
In my Glass: Essence lemon and lime flavour still water
From my iPod: Free Fallin' (Acoustic version), by John Mayer
From my bookshelf: Anatomy... booo...
Outside: Getting dark, still cold as usual
My Mood: Tired
Todays Hairstyle: Knot bun with my 5" maple stick
Ugh. So its what, week 3 of the second semester? Its HORRIBLE! :( I got my results back, and I literally just passed anatomy. I spent most nights last term revising it to the point of mostly ignoring a lot of my other subjects, and I still only got a CAS 10.. I think I'm going to cry. I know its a pass, but its horrible to put so much effort in to get barely anything in return. Argh!
If second year is this hard, how am I going to get through third year?? The day I no longer have to be trying to escape from under a pile of anatomy notes will be the best day of my life. I only got a 16 in physiology, but considering that was a last-ditch attempt after stress over anatomy and molecular biology had already torn me to pieces, I think it wasn't a bad attempt. (please, please, please, dear Goddess, can we have some time between them come May?? Please?)
Is it bad that I'm already wishing for the term to be over? Scratch that, I just want ANATOMY to be over!
Plus we have this depression project which is just running me even further down. I have written like a page on counselling and less than a page on St. Johns Wort, and my mind is drawing a blank on my topics. My procrastinating involves doing OTHER UNI WORK! I barely have a spare minute to just blog, or write, or do ANYTHING that isn't related to work. I can't relax. I AM STRESSED!!!!! (you know what Terry Pratchett said: "five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind." Am I insane? Probably.)
I think I need to go and throw some things..
Mind you that wouldn't be very Tai Chi of me...
But still....
From my iPod: Free Fallin' (Acoustic version), by John Mayer
From my bookshelf: Anatomy... booo...
Outside: Getting dark, still cold as usual
My Mood: Tired
Todays Hairstyle: Knot bun with my 5" maple stick
Ugh. So its what, week 3 of the second semester? Its HORRIBLE! :( I got my results back, and I literally just passed anatomy. I spent most nights last term revising it to the point of mostly ignoring a lot of my other subjects, and I still only got a CAS 10.. I think I'm going to cry. I know its a pass, but its horrible to put so much effort in to get barely anything in return. Argh!
If second year is this hard, how am I going to get through third year?? The day I no longer have to be trying to escape from under a pile of anatomy notes will be the best day of my life. I only got a 16 in physiology, but considering that was a last-ditch attempt after stress over anatomy and molecular biology had already torn me to pieces, I think it wasn't a bad attempt. (please, please, please, dear Goddess, can we have some time between them come May?? Please?)
Is it bad that I'm already wishing for the term to be over? Scratch that, I just want ANATOMY to be over!
Plus we have this depression project which is just running me even further down. I have written like a page on counselling and less than a page on St. Johns Wort, and my mind is drawing a blank on my topics. My procrastinating involves doing OTHER UNI WORK! I barely have a spare minute to just blog, or write, or do ANYTHING that isn't related to work. I can't relax. I AM STRESSED!!!!! (you know what Terry Pratchett said: "five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind." Am I insane? Probably.)
I think I need to go and throw some things..
Mind you that wouldn't be very Tai Chi of me...
But still....
Friday 8 February 2013
The source of the rashes on my hands
In my glass: Yop yoghurt drink
From my iPod: In Calum Fero, by Adiemus
From my bookshelf: ....stuff. And not interesting stuff either. :(
Outside: Today we had the first real warm blast of sunshine for months
My Mood: happy
Todays hairstyle: braided cinnabun with my 60th street fork (was going to do something more complicated, but ran out of time this morning)
Yay! I got my smilies working! (just the basics really - I don't understand enough html to go messing around with blogger. I'll ave to do it the long way if I really want something that I don't know the code for) :D
Anyway, today whilst roaming around on the LHC, I went through my subscribed threads (I have it set to automatically subscribe me to threads I post in, because since the update after the great crash of November (which I apparently missed largely due to NaNo) I've not figured out how to look through my previous posts. Subscribing is the easiest way.
So I was looking at a post I had posted on about Nickel allergies and hair oils. Essentially the poster had a nickel sensitivity and was starting to have reactions to certain foods, and some of her cosmetics and her coconut oil for her hair was giving her scalp trouble.
I'm already allergic to nickel (like hives, blisters, itchy, weeping skin, odd patches of skin where I've had previous reactions - it can be nasty) and I already have a general idea of what foods and products to avoid (my fragrance allergy makes this even more difficult at times), but I haven't had a problem with my coconut oil. If I did, I would have known pretty quickly. I had also never seen coconuts on a list of nickel-rich foods, but I have heard some people out there with nickel allergies have problems with it. It could be nickel contamination from the production process, or it could be gettin picked up from the soil, or it could be a related allergy. As it is, my coconut oil is currently fine, and I'm thankful for that, but then, I'm still only on my first tub - there's time yet.
At the moment, we've been trying to think of some other, safer oils for her to try that she wouldn't react to, but that her hair would also be less likely to freak out at (at the moment, we're leaning towards emu oil or beef tallow, as nickel levels are generally much lower in aminal products than in plants).
I was going on a hunt around the interweb to find information on nickel content in various oils, and I made the rather late discovery that in 2012 the royal mint changed the metal composition of 5p and 10p coins.
I am almost sure this has been what has been irritating my hands. I use coins all the time, and I was allergic to the cupro-nickel that the old coins were made of. Now, since copper is getting so expensive, they are using steel and plating the whole coin with nickel, which I get horrible skin allergies from. The reactions had been coming and going with no rhyme or reason, and I assumed it might have been someones fragrance being sprayed in the area, but it didn't make sense because it was only on my hands and spread slightly lower arms. My face and neck were fine, which I thought to be unusual since usually all my exposed skin will react to a fragrance, and usually my neck is worst. I've been trying to find one of the new coins to test my theory with, but I'll have to find one first - I just took all my coins into the bank to get changed, and I only have a couple left, none from 2012.
I hope I'm right, because I will finally have the answer, but at the same time, I hope I'm not right, because its going to be darned impossible if I can't touch coins anymore.
Anyway, today whilst roaming around on the LHC, I went through my subscribed threads (I have it set to automatically subscribe me to threads I post in, because since the update after the great crash of November (which I apparently missed largely due to NaNo) I've not figured out how to look through my previous posts. Subscribing is the easiest way.
So I was looking at a post I had posted on about Nickel allergies and hair oils. Essentially the poster had a nickel sensitivity and was starting to have reactions to certain foods, and some of her cosmetics and her coconut oil for her hair was giving her scalp trouble.
I'm already allergic to nickel (like hives, blisters, itchy, weeping skin, odd patches of skin where I've had previous reactions - it can be nasty) and I already have a general idea of what foods and products to avoid (my fragrance allergy makes this even more difficult at times), but I haven't had a problem with my coconut oil. If I did, I would have known pretty quickly. I had also never seen coconuts on a list of nickel-rich foods, but I have heard some people out there with nickel allergies have problems with it. It could be nickel contamination from the production process, or it could be gettin picked up from the soil, or it could be a related allergy. As it is, my coconut oil is currently fine, and I'm thankful for that, but then, I'm still only on my first tub - there's time yet.
At the moment, we've been trying to think of some other, safer oils for her to try that she wouldn't react to, but that her hair would also be less likely to freak out at (at the moment, we're leaning towards emu oil or beef tallow, as nickel levels are generally much lower in aminal products than in plants).
I was going on a hunt around the interweb to find information on nickel content in various oils, and I made the rather late discovery that in 2012 the royal mint changed the metal composition of 5p and 10p coins.
I am almost sure this has been what has been irritating my hands. I use coins all the time, and I was allergic to the cupro-nickel that the old coins were made of. Now, since copper is getting so expensive, they are using steel and plating the whole coin with nickel, which I get horrible skin allergies from. The reactions had been coming and going with no rhyme or reason, and I assumed it might have been someones fragrance being sprayed in the area, but it didn't make sense because it was only on my hands and spread slightly lower arms. My face and neck were fine, which I thought to be unusual since usually all my exposed skin will react to a fragrance, and usually my neck is worst. I've been trying to find one of the new coins to test my theory with, but I'll have to find one first - I just took all my coins into the bank to get changed, and I only have a couple left, none from 2012.
I hope I'm right, because I will finally have the answer, but at the same time, I hope I'm not right, because its going to be darned impossible if I can't touch coins anymore.
Wednesday 6 February 2013
DRAMA in the band world...
In my glass:Tropicana Orange with bits
From my iPod: Absynthe, by Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson on their album Partners in Crime
From my bookshelf: I've been reading my way through a bunch of articles on depression for our Biomed project
Outside: The weather can't decide whats going on. Right now its bright sunshine, but it was hailing earlier
Todays hairstyle: JJJs Pretzel bun
I just got back from giving blood at the donor centre, with a plaster on my arm, because it won't stop bleeding. Think at this rate I'll have a bruise tomorrow. All par for the course, I guess.
So yesterday, after I left you hanging on the topic of Chernobyl, I headed off early to get my army kit back and iron it for parade. Since I wasn't in uniform, I had a quick look on Facebook, seeing as I always seem to miss the last-minute updates for the OTC. One very interesting private message, and one rather offensive post caught my eye as I was scrolling through my news feed. Oh the dramas of being in a pipe-band world.
The thing about the pipe band world is that everyone knows everyone, be it through someone else, especially in the top two grades or so.
We had a new tenor drummer appear last night who wanted to join, whos friend apparently knows my brother quite well. The band world is a small world indeed.
I discovered on drums|pipes that Tyler isn't playing with Shotts this year. Perhaps not mega-drama, but enough to appear on drums|pipes. Well, he is famous after all. I think since its to spend more time with his family, most people have been understanding - after all he has family and friends who live all over the place, and I honestly don't know how he kept up. Even though I'm only a student in Aberdeen, its hard enough to get to practices and such around stuff, and most students I know here who play aren't competing at the moment. I don't know how he managed it, but I think what he does is amazing, and I hope I'll see him playing again sometime soon.
Now the real drama happened last night too. There was a comment on a facebook page that it appears I wasn't the only person to take offense to. The band is, as a whole, a very tight knit community who work well together, and even if we don't get on with one person, we try to make it work for the good of the whole band and the people in it that we do get on with. In the army, you don't get anywhere on your own. So we were all very shocked at the post we came across, purely by accident. I won't mention the issue here, because we're trying to get things sorted out in the band without getting others involved (because although its unfounded but thats when the real trouble would start, and it could cause all sorts of trouble for the band as a whole). I believe the whole issue stemmed from one that occurred last saturday (remember how I mentioned an incident that I thought and hoped had been sorted out?), but something that should have been sorted out with only a three or so people involved, has now become a massive issue amongst the whole band because of facebook comments that have offended even those who weren't there, and is now beginning to spread into the actual unit. This needs sorted out and stopped now. The actions of one or two individuals can massively change the whole appearance of the band, not only within the unit, but outwith as well. Words will definitely need to be had, not just with those one or two individuals, but with the whole band. I think that the people involved have no idea the kinds of consequences to these things. I get that drama is a given in the band - we're a never-ending source of the stuff - but when it descends into this kind of nastiness, accusations, deep offense, and possible consequences for the band, theres a massive, massive, big black line thats just been stepped over.
Thats all I will say on the matter.
Tonight I'm going to go to Tai Chi, which could be interesting now that I'm missing that pint of blood, but I'm sure it'll be fun. Or at very least, calming enough to forget all this drama for an hour or two.
From my iPod: Absynthe, by Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson on their album Partners in Crime
From my bookshelf: I've been reading my way through a bunch of articles on depression for our Biomed project
Outside: The weather can't decide whats going on. Right now its bright sunshine, but it was hailing earlier
Todays hairstyle: JJJs Pretzel bun
I just got back from giving blood at the donor centre, with a plaster on my arm, because it won't stop bleeding. Think at this rate I'll have a bruise tomorrow. All par for the course, I guess.
So yesterday, after I left you hanging on the topic of Chernobyl, I headed off early to get my army kit back and iron it for parade. Since I wasn't in uniform, I had a quick look on Facebook, seeing as I always seem to miss the last-minute updates for the OTC. One very interesting private message, and one rather offensive post caught my eye as I was scrolling through my news feed. Oh the dramas of being in a pipe-band world.
The thing about the pipe band world is that everyone knows everyone, be it through someone else, especially in the top two grades or so.
We had a new tenor drummer appear last night who wanted to join, whos friend apparently knows my brother quite well. The band world is a small world indeed.
I discovered on drums|pipes that Tyler isn't playing with Shotts this year. Perhaps not mega-drama, but enough to appear on drums|pipes. Well, he is famous after all. I think since its to spend more time with his family, most people have been understanding - after all he has family and friends who live all over the place, and I honestly don't know how he kept up. Even though I'm only a student in Aberdeen, its hard enough to get to practices and such around stuff, and most students I know here who play aren't competing at the moment. I don't know how he managed it, but I think what he does is amazing, and I hope I'll see him playing again sometime soon.
Now the real drama happened last night too. There was a comment on a facebook page that it appears I wasn't the only person to take offense to. The band is, as a whole, a very tight knit community who work well together, and even if we don't get on with one person, we try to make it work for the good of the whole band and the people in it that we do get on with. In the army, you don't get anywhere on your own. So we were all very shocked at the post we came across, purely by accident. I won't mention the issue here, because we're trying to get things sorted out in the band without getting others involved (because although its unfounded but thats when the real trouble would start, and it could cause all sorts of trouble for the band as a whole). I believe the whole issue stemmed from one that occurred last saturday (remember how I mentioned an incident that I thought and hoped had been sorted out?), but something that should have been sorted out with only a three or so people involved, has now become a massive issue amongst the whole band because of facebook comments that have offended even those who weren't there, and is now beginning to spread into the actual unit. This needs sorted out and stopped now. The actions of one or two individuals can massively change the whole appearance of the band, not only within the unit, but outwith as well. Words will definitely need to be had, not just with those one or two individuals, but with the whole band. I think that the people involved have no idea the kinds of consequences to these things. I get that drama is a given in the band - we're a never-ending source of the stuff - but when it descends into this kind of nastiness, accusations, deep offense, and possible consequences for the band, theres a massive, massive, big black line thats just been stepped over.
Thats all I will say on the matter.
Tonight I'm going to go to Tai Chi, which could be interesting now that I'm missing that pint of blood, but I'm sure it'll be fun. Or at very least, calming enough to forget all this drama for an hour or two.
Tuesday 5 February 2013
My Weekend, the Booze-Ban, Editing, Glass flutes, and Chernobyl
In my glass: Full fat Coca-cola (The british version, with sugar - I needed a sugar-rush after a long day, and I've otherwise been reasonably good this last while)
From my iPod: Moving Hearts - Hiroshima Nagasaki Russion Roulette (A very good song written by Jim Page (I believe around the late '60s) about the WWII bombs on Japan, and the rise of Nuclear power.)
From my bookshelf: The Raven Boys was reasonably good. The writing was good, and the plot was exciting. I didn't quite feel like it finished, though I could see that if she had finished, it could very well have turned into the stereotypical romantic ending for those types of books. Perhaps it was better to leave us hanging, so to speak, as she did. For now, its right back to anatomy.
Outside: Today, we've had snow, rain, blazing sun, the works. Just now, its kinda dull
My mood: cheery enough
Todays hairstyle: Nautilus, with my 60th street fork for now. Will have to change for OTC though - probably some kind of cinnabun, or a knot-bun with my spin-pins, because I can't have my fork with my uniform.
Afternoon all! i realise this is my first post in almost a week. Wow! Its been crazy. and its only the second week back. Well last thursday, I went to the NaNo meet, but there was only one othe person, and I missed him among the crowd (it was rather busy when I arrived), so I got a bit of editing and moving of stuff from my old computer done. I also finally got around to paying for the full version of Scrivener (You can try a free months download here) since I'm now using it for my uni notes as well as my writing stuff (yay for having all your lectures and modules in a single file!).
On friday, it was uni as per usual, then I bumbled down to the OTC with my black bag for the army barmy stuff, my mini hand-luggage-suitcase with my stuff for saturday night, and my violin case (which my music books are breaking and bursting out of). I left my suitcase in the building, and went off to do army-barmy stuff. Well that was fun. Thrown in at the deep end to do warning orders as soon as we arrived, when I've not been to the lessons on the tuesdays (band takes priority, though I usually find myself stuck for things to do, seeing as I play the same stuff for practically every tune, every year. It gets old after a while). Anyway, an upside of my time at the barracks was that I finally found out what the seven questions actually were. They've been going on about them for all the time I've managed to come to the lessons, but they never actually told me what they were until now.
Saturday night, it was the SUOTC Pipe band dinner. It was great fun, and nice to have us all together again (the bands dont get to get together very often outside of Northern Lights (which incidentally I have a bone to pick about, but thats a story for another occasion)). But it was good. It seemed our banter, which we all automatically "get" as pipe-band-people, thoroughly confused, and possibly offended some of the waiters and waitresses, but it carried on after the dinner at the mess of the hosting OTC. Those of us that had instruments with us had a go together, and there was a bit of dancing. Unfortunately, a little immaturity by some members came close to ruining the night for some people, but I think (or at least hope) that thats all sorted out now. We all went home around midday on sunday, many people very, very hungover.
Now that that party is over, I'm going to have a go at a month-long personal ban on alcohol. I want to see how difficult it is to socialise with people when I'm going tee-total. You see, for most of us here, and at home, its not uncommon for people to just go out for a pint with their mates for a chat after a long day. I've found recently that I have a hard time not drinking when other people are, especially if its just for a chat in the evening. don't get me wrong - I don't drink on a regular basis, and I don't drink alone, and I don't regularly go over the RDA unless I'm at a major party, such as burns night, or the band dinner, or after a major competition. Its mostly one or two vodka and mixers after OTC, or on the weekends away. But the issue is the difficulty with trying to stay away from that one drink when you're already feeling down. I don't want to end up like my uncle, and I'm scared that I drink when I'm down, even just one. So until Northern Lights (the next probable "big party") I'm not drinking. Just to see what its like, and if I can do it.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, I've been editing on thursday. And I mean editing my NaNo stuff. I no longer have missing chapters, and I'm fleshing out the rather empty parts and removing the utter rubbish here and there, and my word count is slowly, but surely rising. I know my NaNo bar won't be updating any more now that November is over, but my current word count is 51,050, and thats after removing a lot of stuff. But theres still a lot of work to do on it. The only question is if I'll get the time now that uni is back into fulll swing.
On a completely different tangent, I've always been kind of obsessed with the Irish Flute. They tend to be made of wood, and have this gorgeous soft sound compared to the regular orchestral metal flutes. You can get keys added to them, but the main notes are produced by plain holes in the wood that are covered by your fingers, with similar fingerings to a whistle. Anyway, since I'm was searching stuff on some celtic music, and google gives adverts based on what you recently searched (on my phone - my laptop has adblock), and I saw this website on glass instruments. Now I have a slight love for instruments, and glass is so unusual that I went to have a look. Now what do I come across but glass flutes! They're gorgeous. Sure, they have tin whistles, ocarinas, crystal guitar slides, crystal digeridoos, and crystal panpipes, but the crystal glass flutes really caught my eye. I'm so, so tempted to go and bust some of my savings on it. I think it might very well be a present to myself after spring or summer camp if I do well in my exams. The only issue I have is what size to get. I would love to get the D flute, because I always loved the sound of the D wooden flutes, and as far as I'm concerned, the price is amazing for what I would consider to be one of my dream instruments. I just hope my fingers can stretch to reach all the holes. I would be teaching myself of course, seeing as paying for music lessons, and even finding someone around here to teach me would be an impossibility, but I might be able to whittle a lesson or two out of a family friend if he isn't on tour/at a fastival etc, etc.
Website for the glass flutes: http://www.hallflutes.com/item/122.html They ship from the US, I believe, and I have no idea how much shipping would cost, but to be honest, I don't really care all that much. Its the equivalent of £55 for a GLASS FLUTE goddammit! I really want one.. :P
Now in my music section, it mentions Hiroshima Nagasaki Russion Roulette. Its a song sung by Moving Hearts on their first album from 1981, which I found randomly and downloaded after hearing a radio mention of the band. The song was one of the many commonly played ones in our household when I was a child (and probably didn't realise what it was about). Anyway, they released it on their album in 1981, 5 years before the Chernobyl disaster, and listening to it come around on my lengthy playlist a couple of times as I was going about today, I began thinking about Chernobyl. Its now more than 25 years since the disaster. The 30km area around the reactor is still abandoned, but for the animals and plants that have moved in and taken over the area. There is still defects and diseases seen in the people exposed to a large amount of radiation, and in their children, and in the livestock, even here in Britain, where initially thousands of farms had to be placed under restrictions.
I remember my mother once telling me how my grandparents lost more of their lambs on the farm that year, and my granny suddenly developed hyperthyroidism, for seemingly no known reason in the late '80s. My mother always thought it was because of Chernobyl, but in reality, no-one really knows. It could be related, it could not. But it got me wondering just how much the people of the UK were affected by the cloud of radiation that passed over and deposited on the country. Its practically impossible to find statistics for most health issues as far back as the early 1980s to get an idea. Believe me, I tried. I guess I don't know why I'm curious, I just am. Meh.
More on this later.
See you soon.
From my iPod: Moving Hearts - Hiroshima Nagasaki Russion Roulette (A very good song written by Jim Page (I believe around the late '60s) about the WWII bombs on Japan, and the rise of Nuclear power.)
From my bookshelf: The Raven Boys was reasonably good. The writing was good, and the plot was exciting. I didn't quite feel like it finished, though I could see that if she had finished, it could very well have turned into the stereotypical romantic ending for those types of books. Perhaps it was better to leave us hanging, so to speak, as she did. For now, its right back to anatomy.
Outside: Today, we've had snow, rain, blazing sun, the works. Just now, its kinda dull
My mood: cheery enough
Todays hairstyle: Nautilus, with my 60th street fork for now. Will have to change for OTC though - probably some kind of cinnabun, or a knot-bun with my spin-pins, because I can't have my fork with my uniform.
Afternoon all! i realise this is my first post in almost a week. Wow! Its been crazy. and its only the second week back. Well last thursday, I went to the NaNo meet, but there was only one othe person, and I missed him among the crowd (it was rather busy when I arrived), so I got a bit of editing and moving of stuff from my old computer done. I also finally got around to paying for the full version of Scrivener (You can try a free months download here) since I'm now using it for my uni notes as well as my writing stuff (yay for having all your lectures and modules in a single file!).
On friday, it was uni as per usual, then I bumbled down to the OTC with my black bag for the army barmy stuff, my mini hand-luggage-suitcase with my stuff for saturday night, and my violin case (which my music books are breaking and bursting out of). I left my suitcase in the building, and went off to do army-barmy stuff. Well that was fun. Thrown in at the deep end to do warning orders as soon as we arrived, when I've not been to the lessons on the tuesdays (band takes priority, though I usually find myself stuck for things to do, seeing as I play the same stuff for practically every tune, every year. It gets old after a while). Anyway, an upside of my time at the barracks was that I finally found out what the seven questions actually were. They've been going on about them for all the time I've managed to come to the lessons, but they never actually told me what they were until now.
Saturday night, it was the SUOTC Pipe band dinner. It was great fun, and nice to have us all together again (the bands dont get to get together very often outside of Northern Lights (which incidentally I have a bone to pick about, but thats a story for another occasion)). But it was good. It seemed our banter, which we all automatically "get" as pipe-band-people, thoroughly confused, and possibly offended some of the waiters and waitresses, but it carried on after the dinner at the mess of the hosting OTC. Those of us that had instruments with us had a go together, and there was a bit of dancing. Unfortunately, a little immaturity by some members came close to ruining the night for some people, but I think (or at least hope) that thats all sorted out now. We all went home around midday on sunday, many people very, very hungover.
Now that that party is over, I'm going to have a go at a month-long personal ban on alcohol. I want to see how difficult it is to socialise with people when I'm going tee-total. You see, for most of us here, and at home, its not uncommon for people to just go out for a pint with their mates for a chat after a long day. I've found recently that I have a hard time not drinking when other people are, especially if its just for a chat in the evening. don't get me wrong - I don't drink on a regular basis, and I don't drink alone, and I don't regularly go over the RDA unless I'm at a major party, such as burns night, or the band dinner, or after a major competition. Its mostly one or two vodka and mixers after OTC, or on the weekends away. But the issue is the difficulty with trying to stay away from that one drink when you're already feeling down. I don't want to end up like my uncle, and I'm scared that I drink when I'm down, even just one. So until Northern Lights (the next probable "big party") I'm not drinking. Just to see what its like, and if I can do it.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, I've been editing on thursday. And I mean editing my NaNo stuff. I no longer have missing chapters, and I'm fleshing out the rather empty parts and removing the utter rubbish here and there, and my word count is slowly, but surely rising. I know my NaNo bar won't be updating any more now that November is over, but my current word count is 51,050, and thats after removing a lot of stuff. But theres still a lot of work to do on it. The only question is if I'll get the time now that uni is back into fulll swing.
On a completely different tangent, I've always been kind of obsessed with the Irish Flute. They tend to be made of wood, and have this gorgeous soft sound compared to the regular orchestral metal flutes. You can get keys added to them, but the main notes are produced by plain holes in the wood that are covered by your fingers, with similar fingerings to a whistle. Anyway, since I'm was searching stuff on some celtic music, and google gives adverts based on what you recently searched (on my phone - my laptop has adblock), and I saw this website on glass instruments. Now I have a slight love for instruments, and glass is so unusual that I went to have a look. Now what do I come across but glass flutes! They're gorgeous. Sure, they have tin whistles, ocarinas, crystal guitar slides, crystal digeridoos, and crystal panpipes, but the crystal glass flutes really caught my eye. I'm so, so tempted to go and bust some of my savings on it. I think it might very well be a present to myself after spring or summer camp if I do well in my exams. The only issue I have is what size to get. I would love to get the D flute, because I always loved the sound of the D wooden flutes, and as far as I'm concerned, the price is amazing for what I would consider to be one of my dream instruments. I just hope my fingers can stretch to reach all the holes. I would be teaching myself of course, seeing as paying for music lessons, and even finding someone around here to teach me would be an impossibility, but I might be able to whittle a lesson or two out of a family friend if he isn't on tour/at a fastival etc, etc.
Website for the glass flutes: http://www.hallflutes.com/item/122.html They ship from the US, I believe, and I have no idea how much shipping would cost, but to be honest, I don't really care all that much. Its the equivalent of £55 for a GLASS FLUTE goddammit! I really want one.. :P
Now in my music section, it mentions Hiroshima Nagasaki Russion Roulette. Its a song sung by Moving Hearts on their first album from 1981, which I found randomly and downloaded after hearing a radio mention of the band. The song was one of the many commonly played ones in our household when I was a child (and probably didn't realise what it was about). Anyway, they released it on their album in 1981, 5 years before the Chernobyl disaster, and listening to it come around on my lengthy playlist a couple of times as I was going about today, I began thinking about Chernobyl. Its now more than 25 years since the disaster. The 30km area around the reactor is still abandoned, but for the animals and plants that have moved in and taken over the area. There is still defects and diseases seen in the people exposed to a large amount of radiation, and in their children, and in the livestock, even here in Britain, where initially thousands of farms had to be placed under restrictions.
I remember my mother once telling me how my grandparents lost more of their lambs on the farm that year, and my granny suddenly developed hyperthyroidism, for seemingly no known reason in the late '80s. My mother always thought it was because of Chernobyl, but in reality, no-one really knows. It could be related, it could not. But it got me wondering just how much the people of the UK were affected by the cloud of radiation that passed over and deposited on the country. Its practically impossible to find statistics for most health issues as far back as the early 1980s to get an idea. Believe me, I tried. I guess I don't know why I'm curious, I just am. Meh.
See you soon.
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