Alvan Autumn Adventurers

On the Epic Stirling move, Paige and I saw:
Menstrie Castle, which is just stuck here in the midst of a subdivision.  And no way in that we saw.  Random. 

Sauchie Tower, which is in a bad state.  I wanted to explore, but no go. 

Dollar Glen.  Little did we know what hike awaited we wee tired girlies to get to Castle Campbell... but it was worth it.  Lovely.

Castle Campbell.  I doubted whether I would make it to the top, but it was totally worth it.  This is now one of my top five favourite places in Scotland.

Then later in the autumn, Liz and I went down to Paige's for the weekend.  It was Liz's first trip to Stirling, so we made the most of it.  We saw:

Doune Castle... or we tried to.  There was some HBO pilot filming there, so we didn't get to see much.  But the view from the top was amazing!  

Stirling Castle.  We all have Historic Scotland passes now, as we press-ganged Liz into buying one at Doune.  So we totally made the most of it.

But the most important thing we did was eat.  And laugh.  And enjoy ourselves immensely. Which, incidentally, seems to happen whenever we're together, even if we don't mean for it to.  =D

And no, it's not dependent on alcohol... I just thought the over-excited Holy Grail was funny.  Liz opened it with a spatula.  True story.  

File Under: Things You Never Thought Would Happen

Aberdeen finally opened Union Square Mall!  Which was originally supposed to be Millennium Mall, opened nearly a decade ago.  Better late than never, right?

It really is a great mall.  I love it!  They have a cinema (the second of my beloved Cineworld) with ten screens.  They have loads of restaurants.  They have three coffee shops.  They have clothes and accessories and gifts and all kinds of stuff!  It actually feels like a mall back home... which I say is good.  It means I can go to see a few films in a day, and have places to go in between to drink or shop or study, without having to go outside in the rain and wind and cold!  Hurrah!

They had a big opening weekend party, and I went down on that very first Thursday night.  I took some photos, and some video-- they had a stage set up for local groups to perfom, and lucky me, the Red Hot Chili Pipers were there!  It was too cool, really.  So the next time you need to do some shopping, come to Aberdeen!  The train station is on one side, and the bus station on the other... you don't even have to go outdoors!  Pretty awesome.

The view along the harbour: 

Looking up Guild Street towards the train station:

The new bus station:

The mall entrance is just around the building to the left;  the new train station facade is straight ahead:

The entrance along Guild Street:

The main mall entrance:

Costa to the right, in the midst of the big open entryway, shops all 'round...

The crowds enjoying the show in the main courtyard area.  I love how they left the train station facade up.  It looks nice.  And finally, some video of the evening's entertainment.  I love these guys!

Autumn in Old Aberdeen

Just what it says on the tin...

It's nice while it lasts... 

The Epic Stirling Move

Since I mentioned my friend Paige and her kindly letting me use her flat in Alva, I thought today would be a good time to tell you about how she got here.  And show pictures, because that's much more fun. 

Paige and I went to Asbury at the same time... but we didn't know each other then.  She found me on Facebook because I had gone to ATS and was currently at Aberdeen-- where she was applying.  So we became Facebook friends... and as soon as I arrived back here in November 2008 we became real life friends.  But after a year of Aberdeen, she got a better offer for her PhD from Stirling.  Boo!  I mean, yay! 

There was a lot of moving going on around the end of the summer last year-- Kristianna moving all her stuff to Paris;  Ritabekah moving home in order to get things sorted to move back;  Alisa moving to a new place;  Paige moving to Alisa's for two weeks before moving to Alva.  Busy, busy, busy!  And much of it a little sad, too. 

But!  I got to go with Paige on the Epic Stirling Move.  And let me tell you, it was epic!  (I also got to help her move into Alisa's for that short time, but that's not as exciting.  Just cross-town dashes with full carloads and three strong girls.)

We knew it was going to be a move to remember when we showed up at the Enterprise to get the station wagon she'd reserved, and instead they 'upgraded' us to this baby: 

Oh man.  That was a true moment.  =D  Paige looked at me and said, 'so do you want to drive first?' To which I replied, 'Um, no.  Not really.... But I will if you want me to.' Because I'm a good friend like that.  So I did.  I drove us out of the car park (and didn't hit anything) and through the city (and didn't hit anything) and out on the highway (and didn't hit anything) and into Black Dog (and still didn't hit anything).  Black Dog is just a wide spot in the road, really, but it was a good place to turn around and switch drivers.  More open space to get used to driving the massive crazy-van.  Although it was the Van of the Year:

Which is comforting.  And Paige did great!  Here's proof: 

And no, she didn't hit anything, either. 

So off we went.  To pack up her goodies and say good-bye to Alisa.

Then off we went!  Through Aberdeen... Dundee... Perth... other wee places... til finally getting off the big road for the wee road into Alva.  I don't have a picture of that, but we thought we'd never get there.  We went through about fifty-seven small hamlets and villages.  Or at least it felt that way. 

And then we were at the cozy wee flat!  Paige kept telling us all how small it is, but it's lovely.  I really, really like it.  Didja hear that, Paige?  You have a great wee flat!  And it's bigger than Kristianna's.  ;)  Here are some shots of it:

The coffee pot was the first and most important thing for both of us to unpack.  And the kitchen jungle is thanks to Lo.  =)

The fairy lights were a housewarming gift left by the wee flat's previous occupants. 

The bedroom didn't take long to be all cozy, except for the old-lady curtains, which were soon replaced.  The old-school phone, though, is staying. 

As great as the inside of the flat is, the outside view is even better:

The hillfoots, of course!  That's the library directly out the lounge window.  But if you look out diagonally, you can see the hillfoots.  It was quite shocking to me for a while, to walk outside and have the mountains just. right. there.  Very different from Aberdeen, let me tell ya!

And did I mention her flat is in a converted church?  =D

We explored some castles and round towers and Asda while I was there, but I'll save that for another post. 

Thanks for letting me help you move, Paige!  It was great fun. 

Are We There Yet?!

As you may know, if you've been paying attention, I'm spending this month in Alva, thanks to my awesome friend Paige who loaned me her flat while she's away, so that I can (hopefully) get a complete full entire first draft done.  Of the thesis.  All of it.

At least, that's the plan. 

So what does that mean for me in the big picture?  Here's a little update from the past few months.

As most of you probably remember, my supervisor was in the States on sabbatical last year.  He and his family got back in July (which is doubly great, because Steph is also one of my book club friends.  And their kids are great fun!).  It is good having them back, both academically and personally.  I missed them. 

Anyway.  Since Brian's been back, we've met a few times.  I have a pretty accurate outline/layout for my thesis, including the bits that hadn't actually been written yet (although I have all the research done).  I wasn't sure about it, but Brian told me it made sense and flowed well and all that good stuff, so I'm going with it.  I know it'll probably be tweaked here and there, but I felt much better having A Plan. 

So now, I am working on writing the last little bit (which has been all researched and organised and thought through and been floating around in my head for ages, and which I just haven't been able to muster up the motivation and focus to get it done.  Bad year.) and doing some editing of the rest to make it flow.  I am such a perfectionist that it's hard for me to think of a very rough draft, but that's really what I need at this point:  just get everything down, and then work on it in the coming months to get it perfectly edited and revised and all that jazz. 

The hope is that I'll have this draft done by the end of January.  Then I'll spend a couple of months on the editing and cleaning up bit, and then submit!  Yay!  My current student extension from the uni runs out the end of May, but my visa runs out the end of April.  So if I want to be able to apply for an educated worker's visa (or whatever they call it now), I'd have to at least submit before the end of April.  So that's my goal, my hope, and my prayer. 

Mostly my prayer, because I know there is absolutely no way I am able to do this except with God's help. 

Still Alive...

In the past several months, I have had my share of ups and downs health-wise.  Since some of you know already, and several of you know only bits and pieces, here's a little run-down. 

I finally have a GP who is more interested in finding out what's causing my symptons rather than just treating them.  It turns out that, while my iron is often low and even very low, there are reasons for it and ways to fight it.  I'm on a miracle drug now a few days a month *ahem* that has transformed my life.  Far less pain, far less mess *ahem*, and far less low iron.  Thank you, mefanemic acid!  I don't even care that no one know how or why it works-- it works, and I love it.  Of course, I had to get my iron back up to normal-type levels (which for me is always slightly low anyway), which meant about ten tons of iron pills. 

Also, my GP is wonderful and kept testing and retesting all sorts of things.  Not just my iron for once.  And finally, after three years, I have a diagnosis that fits so many of my complaints:  the very low heartrate, the exhaustion, the depression (well, part of it), the near-constant under-the-weather-ness, and loads of other little things.  Yup.  My thyroid is underactive.  I had one doctor suspect that when I was in hospital overnight that time two years ago, but no one else ever followed up on it.  Turns out, my levels are low low normal, but my TSH is off-the-charts high.  So.  Over the past months and months, we've been figuring out what dose I need.  I still don't feel great, but there's hope, at least.  And because it's an ongoing forever-and-ever condition, the NHS now kindly gives me ALL my presciptions for FREE!  Bonus. 

I've been on anti-depressants since May.  I don't really notice that they've made any difference, but I'm chalking that up to either so many other random issues that lead into me feeling bad OR I don't notice what they are actually doing.  Either way, I'm going to stay on them til I get my thesis turned in.  If I don't need them, they aren't doing any harm.  If I do, now is not the time I want to find that out.  =D

Over the summer, I wound up with tonsilitis.  It. Was. Horrible.  I don't know what happened or where it all came from, but I was pretty ill for a pretty long while.  Which is even worse when the summer weather actually feels like summer, which isn't all that often here.  I had a sore throat.  I lost my voice.  I coughed for weeks non-stop.  Like a serious barking hacking hurting cough.  My sinuses hurt.  My ears hurt.  I was flippin' miserable, and nothing OTC was doing any good.  When I could finally get into the GP, she looked at my hurting ears and said they were a little red but nothing major.  She listened to my lungs and said they were clear, so no biggie. Then she looked at my throat and just said, 'Oh.' That actually made me laugh, which made me cough like crazy.  So she gave my antibiotics (the first I've had to take in years) and a strong codeine cough syrup so I could sleep (which I hadn't done in weeks-- thank goodness Kenny was away on holiday for the worst of it!).  And eventually I got better.  But my friends here can tell you how bad it was.  It was bad.  I sounded horrible.  At least I wasn't contagious.  And I'm lucky I have such a great flatmate.  He knew I wasn't feeling well, so he bought me this little treat: 

Oh my life, best 'instant' hot chocolate.  Ever.  It's like drinking a melted chocolate bar.  The good stuff.  Thanks, Kenny.  =D

Of course, that was before he saw this: 

Kidding.  He never saw it.  I did manage to get it largely cleaned up before he came home.  I just can't be bothered doing the washing up when I feel fine, much less when I feel lousy.  I did, though.  Eventually. 

This, on the other hand, took much longer to deal with...

I have been much better this winter than I usually am.  I am normally just under the weather all winter, with sniffles and sore throats and minor coughs and headaches and stuff like that.  It never gets bad, but it also never quite goes away.  This year has been much better.  My nose still runs all the time, especially when I'm outside, but I'm just used to that now.  I have had the odd migraine or upset tummy from time to time, but overall my health is largely better.  Thank God for that. 

Of Queens and Cabers

I didn't find these most famous Braemar Royal Highland Games very interesting.  There were huge crowds, and we couldn't see nearly as well, and it just didn't have the same feel as Aboyne, which was amazing.  I later found out that's because Aboyne is actually the *best* games, but these are just big because the Queen comes.  I did see the Queen, and Prince Charles, and Princess Anne, and someone else and someone else.  Kenny would know.  Anyway.  That was the highlight of the very long and muddy day, with Liz and the McGarrys and Paige and Crystal and Alisa. 

And I think it might be dangerous for a whisky distillery to sponsor the heavy events.  I'm just sayin'.