Endorphins and Picts

Since endorphins really do make you happy, I finally got myself running again. It is amazing what a difference it makes in my day; I feel healthier, more accomplished and just simply happier. There is a nice path along the North Sea beach and it is really cool to watch the waves, oil rigs and birds when I run. There is something wrong with some tendon in my foot/achilles though . . . I think it has something to do with wearing bad shoes with hard backs. I bought new shoes with softer backs and this helped but it hasn't completely gone away. Apparently I have a habit of getting weird injuries. I am trying to see a doctor about it but although the health care system in this country may be free, it certainly hasn't proved convenient.
I skipped the two outdoor ultimate practices last week but I don't think I'll do that again, especially since the snow has melted and we are running on grass again! (I have also seen a few crocuses emerging from the sodden ground.) It feels too good to play. I am also trying to implement an Aberdeen equivalent of chapel toss, but there is no common free time during the day to do so and I have been warned that the groundskeepers will kick me out of the yard at uni. It went fine today so we shall see . . .
Caleb sent me a mixed cd and it is helping cure my music illiteracy. "Sodom, South Georgia" by Iron and Wine just played and it is great. Caleb you are great.
I actually do have homework in my classes; although I didn't think to do it until about 40 minutes before my tutorial today I managed to have more to say than most in my class. We were supposed to research a Pictish symbol stone. I chose the stone Newbigging Leslie, located near Huntley in Aberdeenshire (Pictish territory was in the northeast of Scotland), because when I went to the database and typed in "wolf" under the search by symbol device it only came up with three. On this particular stone is a wolf, a rectangle, comb and mirror. I don't know what exactly the rectangle or wolf are supposed to represent, but the theory behind the comb and mirror combo is that it represents a woman, probably wife or daughter, who erected the stone in order to commemorate a male relative. Another theory is that it represents a dowry paid at a wedding linking two lineages, and the other two symbols are then the symbols of the respective lineages. To see it follow the link here: http://www.stams.strath.ac.uk/research/pictish/database.php?details=182
Maybe I will come back home tattooed blue with these symbols. (Pictish stereotype! Sorry!)
Cheers,
Karen