colony forming unit

there's a sinking feeling that somewhere in the course of the last few months, my life took a turn for boring. being busy in my den of books, techniques, diseases, pathologies, pathways; grasping with my fingernails at trying to maintain the pathetic semblance of a social life that i have left - the only comfort one has left of being 'normal'. alas, i am committed to becoming a terminally differentiated nerd.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

she no longer had the time to plug her ear into the zeitgeist....

goodbye 2006

Happy new year everybody... :)

a nice night out with great immunologists, some noisy neighbours preventing her sleep and a big bowl of cereal later.... carol realises that she is really __ ___ ______.

"i am thankful for all that i've got."

a tribute...

the men.

the good guys... gillian.callum. simon.

simon in sheep clothing.

callum, me and simon t. the good 12 hours..
ze germans... on philosophy, bach and beethoven in bacchus.

a night out with the town

FREEEEEeeedooommmmmmmM

it's no wonder...

and these are a few of my favourite things (that i have been indulging in of late):

• burying my nose in books
• watching a significant no of films (11 films in 14 days)
• going for walks on the beach and stuff
• travelling to northern shores
  
• trimming ferrets
  
• playing poker (and winning rather ruthlessly... *evil laughter of a wud-be-rich girl*)
• blinding cows
• burying myself in my sea of thoughts

watching a significant no of films :

• charlie and the chocolate factory
• monty python: and now for something completely different
• candy
• volver
• finding neverland
• ever after
• batman begins
• lara croft: tomb raider
• gattaca
• love actually
• the shawshank redemption

has been a very thought-provoking experience for me. it's the brilliant geniousity of geniuses i allow myself to be taken in by, rather than subscribing to the hackneyed contrivings of the mediocre.. so yes, mr. e, i am quite happy sitting in my palace of elitists, intellectuals and lofty attainments... worry u not about the length of my hair, for i am in no need of rescue. i shall prove u wrong cos i so lurve a challenge.... (as if u didn't already know that ;P)....

reading... for i oft wander in wonder at wonderment of wonder.

right.. enough of this grandiose garrulousity and prodigious verbosity, i hear u cry, o wearied reader...

photos of my trip up north to the crazy country of the nooks and crannies, neeps and tatties...

the simpson's farm

losing a dog in a shelter home full of old people was a very memorable experience! (running in and out of rooms full of wizened, elderly people on their tripods and armchairs, calling 'kirsty, kirsty!')

scotland is beautiful

at the heart of winter

my kind of beautiful place

venturing into... hell's luuuuummmppp... ooooooooooo

a christmas carol

sometimes we need that comfortable silence.
in the midst of the people and mirth and the festive goodwill,
that familiar presence,
beckons.
in the back of the mind, mid-conversation, at the core of our being, it exists, waxing, then waning, but
ever-felt.

the familiar one calls to you, longs for you, speaks to you.

and slowly but surely, she unravels (not unsurely) and yields.
and in that dialogue, she realises (years) that the conversation is never-ending.. and its potential: limitless as Heaven's power...

She looks, and slowly, she sees,
that the greatest mystery of all, is unfolding in her life. a great love, a great Grace, like a blanket of snow, fills her inner being and breaks forth joy,
like the sun.
a helpless, scared, trepidating light,



but not without peace.

"And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." - Ephesians 2:22

legendary

oh... loookie what pete has in his hand... the ticket to carol's happiness....

so yes.. continuing on from my last post, i would just like to add more photographic evidence to the pool... the fact is that the season of partying is here. :)

a tribute to the legend last night:

mr legend did make us wait a wee while...

let it be known, from this day forth, that carol's love for the legend knows no bounds...

strictly come dancing

ceilidh, ceilidh, ceilidh!

it's alll about the chat, really.... nothing is complete without the banter.. i know i say this tOOOoo much, and i know if u google my blog, the word 'banter' probably appears more than 500 times, but i just cannot emphasize how great the craic has been of late...

this can be attributed to the following reasons...

• HOLIDAYS ARE HERE!!!!
• carol loves dancing
  
• proper, sweaty, scottish ceilidh (there have been many of late...) and a good ol game of knights, horses and cavaliers.
• immunology students kick ass!!! (big time)
  
• carol's rnb club rules. (both meanings)
  

mmmm... carol loves a man who can dance.

the side effects of having great craic...

• coming home smelling of weed (don't worry mom, didn't touch the stuff!)
• coming home at 330 am in the morning absolutely shattered and having to be up in 4 hours
• coming home at 2am the next night even more shattered
• having to do the same tonight
  
• seeing drunk medics immersed in debauchery
• having to look after drunk friends with lowered *ahem* inhibitions

the joys of immunology.

the joys of the celts

mad mad mads's

meanwhile, conversation topics have been of a seriously diverse scope of late... 5 hours today at mads's was EPIC.... carol loves like-minded people... who not necessarily have to share the same morality or perspectives on things, but who has a mind which thinks in the same way as mine....

carol loves intellectual fodder... mmmmmm.....

Run, run, run, run... in the right way, toward the right goal.

On being a Christian medic:
There is the risk of being prideful and elitist, but there is also the milieu of being surrounded by complete idiots, incompetency, inefficiency and utter oblivious-scatter-brained-pod-scum-of-bottomdweller-scum-phytoplankton-scum people...... GRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr...

beware the contempt of a very organised medical student.

meanwhile, carol is in need of the banter of another very-busy-person who can understand the frustration, isolation and support that is needed by a miserable very-busy-person.

indeed, misery loves company.


on a less miserable note,
i love amalgamating with a certain eponymous character (oh, i love how this is so apt!) and a certain other southpark-ish character... meetings most oft take place at night, most oft banter-full and absolutely wonderful. :)

BeholdddddDDDD....

behold... i have found... the new BLANKET...

• I'M UR HOMIE.
• i am no fun.

i say, glasgow, u dark horse...

getting enough

once your needs are fulfilled, u realise that u can be back to normal again...

gartmore.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
- Proverbs 13:12

the national scottish cmf conference at gartmore was amazing. of note was:

• the best ceilidh i've ever participated in.
• the best banter-masters in da house.
• the Word of life.
  

yes, we all have needs...

the dark side

sooo... since coming back from london, i've had a renewed obsession with goth ways...
now, if only i had the time to dress goth. but... i guess if i had the privilege, i'd also ask for the time to do more important things, like... have a decent social life... read and reply letters and emails, sort out the bills, etc etc....

alas, i am condemned to the futility of the musings of the workaholic...

"We are condemned to futile efforts, and our happiest moments are those in which our consciousness deludes itself with the dream that its constructions are perceptible and meaningful to others"-- Beckett

londonium

right out of the sea into the frying pan, i lept, painstakingly, into the arms of cellular adhesion molecules and electronica... but not before a well-deserved break in the biggest bestest place in the world... and i really mean IN THE WORLD....

right, i think i've done enough talking of late.... photos...

more

today i watched in silence as a star fell from the sky, as a leaf fell from the tree...as it gave up its life and descended. today i watched, helpless, not knowing the words to say, as a soul cried, as a boy died, as the world swept by, not giving a care or even a nod as a life was lost. today, i watched as Beauty faded away, as Life lost meaning, as Man failed. today, i watched, as a stranger to this sadness, i watched and i didn't know what to say to them, because they could never understand... today i watched as i was helpless, my words powerless in the face of humans and their way of knowing that they know best... today, i watched, helpless, and so very sad. joy... is not the absence of pain, but the presence of God.

the gentle whisper

halloweeners

so after that pensivity, i've realised that.... the ipod is ruining my life! as much as i love the long walk home, i love missing the last bus and i love losing myself, i also love the sound of my thoughts, and i really love speaking to God...
soo.. on my walk home tonight, facing the silence of the winter night boldly, i realised that slowing down is utterly essential to my being a better person. yes.. you could say God has been trying to tell me that of late...

"The LORD said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. " - 1 kings: 11-13