Point and Shoot... Randomosity

So, you may have noticed (or you have completely not noticed at all, which is fine, really, since that makes me feel less guilty) that I have not been blogging lately.  I have a couple of excuses.  First, there's the whole camera fiasco, which is ongoing.  The camera is back at the Nikon store in America and should hopefully be fixed soon.  I haven't heard about that yet.  It's still under warranty (yay!) so at least I don't have to stress about how expensive a fix it is.

My second excuse is university.

What?  I'm using schoolwork as an excuse for not blogging about my adventures in Scotland?  I know - lame.  But that's the way it is these days, and I doubt it will change much in the next few months, if the last couple weeks were any indication.

I basically had an essay crisis.  The paper that I worked on with great hope and care for a couple of weeks before Christmas and then for a week after Christmas turned out to be, well, wrong.  When I met with my supervisors, they were very encouraging and enthusiastic about the premise behind the essay and what I said I wanted to do, but the essay itself just wasn't doing what I said it was doing.

I'm not disagreeing.  It was a Fail Essay and I realized this with shocked dismay during the course of the hour long meeting with my supervisors.  So, they gave me loads of helpful advice on how to go about fixing my problem and sent me on my way with a total of four days to fix it up.

It turned out that I had to rewrite the entire (twenty page, footnoted) thing.  I came back the day before it was due and talked to my supervisor and she decided that an extra weekend to finish it would be good for both the paper and my sanity.  I'm not sure about either, but I do know that if I'd been expected to hand it in on Friday, I would probably not have survived.

Not that this was a dramatic situation or anything.

But the paper is finished and handed in this afternoon (I confess I almost bolted back into the office to grab it and save it before my profs have a chance to, you know, read it), so I am free and have an afternoon to rest before diving into Paper #3.

I haven't been taking photo walks like I used to since all I have is a little point and shoot camera kindly donated for the cause by my parents.  However, I have taken a few shots over the past few weeks.  So here you go:

 I was walking down the streets one evening and was captured, once again, by the lovely lamp posts that are scattered throughout the city.

They light up the old brick and stone buildings and long, cobblestone walkways with an eery, but beautiful glow.

This one has become a particular favorite of mine, standing at the edge of a raised walkway next to St Columba's Church.

 My little point and shoot stand-in camera has trouble with night shots.  Most cameras do unless they are advanced models (like my beloved sick camera in the shop!).

So it is always a trick getting any night shot to turn out without using a flash (which destroys most night shots, in my opinion).

 The lighting was really bad in this one, but I like the shot itself, so I gave the B&W effect a try.  It's now quite a good shot and looks deliberate and everything!

 There is no really good segue for this, but oh well.

A couple weeks ago, I realized that I had yet to take photos of my church.  Point-and-Shoot (shall I call this camera PS?) is not as good for taking really top quality, carefully modified shots like dear DSLR does, but PS has a few excellent advantages.

For instance, I can slip it in my purse without thinking about it and have a camera with me for random shots.  When I take DSLR out, I normally have to think about it more because it's so big.

Anyway, this is my church, St Catherine's Argyle.

 It was a truly gorgeous Sunday afternoon, with fluffy clouds and bright blue and a brilliant sun bursting over the horizon.  It looks so warm and inviting...

 It was not warm at all.

 Still, Sunday walks back from church are my favorite time of the week.  I feel refreshed from the amazing service, good fellowship with friends, and the student lunch that St Cath's so kindly provides each week.

And having this sort of weather, where it might be cold, but the sun is shining and the sky is blue, is just a bonus.

 My favorite things about The Meadows:

Giant old trees
Green, green grass
Distant church spires along the horizon

 I was trying to show how blue the sky is over this street, but it got completely washed out.

The picture below is a little better.

 Oh, look, is this a sunset?  No, in fact, it is a sunrise!  I know, you are shocked.  Melissa was up and about at the break of day?  Admittedly, day doesn't break until about 8:30, but still, for me, that is early.  This morning, I met up with Hannah for our almost-a-tradition Monday morning breakfast/study session.  I like to take the long way around to the cafe because I can walk through the park and watch the sky brighten.

 Today had amazing clouds so I decided to snap shots of the sky with some nice building silhouettes.  Edinburgh kindly obliges when it comes to pretty buildings.

 This is Bedlam Theatre, which has plays, though not your usual Shakespeare and friends.  I never recognize the play titles.

 Arthur's Seat looks compelling and magical off in the distance beneath the clouds.

Every time I see a building with a round, pointed tower, I want to find a way in to climb up and see if that tower is as adorable and awesome as it looks from down below.

I dearly want a round tower like this in my home someday.

So those are some pictures that I have taken.  I know I have failed in my usual habit of overloading posts with far too many pictures, but maybe the less-is-more saying can hold true for my photo posts.  I will try to snap the occasional shot here and there and stick them up so that I am not quite such a failed blogger.