Kate’s Rants

i promised that i’d post pictures from the highlands, etc.

well TOO BAD!

actually i really will eventually but i just can’t find the time to put them all on bubbleshare. so one day they will show up in my blog.

thats about all i have to say. just wanted to keep you all updated on the lack of progress i’ve made on the picture-uploading.

this week is busy with saying goodbye. so probably not a heavy posting week.

the end.

ok so yesterday i’m standing in the cafeteria line next to lucas. we see some pancakes on display for buying. he says something to me about eating some pancakes. i thought he was making fun of me since i’m american and we eat pancakes for breakfast sometimes. because he’s made fun of me for that before. anyway, we were joking about the pancakes for awhile. then later we were sitting down and jenna said something about the pancakes and was it pancake day today? and lucas kept smiling really big and nodding, and i just kept shaking my head because i thought he was making fun of me still.

but no. i later found out that it was, in fact, pancake tuesday.

here in scotland, they have a day dedicated to pancakes. and i didn’t know about it until it was TOO LATE.

pancake tuesday! genius!

actually, i like my pancakes freshly made. so…. well yeah. old pancakes sitting under a heating lamp is not exactly my idea of tasty. however, the idea of pancake tuesday is thoroughly amusing and fantastic.

scotland is a fun place.

****** this is an edit******

i just looked up pancake tuesday on the internet. apparently it has to do with lent. its the tuesday before ash wednesday. i guess today was ash wednesday.

anyway, in olden times, or “back in the day”, people wanted to use up flour and fat before lent, and making pancakes was the best way to do this. thus, pancake tuesday sprouted and stuck because people love pancakes.

many of you probably already knew this and shook your heads at me, muttering under your breath about uneducated americans/young people. well hey, i came here to learn and i’m learning ok?! back off!

just kidding.

we’re all ok. let’s go eat some pancakes and then put ashes on our foreheads and pray.

nothing i’m typing is coming out right. rah. the end.

hello my friendly readers.

i know i have not posted very much lately, and for that i am sorry. i’ve just been busy! that whole highland trip and last night i went to the regina spektor concert.

but i want to have a post for each of those seperately since i have lots of pictures and videos of the highland trip, and regina deserves her own post. sooooo to keep you going i’ll post a random one.

i’ve met 3 people (all grown ups) since i’ve come here who still suck their thumbs.

ok. being a recovered thumb sucker myself, i sortof remember the comfort it brings. granted, i only sucked my thumb until i was about 6, at which time i decided i had better quit before my teeth got crooked and my thumb remained forever damp and i got made fun of. (yeah, i was one smart 5-year-old. always thinking ahead, that’s me.) because i was able to quit, i did not have to deal with crooked teeth, damp thumbs, or being made fun of (for that). which is a good thing.

i don’t understand how these grown ups still suck their thumbs.

yes. i can recall certain things from when i was 5. like my 5th birthday party, which was AWESOME. but really windy. but still cool. and our house in arizona. and my yellow room. and getting my new bed and jumping on it. and our turtle sandbox/pool. and my first bike which was red. and our cat scooter and dumping her in the hamper for fun. and some parts of kindergarten, like learning to read from flashcards and learning to tie my shoes. and i remember dancing with brett in our living room to sky pilot and john mellencamp songs. and i also remember sucking my thumb made me feel better, especially curled up with my blankie.

but i also remember that quitting felt good too because it was growing up.

maybe these perpetual thumb suckers are holding on to a bit of their childhood in some way. one guy has got to be in his 30s, and quite openly sucks his thumb. another girl is this very posh english girl, who told me that she sucks her thumb when she goes to sleep. and ok the third person i haven’t met personally: lucas’ friend’s older brother sucks his thumb. but he’s in his late 20s.

i wonder if these people have any hope of quitting??

is sucking your thumb something like smoking? it makes you feel good so why quit? (both have certain drawbacks: smoking kills you and your lungs, sucking your thumb gives you crooked teeth and damp thumbs… and ridicule.)

on that note, why do any of us do things that aren’t exactly good for us?

humans are crazy.

the end.

my throat has the scratchies.

it doesnt hurt or anything. i just sound like i’m croaking when i talk. and that nostril is STILL plugged. (in case anyone was wondering, it’s the left one. the right one is clear and happy.)

in preparation for my trip tomorrow, i packed up all my belongings. since i dont really want to pay for my bed for a week while i wont be here, i had to clear it away. it was good, i got rid of some stuff that i didnt want anymore. (people here are total scavengers, so it was very easy to give stuff away. even my crappy shoes that are pretty much falling apart i got rid of. haha.)

mirka offered her room for me to leave some of my stuff in. that was very nice of her. so i’m going to leave some clothes and my quilt and hairdryer with her for a week. i also asked her to put my food box back on the shelf when they take it off. (they clean off the shelves once a week, so they move all the food boxes off, and if you don’t put yours back on in two days, your food is free food.) i am currently charging all camera batteries. next i’ll be charging my ipod up. and i’m also drinking lots of orange juice. my phone is fully charged, so valentines day texts or calls are welcome.

or any day texts/calls are welcome.

anyway, lots of stuff done. i feel good. i picked up a large backpack (its like a mini backpacking pack) for this week. it fits everything i need, so i’m glad for that. basically i’m bringing all my warm things. tomorrow i’m wearing many layers. and i’m bringing almost all of my socks. wet cold feet are NOT cool.

there’s a bunch of spanish people here, and one of the guys (mario… if only he was italian, how classic would that be…) asked me last night what a nickname is for someone from LA. and i couldnt really think of anything except “valley girl”. he wanted to know because he met a girl from LA and he wanted to text her saying “hey ______ girl”. so i told him to say “hey valley girl”. kinda lame. but then i told him he should say “i think you are so rad”. but he thought i said “rat” instead of “rad” and yeah. he thought i was nuts. i finally spelled it out for him and he didnt really get it. ah well.

i’m really glad to be getting away from the hostel and work for a week. i feel like i’ll be rejuvinated. one girl said she went on a three day tour and it was great. she also said they’ll feed me lots of whiskey which will kill all the germs in my system, which is also good. haha. i’m not sure whiskey and riding in a bus is such a great idea though….

but yes, i am very excited. i really hope we have a gigantic snowball fight.

anyway, i think i might watch some seinfeld episodes.

“you can’t over die, you can’t over dry.”

yeah dad, i’m copying you.

first i must say this: harry and the potters just came up in my playlist. amazing.

(how many questions/quizzical looks will that comment bring?)

harry and the potters reminds me of the summer when i liked brad a lot and we were not going out yet, but we hung out all the time and then we went to san francisco to see the aquabats and listened to harry and the potters and we all loved it because everyone in the car was a fan of harry potter. yay!

next topic: i’ve had one plugged nostril all day long. it’s very irritating. actually the plugged nostril thing started last night and even though i turned on my side so it would drain into my other nostril, it DIDN’T! gasp and groan.

does this mean i’m sick??? blast. probably. i’m going to drink water this time though, so i don’t pass out in the shower again. i’m also going to have soup for dinner. and drink some nyquil before i go to sleep.

i can’t get sick before my trip! that would be a HUUUUGGGGEEEE bummer.

i wont get sick. i’ll just have to be strong and fight it. anyway, even if i am sick, its a wimpy cold. it only took over one nostril for jeebus sakes.

it’s going to be snowing in the highlands lalala! we’re going to have snowball fights and build snowmen and yayyyy its going to be amazing fun and i’m excited. maybe we’ll see the northern lights but if not, no matter because i’ll just visit jessica in alaska and see them there! woo hoo!

hey melanie: harry and the potters is still on!

we don’t care for your
defense against the dark arts class

you undermine our intelligence
we won’t take any more of this….

oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!

umbridge you’re going down.
umbridge, you’re going down…
umbridge you’re going down
umbridge, you’re going down….

*musical interlude aka jam session*

you’re educational decrees
are not welcome in our halls
you’ll never take the place
of albus dumbledor!

oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!
oh my god, you look like a frog!

umbridge you’re going down.
umbridge, you’re going down…
umbridge you’re going down
umbridge, you’re going down….
umbridge, you’re going down…
umbridge we’re taking you dowwwwnnnnn.

well i can picture melanie laughing now. YAY OLD MEMORIES!

and sorry for the tangent folks, i had to do it.

hey. awesome music video/commercial idea. i’m not sure what the commercial would sell…. but no matter. here it is:

lots of double decker busses zooming around the city (just any city) with people dancing inside of them. or just one person dancing in each one, with everyone else looking at that person all weird. OR just focus on one bus with one person dancing. OR have that person go from bus to bus, dancing on each one. and then at the end of the video, they are dancing away, and they look over and see someone else dancing in a neighboring bus and they smile at each other and then both continue dancing.

anyway it seems like a good idea for a video to me, especially when i’m listening to my ipod on the bus and i’m wondering what people would do if i got up and just started dancing, or if there was music playing on the bus and everyone got up and started dancing. awesome.

well i think i need to go drink some water and eat some soup and blow my nose and think about snow.

later gators!

ps: this scottish lady i work with once said to me “see you later crocodile”. ohhhhhh man.

first i apologize to my readers for not being a good poster. i’ve been slacking off. or “skiving” as they say here in scotland.

well it’s now february. these past few months have gone by incredibly fast. it seems like ages ago when i lived in the flat and didn’t have internet and i had to go to black medicine coffee co. to get internet.

time also feels sped up because people here come and go so quickly.

*****************

yeah, ok, so i posted THAT part of the post YESTERDAY! sheesh. i cant even finish a post anymore. this place is way distracting. there’s too many people to hang out with and talk to. or… there’s too many people who come hang around me when i’m trying to get my thoughts down on (paper?) and they just talk and talk and talk AND TALK AND TALK about nothing really and then i can’t post because i’m thinking about what they are talking about and yeah. so i ended up just saving what i wrote (not much) and of course now i dont really remember what i was rambling about. i mean, obviously i can SEE what i was writing, but i was on a certain thought-track which derailed and now i’m on a different thought-track.

now i’m avoiding human contact. well, seeing as it is impossible to do so in this hostel, i’m doing what i can do to avoid distraction. first of all, to be on the internet, i have to be in the lobby, which is probably the busiest place in the whole hostel (besides the kitchen). everyone is coming in and out, hanging out by the front desk, playing music, on their laptops, taking naps on the couch, going outside for a fag (hahaha oh british-speak) etc. so it’s pretty busy in here. however, i have sat myself down in a big armchair (it’s very nice and comfy) in the corner, put my earbuds in, and i’m playing music into my head to avoid listening to people’s various conversations. right now it’s green day. i like green day. it reminds me of weezer, simply because in the song El Scorcho (my favorite weezer song) they mention green day.

“i asked you to go to the GREEN DAY concert,
you said you never heard of them.
how cool is that?
so i went to your room,
and read your diareeeee”

ah, such a good song. i *heart* it. (as the teenagers say, and i say because i wish i was still a teenager sometimes but sometimes not because teenagers can be completely idiotic much of the time.)

so anyway, hostel life is busy and fun, but i’m pretty much ready to go. i like having people to hang out with, but i dont like when people steal my food or throw away perfectly good food without checking to see if someone has in fact labeled it. (someone threw away my jam, and i hadnt even OPENED it yet! jeez. how rude. now i’m jam-less and i have peanut butter. and i’m being stubborn and not buying more jam because i figure someone will just throw it away again. grrr rar.)

yeah so i’m ready for ireland.

HOWEVER i got some very exciting news yesterday and confirmed it today!

brianne and i were trying to figure out our little trip through the highlands that we wanted to take. last year i went on a bus tour with jessica and melanie, and it was so much fun! the tour guides make driving for hours on a bus way fun. they are funny, they know lots of history and random stories. and it’s just cool to look out the window and look at all the neato sites. so i really wanted to do that again, but a longer tour. (we went for 3 days last year.) we picked up a brochure from the front desk (yes, they have tours through the hostel) and saw there was a 7 day tour that went all over the highlands! but then we found out they weren’t running right now because it is off-season and not enough people want to go on them. bummer.

but then yesterday, carol (a friend and worker in the hostel) found out that the people who run the tours ARE running that 7 day tour! once a month starting THIS SUNDAY.

and to make it even cooler, it’s half price. 87 pounds for 7 days!

of course, brianne and were very excited, but very torn because it conflicted with our original plan. our original plan was to work until feb. 23rd, then go to the highlands for about a week, then come back, pack up our stuff and head to ireland on march 6th. however, all the smaller tours that are currently being offered all leave on friday mornings, which is bad for me because i obviously work on friday. i COULD leave a day early, but then i’d miss the big work night out to say goodbye to ME and also lynsay’s birthday so that wouldnt be good. i want to say goodbye to people.

so anyway, today we both asked our bosses if we could have next week off and we both got yesses! horray!

that means brianne and i are leaving for the highlands THIS coming sunday and coming back on saturday!

then the following monday we are going to glasgow to see regina spektor!

i’m going to go back to work for 2 weeks after the highlands, (ending work on march 2nd instead of feb 23rd) and then head off to ireland on march 6th still.

yay! plans are fun. i like them.

another cool thing is there are a few people from the hostel who are also going on the highlands tour, so that will be fun. it’ll be a bus full of crazies.

brianne just got home and is going to eat dinner so i am going to join her and then we’re going to hang out at the waverly, which is a pub down the street that is decorated pretty funky (red lamp shades, posters on the ceilings). fun times.

(i really like having pubs down the street and just going to chill in them!)

hope this satisfies some of your reading desires. hopefully i’ll post more now.