Oh my!

Hello! How are you today? I hope you are nice and good! I hope today is sunny wherever you are! I hope you give someone a high five today. I am fine and dandy, I suppose. I have been jogging, and doing all sorts of exercises recently. It feels pretty good to be moving, and to have everything feeling moderately strong and nice. Things are going alright, I have an apartment (I think...) for the fall, I think I may be getting a car (I don't expect much, but at least one that runs), and I'm looking for a job. Filed under pretty crappy things is the fact that airfare is so ridiculous lately, and that I have to pay for bringing checked bags with me (what is this, Europe?). Also, insert complaint about the shitty nature of FAFSAs/money/loans/etc here. But! It is sunny out! Today I might go to the state fair and eat a funnel cake! And on Sunday I'm going back to Seattle to see Harper!

I guess last time I wrote, I hadn't gone to Seattle the first time yet. Well! It turned out to be quite the trip! Harper was flying out a few days before me, and was coincidentally flying through Chicago. He ran into bad weather, and suddenly next thing I know, he magically switches his Chicago-Seattle flight to be on the same one as me, gets a rental car, and is driving to my house!!! He got in super late, but in enough time for us to hang with Dan and Claire and eat some tasty Steak n' Shake. The next day we ate french toast on my deck, sat in the sun, and then headed for Chicago. And the morning after that we flew to Seattle!

The trip was more hectic than I would've liked, since he had to furnish his apartment and all sorts of nonsense like that. But it was okay, I saw the space needle, we went on a 2 hour boat cruise around all the water around Seattle, and generally had a good time. We spent way too long at Ikea, ate loads of tasty food, and saw the best fireworks of my life on some harbour. It was pretty sweet.





Since I got back, I've gone to a Bastille Day party, seen some awesome movies (Mamma Mia! And the new Batman!!), and had some generally good times. I didn't intend to go back to Seattle this summer, but Harper asked, so I'm going! I'm excited. He'll be working pretty much all day, so it'll be slightly boring, but oh well.

Okay that is enough updates for now!

Shining like a national guitar

EDIT: This is from, like, last month, okay? I do love all of you, I just have been busy lately, so I haven't had time to update. But I will! Very soon!

Hey hey hey!!! I'm back, as in back in Illinois, land of green fields, late night shenanigans, and catching fireflies in the backyard. I got back a week ago yesterday, and have accomplished not that much, although I got some important things done. I got a haircut! I've also discovered the magic that is playing Wii fit, and how satisfying it is to hula hoop for 6 minutes. I'm leaving in 3 days to go up to Seattle to see my fantastic boyfriend, who I miss very, very much. I'm actually doing an all-night travel extravaganza to get there...a 2:30am LEX bus to Chicago, then a 7:30am flight, arriving in Seattle at 9:40am. I'm so excited! For serious. And I get to help him pick out a new car, maybe! And go to Ikea!!

So, all that is exciting, but I do miss London, and my life there. I really really miss it, actually. I loved living at Waterloo, being able to just hop on the train whenever or just walk to wherever I wanted, everything being within reasonable walking distance. I miss ice cream from ice cream trucks. I miss parks, English-style. I even miss the weather, because having so many days of typical rainy 'English weather' just made it all the more special when the other kind of English weather, sunny and beautiful, came along. It was an amazing experience, and despite the huge price, it was so worth it. I've decided to make a list of things that I learned/gained/appreciated....because I'm cool like that. So!

1) I learned how to get over it and just buy a 6 dollar sandwich every now and then.
2) The importance of ALWAYS getting an ice cream, ALWAYS with a flake added.
3) How nice it is to find a restaurant and make it your regular place.
4) Dressing up, going to dinner, having wine.
5) Student nights at clubs, with crazy pregaming beforehand.
6) The value of deciding to walk home from a club instead of taking the bus.
7) That I can stay up for several days, surviving on redbull and very little sleep, and still turn in a decent paper.
8) How to share everything.
9) How to pack whatever I need for 40 days into a 50 liter backpack.
10) That I may not want what I always thought I wanted in life.
11) That I cannot drink as much as I used to.
12) How to navigate around a completely new city and find cheap food/transportation/lodging/alcohol in the first few hours I'm there.

Right, that's all for now, but more to come later, I promise!

Panic in the streets!!!

Guess what! I'm back! Just like I said I'd be back. Except, well, several months late? Oh well. These things happen, I'm sure you understand. I actually can't write much right now, as I am (in typical fashion) madly trying to finish a last-minute paper by a reasonable hour tonight (I'm in the mid-700 word range, trying to get it to 2,000 and make some semblance of sense....). But! Never fear, here is the briefest of updates on my life:
-I went traveling and Saw The World! Conquered: France, Italy, Greece, Egypt (again), Jordan, Syria, Israel, Egypt (again!?).
-I came back to London, loitered around, my momma visited!
-I had some finals! They were ok.
-I went to Dublin! It was pretty great.

And now my time in London is almost up...in a few days I am heading to Spain and Portugal with my gentleman lover, and then London for a week or so before making my way back to the US. Oh, also? I have recently been on a musical kick, seeing 2 absolutely ridiculously awesome musicals in the West End! And more on the way! We're seeing the Lion King tomorrow! I am so excited. Now hopefully I can just work some magic and pull together a semi-decent paper, so I can go off and have fun with my fantastic boyfriend! (He even cooks sometimes!!!)

Speaking of....

Dance Party Continues!

Hello my pretties! Unfortunately, being swamped with work and horribly inclined towards procrastination as I am, I cannot talk much. I'm setting out on a month long vacation soon, so it may or may not be a while before there's some coherent updates going on. Perhaps if I get access to internet while I'm traveling I'll throw down some wisdom, we shall see. I went to Brussels the weekend before last, and it was ok. Brussels was very indifferent. I don't know how else to describe it. The food, though? Ridiculous. Amazing. So good. Belgian waffle plus whipped cream plus fresh strawberries? Yes please. ANYWAY.

This past Monday, I went to this huge club called Fabric...great times ensued. It was a big student-oriented party, loads of crazy things, an inflatable hot tub, gladiator fighting, huge slides, bouncy castles, weird areas, glow sticks....I do not even know the full extent of the madness. Other than getting my dance party on, I've also managed to throw together a trip to France (Paris, Nice, Corsica, and Marseilles here I come!), buy a rail pass (10 days of travel!), and book a hostel in Prague (apparently it has a 'girls zone'?). Hopefully soon I'll book the remaining hostels, get my train reservations out of the way, actually plan out the latter portion of my trip, and set off on an adventure! I leave the 19th in the afternoon, and from there it is France for a week or so, then Prague, then Rome (maybe via a few hours in Venice and Florence...depending on trains), then a boat to Athens (sleep on a chair on the deck vs. sleep in an expensive cabin...), then a flight to Alexandria, then travel up to Syria (I got my visa!!!!), then back down to Amman, maybe Israel, then Egypt, rounding it all out with some Dahab action, hopefully. Yay travel! I just hope I a) finish my papers in time, and b) manage to somehow procure a suitable travel backpack by that time! Oh, life.

ANYWAY the point of all this is that my work ethic is basically zero right now, so I have been setting my mind to researching the best hostel in Rome and listening to dance remixes of awesome songs. I don't know if this will work, but hopefully it will? This song is amazing:
Benny Benassi - California Dreaming 2004(Remix) from http://owen.vox.com/

Also, for some quality dance party times, I would recommend one going to the excellent Manalogue and listening to the Justice remix they have there. It is quite excellent.

Ok kids that is it for now, I have to go maybe look at hostels, or maybe read about how free trade ruined the world, or whatever. Then I'm going to get fondue! (I'm really excited about the fondue...).

Kisses kisses!!!

Pamplemousse?!

So. I feel like I'm kind of on a discovering good dance music kick recently, but what can you do. I made the fortuitous discovery of this earlier tonight, and it is close to the most perfect. This is why I love the French.

All the people

You guys. This song is fantastic. For serious.


It's sunny outside, and I can feel the seasons changing in the air. I can't wait for Spring.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

So. This made me really mad. Read the story. Read the other stories listed on the side. Read the background info. I am not just mad because I lived in the Middle East for a little once. The whole situation is just ridiculous. All the analysis in the world and all the theorizing and coming up with solutions doesn't do any good, because it is the people on the ground that matter, and in the end there is always someone who disagrees, for a very good reason. Peoples' images of reality is what is important, and I wish there was some way to make everyone see the same reality. Or, I don't know. I wish there was a way to broadcast the same information to everyone, into their minds, while they were asleep, and have them all remember it. This part was the worst:

"Israel will not intervene in demonstrations inside the Gaza Strip but it will ensure the defence of its territory and prevent any violation of its sovereign borders," said a joint statement released by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

I don't even know what to say.