This was the week that was
And here we are again. Sorry; I keep meaning to post something other than a re-hashing of my week...but I keep forgetting or running out of time. Also, does anyone read my weeks in review? Shall I keep posting them? Are they interesting? More or less information? Let me know what you think.
Sunday -
Went to St Sallies for chapel again today. It was the comemmoration of the the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton...or something like that. So after church we all gathered in the cold below the bell tower around the PH marked in the cobbles. The preacher read aloud the story of his death, everyone was very solemn, but it was quite funny how he read the part about Patrick Hamilton taking six hours of burning to die and a huge cringe went through everyone gathered there. This prompted an interesting conversation on the way about how one dies when one is burned at the stake...not exactly the best pre-lunch banter. There was work to be done in the afternoon, but the banter at dinner was quite good; I seem to have fallen in with a crew who have minds that are dirty in a similar way to my own. On the way home from Tesco we made plans to have a Jane Austen-type picnic once the weather warms. We'll buy sandwich fixings, fruit, Appletiser, and pudding at Tesco and then walk over to the Botanical Gardens. However, the one catch - we all have to invite a male friend...could be platonic, could be our own Mr Darcy. :-p Should definitely be fun once the weather warms.
Monday -
Lab fortunately went quite quickly today; this was good as my lab partner had no voice at all and I had the beginnings of a sore-ish throat. I spent more time with my beloved radiator today; we are now in an "open relationship" on facebook. It's been extra cold lately...so it's been turned on a lot more. Ooh la la! After dinner was the infamous Ann Summers Party. It actually wasn't that bad; there was some "merchandise" that I really didn't need to know existed, but the party was relaxed and funny. arku would be pround of me. After the party, I went to the Byre Cafe in order to see Blind Mirth; the St Andrews improv comedy group that includes our own Canandrew and the ex-Athollite, Midget. The cafe was packed, there was no place to sit...but boy were they good. It was obviously an "on" night for them. A lot of great improv games that I'd seen IT do or on 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', but there were also some new ones. Unfortunately I can't remember a whole lot of what was done, but I do remember during the last game, which involved each of the members of the group dying by "audience suggestion," there was a particularly good (but dirty) quote. The member of Blind Mirth was to die by a famous celebrity - the audience shouted out 'Tom Cruise.' So this guy walks up to an imaginary Tom Cruise, shakes his hand, is very excited and says "Oh, Mr. Cruise, Mr. Cruise! I love your work. I especially liked when you were in...Katie Holmes." *imaginary smack, and he's out on the floor*
Wednesday -
Found out that the JB Hall library is quite a cosy place to do work. It's warmer than the rest of hall, there are usually a comfortable number of people in there...so it's not dead silent...but there's a low enough level of volume that with earphones you can get a lot done. Unfortunately I thought I had everything done...and then found out I'd done the wrong reading for Modern History. Ugh. I sat out in front hall for a bit after my work was done. It was amusing and my radiator was on :-)
Thursday -
Formal dinner tonight! We celebrated Burns Night a month late with haggis, chocolate mousse, neeps and tatties, wine, and the infamous hall odes. Everyone dressed up and although I was not a fan of the haggis, the chocolate mousse was a definite improvement over the usual pudding. The odes were spectacularly dirty...but in a clever way. Quite some good rhymes there, thanks to our own Canadrew and TAB. After dinner went out with some friends to TP's Pub. I will be very glad when the smoking ban comes into effect for pubs on March 26. However, I had a good time talking to friends there. Then we went to Aikman's where they were holding the first meeting of the "Ted Kennedy Club." Now this takes some explanation... St Andrews has a rather prestigious society called the "Kate Kennedy Club," which is solely made up of "Ya"s - the student population of St Andrews that goes around with their collars popped and saying "Ya, darling. Father bought me a country estate today; it's rather small at only 500 acres...but it will do." A.k.a. they are a rather posh set that tends to look down their noses at others...or at least that's my understanding of them. The Kate Kennedy Club is made up only of males and they all wear formal attire to meetings and drink cocktails and discuss...i don't know what. The Ted Kennedy Club is basically a joke off of that - the liberal opposite to the conservaite Kate Kennedy Club. It was kind of interesting to go, I met some nice people, but by this time the wine I'd had with dinner had started to take effect; I was really sleepy. So I came back to hall and made it an early night.
Friday -
I was having a leisurely breakfast this morning when we noticed that there were a few flakes coming down out the window. Well, we'd been having a few flurries recently, but we still hoped it might be more. So L snapped his fingers and said "snow harder." Nothing happened. In a couple of minutes, though, it was really coming down...we just figured there was a lapse in his weather-controlling powers.
In my hour between breakfast and lecture I sat on my radiator in my front hall to enjoy watching the flakes come down. It's amazing how happy people get with a little snowfall; it turns you into a kid again. It had pretty much stopped by the time I left for chemistry, but there was a good 3-4 inches on the ground, coating everything in white. After lecture I decided I had to take photos of the winter wonderland while it lasted, so I went out to the beach, then up to the castle and cathedral. By the time I got back to JB I was frozen through...but people were making snowmen outside of front hall, so of course I had to help. There was one stacked five snowballs high (probably about 10 feet high) wearing Canandrew's hat and a smaller one holding a bottle of beer and smoking a cigarette butt. Ah yes...how symbolic of JB Hall. They were rather impressive and became quite a tourist attraction; randoms would stop on the street and take photos of them. After lunch decided to go out and enjoy the snow with L, G, and E. We went over to the Old Course and had a most marvelous snowball fight. I'm afraid the three of us girls ganged up rather unfairly on L...but he deserved it. We made snow angels and a snow gnome and then frolicked up to the 18th hole where we collapsed in the snow and contemplated getting our bathing suits and sunning ourselves - just because the spectacle would have been so funny. Instead we decided to go up to the Northpoint for there coffee happy hour where L bought us all a round of drinks.
We came back to JB to warm up, when I discovered I had lost my key card during our frolicking. Grrrr. So I had to wait until after dinner when I could get one of the wardens to make me a new one...which made me late for (and therefore miss) Celtic soc. I did meet up with E at the pub afterwards to play games with those in Celtic soc; that was quite fun. Then it was back over the treacherous, icy streets to the warmth of my darling radiator. We had an excellent night and there was some excellent banter to be had before I went back to Siberia to try to sleep.
Saturday -
Had a bit of a lie-in today, but still felt miserable when I awakened. Stumbled down to lunch sniffling and coughing, where and astonishing number of people said "you look like sh*t." Thanks; I feel like it too. Sat on my radiator for a bit and then went back to my room to get some more research done before it was dinner time. We met as a group to go to Tesco and then proceeded to buy ourselves a nice meal to share. We ended up with green salad, various raw vegetables for dipping, breaded mushrooms, chicken strips, mango, grapes, raspberries, various fruity drinks, garlic bread, and chocolate brownies. It was quite a feast for the seven of us. After the late dinner we watched "Willow," a very special 80s fantasy b-movie. Woo! Val Kilmer in pink trousers.
Sunday -
Went to St Sallies for chapel again today. It was the comemmoration of the the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton...or something like that. So after church we all gathered in the cold below the bell tower around the PH marked in the cobbles. The preacher read aloud the story of his death, everyone was very solemn, but it was quite funny how he read the part about Patrick Hamilton taking six hours of burning to die and a huge cringe went through everyone gathered there. This prompted an interesting conversation on the way about how one dies when one is burned at the stake...not exactly the best pre-lunch banter. There was work to be done in the afternoon, but the banter at dinner was quite good; I seem to have fallen in with a crew who have minds that are dirty in a similar way to my own. On the way home from Tesco we made plans to have a Jane Austen-type picnic once the weather warms. We'll buy sandwich fixings, fruit, Appletiser, and pudding at Tesco and then walk over to the Botanical Gardens. However, the one catch - we all have to invite a male friend...could be platonic, could be our own Mr Darcy. :-p Should definitely be fun once the weather warms.
Monday -
Lab fortunately went quite quickly today; this was good as my lab partner had no voice at all and I had the beginnings of a sore-ish throat. I spent more time with my beloved radiator today; we are now in an "open relationship" on facebook. It's been extra cold lately...so it's been turned on a lot more. Ooh la la! After dinner was the infamous Ann Summers Party. It actually wasn't that bad; there was some "merchandise" that I really didn't need to know existed, but the party was relaxed and funny. arku would be pround of me. After the party, I went to the Byre Cafe in order to see Blind Mirth; the St Andrews improv comedy group that includes our own Canandrew and the ex-Athollite, Midget. The cafe was packed, there was no place to sit...but boy were they good. It was obviously an "on" night for them. A lot of great improv games that I'd seen IT do or on 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', but there were also some new ones. Unfortunately I can't remember a whole lot of what was done, but I do remember during the last game, which involved each of the members of the group dying by "audience suggestion," there was a particularly good (but dirty) quote. The member of Blind Mirth was to die by a famous celebrity - the audience shouted out 'Tom Cruise.' So this guy walks up to an imaginary Tom Cruise, shakes his hand, is very excited and says "Oh, Mr. Cruise, Mr. Cruise! I love your work. I especially liked when you were in...Katie Holmes." *imaginary smack, and he's out on the floor*
Wednesday -
Found out that the JB Hall library is quite a cosy place to do work. It's warmer than the rest of hall, there are usually a comfortable number of people in there...so it's not dead silent...but there's a low enough level of volume that with earphones you can get a lot done. Unfortunately I thought I had everything done...and then found out I'd done the wrong reading for Modern History. Ugh. I sat out in front hall for a bit after my work was done. It was amusing and my radiator was on :-)
Thursday -
Formal dinner tonight! We celebrated Burns Night a month late with haggis, chocolate mousse, neeps and tatties, wine, and the infamous hall odes. Everyone dressed up and although I was not a fan of the haggis, the chocolate mousse was a definite improvement over the usual pudding. The odes were spectacularly dirty...but in a clever way. Quite some good rhymes there, thanks to our own Canadrew and TAB. After dinner went out with some friends to TP's Pub. I will be very glad when the smoking ban comes into effect for pubs on March 26. However, I had a good time talking to friends there. Then we went to Aikman's where they were holding the first meeting of the "Ted Kennedy Club." Now this takes some explanation... St Andrews has a rather prestigious society called the "Kate Kennedy Club," which is solely made up of "Ya"s - the student population of St Andrews that goes around with their collars popped and saying "Ya, darling. Father bought me a country estate today; it's rather small at only 500 acres...but it will do." A.k.a. they are a rather posh set that tends to look down their noses at others...or at least that's my understanding of them. The Kate Kennedy Club is made up only of males and they all wear formal attire to meetings and drink cocktails and discuss...i don't know what. The Ted Kennedy Club is basically a joke off of that - the liberal opposite to the conservaite Kate Kennedy Club. It was kind of interesting to go, I met some nice people, but by this time the wine I'd had with dinner had started to take effect; I was really sleepy. So I came back to hall and made it an early night.
Friday -
I was having a leisurely breakfast this morning when we noticed that there were a few flakes coming down out the window. Well, we'd been having a few flurries recently, but we still hoped it might be more. So L snapped his fingers and said "snow harder." Nothing happened. In a couple of minutes, though, it was really coming down...we just figured there was a lapse in his weather-controlling powers.
In my hour between breakfast and lecture I sat on my radiator in my front hall to enjoy watching the flakes come down. It's amazing how happy people get with a little snowfall; it turns you into a kid again. It had pretty much stopped by the time I left for chemistry, but there was a good 3-4 inches on the ground, coating everything in white. After lecture I decided I had to take photos of the winter wonderland while it lasted, so I went out to the beach, then up to the castle and cathedral. By the time I got back to JB I was frozen through...but people were making snowmen outside of front hall, so of course I had to help. There was one stacked five snowballs high (probably about 10 feet high) wearing Canandrew's hat and a smaller one holding a bottle of beer and smoking a cigarette butt. Ah yes...how symbolic of JB Hall. They were rather impressive and became quite a tourist attraction; randoms would stop on the street and take photos of them. After lunch decided to go out and enjoy the snow with L, G, and E. We went over to the Old Course and had a most marvelous snowball fight. I'm afraid the three of us girls ganged up rather unfairly on L...but he deserved it. We made snow angels and a snow gnome and then frolicked up to the 18th hole where we collapsed in the snow and contemplated getting our bathing suits and sunning ourselves - just because the spectacle would have been so funny. Instead we decided to go up to the Northpoint for there coffee happy hour where L bought us all a round of drinks.
We came back to JB to warm up, when I discovered I had lost my key card during our frolicking. Grrrr. So I had to wait until after dinner when I could get one of the wardens to make me a new one...which made me late for (and therefore miss) Celtic soc. I did meet up with E at the pub afterwards to play games with those in Celtic soc; that was quite fun. Then it was back over the treacherous, icy streets to the warmth of my darling radiator. We had an excellent night and there was some excellent banter to be had before I went back to Siberia to try to sleep.
Saturday -
Had a bit of a lie-in today, but still felt miserable when I awakened. Stumbled down to lunch sniffling and coughing, where and astonishing number of people said "you look like sh*t." Thanks; I feel like it too. Sat on my radiator for a bit and then went back to my room to get some more research done before it was dinner time. We met as a group to go to Tesco and then proceeded to buy ourselves a nice meal to share. We ended up with green salad, various raw vegetables for dipping, breaded mushrooms, chicken strips, mango, grapes, raspberries, various fruity drinks, garlic bread, and chocolate brownies. It was quite a feast for the seven of us. After the late dinner we watched "Willow," a very special 80s fantasy b-movie. Woo! Val Kilmer in pink trousers.