Gobble Gobble
Due to the fact that i'll be kneading buns in about 20 minutes, i'll be brief.
Last night was the Superhero Pub Crawl and John Meyer's arrival at Nottingham....
The pub crawl was a success, measured mostly by the fact that i feel like crap today.
John pulled up in a taxi at around 2am, and the gang stayed up talking until 4...ish.
Thanksgiving is a strange time here in the UK. Because there's no such thing as Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations can go up before Halloween is over.... it's really all they have to hold onto, wheras the 'Holiday Season' in the states actually contains more than one holiday...
A teammate (girl from Liverpool) last night asked what Thanksgiving was all about.... And I blanked. Was it in remembrance of a meal the Pilgrims and Indians (sorry, Native Americans) shared together? Was this before the settlers handed out smallpox ridden blankets or aftewards? Its funny, once you learn more about the history of early America, it either makes Thanksgiving more of reason to celebrate or an event that couldn't possibly have happened.
In either case, it's cute to know that around the globe, my grandma is making the same 5 hour rolls that I am....
I will miss football, I will miss crappy parades. I will not miss out on gorging myself like a real American, I will not miss out on REAL pumpkin pie, I will not miss out on turkey leftovers.
Happy Turkey Day
Small World
We've hit critical mass at the flat. Islamic Tradition papers in progress, 4 or 5 of us (myself, procrastinatingly not included) are typing like madmen and -women to get the 50%-of-final-grade papers done and perfected by Thursday (Thanksgiving for godssakes)
to compile matters, extrapolate? things.....i have no idea where that gem of a word came from...., anyway, our internet is messed beyond reason, and the gang is pissed....
In other awesome news, this blog is being viewed from all over the world. Literally. I don't know how that could have been taken figuratively, but the idea remains true.....
I will say that having friends studying in Tanzania and Switzerland definitley adds to the mystique of having such a far range of readers, but it's still pretty cool how random the visitors are.... At this point, the following shows how many unique IP adresses have looked at it... (could be the same person on a different computer, or something... i don't totally understand it at this point, but it's great for an ego boost every once in a while....)
| 40 | Decorah | Iowa | United States |  |
| 17 | Swansea | Wales | United Kingdom |  |
| 8 | Ames | Iowa | United States | |
| 7 | Atlanta | Georgia | United States | |
| 5 | Minneapolis | Minnesota | United States | |
| 5 | Tehran | Tehran | Iran, Islamic Republic Of |  |
| 4 | Papillion | Nebraska | United States | |
| 2 | Des Moines | Iowa | United States | |
| 1 | Appleton | Wisconsin | United States | |
| 1 | Salisbury | England | United Kingdom | |
| 1 | Moline | Illinois | United States | |
| 1 | Snohomish | Washington | United States | |
| 1 | Toronto | Ontario | Canada |  |
| 1 | Tempe | Arizona | United States | |
| 1 | Pendleton | South Carolina | United States | |
| 1 | Elk River | Minnesota | United States | |
| 1 | Lugano | Ticino | Switzerland |  |
| 1 | Bethpage | New York | United States | |
i would have loved to paste a sweet hybrid Googlemap, but such is life.....For a creepier look at how much your IP address says about you, check this out:
| 40 | Luther College | Decorah | Iowa | United States | |
| 17 | Ntl Infrastructure - Southampton | Swansea | Wales | United Kingdom | |
| 8 | Internet Consulting Services Llc | Ames | Iowa | United States | |
| 7 | Cox Communications | Atlanta | Georgia | United States | |
| 6 | Qwest Communications Corporation | Minneapolis | Minnesota | United States | |
| 5 | Afrinic | Tehran | Tehran | Iran, Islamic Republic Of | |
| 4 | Cox Communications Inc | Papillion | Nebraska | United States | |
| 1 | The Principal Financial Group | Des Moines | Iowa | United States | |
| 1 | Bellsouth.net Inc | Pendleton | South Carolina | United States | |
| 1 | Deere & Company | Moline | Illinois | United States | |
| 1 | Rogers Cable Inc | Toronto | Ontario | Canada | |
| 1 | Tds Telecom | Appleton | Wisconsin | United States | |
| 1 | Amco Insurance Company | Des Moines | Iowa | United States | |
| 1 | Charter Communications | Elk River | Minnesota | United States | |
| 1 | Northrop Grumman Corp | Bethpage | New York | United States | |
| 1 | Verizon Internet Services Inc | Snohomish | Washington | United States | |
| 1 | Franklin College - Institute For European Studies | Lugano | Ticino | Switzerland | |
| 1 | Bt-central-plus | Salisbury | England | United Kingdom | |
gotta love technology.....
Lonely Pilgrim
Hmmm.... Monday I finally attended Physical Landscapes (sadly, the first lecture i've been to for one month and ten days in this class), and lazied it up for the rest of the night. I started reading Huck Finn for American Lit, which of course brought back memories......OF EIGHTH GRADE.... seriously, this class is like something out of Harry Potter- that is, it's English and it's middle school....
Seriously though, I love Mark Twain, the guy was a genius, and it's always nice to read a book that: 1) i've read before, and 2) i actually enjoyed it last time, so this is like watching an old favorite movie.
Anna and I popped in Requium for a Dream, and although it starred Jared Leto (of Prefontaine and My So Called Life fame), the rain outside and depressing nature of the movie convinced me to stay in and avoid Crosscountry practice, hence continuing the theme of absolute laziness.
Today wasn't too much better..... I woke up before 10 (props for that), and read my required Jeremy Paxman and John Oakland chapters, and again hit up Mark Twain. Really, none of this is worth blogging about.....
Lecture today was a worker for the NHS, the National Health Service here in the UK. For whatever reason, I was entirely too interested.... Talking about the fact that only 5% of the British have health insurance because there is no need for it, the fact that all healthcare is free but is slowly moving towards privitization and specialization.....well, it interested me for whatever reason.
The week can only pick up from here- Johnny Meyer lands in London and takes a train up tomorrow, all the while i'm stuck in class, going to crosscountry, and going on a Superhero themed pub crawl in Lenton....
hopefully i'm present in both mind and body when John shows up at 1am tomorrow....
His presence will help to dissuade the feelings of jealousy and dissapointment in missing out on a traditionally family-oriented time of the year.... Katie and Brian, if you read this, be sure to take an extra vicodin for me, and take pics of the cow-egging that i demand you partake in, in memory of me..... Mom and Dad, if you read this, forget about the last sentence.
-a lonely pilgrim across the atlantic
*sidenote: for the first time in my Thanksgiving day career (all 20 years), i will finally be surrounded by real live Indians.... along with some Pakistani, a few Chinese kids, maybe that guy from Hong Kong........
Life-changing London and a Killer Kweller Concert
In what can only be described as the best weekend of my life (i know, overboard? i was thinking maybe high school graduation, etc, but it's hard to compare)- this past post-less exended weekend i went down to London for a few West End shows (equivalent, if not better version of US's Broadway) and good times with KTC buddy Heather and the Notter guys...
To briefly summarize before diving into the full details, i'll create a much-appreciated list as to the weekends happenings:
1) almost missed bus, met up with Brandon's friend Irene
2) stayed in mouse-filled apt
3) saw Bent, starring X-Men's Nightcrawler, Alan Cumming
4) saw Wicked, starring Rent's Idina Menzel
5) Met AvWicked star Adam Garcia (see photo) as he tried to leave the show
6) Saw Avenue Q, winner of Best Musical in 2004 (beating wicked) with Heather
7) Ben Kweller concert on Sunday night- took a guitar pick, got some sweet vids
So, in essence, the most entertaining and exciting weekend of my life, spent in a city that is not as big as it seems at times, being screwed by the Tube system, meeting up with old friends, and hearing the most amazing musical talent anywhere on the planet.
Brandon and I left for London a tad late on Thursday night, and while I won't blame Brandon's love of the Echilada on the fact that we were 2 minutes away from finding a different way to London, it may or may not have played a contributing factor in our close call.... As can be imagined, the bus ride from Notts to London was action-packed. That is to say, boring as hell and full of Asians. Not in a derogitory way, but that was the truth. The bus (again, in no way related) the bus was a symphony of smells- ranging from the Ramen-noodlesque scent of chickeny noodles to the putrid black-currant mentholy blend of bad cough drops that wafted in my direction every few minutes. Not as bad as the smell from the WC that Brandon endured, but noticable nontheless.
Irene (drama buddy of Brandon's) had agreed to house us, help us around the city, and more importantly, show us how the tube works. Don't call it the subway, and for god sakes, don't accidentally call it the tram (carryover from Notts, my apologies Heather and Irene).
We bought our Oyster cards (prepaid, like our Nottingham bus passes), and navigated our way back to Irene's place up in Kenzal Green (NW of Picadilly, Buckingham, Victoria, the lot). It was great just to be in the city.
I was overwhelmed at the mass of Asian restaurants that seemed to line the streets, as well as the expanse of appartment complexes that are almost nonexistant here in Notts. A quick dinner at a Portugese Chicken place and an adventure with a mouse in the house later, we called it a night and prepared for a busy Friday in the city....
Friday I was finally able to meet up with Heather. Heather is pretty much my bff from KTC, my summer job at Johnston this year. She's been staying at the Vanden House, a hotel right in the middle of West End that Central College owns and operates as a study abroad center for students all over the US.
We made our way to one of the thousands of Half Price Ticket Centers in the area, and bought tickets for Bent, a play about the holocaust starring Alan Cumming and newcomber Chris New. As always, the tickets were a little pricy, but looking back, I can honestly say that it was all worth it...
Brandon and I were abandoned by our experienced Londoners to explore the city, and we did a decent job of not getting lost. Covenant Gardens, Leiscter Square, the Theatre Museum, the National Portait Museum, the Tate Modern Museum, etc- all without the protection of an umbrella- proved to be a physically draining day. Tate was awesome- the new slide exhibit, along with more Monets, Dalis, Miros and Pollocks than you can shake a paint brush at.
Bent was amazing. It was crude at times, hilarious, disturbing, and topical. Apparently it had been written years ago, but the revival has been getting amazing reviews, especially thanks to Alan Cumming, who was great. It was incredible to be sitting in the 6th row, so close to the action and so close to the actors. The topic, homosexuality and the holocaust was about the most depressing possible topic for a play, and as anticipated, the ending was pretty depressing. not to ruin it or anything...
Afterwards we were able to meet up with Aaron and Ryan who had taken a very roundabout way of getting to London and came out of Spamalot the same time that Bent was ending. Apparetnly, about 200 yards outside of the bus stop, their bus totalled a small compact car. Thus compacting it even further. An hour later, they were well on their way to London. Ryan took advantage of a very gracious Tim Curry, and got an autograph after the show, while Brandon made use of the now popular pee-pods. In this case, a picture will suffice:
Back at the flat in Kensal Green, I thought about the prospects of living in a city where people were so numerous and so uncaring. How could you even make friends, let alone a living, a mark? I didn't get homesick by any stretch, but London definitely offers a change of perspective that outside of New York, most Americans have not really experienced.
Saturday was the greatest day of my life. Hands down. Birth? nah. Graduation? not a chance. Although the day started slow (aka, Brandon and I got on the wrong train and headed to Euson station in NE London instead of to Notting Hill), the day could only get better from there.
Notting Hill was the retro capital of the world, full of consignment shops, antique stuff, and more Atomic Garage-type stores (that's for the DSM crowd) than i've ever seen in one place.
I managed to buy a new coat (4 times cheaper than it should have been), and a sweet puma shirt.
Despite our uncanny understanding of the tube system, Heather had to come to the rescue in order that we could make our way to Wicked on time. Grabbing all of our bags in a crowded Victoria Centre Tube station, Heather saved us the trouble of running up to her place and back.
Wicked was beyond anything I could have expected. I had seen it before in Chicago, and had listened to the soundtrack from Broadway with Carl in Ylvi every day of freshman year, but nothing compared to hearing Idina Menzel live on West End. I won't go into the geeky musical details, but just know that it was exponentially better than Chicago, and I only wish that my May 2004 Wicked gang could have been there...
