A Mathlete's Memoirs

January- it started quiet but there was a crazy end to the first month of 2009

2009-02-02T20:16:00.011Z

So January was both quiet and busy and flew by. I am wanting to make as much effort to see all my friends as I can between now and July before I can't commit to as many things due to work so if you are free and looking for someone to spend time with drop me a text or message somewhere and we can try and arrange something :D

I had a lovely coffee afternoon with Lynne, Kat, Gillian, Roisin, Cat and AnnMarie in Princes Square on a wet and wild afternoon. It was good to get a wee catch up on all of their lives.

I saw a few things in the cinema: Role Models- Excellent, predictable but hilarious; Yes Man- OK but not as good as the book; The Reader- Brilliant; Bedtime Stories- surprisingly good for a kids movie; Sex Drive- Funny, even for a teen flick along the lines of American Pie. Hopefully get a few more in the month- anyone up for it?

Had a funny day out with Laura in town. We got free stuff in the Tourist Info (including Beetroot Crisps- disgusting, eco washing liquid, shortbread, moisturiser and shampoo), rearranged furniture in the Lighthouse, sat on a Bench bench, became art critics in GOMA, ordered a Mathlete special in Baguette Express, walked to the Tall Ship (followed by a weird stalker), became pirates in true sea conditions, ran for hot drinks on Dumbarton Road and headed home. All for less than a tenner. Bargain.

(James and I had a tasty dinner in Nando's that night too.)

Had a wee coffee with Jacqueline and dinner with Elaine.

Patrick learned to crawl (though he really wants to walk).

Johnny and Jackie both visited from Belgium and there was funny Saturday night chat. Kate lived up to her usual self with some classic Katie-isms.

Met Mandy and drank Stiffies (Kola Kube goodness) at Ross's after a night out in the Theatre Bar. Saw Pogo for our annual meeting.

Went to Helen's Dad's 50th birthday with Laura and David and consumed to much icing.

Had a day out with the Mathletes. In attendance were Laura, David, Helen, Polly, Alistair and Charles for tasty food in the loft (traditional Salsici Pizzas of course) and Jacqueline and Ben (who seems like an all round good kind of guy) attended later in a wee cafe on Great Western Road (where we had tasty smoothies and shared cakes (it helps even out the guilt factor as well as the money, lol) I tried to explain the concept of negative calories (food with a hole in the middle are negative calories so donuts, hula hoops, bagels, party rings and not forgetting Polo's are all included and there was all round good chat. I headed home after everyone else had left but ran into Polly and Amy in Starbucks cos I had ran into use the toilet and of course had to have tea so had so more random chat (I also heard two buskers on Ashton Lane playing Killing In The Name Of by Rage on acoustic guitar- clearly a sign to go out).

Went to the Lodge for James's friend Mandy's leaving night from UPS, had a couple of drinks then went out to the Classic Grand. What a night!! Fun people (Pammy, Mandy, Aaron, Steve and later Derek and wasted Ross), good chat, lots of laughter, a small amount of alcohol (:P) and plenty of dancing. What more could a girl want from a night? (I even managed to get up and get to the gym in the morning with Natalie (followed by swimming with Patrick)- result!).

James wasn't drinking all of January so the first of February saw him go to the Theatre Bar in Cumbernauld- the last place in Cumbernauld you would expect trouble right? Wrong. Short story: stupid ned started some trouble, attempted to headbutt James and James hit him. Went to Monklands about his knuckles. Its James's story which I am sure he will tell you himself so I'll leave it at that but it was a crazy end to a crazy weekend.

And now here's February....

Hope you are good :D Take care!!!

(I just reread, sorry for the randomness but my brain isn't really with it, lol).

2008- What a year :D

2008-12-31T22:16:00.012Z

2008 has been awesome to say the least!! Here is as quick a rundown as I can manage (with my favourite picture of each event- otherwise we'll be here all day, lol)

January: MacSoc Ceilidh

Paintballing

February: Mine and James's Anniversary

Project's handed in

Raymond and Lucie get married

MacSoc Subcrawl

March: Pi Day

Last Day of 4th year Paddy Pop

April: Random Library Laughter

Laura and Lesley's Haunted Tour of Edinburgh

May: Exams finally done with Headphone Disco (the last ever student Cheesy Pop for us)

The start of the My Life With series (http://www.mylifewith.co.uk/)

Celtic winning the league at the last minute

June: Grad Ball

Getting my Accenture Job

Mum and Dad's Party

Getting the exam results and my 2:1 and everyone elses awesome results too!!

Patrick Thomas makes his arrival

July: Graduation

Laura and Lesley Do the European Tour of H and M's

August: Laura turns 21

Arran Weekend

September: Patrick's christening

Jade's 21st party

October: Kate turns 18

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest at the Ramshorn

November: My birthday cocktail party

Reliving former gigs with Elaine when we went to see My Vitriol

December: Patrick's 1st Christmas

Some good nights out

Talking to Pammy again

I was trying to pick out a favourite memory from this year but its waaaaay to hard to do!! In addition to the specific events above there have been some really funny nights out and general laughter and good memories just of everyday events. I have had such a fun year, with the saddest thing being graduating (I really miss being a student, studying and seeing the coolest people every day)- what does that tell you, eh?!! I am so grateful for all of it!!

2009 resolutions: Get at least 15 things from my list finished (http://www.before30.co.uk/)

Things to look forward to:

More travelling hopefully

Patrick's first birthday

Starting at Accenture

I Hope 2009 is as awesome as 2008 :D

Best wishes for your health and happiness this coming year, thanks for standing by me :D

Quickie

2008-12-16T20:06:00.009Z

So I have been reading a few blogs the last few days and I realised I have neglected mine lately. Not sure if I will finish the Europe 2008 blog but you never know.

This is just a quick update before I do a year end one in the next few days. Since I last wrote a few things have happened.

I was unemployed for the first time in my life. It sucked. Joined an agency and am now working for Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. People good. Job sucks. Boring and at times horrific, to say the least. Please look after yourselves, I don't want to see anyone I know claiming!!

Patrick Thomas was Baptised on Sunday, September 14th 2008 in Sacred Heart Church, Kildrum. It was a lovely, though hectic, day and I was the very proud Godmother of a baby who is happy, funny and going to be very big!! And aware of fashion (he seemed unimpressed with his white suit, lol). :D:D

We went to see One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, directed by James Keenan and starring Derek (MacDonald) Banner. It was excellent. Well done guys!!

Kate scarily turned 18 years old on October 14th and she is no less Kate than ever (funny, a bit crazy and a typical teenager).

There was a funny Halloween. I went out with Aaron and his friends. We walked from Driftwood to Classic Grand and back to Classrooms because everywhere else was packed. For those of you who know Glasgow you will know what a trek that is!!

I turned 25 on November 11th and many of my best friends turned out on the following Saturday for some celebratory cocktails. Another comic night. Somehow everyone who was drinking went from sober to merry in one drink (though that was probably to do with some interesting measures and few mixers, lol). There was lots of good chat. The resounding quote from the night was, "can I get some more of that antifreeze stuff?" Tasty :D Thanks Mr Keenan for creating that for us. I think the rest of the pictures tell their own story (feel free to ask James what his opinion of ball gowns is now).

There has been random family fun, including a cool afternoon with Raymond, Lucie, Mum, Dad and Natalie in Lauries on King Street listening to a Jazz band. We have also been preparing Patrick for initiation into our family's crazy loudness on Christmas day.

And now it is nearly Christmas. Again. Yay. (though I am completely unorganised which is not actually like me at all).

I will do an end of year blog sometime between Christmas and New year but mean time, I wish you all a very merry Christmas!! Eat lots, laugh lots and love lots!!

:D:D:D:D

Prague

2008-08-24T20:04:00.009+01:00

We arrived in Prague and found our way to the hostel eventually, only to discover that our room was in another building on another street entirely 10 minutes walk away!! We got there and since it was so early we had to put our stuff in a cleaning cupboard and head straight out. We made our way into the centre and met up with Mathlete Christine and her friend Rhona (I hope that's right) and had pancakes and hot chocolate for breakfast. Christine and Rhona were doing a similar trip and they were leaving that afternoon for Venice or Rome (I forget which one they were going to first, I think Venice makes the most sense due to where it is but that doesn't mean anything with the sometimes illogical trains in Europe) and going up the western side. It was pretty cool to see someone we know from home in a random European city. After they left to go for their train we wandered around the shops in the drizzly rain for a bit until it was time to go back to the hostel.
This particular room was probably our favourite!! It is usually a student dorm room that is used as a hostel in the summer months. It was clean, had an en suite shower, a fridge and lots of unnecessary furniture , and Walter. That's right folks, our tap had to be named due to its freakishly over sized comedy nature :D lol. Needless to say we took lots of pictures of our room in joy at its coolness (including the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling- I know we are truly easily amused).
We chilled for a bit, had really long showers and made a plan of what to see in Prague, using the many maps and guidebooks we had. We then headed back out (via the metro, once again we are at the end of a metro line), to get some food. As usual we didn't know what we wanted but when we arrived in the main square there was a jazz festival on (a recurring theme for us) and some awesome smelling smoke.We followed the smell to where a stall was BBQ-ing chicken kebab on stick type things. Oh My Actual God (yes Laura and I do talk like each other now. in fact sometimes we don't even speak any recognisable English but we still get what the other is meaning, which is even more weird given that neither of our brains works in exactly what you would call normal ways (or however that sentence is supposed to go))!! These kebabs were heavenly!! So tasty and so cheap and so exactly what we wanted (even though we didn't know what it was we wanted)!! I cannot describe the awesomeness of them!! People walking by were clearly in awe of our awesome looking kebabs!!

We sat by the astronomical clock, enjoying our tasty dinner and the laid back jazz music in the background. We then went a-wandering around to absorb the atmosphere and check out the different things Prague has to offer. We got into a big long chat with a guy in a shop about Scotland and the fight for Independence and other such likes. Pretty random, but cool.

We were pretty knackered and it was getting late so we headed back to our room via a supermarket to get things for our fridge :D First impressions of Prague are that it is really cool and laid back despite the 9 bazillion tourists packing the place out!!

The next morning we managed to sleep through all our alarms (damned Sleepy selves were victorious!) and didn't get up till 1.33pm. Shocking I know (although we managed to justify it to ourselves as usual, lol). We finally got out and went to King Wencelas's Square, sang a quick rendition of the carol (had to be done) and went onwards to the Charles Bridge (on the way we got the worst sandwiches ever!! though the mint aero we found made up for it slightly). The bridge itself, once we finally got there, was pretty cool despite the tourists and you can see why its such a big attraction. We then continued wandering up the steepest, cobbliest hill ever made in the history of the world (me? exaggerate? never :P) We had to rest on the way up (though we did buy pretty crystal necklaces as a souvenir of the trip) and we booked Vienna's accommodation. We finally staggered to the top and the view was worth the effort of getting up the hill. We wandered around past the castle and cathedral which looked pretty cool from the outside and down the lane with little cute pastel coloured houses on it. There was a statue of a skull on a guys back, which was nothing special, but there was a big pack of Scouts there and they caused us lots of giggling when they smacked its ass and then fell about laughing themselves!!

On the way back down the hill the afore mentioned scouts and a troop of brownies were marching down, singing. Bringing up the rear of this was a teenage couple consisting of a scout and a brownie holding hands which we both simultaneously "aaaawed" at, which then caused us to burst out laughing. We had the chicken kebabs again (I'll be kinda sad not to eat them again) and watched the astronomical clock chime (not magical as the guide books say it is) and tried not to get knocked down by horses and carriages. We headed back to get an early night due to our impending early rise for the train to Vienna. Outside the room though, Laura kept dropping the key and it took us aaages to get into the room due to our hysterical laughter. It was like she had had 10 shots of Jaegermeister and 10 JD and cokes in the last 5 minutes such was her inability to unlock the door :

We managed to get up early enough to be on the train to Vienna in time for getting a good spot for our luggage, which is always a good thing!!

Next blog on Vienna will follow soon me thinks :D

Things to Remember

Walter, the freakishly long tap :D

Shelves, bookcases, cupboards, desks, high ceilings- general luxury for £12 pppn :D

Lots of scarily steep escalators and stairs everywhere!!

random chat about Scotland and politics from a shopkeeper

pretty crystal

cheap shopping

awesome chicken kebabs

lots of amazing architecture

Laura's Crossing

laughing about sitting identically (after looking like we had fallen out) on the metro

meeting Christine and Rhona for "coffee" and discovering they laugh at the same stuff as us (such as posing as statues)

crazy maps and street signs (some streets not on the maps at all :S)

slow for the red man, building tension, then GO GO GO on green man

reception on the underground and telling location and adverts on my phone

steep hills that go on for eternity

awesomeness of the jazz festival as soundtrack to our lives

funny noises we make (eg comical screaming)- me and a small dog, Laura and a dead bird

the number of small dogs everywhere (this applies everywhere since Berlin)

weird leering guys on the bridge

the mass of brownies and scouts and the scout couple we both "aawed" at (it was so sweet)

terrible sandwiches and the awesome aero :D

the vitamins called Stupidium

Quotes

F: did that guy just cluck at us? (imitates noise repeatedly). it sounds like a horse!

C: Did that guy just call us a horse? Or, a chicken?

Oh my god, how insulting, we are horses with 1 chicken leg!!

(This prompted lots of laughter and the conversation developed into a chicken legged pogo stick with a horses head, followed by a conversation about us being bugged IE recording devices and us wanting an unedited copy (etc)

"Imagine the y=x^2 graph"
Laura describing Walter to David

"I didn't realise before but this is exactly what I wanted"

Us, about most of the food we ate

"Is that what I think it is?!!"

Us, alot

"Heeeellloooo, Ladies"

Random Guy to us

"Cluck"

Lots of random guys
"Cos we are living, in an aero world..." (singing)

Us, singing to the tune of Material Girl in the subway stations that look like they have aero bubbles on the walls

Berlin

2008-08-12T19:12:00.008+01:00

We arrived in Berlin pretty early in the morning (I think it was around 6am) but German efficiency means everything in the train station was already open so we were able to get our Welcome Berlin cards (for unlimited travel) and find out how to get to our hostel. We stayed in the Meinenger Berlin hostel in a dorm with 3 other girls. Was an OK room and near a metro station which is always a bonus.

We headed back to the main station (which is totally awesome- clean and big) and had some tasty pizza for breakfast (nutritious, I know) while planning our first day in Berlin. Our first port of call took us past the Parliament, which looks really cool from the outside (though sadly we didn't have the time to go in), and onto the Brandenburg Gate, which is symbolic for its East/West divide of the city. Its pretty weird there, loads of tourists and yet not so long ago it was part of the divide of the city. We then continued our stroll to the Siegessaule, the Victory Statue (via the scary underpasses). We took the 9 bidillion steps of the spiral staircase to the cramped, crowded top. The view was worth the effort though :D

We headed back to our room and chilled for a bit (the night train does take a lot out of you energy wise). After relaxing for a while we headed out for dinner. We ate in a little Italian place near Checkpoint Charlie which was oddly formal and prompted Laura to remark it was like our first date. lol. The food was tasty and reasonably priced (always a bonus- not like the free salad which wasn't too fab). We then headed onto Checkpoint Charlie, a museum based where the American Checkpoint was on the Berlin Wall. It has loads of fascinating info on escapes, personal stories, political aspects of the wall and other such likes. It puts a lot of perspective on Europe and its recent history. If the wall hadn't came down I wonder how much harder a trip like this would have been. Almost impossible maybe. I am glad we came to Berlin before continuing for the chance to learn more about how the countries we visited fitted together politically.
We slept pretty late, but the tasty 50 cent breakfast we got made up for it, which we ate on our way to the East Side Gallery. This is the largest stretch of wall still standing in its original place. It's pretty cool, although there is a lot of new graffiti allot of the original graffiti is still clear which gives a good insight into peoples attitude's to the wall when it was up.

Brockhursts are an uber tasty, cheap meal. Love them!! We then headed over to Alexanderplatz and went up to the top of the TV tower, where we had expensive daiquiris (not like the usual kind but OK I guess). But the view was cool, and no stairs required due to the super fast lift :D The area around the TV tower is really cool, lots of pretty buildings which we didn't get to see due to the time of night but still admired from outside. We then went to Potsdammer Platz for one of the best eating experiences ever. The Hagen-Dazs Cafe!! The most amazing chocolate brownie explosions. Soooo awesome. Chocolate chip and vanilla ice cream over bits of brownie, smothered in chocolate sauce. Man I want some just thinking about it now!!

We impressively made it up for 10am the next morning (impressive given how much we suck at early morning rising. It often involved a 20 minute debate over what time to set our 5 alarms for). We dumped our cases at the train station we were leaving from and headed to Charlottenberg Palace after writing postcards. It was so sunny when we got there we opted to sit outside in the sun for a while :D

Inside it was spectacular. I loved the way some of the rooms were decorated. I could definitely see myself living in a palace (as long as I also had cleaners). They were strict about visitors though, especially about photograph taking, which kinda took away from the experience a little bit. When we finally left we found ourselves in the middle of a storm!! So we found our way to somewhere we could eat indoors, Andy's diner. We had pizza and non-alcoholic cocktails. After dinner we got a few bits and pieces for the upcoming train journey.

We arrived at the station and realized we had forgotten to buy stamps for our postcards. While we were getting some in the newsagents this guy overheard our accent and started talking away to us about when he lived in Scotland. Turns out he was a Brazilian, who was now working in Germany but had lived in Clydebank a few years ago. We chatted with Kaiser for a while and he gave us his details in case we were ever stuck for somewhere to stay in Berlin. The station itself, by the way, is so freaking dodgy. Its full of drug users, drunks and people begging and felt so unsafe. We were glad to get on the night train.

Or so we thought. It was horrible!! No electricity which means no lights or toilets. And no head room. So the choice was sitting in the dark or standing in the dark. Not fun. In our room was 2 polish women who said nothing to us (well one laughed cruelly when I hit my head) and 2 Irish guys travelling as a group of 9 who chatted to us for a bit before finding their friends elsewhere on the train and getting a bit drunk.

The train wasn't so bad once we actually fell asleep and we arrived in Krakow. Although we couldn't get into our room straight away they were nice and let us use the showers. (Night train means sleeping in your clothes, and Krakow was freaking roasting!!). The Hostel Yellow was really cool, laid back and our room was really big and airy, verging on luxurious considering what we paid for it.

Wandering around in the sun took us to Walwet Hill, where the cathedral and such likes is located. We got the tastiest ice lollies (we were really hot and thirsty so they tasted especially good) and we soaked up the sun in the courtyard. This is one of the things I love doing best. Museums and such likes are all good and interesting, but I really love just wandering around a city and taking in its atmosphere.

For dinner we got hot dogs. Now, here that would be a sausage inside a roll. Not in Poland. It was also filled with cabbage, beetroot, sweetcorn, onion and peppers. A crazy combo that tasted OK, although there is only so much cabbage a person can eat in one go!! We followed up with chocolate chip and mint ice cream while waking back to the main square. (Food here is so cheap!! All the above mentioned food as well as drinks during the day cost a grand total of £7.50. Bargainous!!)

While we were there the international folk festival was on. There was an elaborate puppet theatre which used ABBA and Queen songs with their own Polish lyrics to tell a story that had something to do with Angels. Then we saw "Elastic", a Belgian mime/comedian/magician/juggler. He was so funny and had such an expressionate face. We then watched a performance by the Polish Theatre of Dance called "The Battle Between Carnival and Lent". It was dramatic music intertwined with techno/dance and modern ballet, narrated by people on stilts who also controlled audience and artists movements (it started on four small stages which the dancers moved between and then became one big stage for the finale). The whole thing was amazing, totally enthralled you from start to finish. I especially loved the classical music to techno dance music changes that took place, along with the way the dancers interacted with the audience. And all for free!!

We had a long lie and longer showers before packing up and checking out. With a bit of palaver with our cases we got them into left luggage at the station and jumped on the bus to Auschwitz (after having breakfast which led us into the most awesome shopping mall- no idea how we didn't discover it the day before).

Just as we arrived at Auschwitz the sun disappeared and storm clouds took over. It felt appropriate for what the whole place stands for. The whole experience is one I am glad we did, but I am in no hurry to repeat it. As Laura said: it was horrific and before now I didn't really know what horrific was. Now I do.

Horrific doesn't even begin to cover it. What my brain did let me imagine was harrowing but I can't comprehend what those people went through. It was less than 100 years ago, so recent history, and it terrifies me that it happened at all. What mankind does to each other for differences that some people believe to be evil or inhuman is soul destroying. And I am not trying to be dramatic. There is no need for that. Differences should unite us, and yet often they tear us apart.

The displays in the cabinets and bunk houses that make up the museum were simple,informative and effective without over dramatising what happened, it let the facts speak for themselves. I don't think I'll ever be able to fully process what happened but I will always remember. One of the quotes I read said (in effect) that those who forget will see it repeated. Everyone should see Auschwitz so that those who died there did not do so in vain.

(We didn't take any pictures in Auschwitz for what we felt were obvious reasons, though most people there seemed to take loads, which I can sort of understand but at the same time can't. Sorry if that makes no sense.)

Its hard to move on from such a downer, but I think since I have the freedom to do so I have to. So sorry for depressing you.

We got the bus back which took forever, I think we saw almost all of Poland on the way back for the night train!! Though some of the passing scenery was beautiful!! We got back and did some window shopping before getting train food and making our way onto the train.

The cabin, which had lights but less headroom than before, we had 4 Americans (Laura and Jared from Ohio, Alex from NY and a guy from LA whose name we didn't catch). They were really cool and while chatting we discovered they were returning to Prague, where they are attending summer school, after spending the weekend in Krakow. The conductor came round to get tickets and to warn us to lock the doors and keep our passports on us when we were sleeping, as there are Banditos around!! Way to go to freak us out late at night on a train we can't get off!!

I loved Berlin and Krakow so much!! i will definitely be returning to both at some stage in the future!! This has been a lot longer than I expected so I'll wait a few days before doing the next one.

Things to remember

Berlin-

German efficiency

cool traffic light dudes

lots of street signs and directions to things

cheaper than Scandinavia

bear statues (like the Edinburgh cows)

shadows=sun=smiles

the city of nipples (on statues, top of telephone boxes etc)

city of contrasts: history and now

the badness of the night train to Krakow

Kaiser and his funny handshake

the funny Irish guys

Krakow

cheap to eat and drink

cabbage

roasting hot!

awesome atmosphere/buzz

they love the popes, in particular JP2 since he was born there

easy to navigate

the cool, massive shopping centre

the horror of Auschwitz

the fun Americans on the train to Prague

the performances in the international folk festival

me falling on my ass on the bus

weird almond pastries

teaching the Americans Scottish words like manky

the train announcers during the night in the station we "rested" at (resting is what night trains do, we think something to do with scheduling)). These particular announcers were loud, in Czech and English and giving useless information an hour and a half to late to no-one in particular!

Quotes

"Its like a date"....."so what do you do?"

Laura to me in the Italian restaurant

"That's what you would look like pregnant"

Me to Laura about her money belt erection (under her dress) which

provoked excessive laughter

"Why would your condoms need hair? I mean hair need condoms?"

Me to Laura after she thought she saw a sign that said hair condoms.

"We have a lot of conversations about condoms, but never about their actual use"

Me to Laura after we saw a poster of a strawberry with a condom in it

"The saying, "I'd rather have a bowl of coco pops" is timeless"

Laura to me, over our daiquiris in the TV tower

"Oh My God! My heads shrunk!! I didn't even know that was possible!"

Me to Laura in the Carlottensbergen when I realised my sunglasses were to big for my head all of a sudden

"I wonder what happens if I put that in there"

Laura

"That's how Adam and Eve conceived"

Laura to me(about putting some food into some other food it doesn't normally go with, in this case chips in her pasta sauce)

"I look like a red bike?!! Aah Meg White, that makes more sense"

Me to James after I asked if he remembered what I looked like

"Show me your sole"

Laura to me about my feet, that always somehow get dirty

"Bandito"

The train conductor

Scandanavia

2008-08-09T16:46:00.006+01:00

Over the next few blogs I will be writing a brief bit about the places Laura and I visited in our tour of Europe. While travelling I kept a journal, a section of things to remember and funny/memorable quotes from every location we visited. I will put these last 2 parts at the end of each blog for the places covered. It will probably take me a bit of time to get everywhere done (mainly cos I get bored typing after a while). I will also probably forget to add some stuff which Laura will probably remind me of so I will add these in a final blog at the end. I hope you enjoy reading, and laugh as much as we did at some of the silly goings on. The pictures here will be significant ones, all of our rooms we stayed in as well as pictures of some of the places I mention in particular. Otherwise, loads of the pictures can be found on bebo, or I just won't put them all on.

On the way to the airport there were some minor money dramas relating to our post office cards which did eventually get sorted after some angry phone calls on our parts but other than that the flight to Oslo was uneventful as was the bus to the centre. We got checked into our room in a hostel, which seemed OK at first glance. Then we went out exploring. Oslo is really cool and laid back, although really expensive (it was a good thing I brought a box of bran flakes with me- the first morning we ate them directly out of the box but we then had a McD's sundae, from which we kept the container and spoons as makeshift bowls and eating utensils).

The highlights in Oslo were seeing a Viking ship and, my personal favourite, the Vigetsland Parken. This is a big park with loads of statues in funny poses leading up to a phallic monument made up of lots of bodies. There are people just hanging out having BBQs. Its really chilled out and cool.

Our room was not as OK as we thought. On our first night we discovered it was smack bang in the middle of the red light district. There were hookers on the door step and a soup kitchen for the homeless directly across from us. We had to pass a sex shop on the way to the hostel. Not only that, we were the only girls in the whole hostel, and people IE guys, could see directly into our room!!! Needless to say we went to the toilet in pairs and didn't use the shared shower facilities. Luckily we were only there for a couple of nights and it was the only semi bad bit about Oslo.

Our next port of call was Copenhagen, which we got to via an overnight stay on a ferry. It was a cut e little room, with an awesome shower and no hookers!! There was a thunderstorm while we were on the ferry, which looked pretty cool even if a little bit scary. It was a pleasant night on the ferry and we arrived clean and refreshed in Copenhagen.

Finding our room was not that hard, despite taking the wrong path at first. We were shown to our "garden house" by the owner, Linda, who was lovely. Our room was really just a glorified shed in the middle of the garden. Although it was nice and airy it had no way to be locked from the inside (on the outside it was a padlock) and we had to devise one using an extension lead we found in the room. Once again, to get to the bathroom we had to go together at night along the scary dark path with no lights to a manky shared bathroom in the basement of the house.

Copenhagen itself is OK. A bit of a disappointment. I had high expectations from things I had read. Tivoli Gardens was expensive since you have to pay to get in even if you are not going on the rides and was mostly filled with expensive shops and rides. So unimpressive really. I mean it was OK but wasn't worth the money. The rest of Copenhagen was OK. Christiania was pretty weird and kinda scary, glad we didn't go at night. The little mermaid was cool, although we did get stalked by a couple of older Pakistani men (they told us that's where they were from), who we had to run away from without it being too obvious that's what we were doing.

We couldn't get the night train the night we wanted to so we had to stay another night in Copenhagen. The only room we could get was in an expensive hotel. The bonus was it included breakfast (as well as having showers in the room so we could get clean again) and we took full advantage of the buffet style eat all you can. We ate what we could manage and then took some food in Laura's bag and my pockets for lunch. You can't beat a free lunch :D

We ate our free lunch in Malmo (which is where we had to get the train from). It was wet and everything closes at 4, if it was open to start with. I mean, what is that all about?! Yep, I wasn't in love with Malmo. We got the night train from there to Berlin. There was a nice guy in our Couchettes who helped put our stupidly heavy luggage up onto the overhead bit. It was also weird as the train went on a boat. Its weird to feel like you are moving but the train is making no noise. Otherwise fairly uneventful journey to Berlin.

Things to remember

Oslo:

BBQ's in the park

it costs 25% more to eat in places

there are prostitutes and stuff relating to sex everywhere!!

the awesomeness of Vigetsland paarken

the big burly hot men (for Helen)

the expense of it all

the water from the tap is OK to drink (thank goodness- saved us a fortune)

the traffic crossing has 2 red men, as if to emphasise the importance of stopping

unexpected rain and a cool thunderstorm

Copenhagen:

charges in the public toilets if you brush your hair or re-apply makeup or whatever

lack of street signs

lots of strip clubs

sunglasses make cool photos

there are a lot of towers

the "safe" and "unsafe" areas seems to cross over with almost no warning

crazy Asian stalker guys

sunsets are a lot earlier than in Oslo

the people are slightly cold and abrupt

weather changes almost as fast as in Scotland

we are good at "stealing" lunch

our extension wire locking device for our garden shed room

Malmo: expensive

wet

everything closes really early

the pocky like chocolate and the rolls of Haribo

we will always appreciate our waterproofs

Quotes

"Is this a slow disco?"

A random woman to us in the queue in Burger King is Oslo (fast food places were usually the only places we could afford to eat)

"Do you have a condom?"

Man to hooker outside our hostel

"This is a whorehouse!"

Us upon realising that is what we were staying in

A late night conversation we had, I am marked with a C and Laura with an F:

C: What else could you use condoms for?

F: Carrying stuff I guess

C: Yeah, I guess so

F: But you couldn't use it after*

C: Laughter

F: I didn't mean the condom

C: I don't think it would fit, you'd have to be massive- like a giraffe

B: Laughter

C: I meant a giraffe with a condom on its head

F: I know

B: Laughter

(other stuff in the series included water balloons, carrying drugs and clothes- hence *)

"Is there a map of Oslo on my ass?"

Laura to me after using her map to protect her bare legs from grass in the statue park.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Us to each other, all the time about many things

F: I have a song in my head. It goes "All that she wants..."

C: Wow, I have the same song. Weird!

B: wonderment and laughter

"Did you notice that man beside us on deck? He had really bad flatulence. It was so loud!!"

Laura to me about a guy on the deck of the ferry

"Damn you Laura for being so hot!!"

Me to Laura about the stalker guys

"Is it just you two then?"

The stalker guys at the Little Mermaid to us

"What was that noise? Oh, its me."

Laura to me about a random noise it turned out she was making.

"I forgot how big my mouth is"

Laura to me while applying Vaseline

"Is it getting darker then lighter in here? Oh wait, its me half opening and closing my eyes"

Me to Laura, lying in bed

"God damned Malmo!!"

Us, about many annoying things in Malmo

"Maybe its exercising"

Laura to everyone on the night train about the train reversing and going forwards on the same piece of track

Always Playing Catch Up

2008-08-09T15:14:00.006+01:00

Well a lot has certainly happened since the last time I wrote so I am going to do this blog in a few parts. This first part is about some of the major things that have happened since the last time I wrote and the next couple will be about the month long trip Laura and I went on round Europe. So I hope you enjoy whats coming as much as I have enjoyed them as they were happening.

The last time I wrote my sister was still heavily pregnant- and in fact 2 days later on July 15th at 8.45am my awesome sister gave birth to my gorgeous nephew- Patrick Thomas. They were both healthy and happy which is fantastic. Patrick is now 7 weeks old and one of the happiest babies I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He is always smiling and alert- he is going to be one smart boy.

The next day I found out that I had not only passed my exams but done pretty well considering how bad I felt they went. So now I have a 2:1 degree in Mathematics from Glasgow Uni. High five to all the Mathletes too- they all kicked those evil exams asses and are all now Bachelors of Science with Honours (except Laura who was registered in the Arts faculty so she is a Master of Arts instead).

The next few weeks passed by fairly uneventful, with Laura and I preparing for our trip and generally enjoying being free from exams and stress of worrying about exam results. Then it was time for graduation day itself. Despite the rain it was a great day. The ceremony felt appropriately sombre with all the Latin and what have you. Felt so great to be graduating from such an old university with lots of tradition and history.

It was a hectic day, after graduation we went for dinner in the Loft, which took ages but was otherwise good. Finally I was home and knackered. But the next day wasn't any quieter. We went to get photos taken at the QM then up to my grans for a bit then finally home to pack. Not my strongest skill I have to say. You just never know what you might not take that you really need. Finally I got it packed (turned out I was only 4 kilos over, ,which is a true achievement for me) and early-ish the next morning (July 3rd) we were off to Oslo. The first installment of the Europe trip will follow shortly.

Thanks for reading :D

The end of one era

2008-06-11T21:19:00.006+01:00

I apologise in advance for the crazy photo layout, my mouse batteries are dying!!

Well, as expected it has been a crazy few weeks since I last blogged. The majority of it was filled with exams. In the library from morning to night would have been a lot worse to handle than it was, thanks to those other mathletes slogging away at the whole caboodle. In particular David, Laura, Ross, and Helen on exam days, were there, keeping each other entertained and as sane as possible.

The exams themselves were pretty horrific. The leap year theory definitely seems to hold true, that is exams are harder in leap years. Not sure if this is due to the extra day lecturers have to work or not, but comparing past papers it seems to be true. Exam results are due by Monday at the latest so not long to find out.

It was kind of sad when we came out of our last exam on Thursday the 29th of May. It’s weird to think that is uni, where I have spent a big fraction of my life, finished. Who knows if I’ll go back in the future or not, I would never rule out it, but for now I am done with exams. That is one of the few things I will not miss!! I have had a great time at uni, made loads of friends, learned a lot of stuff (some which I will use, lots I won’t too) and generally been happy.

James also sat exams in this time, a whole 2 of them, which he has passed (well done). He has also shot and hosted a premier party for "My life with Colin Farell" which was good and also sweded by Aaron, for both check out youtube.

After the exams finished it wasn’t quite time to rest. On Friday we had our last Cheesy pop at the QM as students, and fittingly it was a headphone disco. It was an awesome fun night, lots of dancing :D Then, I had to finish off some preparations for the upcoming grad ball and get ready to fly down to London for my second round interview with Accenture. I flew down on the Sunday night and stayed with Raymond and Lucie again (thanks again to them, without them I wouldn’t have had as good a chance of getting the job). Luckily the interview wasn’t till 1-00 on the Monday (early mornings being my biggest weakness). I got to the Accenture offices in plenty of time after checking my luggage in at the train station, so I was nice and relaxed. The assessment was a little late in starting so there was plenty of time to chat to the other people there for the same reason. Everyone was lovely and I think that helped the whole process be more bearable.

The day mostly went by in a blur; first off there was a case study to read over which you then discussed in a one to one interview. This case study then provided the basis for the first group task. The next part was a document handling task which was a lot harder than I expected. Then there was another entirely different group task, and then this was finished off with a final one to one interview. Overall I had a pretty good day; I met a really nice girl called Madeleine who was interviewing for the same role as me. I felt it went ok, there were some bits which I found really tough and other bits I enjoyed.

Well, I got a phone call on Thursday to offer me a job :D So exciting, I will start in either August (based in Edinburgh) or October (based in London) of 2009. I can’t wait!! (The girl Madeleine I mentioned before also got offered the job in August next year in London) :D Thursday was a good day for jobs in my family as both my uncle Raymond and Maureen’s husband Michael got offered jobs too, so well done to them as well :D

I flew back on Monday night (after some drama involving Raymond’s flat keys- I had them to lock the door when I left on Monday and Lucie couldn’t find hers. However, I forgot to give them back to Raymond and hopped on a train to Stanstead, which left as soon as I got on it. Typical- the one time that happens! So poor Raymond had to jump on the next train to Stanstead to get his keys back as they were otherwise locked out!!), as the grad ball was on Tuesday.

Tuesday was hectic. David picked me up after Laura and then we picked up Ross and made the drive down to Seamill Hydro. We checked into our room and chilled for a bit. It was then time to get my nails done. While there I got a phone call from Suzie to say we needed to go to the bank to get cash to pay people with. Once that was done, it was hair and makeup. Next balloons and room organising, then speech writing, then dress time. Hectic but fun!! There have been lots of moments during the organisation of the ball where things haven’t went quite right; there have been arguments and tears, hotly debated factors and just general drama and chaos. But it came good in the end, and it was all well worth it!!

The suite was beautiful, the meal was awesome (for the record, I had the fruit salad to start, lentil broth, chicken and bacon in chive sauce and apple pie to finish, it was all very tasty). The pianist who played through dinner was excellent, really added to the atmosphere, then the speeches. The head of Physics spoke, then it my Suzie and mines turn. I don’t think it was the best speech people have ever heard, but it certainly wasn’t the worse. At some stage I’ll put it on Bebo, as I need to type it up for my scrapbook anyways. The ceilidh band were excellent, though I didn’t get much dancing done due to all the picture taking that had to be done (see my Bebo or facebook for most of them). The DJ to finish was the right mix of cheese and fun to dance to music. Afterwards we went to one of the rooms to chill for a bit, but we were all knackered and went to bed around 4. Overall it was a fantastic night, the perfect way to end fourth year!! And I am so glad we did it somewhere out of the way rather than town!! (I also owe my dad a massive thanks for driving the minibus with some of the folks down, they were all really glad you did!!).

The morning after we had the most awesome breakfast ever!! So much to eat!! Loved it!! After checking out we headed to the beach since it was a gorgeous day! We couldn’t stay to long since James was working, so me, James, Christine and Derek headed up the road. I then went to my big cousin Maureen’s to get some family photos and a chat. It was good to see her, Michael and the boys.

Not much time to rest for me though. My dad decided a few weeks ago to organise a surprise silver wedding anniversary party for my mum, so I had bits and bobs to do for this. Belgians were supposed to arrive on Thursday but sadly their flight was cancelled by Ryanair on the Thursday morning. Friday, the day of the party, was crazy mad. So much to do and so little time. But this was another event that was well worth all the hassle. My mum was totally surprised, goodness knows how she didn’t catch on- there were a few touch and go moments- including the psychic that nearly gave it away!! Good thing mums friends were quick to divert it away from my mum’s suspicions. There was lots of dancing and good times :D

Saturday was all about cleaning since my parents invited a few people out on the Saturday night too. This was a more laid back affair compared to Friday, but still some good chat. Sunday was a well deserved rest day!!

Monday I met Laura to book flights and train tickets for Europe in July. We now officially leave on Thursday July 3rd for Oslo. I can’t wait!!

And this pretty much brings me to now, the last couple of days I have been scanning old family photos (since they are out of the cupboard just now). This is slowly driving me crazy (at this exact moment I am scanning photo number 728), but it will hopefully be worth it in the long run.

Overall the last couple of months have been pretty amazing, if hectic. We are all now waiting patiently for Natalie to go into labour, this could happen at any moment since her due date is a week on Friday. It’s all so exciting!! I’ll keep you all posted, in the mean time, thanks for reading, hope you are all great!! Feel free to leave comments and if you think of anything I have missed let me know as my brain is a bit frazzled from all this scanning!! And once again, congratulations again to my parents for reaching 25 years!!

:D

library = :(

2008-04-13T17:18:00.004+01:00

So although a few things have happened since my last blog most of my life has been spent in the library studying away from early mornings to late nights. Hohum. It has to be done though in order to get decent exam results so I get a decent degree which will hopefully lead to a good job in the future. On the job front I had my first round interview with Accenture in London at the end of March. At the time I wasn't sure how it went, it’s hard to judge these things yourself I think. However it went well enough for them to ask me back for a second round interview in June so I am really excited about that!!

The library isn't all bad; the other mathletes studying hard are there for company, chat and laughter. In the maths library we have often wondered what was kept in the locked cupboards running along the walls where we always sit. We discovered recently they were full of a retired lecturer's stamp collection, random books and annuals when said lecturer sadly passed away recently, and they were getting emptied. Empty unlocked cupboards are always asking for someone to hide in them, so we fulfilled this desire for them.

A couple of weeks ago Laura and I went through to Edinburgh to see a maths film called flatland which was showing in the Fimhouse. However the Gods and also the evil people at the Filmhouse conspired to stop us seeing the movie. But being us we thought we may as well do something since we made the trek to Edinburgh. While sitting in Starbucks waiting for an official ghost tour to begin we decided it might be fun to do our own Haunted Edinburgh tour instead. So we did. Now there isn’t enough room here to put all 150 pictures we took up, these ones are just a couple of my favourites but the rest are on bebo, with some awesome captions ala Laura, the Queen Captionator.

On Wednesday night of last week we went to the GUU to see David’s band Decade playing to support the turtles (the cute sea kind, not the teenage mutant ninja ones). They are a pretty decent band who I would recommend if you get the chance to ever see them play. Also, how often do you see a mathematician, doctor and an engineer play on stage together? Before the band played David played an amazing duet with a “proper musician”, a cellist that he knows. I was pleasantly surprised by how good they went together!!

Last Saturday night I went with Laura to Miss Gillian’s birthday in Campus. Not my favourite venue but was good to see Gillian, Lynne and Roisin. Afterwards we went dancing in the cathouse with Aaron, fun once we got to dancing but it was a slow start. (We almost never made it out at all as we nearly got locked in a classroom in the maths building on the Friday! The only fun part of that would have been carrying out one of our elaborate escape plans).

In other news, Natalie is still pregnant, about 30 weeks now. It’s exciting, not long to go now!! The grad ball is just about fully organised, I hope it’ll be worth all the work we’ve put in, although I still don’t have a dress!! James has two new projects, My Life With Colin Farrell (in you tube enter Phonebooth 2:Call Waiting) and http://www.sendmeamixtape.net/. Go check them out!! Also happy 21st birthday to Jade today too. Finally I will probably be antisocial over the next few weeks, but please keep me up-to-date with what’s happening so I don’t get lost in the library!! Hope you are all doing well, have a great day!!

Clealy I like good chat

2008-03-19T20:40:00.013Z

So my resolution to keep a diary has failed, which means writing this is more difficult. I will try my best to remember the last couple of weeks. My uncle Raymond married the lovely Lucie, not a traditional wedding day but a great time had by all, which is the most important thing of all.

Laura and I were also filmed together for a DVD on studying maths at Glasgow University. I think most of it will end up cut since we spent most of it laughing at our sad geekiness, but it was fun all the same. If I ever get a copy I’ll post a link so you can laugh at our silliness. Uni in general has been generally really busy, with attending classes, organising MacSoc things (more on that later) and grad ball things. To make things worse I got shingles, which sucked as I was off for a week and didn’t feel too good.

James had a birthday, which was fairly quiet, just a few drinks at the Cumbernauld Theatre. Good chat from all sides, and drunken James is funny. He was really sick for the next few days, though I don’t know if that was all alcohol related- if it was it was a baaaad hangover!! There have also been other random nights out with Laura and or Aaron, but I don't remember the details (not cos of alcohol just through having to much other crap in my head to remember everything- hence why I wanted to keep a diary and also take so many photographs!!)

The following weekend was my Dad and Gran’s birthdays. Natalie announced that her and Bryan are no longer going to California, which is awesome!! We went to my Gran’s for a couple of hours, and watched the Scotland vs. England Rugby match with my Mum’s side of the family. This was hilarious as my wee cousin Roxanne watched the rugby for the first time- and seemed to enjoy it (a combination of a rough game and big men makes it fairly enjoyable for most women I think :D ). Afterwards went out for dinner with James’s Aunt Linda, Uncle Chris and cousin Gavin. Was another night of good chat :D.

It was Helens birthday on the following Tuesday and we went bowling (we includes me and Helen and Laura, David, Ross, Cheryl and Donna Marie- James appeared later to pick me and Laura up to take us home). It was a good laugh, as bowling often is when the majority of you have no bowling talent whatsoever.

The Thursday saw my cousin Martin’s 21st birthday so I went up with my mum and dad after the financial services in Scotland tour I was on during the day. Again good chat. I have a lot of good chat in my life, a fact I am very happy with :D.

The next day was the last day of fourth year, and also PI day. Pi day is celebrated internationally on 3.14 (March 14th). We organised lots of events titled under the umbrella of Pi-athalon. This included a Pi treasure hunt around the maths building, who can eat 5 pies the fastest, pi memorisation and a pie bakeoff. Overall there was lots of laughing, which I take to be a good sign. We had a few overall ChamPIons, including David for overall energy and winning the bakeoff, Jacqueline for winning overall in the quiz and such likes and Pauline for knowing Pi to 87 decimal places. There was also a Piñata that Steven made, which was awesome and lots of great pi themed decorating by Craig and Steven. Almost wins me over to doing a post grad (but not quite). It was the perfect way to end our last official day of classes EVER. (This is tragic, but now is not the time to dwell, I will probably write an end of uni blog sometime in the future).

We then had 10 hour Pi-day (I mean Paddy) Pop, the end of term Cheesy POP at the QMU. It was an awesome night, with lots of dancing and laughing and chatting. Not much dancing was done at the roller disco as we decided it just wasn’t safe at all. A great night which we made till closing time at 6am!!

I slept till 5pm, when James made me get up so we could go to dinner at Ichibans (which was ok) and then to a comedy show. The show was a comedy improv. murder mystery. It was basically 3 guys being police/victim/suspects using audience input to solve the crime. So funny!! And a bargain at £3 each, and cheap drinks too! Can’t beat that!! We came home and got some ice-cream and watched Toy Story 2. I forgot how awesome that movie was!!

Monday night I celebrated my first day of studying by going to see Falling With Style with Aaron. They were really good (check them out on myspace or bebo). The evening had lots of funny chat and lots of free St. Patrick’s Day stuff too. (It was also my Mum’s birthday).

I made it to the gym on Tuesday (which is also Lynne’s birthday, happy birthday to her) and today. My abs are paying for it now, but it was good to get back. It was also great to see JoJo for the first time in aaaages and get all my old works chat (I miss the people and the money but don’t really miss my job). And that brings me up to date really. I should be studying more, but since Steven says I’ll burn out if I do too much, who am I to ignore his advice? ;)
Also thanks to Steven for keeping me (and Laura) updated with metro chat while we are not uni. :D Hope you are all great out there, thanks for persevering so much. As always all my pictures are on my bebo, these are just some of my favourites, come by and visit www.bebo.com/penguinchick. Feel free to leave me comments, I like chat (clearly, can you tell?)!! Take care, till next time!!

Busy Busy Bumble Bee

2008-02-08T21:19:00.007Z

So it's been a hectic couple of weeks since I last posted, I will try my best to remember everything.

There was paintballing with James, Bryan, David, Helen, Jennifer (Helen's sister), Ferg, Bell (Aaron and James's friends), Sarah, Sarah and Hannah (Sarah being a friend of mine from first year uni and Sarah and Hannah are her friends). Us girls made up the red team along with some kids who were there and the boys (dirty cheats) made up the blue team along with some kids. I don't think I did a good job mostly, well i was covered in bruises by then end of it!! The blue team won but there was a loooot of cheating going on!! GO REDS!!!

The next day we had the MacSoc ceilidh at the GUU. It was a lot of fun, there was much dancing and hilarity. Who said scientists are boring?!! We showed them!!

Some progress has been made on our futures. David got accepted for teaching (well done Mr Marsden) and he made a tasty pie, which we ate in the library the next day. I got an interview for Accenture, which is the job I want most in the world, even though it means moving down south, it'll be worth it!! Also on the future front my uncle Raymond is going to be marrying the lovely Lucie on February 22nd, so happy for them as I think they make an awesome couple and are truly perfect for each other!!

I have been (sorta) working hard this couple of weeks as project was due in. Random graphs are something I don't ever want to look at again (at least not in the forseeable future). There were a few dramas as the due date approached, Laura's redraft somehow got deleted and David's word somehow managed change Mr. Reed to married all the way through. But we overcame disasters and all got our projects in on time. To celebrate we had our usual Friday salsiccia pizzas in the loft and since it was a beautiful sunny day we had some tasty icecream in the botanic gardens, before returning to probability and having a general bout of hilarity for the afternoon.

James and I celebrated our fourth annivarsary last weekend, James treated me to dinner and a stay at Glenskirlie. It was beautiful, dinner was so tasty, the room was stunning and the company was exceptional, and fun ;). Could really get used to that kind of lifestyle!! The next morning, after our full scottish breakfast, we first went down to Saltcoats to send our messages in bottles. James was great at throwing his out, mine on the other hand- not so great. I, unsurprisingly, have a girly throw. Next we drove to the other end of the country to walk the 2.5km Forth Road Bridge, it was a great walk but couldn't admire the view through the worlds thickest ever fog, seriously it was like the fog in "The Amber Spyglass". So it was a good weekend for the list, which can now be found at http://www.before30.co.uk/. Be sure to go check it out!!!

Natalie got her scan on Monday, its pretty cool, you can see Sprog playing Peekaboo!! Its so quite. I'd put it on for you guys but Natalie is superstitious about it so you'll need to either see it in person or once the Sprog has appeared around June 20th I might post it then. Katie also passed her theory test on Monday so she is one step closer to driving, scary stuff.

I had a crazy dream a couple of weeks ago involving Ross and Jonathon Davies. Laura, Ross and I went to see Korn, but it was in a wee theatre. Jonathon Davies randomly decided to ask Ross up on stage so he could make it with him. Afterwards Ross wanted to write a letter to apologise for his bad behaviour but he wanted to make it clear that he was smart. So he decided to write the letter on a page with lots of maths. However he didn't think this was quite good enough so he started frantically spraypainting maths on the theatre walls. Hmmm, random, but really funny all the same!!!

I say the word random a lot, and we were sitting in the maths library one day and we decided we are going to have a night out some time soon playing a drinking game where we have to have a shot every time we say one of our over used words. Mine are sure to include random and awesome. Laura's will probably include oh my god and actually. 'Thats a sign' will be a joint one. I'm sure that will be a funny night out!!

Went to the cinema on Monday after uni. Saw Sweeney Todd, was alright, didn't think how gory it was going to be before it, put us off having hotdogs for dinner, so we had panini's and curly fries instead. We then went to see National Treasure, which was ok. Its weird how you enojy movies depending on who you go to see it with. For example having Laura comment on a bit of National Treasure, isn't that just like R^3 plane with R^2 put in it? (For non maths people thats the 3-d plane with the 2-d plane inserted into it- it is funny, believe me). But yeah thats the point, how much you enjoy something depends on the company you keep. Which also illustrates something I read in the metro last week sometime, that you are happy if you spend time with happy people. I think this is definitely true- I am a happy person and I have a lot of happy friends. All the laughing I do on buses (and other places) is also my way of making the world a happier place to be (well also I can't stop myself laughing outloud, although I do manage to stop myself singing which helps).

I do love things that make me laugh, things that have made me laugh in the last couple of weeks includes being on a bus when a guy came on with his kid sitting on his shoulder. Just after they showed the driver their tickets the guy took a couple of steps futher into the bus...and stoated the kids head on the digital clock thing. Everyone on the bus was trying to not laugh, but once they saw the kid was ok they burst out laughing. It was so funny, it made a cool 'bong' sound, which vibrated all round the bus. (Bong is a cool word).

There was also a picture of a weightlifting midget, which is a bit un pc but totally hilarious. And slightly sick to laugh, but it sounds so funny, a story of a school in Falkirk which had a pile up in the corridor, caused by a first year who lost her shoe. 25 of them ended up in casualty with minor injuries. I know its bad that I laughed but its just such a funny image.

We had the macsoc sub pub crawl on Tuesday night. What a funny night, started with lots of people in the maths common room, maybe around 30 to 40. We soon got seperated into a couple of groups, which I think maybe the following pubs appreciated as it made it easier to deal with. There are a couple of cool pubs on the way round, the one in Govan had a karaoke starting at 5 in the afternoon with an old guy in an electric wheelchair singing some weird ass songs. We also visited the Laurieston at Bridge Street, which had cool regulars,cheap prices and a great dukebox. Don't know why we don't drink there more often. Here a couple of the pictures, with most of our group one. The rest can be found at www.bebo.com/macsoc, pop by and check them out- feel free to become a member.

Anyway I think mostly I am finished but I am sure I have forgotten some stuff so if you think of anything I missed let me know so I can put it on next time. Also if you want to see more pictures then they are all on my bebo, www.bebo.com/penguinchick. Thanks for keeping with me this long, I hope I entertained you at least a little. Feel free to leave me comments, then I know I am not talking to myself (although I probably am- its not that uncommon a thing to happen :D ).
Take care till next time!!

Life would be so fun if we were 2D

2008-01-18T23:11:00.000Z

(The cat has developed a weird new fascination with the toilet bowl...)
It’s been a random couple of weeks since last time. Started back university, which has been fun but tiring. After a bit of humming and hawing, been scared by some subjects, bored by others and loving one I have finally settled on Classical Geometry (its all about fly’s walking along coat hangers), Financial Maths (this will hopefully come in useful one day), Dynamical Systems (which I thought would be horrific but is actually now so bad after all) and Probability (by far my favourite- Dr. Nair (which rhymes with fire and liar) gives awesome chat- no doubt will have a few quotes as the semester goes on and he gives us the full caboodle).

Chat at uni has been good as usual, especially since we are not that stressed yet (I stress the yet cos I am sure it will hit in the next couple of weeks, I do love to be busy though). Some of the chat involved a funny story in the metro last week some time. Some drunk guy went home from a night out to find a wolf sitting in his living room. In a clear panic he called the police to help him out. They came armed with big dogs prepared for a fight. But turns out the big bad wolf……was actually a black bin bag!!! This sparked a text discussion about getting high on sugar, seeing giant fruit pastilles and dealing sherbet. The Metro also published a truely funny picture, check the coolest kid ever at the bottom right of this picture....

On the first Wednesday back David invited Laura and me back to his flat during a big lecture gap. He made some awesome pancakes, bacon and maple syrup (and of course nutella). Not a combination I might have thought of but it wasn’t too bad overall. We watched some tv including Jeremy Kyle (daytime TV is so good). I have never watched Jeremy before but he was kickass!! We got caught in some horrific weather on the way back to uni which was not fun one bit- but I guess it is January and is to be expected.

Also got my project back, not bad not great but I am happy enough with what I have left to do which is pretty good. Also made a start on organising the grad ball and have now come to a decision, Seamill Hydro on June 3rd. Can’t wait!!! Also got the paintballing booked finally and made final arrangements on the ceilidh front, so all that happening in the next week.

Was out seeing Korn with Laura (we both tartan skirted it in an old gig tradition) and James last night. They were really amazing, Jonothan Davies knows how to work a crowd(and he is hot!). Went to the Catty afterwards with Laura and Aaron (James being to old to go out now ;) ) and met Ross and David there too. There was much dancing to be had and avoiding of stalkers for Laura. Also met me big (soon to be oldish) cousin Mark (DJ Muppet to most others) and had a chat with him and Kirsty for a bit (thanks for the dolly beads Kirsty, I forgot how tasty they are and how great as a mid-dancing snack- hope you enjoyed a traditional strawberry chew). Put Mark in the loop about Natalie and the sprog.

Got home with Laura and we had some funny chat (no surprises there then). We realised how restricted we are in a 3-D world- we would have so much fun being 2-D in the style of flat Stanley. Had some tasty pizza for lunch with David and Laura in the loft- we actually managed to make a decision about what to choose really quickly (David was so so not impressed by how impressive that was for us) and managed to eat everything too. High Five for us!! Good chat (realised my life is full of people who give good chat- this makes me very happy). Laughed a lot on the bus on the way of home of an image I had of a pilot with a frying pan sized medal round his neck moshing at the cathouse, so much so the guy next to me on the bus started laughing at me too. I do love to laugh; I would say it is my favourite thing to do!!!

Went to a couple of career interview type things this week and tonight I submitted my applications to Accenture and Price Waterhouse Coopers. Really nervous about these as I really want one of these jobs and I would be devastated if I didn’t get one of them. Fingers crossed for me.

Anyway thanks for staying this far, love you!!! Next update will probably be in a couple of week’s time, but there is a ton of stuff happening between now and then!!!
Keep laughing everyone, its great for weight loss but not for wrinkles but we’ll deal with that when we are old, it’s better to be happy!!!!

PS Roisin I’m glad I didn’t have to send a search party, although the party might have been fun, like a treasure hunt, as long as the outcome was good.

PPS I’ll see you in Mathsland Laura.

PPPS Aaron, you showed us the meaning of dance indeed.

PPPPS James you are hotter than Ron Jeremy.

Blogspot Cherry Popped

2008-01-04T16:42:00.000Z

Welcome to my first post on blogspot.com.

I hope to blog on average once a fortnight, more regularly if a lot has happened and less regularly when nothing much is going one.

Writing today because I am feeling pretty icky today, I have a cold which is never fun but one of the weird symptoms I have today is that my arms feel really heavy and weird- kinda like when I have been drinking vodka (but I haven't been today). I don't really have time to be ill but its not like I have much of a choice I guess. I have a lot to do before I go back to uni on Monday- I have to apply for 5 graduate jobs by end of Sunday and get through a few past papers before I start thinking about this semesters subjects.

So far on the job front I have applied to Deloitte and didn't get past the application stage. I think this is to with my standard grade English result- they required a 1 and I got a 2. I am not that disappointed though- I only really applied to them as I would have been based in Glasgow, probably not the best reason to apply. It does worry me though that I didn't get past the application stage in case I am not an exployable person- but I guess I just have to keep applying until I get further.

I started the year with good intentions and got up early and went for a walk along the canal with James. It was a good walk with the only downside being that we got completely soaked!!

Went to my Aunt Agnes's house for dinner and everyone was getting on great so it was a lovely few hours. Came home and then went down to James's to see Jade as she flies off back to Germany in the morning.

Wednesday was supposed to be the old firm game but it was cancelled due to the tragic death of Phil O'Donnell (R.I.P) on Saturday, so instead I started the next thing on my list- applying for jobs (see above). The worst thing about this is it just takes such a long time to actually do, like 4 hours per application!!!

Went to see The Golden Compass during the day yesterday with Natalie- it was ok, not the worst way to spend a couple of hours but the books (not surprisingly) are far superior!! Went through to Lynne's last night with Kathryn and Roisin. Lynne is a great hostess (and looking amazing- I never thought she was fat before but now she has lost so much weight she looks stunning!!) although I think she was trying to feed the 5000!! Some good chat- its always great to catch up and chill out!!

And now here I am lying in bed being ill, which sucks!! But as soon as I am feeling better its back to the job applying and studying- oh the joys!!! Also just found out Laura got into teaching for next year- well done chick- you deserved it!!!

Hope you are all feeling good!!