I'm working on my paper 'o doom. I will finish, but I will be a quivering mass of semi-hysterical crazy by Friday, I'm pretty sure.

1. The good.
Package from graphxgrrl arrived today. Cookies!
And, I was just thinking, 'hmm, I'm hungry' and the postie rang.
So, good timing, graphxgrrl, good timing.

2. The bad.
This happened a while ago, but I was reminded of it yesterday and it pissed me off at the time, and remembering it pissed me off again.
I often say things, the recipient of my communication doesn't listen/doesn't understand/doesn't care, and thus I am ignored/reprimanded/condescended to. In my opinion this is hugely unfair. Yes, I get the butthurt from this. *sigh*
The incident: We were singing $MUSIC and we didn't have enough copies to go around. The choir has 30-odd members.
The choir master said, 'I know the school owned 50 copies of this originally'.
I said, to the assistant conductor, 'why don't we photocopy a few so we have enough right now, since we own more than enough but can't find them'.
He apparently wasn't listening closely and reamed me out about music and copyright and publishers starving to death.
It he had listened, it all made sense. I'm not suggesting copying music that we DON'T own copies of, sheesh. I tried to explain what I meant, but he wasn't listening any more then than when I made the suggestion originally.
We get to suffer and share one piece between 4 people in the altos because the music librarian suffered a fit of alphabetic amnesia when filing? Lovely.
I know, I'm a big baby about this sort of thing. *headdesk*

3. The bizarre.
After the ecumenical service yesterday, I walked back to my office to leave my hymnal.
There were two people that can only be described as 'neds' walking the other direction with a baby carriage past the front of the chapel.
There were about 20 people, who had come for a christening, standing out by the founder's tomb. These people were all Scottish.
One of the neds yells, 'Gae tae f---, ya Yugoslavian vampires'.
I literally stopped in my tracks and pondered this wide-eyed.
There might be context there that I don't understand, but as far as I could tell it was just totally random.

Today has been a long day.

Just winding down at the moment, more about real life tomorrow.

( the meme, bookishly )

So, list. Listy McList.

1. I was almost crushed yesterday at the library. The basement contains all the old volumes of just about everything. Because they're short on space, they have shelves on a system that allows for only two aisle-gaps at a time. When you needs to get to books between shelves that are together, you check the next row down to see if anyone is there and then shove the row down.
Except that yesterday, Dorky Looking Boy didn't look and almost squashed me between French History and Yugoslavian Sociology.

2. This week is all about the Masoretic Text of Exodus. This is the kind of thing I live for. The rest of my phd work can go hang.

3. I'm tremendously behind now on my books for 2008. The thing is, I've not stopped reading, but I felt the urge to read a few books I've read before. So, I debating whether to just let them count or what.

4. I participated in a MRI study about singing. Basically, I spent 40 minutes inside an MRI machine vocalizing. Pretty neat pictures in the end, but I wouldn't volunteer for this again. Randomly, the same afternoon, I was given a £5 voucher for doing a quick thing for the Computing Science people on positive reinforcement and automated responses.
I don't know either.

5. I was speaking to one of the phd students in medicine. We were talking about the proliferation of knowledge and how the idea of a 'renaissance man' is almost impossible in today's world. We started talking about how some take this so far that they refuse to look at research that is more than five years old. (Definitely more a problem in her line of research than mine.)
She said, 'I take comfort in bacon.'
I honestly didn't know what to say to that. I just burst out laughing.
She realized what I thought and started laughing as well.
And yes, it makes more sense if you realize she was talking about Bacon.

6. Sometimes I wonder why I can't get things done. I'm guessing that two-and-a-half hour board meetings don't help.

7. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to play for church at the weekend. For once, I wish we could stick to the rotations. This is giving me (more) white hair.

1. ybunny and I still don't feel right. I'm still coughing and feel like death.

2. Probably more a corollary to #1, but I really have a hard time writing at the moment. The mental exertion makes me feel worse.

3. I got some condensed milk to put in the freeze dried coffee I have in my office, because it is the BITTEREST EVER. But, even the condensed milk isn't sweet enough to take the edge off that stuff. It's the Clipper Fair Trade coffee, which I used to like. Maybe just a bad jar.

4. Discovered last night that one of the guys I went to elementary school with is in the Georgia State Penitentiary for child molestation.
Unsurprisingly, he seemed the sort, even at 14 which was the last time I saw him.

5. I got to my office today to see that one of my church members that is doing his Masters in Geology left me a note at my office desk. How sweet.

6. I should have 30 books read by the end of the week. Four books by Friday? Unlikely. *ponders including a couple of cookbooks*

7. It's actually been six months since we were married last Sunday. Yes, that's right, I can't count. Thank goodness I'm in the Liberal Arts College.

8. Although it is five months away, I'm excited about drjoan and golfbisquit's visit. We're going up towards Wick, since that's the last bit of Scotland I've not been to.

9. I really dislike having office mates. I'd rather go back to living in a dorm that working like this. Yes, I know, I'm a heinous bitch.

10. 10k words by next Wednesday? Possible, improbable.

Here's my year 2007 in review:

January: First day of PhD work. Goddaughter says her first word.

February: First Food Friday. Begin last class where my attendance is required, Comparative Semitics.

March: Application sent to the Home Office for Certificate of Approval to marry. My irritation with the NHS reaches new heights. I turn 27.

April: I travel back to the US. Our building is broken into.

May: Trip to Cornwall with the (soon to be) in-laws. Conference Colloquium at The Burn. I present what I've been working on for 3 months.

June: Metrol reaches new heights of schedule busting- ybunny is sent offshore with only 9 hours notice. I have an 'ah-ha' moment with thesis planning.

July: molassesturtle comes to visit. NHS out does themselves on stupidity re: hypothyroidism in post-thyroid cancer patients. A & C's baby born on the 24th.

August: golfbisquit and drjoan come to visit and help with a few wedding details. University work is priority.

September: University work loses priority. We apply for our wedding license. Other wedding plans are finalized and paid for. I join the chapel choir.

October: Wedding. Time with family. Honeymoon.

November: Discover I have a severe allergy to fish. Visit to A&E. We adopt a boy-cat, Sean Seamus Mhor.

December: Interesting supervision. University carol service, church nativity service, Christmas day with in-laws plus various other Christmas events.

1. Us: ybunny leaves for Brazil today. After almost 6 months not going, I suppose it's due. Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. We had a smallish celebration for his 30th birthday last night since he will undoubtedly be out of the country on the 11th of December. We'll try to get something together when he comes back. Probably won't be until after Christmas at this point.

2. Uni: I'm frustrated with my topic. I don't believe it. Not that I don't believe in it (I don't...), that doesn't matter. I don't need to have faith in it, I just need to think it works. And, I don't. So, it's making me a bit crazy to have to write about it when everything I write leads to a session of 'this is BS, this is BS, this is BS' chanted like a litany. I meet with Dr. S on the 6th of December, I waffle between fear that he's going to throw his hands up in frustration that I still haven't finished this chapter or hope that it will be okay to try to steer the direction a bit differently.

3. Church: Christmas comes soon. I'm working with the kids on a Christingle song and the Children's Ministries people are putting together a nativity play. It seems like the 15th of December is coming up unreasonably quickly. I also have to preach again that day. Fortunately, productive procrastination means that I've already written my sermon. Of course.
Also, I was ordained as an elder last Sabbath. At my age, it seems a little oxymoronic, but I'm happy to help, so fair enough.

4. Cats: Sean Seamus growls when fed. He's afraid of us stealing his food, or something. The problem is that he picks up a chunk of his wet food in his mouth and carries it to where he thinks we won't take it from him and proceeds to leave little crumbs of meat mush on the kitchen floor, the hall carpet, the mat by the kitchen sink, the bathmat, etc. It's disgusting. I was trying to mop up some of this disgustingness and he gave me a good swipe on the finger. So, now I have a plaster that makes my finger stiff, and by association, typing difficult. Sounds like crayolaab and I are in the same boat.

5. Chapel Choir: We're in the midst of lots of appointments. We have practice this Tuesday, then carols at the uni tree lighting on Thursday, a prison concert the same day, then church Sunday in the morning and evening, practice the next Tuesday, church the following Sunday, then practice on Monday for the carol service on Wednesday the 12th. Not as rushed as the undergrad choir I was in, but I was getting remunerated with a scholarship when I was an undergrad.

6. Socialising: I haven't seen the Ms as much as I do usually, and I don't see that improving over the next month. I really miss my family and ybunny leaving isn't a cakewalk. Luckily, my mum comes in 3 days, so I'll get some family. I feel like an enormous homebody, but I feel guilty going out if I haven't written tons. Luckily, clairdeluney coaxes me into outings, so I'm not as bad as I have been in times past. I should socialise more within my own department, but I feel like the odd one out most times and I had enough of that in grade school, thanks.

It's pretty sad that I can sum up everything going on it six points, but there you are. Wow, I'm pretty emo today.

Today, ybunny and I are supposed to be relaxing. We did have a lie-in of sorts...though, we didn't go to bed last night until 2am, so a 10am lie-in isn't very impressive. We also took out the recycling (a much bigger deal than it sounds), so we're not completely relaxed.

Now, we're sitting on the couch, contemplating the mess over in Matt's room as well as the other little things that must get done today. So much for a day of relaxation.

While I'm vegging out for my allotted 15 minutes, I'll answer this meme. EDIT:In the middle of this, we had to go out for an emergency sixpence. *sigh*

firinel asked me about some of my interests.

Here's the story behind the ones she picked.

aereogramme
A band. Unfortunately, they just broke up. :(
Their sound was sad, but in a contemplative way. Their song, 'A Simple Process of Elimination' was my favorite.

church of paul
Started as a joke with peagles, who has since deleted his LJ. He was on Rep as well. Honestly, I can't remember the very beginning of it, but I know that redthought, shineyquarter, and I got a lot of laughs out of it.
There's still a website for it. :)

controlled library squee
Because you can't be loud and obnoxious with squee in libraries. :)
I really love libraries, the potential in the almost overwhelms me.
One of the saddest travel moments for me was not being able to do more than look at the Trinity College library in Dublin. golfbisquit and redthought had to pull me away.

everyone is 18
A reaction to LJ's nannyism. I see where they're coming from on some of it, but it was handled incredibly badly.

exacting mise en place
A reaction to my youthful cooking that usually required a stop in the middle to go buy eggs, flour, beans, cheese, vinegar, sugar, or anything else that a clever person would have checked to see that they had before starting on a recipe.
Nowadays, I not only check the recipe, but pre-measure all the ingredients and have bowls/utensils/baking pans/saucepans ready to go before I start. Makes cooking a happier experience for me.

failing toward success
I've found that learning to fail graciously and gracefully is the key to my success. It's similar to being able to admit ignorance on a subject in order to truly learn about it.

illicit still
Where ybunny and I got engaged. :)
Unfortunately, they no longer serve their brilliant vegetarian breakfast.

imaginatory reality
So much better than real life at times, no?
I tend to day dream a different version of events, as they're happening, if I'm bored.

metonymy
Literally, in Greek, 'change of name'. It's the idea of using a word, usually a simplification, to replace an idea or representative thing/person.
'The pen is mightier than the sword' is an example. 'Pen' refers collectively to media/authors and 'sword' to military/any sort of physical force.
My favorite writers and poets use this quite a bit.

quodlibets
From Latin, 'as you like', it's the idea of having an argument for its own sake, or just to practice making a logical argument. In this case, a debate that has no anticipated outcome from either side.

sticky strawberry surprise
A reference to the messes ybunny and I have made making smoothies in the flat. In particular, an afternoon when ybunny yanked the jug part of the blender up after making a yogurt, honey, and strawberry smoothie and the bottom of the jug didn't come along. Voilá, sticky strawberry surprise.

susurrousness under the covers
I love being in bed. I love being in bed with someone more. Not just ybunny, I love being in bed with my sister and such also. The conversations you have, half whispered, in bed are the best. Susurrous is one of those brilliant word that sounds like what it is describing.

χξς
The number 666 in Greek.
There's a lot of blah-de-blah in evangelical circles about the number 666. I reject pretty much all of the numeromancy that goes on with all that. (Funny that people who are so against witchcraft are happy enough to fiddle about with Bible codes and the aforementioned numeromancy.)
I like the Eastern Orthodox idea of this that Christ (the χ) is separated from man (the ς, for six, symbolizing man, created on the 6th day) by the serpent (the ξ).
It's a bit nebulous in authenticity, but I like the idea.

Right. Back to cleaning.

If anyone wants to continue this meme, tell me about your 1st, 4th, 13th, 27th, 42nd, 100th, and 123rd interest. :)

Round Eleventy-million of the 5 question meme.
These via fireyirishangel


1. Where do you see yourself in 15 years?
If you'd said 5, I might know. 15 is very much 'might/could' sort of situation...or 'hope'.
I think that we'll still be living in the UK. We may have had a sojourn back to the US (I'd like to have an actual job eventually) but I'd be sad to not call Aberdeen home in the end.
We might have kids, it's very 50/50 at this point.
I'm going to hope that we'll have convinced some of my family to move here by then.

2. What are you most looking forward to in regards to your quickly-approaching wedding and marriage?
To the planning and worrying being over. :)
I'm not worried about the day so much...it's more along the lines of 'what if one of the flights people are on from the US is delayed?'
As far as marriage, I'm looking forward to more of the same. ybunny couldn't be a better match for me if he tried and I'm grateful everyday for him. < /smoopiness >

3. If you could witness one day in history, what day would you choose? Why?
Tough, tough choice. I think I'd choose the day that Moses first went in to see Pharaoh.
It would make a good section for my thesis. Heh.
Seriously though, I would like to have some personal knowledge of Moses. Writing about someone whose real self is largely lost to history really piques my curiosity.

4. Aside from being with your beloved, what is the best thing about living in Scotland?
Oh, so many things.
I love the weather. I'm so fair skinned and hot natured that an area with rain just about everyday and lots of overcast skies make me very happy.
The history is ubiquitous. I love that I can discover some new wynd (alley/side street) occasionally. I've read just about every book on Aberdeen history I can get. It's facinating for me to realize that I'm walking in the same places that people have been living and working for 1500 years, if not more.
I enjoy getting to know people from Aberdeen. Some of the things that are endemic to Scotland culture make me understand my grandmother better. (She's not Scottish, but was raised that way.)
On a practical note, I enjoy being without a car. Such a money saver. Except when the holiday schedule throws off my day.
There's so much beauty here that it takes my breath away. It's almost effortless as well. This city sprouts flowers like other cities sprout weeds. It's amazing.

5. You get a chance for an all-expenses paid honeymoon and have no real-life concerns (school, work). Where do you go?
Probably Thailand and India. We both want to see those places, but we know that we're hopelessly unfamiliar with the logistics of visiting either. We'd either have to pay to go on a tour (which I hate!) or pay lots to stay in places suited to clueless Westerners.
While I can muddle my way through with German, French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Greek, and Russian, I have no ability to speak/read Thai or any of the Indian languages. I feel that traveling without being able to understand is frustrating even before any other complications come into the picture.
Maybe I'd spend the 'all-expenses' on an intensive language course. :)

Two things amuse/intrigue me today. (Something's got to...Sitzung today and I'm a nervous shambles.)

1. People misspell my name all the time. I'm used to it. I actually don't care, unless it's on something legal that could prove trouble later if what they have doesn't match what I have.
However, I find it amusing that people will spell it wrong even when I've written/typed it just next to where they have to reproduce it. *boggles*
My namesake, Jyll Taylor, named her company JYEnterprise after the fact that she spends a large amount of time saying, 'Jyll, that's with a JY'. FYI, we're acquainted, but by no means more than that.

2. Many of the lecturers/professors here at UoA want you to call them by their first name.
Sorry, no can do.
I've been told this is more an English thing than a Scottish thing. Can't really form a theory on this because of the 16 people I've worked with thus far, only one has been Scottish. (The rest are English, German, Irish, and American.)
Maybe I'm playing into the patriarchal system, but I need to call people by their title and surname when we're in a business relationship. First names for me indicate familiarity of conversation...I don't want familiarity when we're talking about my academic career, such as it is.
This week, I've been emailing with one of the music professors. He signs his emails 'FirstName' at the end of his replies and I salute him as 'Dr. LastName' when I write. It's like a face off. Intriguing.

Today, I discovered three things that are interesting to me.

1. EAT@Crombie isn't open until noon in the summer.
this led to two other things

2. While walking up College Bounds to buy some milk to put in my afternoon coffee, a plum hit me on the head.
That's right, there's a plum tree in front of the Humanity Manse. I ate three of them. Yum.

3. On the way back to E@C, I noticed a tiny little sign that said 'Snow Kirk'. It's now a cemetary.
It's tucked between Crombie, a car park, and some houses. I feel full of squee when I come across new things I'd not seen here before.
Apparently, the little kirk was started to be the parish church when Old Aberdeen became the Burgh of Barony. I did recognize one grave stone, that of Gilbert Menzies, a Catholic. (I recognized the name because he's one of the provosts of Aberdeen about the time the university got started.)

Speaking of things I'd not seen before, the Townhouse at Old Aberdeen is now open to the public.
Currently, there are a few paintings on display. I believe they have plans to make it a bit more of an attraction.

Also, I should take more pictures of Old Aberdeen. It's truly like living in a renaissance town sometimes. :)

I've been up since 6 am. I am starting to carry my weekday schedule over into the weekends.

Tons of things are already done, so I'll take a few minutes out to respond to Jake's Blog

Provisos:
1. List eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged [can] write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you [can] choose eight a few people to get tagged and list their names. Any one who wants, go ahead. If you're not keen on posting memes, leave 8 things in comments. Or don't. Whatever. :)


1. To echo Jake's hair oriented points, I'll just mention that I'm quite frustrated that I'm going grey so quickly. It started with a few white hairs here and there when I was 22 and now, at 27, I actually have 'highlights' of white. I'm not going to bother dyeing my hair on a regular basis, but damned if I'll be grey at my wedding.

2. There is a wide difference between being enthused and preaching about something as far as I'm concerned. I'm unlikely to ever take a recommendation on books/films/music/brand of toilet cleaner if you tell me 'You have to try this!' I don't actually know why. I'm less bothered by this sort of thing in blogs or other print medium. If you preach the gospel of authentic hand pressed fly juice to me over dinner, I'll likely want to drown you in it.

3. The song that plays during the end credits of Red Dwarf reminds me of early days during my relationship with ybunny. I don't think that many people get sappy over Fun in the Sun. Yes, that's right...I'd never seen Red Dwarf before 2004.

4. If I had a nickel for every time someone said 'you're American but you understand sarcasm' with that shocked look on their face, I'd have enough to fill a sock and thump people.

5. I'm learning to embrace the idea that even though I had 13 years of voice lessons, I'll be more likely known to play the piano.

6. One day, oh yes, I will open a restaurant. It's a toss up between a joint venture with my mother-in-law here in Aberdeen (she likes the name 'Waffle Hoose') or something with my sister and mother (possibly called The Red Oven). Regardless, it will serve biscuits. Mmm...fluffy biscuits.

7. I really hate working in my office. I spend most of my time there daydreaming. I don't think that's the point of an office. I primarily work there on days that I have to go back and forth to the library often.

8. I used to dress with a very...well, odd sense of style. I'd still be dressing that way, but I feel like if you're going to be eccentric, you should probably be brilliant. I don't think I have the brains to pull of some of the outfit combinations I could put together.

I went this morning to see Pirate 3. At 9:40 am! Movies in the morning? Who knew?

Based on the fact that the bleeding movie is 3 hours long, it's a good thing. I'd have been well asleep if I'd gone at night.

As a foreword, I go to see movies for four reasons.
1) They remove me from reality and allow something that I think would interesting to happen...when it definitely could not happen in the confines of normal reality.
2) It is a period piece and I get to see fun costumes. I'm just a costume junkie.
3) It is an adaptation of a play/book/event that I thought interesting and I want to compare the two.
4) It stars an actor/actress that I have enjoyed performances from previously.

That doesn't mean I don't end up seeing some real trainwrecks that make me want to scrub my brain with bleach. But, generally, those are the four guidelines.

The first of the Pirates trilogy satisfied three of the four.
1) The movie was about Disney pirates...which don't hold a candle to the dastardly deeds of the real pirates. Therefore, they could be sympathetic characters and create a silly adventure.
2) Everyone's in a costume. More importantly, there are British navyboys in uniform.
4) Jack Davenport. Hilarious in Coupling, enigmatic in This Life.

Very enjoyable. Good job, Bruckheimer, et al.

Pirates 2 should have been a happy experience, but I felt as though they sold out some of the characters and played too much to the jokes and not the plot. The jokes were good, but they'd be better with a more intricate plot.

Today I saw Pirates 3, as I said.

( And here begin the spoilers. )

I'm just disappointed, I suppose. I thought Pirates 1 was a tightly written, interesting film, and Pirates 2 and 3 were just sort of...there.

(Once/If you get around to seeing it) Let me know what you thought of the film.

A: Very carefully.

I'm going down to Cornwall with the in-laws from 26 May to 1 June. I have discovered that it is very difficult to get from Aberdeen to...well, just about anywhere. I have no problem returning, I'm riding back with the in-laws.

1. Air: Nothing is direct from Aberdeen, obviously.
All airports except Newquay will require one of the in-laws to drive over an hour to get me. 

Only two ways to fly to Newquay.  Via Manchester and via Dublin.  Both would require me to stay the night in either because the flight to Newquay is scheduled before the from Aberdeen. Even if I did that, the flights would come to £180ish.  And, I'd need to figure out how to get from church* to the airport in 15 minutes.

Option 1: No go.

2. Bus. Takes forever.  Cheapest route, but I don't fancy being on a bus for 2 days.

Option 2: Don't wanna.

3. Car. Can rent a Ford Ka for £45.  Can pick it up Sat. at 9am and return it Mon. at 9am.  (Can't return Sunday because the country of England is closed on Sunday.)  Would need one of the in-laws to go with me to Newquay in the morning on Monday to return it.

It is 686 miles from Aberdeen to Penzance.  I can do that driving.  Assuming 250/tank in the Ka, I'd use less than 4 tanks.  At £0.89/litre, that's roughly £25 every fill up, giving me a total of £145 cost to drive down.

I think it's actually more expensive than that on average to buy gas.

Option 3: An exercise in exhaustion.

4. Train. £151 standard/£181 first class to go via train from Aberdeen to Penzance.  Leaves 1pm arrives next day at noon.

Option 4: The only way to get there directly, without being exhausted.

It blows that trains are so expensive. Can't be helped, I suppose.

Is it worth it to buy a first class ticket? Or is the extra 30 quid better off in my pocket?

---

* I can't leave with the in-laws on Wednesday before because I have uni committments...and I have to play the piano for church. The other organist is in Australia, so I can't shirk my duties.

...but it's really not. There's just little nagging irritations.

The good has been really good. I got a 'thumbs up' from my advisor on the conference paper I present next week, I've got my wedding invitations in the mail from drjoan, and I've gotten to spend time with my goddaughter and her family.

But, that doesn't stop the irritating bits. Besides, the irritating bits are always more interesting, aren't they?

1. Don't give the hymns to the organist/pianist the day before church. You wouldn't do that to the preacher. Or, if you did, you'd not be surprised when they preached something they've done previously. You don't give them a new topic and say 'you must use this one!' (I've always kindof wondered what you do in that sort of circumstance, vicarchori?)
Stop trying to make me play campfire songs at church. It makes me sad to have to be a big bitch and tell you I won't play drivel.

2. If you're going to argue with me about the language of the Bible, New Testament or Tanakh, please...I beg of you...try to have a small idea of what you're getting into. I don't care what translation you use, IT'S STILL A TRANSLATION. *ahem* Also, if we're not good friends, I'm not going to argue with you on a spiritual level, only an academic one.
I don't feel comfortable making faith statements about my spirituality with strangers. And if that makes me a left wing crazy for engaging with the historical critical method academically, than fine.

3. I still beat myself up about not going to medical school. I don't need anyone to tell me I'm better suited for what I'm doing currently. I know that. But sometimes, academia seems futile compared to jobs that make an immediate difference in the world.
kthxbai.

That's all for now, folks.

Whee. I'm on a roll.

I started Food Friday by outing myself as a vegetarian (in case you hadn't already noticed).

On the 'we're not really crunch tree hugging hippies, but we sure act like it' front, Tom and I also have been trying to eat organic.

It started out as another of the side effects of ybunny, the fiance, reading Fast Food Nation as well as his chemistry background.

Personally, I wasn't convinced. When I took Organic Chemistry back as an undergrad, they told us that organic meant anything with carbon as part of the makeup. So, I reasoned, all food is organic. Really...how many ready to eat foods (home made or store bought) are sans carbon? None that I can think of.

So, I called shenanigans. But, ybunny has this amazing ability to non-argue, wherein he convinces me of things by not bugging me about them. So, I read up on the organic thing.

I found an article entitled 10 Foods to Buy Organic. I figured that I'd give it a try and buy those things organic, even if I wasn't completely on board.

To be honest, I was surprised. The organic food tasted really great. There was no more of the this-looks-good-but-tastes-like-paper scenario. So, a few months ago we decided to buy as many things organic as we could. Surprisingly enough, as I've done price comparisons, the total for an organic shop is only 6-9% more expensive than regular.

I'll give you a few reasons for considering a switch:
1. Taste. As I mentioned above, I find that there is a better taste with organic produce.
2. Farming methods. So far, I haven't seen any products marked 'organic' that weren't marked as cooperating with the Soil Conservation Project. (I can't find a link for this at the moment...) This regulates the fertilization of crops and the footprint of farms on the surrounding ecosystems. The criteria for certification as an organic farm can be found here.
3. Fair Trade. Many of the products that are Fair Trade are also organic and vice versa. A fair price for third world farmers. Good for you and good for them.
4. Less packaging. Not all sellers are good at this, but I have to applaud Sainsbury's and ASDA for packaging some of their organics in biodegradable packaging.
5. Local food. This isn't true in all cases, but at least with produce, organic often means local. Since organic food is free of the preservatives used to extend shelf life in regular produce, it isn't feasible to ship something for a week from parts unknown.

That leads me to the downsides as I'm trying to be fair:
1. Quicker spoilage. This is somewhat of a plus as it means there aren't as many additives, but it's not fun to buy a bunch of plums and find they're rotting after only two days. It's much more important to check dates on organics.
2. Price. There is a higher price on some things, especially produce and sweets.
3. Availability. Even if you can find what you want being sold close to you, it may be hard to get the amount you want (or any of it, if you get to the market late).

Some statistics on organic farming in the UK can be found in this article.
A quote:
By January 2005, 686,100 ha of land was managed to organic standards. Organic food sales increased from just over £100 million in 1993/94 to £1.21 billion in 2004 (an 11% increase on 2003)

Here's some more reasons for going organic from Organic Food.co.uk.

Anyone else going organic? Resources? Tips?

EDIT: I should add, I'm not allowing my brain to fall out on this. I don't opt for organic food if it means having to get things out of season. Out of season fruit either requires lots of shipping or can be pretty tasteless, organic or not.

marnanel posted this list of things to complete the phrase 'As English as...'.

That got ybunny and I started completing the same phrase for Scotland.

As Scottish as:
haggis
changeable weather
kilts
Taggert
Doric
Irn-Bru
tablet
Tunnock's
thistles
Trainspotting
Robert Burns
golf

Anymore suggestions?