The Best Year of My Life

I am now safely back in the States. The year has come full circle, I am seeing off 2005 in the same place (Virginia) where I welcomed it.

When I welcomed in 2005, somehow I knew I was welcoming the best year of my life. It was so inevitable that rather than imagining some legitimate New Year's Resolution, I resolved to have the best year of my life. I was initially very excited about sharing my New Year's Resolution with everyone I knew, but few people shared in my enthusiasm. One person told me about their friend's horrible accident. "You never know," they said, implying that any number of terrible things could happen. Several people thought they were being clever by pointing out that I didn't add the phrase "so far" to my resolution. "After 2005 it's all over," they said, "you'll never have another best year of your life." My more obliging friends asked me how I was going to make it happen, what was I going to do to make this year the best year of my life. I tried, but failed to explain that having the best year of your life has nothing to do with some accomplishment or event. If it did, I would have made that my New Year's Resolution. Focusing your attention towards accomplishing or getting or doing something so that you can have the best year of your life is one sure way to fail at having the best year of your life. Of all the challenges I confronted to my New Year's Resolution, "why is this going to be the best year?" was the most frustrating. How Can you even begin to explain all of the fascinating things you haven't learned yet or the places where you haven't been yet or the amazing people you haven't known yet?

Another new year. After having the best year of my life, there's still enough to learn and enough people to care about to make 2006 another best year of my life....so far.

Boxing Day

This is a picture of the time when I got a guitar for Christmas. Best Christmas ever!

Only on Thursdays

So there I was waiting for the bus on Prince's Street, when a parade of Violence Against Women protestors came marching down the street, halting all traffic, and delaying my bus. I was half an hour late.


So there I was walking home from institute when a man wearing nothing but an apron came running through Bristo Square, crossing directly in front of me. And Amy did not even notice, she just kept talking.



So there I was trying to get some rest after another bizarre Thursday when my sleeping flatmate mistook me for a "packet of information" and hit me.

Delaware Day

This Delaware Day I learned that people from Scotland have much more Delaware spirit than people from Oregon, California, or Idaho.

Yesterday morning when I wished my flatmate from Oregon a Happy Delaware Day she brought up Pearl Harbor and insulted Delaware.

My flatmate from California was considerably less bahhumbug, but one year I wrote Delaware Day greeting letters and a guy from California tore up my letter.

I wished an intern from Idaho Happy Delaware Day in an e-mail. He titled his reply, "a day that will live in infamy."

People from Scotland received my Delaware Day greetings much more warmly. They asked me how I planned to celebrate (not by writing letters to people from California) and returned my greetings. And one Scotsman called a friend in Australia to wish her a Happy Delaware Day.

And so Delaware Day was saved after all. I'm all for remembering Pearl Harbor (Hiroshima and Nagasaki too), but not at the expense of forgetting the single most important day in the history of our U.S. Constitution. Delaware Day resonates with the people living in Scotland and Australia because they love democracy. And people from Oregon, California, and Idaho.....

shedboatshed

Unfortunately, I lost the Turner Prize to Simon Stirling, an artist who built a boat out of a shed, paddled it down the Rhine, and then rebuilt it as a shed.

"Society has moved on"

The Family Law Bill is the big debate in Scottish politics these days. If passed, the Family Law Bill would create a special status for cohabitees and reduce barriers to getting a divorce. I've attended the committee debates on the bill over the past two weeks. Not surprisingly, the debate is a lot different than what you might hear in Utah. On Utah ears, Mike Pringle's speech sounded particularly startling. Is this a sign of culture shock?

National Scrabble Week

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of Thanksgiving. He said, "I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens (qtd. in wikipedia)." On the fourth Thursday in November, Americans all over the world remember life's blessings while feasting on turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie. And sometimes they (I) reenact the original Thanksgiving at Plymouth using brown paper lunch bag puppets.

In 2005, the Association of British Scrabble Players declared a National Scrabble Week during 19 November-27 November. Scrabble clubs all over the country are raising the profile of Scrabble, encouraging club membership, and attracting media attention. This Thursday, Thanksgiving to Americans, the Scottish Parliament will host a Scrabble Night. The festivities will include tips from Edinburgh Scrabble Club Champions and lots of games of Scrabble.

All of the celebration creates a huge dilemma for thankful, Scrabble-loving Americans living in Edinburgh this Thanksgiving. Feasting or Scrabble?