Monday 31 December 2012

Happy New Year

In my glass: a G+T
From my iPod: nothing - the DJ is playing at the pub
From my bookshelf: don't bother asking - I have exams in two weeks
Outside: dark, clear skies, cold
My mood: cheery :)

So it's the end of 2012 tonight. Not sure how long it'll take for this to get online from my phone, so it may well be past midnight by then.
Anyways, tonight I say goodbye to the highs and lows of this year and hopefully welcome a happy new one, with hopefully new people to welcome as friends, more happy memories and a better time of it than this year passing.
A happy new year to everyone!

Saturday 15 December 2012

The Connecticut Shootings

(NOTE: this is not a post debating guns, religion, or any of the other subjects that have exploded over the internet in the wake of the shootings - feel free to share your feelings on the tragedy, but comments debating these subjects will be deleted - that is not the purpose of this post)

I cannot describe the feelings I felt when I heard about this last night. From across the pond, I find myself horrified at this incident. I have not heard much - I find it hard to read about such a henious crime even so far away in the USA - but the headlines I have heard are horrific.
Yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut, a 20-year old man shot and killed 26 people, 20 of which were elementary school children. The shooter was the son of one of the teachers at the school, and had no previous criminal record. He was found dead in a classroom with two firearms, and a third was found in his car.
Newton was not the only place to face the horror that day however. Yesterday morning, a 36-year old  man walked into an elementary school in china, a country with strict laws in gun control, and attacked 22 children with a knife. Though none of the children have died, many are currently in critical condition.
Many people I know here are reminded of the Dunblane primary school shooting in 1996 in Scotland. Many of my current friends were in primary school at the time, my sister had just gone into high school. Dumblane was a little town close to Stirling in Scotland. People throughout the country grieved as people in America and across the world grieved today.
The Dumblane shooting sparked the Snowdrop campain, banning the ownership of handguns by the public across the UK. But though gun ownership is now banned in Scotland, there was still at least 5 people in Scotland killed this year by them, which is still horrific. Any shooting is horrific, regardless of the number.


My facebook feed is full of debate about the removal of guns, and it annoys me to no end. It is time to let people grieve, not stir the shit-pot by sparking debates about guns, medications, religion (all of which I have so far seen in relation to the shootings in connecticut). People are so enraged about the mere fact a gun was involved that they have forgotten that people are grieving, and also seemingly ignored the horror that occurred in China that same day. Getting rid of guns/changing medications/believing or not believing in a certain spiritual aspect is not going to solve the problem, and you're kidding yourself if you think it will, because there are still nutters in this world who will go into a school and let loose on a bunch of kids for little to no reason. That is not to say that guns shouldn't be banned - I firmly believe they should - but it is to say that killing will not stop entirely by the removal of guns. It will likely reduce massively, as statistics show it should, but if someone is that insane to go into a school and kill a bunch of people, not to mention children, then they would likely just find another way to do so, just as that man did in China. Changes in law have to be made by the American people, for the American people. We just have to support the people who have lost so much.
It's time to let the world grieve. Many families have lost everything they hold dear to them - sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, cousins, friends. Flags fly at half-mast both in the town and at the White house. And for those children who have not been lost, like the others in the school, or all those children in the China incident, their childhood innocence has been stolen from them. Perhaps it's time to show a little sensitivity, for the media to give the town space to breathe, give a little support for the parents and children of America, and leave the debate to those of the state and country involved.

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Last Day of Term, and my shitty love life


In my Glass: Freshly juiced apple
On my iPod: Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO
From my bookshelf: Soulcatcher by A. K. Stevenson
Outside: Dark, cold
My mood: Far to wide awake for 11PM at night


Finally! Tomorrow is the last day! And.... I don't have to run around like a maniac like I do most thursdays :) I shifted my tuesday lab to tomorrow morning, because I couldn't be bothered with the stampeding crowd of people trying to get in the tuesday lab so they could get the cheaper flights home before christmas. Then my usual 2PM class is finished for term, which means I have more than three hours to do what I like between the lab and anatomy revision up at foresterhill.
Then we have the TGIO party for the Aberdeen NaNo-ers. We have a buffet and things at one of the bars in town, so it should be good fun.

Makes a change to think I might be able to relax at a party for a change. As good fun as I've been having at the parties I've been to this last while, I haven't always been comfortable. I think some people are slower to catch onto the change in me since the start of the year.
Mind you, it probably doesn't help that I came this close to slapping one overly-friendly and slightly creepy guy that was with us the last time I was out. With my life having been what it has, I can't ignore the creeps any more. Alcohol used to drown them out and let me enjoy the night, just like everyone else, but now I'm so wary, I can barely even relax anymore. When everyone else is getting drunk, but I can't relax enough to join the fun, or go onto the dancefloor without thinking about all the eyes oggling, it soon wears thin.
Apparently there's a certain rumour about me around a couple of the OTC-ers, which pisses me off since I've not actually done anything worth rumour this term. I'm really, really hoping it stays quiet enough to stay out of the Tae the Lassies poem at Burns, for fear I may burst into tears at the table. I've had enough of this crap.
How are people meant to see me as I actually, when people are making assumptions off my previous reputation? That girl wasn't me, can't they see that? I was acting in the way I did as a way to live through grief. And I regret every minute that I took advantage of someone else to temporarily seal the gaping hole that was my heart, but I can't take it back.
Plus, I can't get my head around the fact that at the time I wanted to pick someone up in the club, it was so easy, but now, when I don't want to be that girl any more, and I just want a normal guy to care a little, it's so, so hard. Why am I rejected so often? I either seem to get kicked to the curb, or immediately friend-zoned by every guy I like.
It's hard for me to get back into dating, after so much time grieving, but it is time for me to carry on with my life - to stop living in the past and start loving again. And I'm trying so hard, I really am, but I don't know how anymore.

Sorry for the sadness of this post - it was meant to be a happy one about the end of term, but I guess I need to offload a few things. I'm being overwhelmed by life. I don't know if anyone even reads this anyway.

Friday 7 December 2012

New computer is broke - again..

So two weeks ago, I had to send my brand new (just over a month old) laptop to get the screen repaired. It was giving me odd colours and lines and all sorts of dodgy stuff across it. The repair guys at PC World decided it was a crack from damage and charged me to send it off to get fixed. Upon recieving it back (three days ago), there's a new screen, and they refund me the money they charged because it was down to something inside. All well and good.
It runs fine as I start it up the next day, and for hours it's all going fine. Until I move it. Suddenly there's red/pink overlaying everything. I put it back, but it stays flickering red. Like you can still see everything, but there's this annoying flickering overlay over everything. I open up google, and the white screen has no red on it, but it still flickers on the bars at the top and bottom, and other, non-white sites (e.g. the videos on youtube, and just about every other site I regularly visit) are flickering.
So I sigh, and go to close it and get ready to bring it back in to PC world in the morning, and as soon as I move the screen forward, the red goes away. I let go and it starts again, but then, with a little manipulating of the screen position, it goes away totally. So I shrug, shut it down, and go to the bed for the night.
I wake up in the morning and start it up, and...it's totally fine. Right. So, having woken up late, I quickly do my online test for uni as I eat my breakfast, and it's all fine. Until I'm about to shut it down and head out the door. And the red flickering starts. By this time, I don't have time to head to PC World, so I shut it down, shut off the charger, leave it on the desk, top open, and grab my old laptop and charger that I'd been using while my laptop was getting repaired. By the time I get in after the day is over, PC World is shut.
So I wake up today, and turn on my laptop. The red flickering was still there, covering my welcome screen and turning the blue into flickers of purples and pinks. I sigh, grab my purse, find my reciepts from the earlier fix, close the lid of my laptop, put it in my rucksack and wander down to PC World.
And wouldn't it be just my luck, that as soon as I arrive at PC World, and open my laptop to show the tech-guy, the red flickering is gone. Just like that - GONE! So the tech-guy thinks it's a pinched wire in the hinges, or a loose connection (if that's true, I can't help thinking it's related to the screen replacement, since it didn't have this problem before), but is confused, seeing nothing when he moves the screen back and forth. So we go through the whole procedure of checking the details of the laptop, and the guy is also surprised that it's needed two repairs when it's still less than two months old. He turns it over, screen still open, to check the serial number on the back, and *Hello, Red Flickering!* He turns it over again, and it stops. Needless to say, he never saw it the first time, and we can't get it to do it again, so I'm starting to feel like a loonatic.
So, the poor guy spends a good half-hour on the phone getting passed from person to person, until he eventually ends up at Samsung, who are now apparently going to fix it, since it's still in warranty. So I probably have another 10 day wait before I get it back. Seriously? By the time I get it back, my laptop'll basically have been away for repairs for almost half the amount of time I've owned it. I don't even know if I'll still be in Aberdeen if it comes back late to the store, so I'll have to reorganise for it to be sent to the store at home, and that'll just be awkward. If I knew this would happen so soon after buying, I would have gone for a different brand - the reason the guy at tech-support believed me was because he had just seen another similarly new Samsung that did dhow the red flickering. I can't help but wonder how long this laptop is actually going to hold up if it's having problems at this stage.
Meanwhile, my poor 5-year old Dell is plugging away nicely under the strain of my uni work. Sure, the battery barely lasts 2 hours, it's a bit sloooowwwww at times, and the memory isn't great, but at least it's reliable and won't start giving me strange screens in the middle of a lecture. Being honest, if I defragmented, got rid of all the odds and ends and programmes on the hard drive that I don't need anymore (or just plain got it restored to factory settings), cleaned out the fan (which is probably FULL of dust and soot from the coal fire at my parents house - my mums laptop was completely choked up with it), cleared out under the keyboard, and got it a new battery, it would probably last a good while yet.
As a matter of fact, that's why my mum was meant to be getting my Dell once I got everything moved over to my Samsung, but that never happened. My dad was going to pick it up, take it to the computer guys in Dundee that fix all his computer stuff for him to get it wiped, then clean it up and give it to mum so she can let her dying 7-8 year old Acer finally bite the dust. Although, judging by the multiple crashes, and the Black Screen of Death she got recently, that might have already happened. Even the computer guys can't fix it. In any case, by God was that thing sloooowwwwww.....

Anyway, off topic now. I do hope this is the last issue my laptop has. I do want to get around to buying scrivener one of these days with the NaNo winner codes.
Wishing you better luck than I've had this last while :)
Tigereye

Ramblings: Mobiles, communication and social situations


On one of the first weekends of the academic year away with the OTC, the rules of the mess were explained to the first years. There are two major rules to help the sociability of the place. These involve, respectively, no PDAs, and no mobile phones in the mess. I remember during my first year having a few free glasses of port going around courtesy of those caught, which well serves to get the rules into your head, especially as a broke student.
However, recently, outside of OTC, I've found myself quite stunned by the sheer number of people who go around on their phones, with headphones in and such. It's worst when someone does it in the pub, because it almost seems to form a wall between the people on either side of him (unless of course, those two people don't care about talking over people. Personally, I find it quite uncomfortable."
In any case, I found myself faced with the question the other day as to whether people spend too much time on their phones, and not enough speaking face to face with people, and I have to say, I agree to a point. I myself find myself guilty of it. I often listen to speakers through podcasts as I walk to uni in the morning, and I've occasionally found myself not realising people in the real world are waving to me or saying hello until they've already passed me.
I do think that texting, or using social sites such as facebook or twitter does become antisocial in certain situations. It is as if the online personas of people sometimes seem to become more important than those they speak to, although in reality it is likely not true. Some people even text or facebook people in the same room. Sure, it might seem funny between the people involved, but it can make the other people in the room feel put out and unimportant.
That said, even though texting in social situations is a sure-fire way to kill the atmosphere, phones have very much become a great way to communicate with people who are not nearby. Of course technology now allows face-to-face interaction over long distances, via wi-fi using applications such as Skype or Face-time. These prove to be a great alternative for long conversations, and are often preferred over regular phone-calls to familiar people. However, these applications are not always practical. Most people would prefer to either phone a person or see them in person. Skype and Face-time are almost some grey area in the middle, and something I would probably only use for friends and family, but then that's just me. Certainly a normal phone call has definitely not out-grown its value as of yet.
Texts on the other hand have some entirely different advantages. They give you the opportunity to contact people if you are not sure whether or not they are available to speak on the other end of the phone. They do not require someone to answer immediately, and so people can take the chance to think about what they are actually saying. They are also a great chance to get an answer to a question if you don't have time to phone, or are involved in a social situation, and a phone call would be inappropriate or antisocial.


Anyway, this is just a little post on my views on the issue. Can you tell I'm stuck somewhere in the middle on this one? As always, let me know your thoughts if you happen to pass by.

Friday 30 November 2012

Finished!

In my Glass: Orange juice, but soon to be a G+T
On my iPod: Yeah! (feat. Lil Jon and Ludacris) by Usher
From my bookshelf: It should be Anatomy, but for today only, it's going to be absolutely nothing (Phew..)
Outside: Dark, cold (I see a theme coming on here) Oh, and frosty - its icy outside.
My mood: Happy, and proud of myself :)

50,000 words down. NaNoWriMo goal met. Thank the dear Goddess for that! Time to de-stress a little this weekend, I think.
Tonight, I'm off out to a friends birthday bash, then tomorrow, it's OTC training, then our christmas dinner. I planned to make tablet today for Yule gifts this year, but I didn't have the ingredients, and amongst getting the last few words down for NaNo and heading off to lectures at uni, didn't get around to heading to the supermarket in time to make anything. Nevertheless. Maybe that'll be a job for Sunday to work off the possible imminent hangover from Saturday.
We've been having a problem with water on one of the outside walls of the flat. Judging by where the patches are, I think it's down to clogged gutters, so I'm going to try to see to that on Sunday too. Otherwise, we'll just have to keep the windows open in the daytime to air the place out and let out the excess moisture. There's a hygrometer in my violin case that I've been keeping an eye on the humidity with. It's still above normal, but only just after airing the place out well today. It went down quite a bit.
I need to get something christmassy for the flat too. I know I'll have the stuff to look forward to at home, but I want to put up something here. Maybe I can find some lights and baubles to hang around the place. I wonder if I can find a pine-scented candle...
Oh, and I get paid tomorrow! After the last couple of stressful weeks, things are starting to look up again, I think.
Have yourselves a good weekend everyone! :)

Wednesday 28 November 2012

2824 words to go!


In my glass: Just ice. And the water its melting into
On my iPod: Drops of Jupiter, by Train; Seasons of Love, from the Musical RENT
From my bookshelf: Anatomy again (Cunningham's Manual of Practical Anatomy Volume 2)
Outside: Dark, wet, cold
My mood: Cheery

28th November, 23.30 hrs, 47176 words written for NaNoWriMo. 2 days, 2824 words, 1 write in, 2 bones, and 1 purple bar to go. (You keeping an eye on my widget in the corner there? When it hits 50,000, I'm officially a winner. Not long to go now :) EEEK!!
Oh, and I'm having a much better week this week. Seems whoever was up there throwing thunderbolts at my life is satisfied now. Everything is fixed, found etc. except for my computer, which is still off at the computer doctor. Hoping to get it back before christmas (Which is Yule for me. Just Christmas for the rest of the family).
I admit, I did procrastinate a bit today. I cooked two different soups, and made a roast ham with mash, veggies and gravy for dinner. SEE! I may be poor, but you can't say I don't live well for what I have.
I have the write-in at the Belmont tomorrow, so hoping to technically finish then, but I need to keep writing something on the 30th so that I can get all my skellington finished in the marathon, and not get any *Stern ML Looks* or get put on the *Wall of Shame* To tell you the truth, I mainly want to win so I can get monies off the Scrivener software. Otherwise, as much as I love writing, the last few days are horribly slowwwwwww..... I want Scrivener for my uni notes next term.
Anyway. Up early tomorrow, so thats me off to bed. Hopefully I'll have passed 50,000 next time you hear from me :) See you all again soon!

Friday 16 November 2012

Half-way point


In my glass: Freshly squeezed apple juice courtesy of my new juicer
On my iPod: Zeto the Bubbleman (Played by Gizzen Briggs on their CD Out of the Blue)
From my bookshelf: Anatomy (Cunningham's Manual of Practical Anatomy Volume 2, if you must know)
Outside: Dark, cold, slightly drizzly
My mood: Slightly mood-swing-y, but mostly happy

Ok, so maybe half-way was technically yesterday, but between lectures and labs, and NaNo meet-up, and writing out anatomy, I just didn't have the time to update on NaNo.
So hows NaNoWriMo going? Rather well actually. I thought I would be waaaaayyyyy behind by now, but though I slowed down during the "week two wall" which had me just about having a break-down at the weekend (Ok, so maybe I did just have an out and out breakdown. However, it was partially alcohol induced), the extra I wrote during week one, the skeleton marathon, and getting back into the swing of the story now, means I'm back on track.
The quota for the end of day 16 is 26667 (or thereabouts - various sources give you different numbers. I'm going from the fact that the half-way point is 25000, and the quota for today should be 1667 words over that). My current word count, (though I still have a bit of writing left to do) is 27891. YAY!
So how has the month been so far? The answer: HELLISH! To give you an idea, a lot of us in my course are moaning to each other about messed up sleep-patterns and eating junk and having mood swings, and feeling crap, and all the other lovely things that comes with being completely and utterly stressed out. I ask you: WHY did I decide to take on a 50,000 novel in 30 days when I have all this other stuff on??? *Um...I don't know. But I got this far, so I'm bloody well going to finish it*

Well, this week, so far, I've had my usual 19 hours, plus an anatomy assessment (30 mins, an hour before our normal class), plus an hour long mid-term exam for physiology, plus my writing for NaNo in between. Next week is the same, but with an extra 2 hours of lectures, an hour-long tutorial instead of the anatomy assessment, and I've to somehow get to the doctors, a good hours walk away, before class on Thursday morning (which I have to get to - its taken me months to get this slot to see someone, because my GP referred me, but I'm not an extreme case - by which time the problem has likely healed wrong which is why I'm not in pain anymore, but still having troubles with it).
Oh, and my mobile company keeps calling me at stupid times in the afternoon (i.e. when I'm in lectures), in the evening (when I panic at the phone going because I'm waiting on a call from someone important), or at night (when I'm either writing in a different room, sleeping, or in a nightclub and wont hear it). Its always on silent anyway, so its won't go off at inopportune moments. Regardless though, its still a pain in the ass, especially when I feel the vibration going in my pocket (generally where my phone always is). I sent a message to Ofcom, but I doubt anything will be done about it, as per usual. And no. I'm not calling the phone company, because I've tried it before, and nothing happened apart, and it takes way more time than I have spare right now.

For the moment, I'm sitting getting kit cleaned, pressed and ready to go for tomorrow. For the first time in WEEKS, I'm having a lie in. For me, a lie-in constitutes actually getting to stay in bed past 7AM in the morning, and for once, tomorrow, I can do just that. I know, I know, I should be working on my novel instead of sleeping in, but don't worry becaaaaause...
The NaNoWriMo Regional Group are having their half-way party! Which starts at 3pm, so I can get up late, take a lazy shower (rather than a speedy, must-get-dressed-and-out-the door-quick kind of shower), fix the last bits of my kit for the evening, and write a bit on my novel before I go. I'm even planning to take them flapjacks, but we'll see if I remember in the morning. I don't know if I have enough oats left to make them with. Anyhow, I'll be there for a couple of hours before dropping my laptop back at my flat (hopefully with a good days worth of writing in it, even with the 1-hour writing ban for the start of the party), and pick up my (hopefully spotless) kit and take it up to OTC (At which point, I'll probably have scuffed by brogues again and have to work it out when I get there. Then its a case of getting changed, transport to wherever it is we're going, do our stuff, come home, get changed again, dump kit (hung up in a nice suit-carrier of course) and possibly go to town. Meh. The "go to town" part is debatable. Depends on whether I'm over my break-down stage. I'm guessing so, because I'm over the hurdle. We've passed the halfway of NaNo, and my novel, and of the uni term, and therefore my courses, and it's almost christmas holidays. Only four more weeks of lectures and stress to go. *heaves big sigh of relief*

Oh, yeah. About my breakdown. It wasn't really a breakdown. Rather it was stress compounded by  being drunk for the first time in literally two months resulting in a teariness I couldn't explain to my worrying compadres. So, now that it's week over, and I have a morning to myself, I'm feeling much more optimistic about things. For the first time in ages, I don't even have to worry.

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Friday 2 November 2012

Day 2

Its day 2 of NaNo, and I have 6000 words in the bag! Hopefully the extra will help me through the week two wall. Just a quick update on how I'm doing, Y'all. Now, I gotta get back to studies, and writing.

Monday 29 October 2012

Nice and Chipper after a run

In my glass: Jasmine Tea
On my iPod: Tchaikosky's Nutcracker Suite
From my bookshelf: Again, Anatomy
Outside: Dark, chilly, great running weather as long as you stay to the lit roads
My mood: Optimistic

So its two days till Samhain (or Hallowe'en for the rest of you), and its a full moon tonight. I went out for my first run in ages under the moon (and the streetlights, too), and its made such a difference in how I feel. I forgot just how good running made you feel.
I got a new game called "Run, Zombies!" which you play just by running to pick up items for your base, and speeding up at times when there are "Zombies" after you. If you're caught, you lose the mission and have to restart. I'm not one for Zombies, but I'm quite enjoying it actually. I enjoy running anyway, but the game aspect makes it rather interesting.
I stopped by at Asda on the way home and picked up what seemed to be the only tin of black parade gloss shoe polish, and the only tube of Kiwi whitener in the whole city, as well as a nail brush for my spats (my old one went walkabout) and a couple of pumpkins.
Currently, the seeds are drying, ready to be roasted, One pumpkin has been chopped up and part has gone into the slow cooker for soup, and the rest in the fridge, perhaps for a pie. The other has been hollowed out and carved, ready for a candle in it.
Interestingly, the whole tradition of carving on pumpkins on Samhain comes from the time of the old Celtic religions, when they used to carve turnips (the idea of which begins in old Irish folklore). The Americans were the ones who started the carving of pumpkins, and in a way, I'm glad. Have any of you ever tried carving a turnip before? Yeah, unless you have a really, really sharp knife and lots of control, its a recipe for sliced fingers. I tried it once, but even with a razor sharp knife, it was difficult at best.
Oh, and I'm actually looking forward to band at OTC for the first time in months. No rhyme or reason as to why. I may very well be there all of three seconds before I change my mind again, but for now, I'm looking forward to things. Don't know why they decided to have mega tuesday on the last Tuesday of the month though, especially when we don't get paid until a mere two days after. But then again, like someone else pointed out, there was a time when people stayed out every Tuesday, so why the need for such a bigged-up event to get people out and about with each other for the night. Meh, what ever happened to doing it just for the sake of enjoying yourself?
I do need to get back to cleaning my spats on Wednesday (I say Wednesday  because tomorrow is going to be busy, and NaNo starts on Thursday. Yeesh, where did September go? Oh, yeah, I remember, it passed me by while I was either panicking about uni, or passing time on the sofa. No more. I plan to go to the OTC running club tomorrow, whether I want to or not (that is as long as it is on). Running seems to make a massive difference to my life.
On a different front, here I am, panicking about this anatomy assessment again tomorrow. *argh*. Which means I gotta get to bed so I'm up nice and early to walk to Foresterhill in the morning (and maybe do some last-minute revision on the brachal plexus nerves on the way..)

See you soon!

Ramblings: What if you suddenly had to move?

So as I find myself moving quickly from place to place, squeezing past small gaps between people on the pavements, marveling at the seemingly slow movements of many of those around me, and the sheer difference in speed between those who were ambling gently along, and those who were, like me, in a rush to get somewhere on time, I began to wonder about the ability to move quickly.
Of course, the movement of people on the street is an unusual thing in itself - dictated by peoples schedules, attitude, a love for the scenery in a new place, amongst other things, so I quickly found myself going off on a tangent, and finding myself thinking on something I have seen in my time away with the OTC.
One of the weekends just passed, many of the freshers were out being taught various skills for working out in the field. They learnt how to set up bashers (the shelters we use whilst out in the field), cook rations, use camouflage effectively, amongst other things. And in watching a little of the activities of each of the groups, whilst going about my own activities, I saw there were vast differences in some of the sections, and even in the people in those sections, in their ability to do, quickly and effectively, what they were told to. Some people did things almost immediately, and others took much longer.
In the OTC, and the army in general, the ability to move quickly, and accurately, is exceptionally important to the welfare of all the people involved. Going out on your first exercise or two, you very quickly learn that you have to be ready to move at all times, and if you're smart, you'll pick up ways to do things faster, and vastly reduce the time it takes to get things done.
You keep things all packed away when you aren't using them. You sleep with your webbing and rifle next to you so that you can throw them on in seconds if you're attacked in the middle of the night, and you learn the fastest way to throw on all your kit  Leaving enough space in the middle section of your bergen to shove your sleeping bag in without the need to roll it. Using the time it takes for your food to cook to shove some extra polish on your boots to help keep the water out, or change your socks, or dry out your boots, and feet if water has already found its way in. You buy extra bungee cords to tie your bashers up with so that if you need to run in the middle of the night, it only takes seconds to take down and stuff away, and you don't have the palava of cutting down strings. All these things are done so that we can move immediately if the need strikes, and so we try hard to learn.
When we were on annual camp, against one of the other OTCs, the plan, and the harbour area changed very quickly. Our ability to move quickly as a platoon, and as a company served us very well throughout the course of the exercise, and made a massive difference to the way the exercise turned out, even though we were a much smaller company.
I guess, being used to this kind of preparedness, and ability to move quickly over bad terrain, or just move quickly in general, you find yourself pushing the new freshers to move quickly, and getting annoyed at those who either ignore your advice, or don't seem to be able to move with any amount of speed, as both my colleagues and I found at the weekend, although we know that those who last in the OTC and enjoy being there will be the ones who eventually pick up tips, and indeed come up with their own ways of speeding up, because being able to do things at the speed people want them done means exercises become much more enjoyable, and in camp, you end up with more time to do as you want once the important stuff is out of the way. In short, the people who learn to do things faster will have more time to enjoy themselves.
So in the field, we can all learn to be quick, on time, etc. but how does that translate into the real world?
Well for a start, I hate to be late. I've always disliked it somewhat, and made an effort to be on time to everything. Now I truly can't stand it, and I don't like it in other people either. That's why you can find me pounding down the road between campuses in an effort to make it to my next lecture on time, even if I do usually end up being there 5 or 10 minutes early, before most of those with bicycles or cars have even bothered to come into the lecture theatre.
Usually, its also obvious when the fire alarm goes off. My stuff if almost always packed away all together in a bag at my feet. It doesn't take two seconds to grab when the alarm goes off. As much as you're told not to take your stuff when the fire alarm goes off, who doesn't grab their most prized possessions if they're close at hand, be it their phone (which is usually in my pocket as it is), their laptop, or something more personal. I generally think that what they mean is "don't grab your stuff if it will take time, and don't go back for something you've left." Most people can grab a bag and jacket at their feet as they stand up, and not take any more amount of time to do it. That said, people, please do what your fire drill says: Never go back for something if the fire alarm goes off.
On the other hand, this is in no way true for my flat. If I had to move out immediately, it would probably take me a good few days to do. If not much longer. My flat is my haven from time constraints. The only thing I've to ever worry about is what time I have to leave. There is no way I could apply the same high energy speed techniques as I do to the OTC to my home life. I need time to relax, rewind and reboot. My home is time for that.
Of course, flat-time is not my only reboot-time. Most Wednesdays, after lectures have finished, I will take a wander around the botanical gardens, regardless of weather, and have some down-time in nature. I'll wander aimlessly, and watch others do exactly what I do during the rest of the week - rushing around - and enjoy the gentle quietness of free time.
I guess you could say I'm hard-wired to work hard, play hard, but that wouldn't be entirely true either. I work hard, then relax. There is rarely a reason for me to play harder. Sure I socialise, and go out with friends for a pint often, but thats only part of my relax-time. My time off (when I'm not doing OTC or uni work) is often spent carving miniatures from wood, sewing, painting, or writing, often to gentle music. In otherwords, doing relaxing, gentle, time-wasting, slow things. And I love it like that.

Friday 26 October 2012

6 days to NaNo!

In my glass: Hot chocolate (It started snowing today folks)
On my iPod: Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
From my bookshelf: I'm afraid I haven't been reading much lately, unless you count my anatomy textbook
Outside: getting dark, cloudy, some remnants of snow on the ground
My mood: Just glad its Friday...
Facebook quote of the day: "Dreaming of a white....October??"

So I told you in the last post that I'm trying my hand at NaNoWriMo again this year. Hopefully this time I'll make the 50,000 mark. Realistically. its debatable, with the rehearsals for remembrance, and lectures to work around. I've signed up to the Skeleton Marathon held by the Municipal Liaison of Elsewhere, Scotland, which means I have to update my word count Every Single Day, or answer to Igor, and all the others in the Marathon. (that'll be fun trying to fit it in on remembrance day. I see a very early start happening to get some words written down. In the middle of the week-two wall, too.)
Here's an online copy of my pledge. I've already pledged towards this on the original sign-up thread. This means that I can't back out anymore... oh dear.

“I, Tigereye, am joining the Skeleton Marathon. I promise Anastasia, my family, friends, all the folks at NaNoWriMo and most of all myself that I will write something on my novel every day during the month of November. I will faithfully update my word count each day by midnight GMT. I will not make excuses, I will not give up.”


Anyway, now that that's out of the way, I can start jumping up and down in excitement, and shrinking back in horror. ONLY SIX DAYS!!! I can't believe it. I have my plot noted down in word and I'm trying to fit in the dares that my local Aberdeen NaNo group have come up with, I've downloaded the NaNo trial version of Scrivener, I have meals in the freezer and the fridge stocked up, I'm taking my multivitamins to attempt to keep the cold at bay, and I'm shoving together some blog-post drafts to get my writing up to speed (they are, however, in great need of editing, so whether you will get them or not is debatable. December is editing month. We'll see then :D )
There is no way my book will fit into 50,000 words. I may need closer to 90k for the amount of plot I have planned, but I can always finish it another time.

Time for a little sneak peek

Meet my protagonist, Aria. The story revolves around her and her friends when they find some dragon eggs. The power of the clash from the hatched dragons shifts her world into another, the land of Glaewyn. There, the story follows them as they attempt to return the exiled dragons to the kingdom.
Meet my main antagonist, Landon, or as he later turns out to be, Austria. She is in charge of the kingdom after she accidentally killed the king whilst attempting to assassinate the kings brother.
The second antagonist, which appears to be on the side of the protagonist for much of the story, turns out to be the kings brother near the end, and is using the protagonists quest with the dragons to return him to the throne.
As for the story, you'll just have to wait and see. Maybe I'll give you a snippet now and again, but who knows. I need to write it now.

Oh, and as for cover art, one of my fellow NaNo-ers down at the forums put together a cover for me (Isn't that kind?!). It looks great, I think. (I cropped my name out, that's why its slightly odd dimensions)


Have fun, everyone! Time to get back to planning...

Sunday 7 October 2012

I'm back... But I'm leaving again.

I'm back from Colorado, and straight back into the thick of Uni. Spent a week in bed ill during freshers, then it was first week of lectures, OTC etc etc. so things are getting busy. The National Treasure concert was over before I even got the chance to tell you all about it. I played for the Queen again, and never told y'all, but then again I can't even remember if I did last time or not either.
Now NaNoWriMo is on the horizon. For those of you who don't know, that's National Novel Writing Month, and it happens worldwide throughout the month of November. We have meets every week, after my anatomy lab. It does mean, however, that I'm busier than ever trying to organise my life to do writing, uni and OTC, not to mention trying to sort out whether or not I'm playing in a competing band next year.
So I might be away for a while. I'll try and get back at some point. See you all later :)

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Wednesday 5 September 2012

Wednesday 29 August 2012

A last-minute trip away!

In my glass: bitter lemon
On my iPod: Time, by Pink Floyd
From my bookshelf: Spellwright by Blake Charlton - it's just a small book I just started.
Outside: dull, night, no stars
My mood: sleepy
Facebook quote of the day: "random drunk dude wandering the street singing 500 miles by the proclaimers, then a few minutes later he was snoozing on a bench. Looks like he didn't quite make it :( "

Ok, so I moved in, left to come home and haven't left again. Cowal is over, with all the regular amount of drama and booze with it, and now to plan for next season. A certain leading drummer made me an excellent offer, and I can barely resist the thought of being back in a band with the friends I started this with, even if it does involve travelling from Aberdeen once or twice a month.
In any case, the reason I haven't left is that I've had an invitation to go with my mums band to Colorado. It's my first trip to America in my life and I'm really looking forward to it. Apparently there's a couple of bands going, and we'll be going non stop, so I won't get to see much, but I still can't wait.
For now though, I'm sleepy, so I'll talk again soon




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Location:Perthshire, United Kingdom

Friday 17 August 2012

A new flat..

In my glass: Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
On my iPod: the Flying theme from How to Train your Dragon (the movie)
From my bookshelf: none - I left them all at my parents house. I am in the middle of an ibook on my phone called The Demon Girl by Penelope Fletcher and I was reading Thud by Terry Pratchett before I left.
Outside: Rain... lots of rain
My mood: Contemplative, in the mood for poetry writing, but uninspired.
Facebook quote of the day: (courtesy of one of the home radio stations, and one of its facebook fans)
    Radio DJ: "Bristol are reportedly getting their own currency...the Bristol Pound (Boring name!)
If we had our own Scottish money, what would we call it? The Quid? The Scot? The Geezapound ?! Over to you.... :)"
    Facebook fan: naw, i'd call it beer tokens
    Haha :P

So here I am, in my new flat (yay!). Seeing as uni hasn't started back yet, and I can't seem to get a full-time job after being away at things all summer, I have been rather bored. Yesterday I spent most of the day cooking. I made bread, as we had far too much flour in the cupboard left by the last tenants. Unfortunately as it was only plain flour and not regular bread flour, the bread turned out a bit heavy-textured. I was thinking about making cupcakes too, but couldn't be bothered to get the other ingredients, like bicarbonate of soda. I made carrot and ginger soup, which is now in the freezer, and I roasted a chicken last night. There are only two of us in the flat, and the chicken was quite large, so the leftovers should do us for a few days, then we can make soup from the bones too.
Otherwise, I just generally sorted out all my stuff into its new home, and stocked up the kitchen cupboards with essentials like potatoes, onions, stock cubes, oil, vinegar and the likes. The flat is just lovely though, made even lovelier by the fact that its ours for at least the next year, if not longer.

Tomorrow, I'm heading off to a friends (very much overdue) official housewarming party. Should be great fun. We've still to organise one for our flatwarming, but we decided to wait until people were back at uni, because at the moment lots of people are on holiday/away home/have a full-time job. Then I'm staying home at my parents the week after (hence the reason for not having any books up with me) until the Cowal pipe band championships. Hoping for sun, but with this recent weather, its anyones guess what we will get. I still have sunburn from Glasgow last week and now its chucking it down. As a matter of fact, I don't know how I managed to be in Switzerland for two weeks without burning, then get burnt in Glasgow, where it was colder, and I was still using the same sunscreen as I was in Switzerland. Jeez.

My savings took a dip, courtesy of the flat deposit, but oh well. I'll just have to spend as little money as possible over the next couple of weeks until I get paid at the start of the money. That should at least be easier if I'm staying at my parents.

I'm missing my cats already :( Waking up in the morning is remarkably more difficult when you don't have a cat trampling over your face and sticking his whiskers up your nose in an effort to get you up to feed him. I'm glad I'll be seeing them at the weekend.

I've had an idea for a poem, and I'm in the mood to write, but the right words just don't seem to be there today. Its annoying. Maybe if I jot down what I have so far, it will be easier to come back to edit and finish off later.
So instead, I'm giving you a quick poem, in a slightly different style from my norm, about the World Pipe Band Championships which are held in Glasgow. This year was exceptional in that it was sunny, but most years, and indeed the year in which I wrote this, it was very much chucking it down.

The World Pipe Band Championships (written my me)

The Worlds!
Up at 6.
Yawn.
Bus at 7.
Groan...
Arrive at 8.
Hop out.
Smile...

Pipes singing,
Drums beating,
Sticks flying.

Boxes opened,
Cases unzipped.
Tuning now...
Eeeeeeeeeee,
Tum te tum te tum...
*sigh*
Tap;
boooom.
tap;
booooooom.
tap;
booooom...
Crackcrackcrackcrackcrack.
Crackcrackcrackcrackcrack.
...
Mud mud mud mud mud.
Time to go.

Bytheright,
*Slide*
Quick march.
Boom boom boom.
*Slip*
Boom boom eeeee
tum te tum te tum...
Kilts swinging,
Sporran on hip,
Heart in mouth,
Marching on.
.....
clapclapclap.
*sigh*
*smile*
...........
...*Slide*

Wait....
Wait...
Wait..
Wait.

Play again.
Beer tent?
no.
Pub?
no.
*Slip*
Bus.
Joke.
Laugh.
Beer tent.
*Slide*
...
Drum lost.
Drum found.
Massed bands.
Sore feet.
Sore legs.
Sore arms.
Knee deep in mud.
Results...
Hats fly.
Hat lost.
Drums beating.
Crowd cheering.

March off.
Hat found.
Bus.
.....
...
...
..
Pub.


And lastly, before I go...
         Current progress in my 21 things to do before I turn 21 (scratching off the completed things, of course.)
1) Get into 3rd year at uni (that means no failed years, or semesters)  - Well, I'm into 2nd year now, with no fails :) progress..
2) Rent my first flat and get some flatmates - done!
3) Get a decent-paying job to fit around uni, band and OTC commitments (few and far between) - Not unless you count a tattoo to be a job. Besides, its hardly regular, is it?..
4) Date a guy I like - still searching...
5) Save up and get that tattoo I've been pining over for years. - Maybe next summer. My savings are better, but not quite enough for me to have a safety net afterwards if my finances go down the pan.
6) Make a ball gown from my own design - I have the machine, I have the pattern, I just need to afford the material and the time.
7) Keep up with my blog here - oops
8) Learn to shoot safely and well - well I can shoot safely, but I don't know about "well".
9) Organise a night out, instead of just going to them - should happen whenever we decide to have our flatwarming
10) Go abroad - Done (Basel tattoo in Switzerland)
11) Take part in a Great Scottish Run - not done yet. Ankles are being a pain in the a**, so I haven't been training, and I need to go to the doctors about it, but haven't had the time yet, especially with the GP being booked up.
12)Pass an OTC PFA - Again with the ankles. The press-ups are being a pain too, because my ganglion flares up painfully whenever I try to train for them.
13) Learn to ski - Not yet
14) Learn Reveille, first post, and last post on the bugle - I almost have the basic five notes. If I can get the fifth note stronger, I should manage the bugle calls easier.
15)Buy my great long-time friend (who is younger than me and has known me since she was merely a few days old - we are like sisters and grew up together) her first legal drink from me on her 18th. - she isn't 18 yet.
16) Try to get enough savings to tide me over a few months if I'm broke - well I'm broke at the moment, so my savings are going down, but I still have enough to keep me going for a good while if I'm careful.
17) do what I want and stop caring about rumours/talk from others. - doing much better. In fact I made good friends with someone I thought I wouldn't get on with, and I just generally feel much better.
18)stop eating junk. No really. Stop buying stupid, unhealthy food when you're drunk/hungover/bored/cant be bothered, because there's always a better tasting, and just generally better alternative. -I've had one take-away chinese in the last 2 months, and it was a treat, so I'm marking this off.
19) sing in front of someone. Whether it be in a group, solo, drunk or sober, I want to get the guts up to perform with someone there. - not done so yet.
20) play my fiddle at least once a week. - oops. my fiddle playing has been in rather sporadic bursts over the last few months
21) I'm changing this to learning to sail - My uncle offered to teach me sometime. That is, when he isn't house-sitting in Australia. :)

Anyway, thats my progress so far.

Friday 27 July 2012

Time in Basel

Long time no see. Yet again! I need to start making time again. Anyway, recently I've been away at the Basel tattoo. (Ok, I've been home about a week now, but I've been catching up on sleep and other essential stuff at home) Anyway, despite everyone getting ill at some point, being pushed to our limits in the heat of a foreign country, and myself just more generally feeling down (for reasons I would prefer not to disclose lest people I know read this blog), it was a brilliant trip. The first two days were spent rehearsing on home soil, and travelling, then the second three were rehearsals in the city of Basel. There were two dress rehearsals, with an audience before we launched into our 2-shows-a-day routine.
The night after the first show was as good as expected. A live band played every night, and sometimes 2 or three played. The band on the first night seemed very good, and with the help of a "happy hour" of free beer and wine, the night passed very quickly and very well. It was a great night, for many reasons.
Other nights varied, depending on the plan for the next day, the quality of the bands playing, and the mood or tiredness of the members of the band population. I would guess I went out  maybe every second night or so, whilst others barely had a sober moment, and others still barely stayed out with the exception of the first and last night (when I don't think there was a sober person in the whole place).
I think I've met some decently good friends. Those from near home I'm glad to have met, and will likely see some of them again at some point, as is the nature of the pipe band world. Those from abroad, I was more sad to see go, and hope that someday, some of us will meet again. Perhaps if we ever end up at another tattoo, or concert, or competition or something. I'm hopeful - the band world seem decently well connected. Until then, there's just Facebook.
One band that was there was the Transvaal Scottish Pipes and Drums. If only I had had one of our spare Atholl Highlanders badges. With their connections, I'm sure one of them would have appreciated it. Perhaps I could post one to the band In either case, I acquired a collar-dog and cap badge from one of them (in exchange for a piece or two of my own, of course).


Anyway, as tired as we were and glad that it was finished, it was such great fun, that at the same time we were sad to go, and leave behind all that we had seen and met there.


Tomorrow, I'm off to a wedding party, though I don't currently have a place to stay, so might need to leave early (unless I can stay on a friends couch, but the vast majority of them are in the process of moving in or out of flats at the moment - well it is that time of year, when people have just graduated/changed years/moved out of halls, etc.).
Then its a week of tidying and packing up myself, before a week in Glasgow for piping live, then Dads retirement 'do, then its move-in time for my own new flat. Jeez time flies. We'll see how much time I have to update here, but as you can imaging with moving out, I'm going to guess it will likely be quite busy

Saturday 30 June 2012

It's been a while!

I believe it's been over a month since my last post, and a lot has happened in that time. I got through all my exams and passed them all with As all round. I've been to annual camp with the OTC in a sort of battle against Glasgow, although I hurt my ankle and had to miss out some parts of the exercise. It's been a couple of weeks since the injury, and it's still niggling me, so I think I need to make a visit to the doctor. I was only discharged from the orthotic clinic a year or two ago, as well. It will have to wait though, because I'm off to Switzerland soon with the band. I know - another dip in my posts probably, because I won't be using the Internet unless I can find wifi somewhere. Unlikely as it is, we will just have to wait and see. Looking forward to getting paid too. Both for camp, so that I have money to take to Switzerland, and for playing with the band in Switzerland itself, especially as my savings took a bit of a hit while I was away at camp. That's what happens when you're away for a full two weeks with the OTC. Too many bar-nights and McDonalds lunches.
Anyway, I have a few post drafts in the works now, but I find myself running out of words halfway through. I'll try and get some finished up and give you something decent to read for a change. If I get some wifi in the airport or something, I'll chuck something up if I can.
Happy summer holidays to everyone who is on them, happy summer to everyone still working, and good day to anyone reading this on the other side of the globe.
Song of the day: Walking on Sunshine, by Katrina and the Waves

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Tuesday 22 May 2012

Argh! Exams!

I hate exams. Sure, as far as revising goes they're probably one of the better sets of exams I've had, maybe something to do with only having 3, rather than the 8 we had in standard grade, or the 5 at higher. Sure it's harder content, but more of it is related. I have less unrelated subjects flying around my head all at once. Biomed crosses over into chemistry so much, and psychology crosses over too, especially in the anatomy and chemical workings of the brain.
Still, I'm freaking out slightly (who doesn't on exam week), although much less so now my first exam is over. I think I did better than I expected.
What I am not enjoying, however, is being stuck inside on these glorious days of sun. I have been revising outside when I can, but my exams are all in the middle of the day, so we miss the best sunshine, when its warm enough to ignore the east coast wind off the ocean.
Perhaps it's also a good thing though, to keep me out of the sun. The main problem is that wind off the water means you don't notice the bright sun as much. It's really easy to get sunburnt if you're not careful. Having been burnt 4 times in as many months in Scotland, I'm trying to keep covered up. I don't know what I'm going to do at summer camp or our Switzerland trip, though. I think the SPF 50, UVA/UVB protection sun cream will be coming out, and it, along with my aloe vera might just stay with me the whole time.
Anyway, two more days and exams, and first year are over. Then I just have to get down to packing, washing the place up in readiness to move out, and bulling my brogues for next week.

See you all when this stress is all over.


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Location:Bedford Rd,Aberdeen,United Kingdom

Saturday 12 May 2012

So it's getting stressful here..

With exams around the corner, it's difficult to relax much. I don't believe you've had a poem from me for a good few months now. I read through the Hunger Games book in 5 hours flat, barely setting it down (reading is one of my "wind down" hobbies) and decided that perhaps reading should wait until after exams when I can read all the fiction I like without the prospect of textbooks on the shelf making me feel guilty. (BTW, in case you don't know already, the Hunger Games is brilliant - need to see the movie now, but that will also wait)
My brother was barely out of hospital a full day when he was readmitted, and now he's discharged again, with daily checks at the warfarin clinic, and an increase on his meds. We'll see how he is in the morning. I relaxed by making another batch of tablet, which I must remember to share out at the OTC on tuesday.
I don't have much other news I'm afraid. My mind is whizzing too much to remember the vaguely interesting stuff from the boring guff.
I have the Scottish Pipe Band Championships in a weeks time, so I'll hopefully remember to update you on that, if I don't update before. I'll try though. Blogging is almost a stress relief in itself, really.


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Location:Burrelton, United Kingdom

Monday 7 May 2012

Ramblings: I can't deal with scientific inaccuracies...

Really, I can't. It's on a par with my inner spelling- and grammar-nazi. I can not copy out lecture notes without correcting all the spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar I notice. Neither can I write lecture notes without adding asterisks and arrows with references and inconsistencies between different subjects.
I remember getting the distinct impression my music teacher at school hated me when we came to the Scottish section, because I had grown up surrounded in the music and was adamant she was teaching us wrong, when in fact it was just being vastly oversimplified. I remember fuming at being told that a march was a jig, because it was in a 6/8 time signature, and jigs were 6/8s. (except the problem with the analogy is that jigs can be in any compound-time, and marches can be 6/8s too)

I'm not vain. Really I'm not. I know I'm not right all the time. In fact very little of the time. There is a great deal I don't know. I make mistakes here, on my own blog. I only change my own lecture notes, I only fume silently in my own head (and now, apparently, here), and I try to avoid conflict about it. But I'm not sure where the line starts or ends. I like people pointing out my mistakes, because I can fix it and there's one less on the page, but other people may take offence if I were to tell them.

Anyway, this particular reference happened to occur just a few hours ago. It was in reference to "ketones" or rather, as it was meant to be, " ketone bodies". Basically the problem with mixing them up is that they are different things. Ketones are derived from oxidation of a secondary alcohol. Ketone bodies are triglycerides. Well it was in reference to a "carb free diet" so I was hesitant to say anything, also knowing full well that both ketones and ketone bodies are, technically, carbohydrates.
Really, had the tone of the article not been rather derogatory, I probably wouldn't ordinarily have become so annoyed. After all, it is a widely accepted phrase. Usually it's easy to brush it off without a thought.

I'm going straight to sleep when I get back. I likely will have forgotten in the morning and more than likely hating myself for some silly mistake in my essay. As much as I'm ranting, I do make mistakes too.

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Sunday 6 May 2012

Sorry Y'all

I know I've been away. It's been a bit of a busy time lately. My brother went into hospital last week and I wasn't exactly in the mood to be posting here. Anyway, he appears to slowly be getting better which is good.
So, in other news, I was at the sports club dinner on Thursday. I had been feeling ill all day, so it was hard to eat much. It was a very good night though.
I have one last week of lectures left, then it's exam time.
I got a ball gown in a charity for £20 and with a little bit of work on my sewing machine it's turned out perfect.
Other than that I have very little news.
See you all again soon :)

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Friday 27 April 2012

My blog has a new look!

Yes, I'm making use of Bloggers new design system, and giving my blog a new coat of paint. Like or not? Let me know what you think.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Ramblings: Collecting instruments

So the other day, my friend told me she was buying a cheap violin she found on eBay. (How cheap, or worth it, it is, is as yet unknown to me. You never know with eBay auctions. It could be an undiscovered gem, or totally useless) Upon a whim the decision was made that she would learn to play on this instrument, having never picked one up in her life before. Each to their own...
One of my other friends (who rather has a perfectly good excuse, being at university to study music) has found herself gaining more and more instruments in her little room at the halls. From what I gather, she currently has all her percussion stuff, a stand-up electric piano (her 18th birthday present), a bugle, an oboe, and various other bits and bobs.
Mind you, I can't talk either. I currently have a clarinet, a violin, a bugle, tenor sticks, and bass sticks in my little room. I can only be glad that singing requires no instrument, and that other people look after the drums. I have four that I play spread across the country, mostly staying with other band members/in a store where we practice. Dad also gave me a bagpipe chanter. It seems to be a common trait among musicians to constantly attempt to play, and own, more and more instruments. You would think I would know by now, especially as it is hard enough to keep a regular practice schedule with my main 3. Yeesh. I guess inside I just hope to one day be able to pick up pretty much anything and play something, anything, at a decent standard. Ah well, I'll never understand it myself, so I don't know how to explain. For now, my friends and I will plod on and share our musical silliness with each other.
Maybe someday I will share some musicians silliness, but it might take a bit of editing to make it publishable ;) certainly most of our songs are far from tame, and even some of the most well taught comrades can never quite out-sing the band. To quote a friend of mine with similar roots and band-times: Many's a time I have sat on a train or bus listening to a bunch of men singing football songs, with a wry smile on my face, knowing that, if I could be @r$ed, I could totally out-coorse them with some of the songs I know.
And really, that is the truth of the matter. We're slowly encapsulating our comrades in arms on nights out too, so things are just getting more-so like that. With more people singing drunkenly in the bar, it can get interesting very quickly, especially with some of the made-up verses.
Anyway, I'm totally off topic now. Doesnt matter. See you soon.

PS. For those who don't know, "coorse" is a Scottish word, generally taken to mean, rude or bad. Hence out-coorse, in this sense, means to be worse than they are in terms of singing rude songs. Yeah, things might need heavily edited if I ever get around to giving you the band-banter.

Again, see you soon :)

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Ramblings: Lies and Secrets

So here's a little thing to ponder on. We are always led to believe that to tell a lie is bad. And truly, from my childhood, even to now, I feel uncomfortable telling a lie. Sometimes, rather often actually, to the point that I hesitate, deciding whether the lie would really be worth it, then go and tell the truth, by which time the gap in my sentence makes anything I say look like a lie anyway. I don't like lying, and I think many others would likely be in the same position. Lying is inherently seen as bad.
On the other hand, we have good things. Secrets between two people. Generally seen as a bond between two close people, and, more often than not, a good thing.

But the question is; what is the difference between lying and keeping a secret?

Indeed, keeping a secret can often involve lying to someone else. If lying is inherently bad, and keeping secrets inherently good, then where does that moral line stand? And what about white lies and secrets which cause more harm than good. I'm talking blackmailing and such. How do we decide what is good and what is bad, and how can we ever agree? Because everyone from a different standpoint has a different view. If a person keeps a secret, it may seem good to the two people who share that secret, but bad to the one who discovers they're being left out, and might breed distrust - why? Because they likely feel they're being lied to. So we're back to the bad again.
But what about white lies? Telling little lies to make people feel better. But, then, they are still lies. The other person is still likely to be annoyed to find out it was a lie, and it could backfire as easily as any other lie.

Ugh. I should really stay away from philosophical questions. I don't like not getting anywhere.

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Sunday 15 April 2012

Update post-spring-camp

So I'm back, recovering from a very intense time at the OTC spring camp. The Friday consisted of organising bags, rifles and such at RSB, and spending the remainder of the 3hours twiddling our thumbs and searching for stuff to do and food to eat. We stopped at McDonalds in Perth for dinner around 9pm. (random fact: the OTC trips are the only time I ever seem to end up in McDonalds) then it was a long road trip in a roundabout manner until we reached camp at around 11pm. Only to discover the pantec with all our gear hadn't arrived yet. Someone complained about being cold, and we all had to do push-ups in a line to "warm us up". At least I can do some now..
Anyway the pantec arrived around midnight and it probably took about an hour to unload everything. Luckily the girls billets was nearby, so once that was all finished, we just laid out our stuff for morning, stuck polish on our boots, set the alarms, and jumped in bed. We were up again at 6.30 am.
Breakfast throughout the week was a pain in the @$$, because we were sharing with both cadets and air cadets, and the queue was so long it was difficult to get breakfast early enough to be ready for morning parade. Somehow we managed, partly because most days we would arrive early to get to the front of the queue.
On Saturday, we learned basic rifle training and green skills. On Sunday it was more of the same, and everyone passed their weapons handling test.
Monday came and we were out in the field, securing the harbour area and learning to do platoon attacks. My section was the assaulting section at the first attack, and indeed most of the attacks over the course of the ex.
We finished around 5pm and struggled to light the hexi-burners to warm up our food, so I ate lukewarm rations and got myself onto Stag duty for the hour. I got back in time to listen to a talk by our SUO, and set up our sleeping area, before going out on patrol, during which we picked up more rations. We finished at around 11pm and I slept until I went on stag again. Now that was interesting. I had barely arrived on stag when we spotted the "enemy" about to attack. Sure enough they fired shots and we shot back. There was another call to stand-to at around 6am, after which everyone just stayed up. It was snowing.
That next day we practiced more platoon attacks, and eventually ran out of ammo. Even the guys bombing up mags ran out of rounds to fill them with. On Wednesday we restocked with ammo, and went out on a platoon attack, in lovely weather, to attack nine enemy. Annoyingly, I twisted my ankle, and was sent out. I met with the defeated "enemy" as they made their way back to the meet-up point. We ate and cleaned our rifles out. That night we had a barbecue at the mess.
On Thursday we spent the day cleaning rifles, on Friday we had a day on the range, and Saturday was the march and shoot race. We left on Sunday. I got off at the Perth stop and went to my parents house for the week, then this weekend went to band in Glasgow. I go home to Aberdeen tonight. :)
It's been busy, but good. Now time to get back to uni work.

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Location:Montrose St,Glasgow,United Kingdom