Ang's Journal

This weekend has been somber, but the fact of the matter is, life does continue. To quote Watership Down again, "Would that the dead were not dead!" But life is still here & must be lived - to do otherwise does no honour to the dead & does great dishonour to the living. So.

Yesterday I distracted myself from the realization that I was missing Mark's funeral with relentless work. All assignments that are due this week: done. Bank account: balanced. Room: cleaned. Laundry: finished. I was a whirling dervish, never settling for more than five minutes, because every time I did so, I'd feel my brain start to close down ... so move, move, MOVE. It worked, sort of. I finally fell asleep around 2:00 AM.

Today, I went to a new church, Kirk'O'Fields Parish Church, which is right down the street from my hall. It was so much better than St Giles. True, it was tiny, & true, the congregation was small, but at least a dozen people introduced themselves to me, as did the pastor, & they have Bible study classes, & they sang hymns in English instead of Latin .... much better experience. I prayed for Mark's family & friends & felt genuine relief & healing in doing so.

Then, since the day was so beautiful, Selina (who lives on my floor) & I decided to hike up Arthur's Seat, the peak that totally dominates the eastern skyline of Edinburgh. We made it to the top, with assistance (& interference, depending on which direction we were facing) from the relentless wind. The wind is also responsible for my avant-garde hairstyle.


Caption: Mary Poppins would be in Norway by now.

After a fit of anger that almost ended with my POS laptop being launched out my bedroom window, I reformatted the hard drive & installed Windows 2000. Now, my machine is a little short on RAM, so W2K is a bit slow, but by God it's worth it to have gotten rid of all the crapulous little freeware programs my dad had installed on that poor machine over the years. Anyway, I need one more small piece of hardware (a Ethernet -> USB cable dongle - anyone know a good place to buy one in Edinburgh?) (hey, that's a good question for edinburgers), then I'll be all set up to do email from my room, & to upload my digital photos.

[NOTE: this entry edited on 10/22/03, photos added, text modified.] I took some really fine photos this weekend. The photo to the left is from Saturday. Cousin Kate came up for a visit, & we met up with her friend Abby & a bunch of Abby's friends. We took a ferry to Inchcolm, a small island in the Firth of Forth. On the island is Inchcolm Abbey, founded in 1192 by King Alexander I of Scotland, as well as some anti-aircraft emplacements dating from World War II. There was a wedding party on board the ferry with us, & it was mighty traditional - all the men were wearing kilts, sporrans, etc., & there was a bagpiper in full regalia. The poor bride & bridesmaids were wearing sleeveless gowns that looked entirely inadequate considering how cold it was out on the water. I have to say, sailing across the Forth to a 12th century ruin while hearing "Scotland the Brave" being played ... well, it definitely sounded a chord in my soul. On the other hand, I think that there is something about the experience of living on this island as a monk that cannot be recaptured today. How much more isolated would the isle have felt if only windpower or rowers were available to get to the mainland? And there would be very little river traffic, as opposed to today, when at all times at least three or four vessels were visible. Just a random thought.

To the right is a photo of two children who were part of the wedding party. Even I, noted disliker of children, thought these two were pretty cute. The elder brother had to do a quick bit of persuasion to convince the younger to pose for me to take this piciture. Awww, cute widdle kilts ...

The final photo was taken onboard the ferry boat. You have to read the sign to understand what happened. You see, it's a photo of Abbey & Shirley right before Kate & I sold them into slavery to finance another couple rounds at the pub.

So today, Abby, Kate & I drove into Fife, where Abby's parents live. Abby is heavily involved in social work with refugees, & her mom's church had organised a collection to benefit the Karen people of Burma. So we attended services at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Kirkcaldy so Abby could speak about the Karen, & to collect the money. Halfway there, Abby suddenly remembers that it's Harvest Day, a British church holiday that focuses on getting tinned food donations for the poor. So we stop into a petrol station & buy three tins of the only tinned food available - Spaghetti Hoops. We each stuff one tin in our coat pockets & head on into church. Only to learn there that the tinned food donation was suspended this year - in favor of a money collection for the Karen! This story ends with me eating Spaghetti Hoops for dinner tonight (I don't recommend them; the sauce is pretty bad).

Anyhoo ... first day of real classes tomorrow. We're starting at 10:00 AM with "Software Engineering and Geographical Algorithms". Heeeerrre we go!

I went to Bible study this morning & it was the last time I'm going to see my pastor before I leave for Edinburgh. ( So here's a bit of praise for Rev. Dr. Raymond R. Roberts, the pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, PA. )

song lyrics & music!