1. I'm on two of the Big Three "V" Pharmaceuticals. Vicodin and Valium, yay. Thank you for making the pain less bad. Viagra, I have no need for you.

2. I bought several long-sleeve Nike "Dri Fit" shirts to wear under tshirts as the weather gets cooler. overall, very comfortable. But some of them have tis wierd plastic ribbing design on the sleeves. A friend called it "Aquaman", but what are these plastic-y doo-dads for? Check it out here (just zoom in on the forearm of the sleeve): http://tinyurl.com/57eg2v. I would really love to know what they are and why they're on my nice, comfy shirt.

3. Please tell me that Fringe isn't going to get canceled. Also, that it isn't going to go all weird like the X-FIles and Alias did at the end. I really like the show -- perfectly odd. Also, totally liking Eleventh Hour and Sanctuary. And the Mentalist. Good season for new shows.

4. Why wan't Q in the newest James Bond (Quantum of Solace)? I see now on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(James_Bond)) that he wasn't in Casino Royale either, but he certainly would have improved Quantum ...

5. My friends, who brought me dinner and rescued my car from the ER parking lot, totally rock. Thanks, guys.

6. At what point should I finally call it and delete the programs I haven't yet watched but that are taking up space on my Tivo? I intend to watch them ... but will I?

7. I'm so so so bummed that David Tennant is only going to do a couple of new Doctor Who specials. Love him as the Doctor. Love re-watching the episodes. And I think "Blink" is one of the best stand-alone scary sci-fi episodes of television ever. Love love love it. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey indeed.

8. I'm getting mentioned in random friends blogs! woo hoo! I might treasure this quote forever (especially since my goalie skills are FAR from Nabokovian) Thanks Carolyn!:

"Nora had some really awesome saves. I definitely saw her do a Nabbyesque scoop to grab the puck mid-air. :-D "
- http://bluepoof.blogs.com/motorcycle/2008/10/team-danger-vs-blue-martinis-1-4.htmll

9. My neck better be better enough to let me go to the Sharks game this Saturday. I ordered a new 3rd jersey (yes, sight unseen - they better look cool), and have a really sweet seat in the lower bowl ...

I'd add more, but that one pretty much sums it up.

I'm gonna get better. I promise. Really! Like, soon. Honest.

Or not. But hope springs eternal.

Slate Magazine. What can I say, I love the Slate:

Blogs Yeah, there are a few I'm always checking:

I know, hardly deep, not so meaningful, but that's what's what ...

I haven't exactly been verbose since returning from sabbatical (yes, yes, I know ... it was 18 months ago ... but I started a new job, and it got busy, and then it had been so long htat I didn't know what to say), but I thought that instead of making a resolution for the new year, and give the blogging thing a try again.

So,what to blog about? The oodles of mashed sweet potatoes I just cooked up and put in the fridge for future eating pleasure (mmm. sweet potatoes.)? My unfortunate realization that I (*gasp*) have too many shoes? That I just discovered that some kind soul uploaded the entire Christmas Episode of Doctor Who (Voyage of the Damned) to YouTube and I got my fix while waiting for the Torchwood premiere (Jan 28, baby).

All interesting, but, well, meh.

But one of the things I've always wondered is how much I actually read in a day/week/month/year. I have a bit of a reputation, and pretty much am always reading, so, I thought, why not track it? It gets me back in the habit of writing pretty frequently (that is, writing non-work-email). So, that's the idea ... maybe I'll learn something about how I spend my free time ... or not :)

BUT, this is totally awesome: The Middle East Buddy List is exactly what I need to keep score of who plays well with others (since, apparently, we can't all just get along) - my History of the Middle East Class didn't really get past the creation of Israel, and, to be honest, I get confused.

I got to Orkney on Friday night, and left Sunday, which only gave me a day and a half to explore the island. But I soon discovered that Neolithic Orkney is a World Heritage Site, and with good reason. I had a fantastic time, and really wished I could have stayed there longer.

Friday, June 30

The ferry to Stromness got me in at 8:30. I'd already eaten dinner, so, since it was so light out, I decided to go for a drive after checking into my hotel. When I saw the signs for the Standing Stones of Stenness, I decided to see if they were still accessible.

Standing Stones of Stenness

They were! The stones are in the middle of a farmer's land, and there were actually sheep grazing around the stones.

The light was fantastic, and as the sun began to set, the sky had fantastic colors. I'm sure the short daylight hours in the winter are pretty harsh, but the long summer evenings should make up for it in spades!

A couple wandered in from the farm fields as I was photgraphing the stones, and asked if I'd scene the neolithic village. They pointed me down I small path, and there the village was, just a short walk from the stones. It hadn't even been mentioned in my guidebook.

The village:

One of the houses:

Stromness

When I got back into Stromness, it was still SO light out that I went for a walk. It was peaceful and charming.

The idyllic one-street town:

I had to take a picture of this sign because of how off-handedly it mentions "the Franklin Expedition." Of course everyone knows about the Franklin Expedition. Right?

Saturday, July 1

It was a little strange trying to sleep when the sky never really gets dark. I woke up several times and looked outside, thinking I must be late for breakfast, only to discover it was actually 2 am. I wasn't late for breakfast, but made an early start for a relatively packed day.

Skara Brae

Skara Brae is the Big Draw. It's a neolithic village that's over 5,000 years old (older than the Egyptian pyramids), and was fantastically preserved. It had been buried by a sandstorm, and was only discovered when a wild storm in 1850 blew the sand dune away and revelaed the ruins. When it was uncovered, some of the houses had stone "dressers" still standing in the center of the rooms.

The village (kinda reminds me of Hobbitton...):

This shows the stone dresser. The rectangles on either side were beds, and the red thing in the middle was the firepit.

Maes Howe

Maes Howe was a very cool cairn that originally became famous because some Vikings left a bunch of graffiti on the stones after breaking in. But I think it's more impressive because of the humongous stones used to construct it with no mortar and no metal tools. The front of the cave is lined up so that on the winter solstice the sun shoots down the entryway and lights up the inside, though I hear the sunlight is very good for the 80 days surrounding the winter solstice as well.

Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures allowed inside, so I can only show you the outside.

Kirkwall

I went to Kirkwall to see St. Magnus, a red sandstone cathedral, only built on a smaller scale than a typical cathedral.

Sandstone is pretty soft, and the weather has had a big effect on some the stone:

I had to find out about the evil Earl Patrick Stewart (no, not him, this guy.) The Earl was a bit of a brute; rumor has it that the palace was built with slave labor. It was a fun ruin, if you're in the neighborhood, but not something I'd go out of my way to see.

The Broch of Gurness

A broch is a round, iron age tower, and apparently they are exclusive to Scotland. Archaeologists don't really agree on their purpose.

I had apparently chosen the right time to visit. The Broch of Gurness is one of the major Orkney attractions, but this is how full the car park was. The first car is mine, and one belongs to the man running the ticket office. I didn't even see the owners of the other cars.

The broch.

For scale, I'm 6'3". And it's not an optical illusion, the entry to this room really was that small. I crawled. Everywhere I visited emphasized that people weren't really short when these buildings were built. The small entrances are thought to have kept out the wind and weather.

Me again. I liked this broch!

The village surrounding the broch:

Mine Howe

Mine Howe was an interesting visit. It's only been excavated recently, and it sounds like the experts aren't really sure what to make of it. The site also has a more rugged feel - no fancy interpretive center, just some portable trailers.

When I arrived, I went through the visitor trailer, and was then handed a red hard hat and a torch (flashlight). At first glance, the site didn't look too promising (the green building is what we're heading into)

I was advised to go down the step like you would a ladder. And I was immediately grateful for the hard hat, as it banged against the stones above me.

Here's the big Mine Howe mystery. These 29 steps led to something. But what?

Looking up at the ceiling from the bottom of the steps.

Mine Howe was great. Damp and dark and dirty, with the air of exploration. This is why I wanted to be an archaeologist for so long. It would be so much fun!

The Broch of Birsay

The Broch of Birsay is interesting because it's only accessible during the two hours on either side of low tide. The rest of the time, this walkway is underwater.

The broch. This site was settled and resettled by the Picts and the Vikings, and at one point had a monastery.

I thought these stone drains (built by the Norse) were pretty clever.

The Ring of Brodgar (or Brogar)

After visiting all the sites, I had a very nice dinner at the Hamnavoe Restaurant in Stromness (very good, but you need to make reservations), then headed over to the Ring of Brodgar. About half the signs spelled it Brogar, but I never figured out why. Being able to maximize the long daylight hours to visit the free sites after everything else was closed was really nice.

Sunday, July 2

I had originally booked my ferry to return me to the mainland Sunday morning, so I could get to Aberdeen early. But when I drove up to the deserted ticket office, I realized my mistake: I'd actually booked the return ticket for Monday. Oops. A quick phone call and the ticket was changed (with no extra fees!), but I now had 5 hours to kill. It wasn't hard.

Tomb of the Eagles

The brochures and pictures of the Tomb of the Eagles were slick, but it was almost an hour drive from Stromness, so I hadn't gone on Saturday. Naturally, this was the first thing I thought of to do. If you ever have the chance to go see this, don't. Right now, the site is owned and operated by the family who owns the land (long story short, the authorities didn't get their act together, so the rights reverted from the state to the farmer). And they have a long monologue that you're forced to sit through, the gimmick being that you get to touch some neolithic artifacts. And then you traipse to a dull neolithic ruin and out to the tomb. But there were a few problems.

First, all the talking and being forced to sit there rather than getting to explore was very confining. And very counter to everything else I'd done on Orkney.

Second, the cairn (tomb) was pretty lame. If it had been great, I would have forgiven anything beforehand. But it wasn't spectacular like Maes Howe or adventurous like Mine Howe. Or cool like the other cairns I visited later in the day. It was just meh.

Third, it was really expensive, especially when compared with the other sites on Orkney.

Finally, and I know I'm sounding like Indiana Jones ("these belong in a museum!"), but the whole time I was there, I kept thinking how much better it would all be if it were in the hands of Historic Scotland, which really does do a fabulous job with their sites.

Here's a picture, but it really wasn't worth it.

I still had time on my hands, and wanted to get the bad taste from the Tomb of the Eagles out of my mouth, so I headed to Maes Howe and picked up a map of some nearby cairns. They were great. You just show up, pick up the torch (flashlight) left in the box, and crawl in. Literally.

Cuween Cairn

Cuwen Cairn was the best. It offered the same sense of adventure as Mine Howe. Maybe crawling in on your hands and knees and getting mud and dirt and grime everywhere just makes you commit to the experience. Maybe using your flashlight and your camera flash to explore (there are four side chambers off the main chamber) is just adventuresome. Maybe it was just that I got to experience it alone, and wasn't disturbed by another soul. But at the end of the day, I could not get over the fact that I was atanding in something that was around 5,000 years old. Built without metal or mortar. And it was still standing!

The Cairn from the outside.

Looking out through the entrance.

Inside the cairn.

Unstan Cairn

Unstan Cairn wasn't quite as cool as Cuween, but it was still fun (and grimey). Once again, it's in the middle of private property.

The roof had collapsed (it's been replaced with a skylight set in white concrete, which made it very easy to look around). The standing stones are interesting, as they're evocative of the way Maes Howe is inside.

So, that's Orkney. It was fantastic, and I am looking forward to going back again, spending more time, and visiting the other islands. If you ever have the chance to visit, you really should. And if you ever have the chance to try (or buy) Orkney fudge, you definitely should.

...my five (ish) wonderful readers. I have a lot of stuff to put up about the rest of the Scotland portion of my trip (and some pretty good pictures, if I say so myself).

But with all this writing, something really wierd happened. As the sign says (btw, isn't that the best sign ever? Found it in a village outside Eilean Doonan castle. I think I want to get it blown up really big and framed), my priorities have sorta shifted. A bit.

As I wrote before, the big goal of this sabbatical was to focus on writing, and see if I could stick it through and write my novel. Well, it's been going super well, with the side effect that I've become a wee bit obsessed. As in, I'm not reading any other fiction at all. Yeah. The Crow came out on July 3. I picked up my copy at Waterstone's as soon as I could. And I haven't read it. Haven't even opened it up. Which is really wierd for me, especially for books that I've been craving for months. I track book releases like some movie releases.

As my three readers can attest (have I mentioned how much you guys rock yet? Cuz you do!), this book has taken over my life. But it's a good thing, and it's just what I wanted.

So I have updates and pictures and stuff that will be coming soon. I promise. I have to work on my pitch for the PNWA Conference today, but hope to get some of my other updates out of my head and onto the site.

But here's the thing, when you see it, don't expect it to have a proper ending. It's really more like a tv season-end cliffhanger. You know, like when Picard was captured and had just introduced himself as Locutus of Borg. Riker looks at the screen and says "Mr. Worf, fire," and then we get the music and the cruel cruel cruel "To be continued" appears on the screen. And now you had to spend the entire summer waiting to find out how what happens. That's how Pirates 2 ends.

So go, have fun, but know that you'll pause in the middle of the movie, and have to wait until next year to finish the saga. Of course, I don't think this is any worse than the way The Empire Strikes Back ended. At least this time we know when the conclusion will come out.

Drink up, me hearty's. Yo ho!

Though I still firmly believe that true Northwesterners rarely succumb to the lure of the umbrella. We're rugged like that.

I slept in, and woke up when I was ready. I had a lovely lunch at the Fruitmarket Gallery Cafe (cheap, too), then wandered down to Princes Street.

It was a beautiful day. Clouds rolling through the sky. Warm, but not hot, and with a light breeze. I wandered in a new direction, down George Street. I found an adorable modern jewellry gallery, and got a pair of earrings. And then I found the good Waterstone's.

The Waterstone's on Princes Street was small and didn't have what I was looking for. But this Waterstones, on George Street, had everything. I picked up a big Scotland Road Atlas (for tomorrow's adventure), and found a new Moleskine Large Ruled Reporters Notebook. (Aside on the Moleskine: its the perfect writing notebook. Good quality paper that's thick enough to write on both sides. Because the binding is at the top, my hand doesn't cramp at the edges orf the paper, and no space is wasted. Thick cover, with an elastic band that keeps it from flopping about. Plus, it's small enough to stick in my purse and leave plenty of room for everything else.). This was the fifth store I'd gone in looking for a new notebook, as I'm almost finished with the two I brought with me from home. And this was the first store that had what I needed.

The Good Waterstone's has a cafe inside, where I got what might be the world's largest cappucino. It was a very comfortable cafe, with a good vibe, so I pulled out my notebook and wrote a bit.

When the world's largest cappucino had been drained, I got to do one of my favorite things, wander through a bookstore. The shelves beckoned to me, but I remained relatively restrained. And I had them reserve a copy of The Crow for me, so I wouldn't have to worry about finding it when it comes out on July 3. After the bookstore, I wandered some more, and found a Starbucks with outdoor seating.

And today, Starbucks came through. Like a champ. First, I was finally able to purchase lemonade! For some reason, lemonade appears to be a code word for "Sprite" in Europe. And I love lemonade - not sprite - lemonade. Just lemons, water, and sugar. This lemonade had some lime juice in it as well, but it's as close as I've had in weeks. And it was wonderful. The second way Starbucks came through was that this was my view when I paused in my writing and looked up.

I came home to drop everything off, then headed back to the Grain Store for dinner. When I walked in, they greeted me like an old friend, even though I've only been there once before. I got my "usual" table, and kind of felt like I'd just walked into Cheers. I had a nice leisurely meal, enjoyed the atmosphere of the stone walls, candlelight, and wooden tables, and wrote more. I had soup, and venison (mmm. bambi.), a strawberry ice-cream-like dessert, and coffee. As we were chatting before I left, the owner, Paul, confirmed that Ullapool and Orkney were good choices, which was, of course, a nice confirmation to hear.

This one day was exactly what I'd envisioned when I planned my trip. Relaxed. Writing a lot, but having it flow naturally, and finding that it reads well when I go back through it. Calm. And fun.

So now you know what I was looking for. It was so nice for that ideal to actually come true.

I've rented a car, and leave tomorrow for a fun little adventure (yes, manual transmission on the other side of the road does fall into my definition of fun). Here's the plan:

Day One
Edinburgh to Ullapool. Staying at the Ceilidh Place (apparently, it's pronounced "kay-lee." No, really).

Day Two
Hanging in Ullapool and Wester Ross.

Day Three
Ullapool to Scrabster. Ferry to Stromness, Orkney. Staying at the Orca Hotel (pronounced as it looks).

Day Four
Ruins, ruins, ruins and a cathedral on Orkney.

Day Five
Ferry back to Scrabster. Scrabster to Aberdeen. Long drive. Saying at the Thistle Aberdeen Caledonian.

Day Six
Aberdeen to Edinburgh. Stop at Dunnnottar Castle. One good castle ruin is worth 100 ho-hum ones. The pictures remind me a bit of Dunluce Castle.

Should be fun, no?

I haven't written about my writing yet, in part because it's a little scary to share this journey. But it's been going very well, especially for the past week or so. I feel as though I've found my groove. Plus, I sent an excerpt to a good friend of mine, and she said that it didn't suck! Well, at least the first 350 words don't suck! Hoorah!

One of the more interesting side effects has been that as I've gotten further into the writing process, and as the plot continues to develop, I've become less and less interested in reading fiction myself. I still can't wait for The Crow to be released (July 3rd! Huge benefit of being in the UK, since I don't believe the US release date is even set), and I really want to read it, but I find that I don't want to leave the world I'm creating. I'm actually staying up late thinking about how things should develop, which is fun, though it's been wreaking havoc on my sleep schedule (especially when combined with the clubbers who've found the alley behind my flat).

So, I'm aiming for a minimum of 20 pages (longhand) per day. Some days I make it, others I don't, but I'm trying not to stress either way. I've auditioned a few cafes and several restaurants, and really like writing surrounded by people. If nothing else, I can evesdrop on some very strange conversations when I'm stuck for a way forward.

So, that's that. Wish me luck!