Edinburghdabaugh

edinburghdizzle @ 2008-12-15T16:16:00

2008-12-15T17:37:23Z

My two hardest exams are over!

I'm still a little in shock, at one point I thought they would just go on forever. So I have all these printed off slides and books that I need to dispose off.

I thought, since I'm leaving so soon, I would make a list of "Things I will miss, Things I will not miss."

MISS:
Chip & Kabob Shops

I don't know how many times I have bought and eaten chips but it is most likely not a healthy amount. On the other hand a £1.50 for a good portion of salt and vinegar chips are amazing.

This is Doner. My favorite is Lamb Doner. I don't actually understand what it is, but it is ridiculously good tasting. There are a lot of little kebab shops all over Edinburgh. They also usually sell pizza too.

However, Be aware of places that sell both (Fish/Sausage/Haggis/Steak 'n) Chips AND Kebabs, as these are two very different things. Most likely if they sell both they are near a very touristy area and neither will taste all that great.

NOT MISS:

The sun rises at 9:00am, I wake up at 1:00pm, the sun sets at 3:30pm, I go to bed at 3:00am.
The sun is up for 7 hours. I am awake for 14 hours. But we only see each other for 2 and a half hours.
I will not miss this. I should actually start taking Vitamin D tablets before I go insane. New York was a little better because the sun went down around 4:30pm and was up for about 9 hours at its lowest. I realize you could criticize my sleep cycle... but he's really sensitive so I'm trying a passive-aggressive approach.

MISS:
Old homogeneous stone buildings/stores/roads/sidewalks/stairs/bridges.

Everything seems to be made out of the same stone. It's almost like the rest of the city is just an extension of the castle. Someone asked me a few days ago about hurricanes and tornadoes and they wondered why we didn't just build our buildings out of bricks if we knew it was in an area known for its disastrous winds. I don't know, maybe they do? Its just very interesting to see everything in stone, especially this car dealership I walked passed a couple days ago.

MISS:
Never Mind the Buzzcocks & The IT Crowd

The first is sort of a fake game show where D-List celebrities come on (such as a member of Destiny's Child not Beyoncé, Sarah Silverman, or British celebrities not known in the US) and they are given little tasks like humming songs, categorizing celebrities, and guessing objects in videos all for the purpose of making fun of pop culture.
The second is a comedy about the Information Technology Department of a large corporation. I've only seen clips on Youtube and one episode but I love it and I hope to buy a season.

NOT MISS:

I know it's kind of sad, but Britain is cut off from a lot of legitimate streaming sites because of its TV licenses that force people to pay the government to watch the programs they create. It's like PBS only way better funded, mainly because you are forced to pay for it if you want to watch it. The bizarre part about TV licenses is that you have to get a new one each year and they really have no idea whether you are using your TV or not unless they come in and investigate. At this flat we get tons of letters about TV licenses for people who have moved out from last year. One of them had a statement written on it saying "This property is currently under Federal investigation" in menacing red letters. I don't know what exactly this investigation is supposed to entail but it seems to be more of a scare tactic. I can't imagine how that's working out.

MISS:

Drinking 18+. Being able to enjoy pubs and clubs. I will miss it so much.

That's all for now. It's Monday and it's party time.

Dance

2008-12-11T13:39:52Z

I just took a free master class at DanceBase.

One of the guys, who lives in Edinburgh, I believe, and took a modern class with me through out this semester is very friendly and a little bit older. I was sort of put off at first when he said hello and made small talk but today he introduced me to Gerald before class started.

It turns out Gerald was teaching the master class. He also teaches at NYU Tisch and has his own dance company in New York City. I had tried, earlier this year, to transfer to the Tisch School, instead of finishing Vassar next year. After thinking more about it and talking to quite a few people, I decided against the transfer in order to get my degree.

But I think this shows a little bit how small the dance community is. Whether it's in New York City, or the world. In a lot of programs which are handed out before performances, you'll see dance bios which name several other people they have danced for or danced with. At first I couldn't recognize any of them and it seemed odd that they would just put random people's names in the program. But the more performances I saw and programs I read and companies profiles I checked out the more the same names popped up. I think it's fascinating how you can see which choreographers got their inspiration or training from older choreographers and then how they have passed on that technique to their dancers. You can see where the influences are in the different dances if you know enough about where they came from, which is why dance history is so important, and probably why the two books I've been reading on the history of Modern dance begin with Loie Fuller who was more about moving curtains in light than about any sort of technique.

I think what's even more fascinating and important is that when you take a class somewhere you never know who the person is dancing next to you or who the teacher is (at first) and you might be getting your training from a professor at the Tisch School for Dance in NYC. You should always try to start a relationship with these people because you never know where it will take you or what connections you can make about dance in order to have a better understanding of it.

NYC really opened my eyes to the world of dance, and its community and the intimacy of it just blows my mind.

Exams

2008-12-09T02:48:05Z

I have my first exam tomorrow.

After doing some math, I have calmed my anxieties considerably:

1. I need a 40% on the exam to pass. (I know, I don't get it either, at all)
2. There are two sections on the exam. Part A: 20 multiple choice questions. Part B: Choose 2 out of 3 long answer multi-part questions.
3. What I hadn't realized before is that Part A is worth 50% and Part B is worth 25% for each question.
4. Thus, in order to pass, I have to answer 16 out of 20 multiple choice questions correctly.
5. If I did this I wouldn't even have to do the long answer.
6. In the practice test I answered 13 out of the 20 questions correctly which had me at 32.5%.
7. I'm so relieved.

I went to an exam review today and the people who cared most about the class were there, and were even more clueless than me. So I'm pretty sure I win in this instance.

Wish me luck.

(If you're confused by the image, just think of it as Country 0 sending an "S -> NP VP." Nuclear Bomb to Country 4. Then it should all piece together. ... No seriously that's all I could figure out for the first few hours.)

It's been a while

2008-12-09T02:34:15Z

So about a month ago I went to Dublin but I didn't take any pictures. But I did steal a bunch from a friend. We were only there for about 12 hours after getting £25.00 round trip ticket. We visited the Guinness Museum, Trinity College, that one street where you buy stuff that I think "Once" was filmed at, then a touristy corridor with tons of expensive restaurants.

It was a little sad, in the way that we didn't really see Dublin as much as we saw the tourist stops, though the bus tour was nice. I got a glimpse of Oscar Wilde's old stomping grounds. Though there's something terrifying in the way authenticity, history and life can be crammed into little snow globes sold at tourist shops. It was a bit like visiting NYC and walking around Time Square for a few hours.

On the bright, side however, it was a beautiful city with all the character you would expect from Europe and had I spent more time there I probably could have not been in shock the whole time haha.

Here are some kewte pictures:

The Guinness Museum had a lot of stuff inside, most of it visual representations of somewhat simple ideas. Example: they show the 4 main ingredients that make up Guinness. Barley, Yeast, Water, and Hops. They had a bin of barley, a video of the malting process, the smell of yeast, a huge waterfall and large vines of fake hops haha.

A large bin of barley, I grabbed a handful.

Tasting!

There's a "free" pint waiting at the end!

The bar where the free pint is given out is at the top of the building and is 360 degrees of windows. It was incredibly crowded when we went so you couldn't get a good picture but here's what it looked like.

The bus, and my face. haha.

Trinity College, a bridge, and a Christmas Tree.

And just to throw in a party pic!

edinburghdizzle @ 2008-12-01T17:27:00

2008-12-01T17:31:11Z

The holiday season is gearing up:

Where I am at any given moment

2008-11-17T01:59:15Z

This is a map showing how I pretty much live in the center of the city, or at least within a 10 minute walking distance of anything notable. That I know about anyway.

As you can see, I also don't really walk more than 10 minutes away from my flat which is kind of bizarre considering that's about the length of the walk to the THs. Anyhow, some explanations:

I live on the Cowgate which was part of the old town which the new town was built over after the large body of germy water was drained? I'm not really sure but it's completely disorienting because the roads are literally built over buildings. As in, you look over a bridge to see a street and buildings underneath the bridge, and then the same buildings have front doors on the upper street. Very confusing.

The Fesitval Theatre is where I watched Rambert Dance Company and just last week Richard Alston Dance Company both of which were amazing and two of the best and well known (probably the best and the most well known) British dance companies to date.

Vodka Revolution is where I performed Thriller for Halloween and will perform this Wednesday with a hip hop routine... eh... it should be interesting.

Cabaret Voltaire is where I watched Lykke Li perform and another band last thursday. The cowgate contains a TON of bars and dance clubs including Rush, which is mostly abused for its student £2.00 double shots, and faith which is a converted church. Or... unconverted.

Princes Street and The Royal Mile are both famous streets in Edinburgh. The former is sort of a giant strip mall haha but with high end fashions from Top Shop to H&M to Ann Summers? The latter is a cobblestone stretch just below the castle that has a lot of little shops as well as statues and "old famous buildings" such as the parliament house and the place where they used to publicly hang people. Those might be the same place.

I take classes at Appleton Tower. Unfortunately I must go in there for 3 of my 3 classes and to work on all of my assignments so it's sort of that ugly bump in the ground that I cannot avoid. Though it does make it easy to wake up 20 minutes before classes begin. I'm a winner. I think the worst part about it is the New Informatics Forum with its nearly all glass design, futuristic colors and swipe card entry, is directly across the street. I tend to gaze at it longingly during tutorials and late night assignments. I mean, come on, they put reeds on the perimeter of the roof so that the wind won't be so harsh if you want to take an afternoon tea up there. Tis a shame.

DanceBase is where I take my dance classes when I can. I've also started going to their free preview show for ... emerging? artists. I would say experimental. They also have free masterclasses that I'm trying to get into but this whole education thing sort of gets in the way.

Arthur's seat is a giant hill/mountain thing. I keep meaning to climb it. I swear I will one of these days. Should be exhilarating.

Tesco is where I do all my grocery shopping. There's also a Lidl (pronounced liddle) but I try to avoid that one because what you make up in good prices you drastically lose in quality. I mean, the day I found tuna in freshwater instead of olive oil was pretty close to the day I called off supersavings.

And of course my Friends all happen to live across the meadows which is a little sad because I have to walk a good... 10 minutes... to get to them but it makes for more exciting encounters. I will also be going to Dublin with them on Saturday! Some Vassar friends actually live across the street... like... literally two seconds away but since I didn't go on the program (still kicking self) we didn't really hang out much at the beginning. Though I hope to see more of them.

So that's about it... there's more but just little things like my favorite... 4 places to get chips which are all within walking distance which makes it all that more depressing when all 4 of them are closed but you don't want to believe it till you see it. There's also... a pound saver... basically I don't walk too far from where I am and I don't really have to. There's plenty of sights to see.

Now... to go to bed.

edinburghdizzle @ 2008-11-09T22:40:00

2008-11-09T22:47:56Z

More pictures from Scotland:

Best Package Ever!

I'm choreographing a dance? Should be swell.

edinburghdizzle @ 2008-11-05T04:57:00

2008-11-05T04:58:04Z

I've been waiting to post this until this very day. I still can't believe it actually happened. It's going to be an interesting 4 years!!

OMG WHAT?

2008-10-31T02:11:00Z

Okay so I had the most ridiculous past two days. In my standards anway.

After working on my MIPS assignment for four or so hours (and if anyone knows how to implement a stack in MIPS please let me know) I went home, ate, and prepared to go to a rehearsal for performing Thriller.

Little did I know, or rather read in the email, I was PERFORMING last night. haha. So I had my stuff with me, got dressed up in the torn shirt with dirt and blood, white, black and red face paint and headed over to Vodka Revolution, a bar, to dance! haha. It was actually very very fun. We were so good that they want us to perform again on Halloween after we perform for the school dance. And, they intend to give us a bit of a tab. WOOOOHOOO!

And then tonight I went to a dance performance for Rambert Dance:

It was amazing! AND THE BEST PART IS: I had tried to get into their masterclass at Dance Base back in the first weeks of October but they were sold out :-( so I was put on the waiting list. Then today around 5:15 I got a random phone call and it was Dance Base to tell me that there had been some cancellations! I'm so freaking excited to go to this masterclass you have no idea. No idea. I'm beaming.

I I'll also be going to Richard Alston Dance Company next tuesday, 11th. Only Scotland's finest here.

I hope to take some pictures both of being a zombie and next to the ridic dancers from last night.

Till then. Take care.

Dinner, Work and Mary Poppins.

2008-10-27T15:31:36Z

A delicious Sunday dinner:

My classes are so intense we use both a tower of chalkboards:

and a revolving wall of chalkboards:

Her duck walked the man through the park:

Mary Poppins is in the top left corner:

The Hellection!

2008-10-24T18:28:28Z

One thing I had no idea about before coming to Scotland is that the rest of the world really really really does care about the United States. At first I thought it was just mild amusement to ask American's about their political views, however it clearly runs much deeper.

For example in the planner they handed out at the beginning of the year, just like how "Halloween" is printed about October 31st, "The U.S. Elections" are printed above November 4th. When was the last time any other country's election was printed on anyone's calendar? I suppose we don't really need to know... but really it seems that no one honestly cares. America isolates itself from other countries and takes pride in being in control of its own destiny. Where as in Europe, I feel that it is very different. They have the European Union, a greater sense of socialism and global community. The interest also probably stems from seeing America as a great country with a lot of opportunity as well as power and I think they want the best for America as well as the world. Regardless of why, I'm nearly positive the entire world will be sitting at their TV late into the night to see who the next president will be.

Here is an email about 'Stars n Stripes Week':

Stars n Stripes Week - Burger Wars:

EUSA will be waving goodbye to Holyrood and Westminster for one week and turning its attention to the White House, as US election fever sweeps across campus. With plenty of full fat American style promotions in the shops, presidential inspired food in our bars and Teviot open all night for the election results.

Obama Vs McCain Food Fight
After much Wikipedia based research our top chefs have developed a range of pizzas and burgers to honour the history of these two great Americans. From Monday 27th October you can support your candidate through the medium of Pizza in KB House or Burger in Teviot Library bar.

The Obama
The Hawaiian influences will come through strong in the range, with a grilled chicken breast burger delicately topped with pineapple. Plus a ham and pineapple pizza with a Chicago style sweet bbq sauce.

The McCain
A man of the deep south, with a touch of latin influences. A burger topped with real bacon, Monterey jack cheese and smothered in spicy bbq sauce. With the pizzas covered in chorizo sausage, fresh chilli and another dose of Monterey Jack cheese.

The Results
For election results night, Teviot will be open all night long for the election results on the big screen, with highly caffeinated drinks available once the bars close at 3am. Then just before the US has their say, we will announce the student choice for President of the free world.

Other Events
Stars and Stripes Week begins Sunday 2nd November with American themed questions running through our quizzes at Teviot, Pleasance and KB. Don't miss our usual events such as Comedy at Pleasance, Open Mic at Teviot, Free buffet from 6pm in Teviot / KB on Friday, The Big Cheese at Potterrow and Going Underground at Teviot on Saturday.

The Student Shops will also be offering two Hershey bars for 99p and if you buy two bottles of coke (or varients) for just £1.60.

If I didn't know any better I'd think they were ~~a little jealous... haha.~~ much more receptive. America is the number one super power of the world, and no one can ignore it even if they wanted to. This is the conclusion I have come up with after walking a bit with a few British. I don't think they quite liked me.

EXIT

2008-10-22T11:00:07Z

Things are a bit more pleasant here.

Elevators

2008-10-21T12:51:05Z

Give me the goods!

edinburghdizzle @ 2008-10-18T03:24:00

2008-10-18T02:27:22Z

This is a video of the class I took earlier today. She's actually pretty entertaining. If you make it through the entire video you get home baked brownies mailed to your doorstep.

It is a place of openness and recieving

2008-10-15T03:08:53Z

I have taken some time to think.

Jeeves and Wooster

2008-10-11T14:48:09Z

I've been watching a lot of Jeeves and Wooster since I got here:

Jeeves is were AskJeeves.com got it's name.

What you may not know is that Bertie Wooster is actually same person as:

Hugh Laurie from House!

Definitely go out and rent a season.

He also makes an appearance in this familiar music video.

Lykke Omg

2008-10-09T23:41:54Z

Lykke Li was great!

The one draw back was Stuff White People Like #67: Standing Still at Concerts. Honestly, if you're going to push your way to the front, do not look back at me all confused if I'm singing loudly in your ear and jabbing you with my flailing arms.

And it was even more bizarre considering she was gyrating all over the stage:

She was truly an entertainer. She played the tamborine and the cymbal, even playing the cymbal with the tambourine! As well as the drums and she even pulled out the megaphone for added electro-effect:

She was such a passionate performer and I'm so glad I got to see her.

Also in a pleasant surprise was the opener named Yaov who I had never heard of. He played the guitar by himself, and he pressed pedals with his bare feet. In pushing the pedals he recorded on stage different beats by either beating on the guitar or playing the strings with an electronic distortion, or even singing into the strings. He then could play the different recorded bits back whenever he wanted at different parts of the song to have all the dynamics of a four person band. It was awesome. Here is a video that sort of shows what he did

Also KATIE HAD HER BABY! Brennan (I think is the spelling?) was born yesterday at 8am. I can't wait to see the pictures!

Performance Group

2008-10-09T01:57:18Z

I had my first rehearsal for the Performance Group. Which is actually its name. Apparently they couldn't come up with a name that wasn't cheesy so they just pass the non-name down through the years. They said if I had any suggestions I should bring it to their attention. There's only 13 of us, so it's kind of small and bizarre. I don't know which ones are knew but I feel especially awkward as the only guy. Though our first party is this Friday (I think?) So hopefully we'll all best friends forever.

Our first performance is on halloween (which totally isn't-that-great because I can't dress up with friends) but then again... we're doing this original dance:

How could I pass up on this opportunity?

Pictures

2008-10-07T00:25:52Z

Before:

After:

Failed rice and curry :-/

Math Class:

Some things are both difficult and boring. This is a disastrous combination.

Current Music: Mirah - Nobody Has To Stay

You should be danciiiiing... yeah!

2008-10-05T15:58:05Z

I got in the dance group! I have no idea what that means. I might have already over-committed myself... but that's okay because it's bound to be incredibly fun!

One of the most interesting things about Scotland is it's seemingly endless "Charity Shops." They all have different names such as "Cancer Research UK," "Age Concern," or "Bridging the Gap." They are pretty much tiny Goodwills but there are hundreds of them. You can just go into one after the other on certain streets. So far I have bought:

A Harris Tweed jacket for £10.00 and a FCUK knit shirt for £6.00. Which is quite the bargain on both. And I'm sooooo fashionable now.

Also: Please Vote, just sealed my absentee ballot today.

Dancing in Edinburgh!

2008-10-02T02:02:00Z

This is the view from Appleton Tower, where I have my computer labs. They really have windows everywhere which is great for when you get tired of blankly staring at computer screens.

I tried out for the Edinburgh Dance Group today when I was told that it was immediately following the contemporary class I took with some friends. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in it! haha. Not only am I a boy, which is nearly a shoe in as it is. But I was the only boy. And to top that off, I was the only dancer who could do a clean double pirouette. Not being able to turn doesn't mean someone isn't a good dancer, much as not being able to lift one's leg above 90 degrees (me), but you'd think at least someone else would have been able to do one...

So if I'm not in... I'm blaming sex discrimination. I would love to continue dancing with this group seeing as it's pretty much fly people before it got serious. yaaay!

Current Music: So Begins Our Alabee - Of Montreal

The Elephant House

2008-09-30T23:21:37Z

This is the restaurant where J K Rowling wrote the first notes on a napkin. I haven't gone inside yet but it's just down the street, as most things are.

Unfortunately, although Dance Base has a lot to offer, a job is not one of them.

I've sent my resume/cover letter to The Festival City Theatres Trust (also down the street) which hopefully will put me somewhere inside some sort of artsy establishment, even if I'm still washing dishes. I also sent an email asking my Director of Studies if he could help me find a job within the informatics department but I haven't heard back from him yet.

Tomorrow I will have my first lab on the Python programming language and Contemporary Dance class!

Current Music: Walking on Broken Glass - Annie Lennox (you know you love it.)

The cat likes tuna.

2008-09-30T01:21:56Z

The cat likes tuna fish.
The cat the dog chased likes tuna fish.
The cat the dog the rat bit chased likes tuna fish.
The cat the dog the rat the elephant admired bit chased likes tuna fish.

(the + noun)ⁿ (transitive verb)^n-1 likes tuna fish.

A = { the cat, the dog, the rat, the elephant, the kangaroo,...}
B = { chased, bit, admired, ate, befriended...}

L = xⁿy^n-1 likes tuna fish, x ∈ A, y ∈ B

"Sentences of English are clearly bounded by some finite length; perhaps we can safely say that all sentences of English are less than a billion words long."

Are sentences with indefinite nesting grammatically correct?

Current Music: Bridges and Balloons - Joanna Newsome

The highlands and Loch Ness

2008-09-28T19:15:20Z

Yesterday I went on a 12 hour tour of Scotland!

The tour guide was amazing. He told story after story about Scotland and picked out parts of the scenery that he knew the history of. He literally didn't stop talking for the 12 hours.

I'm not sure if we actually saw teh loch ness monster but we do have at least one picture of the alleged creature, you can decide for yourself:

The guides on the boat during the boat tour were either completely convinced that the monster exists or they've lived there so long that they know exactly how to sell their touring company.

You can check out the wikipedia entry which neither confirms nor denies it's existence.

I also took some pictures along the way and found a program that splices pictures together, it turned out pretty good. Here are the Three Sisters (also the name of a bar next to my flat) from Glen Coe, a field a bit further from Glen Coe and the Nevis Mountains:

Another shot from the field
Did you know: The movie Braveheart is about the battle that took place in Glen Coe.

I definitely recommend this place to anyone visiting Scotland... or actually just anyone.
It's incredible.

Loch Ness

2008-09-28T13:46:00Z

many more photos later.