One of the main reasons I really wanted to come to London was for the theatre. Our theatre class is doing a great job introducing me to subsidised and fringe theatre, but we are mostly going to avoid the West End commercial productions. This had to be rectified somehow, can't let there be a gap in my knowledge of London theatre, so yesterday and today I went to see two different shows.
Last night Erica, Allison and I went and saw Avenue Q. Somehow we lucked up with a box stage-left. From our vantage point we couldn't see about 3% of the stage, but the rest of the stage was outrageously close. I love Avenue Q and pretty much have the soundtrack memorized. The production was excellent. I was highly impressed by the parallelism between the muppets and their handlers. It gave a great amount of emotion to a few puppets. Daniel Boys who was the puppetier for the characters of Princeton and Rod did a great job providing each character a distinct voice, emotional range and movement style. Of course the jokes were dirty and muppet sex is enough to blind anyone, but that's why one goes to see the show. It was hillarious. There were a few changes from the original NY production, and some of them didn't work, but the original intent of most jokes was maintained. The George Bush quip at the end is still funny and the crowd erupted with cheers that even George Bush is "only for today." Great night out.
Then today, several of us went to see Wicked. By far this was one of the most complex performances I have ever seen when it comes to staging. I can't even begin to describe how amazing the set was. The acting was great for the most part once the actors got into it. For the first three or four numbers they just weren't feeling it and you could tell. My only real complaint was with the school group sitting in front of us. These young boys, probably 10-12 years old, could not sit still, they talked through most of the first act and were crinckling candy wrappers. I hope I never behaved like that.
It's interesting how much Londoners hate George Bush. Even Wicked had a little pun about regime change. I totally agree with their opinions of him, but I still find it interesting how in almost every production we've seen and in almost every newspaper I've read there is Bush-bashing. Makes me proud to be a Democrat.
This is going to be it for the entry since I am leaving for Ireland in like 7 hours. I'll update after I get back. However, let me leave you with a couple lovestrucks to tide you over for a couple days.
"To the girl with the bandaged leg, Wednesday 12 March, on the Tube from Camden to London Bridge. We couldn't stop smiling. Fancy a more relaxed drink sometime."
"To the blond girl I was talking to at the Topshop interview on Tuesday. I'm the 'pregnant' black guy. You're really nice! Would love to see you again."
"Beautiful brunette on Northern line last Friday. I was the guitarist chatting about that drunk girl. Would love to make sweet music with you."
Cheers!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Pictures (or maybe not)
I have been trying for a while now to upload some pics to this thing but I can't keep my internet connection to stay on long enough. I do apologise that what was originally intended as a photo blog has turned into a text blog, but you can just deal with it. :-) Thanks for reading.
This weekend was spent doing homework again. I've found it's better to do work on the weekends and go see the city during the week as the crowds are seriously diminished. However, for the next couple weeks most schools are going to be on holiday and everything is going to be crazy. Since I was doing homework nothing has really transpired worth talking about except food.
If you haven't heard me sing the praises of Waitrose then hear me singing them now. Waitrose is by far the best grocery store I've ever been to when it comes to selection. They have an amazing ready-made food section. This is not a TV dinner section like we would think about it. Most things are only a single dish and they are refrigerated, never frozen. For dinner last night I had veal meatballs with a rich tomato and red-wine sauce. They were amazing and all I had to do was microwave them. Tonight I had the Japanese duck-filled pastries that I had to fry. They came with a cherry dipping sauce. Heaven! I'm really going to miss the wide selection of international foods when I get home. Every day is a new taste adventure.
Finally, can I just say I am not a fan of taxes? I can? Okay then, I am not a fan of taxes. Besides VAT (value added tax / aka: sales tax) being 17.5% the government is raising taxes tomorrow on all alcohol. I'm not a big drinker, but I do occasionally like to have a glass of wine or a pint with dinner. Wine is going up $0.29 a bottle and a pint is going up $0.09. This doesn't sound like much but when you add it up it is. A pint of Guiness out is already about $6.10. The people here in London are not happy. All the papers are carrying articles demonising the government for this action. I understand what they are trying to do, tax alcohol and tobacco (cigarettes here are over $12 a pack) till youths can't afford it, but it really puts a crimp on pubs, the staple of British social culture. My bigger complaint, a four pack of root beer = $6, a four pack of real beer = $6. Something just seems wrong about that especially since I really like root beer better.
And now, to complete the fun, today's lovestruck: "To the girl with the big beautiful eyes on the 149, Monday morning, from London Bridge. We exchanged glances and I was sitting kind of opposite you chatting to my friend about my weekend! She called me a geek for attending the Westlife gig! Would like to hear about yours."
Cheers!
This weekend was spent doing homework again. I've found it's better to do work on the weekends and go see the city during the week as the crowds are seriously diminished. However, for the next couple weeks most schools are going to be on holiday and everything is going to be crazy. Since I was doing homework nothing has really transpired worth talking about except food.
If you haven't heard me sing the praises of Waitrose then hear me singing them now. Waitrose is by far the best grocery store I've ever been to when it comes to selection. They have an amazing ready-made food section. This is not a TV dinner section like we would think about it. Most things are only a single dish and they are refrigerated, never frozen. For dinner last night I had veal meatballs with a rich tomato and red-wine sauce. They were amazing and all I had to do was microwave them. Tonight I had the Japanese duck-filled pastries that I had to fry. They came with a cherry dipping sauce. Heaven! I'm really going to miss the wide selection of international foods when I get home. Every day is a new taste adventure.
Finally, can I just say I am not a fan of taxes? I can? Okay then, I am not a fan of taxes. Besides VAT (value added tax / aka: sales tax) being 17.5% the government is raising taxes tomorrow on all alcohol. I'm not a big drinker, but I do occasionally like to have a glass of wine or a pint with dinner. Wine is going up $0.29 a bottle and a pint is going up $0.09. This doesn't sound like much but when you add it up it is. A pint of Guiness out is already about $6.10. The people here in London are not happy. All the papers are carrying articles demonising the government for this action. I understand what they are trying to do, tax alcohol and tobacco (cigarettes here are over $12 a pack) till youths can't afford it, but it really puts a crimp on pubs, the staple of British social culture. My bigger complaint, a four pack of root beer = $6, a four pack of real beer = $6. Something just seems wrong about that especially since I really like root beer better.
And now, to complete the fun, today's lovestruck: "To the girl with the big beautiful eyes on the 149, Monday morning, from London Bridge. We exchanged glances and I was sitting kind of opposite you chatting to my friend about my weekend! She called me a geek for attending the Westlife gig! Would like to hear about yours."
Cheers!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Miracles do Happen
Today has been a day of miracles, in a more mundane sense. This morning I decided to go try for a British Library reader pass and then hit up the British Museum for a couple hours. Some people on the trip have had a difficult time getting reader passes because the powers that be don't feel they have legitimate reason for needing to access the library's resources. I knew I was in trouble when the receptionist was asking people ahead of me what specific documents they were looking for. When I got to the counter she asked me the normal questions about IDs and such which I fielded quickly with a smile and then she asked about documents. I thought quickly and started to speak, "Parliamentary re..." and she ushered me straight through without me having to finish the sentence. I filled out the paperwork online and got called for the interview. In no time flat she was pointing me where I needed to go for about anything in the library and my card was issued for a year without me even asking. It's amazing how looking for government records gets you in quick.
After a few hours in the British Museum, by the way it is awesome and horribly confusing to navigate, I headed home. Walking down the street I peered into one of the holes they've been digging in the street and guess what I saw, PIPES!! Finally, they have reached pipes in this hole that they've been working on for weeks. Now the question is going to be how long it takes to replace said pipes.
As we all know, most things happen in threes. A few minutes ago the third miracle happened. I turned on the hot water to wash some dishes and the water was warm. Not hot, just warm, but it's getting there. After five days without hot water you can't imagine the joy in my heart. It's a wonderful day to be alive.
Speaking of alive, today's lovestruck for all those who want to pep up their life is, "To the suited mixed-race guy on the 453 at about 8:30pm on Saturday night going from Elephant and Castle to Trafalgar Square. I'm sorry I ignored you! Do you wanna try that again?"
Cheers!
After a few hours in the British Museum, by the way it is awesome and horribly confusing to navigate, I headed home. Walking down the street I peered into one of the holes they've been digging in the street and guess what I saw, PIPES!! Finally, they have reached pipes in this hole that they've been working on for weeks. Now the question is going to be how long it takes to replace said pipes.
As we all know, most things happen in threes. A few minutes ago the third miracle happened. I turned on the hot water to wash some dishes and the water was warm. Not hot, just warm, but it's getting there. After five days without hot water you can't imagine the joy in my heart. It's a wonderful day to be alive.
Speaking of alive, today's lovestruck for all those who want to pep up their life is, "To the suited mixed-race guy on the 453 at about 8:30pm on Saturday night going from Elephant and Castle to Trafalgar Square. I'm sorry I ignored you! Do you wanna try that again?"
Cheers!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Adventures in Londonland
This week has been marked by several adventures. Actually, adventures is the wrong word. A better term would be experiences. The first is one here at good old Endsleigh. Apparently they are having hot water problems. Originally I thought I was just trying to take a shower at the wrong time until I realised that no matter what time of day it was there was no hot water. This has been a problem since Monday, yes Monday, and it still isn't fixed. On Wednesday I was in no mood to take a cold shower. Sooooo, in good old Southern fashion I thought back to what my momma taught me during all those power outages. I went and grabbed some pots and the electric tea kettle, filled 'em with water, set 'em on the stove and set 'em to boiling. Half an hour later I had a piping hot bath. Thank you ingenuity. It's looking like I'm going to be doing that again in the morning if a miracle doesn't happen soon.
Experience #2. One piece of advice, when boarding a train at Euston Square make sure you have the right line since three lines are serviced on the same platform. A group of us were on our way to the play last night and ran onto the train at the station which was a Hammersmith not a Circle Line train. Five stations later (they run through the same stations) we realise this fact. Now in most instances this wouldn't have been that bad, just jump off catch the train going back the other way the one station to get the right train. Not this time. Only because we had an engagement to get to would there be delays. 20 minutes later we have made up this one station difference and arrive at the theatre 15 minutes late. We couldn't get in so we watched the performance on a small monitor out by the bar.
Experience #3-Cooking. I'm really enjoying this whole cooking thing. If I had an unlimited food budget I'd do all sorts of things. Tonight I made salmon with dill and lemon, fresh steamed broccoli and peas, and couscous (which goes with everything, is cheap, and fills you up). As I was eating my peas I looked down into them and found a special guest for dinner. A tiny little silk worm was curled up in my peas. Of course he had been steamed with the peas and was probably edible but I decided to discard him. For most people this would have probably been the end of eating those peas, but I found it kinda refreshing. I knew that those peas were fresh and not heavily machined because otherwise there's no way that little guy would have made it.
Experience #4-Imperial War Museum. This place is really really cool. Dr. Tubb described it as a man's museum and I can totally understand why. It is home to major exhibits on WWI, WWII, and every other conflict since that the UK has been involved in. My favorite part today was the trench experience. In the WWI section they have constructed a simulated trench complete with eerily realistic human statues, gunfire, rank odors and simulated scenes of trench life. It was horrific. I found myself wanting to get out of there as soon as possible eventhough there wasn't true gunfire. How those soldiers stood that life I'll never know but I give them all the respect in the world.
The museum also had a really good Holocaust exhibit. This was the first exhibit I had been to since Poland and I wasn't real sure how I was going to do. It started out okay. The exhibit was heavily based in pictures and videos, graphic videos, but nothing that I hadn't seen twenty times before. Then we entered a room with a gigantic model of Auschwitz. That was all I needed to see. Immediately I was recounting in my head all the smells, the feel of the air, the stories, the images, the sounds. Watching these model people march into the model crematoria I felt my lungs crush with the heaviness of being in a gas chamber. All I wanted to do was run or break down in the middle of the museum. Luckily Hayley was there and together we got through it kinda composed. Note to self: avoid the camp models.
Here in London they give away free papers on the street. The three most common around here are The Metro, The London Lite, and thelondonpaper (yes, it's spelled that way). These are primarily tabloids but they also contain useful stuff like the TV listings. I recently discovered that they have a section called lovestruck where they post announcements from people trying to get in touch with someone they have maybe seen on the Tube or met on a bus. Most are creepily stalkerish but cute. Then there are some that are happily odd. I think I'm going to start including one or two at the end of entries for your enjoyment.
Today's lovestruck is: "Girl with black fingerless gloves and lipring on No 6 bus at 3am. Boy with green-stained hands and head, eyeliner and Garfield plaster would like to wake up next to you again."
Cheers!
Experience #2. One piece of advice, when boarding a train at Euston Square make sure you have the right line since three lines are serviced on the same platform. A group of us were on our way to the play last night and ran onto the train at the station which was a Hammersmith not a Circle Line train. Five stations later (they run through the same stations) we realise this fact. Now in most instances this wouldn't have been that bad, just jump off catch the train going back the other way the one station to get the right train. Not this time. Only because we had an engagement to get to would there be delays. 20 minutes later we have made up this one station difference and arrive at the theatre 15 minutes late. We couldn't get in so we watched the performance on a small monitor out by the bar.
Experience #3-Cooking. I'm really enjoying this whole cooking thing. If I had an unlimited food budget I'd do all sorts of things. Tonight I made salmon with dill and lemon, fresh steamed broccoli and peas, and couscous (which goes with everything, is cheap, and fills you up). As I was eating my peas I looked down into them and found a special guest for dinner. A tiny little silk worm was curled up in my peas. Of course he had been steamed with the peas and was probably edible but I decided to discard him. For most people this would have probably been the end of eating those peas, but I found it kinda refreshing. I knew that those peas were fresh and not heavily machined because otherwise there's no way that little guy would have made it.
Experience #4-Imperial War Museum. This place is really really cool. Dr. Tubb described it as a man's museum and I can totally understand why. It is home to major exhibits on WWI, WWII, and every other conflict since that the UK has been involved in. My favorite part today was the trench experience. In the WWI section they have constructed a simulated trench complete with eerily realistic human statues, gunfire, rank odors and simulated scenes of trench life. It was horrific. I found myself wanting to get out of there as soon as possible eventhough there wasn't true gunfire. How those soldiers stood that life I'll never know but I give them all the respect in the world.
The museum also had a really good Holocaust exhibit. This was the first exhibit I had been to since Poland and I wasn't real sure how I was going to do. It started out okay. The exhibit was heavily based in pictures and videos, graphic videos, but nothing that I hadn't seen twenty times before. Then we entered a room with a gigantic model of Auschwitz. That was all I needed to see. Immediately I was recounting in my head all the smells, the feel of the air, the stories, the images, the sounds. Watching these model people march into the model crematoria I felt my lungs crush with the heaviness of being in a gas chamber. All I wanted to do was run or break down in the middle of the museum. Luckily Hayley was there and together we got through it kinda composed. Note to self: avoid the camp models.
Here in London they give away free papers on the street. The three most common around here are The Metro, The London Lite, and thelondonpaper (yes, it's spelled that way). These are primarily tabloids but they also contain useful stuff like the TV listings. I recently discovered that they have a section called lovestruck where they post announcements from people trying to get in touch with someone they have maybe seen on the Tube or met on a bus. Most are creepily stalkerish but cute. Then there are some that are happily odd. I think I'm going to start including one or two at the end of entries for your enjoyment.
Today's lovestruck is: "Girl with black fingerless gloves and lipring on No 6 bus at 3am. Boy with green-stained hands and head, eyeliner and Garfield plaster would like to wake up next to you again."
Cheers!
Monday, March 10, 2008
And we all Know the Pope is the Antichrist
Classes here are a real joy. Any of you who have had Dr. Tubb know exactly what I mean. He's extremely energetic and never stops with the quotables. Today I decided to jot down a couple when I had the chance and here they are.
First: "Since we need to prove we have standards it was too much, even for us." I won't give you the context for that one, just take it wherever you want to since it's funnier that way.
Second: "In France, which is a Satanic Hellhole." This was a comment made to describe the Catholic France from the view of 17th century Protestant England. There are so many jabs made at the French each day I'm going to start compiling a list.
However, the best quote of the day came from Steve Dykes, the theatre professor. We were compiling a list of important modern issues that the Royal Court Theatre might tackle and someone said immigration. He responded that America has found the solution: "We're going to build this big wall but first we have to find enough Mexicans to build it." I just couldn't help but smile.
All in all today has been the crappiest weather we've had since we've been here. It's been raining on and off and really chilly. Guess it finally decided to give us a little English weather. When the weather is crappy there is only one thing to do, cook.
Tonight for dinner (yes I'm really proud of myself eventhough this was really simple) was a lemon-pepper encrusted chicken breast served atop couscous with fresh steamed asparagus spears. I didn't do a good job with the presentation but by the time I was done all I wanted to do was eat. There is a picture of it below. It was by far the best meal I've made for myself yet.
Also, I found a way to get the grocery clerk to bag your groceries for you. Find a clerk who seems talkative and helped bag for someone in line before you. Then just be nice and talk to them and they'll help you bag your groceries. A little Southern charm and friendliness goes a long way in a town where anonymity is commonplace.
That'll be all for tonight. Have a splendid day!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Read the Map...Fully
It seems that the last few days have been strongly marked by that simple phrase. Friday was our class field trip to Chinatown. Every time we go on a trip we get lost somehow. Tubb and Barkin wanted to take us back through Soho a little bit and then into Chinatown. After over an hour of wandering around the theatre district and walking past the theatre housing Spamalot probably six times, we finally arrived in the parts of Soho they wanted to show us. Not the sleezy red-light district that we had to cut through to get there, but the cool food and shopping sections. One of the these days I might go back down there. Eventually we made it to Chinatown.
This Chinatown is relatively small, only a few square blocks, and relatively new. Dr. Barkin sent us on a crazy photo scavenger hunt for everything from an iPhone unlocking service to a buddha statue to durien (a spiky seasonal fruit). Initially all the teams crammed into a supermarket, completely over-running it and not intending on buying anything. Eventually I bought a pound's worth of gunpowder tea just because I felt so guilty about us inconvenincing all these people for our personal gain. Surprisingly the hardest thing to find was a dim sum cart which are everywhere in the Chinatowns of the United States. Lunch followed and we found a great nice (business casual) restaurant with a cheap lunch menu. It was fabulous.
Yesterday we went to Portobello Market which is this great antiques and food market down near Notting Hill. The neighborhood was adorable with rows of townhouses painted numerous different shades of pastels and expensive cars lining the streets. Luckily we got there early enough to browse and buy some food products (I bought some grapes and a really great chocolate chip muffin) before the wave of humanity began. Now I'm used to yardsales and flea markets from my childhood, but this was more than I could have ever expected. The streets were packed, we almost couldn't move on the sidewalks and as we were leaving it was almost impossible to get into the tube station because throngs of people were trying to get out. If you are into antiques though and can stomach the exchange rate then this is the place to go.
After that adventure I figured it would be fun to go on another one. Back in January I went to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Lexington. It was a phenomnal experience and whenever I get back I'm definitely going to start going pretty regularly. However, while I'm here I figured I'd give the British Unitarian scene a chance. Rev. Cain from Lexington sent me a list of the local churches and I decided to go to the Islington-Newington Green congregation this morning. There are several in the area but this one had an interesting website and I was curious how a community could function serving two different locales. SOOOO this morning I left at about 10:10 to get there by 11:00, mind you it was only a "short" walk from Islington station which was one station up the Victoria Line from King's Cross. Things are going well, I get to Islington at about 10:25 and start walking to the church, or so I thought. Initially I must have taken a wrong turn because I was coming into a neighborhood where people were stumbling out of bars, beer bottles and litter plastered to the streets and the scent of piss and beer in the air. After diving up a sidestreet to consult my map (I didn't want to show my lack of knowledge in public just in case) I corrected my error and started walking. Islington is nice, kinda reminded me of the Notting Hill area but cheaper and I don't mean that in a bad way. It was just evident that home prices were lower and the cars not as fancy. Well this short walk ends up taking me almost an hour. By the time I get to the church it's 11:10 and I've walked at least 2.5km.
When I get to the church the front entrance is closed with a sign to go to the side entrance. There a sweet little old lady took me into the church through the only available entrance, a door at about a 15 degree angle behind and to the right of the pulpit. Yep, no missing my late entrance. I darted down the side aisle and into the last pew, well box really. They were box pews with little doors and no padding.
The service itself was heavily Anglican. It was stifly structured without smoothe flow, an organ supplied all the music and the minister seemed aloof and distant but nice and pleasant at the same time. From the sermon I learned an important lesson, Unitarians love unity. Who knew? I thought it would be implicit in the name. There was no overarching moral lesson, no life message to apply, no thought to think about for the rest of the day. It was a lesson on Unitarian history and the principle that Unitarians are united not by conformity but by a shared belief in individuality. As much as I appreciated this little lesson I kinda already knew the information provided. I left as soon as the service was over feeling that I had gained nothing, learned nothing, felt no spiritual movement and realised why that church was dying. Next Sunday I'm going to try either the congregation at Brixton or Kensington. Hopefully they'll be more enlightening.
I wish I could be in KY right now for the snow. Those of you who have spent any time with me know that I love snow as long as I don't have to drive in it. Seeing as this is the first significant snowfall in years I'm horribly sad to have missed it. Y'all should send me a couple pics so I can see what I'm missing.
Also, as much as I hate to admit this, I do somewhat follow Dr. Weston's blog. Lately his entries have really been getting under my skin, we can talk about that later, but he did post a link to another blog that I thought was kind of funny. It's called Stuff White People Like and pokes fun at the upper-middle class professional/educated white person culture that a lot of us embrace without realising it. You really should check it out. If you can't laugh at yourself then you really have no right to laugh at anyone else. http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/
This Chinatown is relatively small, only a few square blocks, and relatively new. Dr. Barkin sent us on a crazy photo scavenger hunt for everything from an iPhone unlocking service to a buddha statue to durien (a spiky seasonal fruit). Initially all the teams crammed into a supermarket, completely over-running it and not intending on buying anything. Eventually I bought a pound's worth of gunpowder tea just because I felt so guilty about us inconvenincing all these people for our personal gain. Surprisingly the hardest thing to find was a dim sum cart which are everywhere in the Chinatowns of the United States. Lunch followed and we found a great nice (business casual) restaurant with a cheap lunch menu. It was fabulous.
Yesterday we went to Portobello Market which is this great antiques and food market down near Notting Hill. The neighborhood was adorable with rows of townhouses painted numerous different shades of pastels and expensive cars lining the streets. Luckily we got there early enough to browse and buy some food products (I bought some grapes and a really great chocolate chip muffin) before the wave of humanity began. Now I'm used to yardsales and flea markets from my childhood, but this was more than I could have ever expected. The streets were packed, we almost couldn't move on the sidewalks and as we were leaving it was almost impossible to get into the tube station because throngs of people were trying to get out. If you are into antiques though and can stomach the exchange rate then this is the place to go.
After that adventure I figured it would be fun to go on another one. Back in January I went to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Lexington. It was a phenomnal experience and whenever I get back I'm definitely going to start going pretty regularly. However, while I'm here I figured I'd give the British Unitarian scene a chance. Rev. Cain from Lexington sent me a list of the local churches and I decided to go to the Islington-Newington Green congregation this morning. There are several in the area but this one had an interesting website and I was curious how a community could function serving two different locales. SOOOO this morning I left at about 10:10 to get there by 11:00, mind you it was only a "short" walk from Islington station which was one station up the Victoria Line from King's Cross. Things are going well, I get to Islington at about 10:25 and start walking to the church, or so I thought. Initially I must have taken a wrong turn because I was coming into a neighborhood where people were stumbling out of bars, beer bottles and litter plastered to the streets and the scent of piss and beer in the air. After diving up a sidestreet to consult my map (I didn't want to show my lack of knowledge in public just in case) I corrected my error and started walking. Islington is nice, kinda reminded me of the Notting Hill area but cheaper and I don't mean that in a bad way. It was just evident that home prices were lower and the cars not as fancy. Well this short walk ends up taking me almost an hour. By the time I get to the church it's 11:10 and I've walked at least 2.5km.
When I get to the church the front entrance is closed with a sign to go to the side entrance. There a sweet little old lady took me into the church through the only available entrance, a door at about a 15 degree angle behind and to the right of the pulpit. Yep, no missing my late entrance. I darted down the side aisle and into the last pew, well box really. They were box pews with little doors and no padding.
The service itself was heavily Anglican. It was stifly structured without smoothe flow, an organ supplied all the music and the minister seemed aloof and distant but nice and pleasant at the same time. From the sermon I learned an important lesson, Unitarians love unity. Who knew? I thought it would be implicit in the name. There was no overarching moral lesson, no life message to apply, no thought to think about for the rest of the day. It was a lesson on Unitarian history and the principle that Unitarians are united not by conformity but by a shared belief in individuality. As much as I appreciated this little lesson I kinda already knew the information provided. I left as soon as the service was over feeling that I had gained nothing, learned nothing, felt no spiritual movement and realised why that church was dying. Next Sunday I'm going to try either the congregation at Brixton or Kensington. Hopefully they'll be more enlightening.
I wish I could be in KY right now for the snow. Those of you who have spent any time with me know that I love snow as long as I don't have to drive in it. Seeing as this is the first significant snowfall in years I'm horribly sad to have missed it. Y'all should send me a couple pics so I can see what I'm missing.
Also, as much as I hate to admit this, I do somewhat follow Dr. Weston's blog. Lately his entries have really been getting under my skin, we can talk about that later, but he did post a link to another blog that I thought was kind of funny. It's called Stuff White People Like and pokes fun at the upper-middle class professional/educated white person culture that a lot of us embrace without realising it. You really should check it out. If you can't laugh at yourself then you really have no right to laugh at anyone else. http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The Lift is Under Investigation
What is the lift under investigation for? Was it a co-conspirator in the Camden cannabis ring? It's funny how everywhere today the lifts seem to be having problems. One was out of order at Birkbeck and then one was out here at Endsleigh. Whatever was wrong with it has been fixed, but I bet the investigation was enthralling.
Speaking of Endsleigh, I got to do my first bit of rubbish bin diving today. This a copy of Kendall's blog where she tells the story:
However..... little did I know that upon returning to Flat 210, Endsleigh Court, that neither my roommate nor I would have the golden ticket upon us: otherwise known as keys...... After a couple trips to the porter, and an unsuccessful "spare" key, I was provided the key to the rubbish bin door.....please take a moment and think about the size of a rubbish bin door.....think a European doggie door....Now picture me.....crouched outside said doggie door, but alas, this story is not going where you think it is. No, no, dear friends, don't kid yourselves, Josh Stevens was here to save the day. So yes, while I am still crouched outside said door, Josh stevens has head in door trying to open the little door to our flat.I should also clarify for the mental picture in your head that the doggie door opens into a little wooden box area. On the left, at a 90 degree angle, a door of comparable size opens to the flat. this comparable door, has a hatch, which was locked. But remarkably, Josh Stevens used man strength and punched the comparable size door open, through hatch and all. Then, Josh Stevens dove himself through both doors and at one point had legs outside the wall in the corridor, torso in tiny wooden box area, and head plus shoulders in Flat 210, Endsleigh Court. We have discerned, after proper discussion, that this was a Legends of the Hidden Temple Moment (thank you Nickelodeon). Upon seeing one Josh Stevens in such a position and all because he is such a good friend to climb through such a rubbish bin for me, I sunk to the ground in laughter, lovingly. Josh Stevens then emerged like a Roman god from the other side of the door and let us in to our humble abode. Josh Stevens has hereby been declared as Champion of Rubbish Bin Manuevers and will be awarded a medal of valor.
It was a difficult job, but somebody had to do it.
Last night we went to see Sarajevo Story for class. The play, we were pre-impressioned to think, is about an American judge serving on the war crimes tribunal after the Balkan Wars of the early 90s. However, it became readily apparent by the end that it really was more about relationships than anything and the Sarajevo portion was more backdrop and awareness of genocide than anything. Overall I enjoyed the performance greatly. The acting was great for a performance of this nature (small independent collegiate/professor company) and the use of numerous media including cameras, video screens, and simulated Skype made it an enjoyable performance. I was also touched by it on many levels as relationships in my life are sometimes rocky and it's good to know that sometimes it's what's not said that really makes the difference. Also, on the genocide aspect, the Serbs were the ones carrying out this genocide and in some strange way I felt a little shiver of guilt as my ancestors were Serbian up until our migration to America in 1912. Of course they are in no way culpable for what happened, but the last names of the guilty parties just sounded too familiar. By the way, small subsidized theatre is a lot more relaxed than big commercial theatre so we had the opportunity to have a Q&A with the cast and creative team afterwards that really shed some light. Apparently I had been sitting right behind the producer the entire performance and never realized it.
Now, for a sad and interesting tidbit, I knew that the 7/7 bombings had happened near to Endsleigh Court. What I did not realize until today was that the bus bombing happened literally at the end of the block not 30 meters from the building. It's a littler eerie thinking about it, but the resilience of the British people is amazing. They just truck along like nothing ever happened and I really admire that.
Welp, this has been a long entry and not a very happy one. Tomorrow we're going to Chinatown for a field trip. I'll try to update afterwards. Later!
Speaking of Endsleigh, I got to do my first bit of rubbish bin diving today. This a copy of Kendall's blog where she tells the story:
However..... little did I know that upon returning to Flat 210, Endsleigh Court, that neither my roommate nor I would have the golden ticket upon us: otherwise known as keys...... After a couple trips to the porter, and an unsuccessful "spare" key, I was provided the key to the rubbish bin door.....please take a moment and think about the size of a rubbish bin door.....think a European doggie door....Now picture me.....crouched outside said doggie door, but alas, this story is not going where you think it is. No, no, dear friends, don't kid yourselves, Josh Stevens was here to save the day. So yes, while I am still crouched outside said door, Josh stevens has head in door trying to open the little door to our flat.I should also clarify for the mental picture in your head that the doggie door opens into a little wooden box area. On the left, at a 90 degree angle, a door of comparable size opens to the flat. this comparable door, has a hatch, which was locked. But remarkably, Josh Stevens used man strength and punched the comparable size door open, through hatch and all. Then, Josh Stevens dove himself through both doors and at one point had legs outside the wall in the corridor, torso in tiny wooden box area, and head plus shoulders in Flat 210, Endsleigh Court. We have discerned, after proper discussion, that this was a Legends of the Hidden Temple Moment (thank you Nickelodeon). Upon seeing one Josh Stevens in such a position and all because he is such a good friend to climb through such a rubbish bin for me, I sunk to the ground in laughter, lovingly. Josh Stevens then emerged like a Roman god from the other side of the door and let us in to our humble abode. Josh Stevens has hereby been declared as Champion of Rubbish Bin Manuevers and will be awarded a medal of valor.
It was a difficult job, but somebody had to do it.
Last night we went to see Sarajevo Story for class. The play, we were pre-impressioned to think, is about an American judge serving on the war crimes tribunal after the Balkan Wars of the early 90s. However, it became readily apparent by the end that it really was more about relationships than anything and the Sarajevo portion was more backdrop and awareness of genocide than anything. Overall I enjoyed the performance greatly. The acting was great for a performance of this nature (small independent collegiate/professor company) and the use of numerous media including cameras, video screens, and simulated Skype made it an enjoyable performance. I was also touched by it on many levels as relationships in my life are sometimes rocky and it's good to know that sometimes it's what's not said that really makes the difference. Also, on the genocide aspect, the Serbs were the ones carrying out this genocide and in some strange way I felt a little shiver of guilt as my ancestors were Serbian up until our migration to America in 1912. Of course they are in no way culpable for what happened, but the last names of the guilty parties just sounded too familiar. By the way, small subsidized theatre is a lot more relaxed than big commercial theatre so we had the opportunity to have a Q&A with the cast and creative team afterwards that really shed some light. Apparently I had been sitting right behind the producer the entire performance and never realized it.
Now, for a sad and interesting tidbit, I knew that the 7/7 bombings had happened near to Endsleigh Court. What I did not realize until today was that the bus bombing happened literally at the end of the block not 30 meters from the building. It's a littler eerie thinking about it, but the resilience of the British people is amazing. They just truck along like nothing ever happened and I really admire that.
Welp, this has been a long entry and not a very happy one. Tomorrow we're going to Chinatown for a field trip. I'll try to update afterwards. Later!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Ask for Still
I'd like to begin this entry with three quick London lessons.
1. You bag your own groceries at the market and you better be quick about it otherwise people glare at you nastily.
2. The cheap Sainsbury's tea (63p for 80 bags) is total crack. Thanks Katt for turning me on to it. I am absolutely addicted now and have at least two-three cups each night.
3. When wanting to purchase bottled water ask for a "bottle of still." If you just ask for water the clerk will look at you wondering what kind you want or they will just assume you want sparkling water.
This weekend was spent primarily doing homework. Yeah, yeah, my first weekend in London post-classes and I spent it doing homework. Well, this is an academic trip and at some point the work has to be done. Why not now and then when the weather warms I can be out and about? There was one little adventure this weekend. My showerhead is suicidal. It leaps, not falls but leaps, off the hook whenever the water is turned off. I can't tell you how many times I have almost been bonked in the head by it. Saturday it decided to take a flying a leap and smash into the side of the bath. Needless to say, it has cracked open on the top. I went to take a shower and half the water started spraying up and over the shower curtain; before I could cut off the water the bathroom was nice and damp. They still haven't fixed it but has been only one working day.
Above are a few pics from the last week. My internet connection is holding pretty well tonight so hopefully this will work well. Enjoy and I'll be in touch soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
