Guess what?!

I’ve just completed Final Fantasy 1 (yeah, the one that was originally released in 1987).  To be honest, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be.

*does happy dance*

Now, onto Final Fantasy 2.

Mood : bouncy   Music : The Diary Of Jane (acoustic)  by  Breaking Benjamin

This evening, my mum picked me up from work and we began chatting about our trip to Canada next year.  When I say chatting, I mean we were debating when to book the trip so, I was sitting there, trying to think of a date when I’d be free to go.  When do I finish uni?  When do I graduate?  What happens with resits?  What happens if I make a mess of things?  What happens if I have a job?  What happens if I choose to do a post grad?  What happens…..?

Wait.

That’s when it hit me- this time next year I don’t have a clue what I’ll be doing with my life.

Up until now, “planning” my life has been relatively easy.  You go to playgroup (not that I had any say in that descision).  You go to primary school for 7 years.  You learn the basic skills.  You choose what secondary school you want to go to.  You go to secondary school.  You choose to stay on for 5/6th year.  You learn what your strengths and weaknesses are.  You choose to go into Higher education.  You choose what subject you’d like to study and where you’d like to study it.  You study your subject for 4 years.  You…..

What’s next?  What happens after that?

I’m not completely lost.  I know I love computing, I want to get a job in the field and I want to teach.  That’s something at least, right?

The funny thing is, I’m not as scared about this as I should be.  Yes, I have a slight sense of nervous apprehension but I’m not completely terrified.

Not yet anyway.

Mood : thoughtful   Music : All Fired Up  by  Pat Benatar

Earlier this week, I was tidying through my cupboard when I came across my Higher English folder.

Flicking through the notes I had written, I remembered some of the great books I read back then such as “The Great Gatsby” (by F Scott Fitzgerald), “The Devils Desciple” (by George Bernard Shaw), “Of Mice And Men” (by John Steinbeck) and “The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie” (by Muriel Spark).

In addition to this, I came across a small booklet, filled with Maya Angelou poems, along with the analyis I scribbled beside them (if you don’t know who Maya Angelou is, she’s an inspirational woman who has never given up, despite all the struggles in her life).

To be honest, I was never that good at analysing books/poems and always found it easier when we had a class discussion about whatever we were reading- it allowed me to see different perspectives on the material we were covering.

Sometimes, we could spend an hour or more covering a chapter of a book, debating the meaning of certain sentences.  Although it was interesting, there was always a part of me thinking “well what if the author didn’t intend to imply a hidden meaning?  what if they just meant the sentence to be taken as it is?  aren’t we overanalysing the text?”.  Then again, that’s probably NOT the attitude to have in an English class is it?

Finding these notes got me thinking about all the books I should have/wanted to read/wanted to read again from the past few years.

I’ve ended up ordering myself some books….
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
- Catcher In The Rye by J D Salinger
- The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett

Can’t wait for them to arrive so I can get stuck in!  I’ll see how I get on with them and possibly order myself some more.

Mood : pensive   Music : Best Waste Of Time  by  Tom Cochrane

Here’s a random post of the day.

I came across this fantastic “Catbus” while looking at some of the odd posts over at Craigslist.  I mean, c’mon, who wouldn’t want this?

Why am I posting it here?  Well I love the way the ad is written and the picture, well, it’s just quality.

Now, imagine rollin’ into work with this!

Mood : chipper   Music : Tomorrow  by  Avril Lavigne

Friday the 8th of August: another bright and early start.  I had to be on a train at 8.30am in the morning in order to make it down at a decent time.  First bonus of the day: half price rail tickets.

The journey itself was just your standard train journey (well it was on the way down at least…..more on that later).  It was a beautiful morning so I was happy to sit and take in the scenery.  I managed to snap some pics from the train and they’ve turned out pretty well (despite the windows of the train being a bit grotty).

Majorly exciting moment for me: seeing a seal in the water as we were passing the Burntisland area !

I have to say, I got quite excited as the train went past Murrayfield stadium as well- so many happy memories from the Bryan Adams concert last year.  I glanced over at the turnstiles and remembered queuing there for a good few hours in the rain.  Fun times, eh?

There was a slight delay on arriving into Waverley Station- we got stopped in the tunnel because there had been torrential rain down that way at the tracks had been flooded.  On exiting the tunnel, we say they were still pumping water away from the area.  After getting off the train, we headed for the Royal Mile.  With the Edinburgh Fringe Festival going on, we knew it would be an interesting place and we might even get to see some shows.

Things I saw when wandering around the Royal Mile/Edinburgh-

- Woman who is in the Guinness World Book of Records for having the most piercings
- Random dude who asked me to take his pic (I did and will trace him and send him it)
- Man juggling a real, live, running chainsaw
- Business man lying upside down in the street, advertising a show
- Random male singers, crooning about how “hot” they were
- Someone dressed as what can only be described as Mr Hanky, the Christmas Poo
- Man in suit who ran about clapping in the crowd to encourage more people to be nosey
- Some dudes wearing tight green clothing (and it wasn’t attractive).
- A real life Doggy in the window
- A striped taxi cab
- The best hat ever!
- Musicians from all over the world
- Korean Shamans
- Canadian guy wrapped in chains and tied in a bag. He escaped in under 1 min and ran around in a tutu!
- Australian guy, up a ladder, juggling a sword and fire AND eating an apple

Oh and we paid a visit to the National Galleries as well!

As for the train journey home!  Everything was great until we got to Kirkcaldy where we waiting around for ages.  Turns out an old woman fell ill on the train and an ambulance was called.  Apparently, she may not have had a funny turn- someone overheard a staff member say the carriage she was in was hot, she was wearing a big fuzzy jacket and that she’d had a few Gin and Tonics………

Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure she was ok- I saw her and she looked fine.

After all that, we finally arrived home, albeit 30-40 minutes late!  And with that, the Scottish Tour was over!

Mood : chipper   Music : Make This Go On Forever  by  Snow Patrol

After going to the cinema, we ventured to the massive Tesco store nearby, it order to buy some food for breakfast.  It wasn’t provided at the hotel and although we had a kettle and teabags, I went and bought my own choice of tea- PG Tips.

Despite feeling so tired earlier on, I couldn’t get to sleep when I went to bed.  Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the hotel; I just found it really difficult to unwind.  I think I ended up staying up ’til well past 1am, meaning I’d been awake for nearly 24 hours.

The following morning, I awoke at 7.30am, it give me plenty time to get ready (we were checking out at 9am).  The plan was to visit Culloden Battlefield then pop into the Baxters soup place on the way home.  After taking one look out the window, we decided against going to Culloden as it still hadn’t stopped raining.  In the end, we didn’t go to the Baxters soup factory for lunch either- it was just after 10am when we passed there!

We made it to Aberdeen at a decent time so we ended up going to Frankie and Benny’s for lunch- a fantastic New York Italian diner at the seafront.  They make an amazing Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich!
We arrived home mid-afternoon and after unpacking, I had a real good nap!

Mood : chipper   Music : Room Service  by  Bryan Adams

I was quite excited to hear that a new X-Files movie was being released this year, after all, I really enjoyed the tv series. I will admit that I only watched seasons 1-7 though…..I didn’t see how I could enjoy the series without Mulder. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the other characters too but the X-Files was all about Mulder and Scully as a team.

So what was the film all about then?

Well I don’t want to spoil it in case you haven’t seen it so here a link to the plot details.

There was one major “WHAT?!” moment for me in the film (about 20 minutes or so in) and I’m not sure what to think of it. One part of me was thinking “yay, finally” and another part of me was thinking that it was just so wrong. I was wondering if I’d maybe missed something in the tv series. Maybe you’ve already guessed what I’m referring to? I’ll leave it alone at that….

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny were great as per usual. Billy Connolly was fantastic as well- when I heard he was going to be in the film, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to take him seriously, after all, he is a great comedian. Turns out he’s a helluva actor as well. Oh and I have to mention Callum Keith Rennie! I was happy to see him on screen again as well, me being the Due South fan that I am (although he was no Ray Vecchio II in this film).

One other thing I’ll mention- David Duchovny with a beard is a no no . He looked like a bum in the first part of the movie. He did get rid of it about 30 minutes in and all was good .

I think I would have enjoyed the film a lot more if the cinema had been warmer. Honestly, the cinema got really cold. I thought it might be because we were looking at snow on the screen or because I was feeling quite tired but it wasn’t just me. It’s Scotland- we don’t need air-conditioned cinemas unless there is someone smelly in the room.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good movie and I was happy to see the return of Mulder and Scully but I have seen better. Like I said, I was completely knackered by this point anyway and think I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I not been so sleepy in the first place.

I don’t know why the movie hasn’t done better though- it’s a good thriller. It seems that everybody has gone to see The Dark Night, Wall-e or Mamma Mia (seriously, the line for this was huge).

Mood : blah   Music : Only Happy When It Rains  by  Garbage

It was only a 10-15 drive to The Clansman hotel but it was still tipping it down with rain.  Not really ideal picture-taking weather but me and my afro-like hair did have a picture taken next to the large Nessie statue in the car park.  She looks like a Pleisiosaur!

The Clansman restaurant was lovely.  I ordered catch of the day which was Trout (cooked to perfection).  Alongside that, I was served salad and a couple of crayfish.  Slight problem- I’d never eaten a crayfish before.  Apparently you have to bend the shell back until they pop open.  I don’t think I did it correctly, and I’m pretty sure I made a fool of myself in an attempt eat them but they were yummy.  Tasted just like crab meat.

After our late lunch, we walked along the underpass (runs beneath the road and has a cool Nessie mural painted on it) to the Clansman Harbour where you could take a boat ride on the Loch.  I was totally up for it but my mum, who has a fear of boats wasn’t keen.  We decided that since it was well after 3pm, that we should go check into our hotel.

Our hotel was easy enough to find and was near a place called Druid Gardens (sounds lovely huh?).  The room at the Travelodge was just amazing- exceeded my expectations.  The room was huge- I mean it was bigger than the room that 4 of us shared in Bussy-St-Georges last year.  Oh, and it was immaculate- it even smelled clean.  There was a king-sized bed and a double sofa bed in the room along with a tv and  a huge desk.

After dumping all our stuff and freshening up, we decided to try and get to the cinema, to go see the  new X-Files movie, “I Want To Believe”.

Mood : blah   Music : You Really Got A Hold On Me  by  Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Urquhart Castle is only a short drive from the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre- 5 minutes or so. On arriving, the main problem we had was trying to find a suitable parking space. It would appear that some people don’t know how to park. A single car or jeep should take up ONE space only. Not one and a half spaces. Not two spaces. One.

I should mention that by the time we arrived at Urquhart Castle, it was beginning to tip it down with rain. Nevertheless, it wasn’t going to dampen our spirits. It wasn’t like it was lashing it down and it wasn’t cold so it was fine to walk around in it.

We walked to the visitors centre, paid admission (£6.50 for an adult, no student rates), and went down a winding staircase and into the café/gift shop area. The staircase didn’t have a barrier at the top so it would have been possible for some dishonest person to slip down there unnoticed- we almost walked past the admission desk ourselves!

The shop area was annoyingly Scottish- bagpipes playing, tartan everywhere and even the shop assistants were wearing kilts. We grabbed a cup of tea there, after realising that I hadn’t had a cuppa since 5am that morning (of course I’m a tea addict and I need a wee fix every few hours otherwise something terrible may happen ).

After that, we headed outside, onto the balcony to take a look at the castle which was pretty impressive. We then climbed down the steps to have a wander around.

We saw the replica Trebuchet that lies within the grounds of the castle. I also went down to the edge of the Loch to see the remains of the corn drying kiln and took some pictures of the boats on the Loch at the same time. Following that, I headed back up to the gatehouse of the castle and entered the remains.

The first area I viewed was the prison and you basically had to look through a hole in the wall to see it. I was a small, cramped room and I can’t imagine how awful it would have been with multiple prisoners in there. Then again, it was a prison so I guess it’s not supposed to be luxurious.

After looking into the prison, I noticed something was hanging off the hood of my jacket (I realised I had brushed the wall with my hood). What was it? Cobwebs and friggin’ spiders eggs. I hate spiders and I’m sure you will have heard me ranting about them many times.

There was one part of the castle which I decided not to view. It was near the kitchen area and to reach it, you had to descend down a steep set of stairs. I was ok with the steps but I realised the room I was attempting to reach was a tiny wee hole. I guess you could say that I’m slightly claustrophobic so ended up going on to view other parts of the castle.

We wandered around for absolutely ages and didn’t really care about the rain. In fact, I eventually took the hood of my jacket down- cue my hair getting bigger and frizzier as the day went on.

If you’re ever in the Inverness area, Urquhart Castle is well worth a visit- it’s in such a beautiful location. Here’s some info about the castle.

Once we’d viewed the entire castle, we headed back to the gift shop (but don’t think we actually bought anything), then headed to the car.

Remember the comment I made earlier about parking skills?

Well some complete idiot parked so close to the drivers door of our tiny Renault Megane that we couldn’t even open the door to get in it! Jeez can’t people learn how to park (this coming from the girl who has yet to pass a driving test)?! I ended up having to clamber across to the drivers side from the passenger seat so I could reverse the car out. Well yeah, that would have been ok except I haven’t been behind the wheel of the car in a year.

With a lot of help from my mum, she guided me out but it took ages because the carpark was so bloody busy. Trust me, we were tempted to put a “next time, leave a tin opener” comment on the windscreen of the offending vehicle.

Once we got out of there, we headed off to find some lunch- a few family members who had been in the area the previous week suggested the Clansman.

Mood : sore   Music : Don't Speak  by  No Doubt

The Loch Ness Exhibition Centre was an interactive and informative experience.  When you arrive at the reception, you pay at the desk (£6.50 for an adult or £5.00 if you’re a student), go through a curtain in a group, into a darkened room that is like an underground cave.  You are then shown a short film, describing the formation of the Loch.  There was surround sound in this room and it freaked me out a little- reminding me of thunder!

Following that, we went though a series of these darkened cave rooms, with films being shown in each one, telling the story of the first known sightings of Nessie and discussing the most famous photographic evidence.  One of the films documented many of the ways in which researchers have tried to gather data, including sonar.  At this particular bit in the experience, a green laser was shone  on a black wall, and dry ice was blown in front of it, creating a very spooky effect indeed.

We then went into a couple of rooms which showed films that effectively disproved the existence of Nessie altogether, saying that there wasn’t enough food in the Loch to support a creature as large as Nessie is rumoured to be.  Also, they discussed the thousands of eyewitness accounts that have occurred over the year.  Basically, eyewitnesses who say they have seen Nessie may have seen a deer in the Loch, a log, debris, a seal, or even waves left by a passing boat.

To be honest, I was surprised by the experience at the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre.  Before I went in there, I was of the opinion that no, Nessie wasn’t real, and that she’s just a Scottish myth.  Don’t get me wrong, the experience didn’t change my mind on that matter.  I mean, I still like to think that however unlikely it may be, there is something out there in the Loch.  The surprising bit was that all the evidence presented to us agreed that it was extremely unlikely there was a monster in the Loch, if not impossible.  I thought, because it was a tourist attraction that the experience would actively encourage the myth of Nessie.  Looks like I was wrong….

Anyway, I found it very interesting and after spending some time and some cash in the gift shop (I bought Nessie!), we headed for the next location we intended to visit- Urquhart Castle.

Mood : chipper   Music : Anything But Down  by  Sheryl Crow