I sometimes wonder about atheist and the fact that their mechanical universe just doesn't exist.

I sometimes look at the titles of other Humanities scholar's work, for instance, "A Semiotic Analysis of the Short Stories of Leonid Andreev" by Stephen Hutchings (see here) and I wonder where it all went wrong. I wonder why some people's titles are just grander than mine, "The Literary Career of Fíthal". It always gives the impression that they do more important work than I do.

Academics is a writing business. I suck at writing. Therefore, I should have stayed away from Academia. That is all.

My birthday was rather exciting. I was having a small gathering of friends when a friend who was arriving told me that there was a fire in the stairwell. So, thinking "WTF?" I buzzed her in and took a look down the staircase to see an actual fire. So, I called the fire brigade and everyone got out of the flat. As it was a small fire, we were able to go past it on the way out the door. So, the fire brigade showed up and took care of the fire (thanks!). The police also came and we talked to them for a bit and gave details. I am just happy that it was something minor and everyone was safe. I do not understand the motivation for starting a fire in someone's stair well. I hope the police catch them and soon before they try it again.

My absolute favorite Indian restaurant in Edinburgh has burned to the ground in the middle of Old Town. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo! The article says that there were no injuries. I can only hope that the family who owns it will pull through this exceptionally trying time.

Well, I finally broke down and signed up for Facebook. Within a few minutes, I was inundated by friends sending me stuff and I was completely overwhelmed because I was just trying to figure out the interface. After a couple of days, I have settled in and everything has calmed down. However, I still feel like I have joined the Borg Hive-Mind except everyone is being silly.

Otherwise, the holidays are upon us. I helped a friend put up a tree at their place and had some more mulled wine at the Edinburgh Christmas Market. It has not snowed yet and probably will not but now that I do not have to drive everywhere, I want to see snow and I would love to get some pictures of Edinburgh in the snow like in some of the old photographs that I have seen.

How does a 300+ year old bank bite the dust so quickly?