The First non-windy day!

Did you know that JM Barrie made up the name Wendy? That’s what someone told us during orientation (Barrie was Scottish).

Anyway, here’s my summary of the past few days:

After going to Ultimate on the wrong day on Saturday, I stayed in for the rest of the day. Because I hadn’t exercised that day like I meant to, I did some stuff in my room. I did some pushups and situps, and lifted weights (in the form of full nalgenes) for a while. I’m planning to do this semi-regularly, maybe get a little more fit. That night I watched the movie Blade on my computer.

Sunday I went to Ultimate at 2. This time it actually happened. It was good. Windy, and muddy, but there were enough people to play. I haven’t played in such a long time; it felt great to be playing again. Amazingly, despite being out of shape, I was able to play the whole game. I think when the weather’s really miserable, it helps distract us from other kinds of discomfort. But the people I played with on Sunday were pretty good, some about as good as I am when I’m in shape. Someone said right out that Americans tend to have more experience than other people on their team, just because programs in the US are likely to be more developed than British ones. I don’t know whether they have Ultimate at all in their schools. Regardless, if I get back in shape, I think I should be able to make team one, and they go to a lot of tournaments. I’ll find out more about that at practice tomorrow, I imagine.

Sunday evening I went to An Inconvenient Truth, put on by Film Society and People & Planet, an environmental group on campus. Since I’d seen the film before, I took notes this time. It was great; I took a good page of notes in my moleskine, and with my miniscule writing, that’s a lot.

After the movie, I cam back and met up with this guy I’d met online over the summer by way of our shared musical interests. He actually lives in my dorm. His name’s Ewan, and I hung out with him and some of his friends for a while. Ewan and I each gave the other about 1.5 gigabytes of music. That’s more than 300 songs. This is stuff I’ve been looking for for upwards of 5 years. The rest of the Shooglenifty albums, Peatbog Faeries, Croft No. Five, Martyn Bennett, Capercaillie, Paul Mounsey, and then some stuff I’m more newly interested in: Session A9, Boards of Canada, Blazin’ Fiddles, and Sigur Ros. It’s all great stuff; I don’t know what to do with my excitement. Imagine you attained a long-term, high-desire goal all at once. It’s something like that. I decided to start a playlist of “Trad/House” music. That’s a term I just made up, but basically it’s music that has some connection to traditional music, but sounds more like House music. That’s the kind of music you hear at dances and clubs and stuff, in case you didn’t know *cough*oldergenerationreaders*cough*. It’s one of the kinds of music people above 40 complain about.

I started trying to buy tickets for the Celtic Connections festival, which starts this weekend. I was having difficulty getting the online booking to work, but I eventually got it to work just now. Turns out I’m only getting tickets for two shows, both this weekend: Session A9 & the Duhks, and Shooglenifty. I’m hoping to stay with one of a few friends I’ve made in Glasgow. It’ll be a blast, especially the Shooglenifty concert. There are some other concerts that are in Edinburgh that I’m going to instead of their Celtic Connections equivalent, because they’re cheaper and not sold out, as the Peatbog Faeries Celtic Connections concert is. Those ones are at Queen’s Hall, which is on my walk to class, and they’re spread out over the next few months.

Monday morning I overslept my 8:00 alarm, but it was okay, as I didn’t have class until 2. I missed breakfast, but I went to a diner for brunch that had been recommended in my Lonely Planet guide. It wasn’t as inexpensive as Lonely Planet had touted it as being, but it was good. However, good food is fine, but the most important thing in a food-place is cheapness. So, there are two other places that have been recommended to me as being good and cheap. I’ll check those out next time I’m hungry around lunchtime.

I had Philosophy and the Environment class, which was fine. It’s a good class, consistently comfortable and fulfilling; I really like the professor, one Pauline Phemister. She’s short and has short white hair, wears fashionable but tasteful clothes, and has high round cheeks split by the dimples made from her wonderful Scottish accent. She exudes an air of total confidence without arrogance, and smiles and laughs regularly despite being very serious most of the time. I enjoy the class muchly.

After class I went to the International Students Center (ISC), and got my free cup of tea before it closed. I’m going to be volunteering there Thursdays at 1. It’s a nice place, small and quiet, but with free coffee, tea, and biscuits. It’s the closest I’ve found to Coffee Grounds here.

And yes, today it’s not windy. For the moment. It is rather chilly, probably the coldest it’s been so far, but without the wind it’s not that bad. It’s actually lovely out. What am I doing inside? I should go for a walk before class at 2. Maybe I will. Fine.

Oh, and I’m feeling a lot better than before, from just a little social interaction and just settling into my routine a little. Buying these tickets to Celtic Connections took some pressure off my shoulders. It’ll be nice to take this little trip to Glasgow.

Hope you all are doing well. I know some of you are preparing to (or have already) gone abroad yourselves, and I wish you the best of luck and happiness with that.