Ash the Mighty

Really started last night when I attended a third year fancy dress party. The assignment was to go as an archaeological figure. There was a cave-woman, several knights, a greek goddess, a roman (female) imperiator, a medieval princess, and a modern archaeology student (way to go Rosey!). I personally spent 10 quid at Tam Sheppards and went as a Viking Scot, wearing my kilt, a plastic horned helmet, a fake beard, and carrying a lovely plastic axe. Fun was had by all, though I didn’t get home until way past my bed time: about 4 or so.

This morning I got up at about 9 to be all ready to go looking at castles for the ol’ dissertation. Chris drove and Rosey tagged along (and they were cute). Went first to Doune Castle, enjoyed imagining a cow flying over the curtain wall, and then proceeded to find absolutely jack as far as heraldry goes. No, that’s not entire true. There was a drastically incorrect painted copy of the Royal Arms from the 19th century which was of course less than useless. That’s pretty much it. So, first place is a flop. Next went to Castle Campbell (which was fun due to familial ties), where I found some stuff which may prove to be useful, but I’m vaguely afraid that it won’t be. We’ll have to see. Is it too late to decide to be a sheep herder or something? It might be easier.

We were out of time by then, so we hurried south and east so that Chris could get to his interview. He was 45 minutes late, but that’s OK because the lady ended up being about 2.5 hours late. Rosey and I waited patiently and talked vaguely of eating each other’s legs if we got any more hungry (because eating your own would just be weird). Once she showed we got taken to a restaurant in a neighboring village. Several hours later he returned from a multi-course meal involving steak (I had vaguely rancid pork), and announced he had the job. Huzzah for him!

So, we finally got back to Glasgow, arriving about 5 hours later than we had hoped to, and after having seen approximately half the number of castles as we had planned. I guess a second, third, or fourth trip may be in the works. I obviously can’t just find out what I need to know from books, so visits (perhaps multiple for each site) will have to occur! Not TOO upset by this, but it might get expensive!

Now I’m for bed. Too tired for coherent words. Sha’ed (“Shattered” in Bristol speak. Exhausted, basically).

Slainte.

“Come on abuse me more, I like it.”
~Silverchair – “Abuse Me”

There really isn’t. Had a pretty awful week, and I would be happy that it’s over, but this will be the first of what will no doubt be many weekends in which I don’t actually rest, but rather work even harder for my dissertation.

A run down:
Monday, bad things with Meg. Not anyone’s business. But it was bad.
Tuesday, a full day of presentations. Mine went OK, I guess. About 12 or 13 minutes I’m told. Got a 16 on the whole thing, which isn’t bad, but isn’t great either. Also redesigned the blog system after I got finished breaking Meggan’s heart.
Wednesday, more bad things with Meg. Again, not anyone else’s business. If you’re in the loop great. If not, bugger off. Also drank myself stupid with the third years who were celebrating being done with exams. Helps with the guilt.
Thursday, meeting with Driscoll. Didn’t technically pass the year. Allowed to write the dissertation, but have to get VERY good grades to even be at the point where they can round up to allow me to get my MPhil. This is what happens when you don’t get people their grades for a whole semester . . . oh, and when you put someone in a programme they care less than nothing about.
Friday, trying to make plans for the castle-viewing trip for tomorrow. Not exactly dreading it, but I’m so burnt out and un interested because of just non-stop nerves and general unhappiness, that I just want a day or two to do NOTHING and be a bum. Is that too much to ask on a summer break? Apparently.

That pretty much brings things up to now. Maybe Meg and I will manage to sort things out. Maybe not. I hope to make things work if for no other reasons than she’s my best friend who I love, and I don’t want to see her in pain. Me being an asshole and just generally damaged, likely beyond repair, doesn’t really help matters though.

That’s me. I’m gone.

Slainte.

“I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah”
~Leonard Cohen (performed by Rufus Wainwright) – “Hallelujah”

Not even close. MAYBE 15 if I talk really slow. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Slainte.

No time for a quote.

5. Baskin Robbins here doesn’t carry Peanut Butter and Chocolate ice cream.

That’s all. I’m really posting this one to let you know that, though I was supposed to take a series of “after” pictures to go with the “before” set of the new flat, I have not in fact finished unpacking and decorating. I figure I might never however, so I decided to do an “In the middle” set. So, go here to see what I’ve done thus far. I know there isn’t much up on those big vast expanses of walls, but I’m a bit broke so either deal with it or send me money for art! And Mom, I fully realize everything isn’t clean and put away. I’m sorry. I am truly contrite. Honest. I swear.

Did I fool you?

Slainte.

“I met God this afternoon ridin’ on an uptown train
I said, ‘Don’t you have better things to do?’
He said, ‘If I do my job what would you complain about?’”
~Dog’s Eye View – “Everything Falls Apart”

1. I think the most obvious: Not being allowed to say the word “suck” the entire time I was growing up (talkin’ to you, Pop! ).

2. Minimum Wage. In the US most people think it means “the lowest amount a person could live off of” when in fact it means the lowest the government allows employers to pay their employees (could you live off of $10,712/year before taxes? Do the math yourself! $5.15 x 40 hours a week = $206 x 52 weeks a year = $10,712!). In Britain they at least do it a bit better. Here the minimum wage is £4.50 an hour, for a total of £9,360. Doesn’t sound like much, but convert it to US dollars, and we’re talking $16,848 (assuming a possibly generous £1 to $1.80). Granted, it’s still not great, and it also costs more to live here, but at least it’s not so far below the poverty line!

3. The Electoral College. This one is a no brainer. Why do we need a system of representative voting?!? It’s 2004 for Pete’s sake! I think if we can manage to have computerized voting (though knowing how easy it can be to hack in to systems, I’m not so sure about that either), we can at least manage to count each vote and do a real democratic election!

4. 74 days until August 4th.

Slainte.

“So I said my congratulations
‘Bout lost myself to my infatuation
I stole a kiss or two just havin’ fun again
Sheriff don’t like it
Now I’m back on the run again”
~The Refreshments – “Preacher’s Daughter” — Arizona Band!

I’M FINE, but the “ow” is because yesterday as I was crossing Dumbarton road, I was hit by a taxi. It only really nicked my right leg, but it was enough to spin me around and knock me on the ground. It wasn’t fun. But to add insult to injury, the jerk of a cabbie didn’t even stop. He had run a red light, and the guy who came after him did stop and try to help, but that was probably because I was lying in the middle of the road at that point! Unfortunately the guy who stopped didn’t see it happen, nor did he catch the license plate number of the taxi (and I sure wasn’t in any position to take it down!)

So that sucked. Other than that, things are going OK. I haven’t managed to get much work done on the dissertation yesterday or today because it’s still really uncomfortable for me to sit at my desk and work on the computer . . . which is also why this update is so short. I don’t really have much else to say, so I’ll log off. I hope everyone is super groovy out there, and having a grand ol’ day!

Slainte.

“You may push me around
But you cannot win
You may throw me down
But I’ll rise again
The more you say
The more I defy you
So get out of my face”
~The Offspring – “Defy You”

Blah blah blah

I don’t really want to be updating this thing. I’ve got one of my own, after all. I just figure if Klairice can put on a fuck all huge post after being absent for so long . . . well . . . so can I.

But then again, I could also take a nap.

Option B it is.

Take it sleazy,
Ash.

Blah blah blah

I don’t really want to be updating this thing. I’ve got one of my own, after all. I just figure if Klairice can put on a fuck all huge post after being absent for so long . . . well . . . so can I.

But then again, I could also take a nap.

Option B it is.

Take it sleazy,
Ash.

. . . I have broadband again! Man, you have no idea how quickly you get spoiled by having high speed internet access. Plus with me there was the added suckiness of not being able to do anything with my desktop (which is a considerably more advanced machine than my laptop). So anyway, I will now constantly be online again. I’m sure this thrills only a small proportion of the population (basically me and the one or two people that I chat with online), but that’s all that really matters, now doesn’t it Oddles?

I hope all of you are groovy out there. This wasn’t meant to be long or anything, especially since I’ve got to run to the torture chamber — I mean the gym. Gotta get myself all sexy for Amy’s wedding. Failing that, I’ve got to make sure I’ll fit into my kilt/tux at Amy’s wedding!

Slainte.

“I would runaway
I would runaway with you”
~The Corrs – “Runaway”

Now I have a reputation for being, in my father’s words, a “knee-jerk bleeding heart liberal.” I don’t necessarily like that characterization, but what can you do? Well, for starters I can explain to everyone out there that I absolutely do not automatically “Toe the Party line” (for one thing, I don’t belong to a party, I’m an Independent, as I have lost most of my faith in the Democratic Party). I’ve also been accused of automatically hating anything that President Bush says or does simply because it is him doing it. Again, unfair and untrue. I love the idea of the “No Child Left Behind Act” for instance, however I very much would like to see some actual funding for it.

That having been said, I would like to say that I am a liberal. According to the Political Compass I tip the scales as a medium-strength Liberal (score of “5″) and a medium-strength Libertarian (score of “4″). As an indication, they think that Ghandi would be right about at the same place that I would be. I can’t say as I mind that. So in other words, while I’m all for educating the nation’s children, I’m totally 100% against things like the PATRIOT Act (which limits personal freedoms. Hell, the conservatives should be against it too! What happened to keeping your laws off of my body?), unfunded mandates (see the above mentioning of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation), and wars for any reason other than defending this country from a real threat (and NO, Iraq was not a threat. Does anyone actually believe that anymore?)

Anyway, the point is that I ran across something called Bush in 30 seconds. It was a contest put on by an organization more or less dedicated to kicking Bush out of the White House this November called MoveOn.org. The thrust of this contest was more or less to create a thirty second commercial making fun of or criticizing Bush. I believe the grand prize was to get the commercial aired during Super Bowl 2004 (interestingly enough, CBS refused to air it, actually resulting in a much bigger media splash than if they had just quitely given up the 30 seconds). The commercial that really struck me was not actually the winner (which I didn’t actually like nearly as much).

This commercial that I did enjoy so much won the Best Young Commercial, and was created by a guy from Englewood, Colorado (one of the more conservative cities in the country). It was pretty simple. Just the writer/editor/producer walking in a desert landscape (near Grand Junction, if I had to guess) talking at the camera as it followed him. It’s in pretty grainy black and white and the speaker (Jared Ewy by name) is talking a mile a minute with a diatribe which is, in my humble opinion, truly inspired. Obviously very upset at the cavalier way in which President Bush further endangered the lives of American soldiers by taunting the Iraqi people to “Bring it On” (the title of the piece, by the way). I’ve taken the liberty of transcribing the text, though you can view the large version of the commercial here.

“Bring it on? Our soldiers are in a hotbed of hate, and you say bring it on to people who accessorize with dynamite? Why don’t you just throw in a camel joke while you’re at it? I like the part about saying you support the troops, but you tried to sneak in a combat pay cut. Oh, and lie about needing a pricey ride on a jump jet? Saddam, jobs, Osama gone–and you blowing money on a photo op? Bush, go ahead, raise your millions. Wrap yourself in the flag. Hide the evidence in daddy’s library. But the voters know. So, bring it on.”

Pretty good, huh? I would hope that even the staunchest supporters of the President would acknowledge that encouraging enemy combatants to “Bring it On” was a bad idea and the worst sort of hubris, especially considering the constant rise in the death toll abroad. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the fact that we went over to Iraq to “disarm the WMDs and stop the torture,” and when we got there we discovered absolutely no WMDs and in fact started torturing people. Anyone else see the irony? I thought so.

Slainte.

“Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down”
~Buffalo Springfield – “For What It’s Worth” — Wow, did they have the PATRIOT Act back then too?