Playing Catch-Up

A lot has happened since my last real post, back in early May. Things I've wanted to share and just haven't had the energy to write about. In the weeks coming, I promise I will catch back up on the many events that I have taken part in. If I say that here, then y'all will be looking for them and I'll have to stick to my promise and make good. Hold me accountable... if you want to know what's been going on, anyway. Otherwise, let me keep slacking. =)

Just to whet your appetite, to keep you checking back, here are some of the highlights to come (the list is in no particular order, because I don't have my diary handy, but the posts will be in chronological order):

~my birthday
~Aboyne Highland Games
~Harry Potter
~tattoos!
~a day in Banchory
~Abson and Lara's visit
~fun nights with friends
~U2!!

So, for now, just know that I have good intentions of posting about all these things and more. Thanks for sticking with me!

An Open Apology

I just sent the following email around to everyone in my address book, but since I know there are folks who stop by here but aren't on my list, and I also know that my address book may be out of date, AND because this'll repost on Facebook for those friends there, as well... I'm reposting. =)

Hi, family and friends,

I have been meaning to and trying to write this email for ages, but it just hasn't gotten done. Til today. Obviously. =)

I want to apologise for being such rubbish at keeping in touch the past, oh, year or so. As some of you know from experience, being a PhD student is hard in ways that I never anticipated. The stress is incredible. As much as I love being in Aberdeen (and I truly do), it's hard to be here away from all y'all, especially when life is a revolving door of relationships here. I have been blessed by the people I have known, and am blessed by the people I'm getting to know now... but it's still hard. Some of you also will know that I've had some random health issues over the past three or four years that have left me exhausted pretty much all the time. My GP (I have a new one now) is trying to finally work out what's causing my tiredness, which makes it hard for me to focus in order to get work done. Hopefully we'll get that sorted soon, as I am dead tired of being dead tired. =)

In addition to all of that, it has been emotionally a horrible year. I don't want to go into it, but it has been hard on me. I am still trying to figure out how to deal with all that junk, and my defense mechanism when I get depressed is to withdraw into myself. Hence the reason you haven't heard from me in so long. It's counter-productive, really, as the times I'm blue are when I most need my family and friends, people who know me, around. But that's what happens, and I lose all motivation to actually call or write. I have great intentions, and it stays on my to-do list, but I just can't muster up the energy to actually do it. That has, for the past year, also included working on my thesis. I have very little to show for the past year, but have graciously been granted a year's extension to finish. By May 2010, one way or another, I'll be done. Thank goodness.

So. That's me in a nutshell right now. I am leaving this afternoon to go to Dublin for the weekend with a new friend, Paige. We're seeing U2 tomorrow night, and I am so excited! I decided that before I headed out, I WOULD write to everyone and apologise for being pretty much non-existant for the past long while. There are reasons, but no good excuses. I miss y'all, and think of you often, and would love to hear from you. And I'll try to do better about keeping in touch.

Yours Truly,
amie
xx


PS-- I hope I haven't missed someone. If you happen to know of someone who might wonder where I've been for the past forever, please feel free to share this with them. =)

A Walk in the Park

Last week, on a sunny day when I was already on campus, I decided to take advantage of the weather and go for a walk. I was headed to Seaton Park, but to get there I had to pass the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens. A couple of years ago, when Jen and Bubbee were here, we had wandered through-- in January. I had been meaning to go back when everything was in bloom, but I just never had. Until now.

Here are some of my photos from the day...

Bad Blood

No, I'm not caught up in any Hatfield and McCoy type feud... yet. You never know.

I got a letter back from the Surgery (which here is the doctor's office, oddly enough) to ask me to make an appointment 'as soon as I am able' with the doctor I saw last week to discuss the results of my blood test. I called them to find out if I needed to go in before next Thursday, when I already have an appointment scheduled. No, just wait, they said. Could they tell me what the result was? No, just wait, they said. Grrrr.

I'm betting it's my iron again. Any takers? ;)

Friday Fragments

Mrs4444 does Friday Fragments every week, and always invites people to join in. I thought I'd finally take her up on that. So here are mine for this week... and check out hers, and the other links!


-- What is the point of washing dishes if you don't rinse them? I hate doing the dishes, but I don't want to use the dishes my flatmate washes (though I very much appreciate that he does wash them). It's a very British thing, apparently, to fill the sink with soapy water, wash the dishes, and then set them on the rack to let the soap slide off. Seriously? The soap just dries on the dishes, people, and you end up with soapy coffee the next day. I don't get it.

-- Statistics say we wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time. What would happen if we were to cut out that 80%? Would we then wear 20% of our significantly smaller wardrobe?

-- I hate ironing, and put it off til the very last minute. That means that about 50% of my wardrobe (well over my 20% from the previous statistic) now needs to be ironed before it can go back in rotation. I wonder what that does to the statistics....

-- I am quite proud of myself for resisting the latest time-sucking distraction on Facebook, even though all my friends are playing it and inviting me. I have enough things on there to keep me from doing what I should be doing. I don't need Mafia Wars to add to that (sorry, friends!).

--Apparently, I have my own line of skin care products. I was quite pleased to see them in Boots, and I have since bought them. Granted, they are 'purely for young skin', and my skin isn't exactly young, but... they have actually worked better on my very aggrivating combination skin than anything else I've found. And no, this isn't an advert. I'm just saying.


-- I have mixed feelings about anti-depressants. On the one hand, being told that I should take them makes me feel more depressed, ironically. On the other hand, anything that is going to help me get back to my normal self can't be bad. Right?

Countdown 2009

Four episodes. First one in four days. And then good-bye to Doctor number ten... forever. It's hard for me to be excited when I'm also so sad....

Dinner With Barb, or Trans-Continental Meal Sharing

Today, I had dinner with my friend Barb, who lives in Ft. Worth. Yes, Texas. Seriously!

No, I am not in the States. I am still in Aberdeen.

So how did this happen? You would be right to ask. So I'll tell you.

I am a sucker for McDonald's Monopoly promotion. When I was at my sister's in the fall, I pretty much lived on one McD's meal a day during the Monopoly game, and they have started it up here in the past week or so. I am helpless to resist the siren call of instant win and collect-to-win game pieces! Besides, I love their fries. My friend Barb does, too, and many were the times when we would eat there together on our days out in the city centre while she was in Aberdeen. Good times. Can you believe that was two years ago?! Okay, you probably can... but I can't. I miss my friend. Still.

As she was commenting on my lack of will power when it comes to Monopoly, this plan was hatched: to pick a day to eat at McDonalds, 'together'. She would go for her lunch break, which, considering the six hour time difference, would be perfect for me to go for my dinner. We could enjoy our fries (and the rest of our meal) in our own locations, knowing that we were eating together. Silly, perhaps (so says my sister), but the next best thing to actually being able to sit down and share a meal together-- which we haven't been able to do in person for way too long.

Today was that day! And I thoroughly enjoyed having a meal with my friend, despite the distance. I miss you, Barb... thanks for meeting me at McDonalds! =D

My dinner


Enjoying my fries... yum!


Scenes from my vantage point... old people collared by the coppers (probably not, but it was fun to speculate); buses and stops; people in the park or on their way to places unknown.....




And finally, some live action! The first is boring... unless you just want to see a little slice of life from Aberdonia. It was, as you can tell from the photos above, from my seat by the window, looking out on Union Street. People-watching is how I spend my mealtimes there. The second, well, is mainly for Barb... but y'all can watch if you want. I think you can even see a little of the 'new' remodeled McDs, if you haven't been here for a while. =)