Hello tendonitis.

Today has been a wonderful day.
It started off last night (yeah, I know, that's not today) when I was exhausted at 7 pm and finally gave in to going asleep at 8:30 after falling asleep repeatedly on my book. From then to 7:15 when my alarm went I off I woke up once to my bathroom buddy waking into the bathroom because it sounds like someone is walking straight into my room which can be pretty unnerving, but luckily I fell right back to sleep. Then when I opened my eyes I was looking straight at my skylight which was filled with perfect blue sky, absolutely crystal clear, the clearest I have ever seen in Scotland. I promptly thus leapt out of bed and stuck my whole head out the skylight (which must have been a pretty funny view to my neighbors in the block--my room faces the inside of an enclosed block with a hollow garden-filled center), upon which I saw an entire sky filled with perfect blue . . . well, sky! Besides being an amusing start to my day it was wonderful to wake up knowing Glasgow would be out in full force like the day before.

I even had an amusing breakfast at my guest house which was filled with eaves dropping on 4 older British tourists who were a hoot. They were going on and on about how they went to the greatest pub last night and it took them forever to remember the name, which made me laugh when they said it was Oran Mor (a pub/art venue/concert venue/locale of 'play, pie and a pint all in an old reconverted church). It was pretty interesting picturing them there. They then went on to plan their day in which all the 2 women wanted to do was visit small quaint villages and find knit shops (lulz for stereotypes), and the 2 men wanted to go find castles and visit the pubs in said small quaint villages (lulz #2 for stereotypes). The 2 men spent a fair amount of time talking about this epic castle on the water that they couldn't figure out the name to (they kept thinking it was some silly name of a random loch which they kept pronouncing with some Portuguese accent thinking they were clearly in the know with the locale pronunciation). It might have been a bit mean of me not to lean over and tell them the castle's name is Eileen Donan, but they won't have any problem finding that out from anyone they ask, so I figured I could indulge in some entertainment at their sake (sorry random elderly--not really, like 60's, they more just acted quite old--tourists).

Anyways, by the time I walked outside it had naturally gotten quite overcast (lame! but it promised rain, yay!). I then proceeded to have the most successful day at the Collections. I spent a good 6 hours on one book which I thought was going to be a total bust. I have learned that I have to withdraw each edition of Hogg's publications which include a note/memoir because each one contains different versions with different edits (though they all clearly come from the same initial manuscript). Unfortunately while this was such a gold-mine of a find it still only contained about 5 lines on Confessions, but it had already become clear that I am going to have a hard time finding specific material on the novel. I wrote probably 40 pages of notes on this one book (yeah, that's not an exaggeration, props for over-eager lit-nerd me!). I won't share everything as my wrist is hurting (yes, unsurprising to some I definitely brought back the tendonitis in my right wrist, you can only use pencils in the Collections and I apparently grip/press on pencils extremely hard, oops!), but here is one terribly heart breaking passage from Hogg (I have found he is a major sweet heart, kind of a bumbling country boy at times and incredibly humorous, though it definitely cost him many times), ok ok here it is--

"For my own part, I know that I have always been looked on by the learned part of the community as an intruder in the paths of literature, and every opprebrium [sic] has been thrown on me from that quarter. The truth is, that I am so. The walks of learning are occupied by a powerful aristocracy, who deem that province their own peculiar right; else, what would avail all their dear-brought collegiate honours [sic] and degrees? No wonder that they should view an intruder, from the humble and despised ranks of the community, with a jealous and indignant eye, and impede his progress by every means in the power." 

As far as I have found Hogg was completely self conscious of his lack of education (he mentions it all the time) and felt he had to work three times as hard to make up for it.

Besides the researching/tendonitis getting I had a lovely lunch at a favorite cafe of mine/all my Scotland girls from the fall- Kember & Jones. I had a smoked salmon and potato and chive salad which was delish, just hit the spot. And now I am sitting in a new find that I must admit I am a bit sad I didn't find last fall, it is called Bibliocafe and is part bookstore part cafe part awesome. It has gluten free snacks, big comfy leather chairs on the second floor, books everywhere and giant windows look out partially onto the park--perfect.

Ok before I make this any longer I'll say goodbye. Sorry no pictures today, I promise tomorrow!