packed full and spilling out (but that's just how we do these days)

so, i have been up to many things, and will continue to be, but for the moment can catch my breath a bit and let you know about some of them.
in list form, because it might be easier to read, here is the scoop:

-inestimable friend john lingan visited for 5 days, and here is what we did:
-he ate at my restaurant and apparently the food is really delicious, which is always comforting to know
-we walked around and saw the city, which just grows on me more and more all the time, and the weather was a mixed bag but mostly good - john says that edinburgh is the tweed-wearing grandfather of pittsburgh. i will take his word on that.
-we saw cat on a hot tin roof at the royal lyceum theatre, and it was incredible and exactly right, exactly what i needed and wanted to be doing at that moment. those actors were just so perfectly larger than life and also really believeable at the same time; the truth is that tennesee williams just never stops. i am going to soon return to see a christmas carol and hopefully every single show they put on there.
-john and sam met and got on very well, as different as they are. it is good to know that other people can genuinely appreciate the essence of someone without worrying about the particular commonalities, and just can have a good time hanging out.
-we saw incredibly strange band sigur ros play. it was very provocative, and pretty fascinating, though a very heady concert-going experience. i went in and out of being aware that the world was larger than myself and the band before me, and a lot of the time when i forgot everyone else i sort of forgot the band as well and just had thoughts about myself and my life that i never expected to have. i am glad for the experience, overall, though i'm also glad all concerts aren't that way.
-we saw the scottish parliament building, which was probably the strangest thing i've ever seen but in a very impressing way. man what a weird place. it is sort of the big joke of the town/nation, because it was designed by this spanish architect who died partway through its construction process (that seems to happen a lot - gaudi, anyone?) and ended up costing 300 billion pounds rather than the projected 600 million. it is very futuristic in a way but everything is made out of wood/wood-coloured things - he said he was fashioning it after scotland's colours and topography. i give up on trying to describe it, but it is just like nothing i've ever seen before.
-we saw the outside of the queen's palace that she goes to for 3 days a year, palace of holyrood house, and the base of arthur's seat, and this was the windiest experience of my life, even more so than the actual climbing of the thing. i actually could no longer walk due to the extreme winds. whenever this happens i just give myself over to it and laugh and laugh. what else can you do, really?
-at this moment john and i decided we couldn't handle the dynamism of the actual earth, so instead we went indoors to a science museum called "our dynamic earth" that is like the busch gardens of the earth's history and biomes. it was ridiculously cheesy and the coolest thing ever and i'm so glad we spent our afternoon in fake volcanoes and tundras and watching the big bang happen from our spacecraft.
-we heard beethoven's fifth at the usher hall, which was highly enjoyable. it is good to be cultured.
-we ate lots of food -including a shared portion of haggis, which john was a big fan of, because it indeed tastes darn good- and i drank lots of mochas, as i seem to do these days. not much drinking or dancing, but really that's okay in the end. that's a big part of edinburgh life, but there was so much to see, so much to say!
-we talked about everything, just everything, and yet came to conclusions about not a single thing. both of our brains are swirling and we are experiencing the complete opposite life-altering things right now, but it is good to have someone who can sort of see that for themselves and begin to understand. conversation with john also affirms some new developing parts of myself, especially parts interested in family, and in man and woman ethos, and i am really happy for that.
-john left, and i wrote the biggest paper of my semester. it went okay...i got out what i had to say, and didn't do it poorly or anything, but reading back over it it seems very uninspired, or lacks any really triumphant moments of craft or thought. which is truly a shame, because this book has been extremely provocative for me. i had trouble getting really into the writing of it for some reason. my brain is too diffusely focused lately, i guess.
-i gave a presentation in my sociology of education class, but the guest lecturer covered pretty much everything i was assigned to talk about, so it turned out not to matter pretty much at all. which is nice i guess but a little frustrating.
-i studied heart of darkness for the fifth time for a class, and damn is there so much going on in that book. i learned probably 20 new things about it, as i do every time i read it.
-i saw the constant gardener today, and incidentally movie theatres in europe are consistently so much more impressive as physical spaces. the movie was really good, but in a singular way unlike anything else i've ever seen, so i am feeling at a loss for how to talk about it.
-i've decided i'm going to rearrange my room and i'm very excited about it, but i don't have time yet. instead i am just fantasizing about it.
-i was going to go see a rock show in glasgow tomorrow night, the decemberists, but it is sold out it seems. to treat myself for this loss i bought otis redding's greatest hits, which i am currently listening to, and let me tell you these were some great hits. what adorable music. why did we stop producing things like this?

i am off to read kafka's the trial before i go out this evening. there is much more to say about life and doings and what's in store, but it will come in due time, i promise. sending out electronic love-