And then there was one...

Yesterday we had a farewell party for CB. She will leave for California next week, and then I’ll be the only person from our M.Sc. course left in Edinburgh. LG had organized a surprise party and CB only started to suspect something when four people suddenly turned up at the same time. It was a bit weird that CB was thrown a NS party even though work had prevented her from going to dancing ever since this summer. Also there weren’t any people from her church. Which was probably a good idea, given MG and JB’s ideas about religion and book-inspired bigotedness. I’m sure the church people will throw her a party as well.

I also got told off for omitting to mention the curry night that LG organized on Monday. Fourteen NS people in an Indian restaurant. Indian hot is slightly different from Indonesian hot, I learned, and also the Indian idea about a one-person portion of rice was slightly different from what many were used to. (And I had agreed to share it as well.) I also didn’t mention that LG, SB and AF came over afterwards to watch the DVD for Wallace & Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit which I was force-lent by HO. It was hilarious. I like cartoons that have multiple layers so that they’re funny at many different levels.

I am meeting AMcM today at two. Slight clash with the DELS dry-runs but the people who are speaking there didn’t exactly seem to mind that the head of department had other engagements...

Also mustn’t forget to burn MM a copy of Holst’s Planet Suite.

More updates needed

There just isn’t enough time to experience all these things and write about them as well. And then they went and stole an hour away from us, so that was not very fair either. Oh well, I guess it’s really only borrowed and we’ll get it back some time in October.

The Highland Ball in St. Andrews was very nice, although I’m not exactly sure we got the right amount of money from everyone and into the Celtic Soc money box. I’ve concocted a little plan to make this all more streamlined next year. And days later I got my term as NS secretary prolonged by another year. Of course, immediately afterwards, ye shitte hitteth ye fanne. There was no hall for Step Class on Monday (which was because originally we didn’t plan on having classes in the last week of term so we didn’t book rooms). It also turned out we didn’t have a room for Bob and Dem Class, and even worse... when I got to the Pleasance to sort everything out, they asked me why NS didn’t turn up at the Pleasance room booking for next year... Eh... because we were never told it was on?

Then I had to find Mrs Wilson to organize Kirk o’ Field for Tuesday night. Mr Wilson, who wants nothing to do with the bookings and won’t touch the diary with a barge pole, said Mrs Wilson would be at Kirk o’ Field because it was Friendly Club. That sounds dodgy – and it was. Of course when I arrived there, everything was locked. Mr Wilson assured me that Friendly Club was 12 to 2 (although they might have pushed it back half an hour, ‘you never know with these women’). It actually starts at 1.30, so what Mrs Wilson gets up to in that hour and a half (or more: she was late for Friendly Club as well!) I have no idea. Average age there is 95, and I was told that Scottish Country Dancing is a very good pastime, especially since Scotland did so well in swimming in the Commonwealth Games. I have been known to make some weird connections in my mind, but this one is beyond me.

After that, things cooled down a bit. Dancing on Thursday was alright, although Panda is getting increasingly annoying. Feet not happy on Friday, and was dreading having to dance all weekend. MG’s party was nice. The next evening, Dunedin Assembly. Went there with GH, CA and AL. (Also found out that JB had a nasty encounter with a bunch of neds. Kill all neds. Also the ones that LC needs for her Ph.D. research, I don’t care. Neds that pipe, now that’s a paradox!) The Dunedin dance was absolutely fantastic, I had lots of fun and dances lots of great dances. Also found out that the person I thought was MG wasn’t. She was actually F (don’t know her last name). I did think she was at Dunedin a lot for someone who lives in Co. Cork...

After party at KG and AG was nice as well, they have a nice flat. Talked to J and C from Aberdeen. C is the American guy who always gets lost in dances and has the most magnificent facial expressions when he finally grasps what to do. Except he isn’t American, he’s from rural Aberdeenshire, grew up speaking unintelligible Doric and now suddenly he speaks flawless General American. Ph.D. subject in sociolinguistics in the making...

Then Sunday a Vicky League. The crowd was actually alright, they were predominantly European and therefore used to our oompa-oompa beat, rather than the Asians we normally have who just don’t seem to have a feel for Scottish music. I think we should dance a bit more and be more enthusiastic, but then again: HD took away our country dem slots and there’s only a certain amount of enthusiasm you can convey for the Military Two-Step.

Sunday and Monday also spent marking EL1 assignments. The assignment was scandalously easy, and everyone got very high marks. I guess LvB wants as many people as possible to get exemptions from the exam so that there are fewer exams to mark later on. I gained numerous interesting insights into the History of the English Language, which I shall collate into a separate blog entry at some point in the near future.

Not sure if I’m meeting AMcM today at 2pm or tomorrow at 2pm.

And Terttu Nevalainen is a woman. Nice one to find out before doing a presentation...

Eurovision

I didn’t know the Eurovision Song Contest was open to non-earthlings. Apparently membership of the Federation is enough... Silly Finns. Slightly less absurd, but still with questionable earthly origins, is Iceland’s entry. The Germans are coming with a band called Texas Lightning (‘It’s not a joke, it’s country’) which I haven’t heard but I fear is going to be country and western. Yeee-hah!

A blog entry is long overdue. A short overview of the past month consists primarily of first-year essays, my own research, baking bread, taking regular baths, going with NS to see ハウルの動く城 and staying single.

I’ve been contemplating to do something with AudioScrobbler, which automagically seems to send your ‘last played’ songs from iTunes to your blog, but I haven’t been able to figure out just quite how it works. Ecclectic collection as ever though, including Spetakkel, Мумий Тролль, Runrig and 박정현.

Tonight Highland Ball in St. Andrews. For which I really should start getting ready. Bus leaving at 5.15, and still need to take a shower, shave, etcetera.