HAPPY BDAY CLARE!!!

I am very bad w/ sending gifts but don't worry its coming in the mail soon. Hint: one item involves time travel AND Jane Austen...I just couldn't pass that up!
In other news I had my first phone interview w/ Voluntarios de Esperanza, an orphanage in Chile. Hopefully I will be volunteering there for a few months this year or next. I find out at the end of the week so fingers crossed.
Mexican feast tonight for my cousin Jenny B's bday wish you were all here for margaritas and homemade salsa (I'm making your favorite beans Jules).
Hasta luego!

What European City do you belong in?

This thorough 6 question quiz decided I should live in Dublin: "Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions.You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town." http://www.blogthings.com/whateuropeancitydoyoubelonginquiz

"Tell me more and more and then some"

My new counter shows me that people are coming to this page. Yet no one except Bjork, Julie, Duncan and Daniel (who I have never even met) leave comments! For shame! In the words of Nina Simone "tell me more and more and then some" and I will satisfy your need to know the minute and boring details of my daily life. Promise! Well, maybe.

Its Wednesday night and I spent it shredding mail because after I didn't respond to the first 15 Mileage Plus Visa card they must have thought, "oh man maybe she still wants one." NO! I wonder how many trees are needlessly killed to fill my mailbox with junk mail? You hear that Capital One? I don't want you!

So as promised I will give more details of my trip to the UK. After getting my award (and my money) I hung out with my friends Lizzie and JP in Edinburgh for a few days. I love Scotland but I think its hilarious that 5 inches of snow was enough to close all the trains running north of Edinburgh and shut down roads and other public transport. Everyone would be living in CA if they couldnt clear 5 inches of snow. I spent another week or so in St. Andrews catching up with old friends, visiting my old haunts, and getting drunk with Duncan, Bjork and Eamonn.

I took the train down to Darlington from St. Andrews to see my friend Clare. I was knitting on the train and getting weird looks from the alpine yodeler clone sitting across from me. Clare would text periodically and predicted where I was exactly. She took that train way too often. The next day, Clare whisked me off to Whitby, a cute seaside town reputed to be the final resting place of Dracula and also possessing a very fine wool shop. We had lunch in Robin Hood's Bay (no men in green tights...quite a disappointment) and then stopped in Scarborough. Picture the tacky English equivalent of Atlantic City. The cultural highlight was Anne Bronte's grave...dead like the rest of this poor city. Clare was continually warning me to avoid eye contact with all the crackheads and fourteen year old mothers. When we asked one shopkeeper where the wool shop was she replied "wall shop? never heard of it." The Lake District more than made up for the disappointment that was Scarborough. No wandering poets but plenty of picturesque hills covered in snow and sheep.

Now that I have recovered from my CSI addiction (yes I finished all 5 seasons + I shred my mail= big loser w/ no life), I can look forward to Jules' visit!! Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Disneyland, Hearst's Castle, Monterey Bay Aquarium, San Diego (Sarah!) and In N Out are just a few of the exciting attractions on the itinerary. And maybe even shredding mail! I know that is making all you who have not yet visited me jealous enough to immediately go to orbitz and buy a ticket. I know you read this blog Stuart, Eamonn, Olley, Jon, Tryste, Natalie......!!!

And now to be completely unoriginal and post the events, births, and deaths that occurred on my birthday (thanks Duncan and Julie):

Feb. 15th

Neat facts: 1965- A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada. (and this did nothing to obscure the fact that it is the 51st state of the U.S.) Thats pretty much the only "exciting" event of Feb. 15th.

Births:
1564 Galileo Galilei, el era un cientifico y vivio en Italia
1820 Susan B. Anthony, ella era una feminista y vivio en Los Estados Unidos
1964 Chris Farley, "yo soy un motivational speaker. yo vivo en un van cerca del rio"

Deaths (I guess the 15th is a cursed day for the musically inclined):
1965 Nat King Cole, American singer and musician
1621 Michael Praetorius, German composer
1857 Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer
1974 Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer
1981 Mike Bloomfield, American musician
Karl Richter, German conductor
1984 Ethel Merman, American singer and actress
1999 Big L, American rapper

Karma

Chris came for a quick visit this past Sunday. I picked him up from the airport, drove him around, had dinner with my fam and hung out. Early the next morning I had to take him to his astronomy workshop so there wasn't much time for sightseeing (which is ok since Chris believes museums to be a "waste of time") nor was there time for a quick stop at the Indian casino for some poker (though Chris hoped there might be a bus service to the casino nearby his hotel). But remember how Chris was always whinging about how he HAD to go on all expenses paid trips to beautiful Hawaii while really he just meant to rub in our noses (we forgive you of course Chris =P). Well good ol' CA gave him a rather damp welcome....yup its been cold (well not Scotland cold) and raining. Karma baby. Anyway I hope all you guys out there in the wide world come for a visit too and soon! I've become addicted to my mom's CSI dvds and it has really put a damper on my social life. Save me!

Beamed

"Holyrood business halted by beam"
Proceedings at the Scottish Parliament were abandoned for the day after a 12ft-long wooden roof beam came loose in the debating chamber.

The beam hung down, just missing a glass panel, and was left swinging over the seats of Conservative MSPs.
First Minister's Questions was postponed and votes on earlier debates will take place at a future session. The beam was removed on Thursday evening and an inspection will be carried out on Friday morning. The parliament will await advice from structural engineers before the chamber is reopened.An urgent investigation was launched by parliament safety officers into the cause of the incident. The section where the beam fell is normally occupied by Tory MSPs, but there were few members listening to the debate from there at the time.

While it is a relief that no one was hurt, it is still disturbing that there were so few people there DURING a debate. This fun little incident meant that the Scottish Parliament had to meet in the venue scheduled for my award ceremony so it was postponed until April 27th when, of course, I will not be in Scotland. The trustees, however, were kind enough to take me out to lunch and to give me my award, award money (which was promptly spent...the UK is too expensive), and a book entitled Think Global, Act Local, which one of the trustees asked if he could sign twice. ummmm Sure, as long as I get my 100 pounds biotch! Actually they were 3 very sweet old men and they had some very interesting stories that were probably more entertaining than sitting through an award ceremony, the vast majority of which was for urban planners...boring!

More to come once I develop my pictures.

Oh and spring has sprung here. My daffodils, lavendar, poppies and jasmine are blooming like crazy. Sneeze.

Onyx

I am just looking on Chris's computer in Angus House and I see that the only song downloaded on iTunes is Onyx's "Slam" the theme song for the Angus House Krew last year. Eamonn downloaded it at the farewell party back in September and I am pretty sure Chris has not listened to it since because Eamonn played it 24 times (thank you play count) at the party!!!

I am sorry (Bjork and Daniel) that I have not written in so long. Bjork gave me a hard time today about my lack of new entries at Northpoint (yay St. Andrews!). So I am putting this entry in. Satisfied? Probably not. But next entry will include details of my return to St. Andrews/Scotland, my 3rd job, plans for the future, lack of motivation, what vegetable samurai used to tattoo on their penises. Yes all that and more to come.

Schokolade aus Deutschland

My brother and I received a German care package full of German candies and chocolate just in time for V-day. Look how excited my brother is...what a dusseldörke! Do these wafers look familiar Julie? We only ate about a bag of them a week. And you know what, they are still damn good! Mwhahah. Danke schöen Robert und Sandra!

Captain Corelli's Mandolin, worst movie of all time?

Everytime I used to go to my grandma's house I would always wander through her video collection, which I believed rivalled that our local Blockbuster. I was at grandma's this past weekend for her birthday and I thought I would look through the ol' VHS collection and see if there were any movies I still needed to watch. I borrowed some old favorites (Anne of Green Gables....I almost spelled Anne without an e!) and then I came across Captain Corelli's Mandolin (which is actually on DVD...my grandma has moved on to expanding her DVD collection now). I thought ok yeah this movie looked absolutely ridiculous in the trailer and it bombed at the box office and the critics hated it. But I am sort of obsessed with the Greek landscape and I want to go back some day soon to visit the islands. So I borrowed it, thinking I could just put the mute on and look at the scenery and pretend it was National Geographic video or something. In the end I left the sound. And boy was it amusing. What a freakish assemblage of accents and actors. A Spanish woman playing a Greek woman. A Welshman playing a Greek fisherman. A balding American playing an opera loving, make love not war Italian. I even listened to the commentary a bit because I was curious to hear what the director would have to say about such a crappy movie. He talked about camera angles, lighting, set design, music pretty much trying to avoid any public admission that his movie was a big pile of poo. Well I will say the landscape was very beautiful but the director could not possibly take credit for that. And that was where reality ended. They could not convince me that Penelope's character would ditch Christian Bale (ok so hes illiterate!) for owl eyed Nicholas Cage because he can play a mandolin (thats like guitar for beginners). And apparently the incident where Italian soldiers were massacred by German soldiers on Cephalonia (I think thats how its spelled) is based on true events...its so sad that this movie had to bring attention (to those few who saw it) to that tragic fact. Well thats my rant on CCM.

Um Your Quiz is Wrong Bjork!

Ok according to Bjorks Disney character quiz I am Goofy, who is described as follows:
Your alter ego is Goofy! You are fun and great to be around, and you are always willing to help others. You arn't worried about embarrassing yourself, so you are one who is more willing to try new things.
Um yeah. I hate embarrassing myself and I am not THAT willing to try new things (like seafood ick)
Try and see which wrong character you will end up with: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=3049

Sweet News!

I won the Sir Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust Award for Category 2B, best postgraduate dissertation for my Masters dissertation on Robert Moyes Adam!!!!! Not only will it look good on my CV but I also get some cash...100 quid! Woohooo. Maybe I do have a shot at a career in academia. Just maybe.
There is also a big award ceremony thats going to be held off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh by the Scottish Executive and my prof. and I have been invited. If my parents help me with the plan ticket I will be very tempted to go and accept my award and bug all my British friends. Any excuse to go back to Scotland!

SOOOOOOOO excited!

Avert your eyes if you hate books or ice cream

Ice cream section at the Tillamook Cheese Factory...I am sure you all know why I had to try this flavor.

The picture could not even contain all of Powell's books.

Sign from the Sci Fi/Fantasy section of Powell's Books, Portland.

Book Heaven

I have just returned from a very relaxing trip to Portland, Oregon where I visited with my buddy from St. Andrews, Lizzie. I stayed in her very cute 1940s duplex home, which has huge picture windows that look out on Mt. Hood. The weather was a bit grey and rainy (not unlike Scotland!) but that didn't put a damper on the trip...it was a nice contrast to all the sunny weather we're having in California (heheheh I just have to rub that in while I still live in CA). Besides catching up on old times, the highlights of the trip were Powell's Books and the Tillamook Cheese Factory. You can't imagine my excitement upon seeing Powell's Books...a whole city block taken up by a bookstore that sells used and new books and is not Barnes and Noble!!! It even provides you with a map when you come inside! We spent hours wandering the aisles and my stack of books slowly grew. We missed you Elizabeth, Daniella, and Natalie when we were perusing the romance section and reading the back covers aloud and laughing. I think the other more "serious" romance shoppers were slightly offended by our amusement at such titles as "Much Ado about You" and an entire section on "Paranormal Romance" most of which was set in the Highlands of Scotland (is there nowhere else romantic in the entire world?).

Besides being the home of Powell's Books, Portland is a pretty cool city with a great public transportation system (free in the downtown area), lots of bike lanes, great shopping areas, a beautiful public library, and some interesting museums. Oh and lots of whole foods stores where you can get wheat germ and all other assorted healthy, organic and free trade foods on a level that would even surpasses the crazy health stores in southern California. Hmmm perhaps there is a place in the United States after all where I might want to live.

On Saturday Lizzie and I drove along the Oregon coast, stopping at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, which was a surprisingly busy stop filled with families, visible lovers of all things dairy, and even some naval cadets. The factory was cool with all sorts of weird bits of machinery moving the cheese, cutting the cheese, packaging etc. I also highly recommend the Marionberry pie ice cream. After the cheese factory, we drove along the coast and the sun finally came out as we stopped in the town of Manzanita, a cute town with lots of little artsy shops. We drove back along the sunset highway, which lived up to its name, stopping only to wonder at the largest sitka spruce tree in the United States (somewhat underwhelming after seeing the redwoods and sequoias in Yosemite).

More good news though! I have another job as a research assistant to an old professor of mine, Dr. Igler, helping him to do research for his book on trade, disease, and natural history in the Pacific basin from 1770-1850. And I am getting paid! Maybe I should change the title of my blog now? Nah...people would rather read a blog with a more bitter sounding title. Ok back to work at my temp job...answering the phone when someone actually calls (the rate is approx. 1 call per hour).

Eamonn made my day!

I was not looking forward to another day at work (especially when everyone else seems to have the day off) when I checked my email this morning and received this link from my buddy Eamonn: http://www3.state.id.us/oasis/2005/HCR029.html
It looks to be for real but even if it isnt it is very enjoyable. My favorite ones: "WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho's most famous export" and " WHEREAS, Napoleon's bicycle and Kip's skateboard promote better air quality and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transportation."

Last night, after several failed attempts, my friend/cousin Jenny and I finally saw Mrs. Henderson Presents. We tried two times before to see this movie, which was playing at the local "artsy" cinema, but both times we were thwarted by a huge line of senior citizens that wound along the parking lot all the way to Trader Joe's. When we did finally get tickets and enter the movie theater on the 3rd try, the ticket collector held us up by regaling us with how wonderful Mrs. Henderson Presents was and how "it was the best movie this year on so many levels." As I stood in line for some overpriced movie snacks (5 dollars for a SMALL popcorn!!! WTF?? 10 dollars for a movie ticket? I remember when evening films were 5 dollars...I'm practicing this bit for my future grandchildren), this ticket collector proceeded to tell EVERY person that came in about Mrs. Henderson Presents: "have you seen it? its wonderful! best movie this year! the comic dialogue is spot on!" blah blah blah. By the time I got my drink I wanted to strangle him; with all this overhyping and all the effort I put in just to get into the movie theater I knew this movie could never live up to expectation. It was entertaining in the end, but not as much as the two ladies who emerged from the film accusing each other of being rude and almost getting into a cat fight. Good times.

Another interesting movie I saw this weekend: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. The plot was so vague and confusing at first I had to go online to figure out what was going one. Richard Burton played a very unglamorous, alcholic spy...the harsh lighting picked up every pockmark on his weathered face. Jenny and I didn't really like the film but we did learn a few valuable lessons: a) I could never be a spy...I have not the wit nor wiles even to figure out the plot of this movie (I can now cross it off the list of possible career options) b) you don't always get hot babes (exhibit A: very plain, card carrying communist lady vying for Burton's affections) c) apparently laughing in a girl's face about her life's passion is a successful way to pick up lonely women librarians d) if invited behind the Iron Curtain, decline politely because you never know you if you might be forced to testify in a mysterious trial, imprisoned and then shot as you try to escape over the Berlin wall.

Filling up space with random pictures

My dog Eowyn making the adorable beseeching face when you ask her if she wants to go for a walk.

Couch Potato

New Year Resolutions are crap. Since the beginning of 2006 I have only managed to be a couch potato, watching all manner of TV shows I received for Christmas including The Office (British version), Gilmore Girls and Firefly. I have not finished one application. I have not answered any emails. I can bitch and moan all I want about living at home but I will never get out at this pathetic rate. And I am going to receive a package of books in the mail any day now and that will be even more distracting and engrossing than the tv shows I have been watching. I ordered Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (I saw the movie Capote the other day, which was really interesting and made me want to read his book), Mary Austin's The Land of Little Rain (which I came across in my research for my undergrad honors dissertation but never got a chance to read) and Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I wanted to get Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert (about water in the American west) but I didn't have enough money left over after buying a GRE prep book. I hate tests.

The couch potato has not been completely eliminated but I have taken to walking in the evenings with my friend Lauren, water polo has started again, and I have another temp job to fill. The weather lately has been particularly fine for walking although a bit chilly at night for water polo in an outdoor pool.

I got that package in the mail...plus another xmas gift from my buddy Daniella with two more books. Although I have work at the moment, I have managed to finished In Cold Blood and most of the Land of Little Rain (a particular quote regarding a stagecoach ride through the desert seemed very applicable to my current work situation and intellectual state: "of such interminable monotony as induces forgetfulness of all previous states of existence."). I was inspired to read Capote's book after watching the film about him starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. The movie was interesting (I had no idea Capote was a childhood friend of Harper Lee and prob. inspired the character of Dill!) and Hoffman was excellent but I found the book to be even better. I couldn't put it down. And I only did when I had to answer the phone at work and enter purchase orders lest they think I was not working. It was both fascinating and horrifying to read. I don't want else to say...read it and let me know what you think. Its too bad he only wrote a few novels and short stories...but I guess all the drinking and the crazy jet-setting lifestyle was not very conducive to writing.

In other news, I am currently working for an electrical rep company (they sell products from the manufacturers to other companies I guess) and pretty much the only cool thing about the place is that they have a poster of Napoleon Dynamite in the office. My first day after mastering the entry of purchase orders and answering the phone the ladies in the office cornered me and said isnt the job easy? Um (wondering if this was a trick question or if they were leading up to giving more work to do) yes I suppose so. Apparently they have had trouble obtaining capable receptionists...all that is required is to answer the phone and enter maybe 20 orders or so a day which takes me about 30 min. The rest of the day I read and pretend not to use the internet. There next question was, "so do you want to work here instead of just temping?" "No, I am going back to school to get my PhD most likely," I replied trying not to sound too ungrateful. According to these ladies, the electrical business is very fun and interesting and I don't need to go back and get my PhD. They would have to pay me a helluva lot to get me to stay and do this job from 8-5. Money they don't have (ok I know I am a snob). But I guess its nice to be wanted (and good to have a fallback plan in case it turns out I have no future in academia or anywhere else where an actual functioning brain is required). Oh and I still have not finished any of the applications I was supposed to finish ohhhhhhh last year. Couch potato syndrome? Slackeritis?

Well, thats all the news thats fit to print. Tschuss! (see I am practicing my German, Andrew)

Kristin's Blanket...ain't she a beauty?

A Pattern of Aimlessness

The second question that everyone has asked me since I received my M.Litt is: "So what are you going to do now?" Good question. I have no idea. I have come up with lots of options: travel in South America, apply for grad school, apply for internships with environmental NGOs and/or the Smithsonian. I explained this and the fact that I have not actually acted upon any of these brilliant plans to my very successful and ambitious aunt, whose response was: "Marion, you need to stop wandering in this pattern of aimlessness." Very good advice but much easier said than done. For example, here I am writing on my blog when I should be finishing an application for an orphanage in Chile, which needs to be finished before the end of the year. I guess I should get on that...but first I will just relate some random stories that I found amusing during the Christmas break.

My dad got a bunch of Home Depot gift certificates for Christmas and suggested that I should paint my room. I told him about this organic paint I had read about in a magazine. He replied, "Why don't you just go down to the field, grind up some grass and put that on the wall?" I then told him the price per gallon and in trying to justify the price in his mind, he asked, "Can you lick it off the wall?" I must say he's been in a pretty good mood considering its the holidays and he believes himself to be the 21st century version of Ebenezer Scrooge.

The other day I was driving with my two brothers to pick up my grandma. At one point, I started to turn right instead of going straight toward to the freeway. My brothers hate any sort of deviations...they liked to get things done ASAP so they can get back to their computer games. To this day they refuse to go to any bookstore with me because one time I spent 45 minutes in Barnes and Noble (and I even made it a short trip out of consideration for them!). Anyway, they protested and I said we're going to Starbucks (or "arucks offe" as I think of it now after a bunch of drunk students stole some of the letters outside the store in St. Andrews). They asked, "why?" I said, "cuz I need some coffee...f***er!" The last part of that was directed to the driver in front of me who stopped at the green light. But I guess my brothers didn't pick up on that right away so Andrew just shrunk away from me and said "ok I can see you do really need your coffee."

9 to 5 blows

I always knew that to being a university student meant leading a sheltered existence. This truth became shockingly clear and relevant now that I am working as temp. Do I sound bitter? I hope so. Somehow I believed that employers would realize my potential and that all the hard won grades and papers would be evidence of my intellect and my ability to adapt, learn and produce. As both Jon and I have found out this is not so. Apparently they want people with "experience." "What does that even mean?!"

I don't want my first blog entry to be a complete rant though. At the same time I don't really know what else to talk about because finding a job/deciding my future is really all I have had on my mind of late. Plus it's rather discouraging to read blogs like Jules', which are much more interesting and entertaining. I will try anyway.

Good news though! I finished Kristin's blanket! For those of you who don't know, Kristin is part of the "Angus House Krew" (Eamonn's spelling) a group of people that lived in Angus House (and other places like the loverly Albany Park and "Stanley Sucks" House) in St. Andrews this past year. Unfortunately she was in a very bad car accident this past spring and has been in and out of hospitals in Scotland and Georgia. Right now shes at home recovering. Back in July my Beanscene (a local coffee shop) knitting group, consisting of myself, Jodi, Clare, Olley, Jodi's labmates and Eamonn (don't think you won't get away with not knitting....I think you should consider the following quote from Northern Exposure: "My masculinity isn't hinged on whether or not I knit" therefore knitting does not reflect upon your masculinity contrary to what Chris believes, Eamonn) decided that we, the Angus House Krew, should knit a blanket for Kristin with each person contributing one or more squares. We began with a dinner/knitting party and taught Olley, Jon, Chris and Joe how to knit. In the end we had 12 people contribute squares. And two nights ago I FINISHED IT! I will post a picture soon. I think it looks pretty sweet. You can decide for yourself. All I have left is to finish a photo album (Kristin has had some memory problems so we're hoping some pictures might cheer her up/jog her memory) and card to accompany it.

Other good news: I am going to visit my buddy Lizzie in Portland, Oregon in January. I have not seen Lizzie since June 2003 when last I was in St. Andrews as a JYA. I remember quite distinctly how we first met: in the drab dining hall of Andrew Melville during breakfast, the interior of which was brightened not by the florescent orange 70sfabulous carpeting but by the fact that we were due to move out that morning into plush New Hall (single ensuite rooms with double beds and TVs!). She has promised to take me to Powell's Bookstore, a very large used bookstore and needless to say I am very excited. Lizzie now works for the Energy Trust of Oregon, which looks like a pretty interesting operation, which you can check out here: http://www.energytrust.org/

I suppose I should now create a semblance of productivity...by reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I was so engrossed by the book at one point I almost forgot to answer the phone. And that would be in poor form considering that's the only thing they are paying me to do today.

More to come. This is much easier than keeping a journal. Famous last words.