Chapter 20 - In which Eòghan has been in Scotland for two months and loves it.

I have a new blog (don't worry, I'm still using the old ones as well) which is strictly artistic/political, where I'll post things related to writing, music, photography and human rights - here's the [link]



Selchie Productions

It's been some time since I updated my journal, mainly because I am too busy studying and exploring Scotland, but a sudden freak storm has confined me to my room, with a bunch of books on Greek drama, Chaucer and Shakespeare to cheer myself up. I've two 2500 word essays due in 8 days, and as I'm off to a Julie Fowlis concert in Edinburgh on Tuesday, not to mention the fact that I'll celebrate Samhuinn in Edinburgh as well if the weather isn't too bad on Saturday, I have considerably less time to finish my two essays.



Transcending Chaucer's 'Troilus and Criseyde: A Shakespearean Reading, or Something More? and The use of Katharsis in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex - Don't you just love the titles of my two essays? Anyway, I was unexpectedly awarded a first class honours for my first essay, which was but a musing on the Gaelic poet Somhairle MacGill-Eain's ability to marry traditional Gaelic poetry values with a postmodern critique of Franco's Fascist Spain, so I really feel as if I have to produce two more perfect essays.



I actually forgot to mention that I've spent most of the time I devote to studying on my third essay, an essay called The Importance of Global Influence in Orcadian Culture as presented in Mackay Brown's Novel 'Beside the Ocean of Time' ... Sorry, I know, I'm boring you to death ...



Anyway.

Anyway indeed.

What has happened since last time? Well, I have been to a number of awesome concerts, including one of my favourite bands from the States, namely Crooked Still and yesterday I turned an entire Friday into an epic adventure, starting with an early morning leading to me catching the wrong bus (I blame the driver, I obviously cannot do any mistakes, I'm perfect ) and after 1,5 hours in a bus which took me around the unexplored farm/highlands of Stirlingshire I had seen everything from a bunch of bored Highland cattle to the old cathedral of Dunblane.



So, was that the epic adventure? Well, don't interrupt me dear, I've barely started.

After my favourite class, the last one before the mid-term break, though I hate the time when we have it, 3-5pm on Fridays, I ventured down to the studio with my fellow Scottish Literature Critics and from there, after some food and a couple of drinks we spontaneously decided to go down to the Tolbooth for some post-modern traditional folk music (read folk musicians experimenting with jazz, classic and feature film score styled music) where I spent £5 on a ticket which costed £9 for everyone else, God bless the power of assembled discount cards!



And no, the epic adventure has still but begun - after the concert we were all craving pizza, craving as in desperately demanding pizza or else, and so we set off on a hunt which brought us all over a Stirling clad in haar (fog for the non-Scottish reader) until at last, twenty metres from where we first parked our car, we found an open fast-food shop.

We ended up in Kat's flat, just outside of St. Ninian's (a.k.a the Bronx of Stirling) and two hours later, after some very tired and indeed childish chatting on facebook with my sister, ending with the incredibly mature Lily Allen quote boing-ck you I finally fell asleep

And.

As my sister tagged me, I guess I'll do it (oh come on, we all love lists, it'll be fun)

Write down five things you hate:

* RATS. They're disgusting, and no, I don't think they're cute and no, I will not change my mind. They're disgusting and filthy and. Let's face it, rats turn me into a major whimp.
* Having to pay tuition fees. Free education doesn't feel so fantastic until you have to say goodbye to some £1000 ... (Next autumn will be even more dear as I'm going into postgraduate studies, and will have to pay £4000)
* Racism. It sounds like such a cliché to complain about racism, but racists do seriously piss me off, and I'm not afraid of telling them that I'd love to see them burn in hell (problem is, I don't believe in hell)
* Academic restrictions and regulations. I find it so annoying that every f*cking department has there own different rules, regulating whether or not an essay should have foot notes, be double spaced, single sided or God know what.
* Post-party nights in my flat, as I don't drink (that is, I might have a beer, but I don't get drunk) I'm usually the one that has to clean the mess my flatmates create when they're drunk. They're perfectly fine flatmates, some of the best guys I've ever met, but I have this thing about hygiene and kitchens which apparently does not translate into Scottish.





Five things that makes you laugh:

* Finding one of our residential squirrels in one of our cornflakes boxes, mind you, had they been rats I'd gone all ninja/screeming lady on them with the largest knife we've in our flat.
* My sister.
* That 70's Show, I still see this as the best sit-com ever produced. I'm laughing my way through the 4th season as we speak.
* Discounts. Seriously, I'm so stingy, getting a 10p/15c discount makes me go all delirious.
* Stirling makes me laugh, this town, or well Scotland in general, has made me a living person, I'll hate it when I have to leave ...





Who was the last person you said "I love you" to?

I'm too much of a stiff-upper-lip/drama-queen kind of person to tell someone I love them, but probably some of my friends?


The last person you kissed?

Some random Polish girl - spin the bottle ...


Which was the last movie you saw?

I haven't seen a film in ages, but probably Son of Rambow ?


Which was the last thing someone said to you?

* Biong-ck you
* Ghoti doesnae fuckin spell fesh, it spells ghotee, and nae Ahm nae linguist so there


When was the last time you wished you hadn't gone early from a party?

It was ages ago, I usually stay until they end.




Have you ever...?

Slapped someone in the face [x] (Oh yes ...)
Thrown soup at someone [ ] (No, but various other liquids, not including acid fluids, I'm slightly odd, but that's even to much for someone like me ...)
Had dinner with people who didn't speak the same language as you [x] Soooo many times, I'm a traveller, it's rather more the rule than the exception)
Accidentally put your foot in a plate of food [ ] (No, never, yuck!)
Done something really ridiculous when you were alone [x] (Do i need to tell you that my normal state of mind is "ridiculous")
Been caught doing something really ridiculous when you thought you were alone [x]
Fallen out from a window []
Dropped an egg on the ground [x] So many times, out of windows, on the floor in my kitchen, don't get me started.
Hugged a person you didn't know and never saw him/her again [x] (Though I'm not the huggy kind of person, but hey, it does happen)
Got a wound and bled without noticing [x]
Found a pair of pants lying on the street [] No, but loads of cash.
Screamed something very inappropriate about yourself [x]

Tag people



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PEOPLE I ADMIRE









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PLACES I HAVE BEEN TO



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