just in case you didn’t notice …
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5 November, 2011 at 11.08 am
Kim’s comments are standard Well after Anne strongly hinted, I thought I’d write about our weekend in Edinburgh. Though I technically think Anne should be writing this entry since I, you know, live in Edinburgh? Nothing we did was new to me. OH WELL. Hi. Friday 28th October After spending the entire day helping out at an East Asian art conference, I emerged from the Student Union, blinking at the glaring light of day, to pick up Anne from a Costas near the Edinburgh train station. (I think that was quite a poetic sentence) It was quite a nice day and you can see that Autumn has arrived in full swing.  look at those colours! On our way back to my flat, after having a quick browse in Top Shop, we bought some salmon and Wensleydale cheese (with cranberries! – my favourite) for dinner, picked up Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls on DVD from the local film rental shop place thing. Quite a quiet night, we had our dinner, watched the films and stuffed our faces with cheese. Sudden realisations and epiphanies were that I definitely did not understand a lot of the jokes in the Ace Ventura films when I was younger, and When Nature Calls is so much better than Pet Detective. Largely because of the slinky bit. I seem to recall thinking the “she’s a virgin!” scene was the most scandalous thing when I was 8. I was also far too amused by the rhino scene for my current age. Ace Ventura clip, anyone? Anne and I had scrambled eggs for breakfast before heading to the train station to pick up Fio. It was a lovely day in Edinburgh and actually Fio and Anne picked the perfect weekend to come up and visit. Edinburgh was truly beautiful that weekend (and actually, is incredibly beautiful today as well).
For dinner we went to a little Japanese restaurant. I stuffed my face with sushi and green tea which was a really nice change from eating roasted salmon on what seems to be a daily basis. So so so delicious! Durham fails at providing good east-Asian food so I got a chance to stock up on sashimi and tempura, score!  It can Afterwards of course we had a halloween party to get ready for, so full with sushi we waddled our way back to the flat. Fiona and Anne dressed up as kittens and I was medusa. It was a pretty uneventful flat party. Ahem. Apart from someone getting special attention from a superhero whose costume really was far too tight in the crotch area and then later, an attractive but dull pirate. No, just dull. (Kim is talking about Fiona here btw, I received no such attention).
On the way home we stopped off at the kebab shop right under my flat, and I found myself getting aggressive because they didn’t give pita bread with their humous, and then trying to get a discount on account of living in the same building. Hm. ANOTHER incredibly delicious thing, humous/hummus really is the greatest thing ever invented. Sunday 30th October We had brunch at my favourite cafe in Edinburgh, Kilimanjaro. Delicious. Preach it! Then we tackled Arthur’s Seat for the beautiful view of the whole of Edinburgh.
Again, it was a beautiful day but that doesn’t mean we were able to escape the horrific wind at the top of the hill. If you want to illustrate this comment about the wind with your photos Anne, feel free since the one I doesn’t really demonstrate how painful it was.
We then ambled down to the bottom and that’s where I took this pretty picture and realised just how much I love my new phone.
They had the greatest jack-o-lantern on display as well, which I think will give you an idea of the kind of place it is (answer: awesome). AWESOME.  CUTE Fio hopped on a train at half four and then Anne, Emma and I wandered around Urban Outfitters for a bit, before grabbing our dinner at a nearby Costas. We then came to the horrible realisation that pretty much everything in Edinburgh shuts at 6pm on a Sunday and we had to entertain ourselves till their 8pm train. All together it was a very lovely weekend. I absolutely love showing off Edinburgh to people and I’m so glad it was a beautiful weekend that allowed me to do so. I’m so pleased Anne and Fio could come up to visit. Then just over a week later (aka, on Monday) I will be heading to Durham to see Anne for a couple of days! VERY EXCITING. YES. A much needed break from dreary Durry. Next week: Durham, the lake district and perhaps more? Stay frosty, people. 4 November, 2011 at 9.05 pm
If you would like to waste your money on something that stitches together bad quality photos and calls it film then buy THIS THING. Remember to shove friends and familys’ faces into the lens when shooting, then shoot into the sun, the way it’s been marketed tells me these things are crucial to having a good experience with the Lomokino (UGH). Yeah!!! Yeah … P.S. 24 October, 2011 at 8.35 pm
It could ruin someone’s CHANCES OF SELLING THINGS. 23 October, 2011 at 10.47 am
Those of you who know me, and I’m going to assume it’s all of those reading this blog, will know that Bon Iver is my favourite band. Perhaps the only band I can say that I honestly love whenever people ask me about my taste in music. I discovered Bon Iver in the Hong Kong HMV in Causeway Bay shortly after For Emma, Forever Ago was released in 2008. I was walking around and saw a band I was familiar with in one of the CD players. For the life of me I can’t remember what band it was, perhaps Uh Huh Her? But in the CD player directly below was For Emma, Forever Ago. I was intrigued by the short blurb that had been written about Justin Vernon retreating to a cabin in the woods and so I gave the album a little listen. And what can I say, I fell in love. When I arrived at university I knew that they would be playing on the Wednesday of Fresher’s Week at Queen’s Hall. It was not sold out. Me being me though I was far too shy and a little but too awkward to ask any of the people I’d just met if they wanted to go. It never occurred to me to just go by myself. And so I missed a great opportunity to see Bon Iver perform live. Roughly a year after I discovered Bon Iver, I preordered their EP Blood Bank. The sound was still quite true to For Emma, the songs were essentially those that didn’t make it onto the For Emma track list. With the song “Woods” though there seemed a bit of experimentation. Then came their self titled album. Also pre-ordered but this time I had to wait until I returned to Hong Kong from my time in Beijing before I could get my hands on it. I think this album was a bit harder to love after being so obsessed with For Emma. The album reached number 2 in the US charts and 4 in the UK. If I were to name my favourite songs from the album I would name half of the album – “Perth”, “Minnesota, WI”, “Towers”, “Michicant” and “Calgary”. So realising a new album was being released meant the possibility of a tour, and perhaps either an Edinburgh or Glasgow gig. The tickets sold out on the day they became available to the public. I struggled with the website and when I could finally pick the tickets there were only 6 remaining. That was in May.
5 months later (last night!) I saw them perform.  Not the best seat in the house, but it definitely had its perks. The set list to begin with left much to be imagined in the sense that the songs were played in the order they appeared in the new album. So they, like their album, started strong with “Perth”, then played “Minnesota, WI”, then “Holocene”, “Towers”, “Michicant”. But then things were mixed up a bit once “Flume” from For Emma was played. I say that the set list was a bit dull to start, but the band were absolutely amazing. What started out as just Justin Vernon has become a 9 piece band with everyone being incredibly talented. So many instruments were picked up and played: violin, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, chimes, french horn, saxophones… The result was beautiful swells and crescendos and absolutely incredible moments when – and this is where it will become painfully obvious that I know nothing about Music really – descended into an artfully constructed sound with every instrument playing. I can’t even describe how wonderful some of the instrumentals were. And Justin Vernon’s vocals did not disappoint at all. I think to an extent I was worried that he wouldn’t match up to expectations. But Justin Vernon’s voice is more beautiful live than off of a CD. “Re: Stacks” was absolutely stunning because all we listened to and watched was essentially Justin Vernon and his guitar. I don’t know how to end this post really. This was a beautiful gig. Because I had been waiting 3 years to see Bon Iver live, last night I could have experienced crushing disappointment. Instead, I’m sitting here and I cannot wait until I can see them again.  Standing ovation! Also, how beautiful of a venue is usher hall. Wish I'd taken photos of the details in the construction. 18 October, 2011 at 10.33 pm
So the weather has gone unbelievably cold all of the sudden. I think this is pay back for that incredibly warm week at the end of september.
Good news though, both Anne and Fiona will be joining me in Edinburgh in just over a weeks time so we’ll be able to update you about life in this beautiful Scottish capital. Also I’m seeing my all time favourite Bon Iver perform this Saturday so crazy excited about that. 16 October, 2011 at 10.17 am
Very sorry for this lack of posting on my part. Anne has done a very good job of keeping this blog alive while I’ve been MIA. It’s been quite a task adjusting back to life in the UK. Not that it has been difficult but after 10 months in China and a total 16 months away from the UK and university there have been things I’ve had to get used to, such as actually preparing for classes, doing reading, classical Chinese grammar and also traditional Chinese characters. I have just gotten the new iPhone 4s, it arrived yesterday and as much as I love my 2year old blackberry I am loving this iPhone. Thanks to Siri I can actually dictate messages and I will actually dictate the next bit (and I won’t be making any changes.
Okay so what I meant to say there was “this is me dictating this message. Siri is very accurate and a great piece of technology”. How brilliant is that? I also got Instagram do I can post faux hipster photos like the one below.
8 October, 2011 at 10.02 am
Lost a day or so in the move back to the UK. Will start posting again once the house gets Internet access. I need to invest in a hot water botty. 5 October, 2011 at 2.40 am
Late because I went out yesterday from noon till 4 am. WHY AM I AWAKE??? |
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