And in review...
Its been a while since I updated here - but its not wilful neglect, honest. I've been busy as the proverbial and out of town a fair bit in the past month or so doing lots of stuff - stuff like:
At the beginning of the month I headed up to Argyll with Raz to camp for a bit and see Half-Life and it was bloody great.
Camping on the edge of a cliff in Carsaig Harbour has to have been one of the best parts - sure it was midgie infested on the shore below (43 bites!) and sleeping was slightly diagonal and mildly scary, but the view in the morning was worth in. we also had a great day walking the burial cairns along the Kilmarten Glen inbetween picking tonnes of brambles while talking to cows, visiting Arichonan village, and then the next walking along Crinan shore to the grave of a sailor hidden along the way.
Going back and seeing the completed walks and the show after the initial visit with Phyllis and Al back was really interesting. The show itself was great and the set was amazing - I'd only seen it when the seats were in, not when the timber frame was built, and having the carvings and burials as context made for a lot of brain explody.
And again, I fell in love with Argyll. I have plans for running away there when I'm writing up my thesis. Its so lush and brooding...
Coming back into town after than I washed some clothes then headed to Glasgow to get a ride with my department to a conference in Oxford. It was a post-grad conference run by Regents Hall College, (but the papers and accommodation were at Summerhall College) and the title was Transcendance Incarnate, so it was a good mix of theology, humanities and Critical Theory and strangely enough the first ever Continental Philosophy conference ever to be held at Oxford(!??!).
Anyway, I had a geek-tastic time. I got to meet other Doctoral students, hear sexy papers, have a good chat about plastic bags as Ikons, and frequent an ice cream parlour open till midnight (academics are so rock and roll...). Once again I discovered that I'm academically fringy, but I'm in good company and my classmates(?)are lovely lovely people. I think I'm going to enjoy then next few years of study.
Then, back to Edinburgh for a day or two and off to Knockengorrich. Knock is a music festival down in the Borders that I traditionally avoid like the plague because I have no desire to go camping with all the hippies in Edinburgh, in the mud. But, this year, I was asked to help out with Crew 2000s welfare tent and figured I should probably go have a looksee anyhoo. Crew 200 are a drug and sexual health outreach group that do really stirling work here in Edinburgh, and I think I'm going to be volunteering with them on a regular basis in town, but for Knock we provided a non-judgemental chill out,(non-medical) recovery and information space - big warm dome tent with comfy beds for people having bad trips, or if you've just got too wet and cold. Free tea and coffee and all the flavoured condoms you could ever need (blueberry is ok, but mint is weird. Pays to know your product...)
Anyway, it all went pretty smoothly. Some bad acid, strong weed and an annoying guy on ketamine, but no big disasters - mind you I wasn’t on the shift where lots of people vomited...
Inbetween shifts I had a big dance to The Herbalizer, played a little capoeira, sat and drank wonderful chai in a proper turfed longhouse listening to great folk sessions and stories. Theres something magic about a hot cup of tea on a cold night when youre wrapped in your coziest :)
Inbetween all this I've written papers, brought half a car, started drumming rehersals for Samhuinn, and played lots of capoeira (in the street, demonstrations and a leetle training).
Its autumn and while its sunny, the light is becoming the white light of cold crisp evenings. I'm happy though. I had a busy summer - a good t-shirt tan remains visible (when I'm indoors and the heatings on), I got sunburnt cycling, ate picinics on the meadows, used my pink tent heaps and drink coffee made on my camping stove at least 5 times.
Autumn will be busy, and then it will be winter - which I plan to enjoy winter. I will go walking in it, make Sunday pies, train indoors and when it snows I will wear my fluffy woolley jacket that still smells of woodsmoke from fires we made in summer.
View out the cliff top tent -- Carsaig Harbour
The set for Half-Life
Cows. In Kilmartin.
Me upside down on Fort Dunnad
At the beginning of the month I headed up to Argyll with Raz to camp for a bit and see Half-Life and it was bloody great.
Camping on the edge of a cliff in Carsaig Harbour has to have been one of the best parts - sure it was midgie infested on the shore below (43 bites!) and sleeping was slightly diagonal and mildly scary, but the view in the morning was worth in. we also had a great day walking the burial cairns along the Kilmarten Glen inbetween picking tonnes of brambles while talking to cows, visiting Arichonan village, and then the next walking along Crinan shore to the grave of a sailor hidden along the way.
Going back and seeing the completed walks and the show after the initial visit with Phyllis and Al back was really interesting. The show itself was great and the set was amazing - I'd only seen it when the seats were in, not when the timber frame was built, and having the carvings and burials as context made for a lot of brain explody.
And again, I fell in love with Argyll. I have plans for running away there when I'm writing up my thesis. Its so lush and brooding...
Coming back into town after than I washed some clothes then headed to Glasgow to get a ride with my department to a conference in Oxford. It was a post-grad conference run by Regents Hall College, (but the papers and accommodation were at Summerhall College) and the title was Transcendance Incarnate, so it was a good mix of theology, humanities and Critical Theory and strangely enough the first ever Continental Philosophy conference ever to be held at Oxford(!??!).
Anyway, I had a geek-tastic time. I got to meet other Doctoral students, hear sexy papers, have a good chat about plastic bags as Ikons, and frequent an ice cream parlour open till midnight (academics are so rock and roll...). Once again I discovered that I'm academically fringy, but I'm in good company and my classmates(?)are lovely lovely people. I think I'm going to enjoy then next few years of study.
Then, back to Edinburgh for a day or two and off to Knockengorrich. Knock is a music festival down in the Borders that I traditionally avoid like the plague because I have no desire to go camping with all the hippies in Edinburgh, in the mud. But, this year, I was asked to help out with Crew 2000s welfare tent and figured I should probably go have a looksee anyhoo. Crew 200 are a drug and sexual health outreach group that do really stirling work here in Edinburgh, and I think I'm going to be volunteering with them on a regular basis in town, but for Knock we provided a non-judgemental chill out,(non-medical) recovery and information space - big warm dome tent with comfy beds for people having bad trips, or if you've just got too wet and cold. Free tea and coffee and all the flavoured condoms you could ever need (blueberry is ok, but mint is weird. Pays to know your product...)
Anyway, it all went pretty smoothly. Some bad acid, strong weed and an annoying guy on ketamine, but no big disasters - mind you I wasn’t on the shift where lots of people vomited...
Inbetween shifts I had a big dance to The Herbalizer, played a little capoeira, sat and drank wonderful chai in a proper turfed longhouse listening to great folk sessions and stories. Theres something magic about a hot cup of tea on a cold night when youre wrapped in your coziest :)
Inbetween all this I've written papers, brought half a car, started drumming rehersals for Samhuinn, and played lots of capoeira (in the street, demonstrations and a leetle training).
Its autumn and while its sunny, the light is becoming the white light of cold crisp evenings. I'm happy though. I had a busy summer - a good t-shirt tan remains visible (when I'm indoors and the heatings on), I got sunburnt cycling, ate picinics on the meadows, used my pink tent heaps and drink coffee made on my camping stove at least 5 times.
Autumn will be busy, and then it will be winter - which I plan to enjoy winter. I will go walking in it, make Sunday pies, train indoors and when it snows I will wear my fluffy woolley jacket that still smells of woodsmoke from fires we made in summer.
View out the cliff top tent -- Carsaig Harbour
The set for Half-Life
Cows. In Kilmartin.
Me upside down on Fort Dunnad