Nott What You'd Expected...

A House Divided, Justin Gatlin, and A Good Year

Yesterday, after a marathon blogging and zero productivity on the British Novel front, the flatmates still in Nottingham attempted to celebrate Aaron's birthday the best way we knew how- find random pub, sit at random pub, leave random pub.

Unbeknownst to us, we situated ourselves in a way that segregated us both by coupledom and by age- the cool 21 year olds on one couch, and the lame, relationally unsavvy (save for Anna, who has ties back home) on the other couch. Hence, a house divided.

Sitting in the club (FAT CAT- a pretty cool venue, but pricey) as it closed down for the night, a strange realization came over me- just a feeling of connectedness. Even after all of the metarelational talks and 'group bonding' type discussions, it never quite hit me how close the group of 9 has become. Compared to awkward bus rides and dinners earlier in the year to last night's Brandon's Birthday Revelations in front of Mark and Carol (unfortunately Brandon and Kate missed out), We've come a long way, and I don't think I'll ever grasp what kind of bond this group has had-

Talking with Anna while washing dishes, we also came to a weird conclusion about how many people have lived in the flat, grown up in the flat, and made it their home- over 25 years, roughly 8 to 12 people a year- that's a lot of people who have come to call this place home, and a lot of memories tied to the cracked walls and IKEA decorated rooms. Every candle burn mark, every stain on the ceiling from a dinner gone awry- It's crazy to think that in three months, we'll be passing the torch and maybe never see this place again.

sentimentality over.

Thanks to the social outburst, time away from the flat hardly experienced at night anymore, I am still roughly 200 pages from where I need to be tomorrow for M&C British Novel class. It's not the book that makes this class blow, it's the constant reading. I've bitched about it before, but if the idea of being over here is to experience the culture- both socially and academically, then WHY THE HELL ARE WE COOPED UP READING 350 PAGES A WEEK? It's like a library here on Monday and Thursday nights- everyone secluded, reading like spinsters in the corner. gross.

Fortunately, Today's TV Cultures class made up for any kind of academic funk i've been in. Our viewing today consisted of the 2000 Sydney 100 meter dash, the 2004 Athens 100 meter dash, and the 2007 Super Bowl. Are they serious? It was great to hear the snickers or boos from the British students as Maurice Green called himself THE GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), or when Justin Gatlin opened his mouth and the mindless ramblings of a 9 year old boy spilled out. Not to mention the Budweiser sponsorship of the Superbowl or watching Billy Joel sing the US national anthem on a rain-soaked piano. I sat next to a guy who actually lived in Oak Park, IL for a while, so that was an interesting perspective- not interesting enough to stay for the whole thing (for some reason, once you've seen the sloppiest Superbowl in memory while eating wings and drinking beer, watching it for class seems less glamorous)

In other news, I finally got my LCD screen for my camera from San Diego. I'm nervous about cutting cords and opening it up on my own, but a little McGuyver action never hurt anyone, so i'll give it a go. IF worse comes to worse, the camera shop people can handle it.

Friday night, we've decided to throw a black and white formal party here at the flat- classy as always- pictures will follow, i'm sure.

Back to reading.

posted by Kevin @ 1:33 PM