A Single Layer

singing Jolene at a karaoke bar meeting friends for a big-screen viewing of the recent Bourne update watching *!@"f! adolescents spray silly-string on shoulder-slumping loners in the Princes Street Gardens (i hate kids) watching eager youngsters run down the aisle to their 'Sunday's Cool' lessons while the choir sings 'Alleluia' (i love kids) watching an episode of 'Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction' in Flatmate Jess's room (i... uh....) defrosting Angela's fridge sipping a pot of tea in Kilimanjaro - for the last time? maneuvering tourists, trying not to dream of Toby Stephens, planning my future, organising my inbox...

I sort of jumped the gun in the comments of recent posts with this most fabulous of announcements: I have finished and turned in my dissertation for an MSc in English Literature: Nation, Writing and Culture from Edinburgh University (which noble institution I am presently advertising upon the soft navy hues of my first ever hoodie!!). My bags are mostly packed for the return home - even though I will not actually be leaving for another week. I needed to see if I would have to mail things or pay an overweight fee. One or the other will be necessary, since it seems that I have an inordinate number of books in my possession. Bother. Tomorrow, I will be meeting friends for post-dissertation drinks in the evening. Saturday, I am planning a trip to Newcastle and/or Durham with flatmate Jess. and Sunday boasts a most thrilling venture to the cinema for a showing of the Bourne Ultimatum - a film that I have been anticipating with unparalleled eagerness. Beyond that, my schedule is bare. I will

I like the phrase 'sired of Vikings'; I'm glad I managed to use it in recent blogging.

The dissertation is more or less through and I am trying to figure out what to do with the next ten days. Any suggestions?

It has been a week since my sister hopped on her plane back to California, taking the sun and shine back with her, and yet I still have not provided an update of our time together. She has been much better than me, in fact, posting pictures and anecdotes on her photoblog of each day here. I don't think I will be as thorough, mainly because she is one of my two best blog-fans and I will be stealing all the pictures from her anyway. Unless the photograph is of my sister, it is taken by her - all credit unto her. Commentary to come: Satisfying eight months of pent-up desire to see a 'hairy coo', our tour bus made its first stop at the well-touristed home of Hamish the Highland Cow. And what a Cow he is. Check out the emo-hair. Could there be anything more spectacular? Take a moment to gaze before scrolling down. Keens on the lawn outside of Dunkeld Cathedral! This particular loch is named for Scotland due to its remarkable likeness to the shape of that great nation. and from t