you can even smell it

i must say, time rather eludes me. i expect to be able to treat it a certain way, to allot it for certain things, to have it at moments and not at others. but it always seems to get away from me and from my to-do lists especially. for example, why on friday evening did it take me four hours to write one email? i thought it would take me about an hour, and that maybe i could even have written three or four emails during that night. as someone very interested in planning and punctuality, it can be disorienting when time isn't granting you the activities you thought it should or would.
somewhat incidentally, my friend jonathon said to me on our way to the very good but unexpectedly disturbing film "breakfast on pluto" the other day: 'do you ever wish life would just speed up to a time when you were happy with it?' sometimes i do, mainly because these days time = distance - it's like my occasionally persisting childlike wish for a teleporter- but mostly i'd say everything is zooming along, even as i sit here in my room at ease and listening to music, even as the passing is unfocused. i in fact wish i had more time often, because i regularly get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep, which ends up, apparently, being not a problem at all, but seems uncomfortably meagre to me for a digit that measures my life's rest and restoration.

burns night last night was enjoyable. though there is elsewhere understandable squeamishness, and however much i absolutely don't sit around desiring it, i still find the traditional scottish meal to be a tasty one. my third experience with haggis was had (this time coupled with robert's burns' famous ode), as well as neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes), all of which was homemade by international student centre volunteers with impressive results. unfortunately this peasant's historical meal is very heavy and is pretty much still sitting in my stomach, just having an indefinite sit. i don't know how people could live this way regularly! modern scottish (britsh as well?) diet is revised, but no better - they deep fry absolutely everything, their favorite object being the mars bar. this fried diet has its own classifying name: "chippy," which can interchangeably be the name for the food itself or for establishment offering the food. after about one in the morning, one out of every three people walking down the street will be chomping on a fried sausage, looking deceptively fit but spreading the scent of clogged arteries. luckily, this all is very easily avoided if one doesn't desire it - edinburgh is also full of classy food. i just discovered a fancy organic-like grocery store/deli/wine shop that caught my wandering eye, and last week i tried an authentic and tiny italian cafe that made me an excellent sandwich. i have no culinary complaints, except about the fruit and the orange juice and the peanut butter about which i totally have complaints. but i guess we can't all be tropical or creamy.

tonight at work i will be the only one holding down the fort. ordinarily there are two people scheduled for dinner shifts, but sunday nights and the month of january both are extremely slow, so i am very excited in my plans to bring a book and music that i enjoy and find appropriate for the restaurant's atmosphere that has been met with disagreement from the coworkers. it is very satisfying to get to the point in one's job where you feel like you can run things on your own. and basically i'm going to be paid 5 pounds an hour to sit and do what i normally do in my room. and i know that people often have such luck with their menial jobs, but it is a rare treat in the restaurant business. hopefully my grumpy chef will behave himself and preserve the harmony.

so yes, life is marching along matter-of-factly. tomorrow brings the last week in january more or less (ack!), the continuing of the new semester groove, and a little already-deviance as i skip one (relatively inconsequential) day of class in name of east anglian camaraderie whose revival is due. it also means - how lovely - a train ride full of ipod and books and people-watching and scenery and perhaps even knitting. it all sounds about right to me.