Wrapped Up In Books

Now you know that the time has come [And they said it would never come for you]

bohemianvegan — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:23:04 +0000

Done my Master’s. I don’t even know what to do with myself now. Granted, it’s been just over 48 hours since I submitted my thesis, it’s all I poured my time into – without it, I’ve felt just a bit lost.

Went out last night though to celebrate (was way too tired on Thursday) and have been sick all afternoon – I will not even look at Jagermeister again in my life. I feel wretched.

Now I need to pack (quickly) and get on a train to Edinburgh so I can sleep in the airport and fly to Berlin tomorrow. Back in a week-ish.

The Cleverest Blondes We Ken [What's getting me through writing today]

bohemianvegan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:21:09 +0000

EDIT: Just realised the lyric is ‘the cleverest blondes we ken’ [we know]. Damn Doric, I’ll never understand it.

Check out The View – the band, not the awful talkshow for soccer moms – from Dundee. I need something relatively peppy today to start me up and keep me going. Waking up at 6.30am today felt like sleeping in. There’s something wrong with that.

“Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” [RIP, Frank McCourt]

bohemianvegan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:33:21 +0000

I’ve been considering re-reading Angela’s Ashes for about a month now, and I think I’ll finally get around to it when my thesis is over. Here’s to being reminded that life could always be worse, and to the wonderful ignorance children have for their surroundings.

Photo via Slaughterhouse 90210.

I know this is a spoof, but [My Mother's Red Hat]

bohemianvegan — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:16:23 +0000

I adore Alanis (see multiple previous posts) and Alicia (fellow vegan)! Jaysus, Jaysus!

And the icing on the cake is that they play…

The Rural Alberta Advantage! Stab at indie movies all they like, I loved it anyway.

God bless Funny or Die. Humour me and watch the video.

Playground Love [Air/The Virgin Suicides]

bohemianvegan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:04:58 +0000

An awesome cover from one of my favourite books/movies.

Doctor: What are you doing here, honey? You’re not even old enough to know how bad life gets.

Cecilia: Obviously, doctor, you’ve never been a 13 year old girl.

‘It is so funny where words, love, and experience can end up in time.’ [Postcards & time travel]

bohemianvegan — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:18:52 +0000

My friend, J, is something of a world-traveler. Most recently she was in Poland, and sent me a postcard. It came in an envelope, which was a bit unorthodox. Once I opened it, I realised why:

While in Łódź, she came across this postcard in an antiques shop. It’s from Niagara Falls (the Canadian side, which is the prettier one) and dates from 1969. To quote her note accompanying it, ‘It is so funny where words, love, and experience can end up in time.’ It was so incredibly thoughtful of her to have sent it.

My friends’ wedding at Balmedie Beach last weekend [July 4 2009]

bohemianvegan — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:28:53 +0000

The North Sea, view from Balmedie Beach

A & C

J sledding down the dune

Sparklers

View from the peak of the dune

Gigantic bonfire

Taken at 1.30am, and the sun was still just below the horizon.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good photo of what was going on inside the tent (gorgeous set-up) or the fireworks that were set off, but I give A & C major kudos for pulling this off all on their own. It was the most beautiful day (23C, sunny) for a beautiful couple. So heart-warming.

This was hard, it was fun/We should do it again [The Rural Alberta Advantage]

bohemianvegan — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:59:34 +0000

It’s a toss-up between this song (Don’t Haunt This Place by The Rural Alberta Advantage, a Toronto band despite what their name would protest) and She & Him’s rendition of You Really Got a Hold On Me that I’ve been listening to non-stop for the past few days.

Thinking of baking cookies (chocolate chip) before working on the thesis for awhile.

Yo la tengo [Language; not the band]

bohemianvegan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:43:59 +0000

I subscribe to a ‘Spanish-word-a-day’ kind of thing and sometimes the sentence in which the word is used is accompanied by some anecdote. Today, it’s a joke:

Suena el teléfono a las 6 de la mañana en la recepción del hotel, y dice un borracho a la recepcionista:
Señorita, ¿Me puede decir a qué hora abren la barra?
Ella le contesta:
A las 5 de la tarde, pero déjeme decirle que con la borrachera que tiene no lo van a dejar entrar.
Y el borracho le contesta:
Si yo no quiero entrar, lo que quiero es salir, pues me quedé aquí anoche.

¡Ay, ay, ay!

(That’s basically a guy, who’s drunk, phoning the hotel receptionist and asking, at 6am, what time the bar opens. She replies that it doesn’t open until 5 in the afternoon, and that in his state, he wouldn’t be allowed in. His rejoinder is that he doesn’t want in, he wants out, for he’s spent the entire night there.)

Oh, and don’t see Year One. It’s pretty terrible.

Life is good.

bohemianvegan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:17:44 +0000

Things seem to be going well at the moment.

1) I have a place to live next year. It rules because it’s in a good area of the city (Rosemount, if it means anything to anyone); it’s less than a mile to the hospital and I get to walk through a gorgeous park to get there. Also, it’s probably less than a mile into the city centre which means getting home from nights out costs less. It has a backyard and it’s furnished, which is a foreigner’s dream. I’m almost too excited at the thought of buying bedding.

2) Yesterday, I finished my discussion chapter of my thesis. It’s now in the capable hands of my supervisors who will surely dissect it, but that’s what I rely on them for. So, as it stands, I have a finished first draft of this m-fer. Now I need to edit my lit review which hopefully won’t take me much longer than a few days (though productivity is waning today).

3) Monday is a bank holiday and I’ve been told not to go to the office. I am overjoyed and don’t know what to do with an entire day off. Go to the beach and do laundry, likely.

4) I booked a flight home and will be in Ancaster/Toronto for an entire month from August 29. I’ll be back in Aberdeen the day before my PhD begins. I’m usually jetlagged for as much as a week when I fly back and forth anyway, so I figure giving myself one day to acclimate is no worse than a week. Quite excited to fly British Airways as I hear their veggie meals are delicious (Air Canada’s have, um, too many beans), and I managed to get the shortest travel duration both ways which also happened to be the best price (still $827 CDN).

5) I’m seeing Year One tonight and I’m psyched.