Ahh, relax.

Today is my first day off in... a long time. I can't think back that far. I've been working two jobs -- one full time at the bookstore per usual, and then a part-time at The Trout Museum of Art (shameless plug). Things have been cruisin' at both. I know I don't have anything on folks who work 60+ hours a week regularly or anything, but splitting time between two jobs and doing some work from home and trying to get some social time in there, too... it's just hard work!

All is well, however. Yayyy! My younger sister got engaged a couple weeks ago to a very nice bloke, and there is all sorts of wedding planning going on. It's surreal to think that I'll have a brother-in-law, but in a way it's no surprise that this particular sister is the one who'll tie the knot before myself or my youngest sister (partly because she's youngest, and for me, well, I'm in no state to be tied down yet!). I wish them both the best and of course updates on this sickeningly cute wedding will come eventually. I can already tell it's going to be adorable beyond belief, if her Pinterest board is any indication...

I've been so busy that I haven't had a spare moment to sit down and consider scholarship applications. I know, right? I'm so excited to get going on them and then three weeks or a month disappears and I have not a single word written. I'll get there. Eventually. There is an official (!!!) start date for classes of 9 September 2013, and I'll have to probably be in Glasgow a good week beforehand for orientation, or what they like to call induction. I love the variations in English usage, seriously.

Also, one thing I'm SUPER PUMPED about, in a super-nerd prospective-postgraduate student way, is that the University of Glasgow just opened the doors to its very own Gilchrist Postgraduate Club, which includes a bar, coffee shop, and study space. So I'll get to hang out with postgrads and staff in a postgrad-only atmosphere. Holler! It actually looks really nice and modern; I can't wait to grab an espresso and write a paper there. Like I said, nerd.

Obviously the most important part of any college education.

Via The Gilchrist Club on Facebook (and the one above)

It's the little things I look forward to the most, y'know?

Finally, a couple more musical discoveries. One of my coworkers, who is incidentally a very good friend of mine, recently moved back to the area after a year away. Since he's been back, we've been trading musical suggestions and discoveries left and right (kind of like the old times) and my iTunes library has literally grown in size 1000% over the last couple weeks. Artists and albums to check out that I'm totally digging right now, in no particular order:

1. Lord Huron -- Lonesome Dreams, 2012 (IAMSOUND Records)

2. Passenger -- All the Little Lights, 2012 (Black Crow Records)

3. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins -- Diamond Mine Jubilee Edition, 2012 (Domino)

4. The Tallest Man on Earth -- Shallow Grave, 2008 (Gravitation)

5. Amy MacDonald -- Life in a Beautiful Light, 2012 (Melodramatic Records)

Dear Scotland,

Excuse me for a moment while I visualize my future.

Sigh.

Okay, now that that's over (hold on a second, I need to look at it just one more time) -- Alright. For real. That lovely photograph, which of course is not mine and is courtesy of the Scottish expat blog Dear Scotland, is of the main building of the University of Glasgow. Obviously looking a tad more like a scene from Braveheart than the place I will be attending school, but it's the sort of silly thing that keeps me totally amped. How could it not? Seriously. Just look at it. I'm going to give myself a panic attack any second.

Reality has started to set in, however. Of the good, constructive kind, though. I've got about eight scholarship applications (and counting, hopefully) that cover a slew of university-specific and national scholarships and bursaries. I'm trying to get whatever I can to help alleviate the ridiculousness that constitutes grad school tuition in general, plus that whole "international rate" bugalloo, and the annoying-but-understandable British immigration rule that requires every single penny that I'll need for the following 12 months already in my bank account the moment I hit the tarmac. And then there's that pesky conversion rate from the dollar to the pound, which has marginally improved since I studied abroad, but that's mostly due to economies in the rubbish bin all over the place, and not just ours anymore. Boooooo!!!

But more to the point, a couple of the national scholarship applications have opened (with deadlines extending into May, so I've got plenty of time to work on these), and I'm doing my best to get whatever I can out of the way early. This is my second time round the scholarship application carousel, and I intend to do it right (or better) this time around. Let the self-aggrandizement commence! Ha.