From last night's highly enlightening and entertaining party at Sean's. From left, Robert, Moi, Dawn and Sean.

Happy Hallowe'en

Uuuugghhhhhh. Just woke up, thought breakfast was at 8:30, not until 9. Can't decide if I am hungry or want to puke. Maybe both.

Mystery Solved

My eye problem has been solved. Well, at least the problem has been rooted out. Monday morning I called NHS 24 hour service (which is bloody fantastic by the way, crimeny!) to ask the advice of a nurse and she said she thought it must be an allerigic reaction. So I washed my pillow cases to see if that could be the problem and low and behold it was. Seems I am allergic to the new sheets on my bed, the laundry must have used a different detergent this time around. I just need to wash the rest of my linens when I have some time, hopefully this doesn't mean that I will have to wash my lines for the rest of the year.

I'm on duty once more tonight. Hopefully all will be well. It seems that it is the week days that cause the most trouble though last night was relatively quiet.

Right now I am about to have some tea and a chat. Goodnight.

Complete Fiasco

First I would like to send a big shout out to Miss Modern Age and congratulate her return as a fully formed entity to the world wide web. My life has meaning once more.

Second. My absentee ballot never came in the mail. Guess I don't get to vote. Good thing I live in New York or I might be panicing slightly right about now.

Third, check out Fiasco. I am completely in love with the song they have up on the their site, Those Feelings. I beg of them to put another one up.

I have just completed my first paper as a graduate student and I think I might have gone a bit overboard. I was always the kid who shortened the margins and made the font 1.3 and shit. Might I be turning over a new leaf? Dare I say that perhaps I grew up just a bit this past year? Nah, let's be serious here.

Let me end by sending a special hello to Steve whom everytime I see him I just want to give a big hug.

Tiziano and a Swollen Eye

I'm back from my big Edinburgh adventure and very glad to be in St. Andrews again.

Thursday morning I met some of my fellow grad students at the bus station and we headed over to Leuchars to catch the train to Edinburgh. I swear I packed everything but the kitchen sink, all but my conference ticket that is, so I had to take the bus back to St. Andrews, run to my hall and grab my ticket, and catch the bus back. Didn't take me too long and by 11:40 we were on our way.

There was some slight confusion getting to my friend's flat, mostly due to my inability to remember things people tell me even if it is a second later, but we eventually found it. We dropped our stuff off and split up, me to go shopping and the boys to see the new Parliament building.

The opening paper of the conference started at 5:30 that evening and was given by the brilliant Debra Howard. It was followed by a champagne reception in which I drank entirely too much which was fantastic. When the evening came to an end a few of us hit a pub on the Royal Mile then drunkedly made our way back to the flat.

Friday was a bit rough getting up and was not aided by the fact that I had a splitting headache. We taxied over to the Gallery once we were ready and even though the speakers were very good and interesting, it was all a bit torture sitting in the darkened lecture room trying to keep my eyes open while massaging my head. An incredibly sweet phd student gave me some headache medicine during the lunch break, which worked like a miracle and by the time tea was ended, I felt incredibly better.

I brought my bag with me to the gallery, so after the conference was through and we took some pictures with our professor, Peter Humfrey, three of the other girls and I headed right over to Waverly and caught the train home. The lovely Dawn welcomed me back with a glass of wine and we sat and chatted in her flat till around midnight when I staggered back to my room and collapsed into bed with utter exhaustian. The next morning I woke up with a swollen eye, not quite sure how that happened, but shoved my bangs over it and Dawn and I went to town to browse all the charity shops. Woke up this morning and my eye is even more swollen. Still not sure what is going on, but if it persists, will go to the Health Center tomorrow.

Una Mirabil Fortuna

It's been a while since I last posted, but... get over it.

I have actually been quite busy writing a paper and preparing to present it for the past few weeks and this afternoon at approximately 12:45 it was all over. Thank the gods, now back to more important things like downing pints and doing coke. Well maybe not the first bit. Glad I volunteered to present first though. I am definitely not too humble to say that I think I set the bar a bit high today. Hold on while I stare at myself in the mirror a bit...

So no one has thought of a poker name and to be quite honest, I am a bit disappointed. No bother, they probably all would have sucked anyway. Shall I go with "K Street" then? Do I like that? Fuck it. I lost again this week anyway.

Tomorrow I am going to Edinburgh for "The Age of Titian" Conference at the National Gallery. Am v. excited, especially that my wonderful friend has so graciously lent me a flat to stay in whilst there. Problem is I have nothing to wear so I am going a few hours early and going shopping! hurrah!

And now I'm off to the pub. 'night.

Aces and Eights Kellas

For our weekly poker game, here in Melville, people have started to pick poker names. So I put the question out there for you my friends. What do you think my poker name should be?

There were a ton of other celebrities here this weekend. Of course I saw none of them because, well, I'm just not that lucky. Not to mention that I have been on duty the past two days and had to stay in the hall. I really can't be arsed to go walking around looking for famous people anyway. Tonight Dunhill put on a really stunning fireworks display, above is a terrible pic out my window, in reality I had a great view, I just have a crap camera.

Dunhill Links

Here's a pic of some golf who is apparently famous, Stephen Gallacher, bugger if I know him, but that is a great shot up the Old Course towards the golf club.

This weekend was Dunhill Links. Unfortunately I did not not get see sex god Hugh Grant but I did get to see former potatoe head Dan Quayle. My camera decided to quit on me Friday when I saw him so no pics I'm afraid.

Shuffle Up and Deal

Last night was poker night at Andrew Melville and, well, I would have liked to report that I cleaned up but alas I just made it to heads up. Quality game though, quality. And a damn lot of fun too. Our Niall bested me. We put in 3 quid and I came out with two for second place. I also came out with a hangover so please forgive me if I sound a bit fuzzy. Whisky has a way of doing that to a person. I am currently seriously contemplating going back to bed.

So here I am, on the cusp of beginning my third week at St. Andrews and still loving every second. My classes began Thursday with my Giorgione class which is being taught by my thesis supervisor. I already have a paper to write which is due in 4 weeks. I also must make a presentation on it. I volunteered to present the first paper because I liked the painting it had to be on. Idiot. At least I will get it out of the way sooner. My one other class starts Monday and is a comparison of Rembrandt and Rubens.

Tuesday night was my first night on duty as Subwarden. All was quiet, no calls during the night, but I am sure that will change. I discovered in the morning that there was a mounding of a traffic cone so at 7am you could have seen me traipsing outside in my pajamas and flip flops to decone the mound.

And that about covers it. I must now get back to why Giorgione's the Tempest is so enigmatic. Or, um, something like that. I most certainly am not on my way back to bed...