Friday, December 30, 2005

Bizarreries de derniers jours! (tis a real french word, I kid you not!)

... the last few days has been full of these...

- Much noise and banter, particuarly when one eccentric uncle who hasn't ever really cooked before seriously exclaimed that he was going to write a book delving into the science of cooking; answering questions we all secretly have such as "Why does salt make things taste better?" and "Why do flour and water make dough"... apparently this will make cooking easier for those who struggle with it... hmmm...

- Appreciation of the Scouse accent in the form of a prospective cousin-in-law!
- Un peu trop de classic period dramas with my dear mother
- Un peu trop de sales shopping avec ma famille
- Un peu trop de lack of sleep
- Un peu trop de freezingness during a period of standing at the side of the M6 for an hour waiting for the RAC because my Dad was unable to loosen the screws connecting flat tyre to car.

Other than that... tis nice to be one of the "grown ups" in the British contingent of our family now. You see there's my sis, moi and then a 9 year age gap before the next youngest cousin! I was the baby that always had to go to bed early whilst all my teenage cousins got to stay up late! Not anymore!

Mwahahahaahahaha.... ha... ahem... clearly bizarrerie is contagious!

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Joyeux Noël!!!

Christmas is a bizarre time of year... seems like one of the few times of year we value traditions so highly, fairy lights, turkey, those particular things that we do every christmas day in that particular order...
I loooove carols, and I've sung them over and over and over again often without giving second thought to what I'm actually singing... At one carol service (of many) this month, I sang the carols, and yet for some reason, this time, I actually realised that the words I was singing actually meant sooo much...

"Mild He lays His glory by.
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth.
Born to give them second birth"

"The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger."

Wow!!! Thankyou God :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Quel étourneau!!!

Yesterday I proved myself worthy of that title!
I feel like telling this story in bullet points! if that's possible?!

It all started when I went to catch the 43 bus that runs from the ferry to Edinburgh to meet a friend from school. I was already running late when I left the house since I was waiting for Christmas cards to dry...

- So I ran to the bp garage (just over 5 minutes away) to get money out but then discovered I had no money in my account!
- So I ran back home again to transfer money from savings to current account
- But then of course the account page decided to crash
- But after a lot of faffing about, I restarted the computer and it worked
- So ran back to the BP garage again and got money out
- But as I was coming out and walking towards the bus stop which is just across the road, the bus drove right past me so I had to wait an additional 15 minutes for the next bus.
- The result being that I was 40 minutes late to meet my friend

- Then the dizziness continued later on when I had to catch another bus which I had never caught before to a friends flat for my old bible study groups dinner as I went to the wrong side of the road to catch the bus and so missed the one I needed to get as it went past me whilst I was talking to the bus driver!

But on the whole twas a good day! Good quality chats and getting to see the uni flat o my school friend Laura, and as ever, coming back to me old bible study group and leaping straight back into endless slagging matches, trivial tangents, goooood food, and laughing fit inducing banter! Quality!


Managed to get into town ok today, so clearly have learnt my lesson!

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Foooooooooooood!!!

yipeeeeee.... I know it was almost 2 months ago now but....

Our Milan PHOTOS!!!!


on other notes...

I am finally safely back home in South Queensferry despite getting to the house and being locked out because my family were still not back from their respective carol service!

After many a carol concert/service, a statistics exam (bleugh!), far too many essays at the one time, gatherings at our flat requiring almost no organisation (the cu grapevine when it comes to random gatherings is comparable to Neal's seeming ominiscence in the blogosphere!) though a lot of tidying, nocturnal nights (I blame it on a certain flatmate), busking on ashton lane (a very efficient money earner I must say!), far too many mince pies, far too many tomatoes, generally not enough variety in my diet, Christmas shopping, many a quality chat and an abundance of fairy lights in the last couple o weeks I definitely feel in need of a break!

Hoooooray for chicken curries so much better than anything I make, tumble driers and warm houses!!!


Wednesday, December 14, 2005

je veux le plus...

Feelings, I know I cannot
base my life upon them, cannot
base my faith upon them, cannot
ground my thinking on them.
Yet still I’m yearning for them.
For emotion… feel in motion
Feel a burning, feel a stirring
Feeling heavy, feel like bouncing
Feel alive!
But I’ve been drained…
Where did they leak?
Is there a puddle on the street?
Could I go back and fish them out?
Lie where they fell and soak them up?
No… must move on
Must hold on
Must trust you

Monday, December 12, 2005

le lion, la sorcière blanche et l'armoire magique

I have yet to use this blog to rave about a film I love, but woke up this morning smiling in the aftermath of this film so decided it was the bloggage!
Characterisation was spot on (which is something I like in a film), especially loved their portrayal of Aslan, soundtrack was fantastic, twas visually stunning, and there was just something about the film was positively magical!

This is high praise coming from someone who is an absolute purist when it comes to film versions of books, who grew up reading the books over and over and over. Ok there were some very cheesy moments, and bits of cheesy dialogue but those were the bits that made me cry the most...

But definitely one of my favourite aspects of the film, and also my favourite aspects of the books is what seems to me like blatantly obvious symbolism. Everything about the film seemed to be whispering "hope doesn't disappoint us!"
My favourite character has always been Edmund, even though I always want to give him a good kick in the shins at first, by the end he seems to me, the wisest. He is the one I most identify with, simply because he understands...

I'm just a little kid at heart. Think I always will be...

Monday, December 05, 2005

Juste au coin de la rue!

3 words... CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't usually get this excited about Christmas this early. However several events of the weekend have precipiated anticipation in me...

- Playing the cello in the New Scottish at advent Christmas carol concert on Saturday night with veeeery good choir in beautiful candle-lit church
- eating mince pies and drinking mulled tea afterwards... mmmm....
- making gingerbread biscuits with Beth and singing carols at the top of our voices
- staring at fairy lights in my room (even thought they have been up since September!)
- singing Hanson medley accapella at Christmas carol practice for concert tonight at QM Halls
- eating gingerbread biscuits

Christmas this year is also my proverbial light at the end of a tunnel. Not that these past few weeks, and next few weeks are particuarly tunnel-like... just that I'm reeeeally needing a break!
Also starting to miss my family a wee bit!
And last year flying on Christmas day was not so fun, so I'm especially looking forward to being at home, and engaging in the usual nonsensical traditions! In fact, twill be the first time I've been home for Christmas since moving out.

The geese are getting fat.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

C'est demander un peu trop!

Yeeees... ouais... the todo list is indeed far too long for the number of hours left in the next few days! As Sonja I think said, I have a negative amount of time to do an essay and project and play in 2 concerts, and do church, and bake and eat and sleep... hmmm...

On the + side... mes points forts des derniers jours...
- Toby's amaaazing food... mmmmmm (sampling his gourmet cooking on a Monday night after band practice has become a regular thing! Music+food=quality time spent) Twas also well needed after the mad day of polishing off essays and arranging things for Wednesday which leads me to my second bullet point
- lunch with Maddy on Wednesday
- haggis on Wednesday night (I'm beginning to see a trend here!)
- all 3 of us being in for dinner last night for a change!
- God being so faithful on Wednesday, just as he always is!
- not being stressed the last few days when I should really have been
- talking to the random Moroccan in French last night at house group
- Dancing round the kitchen to beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday stuck on repeat at 8am (grace à Mr Breakey)
- talking to my mother on the phone (tho it made me late for a lecture, but then what's new?!)
- getting an advent calender from her in the post! yipeeee!
- Ben Folds Five

So all in all, it has been a mixed few days, but good!
In fact... as a few people have said to me a few times in the last few days

God is good!

Monday, November 28, 2005

RAndoM

Think I should definitely curb my use of this word... Yet it seems to slip off my tongue at every possible occasion, in every possible context.
For example it was the first word that came to mind when I thought of this weekend. I don't see why it should be, when so many other words would better describe it...
spontaneous, erratic, bizarre, chaotic, untypical, exceptional, unusual...
I could go on... instead I will let the thesaurus speak for me. In fact just looking at that thesaurus has made me realise why I use the word random... I mean 36 entries! That's 36 possible meanings!

In other words, je ne suis que paresseuse ;)

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Pourquoi?! Ca c'est la question.

Ok, just going back on what I said in the previous post about not making more than one in the same day! Having one of those dilemna which seem to frequently crop up in my life where I suddenly have a several options of things to do, all of which will undoubtedly be class, all of which I want to do, all on the same night! Options include...
- Spending time with people I haven't seen in ages
- Doing things I haven't done before and are reasonably exciting but with people I know
- Doing something I haven't done in aaages with people I know and don't know!

Many questions have cropped up in my head as a result of this.

- Why can't people ask me to do things on different nights?!
- Will I always be this indecisive?
- Why do I stress about such trivial things and then not stress about the fact that I have piles of work to do?

Peut-être trop pour vous?

Feel like gushing about many things right now, but I meant to post this a while ago and thought maybe two posts on one day would be a bit excessive so... in order to curb my prattle... today I would like to share the discovery of this extremely useful site (via the wonders of googling!). Well... Useful for my presentation next week anyway...

It's takes soo little to amuse me while I'm supposed to be writing an essay!

It has just occurred to me how sad I must seem to you all!

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

J'etais un somnambule

Yeah! Finally shaken off sleep deprivation and aching muscles!! Such persistent accumulation of sleep deprivation I find, is not easy to be rid of! Despite having 12 hours sleep on Sunday night, I was still absolutely shattered on Monday! Still twas worth the weekend! Some of my highlights include...

- a tear-jerking Harry Potter viewing in student filled UGC (or whatever rubbish name it has now) cinema at 5 past midnight on Friday morning! (granted that's not technically part of the weekend, but it was one of the causes of my being a somnambule for various chunks of the weekend.)
- renditions of various songs from musicals round the bonfire
- gazing at pretty fire-fly like sparks against the night sky
- trees
- God speaking to and answering me in so many ways!
- beautiful sunrise on Sunday morning
- getting my favourite kind of black pepper for 20p in the food auction just before we left
- getting to know people I didn't know, better and spending quality time with people I already know and love
- Andy and Gavin the goths! hehe
- dancing in the moonlight!
- playing a song in 2 different keys ;)

I'm sure I've missed some...

Unpleasant effects of the weekend
- the nasty effects of sleep deprivation
- growing collection of bruises
- being so tired yesterday, that I left my purse in the flat when trying to get the underground to st georges cross for band practice, which I didn't realise till I arrived at the underground complete with cello, so had to run back and get it, up gardner st with cello, then back down again, missing the train by a matter of seconds
- hitting earth with a thump and realising I have a massive cloud of deadlines and foot long todolists to meet! and
yet...

Ca valait la peine!

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Mon fil des pensées

aaah this is scary... tis more like posting a chunk of myself than a fragment... un morceau de moi! But I don't think I could say what I want to say any other way...


I've spent my days,
my time with you
simply being.
Simply bee...ing
Busy bustle, brustle buzz
infuriating, grating. Simply
doing, doing, doing
Always action, never
Stop...

There comes a point from time to time
when we must stop and let things drop
when we must think and eat and drink
when we must listen, sometimes talk
when we must wait...
let time drift from point to point.
I'm waiting here
with you,
for you.
Simply breathing.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

The Mystery of the Invisible Psychology Tutorial

Originally wrote this post as one big long paragraph, then realised how much was lacking without bullet points...

Yes I managed to lose my psychology class... though I have been subsequently informed by my tutor that they were there the whole time! Thinking they were perhaps simply enveloppé de mystère? Hmmmm...
Other events worth mention in the past few days include...
- A 5 year old style fall, tripping on my jeans on White Street, scraping hands, knee and elbow and earning a plaster with a smiley face on my knee (courtesy of flatmate Mama Beth)
- Going to see a random friend of a friends gig in Oran Mor (the friend of a friend happened to be a cellist)
- Mike, Georgia, Eliza and I being fed a 3 course meal at Sonja's family's manor country house (homemade sticky toffee pudding... mmmmmmmmmm...)
- and finally realising that God's been trying to get my attention for quite a while now.
Really need to start paying more attention to my surroundings.

Much better! Bullet points really do render a post more comprehensible.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Un peu de joie!

Things that have made me smile inside today :)

-
Sunshine! (so rare, so beautiful!)
- flicking the trip switch and the power
coming back on in the flat (thanks to my Dad who seems to know just about everything!)
- Reading a happy memory evoking post by
Sonja
- bumping into people I love around about campus
!
-
bumping into a girl who I knew from the year below me in school and was practically my next door neighbour in joyous South Queensferry,
in the Boyd Orr (First time I've seen her in Glasgow) Almost no one from my school is at Glasgow uni except me and now her!
- Craig's new glasses! hehe ;)
- and this
Ah the simple things in life!

Someday I will write a post without bullet points

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

prelibatezze!!!!

...by far my favourite part of this weekend! That amongst engaging in the girliest possible chat, encountering a random collection of very forward men (the stereotype is true!)and being literally soaked in culture (in all senses of the word!)
Also learnt that you can get by in Italy with a knowledge of a romance language (they all sound the same really!) and the following words...
- Bonjourno
- Grazie/Per favore
- Prego (heard it used in so many contexts! Amaaazing word!)
- Ciao
Funny how communication is able to transcend language so easily... though that doesn't stop me loving it in all its forms!

Photos should be posted shortly

Friday, November 04, 2005

A mugs-worth

So as usual I'm supposed to be working, what with lab reports and an Italy trip (wooohooo) amongst other things...
Yet the pull of the distraction was too strong, but as usual my excuses are many and will-power in short supply... incontournable! Have a few thoughts anyway that have been brewing in my head over the last few days that I needed to drain into something.
- Gave my one and only cello pupil her first lesson back just on Monday. I love teaching! Though I'm thinking "regurgitating advice given to me in the past by my Dad and cello teacher and getting paid for it" is a better way of describing it! Is there such a thing as an original piece of advice?
- In mid philosophical discussion over dinner with a wannabe philosophy student friend I was asked why I believe what I believe. Why should I find that such a difficult question to answer?
- Why does it always rain on me? Is it because I live in Glasgow?

These are not rhetorical questions. ;)

A presto!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Twas inevitable really!

Reasons:

For blogging

- Tis an excellent procrastination tool
- I always fancied the idea of having one
- Any excuse to spraff is a welcome one


Against blogging

- Tis an excellent procrastination tool
- Don't really want to jump on the band wagon

Well I just have...