Lets face it!

Facebook is scary! You try to stay true to yourself throughout all the quizzes and they turn you into a freak. According to Facebook and their friends equipped with applications I will get married in 4 years and just shy of a month now. So look out for wedding invitations in the year 2012. I will also be having 2 boys and 1 girl, so who knows if you will get invitations to their baptism at the same time, because no one warned me when they were likely to show up. Just a moment ago I was trying to take the quiz ‘How much of a Drama Queen Are you’ and it turned out I am a tragedy as it didn’t work. But Facebook isn’t all bad. Thanks to Flixter I am now capable of picking the right friends to ask to go to the cinema with me. Because they match you with your friends who have similar taste in movies, you don’t have to think with whom you want to sit next to for the two hours because they have done the work for you. Handy! I can finally be poked without feeling it, a friend of mine used to like poking me but I didn’t. It made me turn black and blue; I am a sissy and bruise easily. Thank God or multiple Gods on Facebook I can start Mob wars on people without the side effect of turning up dead or worse very badly injured. I can join a lot of causes without having to do a single thing, which makes it easy to take a stand on issues that are close to your heart! I can add all sorts of applications that make it easy for me to know where I have been in the world, in case I get lost it makes it easy to find me as I haven’t been to that many places yet.

Because of Facebook I now know who I really am: 17 years old British landed gentry whose life is 77% perfect whose birthday is apparently May 24th, with brown eyes, only 62% normal and who will fall for a gentleman. I can learn to understand who I am on the inside: I am the ultimate nerd, ambitious and yummy, with 49 on Dr. Phil’s personality test (although I have no idea what that means ... the average intelligence I am equipped with is kicking in), I am a bit of a devil and not much of a drunk. But as a Greek Goddess I kick ass! For future hopefuls I have a purple passion, which goes hand in hand with the purple latex gloves I already possess. But just as a precaution I apparently also have a purple heart, so if anything happens in the heat of the moment you know what to inform the doctor of. I also understand from all of this that I have a split personality: I am Jack Sparrow and Piglet and Bart Simpson and Fred/George Weasly (makes sense as I am a Gemini) and Mulan and Zeus and Hera (explains all the family squabbles). Apparently my life is like Pirates of the Caribbean with the Disney theme song being ‘Someday my prince will come’. Although I am incredibly happy that it didn’t turn out to be ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee’, can't say I forsee me having a future that has me crawling up small, dark and dank chimneys ... claustrophobic you know. On top of that pigeons are know to hang around rooftops.

What’s missing from the description of me is not imperative to this blog because I know that I am probably capable of finding out how tall I am (in case I didn’t know), when I will die and how that will come about. It will probably also tell me what I will have for breakfast, lunch and dinner but something you just want to discover on your own.

I also get to know a thing or two about my friends, mostly that they are heavy drinkers! They keep sending me shots, booze, beer, basically any alcohol that they can get their hands on. My friends also like to send me pictures of cute cuddly things, especially pets, which is nice, as I don’t have to come too near them. The downside of this is that my friends send me pictures of food as well. I would much more like to get the food than the photo though!

But we really shouldn’t vilify Facebook, thanks to them, my life is completely mapped out and planned, I know what to aim for and what to avoid so I can just sit back and enjoy the ride (while dodging Vampire and Slayer and Were-wolfs on the way).

Don't expect Shakespear!

There once was a viking

who had a good liking,

to plunder and pillage

any Irish village,

his name was Sven

and like all his men,

he was burly and blond

but was unceremoniously pushed into a pond..

When Sven nearly drowned

he got angry and frowned,

but the lady stood there gloating

where he was a-floating,

he had a fish in his hair

which he flung with a flair,

straight at her face

so she quickened her pace.

After her he went

and he didn't relent,

until he caught er to his chest

that's what a viking does best!

he flung her over his shoulder

with the intent to hold her

he carried her away

all the way to Norway.

She ended up in his ship

where she gave him a split lip,

he tried to kiss her

but she made sure he missed her,

when his lips aproached her chin

she kicked him in the shin,

so now Sven was limping

and his ardor was rapidly sinking.

She thought her father would miss her

not to mention her sister,

but indeed he didn't mind

that he could ner not find,

he had tried to marry her off

but she said no to all the toffs,

her mind was quick, but her fist was quicker

and that in the end made men not particularly like her.

Now Sven is stuck with the shrew

and this part of the tale is true,

in the end she succumbed

and in a few words it can be summed

of an amarous viking

it is easy to develop a liking,

now finally she rests her fists

as she is busy being amorously kissed!

We'll see

I went shopping yesterday, yes, big surprise there and not worth the telling of it except for this.

At one of the till where I was paying for my purchase the sales woman struck up a conversation with me and asked me what I did, as in did I work or attend university. I answered that I was a student at the University of Glasgow. She then inquired what it was that I was studying and I replied that I was studying medieval scottish history. At this point this huge smile spread over her face and her eyes lit up and then this: 'So when you get married you can have a medieval theme going on!'
SPEECHLESS!!! That's what I was and could only stare at her. Yes, that's my ambition in life. But on the other hand if I ever do get married it is going to be a HISTORIC EVENT. So never say never I say. But all I could see in my head were these really strange people dressing up like the characters of Monty Python's Holy Grail. Please God, NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peep Peep at Anne's

Last Friday was the best day yet of this year and I truly hope I will be experiencing many more like this one. It began rocky enough, Catriona, Sandra and I had to give a presentation for our teachers and anyone who wanted to come. Luckily for us, it was only nice people whow showed up, Anne and Claire. Anne was also gracious enough to invite us bunch to her home for dinner. She is such a brave woman. Well, we made it through our presentations and headed over to the post grad club for lunch where we had high time laughing and talking like we hadn't seen each other for thirty years. We even managed to run into Matthew from forth year (now he's doing forth year) and kidnapped him. After lunch Matthew and Anne abandoned us but we were of course going to Anne later in the day and Matthew was going to meet us at the train station to go to her home.

That left me, Claire, Catriona and Sandra on our own so we headed over to Byres Road and to Somerfield where we stack up on sweets and all sorts of ymmie stuff and wine and headed to my place where we camped out for the next few hours where more laughter and talking followed.

We then made our way to Central station at around six and waited for Matthew and Jo to show up. When they arrived we hopped aboard a train to Muirend where we expected a warm welcome from Anne, but when we arrived there was no one there we recognised which made us doubt our sanity and ability to read instructions. But not a minute had passed when we saw Anne come running down the ramp to meet us and she then escorted us to her home.

The evening was filled with good company, good food and good wine and so much laughter I could barely follow the conversations that were surrounding me. But it was obvious that everyone was havins such good time. We took two rounds of Scottish Quest after dinner and the discussion and almost arguments some of the questions evoked only livened it up. It was amazing and exactly the kind of game for us to play.

Note: Next time we play the game do it while still sober!!!!

Ps. a more detailed blog of the evening is on the way, am just trying to see if it works uploading a video.

Classy lady

I'm back in Glasgow now. Flew back today. It's nice not having to wake up so extremely early as I used to have to when coming back to Glasgow. It was positively making me ill. As a good bye present we were going to stop at a hamburgerjoint close to the airport and sort of before you turn into Keflavík, but no luck. Something or someone had happened, so that the place was closed down and the police were there taking statements and so on. So no hamburger there for me. So mom, the extreme optimist she is, drove into Keflavík, and we tried to find a place that sold hamburgers but couldn't find any place that was open, unless there was absolutely no way of parking near it or putting your health at risk. So I was just going to compromise and have chips at the airport. When we arrived at the airport we ran into my uncle and his wife who had been seeing off their son and his family. The airport was very busy but I was cunning and went and upgraded my ticket to a Saga Buisness Class so I didn't have to wait for a very long time in a cue to check in like everyone else. So I said goodbye to mom and dad and went in search of my chips and cocktail sause. They were out, I couldn't believe me. Right now the crappiest place in Iceland is by my vote Keflavík and the Keflavík airport for not being able to have a hamburger or even chips available for travellers leaving Iceland for a period of time. Very bad indeed Keflavík! I took a peek at the Saga buisness lounge but it was sooo overcrowded that I couldn't even find a seat so I didn't spend a lot of time there. Actually because there was enough time to pass I went back to the duty free section of the terminal where I met my cousin, whose mom and dad I had just met outside. I was seeing his wife and 5 year old son for the first time. They were such a delight and very nice to talk to. They were heading back to Liberia where my cousin is in the United Nations peace-corp. We had such good time talking that I almost ended up going with them to London, but in the end we said goodbye and they went to gate 26 while I went to gate 28.
I got this terribly comfy seat in Saga Class, leather chair that's at least half a size bigger than the economy seats, with enough leg room to have a male lap dancer entertaining me, but unfortunately they were unavailable. Why do I mention a lap dancer in this report (because that is so totally out of character for me), is that in the seats two rows behind me, was none other than the infamous Geiri in Goldfinger (which is a lap dancer joint in Iceland and he is the owner). Boy, he looks like a Russian mob boss, bit on the huge side. I was not impressed, I must say. But I didn't actually know it until we landed because he came in(to the airplane) after me. When they served dinner I got to choose from a fish course or beef-fillet which I accepted. It was delicious! There was smoked salmon for appetiser, the beef-fillet with vegetables for main course, a skyr-cake for desert, and chocolate for good measure. I also had red wine with dinner and enjoyed it very much. I like flying Buisness Class, because I am clearly a classy lady.
I came home shortly before nine o'clock and among the first things I did, aside from putting my computer up was contact my friends and plan a coffee-get-together tomorrow. All of us are suffering freaky withdrawl syndrome from our coffee and cakes. I will be taking it easy for the rest of the evening but tomorrow the real horror starts where I have to start preparing for the presentations and exam. Wish me luck.

Concious ... barely!

I can't believe that the holidays are over soon. It's never a good thing to take such a long break away from studying and this has been a long break for me. I was planning to be so diligent, studying for an exam and doing work on my presentations, but have I done a single thing. NO! I'm not very anxious about it but when you tell yourself you are going to do something it's annoying when you haven't done it. The fact is that I have not had a single opportunity of doing what I wanted, I haven't been able to see everyone I wanted, or do everything I wanted to do while here for these three brief weeks. But to be honest, right now, I can't wait to get home (to Glasgow) and start some sort of routine again with my studies. When you have your family around you are much more restricted from doing stuff that you would normally do. On days that I was banking on having piece and quite and to actually be able to do something, family members had an uncanny sense of showing up and disrupting everything I had planned for the day. So I say that although it is very nice to spend the holidays at home, family can sometimes be too much.
Still, my Christmas here at home have been incredibly nice. Christmas Eve was perfect. It was White Christmas, shortly before seven o'clock it started snowing and from then on it snowed for the next few days. While it snowed outside the presents rained inside. The presents nearly drowned the christmas tree (which is not a small tree) and as soon as we had delivered each present to its receiver the blizzard of wrapping paper hit the living room. It was amazing and so much fun watching my niece open one present after another, she enjoyed it so much. Thankfully they had arrived in a pickup truck type car so not difficult to ferry all the loot back home.
On Saturday my friends Hrabba and Gummi invited me over for dinner along with our friend Guðný Stella and her guy. It was so much fun, good food, good wine and great company. After dinner we took two rounds of Carcassonne, I can't remember who actually won the first round but I definitely remember who won the second. ME! I totally remember that because that doesn't happen too often. So me very happy bunny be. But even better, I was back at their place last night and we were trying out a new version of Carcassonne and I actually won that one too (I actually think that was pure dumb luck because Gummi wasn't trying very much) but what a way to start the year. Mwhuhahahahha!
Am tired now and want to do something else than blog, my fingers are hurting from being under used so I have to take this in strides.

Smelly fish day!

Also known as the Mass of St.Thorlak! I must humbly beg my loyal subscribers and avid readers of this blog my neglect of it in the past week. The saying goes that time flies, but in my case it just completely disappeared. I came home past midnight on Sunday 16th and it's been caos since. It wasn't until this friday that I managed to sit down in front of my computer before midnight struck. I have been spending my days shopping, presents and delicious Christmasy food. I have been wrapping presents (for seven hours on Wednesday), I have been putting up and decorating the Christmas tree (I put the lights on all by myself ... and it shows!).
But it's Christmas time and I am loving this, all of the crazy stuff we have to do and have done, and I have been managing even though I am as bruised and battered as I am. I am sporting a huge bruise on my knee where I landed on it on Friday a week ago, but on top of that I sport a huge black and blue bruise on the right side of my bad knee from the fall as well.
And to day is the last day to go shopping and the first day to mark the Christmas period for real. St. Thorlak's Mass, also known as Smelly fish Day because some think it a good idea to eat a very bad rotten smelly fish, while the rest of the lucid and more logically thinking (I) dine on smoked lamb with potatoes and white sauce and leafbread. Much nicer and smells yummie. Then tomorrow is the big night. The main festive day of our Christmas. The family comes together for dinner. Smoked pork with potatoes, pinapple slices, brown sauce, red cabbage, pickled cucumber, and all sorts of wonderful yummie things. After dinner there is the rice pudding with a tiny mandle put in and who ever gets the mandle receives a wee present. When dinner is over and most of us have recovered from the feast we distribute the presents from around the tree and it's a free for all in ripping paper to reveal the surprise inside (if there is anything in the package, heheheh).
I will have to leave you here and tell you how it all goes in the next few days if I find the time or time finds me.

The Yuletide lads - part 6

Pot Scraper

(Pottasleikir)

Pot Scraper, the fifth one,

was a funny sort of chap.

When kids were given scrapings,

he'd come to the door and tap.

And they would rush to see

if there really was a guest.

Then he hurried to the pot

and had a scrapingfest.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The flying Icewoman

Yes, yours truly took a flight a few days too early than she wanted to, and no I am not home yet. It was more light a short few second flight in the air and then a devastating crash. Thankfully no one got mortally wounded, but it hurt like hell!
I was in Boots of all places (where I usually go to get something to make me feel better like PAINKILLERS, but ended up with a pain this time around). I was walking into one aisle of the shop and then whoooosh ... crash ..... ooooooouuuuuuuuuucccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Straight down onto my right knee. RIGHT knee, not the left one, so don't worry it could have been worse. Although I didn't feel that at the time, I was scared shitless if something might have gone wrong but thankfully I was wearing my brace so that minimised any damage that might have happened. But it wasn't fun, my left ankle hurt but probably for doing that weird dance step you tend to take just as you are falling down, but the main impact was when I landed on the floor with my right knee. I now sport a huge bump and red skin and a promise of a wonderfully colorful bruise.
But don't worry I am fine, nothing got broken and I didn't hit my head either, I almost gracefully sat down on the floor after the first impact on the floor. That's me, first it's like 'Send in the Clown' and then 'My fair lady ... on the floor'. Apparently a puddle of some sort had formed in the middle of the isle and I was just the lucky 1000 customer to find it. I didn't get a prize though, didn't really want one to be honest, I kind of just wanted to go home and cry. What a wonderful way of starting Christmas shopping for real. But of course I wasn't going to let this stop me, as soon as I found out I could walk I left after the ladies in the shop had made sure I was fine and didn't need any further assistance. So I actually despite all this managed to bag another present, maybe even two or three. I truly hope that tomorrow won't have a building come down on me or something so that I can do a bit more shopping before coming home on Sunday! Can't wait to say hello to everyone and especially my bed.

The Yuletide lads - part 5

Spoon Licker

(Þvörusleikir)

The fourth was Spoon Licker;

like spindle he was thin.

He felt himself in clover

when the cook wasn't in.

Then stepping up, he grappled

the stirring spoon with glee,

holding it with both hands

for it was slippery.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 4

Stubby

(Stúfur)

Stubby was the third called,

a stunted little man,

who watched for every chance

to whisk off a pan.

And scurrying away with it,
he scraped off the bits
that stuck to the bottom
and brims - his favorites.


English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 3

Gully Gawk

(Giljagaur)

The second was Gully Gawk,
gray his head and mien.
He snuck into the cow barn
from his graggy ravine.

Hiding in the stalls,
he would steal the milk, while
the milkmaid gave the cowherd
a meaningful smile.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 2

Sheep-Cote Clod

(Stekkjastaur)

The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod.

He came stiff as wood,

to pray upon the farmer´s sheep

as far as he could.

He wished to suck the ewes,
but it was no accident
he couldn´t; he had stiff knees
- not to convenient.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 1

Let me tell the story

of the lads of few charms,

who once upon a time

used to visit our farms.

They came from the mountains,

as many of you know,

in a long single file

to the farmsteads below.

Grýla was their mother
- she gave them ogre milk -
and the father Leppalúdi;
a loathsome ilk.

They were called the Yuletide lads
- at Yuletide they were due -
and always came one by one,
not ever two by two.

Thirteen altogether,
these gents in their prime
didn´t want to irk people
all at one time.

Creeping up, all stealth,
they unlocked the door.
The kitchen and the pantry
they came looking for.


They hid where they could,
with a cunning look or sneer,
ready with their pranks
when people weren´t near.

And even when they were seen,
they weren´t loath to roam
and play their tricks - disturbing
the peace of the home.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

I got a brain-cell today

Yes, I was a bit more scatter brained today than most days, my friends noticed. So one of them very considerately gave me a brain-cell. I still have it but it is in my bag, maybe not the best place to keep it if I don't want to loose it. I might need it.
This has been a very active week to be honest. But a wonderful one and now it is only about 8 days until I go home for Christmas. First thing first.
I got an e-mail last week from my friend Shammi (my friends Dinesh's girlfriend) who is in Sri Lanka. I got so excited about the e-mail I contacted my friend Laura (their friend as well) and we decided to meet up on Wednesday and I would tell her the content of the e-mail. So I picked up a wee Christmasy present and a bottle of red wine and headed over to Lauras. I had barely said hello to her when I told her the news. Dinesh was flying to Sri Lanka on the 4th and they were getting married on the 6th! I am soooooo happy for them, they so deserve this and its something everyone of us have been praying for and waiting for. Although I was a bit sad that I couldn't have been there with them, they had said that when they would get married I was definitely invited. So now I just have to get them to marry each other again when I see them so that I can take pictures and say that I was at their wedding. But it was just such amazing news and wonderful that Laura and I were able to sort of celebrate with them, even though it was on the 5th we got together.
But it was so nice to see Laura again, because of the hectic schedule we both had last semester we didn't get an opportunity to see each other then, so it was almost a year since I last saw her. But it was still like no time had passed except we had a lot of things to talk about, it was great. She had been to India for a replacement thingy as she is studying to become a doctor. This is her fifth and final year and she is very very busy. She cooked a wonderful meal for us, she is such a great cook, you will never be diappointed with her cooking. So we just sat around drinking nice red wine and enjoying ourselves immensely talking about this and that for hours and hours and could have kept on going except that I had to go home as I had Old English class at ten in the morning.
I hope it will not have to be a year until I see her next.
Then today we (Sandra and Catriona and I) had decided to make it a night out before calling it quits at Uni before Christmas. We were to meet up in Buchanan Galleries af 4:30 where Sandra was shopping for a birthday present for her sister. She went to the Bear Factory (a wonderful place) and got her a teddy bear that says Happy Birthday in three languages (Welsh, Icelandic (that's me!!) and English (with a Scottish accent)). It was great, I almost lost myself in there. Then we went to get something to eat and we were going to worry about getting cinema tickets later. We ended up in the all familiar place of All you can eat Chinese Buffet place on Sauchihall Street and ate and ate and ate. The problem was that when it came to the deserts it was a toss up between staying and going to the cinemas. In the end we crawled out of the place (I want to say stuffed but Sandra said that it was rude, so I won't) and headed for the cinema, where we got tickets to see the Golden Compass. Nice enough visually, storywise hmmmm, and if ever there was a film screaming SEQUEL this is it. Even though I knew nothing about the movie itself I knew it was a part of a trilogy of books so I knew there were more movies to come but this was way to sequelly-endy for me.
But I just loved it, and for some reason I was having one of those days where my brain just didn't connect with anything so Sandra very helpfully drew a picture of a brain-cell and gave me. Something tells me it is not working properly, because here I am writing a blog when I should be in bed. I just had to get the news out that I am now an official owner of a brain-cell, a portable brain-cell!
Well, I am now off to bed and hoping for snow so that Catriona will be happy!

Quotes of the night: 'I have to go to the wee room', Catriona: 'It tastes very Christmasy' Elin responds 'I have never tasted Christmas, is it good?', 'Where are the tickets ... this is not funny!', 'Facaib (that sounds rude)!', 'That giggle!'.'The buses...', Elin: 'I went to the ballet and saw hihihihi' (and a bit of a twirl), Sandra responds: 'That's the best representation of a male ballet dancer I have ever seen!'.

Just me

I think I am a very bizarre person. Someone who is very keen to learn and study I can sometimes put a different spin on things (or like we say in Icelandic, I certainly am good at making útúrsnúninga!). For todays terrifying lecture on excavation reports we had to log onto the Royal Comission of whatever for certain reports. Basically because we had no idea what we were doing there and no one told us how to actually use the very complicated website I gave up after a few minutes of trying to find the excavation reports. What did I do instead? I didn't want to say to the guy that I had only spent a few minutes there without finding anything out, so I started househunting instead. Yeah, I know there are not many like me in this world which is a sad thing for those that don't know me and a comfort for those that do. I found out that if you were lucky you could find images of the site and very often there were architectural plans or archaeology / architectural drawings of them as well, so if I can't actually buy it there is a chance I can have it built in Iceland in the coming future and when I have become immensely rich from my very lucrative research into Welsh and Irish medieval literature, 'ralh' (rolling about laughing hysterically).

On another note, I went on a field trip on Sunday. I went to Silverburn which is a new shopping center, I mean, why would I go anywhere except where I knew I would be able to shop. It is a new shopping centre and it is actually situated in Pollock so a bit out of the way. Both cab drivers asked me what I was doing so far away from the West End. Hmmm, could it be because I don't have my own car to ferry me there so that I can skip these questions. I would take the bus if I knew where I would end up or if I didn't have to walk half a mile to be able to catch the bus. So I let the taxi drivers chaufer me around. Bright people!

Oh, and another taxi story before I continue with Silverburn story. I took the cab to Uni today and oh boy, I mean you could probably excuse it back home in Iceland but here, I didn't think this was possible. The guy like so many others asked me what it was that I was studying at Uni and I told him Medieval Scottish History. He found that impressive and recognized that a person would have to specialise in an area of history as no one could know every history in the world, very enlightened of him. Then he told me he had been driving a girl from the history department around and asked me if I knew her, she was Canandian! That was the hint I got. I was like, in Glasgow there are 660 000 inhabitants + a few turists, in Glasgow University there are 17 000 teachers, students and staff + a few guests and turists. In the History Department, there are hundreds of people, more than a hundred in first year, more than a hundred in second year, quite possibly around hundres in third and also in the fourth year. Then we have the postgraduates, doing their masters and doctorates. And I was supposed to know a Canadian girl doing history! Why do I always get these strange questions!

Anyway, back to Silverburn. It is a very new shopping centre, only opened about a month ago, and there is definitely a lot left to do. Only half of the centre is about open and the other half that has shops has only filled every other space. It's only one level, but huge and very long, almost never ending. But you also get these huge department stores like Marks & Spencer and Debenhams which are on two levels and. Then next to this or sort of annexed to it, although you have to go out to get in is Tesco (of course, where isn't a Tesco in Britain). It is really huge. I spent more than an hour in there going from lane to lane to try to figure out what was not there and what I needed for lunch and dinner. (Comparing it to Hagkaup in Smáralind back home I would have to say this store is about twice or more the size of it, so that is saying something). But it only took me about three hours to go through the shopping centre and Tesco and back home. I didn't manage to find any other Christmas presents except maybe one for myself. And since I have yet to receive it (as in at Christmas) I can't tell you anything about it.

Today we were also invited to the annual Angus Matheson Memorial Lecture in the Celtic department. Anne joined us but was sick so had to leave after it, but we still managed to have fun before the lecture. Well sort of, I nearly finished her off with my Christmas present to her. She kind of dared me to it when we were coming back on the train to Glasgow last time we saw her, so I couldn't resist. I acquired a copy of Thomas the Tank Engine book and went online and nicked some departmental staff photos and started printing and cutting and putting it all together. I ended up with Thomas Clancy the Clever little Tank Engine along with his friends. I truly hope that he never finds out but it is hilarious, she loved it. The Lecture itself was fine but we couldn't help giggling a few times. Like when one of the speakers kept mispronouncing Robert O'Maolalaigh's name and when the guy in the row behind us when to sleep and actually snored on a couple of occasions. But there were good news there as well. They are starting a new iris or a journal of Gaelic literature and culture, published with articles in English, Irish and Gaelic and I am definitely going to subscribe, there were quite a few articles in there that I would like to read so as soon as it is published I will contact the department. There articles there by Dereck Thompson, Michel Byrne, Donald Meek and Kathrine Hollo, all very good scholars in their field and so it promises to be quite the worthwhile read.

I'm happy!

I have discovered that I have superhuman powers

For the past few days I have been "entertaining" myself with reading excavation reports in archaeology for Tuesday class and almost putting myself into a coma. Which means that most of the things that I read went in one ear (as they say, although it should more likely be an eye) and went out the other. But while my brain was so completely unoccupied I managed to have the weirdest conversations with myself and I came to the conclusion that I might have the power of making therapists retire early. Because no one could listen to the stuff that goes around my brain and stay sane, which explains a lot but gives not comfort.

When I started this blogentry I actually thought I would have something to ramble on about, and I don't. It's the end of week 9 at Uni and I think that is affecting me in some way. Like this weekend I am totally in denial that I have homework, spending my time in the shops (+ spending more than an hour to try to find a taxi to ferry me home) and watching television. I managed to finish my Latin translation on Thursday ... does it make sense ... no! So I will have to use some time to make it into readable and understandable english and not just word babble. Then I also have that stupid archaeology reading to do and I am just going to ignore it, can't be bothered with it at all, it is so flawed and in so many ways that it is driving me nuts.

I managed to bag another Christmas present today, which makes it a grand total of two. What will happen if I run out of ideas, huh? On the other hand it is not so easy to find presents today because the likelyhood of people actually owning the things that I think up for them is pretty good. Even Makini!!! Not that I would ever every buy one, but I thought it would be a great gab present for a friend, or at least a friend of a friend. Met him on MSN when I came home and told him that you could actually buy a Mankini (like the one Borat so famously wore in his film) and what do you think his reaction was. "I already have one of those!" Do I have weird friends or what? I gatered from him that he had actually bought one for HIMSELF! His poor girlfriend (my dear friend who will remain anonymous for this post), actually witnessed him trying it on. ... I wonder if there were any photos taken? Okay, really going down the wrong road here ... and you wonder why I am a basket case. Things like this don't help! Which makes my headache of finding presents seem like a month of migranes.

Tomorrow, marks three weeks until I go home to Iceland. I really can't wait. As much as I have been loving my time here, I am really wishing for some Icelandic company as well. I was so on my onesome yesterday that I texted a friend of mine here in Glasgow who is babysitting a cat that I was in the city center drinking mulled wine and already having had my first chocolate covered banana of the Christmas season! I miss you Árdís. It is strangely bizarre of not having you here, I can't shop. I need inspiration. Can't some of you guys come for a shopping trip for Christmas because I am failing here. Soon I will be a shopaholic without a job and the economy will suffer! Don't let that happen!

Okay, I have to go to my own little world now to talk to all those funny people in white coats. See you later, guys.

Nerds on the run

I am such a good friend, I am such a good friend that I actually woke up at seven in the morning on Saturday to take a trip with my friend to an Archaeology Conference! I was on time at the Queen Street Train Station and one by one they appeared. Catriona first and Anne (the reason for waking up) showed up just before eight. We grabbed our tickets and then our seats and sat chatting happily away all the way to Edinburgh Waverly Station. Then we had to find our way to the Royal Museum of Scotland, and finally I was where I belong ... in a museum! It was a beautiful building, not very interesting looking from outside, but once in, it is amazing, and sooooo big. The conference was just starting so we just managed to grab seats in the third row to the right in the conference room, but it wouldn't have mattered where we sat because the seats were crap. The architecht was clearly stupid, because he didn't figure it out in his little drawings of the place, that those that would be sitting in these seats would have legs! Let alone that anyone as tall as I am was ever going to enter the room. Front row seats is not my thing. So I basically occupied two seats, as in I sat sideways, fun fun fun for hours on end. Thankfully there were breaks at an hour or hour and a half interval so I was able to strech my legs between talks. The conference began at 9:30 and finished at 17:00, each lecture was about half an hour long.
The lectures themselves were really interesting. The first speaker was obviously from Scandinavia (either Norway (the most likely option), Denmark or Sweden) and he was sexy as well, who would have thought that of an archaeologist? His topic was on the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic period of Southeast Scotland and he made it sound interesting! Then there was something on Elginhaugh, which apparently is a fort and that is interesting somehow. I kind of zoned out of the less interesting bits. The only thing I remember was when he was talking about a hoard of coins in the Roman fort. One of the coins was marked Borinianus. His emphasis was on the -anus part, hilarious. (Also, if you are Icelandic think of the first element of the name Bor- it makes it even more hysterically funnier. Then we had a break for snacks.
After break was over there was a talk on some archaeological work being done at Colstoun, which some people found interesting. The fourth lecture was on Edinburgh's Tron Kirk followed by a talk on the archaeology of the siege of Leith and other 16th century conflicts. And then it was time for lunch! That was great, I ordered a potatoe and they messed it up. How can you mess up a potatoe. I ordered baked potatoe with a chicken, tarragon and lemon mayonese filling and I got a pesto one. Really didn't want that so that the dinner lady was kind enough to make the filling especially for me ... and then when I finally got it it wasn't nice at all. I felt soo mean, but on the other hand I wasn't even that hungry, because I had eaten a sandwich in the tea break, because I hadn't eaten anything before we left Glasgow. So feel sorry for me, don't notice what a picky eater I am. It is better to be picky than eat everything in sight! Anne and Catriona were having fun watching me struggle with my potatoe disaster and Anne was starting to worry my Viking blood might rise to the occasion and I would start gnawing at her leg. It didn't happen, she still has all of her limbs intact (even though she made me get up very early)!
So after this very nice lunch, the girls and I, sort of unintentionally got our siesta break. The two lectures following the lunchbreak, really were coma inducing. They could have been interesting from the historical point of view, but when they started talking about this kind of flue and that kind of wall we just lost the will to live. The first one was a talk about a late 18th century distillery (and When is Whiskey boring? When you are not drinking it!) The second one was on the Caltongate Gasworks (I really was tempted to ask how they passed gas in the early 19th century but thought that would get me thrown out, so I refrained from asking. Then in the discussion session someone beat me to it but he worded it differently). And again we have a coffee break, the last of the day.
Instead of going for coffee we went shopping. This was of course at a museum and they are never without a gift shop, where you can buy things that have absolutely nothing to do with history or art, but are just enought to tempt shopaholics (like me) to depart with their money (like me).
The eighth lecture of the day, and the one we were most interested in was on the Lindisfarne Manuscript "Early Christian East Lothian, linking the communities of Columba and Cuthbert", we really perked up at this lecture, and would have gladly wanted it to last more than just half an hour. But that's us, we like that kind of things.
The last two lectures were kind of all right, but I was kind of wishing to be somewhere else at that point .. like in the shops. But we kind of had to stay, because the next lecture was on house conservation and things like that and this is what Anne is studying this year. So for her it was the reason to be there mainly. The last one was on how to do something about a historical site that is currently being neglected. This was also the lecture where the minority complex of archaeologist shone through the brightest. The girls and I have been laughing at the archaeological texts we have been sifting through this semester and they really do suffer from the paranoia of the Historians. It's almost like a phobia for them. I only have to reach across the table to grab the book I am currently reading to find this:

few historians saw the value of comparing their maps and documents agains what
could be seen in the field. Collaborations between historians, geographers
and archaeologists were still rare and restricted to a tiny number of
individuals who were widely scattered in different institutional guises with
little philosophical or methodological focus to their effort.

(Medieval Archaeology; Christopher Gerrard, p. 87)

Even thought the text is written in the past tense the archaeologists are still writing that this is how their work is looked at, secondary in nature to historical work.
I sort of feel sorry for them, but when people get excited about a wall, I kind of find myself at crossroads of whether to pity them or congratulate them. Their sense of style also leaves a lot for the imagination. Just because you are an archaeologist and you dig things up for fun, there is no reason to do that with clothes as well. They do have clothingstores readily awailable near you today, it's called progress. Aside from their pitiful nature I don't look down on them, they have their uses. I for one would never dream of getting down on all fours, just because someone got excited about Roman pottery ... or a wall!
But I have gone off topic. After the conference finished we headed into town and managed to take a quick look at Jenners at my behest and then headed towards Hard Rock Café, because I had sort of twisted and turned the arms of my fellow companions until they agreed to feed me. I had the classical Hickory-BBQ Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich, boy this just seems to go on and on, and Anne had herself a sandwich and Catriona munched on some chips. Of course we ended the evening with a dessert, a sorbet and two fudge sundae's, but they were more like just sundae's with no fudge at all. But still we ware happy and nourished and when we could finally manage to stand up we made our way to the train station and caught the train back home to Glasgow just shortly before eight o'clock. Which meant that I had been in Edinburgh for something of ten hours and still going. We had all been threatening to fall asleep on the train but we still managed to entertain ourselves with our very nerdy wit and wisdom. In Glasgow we said our goodbyes on the subway and Great Western Road and I went home to fall asleep way before my usual time.
This was the best day in a long while. Thank you Anne for making me wake up very very very early on a Saturday.

Gone with the Wind

Hair dryers are the bane of my existence and soon to be developing pneumonia. They really should ban these blasted things from student halls, or at least my block. There are at least two persons here that just can not be trusted with these blasting windbags. I have lived here for four years, and never before have I had to be outside soooo often in just two months because someone can not grasp the concept of HEAT detectors in the room. Just now I was driven from my very comfortable and warm room out into the freezing cold because someone couldn't control her hair dryer and this is the same girl who forced me out last time. Both of these times, a girl was caught unaware in her shower and they had to run outside wet. The one tonight was only covered in a towel with a tiny jacket covering her wet hair. I don't think she will be thinking to warmly towards this girl in the near future. Maybe we should put a timetable for her to where we will know in advance that she is going to be fiddling with a machine she has no control over and just stay outside to save ourselves the trouble of having to hurry outside just to find out it was all for nothing.

Objectivity? ... huh, anyone?

This is an update on my nerd status. I am getting nerdier by the minute. I am reading my schoolbooks and enjoying it. Actually it goes beyond that. I was actually laughing histerically today over my "educational" reading. It is especially the case when reading a book by Alfred P. Smythe called "Warlords and Holy Men; Scotland 800 - 1000 Ad" and I don't think he wrote it to entertain me, which makes it even more funnier. He really likes to call the people barbarians, no matter who he is talking about, basically everthing that happened before the 1950s is probably in his mind rater primitive and some version of barbarism that was going on.
Today, I was especially focusing on a chapter he wrote about the Vikings (WHY-kings), prettily named as "Vikings: Warriors of the Western Sea". If I didn't know better, and I don't, I would almost think two people wrote the chapter, because the introduction and the conclusion of the chapter are so bizarre. The main argument has merit and is a quite interesting read but it is the intro and conclusion that set me off today. See the following statements taken from the chapter.

'The images of Adomnán reflect the gentleness of a cultivated Classical Christian
civilisation, while the cut-throats and beer-vomiting heroes of the skalds
belong to a world of brutal barbarism.'

He goes on;

'The burning of the monastic library on Iona for instance, might have dealt a
greater blow to western civilisation than the destruction of the entire town ot
Nantes ...'

And on he goes;

'The Vikings returned again and again to centers such as Iona, which in western
Christian eyes were sanctuaries where it was sacrilege to spoil, but which to
the Vikings were shop windows crammed with the loot of centuries'.

No wonder we like to come to Glasgow on shoppin trips. Who would have thought that history books would or could contain such entertaining phrases. Granted this book was published 25 years ago and a lot has happened in the past few years. Sadly that is termed progress which means we don't get gems like this printed as often as we would possibly like.
Although one of his ideas has merit and really ought to be researched further through literature. We know that before the Vikings came to Iceland as settlers there were a few monks sitting around twiddling their tumbs on a rock and then they disappeared from there. That's not the interesting part of it. The Irish monks liked to go rowing about finding an island here and there to use for their meditation and such and Smythe presents the idea that the route to Iceland was well known by the Irish monks and that it was by their help the Vikings found Iceland and settled it. The Irish were probably very happy to finally be rid of the Vikings so they advertised an island in the north. (My thoughts at least). But it could have happened like this and should be explored further. Although that is as far as I am going with my taking Smythe too seriously in this, because in his conclusion of the chapter he sort of states that it wouldn't surprise him the least if the Irish had actullay been the first to find America as well and told the Vikings all about that too.!!!
Well, it shouldn't surprise anyone. He spent the last thirty pages going on and on about how the heck barbarians like the Vikings even managed to put a letter to a page anyway so why shouldn't he wonder how they managed to get to Iceland or let alone America without the help of the 'Classical Christian civilisation'.
His chapter concludes with these words.

'The study of Old Icelandic records presents us with a long line of apparent
historical accidents which require an explanation.'

In a bizarre way I like this guy, he really made my day!