Just another quick post to say that Cargo have the Special Delivery event as part of Unbound at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on the 24th. 9pm, Spiegeltent in Charlotte Square, free entry :) See www.cargopublishing.com for details.
Photo by Chris Scott
Friday, 19 August 2011
30 Days Hath September...and I'm going to be dry for them
***WARNING: This will get a bit detailed***
Well, I've said it on Facebook, and I've said it on Twitter. So now I'm saying it here.
As I mentioned in the last post, I went home a couple of weeks ago. I spent most of it chilling at home, walking the dog, and seeing folk I hadn't seen in months for various reasons. In addition, my mam's cousin had a party to christen her new porch (well, conservatory). We brought a lot of booze, which was stowed away in the wheelbarrow (where there was most space for it), and a marquee was set up in the very large back garden for my brother's band to perform in (it was the first time I'd seen them live).
However, that night I consumed the following in alcohol:
1 x bottle of Stella Artois cidre (not cider, and more delicious for it)
2 x bottle of Magners original apple cider
1x vodka and lemonade which was given to me by someone who'd changed their mind about it and I honestly swear was one part lemonade and three parts vodka
1 x bottle of Corona beer, sans lime
I've just checked my result with Drink Aware, and that comes to be 11 units - this is less than the recommended amount for women to drink per week, but about four times more than the recommend amount per day. Oh dearie me.
I do remember most of the night, mainly because I was watching the band. At one point - even though by this point I was rather drunk - my brother even got me up to join in with the harmonies on 'I Won't Back Down' originally by Tom Petty. I actually did a good job, I'm told. Later in the evening, after the band finished, we went in and the hostess got a batch of her famous Eton Mess on the go. I remember taking loads of it and trying to eat it and dropping it down myself - classy, eh? Anyway, we went home and I got to bed at about 2:15am. Around three hours later I woke up again and ended up being very sick - only the third time I've vommed from drinking. I felt horribly ill for the rest of the day - even a large mug of miso soup failed to shift it. It was a hot day, and I walked down to my cousin's house to return something I'd borrowed from her. It would usually take me about fifteen minutes from hers to mine on foot but felt like an hour, and within five minutes I was given a pint of water because I was so ill / dehydrated. It hadn't shifted by 6pm, when we went to have dinner at the home of my step-granddad and his new wife. It is truly the worst hangover I've ever had, and I hope to god I never have another like it in my life.
This isn't the first time I've had too much to drink and felt the worse for it either. It happened after a flat party we had in April, when I had to work the next day, and I had a huge blowout over a weekend in July - once at a friend's graduation party and the following day / night, firstly with a friend whom I hadn't seen in months and my ex-flatmate, whose birthday it was. Needless to say, I felt like shit on Sunday. There's been a few times - especially when I've had cider, it's massively bad for me - that I've done stuff I don't remember when drunk. On a few occasions I've gone to bed with my contacts in. Anyone else who wears contacts regularly knows how painful that is.
This maybe doesn't sound too untoward for most folk, but I never used to drink to excess. As a teenager my ideal weekend was spent at my granny's eating jam sandwiches and playing Scrabble. I did have the odd night out, but only ever had alcohol on special occasions. I first attempted to buy alcohol six weeks before my 18th birthday and was surprisingly successful. Only after I turned 18 did I realise that the majority of pubs in Shetland weren't big on ID'ing people. I moved to Glasgow that same September, where most places that I actually went to were a bit stricter. As time went on I made more friends and went out more often. Not to say that I didn't drink to excess some nights and do stupid things before that - I once buggered my ankle after tripping on the steps at the Hilltop Bar in Yell (aka The UK's Most Northerly Pub) after vastly misjudging all the booze I'd had. I've apparently once drunkenly burped the alphabet following a binge (I don't remember it, honest), I've said things I shouldn't have said. Again, not unusual. But I used to be able to have a good fun night without alcohol so I'd like to re-experience that.
I only came to this decision earlier in the week, but after getting back to Glasgow I briefly went out for a friend's birthday. I had two vodkas and coke the whole night - having had a pint of straight coke before that - and feel great for it today. So I've decided that attempting to pack in drinking for 30 days might just be a plan.
So yeah - as of September 1st, I am, to coin a phrase, 'aff it'. No booze please. Kthx.
Well, I've said it on Facebook, and I've said it on Twitter. So now I'm saying it here.
As I mentioned in the last post, I went home a couple of weeks ago. I spent most of it chilling at home, walking the dog, and seeing folk I hadn't seen in months for various reasons. In addition, my mam's cousin had a party to christen her new porch (well, conservatory). We brought a lot of booze, which was stowed away in the wheelbarrow (where there was most space for it), and a marquee was set up in the very large back garden for my brother's band to perform in (it was the first time I'd seen them live).
However, that night I consumed the following in alcohol:
1 x bottle of Stella Artois cidre (not cider, and more delicious for it)
2 x bottle of Magners original apple cider
1x vodka and lemonade which was given to me by someone who'd changed their mind about it and I honestly swear was one part lemonade and three parts vodka
1 x bottle of Corona beer, sans lime
I've just checked my result with Drink Aware, and that comes to be 11 units - this is less than the recommended amount for women to drink per week, but about four times more than the recommend amount per day. Oh dearie me.
I do remember most of the night, mainly because I was watching the band. At one point - even though by this point I was rather drunk - my brother even got me up to join in with the harmonies on 'I Won't Back Down' originally by Tom Petty. I actually did a good job, I'm told. Later in the evening, after the band finished, we went in and the hostess got a batch of her famous Eton Mess on the go. I remember taking loads of it and trying to eat it and dropping it down myself - classy, eh? Anyway, we went home and I got to bed at about 2:15am. Around three hours later I woke up again and ended up being very sick - only the third time I've vommed from drinking. I felt horribly ill for the rest of the day - even a large mug of miso soup failed to shift it. It was a hot day, and I walked down to my cousin's house to return something I'd borrowed from her. It would usually take me about fifteen minutes from hers to mine on foot but felt like an hour, and within five minutes I was given a pint of water because I was so ill / dehydrated. It hadn't shifted by 6pm, when we went to have dinner at the home of my step-granddad and his new wife. It is truly the worst hangover I've ever had, and I hope to god I never have another like it in my life.
This isn't the first time I've had too much to drink and felt the worse for it either. It happened after a flat party we had in April, when I had to work the next day, and I had a huge blowout over a weekend in July - once at a friend's graduation party and the following day / night, firstly with a friend whom I hadn't seen in months and my ex-flatmate, whose birthday it was. Needless to say, I felt like shit on Sunday. There's been a few times - especially when I've had cider, it's massively bad for me - that I've done stuff I don't remember when drunk. On a few occasions I've gone to bed with my contacts in. Anyone else who wears contacts regularly knows how painful that is.
This maybe doesn't sound too untoward for most folk, but I never used to drink to excess. As a teenager my ideal weekend was spent at my granny's eating jam sandwiches and playing Scrabble. I did have the odd night out, but only ever had alcohol on special occasions. I first attempted to buy alcohol six weeks before my 18th birthday and was surprisingly successful. Only after I turned 18 did I realise that the majority of pubs in Shetland weren't big on ID'ing people. I moved to Glasgow that same September, where most places that I actually went to were a bit stricter. As time went on I made more friends and went out more often. Not to say that I didn't drink to excess some nights and do stupid things before that - I once buggered my ankle after tripping on the steps at the Hilltop Bar in Yell (aka The UK's Most Northerly Pub) after vastly misjudging all the booze I'd had. I've apparently once drunkenly burped the alphabet following a binge (I don't remember it, honest), I've said things I shouldn't have said. Again, not unusual. But I used to be able to have a good fun night without alcohol so I'd like to re-experience that.
I only came to this decision earlier in the week, but after getting back to Glasgow I briefly went out for a friend's birthday. I had two vodkas and coke the whole night - having had a pint of straight coke before that - and feel great for it today. So I've decided that attempting to pack in drinking for 30 days might just be a plan.
So yeah - as of September 1st, I am, to coin a phrase, 'aff it'. No booze please. Kthx.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Long overdue update...you know the drill by now
Hellooooooooo!
Sorry I've not written since June. God, didn't realise it had been that long!
So yeah - family wedding has been. And while I am unsure as to just how much weight I have lost, I shed enough that my dress fit me :D And while that's a small victory, I'm sure I could do better, so I'm going to keep up with the swimming / eating better as best I can.
There's also been a few literary excitements in recent months, among them Valve Journal (which I have yet to review), the launch of Tracy S Rosenberg's novel The Girl in the Bunker, which by the way got to No. 1 in the Scottish Bestsellers list :), the release of Andrew Raymond Drennan's new novel The Immaculate Heart, and more recently we re-released "The Year of Open Doors" in paperback.
We then have an event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival - the Special Delivery as part of Unbound. The event is free.
Meanwhile I be back in Shetland at last, firstly for a break and secondly for my gran's 80th :)
Sorry I've not written since June. God, didn't realise it had been that long!
So yeah - family wedding has been. And while I am unsure as to just how much weight I have lost, I shed enough that my dress fit me :D And while that's a small victory, I'm sure I could do better, so I'm going to keep up with the swimming / eating better as best I can.
There's also been a few literary excitements in recent months, among them Valve Journal (which I have yet to review), the launch of Tracy S Rosenberg's novel The Girl in the Bunker, which by the way got to No. 1 in the Scottish Bestsellers list :), the release of Andrew Raymond Drennan's new novel The Immaculate Heart, and more recently we re-released "The Year of Open Doors" in paperback.
We then have an event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival - the Special Delivery as part of Unbound. The event is free.
Meanwhile I be back in Shetland at last, firstly for a break and secondly for my gran's 80th :)
Saturday, 18 June 2011
In Defence of Teachers - Past, Present and Future
So...given how vehemently I've complained in the past about people expecting me to go into teaching, you might be surprised to find I've written this. However, I felt I needed to.
Let me begin by telling you about Megan, my younger sister. Among other things, she recently completed sixth year. Not that she needed to - of the five courses over three unis that she applied to, she got unconditional entry to all five. The one she elected to go to was the PE teaching course at Stirling University.
Now, I know what you're thinking. She's seventeen, how does she know what she wants to do already? Well, she's a lot more mature at that age than I was. She now drives, she earns a hell of a lot more money than I did at a job that provides her with more experience, and she's amazing at sports. She helped out with the PE primary classes during her free time in 6th year, as well as taking swimming classes at her job (she's a pool lifeguard if you hadn't guessed) and the kids she's worked with think she's wonderful. She's also extremely popular and has a big crowd of friends, and knows how to stand up for herself - a real people person. Basically she's great teacher material.
She's not the only one in my life like that. I know lots of people who want to be teachers, most of them from my course at uni. Good for them. Many of them have experience of working with children which they are keen to put to good use. They have knowledge which they are keen to share with others, and I think that's wonderful.
The problem, though, is that I know so many people who write off teaching as a career which one takes up when they can find no other use for their degree. I get that all the time. "An English degree, you say? You should go into teaching."
Excuse me? Who are you to judge what I should do with my degree? I don't want to be a teacher, I'd be fucking awful at it. I'm very introverted (less so than I used to be, but still), I have no patience with people who don't pay attention, I can't deal with the thought of trying to force a kid to learn about something they're not even remotely interested in...I'd just be horrible at it. I'd be up for teaching at a university for sure, since by that point folk are more interested, keener to listen and actually want to learn, but not unruly teenagers legally obliged to be there.
Teaching takes a special person. The people I know who are doing teaching are all awesome and enthusiastic about what they are specialising in. Good for them. You have to want to be a teacher, like you would want to be a doctor, lawyer, journalist, engineer, or any other professional. I'm sad to say that a number of the teachers who taught me at secondary school level really should not have become teachers. They struggled to control classes, they didn't stick particularly firmly to the syllabus, they sometimes just outright ignored us and left us to our own devices. Generally they were as much use as a chocolate fireguard when it came to helping us mould our futures. It still frustrates me to think folk like that were responsible for parts of my education. They weren't all like that of course. A few did their job well and actually cared whether or not we made something of our lives.
So why is teaching so easily written off as a career? It's not like the pay isn't good - beginners can start on £20,000 a year. It can be challenging and rewarding, and the holidays aren't bad either. It takes a special sort of person to do, it's not just a Mickey Mouse career. So don't knock teachers, past, present or future, because many of them are awesome.
Rant over. PS Sorry for the prolonged radio silence.
Let me begin by telling you about Megan, my younger sister. Among other things, she recently completed sixth year. Not that she needed to - of the five courses over three unis that she applied to, she got unconditional entry to all five. The one she elected to go to was the PE teaching course at Stirling University.
Now, I know what you're thinking. She's seventeen, how does she know what she wants to do already? Well, she's a lot more mature at that age than I was. She now drives, she earns a hell of a lot more money than I did at a job that provides her with more experience, and she's amazing at sports. She helped out with the PE primary classes during her free time in 6th year, as well as taking swimming classes at her job (she's a pool lifeguard if you hadn't guessed) and the kids she's worked with think she's wonderful. She's also extremely popular and has a big crowd of friends, and knows how to stand up for herself - a real people person. Basically she's great teacher material.
She's not the only one in my life like that. I know lots of people who want to be teachers, most of them from my course at uni. Good for them. Many of them have experience of working with children which they are keen to put to good use. They have knowledge which they are keen to share with others, and I think that's wonderful.
The problem, though, is that I know so many people who write off teaching as a career which one takes up when they can find no other use for their degree. I get that all the time. "An English degree, you say? You should go into teaching."
Excuse me? Who are you to judge what I should do with my degree? I don't want to be a teacher, I'd be fucking awful at it. I'm very introverted (less so than I used to be, but still), I have no patience with people who don't pay attention, I can't deal with the thought of trying to force a kid to learn about something they're not even remotely interested in...I'd just be horrible at it. I'd be up for teaching at a university for sure, since by that point folk are more interested, keener to listen and actually want to learn, but not unruly teenagers legally obliged to be there.
Teaching takes a special person. The people I know who are doing teaching are all awesome and enthusiastic about what they are specialising in. Good for them. You have to want to be a teacher, like you would want to be a doctor, lawyer, journalist, engineer, or any other professional. I'm sad to say that a number of the teachers who taught me at secondary school level really should not have become teachers. They struggled to control classes, they didn't stick particularly firmly to the syllabus, they sometimes just outright ignored us and left us to our own devices. Generally they were as much use as a chocolate fireguard when it came to helping us mould our futures. It still frustrates me to think folk like that were responsible for parts of my education. They weren't all like that of course. A few did their job well and actually cared whether or not we made something of our lives.
So why is teaching so easily written off as a career? It's not like the pay isn't good - beginners can start on £20,000 a year. It can be challenging and rewarding, and the holidays aren't bad either. It takes a special sort of person to do, it's not just a Mickey Mouse career. So don't knock teachers, past, present or future, because many of them are awesome.
Rant over. PS Sorry for the prolonged radio silence.
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Monday, 30 May 2011
Weight loss
It's paying off.
Basically I've finally started going swimming again, as regularly as possible. And it's working, because now I'm slimmer than I was. I'm just about fitting back into the Dress of Awesome all over again. I guess it wasn't too challenging - I only needed to drop one size. But I could still do with shedding a little more as time goes on I guess.
Basically I've finally started going swimming again, as regularly as possible. And it's working, because now I'm slimmer than I was. I'm just about fitting back into the Dress of Awesome all over again. I guess it wasn't too challenging - I only needed to drop one size. But I could still do with shedding a little more as time goes on I guess.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
More Upcoming Stuff
- I've had more ideas for short stories.
- I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life. Going to the uni's careers service is helping a lot. My advisor seems to love me, she seems quite impressed at the experience I've gathered - supposedly that's a lot more than most English graduates have. Result. Just need to actually put this stuff into practise and find a better job than the paid one.
- Speaking of the Paid Job...I've just put in for holidays to be told of how little guarantee I have of getting them. Great. ¬_¬
- More stuff with Cargo. Andrew Raymond Drennan's new book is coming out in May.
- It's my birthday on Friday.
- I'm singing at Sammy Dow's on Sunday. Nervous doesn't even cover it.
- I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life. Going to the uni's careers service is helping a lot. My advisor seems to love me, she seems quite impressed at the experience I've gathered - supposedly that's a lot more than most English graduates have. Result. Just need to actually put this stuff into practise and find a better job than the paid one.
- Speaking of the Paid Job...I've just put in for holidays to be told of how little guarantee I have of getting them. Great. ¬_¬
- More stuff with Cargo. Andrew Raymond Drennan's new book is coming out in May.
- It's my birthday on Friday.
- I'm singing at Sammy Dow's on Sunday. Nervous doesn't even cover it.
Friday, 15 April 2011
Thoughts on the Royal Wedding
So...late last year we discovered that Prince William, second-in-line to the throne, had become engaged to Kate Middleton, his long term sweetheart. They then announced the wedding would be held on April 29th at Westminster Abbey.
Now, a lot of folk I know couldn't care less about this year's royal wedding. I don't know if it's just to do with us being Scottish or what, but a lot of folk seem to be trying to escape the country when it does happen. Most folk are making the most of a free day off. I'll be off too. I'm not meant to be, because the nature of my work means that my colleagues aren't supposed to be entitled to the day off. However, I'm not coming in to work that day because it is, in fact, my birthday.
So what will I be doing? Well, to be honest, I'm just going to put this out there: I think I'll watch it. There, I said it. I don't have any particularly strong feelings towards the royals, but I want to see what Kate's wearing. For some reason I love looking at wedding dresses even though I'm not even attached to anyone. Sad, I know. I might not even watch it all the way through, maybe just some of it. Or I might see if it ends up on the iPlayer and watch on there instead. I think it's nice that two folk in love are getting married, but I don't know them personally of course.
Now, a lot of folk I know couldn't care less about this year's royal wedding. I don't know if it's just to do with us being Scottish or what, but a lot of folk seem to be trying to escape the country when it does happen. Most folk are making the most of a free day off. I'll be off too. I'm not meant to be, because the nature of my work means that my colleagues aren't supposed to be entitled to the day off. However, I'm not coming in to work that day because it is, in fact, my birthday.
So what will I be doing? Well, to be honest, I'm just going to put this out there: I think I'll watch it. There, I said it. I don't have any particularly strong feelings towards the royals, but I want to see what Kate's wearing. For some reason I love looking at wedding dresses even though I'm not even attached to anyone. Sad, I know. I might not even watch it all the way through, maybe just some of it. Or I might see if it ends up on the iPlayer and watch on there instead. I think it's nice that two folk in love are getting married, but I don't know them personally of course.
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