jack frost nipping at your nose

There are a few reasons why I'm feeling good right now:

I went shopping today, and didn't find a coat (most frustrating experience ever), but it was still fun.

I just bought a bunch of christmas music on iTunes: ella fitzgerald, the nutcrakcer performed by the london symphony, and little st. nick by the beach boys

I am making a list of christmas gift ideas for my family

I am drinking mint hot chocolate (this is, however, a poor substitute for the chocolate buttons I would have bought had the vending machine not been OUT OF ORDER WTFFFFF)

I made up a list of self-imposed deadlines for my papers. The first one is due on monday morning, yikes! But deadlines are so comforting. In related news, I realized I will have a couple of days to finish them up when I arrive back in London in January. So hopefully I won't be making myself and other too miserable during vacation.

I rode the bus today and it was raining outside!




Which reminds me. It's funny how my thinking has changed when it comes to my accent. I used to be intensely self-conscious about it, but I also liked the attention that it brought me, especially from the opposite sex. Now my attitude is more like "yes, I just said 'dude,' let's talk about something else." I am no longer amused when strangers overhear me and my frineds talking and say "Oh, are you American? Where are you from?" Sometimes I audibly sigh. It would be one thing if it was just purely to be friendly. It would be one thing if the people saying it were at least young and attractive. But usually it's creepy men who want an excuse to chat it up with you. So, to all you creepy men in shoe stores and buses of the world-- it's time to get a little more creative. I am glad you enjoyed your trip to Florida 10 years ago, but I would really rather do my shopping in silent, stony-faced peace like the rest of the city.

yes, you can imitate everyone you know

I'm making an extreme effort to eat in as much as possible this week. So far I have done well, even for lunch! I might fail tonight because Sam is going for Indian take out and I don't know if I can resist the magnetism of the stuffed paratha. Hmmm I guess the stuffed parathas aren't that expensive... Or I could stay here and eat cheese and crackers. Can you tell how much of a grown up I am?

I don't think I will ever go to Top Shop again, as it is depressing on multiple levels. One level is that I can't afford anything there. The second is that they only have really small sizes. The third is that I probably couldn't pull off most of the clothes they sell. I am sticking to H&M in the future.

[I saw Irish Joe in the quad just now and man, do I love Irish people.]

Yesterday my roommate Friederike asked me if I had bought a warm winter coat yet, as I had expressed a desire to buy one a couple of weeks ago. I said no. She said that I had better hurry up, because all the good ones will be gone after Christmas. I found this idea alarming, since it had been my plan to wait until after Christmas and get a really cheap one on sale. I never considered that all the really cheap ones would totally suck! Now I just don't know what to do. Maybe I will go scope out the situation tomorrow. Or buy a coat in california? But what if they don't have any warm coats in california? Oh yeah. I just remembered that it is going to be freezing in Brussels and Berlin. So maybe I should buy the coat now! Man, this is a real dilemma.

I realize this has been a total waste of time and I am posting it anyway!

[edit: saw irish joe again in the laundry room. today is me lucky day!]

Holy crap. Natalie's blog has just alerted me to the existence of this incredible amazing thing where cool indie bands play songs in black cabs. As Natalie herself said, best idea ever,

Basically it owns all over Les Concerts a Emporter, and therefore Paris. Bet you didn't think of putting them in a cab, did ya, Paris? Not that your cabs are nearly as cute anyway.

And Josh, if you're reading this (are you?), there is one of Daniel Johnston!

knackered

Ok, it's official. Englsih kids are not better students than Americans. They are just waaaayyyyy better at faking it. Bravo, england. You really had me fooled.

I know this because I just had coffee with a girl from my Shakespeare class who I am supposed to be giving a presentation with tomorrow on the various texts of Hamlet. I didn't even know there were different texts of Hamlet until today, so I was pretty nervous about botching the whole thing up with my horrible study skills. But luckily she hasn't been reading the plays either! Or the scholarly essays! And she definitely had not started work on the presentation. What a relief. I also took the opportunity to ask her whether it's a coincidence that all of the christmas decorations in London are blue and silver (she doesn't know), whether a mince pie is sweet or savory (sweet), and how many secondary sources I should be using for my essays (not that many). I think that's a lot to accomplish in the time it takes to drink one gingerbread latte, don't you?

I have been spending a lot of time at starbucks lately. There is one near the library that has this enormous undergorund seating area with literally like 20 armchairs. The first time I went down there was like the scene at the end of The Land Before Time when Littlefoot gets his first glimpse of the Great Valley-- I wandered casually down the narrow stairway, and suddenly found myself in a vast wonderland or seating possibilities. The best part about it is that you don't actually have to order anything from starbucks in order to sit there. I tested it out today. I just walked straight past the counter and down the stairs, took my pick of squishy chairs, pulled someone else's empty mug closer to me as a decoy, took out Paradise Lost, and immediately fell asleep. Speaking of which, I think it's time for another nap.

sea birds where the fear once grew

Dear relatives,

I just got a letter from grandma, and inside of it were pictures of her and grandpa bob in their halloween costumes--a clown and a cowboy, respectively. It was pretty much the most glorious thing I have ever seen.

For the rest of you,

The trip to brighton was pretty awesome. It was freezing cold, and I mean painfully effing cold, but mostly I thought that was funny. We basically just wandered around and ate delicious things for 5 hours. My fish and chips were not served in newspaper, but I put extra vinegar on them to make up for it. I think the strangest thing about the beach in England is not the weather or the rocky shore, but the lack of palm trees. It looks really strange without them. The germans were cool as always. However, now that I have blown my cover and revealed that I can actually speak quite a lot of German, they don't feel as guilty about leaving me out of the conversation, and therefore don't bother to speak in english unless they are directly addressing me. This makes things interesting, but they talk too fast and I feel confused. Oh well, it's good practice for Berlin! I can't wait! It's going to be awesome.

*cough* Oh yeah, so I'm going to Brussels and Berlin with charlene in a few weeks, between the time when school ends and I come home to california. It's going to be a freezing waffle christmasy hipster muscles airplane extravaganza! If we can get our shit together and finish planning it, anyway. Meh, tomorrow. new pictures! duh.

<3 joanna newsom

--and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?

Yesterday for Thanksgiving Jessie and I cooked chicken, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. It tasted pretty good, and we were pretty proud of ourselves. Maybe a little too proud, given the suspicious coloring of the chicken. It was kind of fun to celebrate in our pathetic little way. Sometimes feeling far away from familiar things is scary and unpleasant, but this time it just felt like a novelty. It helps, also, to have Americans around at such times. Anyway, after we ate our frozen apple pie, we continued our traditional celebration by going around the corner to the Wellington (pub) with Tom and some friend of his from Leeds.

Right now I am trying my very hardest to work on my three papers which aren't due until January. Obviously it's a little hard to self-motivate, but I really don't want to have to work on them while I'm in California. I have been spending a lot of time in the library checking out books, but not very much time actually reading them. If only I could convince myself that the deadline was next week... I went to a new library today and had to get a membership card, horribly ugly picture and all. One hour later I lost the card. I am so awesome.

Tomorrow I'm going to Brighton and I'm so stoked! Jessie said that they serve fish and chips in folded up newspaper there! Basically that's like my dream come true. Like seriously, how cute. I've had chips in newspaper before, but not fish. Also Brighton is by the ocean, which is something I have not seen for a long time! I am basically really excited.

I don't think I've mentioned yet that I have become a bus person. Here are the reasons why the bus is way better than the tube:

1. 90p as opposed to 1.50
2. They're red
3. If you sit in the very front on the top level, it's kind of like Soaring Over California at CA adventure
4. There are interesting things to look at outside the window, as opposed to rats and darkness
5. The temperature does not increase by a thousand bajillion degrees (celsius) when you enter the bus
6. Because the temperature does not increase by a thousand bajillion degrees (celsius), you don't have to strip off 4 layers, only to put them back on five minutes later.
7. People don't act so stressed out and uptight and life-hating on buses.
8. You have to know what a place looks like in order to get off the bus there, therefore you feel very clever every time you manage to pull it off.
9. There are night buses that run after the tube is closed.
10. Sometimes you have to run to catch the bus. This is fun.
11. There are buttons that you get to push when it's your stop.

I could go on. Basically, I love bus. I love bus!

It's Christmas! Let's be glad!

(I can get away with saying that because I already celebrated Thanksgiving)




I know it looks like someone pasted my face on top of a postcard here, but this is a totally legit picture taken by whitfield the other day. Me in my natural habitat. If you're not already, you'd better get used to the vomit-yellow scarf; I've decided it's gonna become my trademark. Anyway, as you can see I am alive and well, and my neck is warm. Over and out.