back to the hills...

Went back to the Pentland Hills on Sunday. It was exciting to actually get to the tops of some of the peaks! It was also exciting to miss the bus that comes every three hours home, only to end up walking another 4km along the road to the nearest pub. Yes, that's right, I walked an hour in the mist to get a delicious Bailey's Latte. Mmmm.

It wasn't the best day for a walk, seeing as the wind on the top of the peak was stronger than any I had ever encountered before, and the rain was moving sideways, but all in all it was a very fun outing!

We met up with a youth group of sorts, most of them visiting from other countries, and a couple people who aparently live in my building whom I've never met and a Scottish-local. It was great to encounter a young scottish local that enjoys the outdoors. I was starting to believe that all young Edinburgh-types fall under the "ned" category! Ha ha...anywho, enjoy the photos:

The trail up the first peak:



Me conquering the first peak. About to be blown off:



The descent:



Random scenic photo of the distance:

back to the bigfoot...

So, seeing as there is only a month until my birthday, I found it necessary to undertake measures on how to defend myself in the event that the Sasquatch has tracked me down in Scotland and decided to wage an attack on me. I'm sure Sasquatch is thinking, "What better day then her birthday??"

Lukily, I received this card which gave step-by-step instructions to defend myself if such an event were to occur!

Excellent!

dying??

Well, as someone who usually gets sick once a year (in April after essays and exams are done), I have found it VERY unusual to be sick for practically the past six months. Or in other words, since I arrived in Scotland.

When I first got here, I just brushed off the lightheadedness I felt reading at my desk to poor lighting, and the sinus flu to not sleeping and drinking (ahem) too much. But now that it's six months later and I've suffered through countless sinus infections, bronchitis and labyrinthitis (!) I've had enough.

And this week, to confirm everything I has suspected, I found open mold in the hallways outside my flat! So, yes, basically I'm slowly dying from toxic mold. Pleasant!

pigeon minions?

Top news story of the day: radio-controlled pigeons.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/27022007/80-132/bird-brained-china-scientists-learn-fly-pigeons.html

Apparently they have found no practical use for these pigeons.

This is the funniest thing ever! I don't understand, do the scientists sit around and think "Hmm, what would help out humanity more: a cure for cancer, or, radio cotrolled pigeons!!"

That being said, who WOULDN'T want one??

the highlands!!

Last weekend me and 9 friends went on a tour of the Scottish highlands. It was a very fun trip, and we had amazing weather (considering it is Scotland). I didn't get to see Nessie (although I managed to get into the Loch Ness up to my knees) but I did learn a lot about Scottish history, and saw Hamish the Heilan Coo.

Loch Ness in the morning (and now, with swan!):

Glen Coe (glen means valley). It is very disconcerting to me the lack of trees in Scotland. And the trees that are there are obviously for industrial purposes. It is kind of sad in a way that almost a whole country's worth of trees could be cut down. Anywho, I'd really like to go hiking in Glen Coe at some point in the nearish future.


Generic Castle, and road leading away from generic castle:




I've always been intrigued by neolithic stone circle-type arrangements. So I was very excited when we got to see this ancient Pagan Cairn and standing stones:



The Atlantic Ocean from the view of the bus:



Fort Augustus, a little town on the Loch Ness, and where we stayed the night:



A little interesting fact about the highlanders: they loved to fight naked! Our tour guide told us many battle stories about the highlanders just whipping their kilts off to fight! Ha ha. Especially funny to me was the "shirts battle". So named because the highlanders took their kilts off and let their little buddies fling freely. Now, if i were a man in battle, I would think it would make more sense to take my shirt off, and leave the kilt on! But that's just me...

pentland hills..

So today I went back to the Pentland Hills to do a little hillwalking. It was a great little walk across the Pentland Park. And on the way we saw many a sheep! And a strangly dense "forest" of trees. I would have really liked to go into the mass of trees to see what it was like inside!

Tomorrow - the highlands!

the great outdoors...

After doing my first bit of "real" travelling to Barcelona, I've decided that I like travelling to cities, but I think that I would still prefer to travel to remote destinations which have more nature than city to offer.

Interesting architecture intrigues me to a certain extent, but it cannot hold my attention like that of a perfectly orchestrated mountain. In Barcelona, my favourites part by far was seeing the mountains from Mountserrat and the Meditteranean Ocean from the Castle. I couldn't care less about actually seeing the castle or the monestary on the mountain. They hold their own with historical value, but they cannot compare to the natural landscapes.

And frankly, I see nothing wrong with this. I still would love to travel anywhere and everywhere, but for the landscapes more than the cities.

Another note on this thought: natural landscapes versus religious buildings. I can totally see why they would build a monestary on top of Mountserrat - the view alone is a tremendous spritual experience, but why do most of the tourists not see it this way? Many people mill around the outdoors giving the natural landscape a respectful glance, but do not feel the spiritual connection they are looking for until they actually enter the monestary, or, the main church hall (where silence is the rule) for that matter? Basically, what I'm getting at is why do religious buildings contain religion? Why can't spirituality be contained in the outdoors, in nature? Is religion supposed to be checked at the door? If one believes in a "god" I'm sure he is not merely contained within the walls of a building.

If one is truly spiritual/religious, it shouldn't matter if one is in a building or beholding a natural wonder. If anything, the latter should hold one's faith more, for that is such that a higher power has ultimately created.

barcelona...

So this weekend I set foot for the first time in continental europe. Or, more specifically, Barcelona!

It was a great trip, lots of sights, and lots of fun. I was especially glad, though, that we had people with us who spoke Spanish. While a lot of the people there could speak a little english, I was not fully prepared for how much english would not help me in another country.

Anywho, on to the sights!

Friday we saw a castle overlooking the Mediterrnean Ocean (Montjuic). The view was amazing - I couldn't help but imagine myself way back in history gazing over the ocean at boats etc.



The "main drag" in Barcelon had some amazing street performers:



And another view from that day of the ocean coastline from ground level:



Aparently under Barcelona is an ancient roman city (well, remains of it anyways). So of course we had to go see that! The remains were very interesting, but I really enjoyed this old painting:



The next day we went up to the monestary on Montserrat:





The next day was our last day, and so, a short day - but we still managed to fit in a bunch of Gaudi and an Arc de Triomf:







And possibly one of the coolest things we saw all trip: a human tower!

hmmm...

OK, I've managed this long without divulging too much into my confused religious beliefs. Until now.

Basically, I've started reading the Bible. I'm not sure why, I just thought it would be a good idea since so much of this world bases their faith/life on what is written in it.

So far I have read the book of Genesis, and the start of Exodus. And I just don't understand all of it (not content wise, I can obviously understand what is being written, but I don't understand all the hypocrisy and lack of continuity). I don't understand why people would base their blind faith on what is written in it...? There must be more information that I'm just not getting from what I have found there. The stories are haphazard and contain minimal information - how is that enough? It seems that people build the stories up to mythic proportions, so now that I am reading them they seem a lot less significant. What time period are these supposed to be set in? Etc etc etc.

Here are some of my main questions so far:

With Moses and the freeing of the Israelites: why does God harden the heart of the Pharaoh in order to "prove" himself to the people by inflicting plagues upon plagues, therefore harming/killing many Egyptians? Why is it OK for the Israelites to have slaves, but not the Egyptians?

Why does God feel such a need/desire to prove himself?

I feel I can answer this one with the fact that the Bible was written by males, but why does God continually promise men "children as abundant as the stars in the sky" when he wants them to do something?

Why does God favour some groups of people over others - weren't they all created in his image from the single entity of Adam?

Why would God care that males are circumcised or not?

Why is it OK for a man to have sex with a prostitute, especially one which turns out to be his daughter-in-law, but God kills a man who "pulls out" during sex?

Well, that's enough for now....more to come!

oops!

Well it seems that changing the layout of my blog has had some detrimental effects. Which leads me to an apology for not posting recently. I wanted to, but the blow to my self-confidence was a little much.

Basically, I have a statistic counter working on my blog, and was happy to notice I have a little bit of a steady following. And then all of a sudden no one was reading anyone. Ever. There hadn't been a single reader in over a week. This concerned me. I felt unloved. So basically this prevented me from blogging - why blog if no one's reading it?

But now I have realized the err of my ways, and I will consequently fix the problem.

So about New Years.

The Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party was unfortunately cancelled here. I feel for all the tourists who flew in specifically for it. But it was still a good time at the party at my flat. Perhaps a little too much fun for some. Especially those who had to work the next day. Yes, that would be me.

Here's a photo of the aftermath carnage. Warning: it actually looked a LOT worse in real life - you can't see the full extent of the confetti in this photo.

merry christmas!

And so it is Christmas.

At the moment I'm listening to Canada's CBC Radio Two online (a little homesick, perhaps), and someone (I wasn't paying attention to the name) is currently sending in an audio postcard of what he wants to hear online. Instead of picking the "normal" Christmas songs, he decided to pick Sigur Ros' "staralfur."

What a great choice! He mentioned how the song had featured prominently in the movie, the life aquatic, t the moment when the team encounters the jaguar shark. What he didn't mention, but I'm assuming had thought of - is how much that moment relates to Christmas. This shark was a mythical being that no one really thought existed, almost an encounter with the divine: something beyond tangible truth.

Ignoring the commercialism of Christmas, that is what we are left with - a moment with the divine. Not necessarily religious divinity, though, it could emerge in different situations for different people. Time spent with loved ones, the feeling of new snow, "Christmas spirit"...

"Staralfur" has always been one of my favourite Sigur Ros songs. Listen to it - you can definitely feel the winter season.

santas!

And so today I witnessed the:


It was quite amazing. Thousands of people dressed up like Santa parading around the Princes Street gardens. It made me laugh so hard. So, for your viewing pleasure, of course, are many many Santas. The photos don't do them justice, though. The sheer magnitude of the Santas cannot be portrayed on film.


Santas warming up. It was classic - thousands of Santas, all dancing to "YMCA"...






On another note of sheer magnitude, the choir performed at the University carol service today. Imagine this: in a beautiful hall, about 2000 people singing along to Christmas carols. So great.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

But first, I have a special announcement to make: the sasquatch has followed me to Scotland.

I was pleased to open my mail today and find this - probably the most interesting depiction of the sasquatch I've seen to date.



A good friend of mine has continued my search for the sasquatch in my absence, and discovered this highly colourful sasquatch. The back of the document provided me with new information concerning the sasquatch: that they are believed to have a cry sounding like a loon. Very interesting, indeed. Hmm...

Well, back to Christmas!

They have planted a GIANT Christmas tree outside our flat here in Edinburgh. Technically, it's referred to as the "Edinburgh Christmas Tree." Unfortunately, though, said tree's lights go off on a daily basis, making for a less-than-spectacular-looking Christmas tree. Oh well, enjoy the night view from our kitchen window, note the lack of lights. This was actually a good moment, usually there's even more lights not working:

(Once without flash to appreciate the tree)



(And once with the flash to appreciate my snowflake creations)





Damn you Sean Connery...

we saw snow!

So some friends and I hiked up Arthur's Seat yesterday. It's a hike that all the tourists do in Edinburgh, but for good reason. Up at the top there is an amazing 360 degree view of all Edinburgh and the sea. Very nice.

Enjoy the photos!

let your voice be heard...

Pleas take some time out of your lives to fill out a little questionnaire to help Paul Aitken finish his master's thesis.

http://www.paulaitken.com/thesis_consent.html

Also, here's a note straight from the source concerning the project:

My thesis seeks to examine some of the major issues surrounding the building
and maintaining of online musical communities. Through observation and
participation in blog culture, online music forums, and filesharing
communities, I will be discussing aspects of online music promotion and
consumption from both artist- and audience-centred perspectives. As this
project is concerned with aspects of community and communication in online
environments, I feel it is absolutely necessary to ground these phenomena in
real practice. To this end, the inclusion of commentary by those who make
up Internet communities provides for interesting points of departure for
further investigation.

I am very intrigued to hear what individuals have to say about their
experiences with music online. I hope that the questionnaire is as fun for
you to fill out as I know it will be for me to read!

You can read more about the project at
http://www.paulaitken.com/academia_thesis.html

If you are interested in participating please read the attached Letter of
Information/Consent and questionnaire or read it and participate online at
http://www.paulaitken.com/thesis_consent.html

Anonymity for all participants is the default position for this project.
Should you wish to have your name revealed in the thesis please indicate so
on the questionnaire.

If you wish more information please contact me at thesis@paulaitken.com

well fine then!

ZUNE?!?!?! WTF???!!

"Bottom line: collective grooves dominate solo grooves."

Well now, this changes everything..



More to come...

is there no justice?

Yesterday Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging. I cannot even begin to adequately express everything I would like to about this situation. But one thing I will say is: how can we sentence Hussein to death, and Bush is still walking free?

I think everyone should read this. And note, these are Hussein's (translated) direct words. I find him much more rational and direct than Bush (who does not even write his own speeches).

http://ourworldinbalance.blogspot.com/2006/07/story-of-saddam-hussein.html