Dancing and Running in the Fair land of Scotland

So Ryan and I finally ran out of episodes of Lost to watch (we have now gone through all of the first, second, and now what is available of the third seasons), and so we were propelled last night for the first time to get off our lazy bums and go to a club. Edinburgh is purported to have a pretty good nightlife and so we figured it was only a matter of time before we would start going out more. Our destination was a club in old town called The Liquid Room, where a local weekly paper called The Skinny was hosting a party to celebrate its first birthday. So along with a group of friends, several of few are local writers/music critics, we all dressed in black (hey its slimming and never goes out of style) and made for the 'scene.' The first act was a punk group called project:venhell. This group is one of those bands that is pure aesthetic. By this I mean, there music is pretty much terrible; there is no discernible structure to their songs and their lyrics are always completely unintelligible. The whole point of groups like this is to present a certain 'look' or 'feel.' There are many punk groups like this out there, and many of them are still pretty good because they are really fun to watch. This group, however, was entertaining for only about the first ten minutes. Let me paint you a picture: five guys looking like they are still in high school, dressed in the first thing they pulled off the floor, except for the lead singer (or I should say screamer) who was wearing a pair of ripped up cut offs that were way too small and whose fly was down, a pink dress shirt half untucked (by the way he is a bit overweight and so his belly hangs quite a bit over his tight tight shorts), a blue stripped tie loosely hanging around his neck, overgrown, messy hair, no shoes, and a leather jacket at least two sizes too small. This guy is stumbling around stage drinking a beer, yelling in the mike and flinging himself onto the band's equipment. Like I said, funny about the first ten minutes, until you realize that is all there is.

Following this group however was a rather good Edinburgh group called O.B.E., which sounded like a kind of funky version of a love child between The Pixies and Franz Ferdinand (check them out at http://www.myspace.com/obeonline I recommend listening to the song called "Sex Offender").
Like I said, they were very good and fun to watch live. Personally, I can't believe these guys aren't signed yet. Anyhow, O.B.E got the night going off right and we all danced heartily. After O.B.E. we had a series of very good DJs spinning creating mixes of indie and pop favorites. We stayed at The Liquid Room until about 1:30 am before stumbling out into the Edinburgh night deaf and happy and in search of a 'Chippy' (late night restaurant specializing in french fries).

Beyond the world of Scottish entertainment, I have decided to run in this year's London Marathon. As some of you probably know, I have been trying to start running for several months but basically I am not a runner, at all. Having never really got going so far, I have decided that the only way is to sign up for an event so that I HAVE to run. So far I have worked my way up to 2 miles. Woo hoo. Let me tell you. Anyhow I have six months to train and have got myself a nifty training schedule for novices and so it looks like I will actually be running 26 miles in April, believe it or not. Ryan has decided to train with me for moral support and since I am already making progress I do believe it is quite possible. I'll let you know how it goes.
Signing off for now,
Alletta