The Bitch Beat Me

On my home turf!!!

First to Get Naked - Chris was sitting on chair in the Centre Hall when Tim and I returned last night. Then she went head and rifled through my drawers and he's the product.

Some stories that caught my eye today

Gay cowboys have real, lonely stories

Democrat Joins Schwarzenegger, and the Grumbling Is Bipartisan

Teaching jobs in doubt as pensioners set to outnumber pupils by 2009

Much of California under flood watch


Just finished reading the news... time to go get Chris from the airport. Her flight comes in earlier than the rest from Ireland.

Boxing Day - more details

It was pretty lazy post Xmas day. Gentry and Tim and I had spent a very wonderful day with John and Mary and Bobbi opening presents, drinking cocktails, reading our books by the fire, and enjoying an absolutely fabulous meal - turkey on the grill, Brussel sprouts with juniper berries, roast potatoes cooked in rosemary and goose fat, chestnut stuffing and warmed seasoned mixed nuts for appetizer.

After sitting around a wee bit chatting about types of whisky, our families and current events, Tim and Gentry and I went over to Paul and Kim's flat for some more Christmas cheer. His brother Steven and friend Allen were there as well. We shared our 'what did you get for xmas' stories and then decided to head to the pub for some drinks and holiday ambiance of a warm cheerful pub full of locals all dressed up!

We probably spent a little too much time here, as you do on special occasions, but we laughed and talked and played Paul's 'What was your favorite _____" o5 2005 game, which was nice because it makes you think about your year and reflect on all that you've seen or done or discussed. Too many pints to count later, we made our way back over to their flat for some pizza and snacks and then to play the 20th Edition Trivial Pursuit. My bright idea of separating into age teams placed Kim (from New Zealand) Gentry and I against Paul, Steven, Allen and Tim (all Brits and one very knowledgeable American on British culture) and we got our butts whooped in a very British-centric trivial pursuit game. But we had fun.

Anyway, we slept in as long as we could, but Chris and Amy


GUESTS
John and Mary
Bobbi (friend of John and Mary)
Gentry
Chris
Amy
Henry and Anne
Sandy and Victoria
Stuart
Cath (Sam's owner)
Sharon (Sam's manager)
JoAnn Archbold
Jim and Suze (caretaker and friend)

A fire, drinks, and a HUGE spread (courtesy Tim), games, dancing: Memories.

Some Highlights -
John shoving his face into Cath's bosom.
Chris being spun 'right round' by Sandy during the ceilidh
Scarying the shit out of Amy, and the realizing we were NOT supposed to do that - because she is a little anxious!!
Telling dirty jokes by the fire at 2am with just 'the guys'.

Boxing Day

Monday - Boxing Day. 26 December, 2005.

We woke up at exactly 7:38 this morning, just when our Amy's and Chris's plane landed at Edinburgh Airport (according to the Continental website). I got online to check some emails, and at around 8:30am, they showed up to in a taxi! How good it was to see them!

We poured a cup of coffee, had our first smoke break, and then we sat in the flat to catch up a wee bit. There flight was bumpy, but tolerable and on time with no lost luggage. A quick tour of the house (functional, not historic) and then the girls changed and showered for a trip to Dalkieth! Considering it is Boxing Day, we were fortunate to find a few places open so we grabbed a pub meal and a couple of pints at Sams! Amy was especially happy with orange juice in her drink, which was good, because they didn't have Absolut and she had to deal with Smirnoff.

They are napping now, after an episode or two of Little Britain ("Bitty, Bitty!!"). I'll wake them at 5pm for our Boxing Day party. Should be a good time! Tim's been cooking for the party most of the day - a fire, a mix of Scottish and American friends, food, drinks and games, Can't wait!

New Picture!

Thanks Annie! I loved your entry, and you are the first 'repeat' winner!

Send me more pictures from home or caption ideas!

Cheerio.

Back online again!

Okay - obviously it has been a tough month for me to get my thoughts, queries or observations on life down! I have finally finished my 3 essays that were due:

1. ‘The slow and limited development of CFSP demonstrates the validity of liberal intergovernmentalism.’ Do you agree? 2500 words
   
2. "Intervention by force might be the only means of enforcing the global humanitarian norms that have evolved in the wake of the Holocaust, but this fundamentally challenges the established principles of non-intervention and non-use of force" (N.J. Wheeler, 2000:1). Discuss. 2500 words.
   
3. Are Nations Constructed? A comparison ethnosymbolist and constructivist theories on the origins of nations. 4000 words.
   

Now - the first was okay. I decided that liberal intergovernmentalism was not entirely validated because it grossly underestimates the role and residual effect of institutions and institutional commitments, arrangements and treaties that countries are continuously signing up to, and second, that there has been an increasing amount of security measures agreed to in light of the new security environment that the EU is in. I think I'd be happy with a 68-72 out of 100.

The second essay - ugh, BIG subject. It is such a huge topic, but I essentially took an human rights slant and emphasized the norm of intervention, regardless of its forcible or non-forcible nature. States are be directed by many forces (public opinion, media and other states) to be moral over legal, if you will. I did allow that in the short term, sympathized with the solidarist position of the solidarists/pluralist debate, forcible intervention was necessary, but not a long term or ideal solution. The international society needs to stress the human in humanitarian intervention, and not the intervening. Because of its huge expanse, and even though I did a fair amount of reading, I am shooting for a 62-66 on this one.

Finally - the beast of them all, the one I had to create a question for and absolutely loathed working on for every minute of every hour of the 40 hours I spent on it, the nationalism course's essay was a rough one. Admittedly, by the end of it, I think at a general level, I can distinguish the greatest differences between the two theories and sets of theorists, but I'm not sure I really addressed the question that well, and if I get more than a 60 on this one, I'll seriously question the standards and professor's assessing ability!

The grading scale is taking some time to get used to, but it really is just relative after a while.
70-100 equates to a '1' [called a 'First'] or what Americans would call an 'A'
60-69 equates to a 2.1 (B)
50-59 equates to a 2.2 (C)
40-49 equates to a 3 (D)

Considering that I've earned a 70 and a 65 on my first 2 essays in November, graduating with 'distinction' (70 or above average -and none less than 50-on essays) like I'd hoped, it is not too likely, should I earn the marks I feel I deserve, that I will. But, hey, I'm still learning LOTS, having a good time, despite the bitching about essay writing; I am very content.

Scores are due the week of 9 January 2006; I guess we'll see!

Are Nations Constructed?

This is the question of the week - I hate nationalism.