a short tribute to craziness

oh guys, i can't help noticing that no one has blogged since last week. it's okay dudes, i'm quite happy blogging away to myself :) also there will be no capital letters in this blog as i'm on my dad teeny tiny laptop and the shift button hurts my fingers, it's sad!

well i was going to blog about my most awesome trip to newcastle but i don't have any pictures yet so you'll just have to wait for the extended cut. although i can basically bullet point the trip to:

* i ate so much amazing food
* went to the doctor who exhibit
* everyone was crazy nice and gordie
* bought some awesome prints
* drank lots of tea
* discoved my love of bridges

what i really want to tell you guys about the last film i watched because it blew my mind - in a good way! it's THIS FILM. the bad lieutenant: port of call - new orleans (even the name is kind of hilarious). basically it was about nicolas cage being a crazy monkey, taking lots of drugs and threatening people WHILE ALSO BEING A POLICE LIEUTENANT. it would be unbearably grim if it wasn't so darn hilarious. all the funnies come from nick cage being completely nuts (and the reoccurring theme of reptiles). i most definitely have a soft spot for nicolas cage, particularly when he's being crazy cage. anyway, i enjoyed this bit (it doesn't really spoil anything if you want to watch the film):



and finally, on the subject of craziness on film a short tribute to the craziest, crazy to ever crazy a crazy. i don't know if i've ever seen him in anything except blue velvet, but he scared the hell out of me. rip mr. dennis hopper. [i don't know why this is bold - probably because it's CRAZY]

Monday Picnic Fun

I've had such a lovely day!

The morning was a crazy awesome time, filled with sun and Sainsburys and furiously making 5 different picnic dishes. Then I spend some awesome times hanging out and not eating picnic at all. Then I fell out with Jason cos' he told me not to put extra spaces between paragraphs but I did it anyway. Then I went to sleep.

Night dudes!

sunday challenge time!

Hey sweethearts :)

Time to put those writing skills to use! I want you all to write me a story with all of us as the main characters. You can approach the story in any way you wish; if you want to write it as though it were an excerpt from a grand epic you may do so, likewise if you wish to approach it as a flash fiction piece. Let your imagination run wild!

Peace, love and pudding pops

Roseanne <3

Real Deal Carbonara by a Real Deal Chef

Challenge time! OK, so I bent the rules a little. There's a boy on my floor called Jin, who is no doubt going to own the most successful restaurant in New York City one day soon. Since he knows pretty much everything there is to know about food in general, I asked him if he would teach me how to make my favourite meal, Linguine alla Carbonara, the proper Italian way.

See, I usually make it along the lines of: pancetta, garlic, onions, pepper, linguine, egg mix, then top the whole thing off with cheese. Turns out that is COMPLETELY WRONG! And thus, allow Jin to teach us the proper method of making this delicious dish:

You will need:

Linguine (Jin taught me that in buying pastas you should look out for a rough texture instead of a smooth, an indicator of quality and will absorb the sauce you use)

Pancetta

Parmesan (but any cheese will do aparently)

Two and a half eggs

Ground black pepper

Salt

Mixed herbs

and a little bit of olive oil

1. Cook your linguine! BUT ONCE IT IS READY SAVE SOME OF THAT WATER IN THE PAN. Very important you don't drain it all away, put some aside in a little bowl when the time comes. You'll find out why soon.

2. Grate around half the parmesan, and place it in a bowl. Then add two eggs, and a third yolk. Whisk together with a fork. By adding cheese to the egg mixture, you buy yourself more time to mix the sauce and pasta, as the cheese will prevent the mixture from curdling once it hits the heat!

3. Cut up your pancetta into bits, and fry on a low heat with a teensy bit of olive oil until crispy and delicious looking. Add a teaspoon of black pepper. (Check out my terminology!)

(Uh, btw, Jin works at lightning speed so I didn't get a photo for every step!)

4. This is where the linguine water comes in! Add a ladle of the pasta water to the pan of pancetta. The starch in the water will help thicken the sauce, and also make the linguine deliciously soft.

5. Add linguine to the pan of pancetta, and then add the egg and cheese mixture. Then stir stir stir stir stir for about a minute then take off the heat.

6. Add herbs, pepper and salt.

7. Serve and garnish with more parmesan, pepper and herbs. Savour the deliciousness of true Italian carbonara!

BONUS RECIPE! HERB AND GARLIC BREAD!

Jin also taught me how to flavour bread the healthy way.

You will need:

A Baguette

Mixed herbs

A bay leaf

Pepper corns

Garlic cloves

1. In a pan, heat about three quarters of a cup of olive oil (I speak in UK terms, just grab a cup and fill it. If you are Ashley I guess the American measurements can work too!).

2. Whilst the olive oil is heating up, crush your garlic and pepper corns. In a bowl mix together your garlic, pepper corns, herbs and bay leaf.

3. When the olive oil starts to smoke a bit, take it off the heat and pour it into the bowl with the herbs.
4. Smell the ameezin fragrance of the herbs and garlic!

5. Slice up your baguette and dip it face down in the oil. Eat! Enjoy!

(6. Jin also dipped one side of the baguette down, put it in a pan and toasted it till it was crispy, then dipped the other side in but left it untoasted. A very delicious result.)


Me enjoying the carbonara and looking like a tool:

Thumbs up for the genius!

Yay for Jin!

Other news:

I had my politics exam on Wednesday. It went surprisingly well, despite the fact I woke up half an hour before it started because my alarm didn't go off. One of those "things-that-should-only-happen-in-sitcoms" moments. Wednesday was also a good day because it was Be Nice To Roseanne Day for Drew. It was great, a whole day without being referred to as "Lady Parts" - perhaps the most demeaning nickname on the planet - or being thrown down mountains. I miss it already.

Right now, I am supposed to be revising for my Film and Media exam right now, but it is not going so well.

The weather is far too hot for my Shetland blood to take. Also the heater in my room is perpetually warm and I am pretty much deteriorating into a sweaty ball of stress. It's quite attractive.

Please to be keeping Vaila Mae in your thoughts tomorrow. <3

Quote of the Moment:

You're so nice Roseanne. You're like Mary, except you didn't get ground-pounded by God. - Jin

Masterchef? I'm better than that.

Okay, this is a terrible photograph, but this is what I had for dinner tonight.

It fed four people, and was constructed from...
2 chicken breasts
1/3 of a bottle of dark soy sauce
baby sweetcorn
half a can of (green giant) sweetcorn
a handful of green beans
a small onion
2 cloves of crushed garlic
a little knob of freshly grated ginger
2 sharwood packs of egg noodles
a little bit of cornflour

Firstly, put your noodles on to boil! DO IT NOW, and they will be DONE by the time you've finished cooking. (It's probably still best to check though, be smart kids.)
While all this is happening, take your onions, which you have thinly sliced because you're smarter than this and don't need me to tell you, and fry them in some delightful vegetable oil.

Take your garlic, after the onions have browned a little, peel it and smush it with the flat of your knife, then add that. Use a TINY grater to grate your little knob of ginger, and add that as well.

Once all this is all fragrant and awesome, chuck in your chicken and stir it around. Turn it over to cook both sides evenly. I'm really terrified of under cooking chicken, so for ages I overcooked it like mad. However, if you poke it with a fork and make sure it bounces, and it's lightly slightly brown but not crazy brown, it'll taste way better than the dry sucky chicken you'd have if you let your paranoia dictate your cooking.

So now the chicken is pretty much cooked, throw in all your vegetables. I almost always have peppers with this, but there were none in the house, so I opted for shitloads of sweetcorn instead. It tastes awesome though. I have no regrets. Don't wait too long before drenching the thing in an awful lot of soy sauce, and adding some cornflour and a little bit of water. The cornflour thickens the mixture to make it more of a viable garlic/ginger/soy sauce than just wet.

Mix in the noodles, and then enjoy it. Well done. You make a really bitchin' stirfry there, son.




In other news, I have very little other news. I've been bored and watching slightly ungodly amounts of Lost (which I'm now caught up with). I'm waiting to hear back about various job applications, and waiting for the majority of my friends to come back from University. It's kind of dull city, but it's okay, because tommorow I'm going for a barbecue and plan on having fun and potentially drinking a little bit.

Looking forward to the rest of your posts :)

FAILURE CITY

Gah!

Guys, I'm sorry this is late, I'm also sorry that it's going to be so short and whiny. I'm also sorry that I'm two challenges behind.

I'm about to explode with exams. I DON'T WANT TO DO THEM ANY MORE, I KNOW IT'S NOT LIKE A HAVE A CHOICE BUT I THEY ARE STINKY AND I WISH THEY'D GO AWAY.

I'm feeling terribly unprepared for the 3 I have in the next 3 days because I spend so long revising for Financial Maths. Not that all that revision made any difference because to be honest the exam kinda sucked. Also I'm hardly sleeping and drinking and eating way too much coffee and sugar and it's all making me crazy.

But anyway they'll all be over on Thursday and then I'm going to party!

[Mainland Scotland guys: we should do something awesome this weekend. I'm on antibiotics again so I can't/shouldn't/probably will drink. But we should go to the comedy club cos' I don't think you guys have ever been and it's ALWAYS HIGHLARIOUS]

Peace out dudes!

Love Mhairi

Sunday Challenge

Hey Guys, it's Jenny! Mhairi's post this week kind of inspired me to put on my foodie hat, so I thought I'd challenge you all to make one of your favourite meals - take photos, talk us through it and why you love it.
Don't forget to tell me about your week as well! I miss you guys, I want to know what's happening all up in Edinburgh, Boston and Stirling!


PEACE OUT (or something... I need a catchphrase...)

hey guys

First of all, the challenge: I totally failed. This is due to the fact that for the past week I have barricaded myself inside the halls, attempting to write an essay on the use of lies and deceit in Oscar Wilde's plays Salome and The Importance of Being Earnest, whilst relating the whole thing to Wilde's own ideas about art and its role within society. I love Oscar Wilde. I love his plays. I love his views on art. Yet, that question, for some reason, put me right off-balance. I spent three hours on 200 words at one point, much to the amusement of the hallmates who came to witness my essay-writing pain.

Anyway, I went out yesterday and today in search of a good-looking gentleman stranger, but since it is the weekend (and since it is Stirling), all the attractive males have gone to their homes. There wasn't even a nice ginger guy to harass. DISAPPOINTMENT. I am going to party tonight though with Nadine, so the challenge may yet be completed!

Yesterday was a good day because of these things:

Nadine and I went to Tesco and bought food that can actually be made into proper meals. The amount of work we've been doing lately has prevented our usual ritual of cooking together, and as such I have been living off of fried eggs and sandwiches. Nadine hasn't been feeling well lately, which makes the universe wrong because Nadine should never be made to feel sad.

I went for a lovely walk around the lake with Colleen and Drew (despite a abundance of references to the Baby Rabbit Massacre; a story too painful to pen here right now). Also, it's the first time I've ever experienced a true Spring. Shetland is somewhat lacking in the tree department, so the whole "WAW IT'S SNOWING PETALS EVERYWHERE" and the smell of pine and blossom when walking across campus is simply gorgeous!

With said Tesco food, we made PANCAKES. Nadine, Colleen and myself managed to polish off the entire plateful. Do you like pancakes? I simply can't wait to get a mouthful (ahahaha).

We were then going to watch Howl's Moving Castle avec Drew, but then his laptop - now christened Bruce by Colleen - EXPLODED. That might be an exaggeration. It actually turned itself off and wouldn't switch back on. So I phoned up my brother and Jin phoned up Dell and there was a confusing dual conversation on how to fix Bruce. Then Jin hung up on Dell and for the next two hours my brother spoke to the resident computer experts in AKD, Jin and Stephen, and I butted in every now and then to ask after the family and Shetland in general. After several elaborate attempts at diagnosing the problem the conclusion was reached that it had caught a virus. Most likely from megaporn, though Drew still reckons his porn is clean and virus-free. Whatever.

Well, I have to go get ready for this party now. Speak soon, m'lovelies! Also reinstating quotes of the moment, cos you gotta love em.

Peace, love and pudding pops!

Quote of the Moment:

*On the subject of getting Confirmation names*

Roseanne: You have to choose a name of a saint.

Nadine:*somewhat disappointed* Oh, so you can't be Nemo?

It took two, but I did it!

Attempt 1:

At a pub quiz, Susannah encouraged me to ask the bouncer to fulfill my challenge. However, I told him the parameters were to take a picture with a stranger. Silly me!

Here he is

Attempt 2:
I was coming out of the Amherst College locksmith and saw a boy walking by. Without thinking too much, I said, "Excuse me, can I ask you a really weird favor?!" Then he agreed, especially after I explained what the WHOLE CHALLENGE was. "Do I really fit the parameters?"

Score one for me! Then, to add awkward to awesome, his friend comes by while my camera is taking its sweet ever-loving time to load. HAHAH. "What's up?" "Just taking a picture with this random girl?" So afterward, I was thanking him -- I never got his name -- and he was like, "Any time." It was awkward, sweet, and lovely. My three favorite things ever. AWESOME.
Also, he was much cuter than the picture, I swear.

I completed the challenge!

Hello ladies!
I managed to complete the challenge! I am quite (very) tipsy (drunk) right now and Ali's computaaa has no way of uploading my pictures, but I told some men they were beautiful and they were pleased.
I'll update this properly tomorrow with pictures of my sexy sexy dancing and interesting hair and the beautiful men who were probably not that attractive.
As Ali just said "That wasn't the most horrendous night ever, actually."
So you know, we had a good time.
Much love to my homegirls, and I promise that if I see an attractive man in the librizzle (library) I will do this challenge again the way it was intended to be... building self-esteem and making people happy and discovering that we can tell men they are attractive! When we/they are not drunk! HUZZAH!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Artist.

It’s taken a fair bit of commitment, but I’ve finally managed to turn off my Lost marathon (I’m just finishing season three, and am hoping to be caught up by the finale of season six) long enough to write and post this blog.
Now, I know that so far me and Mhairi haven’t proven to be the greeeattest ambassadors of completing challenges, but I have a fairly decent excuse. The last week, for me, has been absolutely mental. It’s been one of the most pivotal weeks of my life; I can’t remember so much happening in such a short space of time. This is the first day in a long time I just haven’t left the house, and to be honest, today I wouldn’t move for heaven and earth.
I deserve to be gross and unshowered and lazy for a day or two. After all, I did just leave secondary education all together and get a place in the Duncan of Jordanstone college – one of the most reputable art school’s in the UK.
Words don’t really cover how excited I am. The idea that I’m actually going to be a proper, real life art student doing a proper, real life art course… until I got the confirmation letter from UCAS and until I got sent accommodation applications, I was almost convinced someone had made a mistake. I got into Cardonald, my back up option, as well… but it was a cautionary stepping stone, in case I didn’t have a place anywhere this year.
As for Yesterday, I left secondary education forever. I wish it had been more of a monumental Troy and Gabriella song and dance affair, but I’ll make do with cruising around Lerwick with the people I’ve gotten to know over the last two years, eating donuts and feeling generally quite pleased with ourselves. I’ll miss them, I suppose. But I’ll keep in contact with the ones I care about the most, and that’s all that matters really.
As for the next week, eventually I’m going to scrape myself out of my lost coma and find a job. Jamie, my boif, found work this summer – so he might be coming home much earlier than I expected, which is good.
Now, I believe me and Sawyer have a date.

A delicious change

First I must apologise for not doing the challenge yet. I have quite good excuses: I only found out yesterday, the only time I left the house today was to go to the supermarket and the only males at the supermarket had had children with them - I felt too damn creepy dammit! But the challenge will be done and evidence will be produced. As an unintended side effect I'll again get to blog twice this week and once again I'll get to feel twice as important as you guys.

Anyway, this week I'm going to do a recipe blog! Why? This is the most delicious risotto I've ever tasted and nothing has happened to me in the last week (I made and ate this risotto twice - seriously, that was the highlight). So let me proudly present...

Roast Cherry Tomato Risotto

Serves 2

You will need:

• 200g Risotto rice
• Around 2 litres of stock
  
• One Onion
• Lots of olive oil
• A big punnet of cherry tomatoes.
  
• 2 cloves of garlic
• A handful of basil leaves
• A handful of parmesan cheese - or vegetarian equivalent (did you know parmesan isn't vegetarian? I didn't! But I still buy it because the vegetarian stuff doesn't taste any good and it's only like 0.1% animal. )
  
• A tablespoon of butter
• Salt and pepper
  

1. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Stick the cherry tomatoes and unpeeled cloves of garlic on a roasting tray, liberally drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast at 160C for about 40 minutes.

2. While the tomatoes are cooking you can start making the risotto. First chop some onion small, something like this:

Then fry the onion in lots of olive oil, more oil than seems appropriate. You'll need lots as you'll be frying the rice soon. Of course, if you're Cara you can skip this step as onions aren't really that important.

3. Make up some stock in another pan. Make it a little less strong than you might want to because you're going to keep it boiling for a while and all the water will boil off. You should have a neat little set up like this:

3. After about 5 minutes when the onions are all soft add the rice. I never knew why you fry the rice until recently - you have to get the rice hot all the way through so that it will cook quickly. I never used the fry the rice and risotto used to take forever and my hands would get all sore. But now it's much easier!

4. Now begin to add the stock. If you'd got the rice hot enough there should be an almighty hiss when the stock hits the pan. It's traditional to add a glass of white wine at this point instead of the first ladle of stock - and it does taste good - but my mum came to my flat and drank all my wine.

5. Keep adding stock and stirring for about 20 minutes. Keep enough stock in the rice so that the rice has a gloopy pourable consistency. Keep the stock on a rolling boil and the rice simmering - you want the rice hot enough to cook but not hot enough so the steam coming off burns your hand, because I always do that and it hurts! You don't have to stir all the time - that's boring. Also you can listen to the radio or phone someone, because 20 minutes is a long time.

6. When the rice no longer tastes uncooked take the rice off the heat and put a lid on. Chop the basil and add it. Grate the parmesan and add it. Add the butter, add the roasted tomatoes. Chop the ends off of the garlic cloves and squeeze out the garlicy goodness into the pot. Give everything and good stir and season to taste. If it's not gloopy enough for your taste add more stock.

7. Put on plates.

8. Eat. Nom nom nom!

Cool right? I've you've ever made risotto before 90% of that will be obvious and patronising. But anyway, here's one last time real quickly:

1. Roast tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper.
2. Fry onion, fry rice.
3. Add stock, stir, stir, stir.
4. Repeat step 3 until delicious.
5. Add butter, parmesan, basil, tomato, salt, pepper.
6. ....
7. Profit!

Love you guys!

I had lots of pictures, but it's too hard to put them in. Urgh!

Challenge 2: Paparazzi

This week, I challenge you all to meet someone new, even if you have a boyfriend.

And this is what I want you to do:

1. Find an attractive male stranger. (I know they exist, I've been to Scotland.)
2. Say to him, "Excuse me, but you are ridiculously attractive."
3. Remember his response.
4. Then say, "This might seem odd, but my friend triple-dog dared me to take a picture with a ridiculously attractive male stranger and then post it on my blog. Would you mind?"
5. Take a picture with him, for crying out loud!
6. Post it here, and tell a little story. Where did you stumble upon him? What was his name, age, rank? How did he respond to you telling him, "Excuse me, strange man, but you are ridiculously attractive." How easy was it to convince him to take a picture with you? Was he flattered? Flustered? Flatulent? (I just threw that one there for sound.) Tell your captive audience.

Roseanne is...

*cue fanfare*

Today I climbed a mountain with Drew and Jin. Then Drew threw me down said mountain. Asshat. Had to be airlifted to hospital and everything, and I got the cuts on my elbow to prove it. So, there's my rather elaborate and almost-truthful reason for this blog-post being a teensy tiny bit late... sorry guys!

Introduction ahoy:

I'm half Shetlander on my dad's side, half Irish on my mum's, and am one half of an Irish-twin who was born eleven months before me. He's a cool kid. Despite his eleven month advantage, I don't consider myself his little sister, in fact we both agreed when we were five and six to swap birthdays, but then Mum put a stop to sucha scheme by saying we weren't allowed. I have a little brother whose drumming skills surpass his social ones and a little sister whose a true Narnian at heart. My dad also happens to be a Time-Lord who lived in a castle with another Time Lord called St Patrick - and those are his words, not mine.

When I was eight I wanted a dog, a King Charles of all things. Because I thought that the patches on their fur looked like Jigsaw pieces I decided that I would call this dog Puzzle. My dad used to phone up animal shelters in Aberdeen, and then tell me that the shelters had no dogs for children. It always seemed that they never had dogs for children, despite the many years of waiting. Then one magic day my mum spotted an ad in the local paper which offered nine collie-cross puppies free to a good home. My dad protested, to which my mother replied that if he kept that up she would go and get all nine of the puppies. Cutting a long story short, we got a puppy. My mother called him Puzzle. My dad and him are inseperable. He looks like a womble.

Currently I am studying Film and Media at the university of Stirling, which has not been so awesome this semester because the subjects we've studied have been yawn-tastic(yet my grades have been better than last semester, which is a good insight into how my life works: backwards). English lit/creative writing are the subjects that own my heart, however. If things work out, I might write a movie or a book that might do decently and buy us all a trip to the USA. Here's hoping!

My favourite blogs are the bird and the frue and The Amazing Adventures of Stephen Fry.

The best concert I have ever been to was Fall Out Boy in London, when afterwards we all ran through a huge fountain and Mhairi lost her coat in the middle of it. Travelling through the underground dripping water down the aisles... the only way to travel.

Who would I like to eat dinner with? Clearly, Stephen Fry. Also agree with Cara, The Doctor would be a fantastic table-buddy. Especially if said dinner was fish and chips from the future in the swanky new TARDIS.

*takes a bow* thankyou and goodnight

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

It's Thursday in America

Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?

All things I've had to consider lately. Turns out, I'm not really sure the answer to any of these questions, but I do know what I love. Well, actually... Sometimes I do. Not always. Right now I feel pretty good, but tomorrow I could feel pretty down. I suppose we'll see what tomorrow brings when it brings it.

I'm a person whose life is in flux, whose brothers won't speak to her, and whose dog is the best friend she's ever had. Like I say, some days I feel like Van Gogh's sunflowers and some days, well, I feel like his self-portraits. With whom would I eat dinner? Probably the children in my toddler room. What did I study in college? (I just finished TODAY!) Writing, but not correct comma usage. I've a bad habit of misusing commas and ending sentences with prepositions. It's been going on much longer than you need to know. Oh, I also studied history, but it's an afterthought now.

The best concert I've ever been to was probably the Todd Snider concert at the Paradise on June 12, 2009. The concert with the most potential was the David Gray concert in October 2005. The most transcendent and important concert was Jackson Browne, solo acoustic, on April 1, 2008 in Northampton.

Favorite blogs include The Unicorn Diaries and Postsecret.

A Wee Post

Hey dudes, it's Mhairi. I'm just gonna do a wee post on the challenges and go away quickly so I only have to do one challenge next week.

1. Family: I have a mum and a dad and little brother and AN AMAZING DOG CALLED GENGUS
2. Pets: I HAVE AN AMAZING DOG CALLED GENGUS. I also I have an ikea bamboo plant and supermarket basil, coriander and parsley plants, and I love them all dearly.
3. Areas of academic interest: Maths! I might do a post or two about maths, it won't be anything scary it will be cool! Some maths is really awesome, honest. I also generally like science. And I also generally like things that aren't science! Stuff is cool.
4. Favorite blogs: I don't actually think I read any blogs...? I try to avoid going on the internet too much because I tend to waste time reading rubbish pointless crap.
5. Best concert: Franz Ferdinand!! Touched! Legs!!
6. Dinner Eating: I've always thought having a dinner party with someone famous would turn out super awkward, or super disappointing. They'd either be as cool as you hoped and then you'd feel stupid and have nothing to say or they'd be boring. So I'd just have my friends!

Cararararar

Hello everyone! How are you?

I'm rather tired today. After a very early morning and a trip to the bus station, a surprisingly expensive shopping expedition and several hours spent in the library doing nothing, I'm now watching Taylor Lautner stride angrily around in the rain with his shirt off. Sadly, not in real life.

My name is Cara, and I have been to Forks. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not a Twihard (is that what they're called?), I enjoyed the first few books but Breaking Dawn was just silly. I am Team Jacob though, most definitely. R-Patz/Edward is pretty but his obsession is more than creepy. Thoughts? Or should I never revert to Twilight tangents again?

I'm going to try to answer all challenge questions today! Familywise, I have a mommy and a daddy, and two little brothers, both of whom are taller than me. John is 17, has just learned to drive before me and has also managed to be the first of us children to crash Mum and Dad's car. Rob is 13 and a typical teen, who answered the phone to me just today with a grunt and a derisive 'Oh, it's you.' When I catch him on his good days however, he is still my baby brother... D'awww.

As for pets, our family owns six ducks, and our flat would like to own a baby bear. Sadly, we make do with Simba the lion, Monty the monkey and Pink dog, the... dog. We also have a wonderous pet shelf which Pegasus sits on to survey the room.
I am about to finish my 3rd year at Edinburgh University, where I study Psychology and Linguistics. I also have academic interests in literature and several sciences, as science is my baby!

I read many blogs, so chosing between them is difficult. Some of my favourite blogs are written by these lovely girls, but others by Hayley (hayleyghoover.blogspot.com), Kristina (italktosnakes.blogspot.com) and the Sleep Talking Man (sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com) are hilarious and insightful. I also love Postsecret.

My favourite concert I've been to was probably T in the Park 2007, with Kirsty. The Killers and Snow Patrol played, and it was so exciting! Another concert I loved was my first ever Julia Nunes gig, because she's one of my favourite musicians and I was hilariously starstruck.

As for the dinner question, it needs much more thought than I can give at 3am, but first on the list is definitely The Doctor, followed by Lyra and Will, and possibly Tom Felton. Oh, and Hugh Laurie.

Finally, I just want to mention something relevant to Mhairi's discussion on Monday. Though to an extent I do agree that the parties have very similar policies in some areas, the article published today by the Independent almost made me spit out my cereal (if I liked cereal and had been eating it at the time). This is why I'm voting against the Conservatives... because their fundamental ideology worries me.

I'm going to enjoy tomorrow whatever happens, though I do have my fingers crossed that our nation will do the right thing. Ah, democracy!

Love love guys, I'm very much looking forward to this new blogging era!
Xxx

P.S. I managed to type this entire thing on my iphone, I'm overly proud of myself...

Jenny's First Blog

OH HAI GUYS.
I’ve had a couple of drinks, meeting Cara’s friends and eating a slightly ridiculous amount of food, so I can’t promise that this post will be full of witty insights and observant social commentary like Mhairi’s one was. However, I can talk about myself; I’ve got a relatively important interview on Thursday, so I guess I should get some practice while I can.
My name is Jenny. I’m seventeen years old, 5”5 (and a half) and have a pretty stellar BMI. I do not look (that much) like Katy Perry and my artwork isn’t (that) awesome – but I certainly do try. My favourite colour is blue, my party of choice is Lib Dem, I’ll order a rum and coke nearly every time and my favourite thing to eat is paprika flavoured crisps. I listen to music an awful lot: I can probably take you from Chet Baker to The Mountain Goats to Die Antwoord in less than ten moves. We don’t have a token black guy as much as a token underager, which is a position I’ve been filling for quite a long time. We’re not nearly as multicultural as that – not that we don’t want to be. I’ve got the ass and soul of a black girl though, so let’s play pretend... It’s the internet right?
Another thing I tend to do is make lists a lot. There are public lists and there are private lists and there are lists of my favourite quotes from The Princess Bride. It’s kind of my thing – you should probably expect to see a lot over the days and months and maybe, god knows, years.
Writing this on the fly at Lottie’s flat isn’t going to herald the best results, but what can you do? I’ll make up for it with hi-larious stories and puns – you’ll enjoy it, pinky promise. Now I’m going to go make myself pretty and get drunk. Can’t wait to read the rest of your posts, guys; I’m genuinely excited about this blogging business.

Mhairi's First Post

I’ve decided to start this blog thing all by myself because I’m confused, bewildered and determined to hand in my entry on time. Also I’m quite confused and bewildered by what tumblr is so I figured this would be the best way to educate myself.

I’m going to write about the elections because that is pretty much all I can think about at the moment. Unfortunately I kind of have other things to think about just now so I’ll try and make it snappy! So, without further ado I introduce Mhairi’s Monday blog!


Do you know what makes Britain great? Our proud history and rolling countryside? Our funny accents and islandyness? No! What makes Britain great is the distinctly low level of evilness in our politics!

Okay, I’m sure we don’t all agree with every party’s every policy but none of them are saying anything that makes me spit out my breakfast cereal. Unlike say, for example… America… There is much to love about America. Here are three things that are not so lovable. (Please note that in everything I write here I am taking a very broad and incorrect definition of evil. Evil - adj. excessively stupid, cruel, rage inducing or right-wing.)

1. Let’s charge the homeless of New York money to stay in homeless shelters. They have money, right?! We’re not making life much much worse for some of the most vulnerable members of society, right?!

2. Let’s let the police stop people in the street if they look like immigrants! Oh no no, it’s nothing to do with race, some people just look immigranty! It’s nothing like being able to stop Hispanic people on the street without good reason and then arresting them if they don’t carry appropriate papers!

3. Interviewer: So Sarah, how do you feel about climate change?

Sarah Palin, a woman who came close to being Vice President of America: ” I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.”

Mhairi: ARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Things like that are, thankfully, rather absent from mainstream policy in Britain and I’m going to try and prove it to you.

I know there is a lot of negative feelings towards the Conservative party in the circles we move in but I would like to argue that they aren’t evil, not evil evil anyway. Nothing they say provokes me to furious outrage - and it shouldn’t - nothing they are saying is truly outrageous. What are you more likely to think: “Tax breaks of up to £150 a year for married couples?!?! THOSE FILTHY ROTTEN SCUMBAGS!!” or “Oh, tax breaks of up to £150 a year for married couples? Well, I do think there is better ways to spend the budget, particularly in these tough economic times. Furthermore, while I understand that you are trying to promote marriage I don’t believe that marriage necessarily promotes stronger families rather people who are more likely to stay together are more likely to get married but overall I can understand the thinking behind it.”? See, I think you are going to think the latter - or maybe even think that the marriage allowance is a good idea, which is a very reasonable position to take.

As for the other parties - Gordon Brown? Evil? Maybe possibly a little boring - is that even a bad thing? He is allegedly a little bit mean. But evil? Nah. And although Nick Clegg has been involved in his NAZI SLUR ON BRITAIN, he’s not evil - he’s kinda awesome. If there is anyone else in any of the big three that are evil - well I haven’t heard anything from them. In fact this whole election has been almost exclusively Clegg/Cameron/Brown with some light sprinklings of Cable/Osborne/Darling. Do other members of these parties exist? Do politicians who aren’t white men aged 40 plus exist?* What about BNP and UKIP you might ask? Well, neither of them got any seats last election and hopefully won’t this election.

I’m not saying there is no evilness I’m just saying that we’re lucky - whatever happens this Thursday it probably won’t be that evil. So I for one await the election with joy and anticipation!

Lots of love blog peeps!

ElectiON!

*I’ve just found out that George Osborne is 38, so there you go.



Cara's edit: Mhairi posted this on tumblr yesterday because she didn't know what was going on, but was determined to do her part. Though she did not know about the challenges, I feel this was a worthy introduction to the joy that is Mhairi!
Jenny will be posting later today, and the updated schedule is as follows:

• Monday - Mhairi
• Tuesday - Jenny
• Wednesday - Cara
• Thursday - Ashley
• Friday - Roseanne
• Sunday - Challenge time!

Love love love xxx

Challenge:

Introduce yourself! Family, pets, areas of academic interest, favorite blogs, best concerts, who would you like to eat dinner with?

Schedule

Tuesdays- Jenny
Wednesday- Cara or Roseanne?
Thursday- Ashley
Friday- Cara or Roseanne?