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Friday, April 27th, 2012
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10:27 pm - In which I am being educated
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I was at the Usher Hall tonight getting my culture, in the form of Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony with explanations.
They told us that the second movement was based around a Scottish-sounding theme, but it is quite self-evidently based around Nellie the Elephant, which doesn't sound Scottish at all.
current mood:  amused
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| Saturday, April 21st, 2012
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8:27 pm
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I am having a very quiet weekend, except that I should be doing lots of useful things, and I'm not - possibly because there's so much time to do them in that nothing feels urgent, or possibly just because I'm lazy...
And then next weekend I'm going to a concert and a first aid course and a dance (in Newcastle) and a dem class and a committee meeting - which is all very good, but maybe it would be better for everything if the weekends were a bit more mixed up :)
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| Sunday, April 1st, 2012
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2:07 pm - Photos
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| Saturday, March 17th, 2012
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6:31 pm - enquiring minds
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Is Tower Bridge called that because it has towers on it, or does it have towers on it because it's called Tower Bridge (being near the tower) and otherwise people would complain?
And why are there evil merpeople all over Somerset House?
current mood:  confused
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| Friday, February 3rd, 2012
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9:20 pm - In which I am answering other people's questions
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The doctor wanted to know if I enjoyed anything.
And, yes. I went to Cramond and saw curlews and redshanks and turnstones and oystercatchers (and gulls and swans and ducks and dogs), and I enjoyed that, and I went to the Botanics and saw snowdrops and other growing things and blackbirds and a wren and a thrush (and squirrels and magpies and pigeons), and I enjoyed that, and I've bought a camera with more zoom for taking better pictures of things, although it hasn't come yet.
I went to a smallpipes workshop last weekend and enjoyed it, and I learnt a fancy new tune on the fiddle and enjoyed that, and although I haven't been dancing much lately due to flu and coughing myself to bits, I'm hoping to get to a workshop on Sunday and to enjoy it.
As far as I can tell, the problem lies not with my capacity for enjoyment, but with using up so much of my mental energy dealing with things I don't enjoy that all I want to enjoy after that is a rest!
----
My mum wanted to know what I really wanted to be, which is a much more difficult question.
I could imagine possibly wanting to be a gardener, or a botanist, or someone who works on a nature reserve, or much the same as I am now, or a sort of crofter, or someone who works on a ferry, or someone who plants trees, or someone who teaches people to use everyday maths, or possibly a few more things, besides a dancer and dance teacher and musician around the edges.
But whether I'd actually want to be these things in practice, and whether I want to be any of them *now*, are different questions again.
current mood:  thoughtful
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| Sunday, January 8th, 2012
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8:44 pm - In which I have almost been social
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After a very quiet end to the old year - I didn't do much between Christmas and Hogmanay except sleep and read Agatha Christie - I've had a pretty hectic start to the new one.
I saw the year in with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) tigger_boing and vililee and a couple of others - still pretty quiet, with dinner, word games and wandering out to watch the fireworks from a distance. On New Year's Day I went down to Newcastle, where I had some nice walks - Whitley Bay to Blyth one day, and wandering round the town walls the next - and nearly ended up stranded by the winds coming back on the 3rd.
I was back at work for a day, off for my birthday, when I walked from Dirleton to Aberlady, and back for another day, then the weekend adventures started - back down to Newcastle for a dance on Friday night, a gathering afterwards, walking on the beach at Bamburgh, a dance in Edinburgh last night, and lunch with my family today.
I'm worn out, and heading back to a mountain of exam scripts to sort out tomorrow... :)
current mood:  exhausted
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| Saturday, December 31st, 2011
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3:40 pm
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I always find Hogmanay quite a sad day. I'm sorry for the poor worn out year, disappearing into the past, and I'm sorry about things I could have done, or should have done, and didn't.
(As I was writing this, I caused a small rice explosion. Last disaster of the year, I hope!)
current mood: pensive
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| Thursday, December 29th, 2011
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11:05 pm - places meme
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List the towns or cities where you spent at least a night away from home during 2011. Mark with a star if you had multiple non-consecutive stays.
( wanderings )
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3:34 pm - In which I appear to have spent the year doing 5 things at once
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| Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
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2:56 pm - Tha an rathad a' ruith gu tuath
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It's not properly December without Runrig. But they have posted tour dates for 2012 (although not for December yet) - so I may be off to Denmark in June, as late August is far too long to wait...
I have adventures on my mind at the moment - the last couple of years I've gone to London at New Year, but this year I'm only off until the 3rd, which would make it a bit rushed, and also I decided the last time that I should go back to London when it's not the school holidays (and settled on a weekend in June, then went to Newcastle that weekend instead).
So I've been trying to think of somewhere else to go - it has to be England, because no Scottish transport runs on the 1st of January. I could get into Northumbria or the Lake District easily enough, or probably even north Wales (where I've never been), but it's not really the time of year for wandering in the wilds. Newcastle is always a posibility - plenty of prowling round to do that I don't do if I'm just there to dance or visit people - but I'll be back that weekend for a dance, so it seems a bit silly. The only other idea I've come up with is Shrewsbury - Cadfael, of course - which isn't really any quicker to get to than London. I haven't been in the west of England much, though.
current mood: thoughtful
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, December 4th, 2011
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11:21 am
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| Thursday, November 24th, 2011
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2:04 pm
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It was a horrible no good grumpy day yesterday - not exactly very bad, just not very anything, so that I couldn't get to the end of anything I was trying to do, and now I'm all behind with everything. And today I just feel grotty - not bad enough to be ill and rest, and not good enough to be right and do things. Frustration all round :)
Also dancing seems to be trying to take over my life, because I had a fit of enthusiasm and said yes to all sorts of things - which would be fine if the rest of my life was keeping nicely in its place, but it's kind of not.
Oh well. Fairly quiet weekend ahead...
current mood:  resigned
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
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8:05 pm
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Tonight I need to finish applying for a job and write emails about 10 9 things (but only to 5 people) and play the fiddle. Tomorrow night I need to go to M&S and John Lewis and Dunedin. Thursday night is all filled up with fiddling and NS anyway. At some point in this I need to write about the busy weekend, and study, and play the fiddle more.
I had a bowl of stovies for my tea with an oatcake in it like a wafer in icecream. And I got 87/100 in the RSCDS unit 1 exam. But I'm too tired to be very coherent, so that might be all the news for now :)
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| Friday, November 4th, 2011
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8:47 pm
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I have a nice Friday feeling tonight, because although there are plenty of things that I *might* do this weekend, like posting my pictures from the Northumberland coast path, or finishing reading a book about trees, or starting to read a book about rocks, or having a bath right in the middle of the day, or walking from Dirleton to Longniddry, or applying for a job, there's not an awful lot that I *have* to do, beyond going to a dance in Glasgow that I've already bought a ticket for. I can cope with that much obligation :)
current mood:  relaxed
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| Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
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6:14 pm - In which it is November
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So I have survived October, which had two exams in it, and nature study, and an OU assignment, and 6 days of walking for miles, and generally too much busyness, and made it into November, which although fairly busy should be *fun*, especially where dancing is concerned :)
(But I do seem to have reached the horrible stage of making plans for the whole rest of the year - I hardly seem to have got used to it being 2011 at all, and now it nearly isn't.)
Among other excitement I soon get to start my possibly-last OU course, which is about The Frozen Planet, and appears to combine bits of geology and meteorology and botany everything else to make a very suitable end to my Certificate in Contemporary Science. I'm looking forward to it. :)
As a side effect of the last course, and all my seaside wanderings, I am slightly addicted to a site called iSpot - you take pictures of plants and animals and things, and work out what they are, and post them, and then other people agree with you, and you get points for it, and more little birds and plants after your name. I like this as a way of finding out what things are - I take a few things at a time, and it seems to work on the right kind of scale.
There is more to say about wanderings and the rest of the year and all sorts of things, but I must go fiddling now.
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| Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
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12:17 pm - in which I am not at the seaside
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I need to go to the seaside and find four more examples of things living on a rocky shore, so I can post their pictures and release my assignment questions - but I'm not dedicated enough as a naturalist to go out in the pouring rain we had this morning, and I have to go dancing in the afternoon. I suppose I should be concentrating on next week's exam instead...
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| Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
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11:04 pm - In which I am a bit in demand
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Having taken it into my head that I should go to a 'proper' concert at least once in my life, I have bought a slightly expensive ticket for a slightly posh seat for this, to cheer me up, and lead nicely into the crazy October.
( in which it is nearly October already )
Otherwise, there are too many places I want to walk to, and not enough days to go walking in...
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| Monday, September 26th, 2011
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1:58 pm - In which I am cursing students
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I've felt for about a week as if I was going down with freshers' flu, but never quite getting there - not the streaming cold everyone around me has had, but just completely worn out.
So I spent most of the weekend doing approximately nothing at all, and failed to go to Doors Open day, or Yellowcraigs, or climb Berwick Law, or finish reading The Commodore, or study (much) for Unit 1, or book trains for the next adventure, or really anything else useful that I might have done. I did write 3 social programmes and a programme for Dunedin in between all the nothing - but although resting was nice, I really need to get prepared for a slightly crazy October...
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| Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
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1:25 pm - Taking pleasure in small things
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