Oh Campbellton Loch I wish you were whiskey Campbellton Loch Och Aye

soooooooo i went tae a scottish fest on sunday night. it started promisingly with a real scotsman ! hes been here for 20years and hes kept his accent better than me. this is a little video of him reading a poem



there were pipers too which were good til you start to get that headache only bigpipes can give you




and then it all went a little down hill, i think perhaps this was the turning point




interesting. it wasnt so good. and then this guy decided to go all out on what i think is a rabbie burns poem he has adapted ?!


it was an alright evening but it could of been better. they do it every year, oo and they had cheese scones and tablet and dumpling, i always wondered what they would have to eat at a scottish thing like that like a chinease restaurant at home.

oh and this woman did the address to the haggis, interesting to hear it in an american accent, although i think she was trying !

and so it is just like you said it would be

i fixed the photo problem, but now my blog isnt as pretty, its just one big cycle. like painting the forth road bridge.

im taking it easy today, i.e doing exactely nothing. might be heading out tonight, went to see 'the queen' yesterday with philippa it was really good, i shed a few tears. When the camera panned over the hills of scotland with a soft musical expression, home seemed so far away and enchanting. or something like that, il say that beacuse i dont know how to say what i really want to. il think about it more until i can convey it with a sense of patriotism. also went to local burger and had a buffalo burger...im sorry buffalos. and then we went to the red lion and had some ciders. so a slightly productive day. its only 20 to 2 so maybe i could savlage the day...or i could keep sitting here until its time to get drunk...

im listening to pink floyd, i think its about time, and when i heard hey you in 'the squid and the whale' i fell in love with the lyrics.

Hey you, out there in the cold
Getting lonely, getting old
Can you feel me?
Hey you, standing in the aisles
With itchy feet and fading smiles
Can you feel me?

just realised my blog is cutting of the right hang side of my picture...not sure why but il try and sort that out. just click on one and look at them on flicker :)

hey teacher, leave those kids alone

i havent escaped the snow, we got 6 inches here this weekend. i opened my door and seen to polar bear shakin paws


so i rocked up and introduced myself


ok so today me and philippa went to the natural history museum on campus. its free so we thought we would bag ourselfs some education and winded up having just a little bit of fun, hanging with the dinos and snakes. so heres a few pictures...

big scarey bear


ahhh look at its gnashers




getting funky skunky


so in the natural history museum, bears and turkeys tend to just kick back and hang out together


this is a skeleton of a prehistoric teenager


this guy hadnt been to mrs Es in a while








philippa is so cool


so this is what i got up to whilst philippa was reading some stuff and actually getting an education...






i really wish this was real


but i am so glad this is...or was before it got stuffed


philippa got a little patriotic...


but we will always remember where home is

in other news, i have put links to philippas (Kansas) blog, katarinas (kansas) blog and debis (fernie) blog on the right --->

and i have put a map on the bottom of the page so i know where people are looking at my blog from. i also put a picture of cute pandas down there, just for fun :)

well taking it easy has gone out the window, had a class this morning at 8am...i woke up at 7:40am, oops. was somehow still early for class though so not to worry. my first class went ok, we will have open book quizzes which is a relief to my bad memory. and its all about pricing and was actually pretty interesting so although il have to put in a little bit of work it will be fine. the next class however was a bit hardcore. no fial but 6 quizes 3 exams and 3 projects, plus a whole load of reading from a mandatory book which costs $100 !!!!!! each exam is only worth 50 points and the whole course is 1200 so a lot of the points come from the group projects, which isnt really the best.

i have another class at 2:30 until 5 so i hope that goes ok. just boiling some eggs for egg mayo so i need to go, just thought id try and do little updates more often instead of leaving it until it becomes a burdon

bye for now

well iv just ben taking it easy since i got here, went out for some drinks on friday night and stayed in and watched movies last night. as today stretches out ahead of me my only plans are to eat dinner with phillipa at mrs Es later on. tomorrow i have a class at 8 and another at 9:30 then a break (which il probably spend sleeping and another class at 2:30 til 5, monday is my busiest day, tuesday i have 2 classes and same on a wednesday. then my weekend starts at 10:45 on wednesday...its going to be a good year !

im reading a really good book right now...and watching a lot of bad television

here is the snowboarding movie i put together, the quality isnt as good as the real one as you tube takes it away but you get the idea :)


thanks :)

close your eyes

I am writing this in Dallas airport in Texas but by the time you read it I’ll be in Kansas as the internet here is too expensive to log onto. Thus far my travels this way have been much less stressful yet endorsed with emotional turmoil, I’m not sure which I prefer. I slept through most of the bus journey to the airport but it was a little tricky to get settled as my eyelids do not good dams make. I consoled myself with the thought that I’ll never have to do this again and I have done it all before and lived to reap the rewards. It’s impossible to leave Debi after such an amazing winter. But here I am defying what feels like the laws of gravity right now. Iv been busying myself away using all my newly acquired travelling alone skills but it’s the little things that set me off. A song, a proud father, the plane landing and the thought that I will probably land on 5 more planes before I get home to the UK. Not that I’m complaining, I love this opportunity and I’m having the time of my life, I just feel it more in airports when I’m travelling alone with my thoughts, apparently.

It snowed all day today, just to prove that sods law exists.

Well that’s me back home in Kansas, Alicia and Steph picked me up at the airport and drove me back to my humble abode, I had a whole tonne of mail, mostly Christmas cards, so thank you everyone ! I also had some random stickers which Debi must have ordered for me ?? just waiting on my internet to crank up so I can post this. Then I’m going to go buy my textbooks and pick up and cash a couple of cheques. Then I think I’ll phone some folks and see whats been going on. Need to get to the shops, I have no food at all or juice :s

My new roommate seems really cool so this semester is looking more promising already

x

crash !

well my fernie adventure has come to an end and i finished in style...dont worry im fine but i totally crashed and burned....just like the busted song ahaha. kind of hurt my foot but its sort of ok now just a bit sore.

il write a better entry at the airport when im waiting for one of my flights, 18hours of travelling :(

fly me to the moon, let me play amoungst the stars

i confess, recently i have been absolutely rubbish with my blog entries. i blame it all on my passion for the film i am currently finishing up. it looks really good and il probably post it on here later today, technology permitting. apart from that we have been busy doing a whole load of nothing...reading books, watching tv, going to the pub and setting off fireworks. it still hasnt snowed and dosent plan too until thursday...the day i go home :( an i would just go up and grate along the ice but its so cold that the chairlift is a nightmare and its just not worth it. il upload some old picturoonies to jazz up this entry and give the skim readers something to skim too.

heres a really pretty pic from a walk along the rier me and debi went on


mandatory photo in the glasses shot





i seen this teddybear having a sneaky picnic




debi checkin the map






weird bumpy ground, will be interesting to see what is under there in the summer




its hanson street

when i was taking this picture i took a step back and there on the floor was a motorola mobile phone. unfortunately for me it was broken but i took the sim card out to see if it had any money in it...i mean to see if i could track down the phones owner...but i couldnt so i used the credit to phone home :) good find.

we went out nthe other night and it was so cld debis hair froze...its been -25 degrees centegrade which is -13 fahrenheit for the americans. pretty chilly


when we got to the pub this guy bought us a drink and then asked us to dance...we took the drink.


this is me after running home because it was so cold...even with all the layers and thermals.

put sufjan stevens on, and we'll play your favorite song

here are some of my moves as promised



went up for a bit today and i managed to shread through some powder without falling over and breaking down. booked my shuttle home for next thursday, by home i mean back to kansas.dont go (debi wrote that)

so evrything is pretty organised. we are going to the royal tonight for beer and burgers, yum and its gang night so you have to go in your colours (just as a laugh dont worry mum and dad no guns) we are blue so il wear my kansas t shirt and represent. i bought a new hat today with some of my christmas money from home, its just like a band with no top...hard to explain but im sure there will be pictures, so thank-you money givers :) and mum, lorraine and edith your birthday cards are all well and truley on there way, posted them on the 4th...all having yor birthdays on the same day slowed me down!

the movie i am working on is now around 5minutes long, we are taking some more footage on thursday and then il finish it up one night. we are all far from pro but at least we are trying !!

just had a chocolate and coconut thingy from the choc shop, Yummy McYummerson

your my butterfly, sugar baby

sorry for my lack of blogging but iv been spending my time working on a snowboarding film with all the videos we have been taking. its looking pretty good and the soundtrack is rocking. il try and upload the finished thing to you tube :)as for the videos of me shreadin powder...there are none, but il share this one of me falling trying.
i think its the trying that counts. was working on my jumps today and there are definate improvements, looking good. plus when im on the flat i can spin 360 which is pretty hot, the videos are on debis computer but il get them up when i can. debi got tomorrow off because its back to being quiet so we are of out tonight to party it up. i feel like i am in dirty dancing, not that much dancing had been going on. just because im behind the scenes, getting involved in all the parties with the staff. i love it here. debi is sleeping on the sofa right now, i think shes pretty knackerd after a day working and boarding. everything is so exciting, il need to get some sort of hobby when i get back to edinburgh otherwise my expectations will drop as fast as they come around. i think il treat edinburgh like its a new place, that way il meet people and learn things more than just taking every day for granted. thats a long time away though. before i even reach that obstacle i need to comprehend leaving here, i then need to start new clases, then begin looking forward to seeing my mum and dad.

sorry fans the video is not working, maybe some other time
p.s i promise i can board !!

pardon me but wasn't tha your heart

heres some pictures from new years night
this is me looking rather sexy with some transformer glasses, as you can see i have dyed my hair pink, booya its pretty hot.

i think nat must be touching Debis brain

what a rock star

teethtastic




it was a good night but debi had work in the morning so it wasnt so wild

if something in the Deli aisle makes you cry, of course il put my arm around you and walk you outside

as promised here are some pictures from one day when debi and i went boarding. i took this picture after we got off the chair lift, Debis goggles had attracted star shaped snowflakes, so beautiful.

at the top of the hill the view is mesmerizing and absorbing. on this particular day it was clear at the bottom of the hill, snowing in the middle and calm and complacent at the top. up here its hard to comprehend the snow storm which is a few feet below. theres a certain kind of stillness in the air and if i wrote poetry this is where i would go to do it. and after all this description im going to bail and admit its undescribable. at one last attemp il say, its where i go when i close my eyes.


incommunicable.


as you can imagine its a little bit cold up there, if only i could tuck my nose in to my goggles



thats me on the right, as you can see from the sky, this is us just entering the snowy section