oh these walls

so for the last few months, carol was held captive in the evil university,

living in a box.

but after attaining a higher energy level on a diet typical to that of the west of scotland, she overcame the lethargy of anaemia and

broke free....

venturing forth from the confinements of these cardboard walls... she walked and walked and walked, dazed from the sudden light.

and she found that the world was brighter than she had remembered...

the trees will clap their hands

people

meanwhile... some banterous photos...

gill+me. me+kenneth(st. paddy's).

ommena+me+amy (bhangra!). shawn+me+ sue(st. paddy's)

_ _ _ _ _ _

i think, to capture a snapshot of life is my ultimate goal here. the memory retains selectively and inaccurately, but life... oh life, should not be remembered for the tangled thread of in-betweens but the moments that bring a smile to your heart. :)

bhangra!

power to the bhangra!

the recent demise of the beautiful

easter wanderings

how do we know the things we do without first experiencing our lack of understanding on ideas we had yet to perceive? is wisdom something that is gained from a certain regression, followed by the subsequent realisation that we need to be taking hold of the opportunity that failure provides? no, for sometimes we are given the knowledge without prior realisation we were never aware of it. but perhaps we retain the information better, post-self-directed-climbing-up-after-a-fall.

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

i don't know how i landed myself in this muse, but i do know that i am missing people...

and i guess if i didn't lose them in the first place, i wouldn't have known how much they meant to me.

all things blue and beautiful.

i've been having an obsession with blue of late...
...

right, okay.. the long overdue post of vindication :

:)

just a passing thought:

how much are we moulded by the visual stimuli we perceive? a lot, i reckon....

of mice and men

scene : byres road, circa 5pm...
enter jonny and naomi round the corner of morton's...

jonny: "hello, carol! we just bought rats! "

me: "i just bought brown boots! *shows them my bag* this is my 5th pair of brown boots and i was like, 'when am i ever gonna stop buying brown boots? and i'm like, never!'... why'd u buy rats?"

naomi: "it's for rachel farr. "

(jonny gets a phone call.)

me: "oh yea, it's her birthday. *looks at the cage* where are the rats? "

naomi : "in the little box. i don't think it's a good idea, personally. "

me: "oh no! it's quite a craze nowadays! my friend got two rats, then beth's flat got rats and now here! "

naomi:" beth's got rats? "

me:" yeah! "

naomi: "so if rachel isn't up for the rats, we could give it to beth? "

me: "yeah! ohh, plenty of my friends would love rats! "

(jonny puts down the phone at this point.)

jonny: "mice, carol, *shoots evil look at me* not rats. "

me: "well, lots of my friends would love mice slash rats. or or OR.... if noone wants it them, u can give them to MEEE and i'll dissect out their bone marrow and get their dendritic cells.. *makes continuous crushing motion with hand* and test them of course! "

jonny shoots me a dirty glance and walks off.

laughter is the best medicine

Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References

it's good to hear our NHS spending is going into the quintessential issues of life...

Research BMJ 2006;333:1291-1293 (23 December)

Phenotypic differences between male physicians, surgeons, and film stars: comparative study

male surgeon. male physician. actor playing a doctor(control).

Objectives To test the hypothesis that, on average, male surgeons are taller and better looking than male physicians, and to compare both sets of doctors with film stars who play doctors on screen.

Design Comparative study.

Setting Typical university hospital in Spain, located in Barcelona and not in a sleepy backwater.

Participants Random sample of 12 surgeons and 12 physicians plus 4 external controls (film stars who play doctors), matched by age (50s) and sex (all male).

Interventions An independent committee (all female) evaluated the "good looking score" (range 1-7).

Results Surgeons were significantly taller than physicians (mean height 179.4 v 172.6 cm; P=0.01). Controls had significantly higher good looking scores than surgeons (mean score 5.96 v 4.39; difference between means 1.57, 95% confidence interval 0.69 to 2.45; P=0.013) and physicians (5.96 v 3.65; 2.31, 1.58 to 3.04; P=0.003). Surgeons had significantly higher good looking scores than physicians (4.39 v 3.65; 0.74; 0.25 to 1.23; P=0.010).

Conclusions Male surgeons are taller and better looking than physicians, but film stars who play doctors on screen are better looking than both these groups of doctors. Whether these phenotypic differences are genetic or environmental is unclear."


read full trial here

the magical idiocy of the worshippers only comes out at night.

worshipppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my guitar string broke,

but then… a revelation, like the light around…: I long to be where the praise is never ending!!!

for this must be a taste of what heaven will be like! for you are a loving Father, and how often we human beings forget that! caught up in our own little worlds of darkness and dirty rags… but Father! this is what You must have meant when You provide us with the tools for us to come closer to You! and in YOUR PERFECT AND HOLY PLAN. which is good and PLEASING! OH MY WORD… PLEASING! for how often do we want to tally longer in a place as beautiful as THIS!!! I don’t ever want to leave this place, this stand, this status! but the fact is…I WAS NEVER ANYWHERE ELSE, I was just blinded by my own hands!

AMAAAAZZZINNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!

muacks! thank you Daddy!

enter the playas.

so @#$%!@#$^@#$&#$% STRESSSEEEDDDD from doing stupid ELISAs and reading a friggin average of 10 journals a week for immunology seminars. and fecking stats exam on tuesday and bloody answer for stupid journal club to the question proposed by the cancer-module-coordinator, prof. macMURDERER : 'what other proto-oncogenes are upregulated by inflammation?' damnnnn u intercalated Bsc degree... *evil look* i curse u with a bolus of tPA to dissolve your clots and make u die in a pool of your blood coming out of your every orifice..

and hence i have sent my dear richard to fetch me a solution of diazepam from the cardiac department at the royal.. (i'm kidding, i'd never abuse medicine like that, really....i would never steal from the NHS... ... honest!)

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

oh... what i wouldn't give for a night out at the crib soon with ma boys... check em out here in class, all wrecked from a night of pimping... keep it up boyysss! ;)

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...