There Ain't No Devil, It's Just God When He's Drunk

Attention McEwan Hall: Will the ass face who STOLE my jacket at the graduation ceremony please be decent and return it? It's -2 outside, if you hadn't noticed. Thanks.

Yes, that's right. Today I proudly graduated from one of the most prestigious universities in Britain with a Masters degree, during which some douche face ass stole my jacket. I arrived early to check in and get my Harry Potter-esque robes and receive my seating card. Row 40, seat 2. Awesome. Then, since you couldn't wear a jacket or anything with the robe, I followed the advice of the robing crew and left my jacket on the back of my chair. Someone else had also left their kit on my chair. A red hand bag and a matching red pea coat. 'Hmmm', I thought, 'Obviously they are mistaken since this is my seat, but I will put my jacket down next to the person who so trustingly left their handbag and it will be fiiiiiine.' Ha. I no sooner set my coat down then my friend called me to meet her by the enterance. So I did. I was gone for literally 7 minutes. When I returned, my jacket was GONE. I ran around the entire hall asking everyone with a red coat and matching red handbag if they had accidentally picked up a black jacket by mistake, but to no avail. It was gone. I told the ushers to keep and eye out for it. I returned 3 times between 10 and 5 to ask if it had be turned in. Nothing.

Either a graduate or their parent STOLE my coat. Wankers.

Luckily, my wonderful Scottie filled me up with first a Bloody Mary followed by a wonderful St. Francis bottle of merlot from Santa Rosa, my old home town. And wonderful Scottie only had one glass, meaning I consumed the rest of the bottle.

I am so knackered/drunk now.

Fuck people to steal your shit! Thank god for this wine blanket which kept me warmish on the walk home THROUGH THE ICE.

Have you ever noticed that wonderful things happen when you're in a wonderful frame of mind? After the aftermath of Black Sunday, I pulled myself up, started thinking positively again, and got myself back into that optimistic frame of mind where things would go well and could definitely be worse. After all, I still had a form of employment (temping is sporadic, but at least it pays and is perfect until I get my Visa in December), I have an amazing, loving boyfriend, don't have to pay rent, get to live in a fantastic city, and have wonderful friends- pretty damn lucky. So it's even more fantastic when good things happen. For instance, my mobile.

Now, ever since I got back to the UK, the techo-nerd in me has had a bad case of mobile phone envy. It seems like everyone here has these super sleep, awesome phones. I had this:
Which don't get me wrong, was an awesome little phone. It had a flashlight! It's battery could last a week! It was the simplest thing every...but naturally, I wanted something a bit more. Something with colour, or that could take pictures, or have neat ring tones. But alas, having one wasn't exactly necessary since this little guy did a great job, and I really didn't the funds to spend on soothing my techo-gadget desires. But then last week, my friend up and just gives me this sexy little number:
WHOA! For free! Here sister's contract was upgraded and with that came a new phone. So her sister gave it to her, and she has no use for it and gave it to me! The only catch was that it was locked to a network. I did a lil internet investigating and found that LOADS of people had bought this type of phone either over the internet or from friends, only to find it locked. They went to the service provider who said that they couldn't unlock it, that they had to be paying members of the service, and that it was expensive - like over £50 for the company to unlock it. CRAP!!! In the words of one of the online forums complaining about this problem 'you just got yourself an expensive paperweight.' So close...and yet...so far. But I just had to try, so I took it to a sketchy phone unlocking place, where the nice Middle Eastern man gave it a quick glance and said'£15'. WHAT? People online were complaining of spending over £50 to get it unlocked. It sounded too good to be true...but it WASN'T! So now I am the proud owner of an awesome phone that fills all my nerdy needs and only had to pay £15 for it....but the weekend wasn't over yet.

Today was another perfectly autumnal day. The sun was shining, the air was crisp, with a cold icy breeze blowing down from the north, and Barbie and I decieded to play tourists and visit the palace. I've been in Edinburgh on and off for the past 4 years and have never visited the Palace, which is still a working palace where the Queen spends a few week every summer before vacationing in Balmoral to the north. The palace was lovely and full of fun history tidbits, and after walking the palace gardens and breathing in the euphoric aroma of woodsmoke wafting through the air, Barbie and I headed up the Royal Mile to an awesome shop that was unfortunately closing down. The shop is like this hippie new age place that sells everything from crystal pendants, to tarot cards, to buddah statues, to books on meditation, witchcraft, and herbology. And this sale was more than AWESOME.

I have this little obsession with labradorite...and lo and behold, they had loads, and it was all over 50% off. How could I not? Sales this good just don't happen every day! I got a square pendant like this one, but much richer blue. And of course I had to have the earrings as well that sorta look like these, and, well, I just couldn't help it...I caved in and got a ring too...then I stopped. I really don't have the funds for impromptu jewellery spending, but they lady was practically giving these gems away. The total cost for all three pieces would have come to £110, aka over $200! But, she let me walk away with all of them for the sweet price of £40. I figured that's only one days of work....bad, bad Shady, I know, but early Christmas pressie for me. YOU NEVER get cheap labadorite like this. I figured it was another sign.

I don't know if it was just good luck or good karma, but either way, this combination of weather, autumnal ambiance, techo goodies, and my favourite cheap jewllery, and my honey bought me dinner tonight....totally doesn't get better than this! Black Sunday? So passé!