Ponderings upon Calton Hill

Today was to have been spent studying full force....hence as I sit here in the grass upon Calton Hill, basking in the glorious warm feeling of sunny spring, thirstily drinking in the smells and sights, I look up all possible words synonimous with procrastination. .... Oh ..and the collins paperback thesaurus only posesses one.....No, hold on, instead of getting the thesaurus I´ve gone and bought myself the dictionary.. Oh well, it was only two quid and the day is far too good to spoil anyway with thoughts of duty ;-)

It´s just one of those priceless moments.... So instead I´ll just sit here looking over Arthurs seat, in my secluded clearing, drink my coke and ponder upon the future with you guys...

Plenty to ponder upon as well. I have no idea where I´ll be a year from now, I´m guessing here in Edinburgh still...In a way it´s liberating but in a different way it muddles things, especially in regards to the children. The pair of children that have however shown themselves to be remarkably resiliant and capable in the last half year, learning a new language and coping with an entierly different set of environment without a word of protest!

So at the moment Halldór´s planning to get a job here for the next year or so and believes this to be fairly easy as things stand and me....

Well I´m contemplating further studies, having slight difficulties however convincing myself that I have what it takes but at the same time seeing the obvious pluses of getting a doctorate (i.e. teaching or research positions available). The thing is, in which case I´d like to combine my love for folkloristics with my love for Japanese culture and try to obtain the means with which to do further research in Japan. Me in japan a year from now...doesn´t sound too bad ;-P

Anyways, we´ll see, I might apply for a couple of scholarships now (seeing as it seems one has to apply a year ahead) and maybe apply for, or rather inquire into the possibility of doing a doctorate at Sheffield seeing as they´re one of the few that have both a japanese department as well as folkloristics one.....

Don´t know though, is it better to continue at the same institution or would a change, a different university look better on the resume..? Sheffield does rank number 20 in the top 100 Universities in Europe... But then again Edinburgh ranks number 10...? Ponder ponder....

Closer to home in time and space is the fact that I need to prepare a paper pronto !! To be presented at the young folklorists´ conference here in Edinburgh next weekend.... It´ll be my first ever paper presented at a conference !! ;-P Something to put on the resume should I apply for further studies.. And the conference could quite possibly clear things for me in as much as I might meet someone who could guide me through this maze that is school ;-) What is more likely however is that I get new ideas for possible research project and complicate things still further ;-D

So you guys, any thoughts on the ponderings? Crazy Gaijin? Joe? Huld? Anyone?

p.s. All the pics were taken whilst writing this upon Calton hill ;-) more here..