On family, haggis and throwing logs

Well, things aren't as bad now. My brother is staying with another brother and my dad says they talked on the phone, but it's probably better all around if he doesn't live here anymore. I also had a talk with my dad and stepmom. I understand a little more their perspective, though I still feel they both acted childishly during the whole blowout and could have handled it all better than they did. There's still a lot they need to learn, such as how to act like adults even when someone upsets you.


I also realized that it does no good trying to help my stepmom see where she needs to improve. She's too sensitive about anything resembling criticism, good or otherwise, so during her long lecture on why everyone needs to see things from her perspective, I nodded my head and didn't say a word. It wouldn't have accomplished anything. So I'm still planning to move out, if just for my own sanity, but now I have a little more time to find a good situation.

Moving on to happier things, my friends from work and I went to a Scottish festival today. We had so much fun, especially since it was four girls (and one blind date) having fun. No, the blind date this time wasn't mine, though I'm not sure what he thought about having a whole group of us there. I guess it all fits in with our habit of crashing dates. I just thought it was funny.

The first thing we did after getting there was to try ourselves some haggis. All of us were a little wary of eating anything that contained sheep brains, intestines and who knows what else, but it was a group dare, so we had to do it. I personally thought it was gross and didn't like the texture, as you can see at right. I'm not sure what it was, but something in there was really squishy. But at least now I can tell people I've eaten haggis. We were all brave today.

There were bagpipes and the caber toss, which involves men throwing 20 foot logs like at left, and henna tattoos and kilts, lots of kilts, and food and music, though we were too late for the dancing. There wasn't anything incredibly dramatic or intriguing, just the whole atmosphere of fun and doing something different. I was also happy that I could buy some more Celtic jewelry, which I absolutely adore. You can never have enough, I say.

It was an enjoyable day spent with friends, and more than makes up for the drama and hysterics of the past few days.