5.26.2005 

ON TO PARIS AND BRUSSELS!!!

I've never been more freaking excited in my life!! Actually, now I'm seconding guessing whether or not I should be excited seeing as how when one expects things in life, one's bound to ended up disappointed.

But nevertheless, for the next week, I'll be away from Bath and off exploring two European capitals: first Paris, then Brussels. I had never really thought about going to Brussels, but seeing as how it's just as far as Paris[actually, it's even half an hour closer] and the Eurostar[the high speed train] goes there, it's easy to get there, so I thought why not.

So here's the plan:
1. Saturday: leaving from Bath to get to London[since I have a return ticket I need to use]; from London, taking a British Airways flight to Paris. I wanted to take the Eurostar, but it was too last minute and the prices on weekends are twice as much and ridiculous high. Staying in Paris for 4 days.
2. Wednesday: taking another high speed train[not Eurostar] to Brussels. Staying in Brussels for 3 days.
3. Saturday: leaving Brussels, taking the Eurostar back to London. Then taking the train from London back to Bath.

At first I thought a week might be too long since I know I get tired of sightseeing after a couple of days. But I know how I am now and I realize I have to do a couple essential things to avoid fatigue:
1. Eat properly!! Don't eat too much crap cuz it's so easy to eat badly and not think about it when I'm away from home. Especially fruit and water! I've learned my lesson about eating too many damn baguettes and sandwiches.
2. Don't walk for too long!! I realize that if I walk for more than an hour, which is easy to do when sightseeing, I get hella tired. So I've decided to rest every hour by stopping somewhere and possibly getting something to eat or drink.

As for Paris, of course I can't wait for the Tour Eiffel[especially at nite!!] and all the other cliched sites. As for Belgium, I've just been learning about what there is to see in Belgium from the internet and I can't wait for the chocolate and waflles!! I remember having Belgian waffles in the Bristol train station covered in chocolate and cinnamon and they were the best things I've ever tasted. So I can imagine what a REAL Belgian waffle tastes like!!

Goals are:
1. See the cheesy and cliched sites.
2. See sites that I would never have thought of.
3. Taking LOTS and LOTS of pictures.
4. Eating traditional food.
5. Using my French. [I've been practicing. I've figured that all I really need to know how to say is "May I...?" "Can I....?" "I would like...." and "I have a reservation..." So now I'm not as nervous anymore and Im actually gonna try and use the language since I have the opportunity. I've been practicing other words and phrases too.]
6. Hopefully meet some cool people in the hostels, especially people that are talkative and outgoing. Ill definitely invite some people out for a drink, cuz it really does loosen people up!!

HAVE FUN MARIE!! yay....

5.24.2005 

Nite Out

Went out last nite to a place called "Cadillacs." This is the same place that Moussa told me was frequented by transvestites and gays......I'm done listening to that fool. He's the same one that told me Babylon was a Goth club. Just because they have one night with a certain theme doesn't mean it's always like that, but poor him. He don't know no better.....

So anyway, last week Tuesday, I had gone to this nice looking underground club called Poo Na Na's because it was some pharmacy girl's birthday and Krupa invited me to go. It was the best night since I've been in Bath!! The music was REALLY good and I actually danced the whole night. Part of the night, I was dancing with some guy named Beki[short for Bekitimbe..YES, he's African...specifically Zimbabwe]. He was a nice guy and at the end of the night he had asked for my number. Seeing as how Im very free and liberal with my number in Bath based on the idea that I should hang out with as many people as possible, I gave it to him. Actually, I didn't know my mobile number at the time yet, so I told him Id take his number and call him instead. I called a few days later, and he was at some karate party on some boat on the river in Bath. Hadn't talked to him since then, but I was making a whole bunch of calls yesterday to people at home, so I decided to call him too. Turns out, he was going out for one of his flatmate's birthday[i.e. they were gonna get drunk..he said he wasn't going to because he had an early day the next day]. He was already on his way to the "Rat and Parrot" when I called him, but he said they were going to a club later, so I told him to call me then.

Sidenote: what is with the weird names of pubs in Bath? Rat and Parrot? Lamb and Lion? Delfter Krug? Slug and Lettuce??? whutever.

Met him at The Podium at about 11 and off to Cadillacs. It, too, was underground and fairly large, I must say. A good amount of people were there, but it wasn't packed to the brim. Got a drink, danced for two seconds, kept meeting all the people he knew, then went to sit down.

At this point, I heard one of his flatmates shouting out "36C." Another one said another size and I figured they were talking about bra sizes. I turned around, and it turns out the freaks were talking about me!! They were trying to guess my bra size!! How rude! Another one said "36DD".

He would turn out to be gay. So of course, he wouldnt know jack shit about cup sizes.

To my horror, I then said "No, 36B" which was met with "NOOOO" and looks of disbelief. Im guessing it was the top I was wearing. Couldnt believe I just told that to a bunch of strangers, but I think the drink was kicking in.

Went back to the dance floor, where the music took a horrific cheesy turn. THEY STARTED PLAYING THE THEME FROM BAYWATCH!! BAYWATCH!!!! I couldn't believe me ears. And sadly, I started singing along; Beki laughed and said he thought I didn't like this type of music. I said this type of music is fine and I know the songs, but I just never expect to hear it in clubs. He started singing along too. They then started playing the theme for the O.C., I sang along but then said 'hell no' and went back to sit down.

Spent the rest of the night talking to Beki and some other people. I asked him if he knew he had the name of a girl and he said of course, but that it's too late to try to change what people call him. I said I understood. He thought about having people calling him 'Becks' instead, a la David Beckham, but like he said, it was too late. Didn't dance much the rest of the nite, but at least I was out of my house and got one free drink out of it.[thanks, Becks!!] Im sure he's interested in me as more than a friend, but I aint having that. A la Karen[lol], unfortunately I don't think African men are my cup o' tea. Only about two have caught my eye so far really cuz I've noticed that they dress reaaly well, and one of them is like 5"3' with a lisp so nah. His name is T.J. and he's a cool guy though cuz he told me I danced well last week when we were at Poo Na Na's. lol.

Im going to Paris and Brussels this weekend!! WOOHOOO! Based on the short conversation I had with a man when I called the hostel, French people ARE rude.....

5.23.2005 

Life's little happenings

I realize I haven't really talked about what I've done recently so here's a quick recap, so I myself can remember, of course:

1. Sunday - Had a traditional English 'Sunday Lunch.' Since I wanted to see if this myth about how English people only boil their foods was true, I was looking forward to seeing what traditional English food is like. Ive been hearing about this for a while, and when my roommates heard that I hadn't had one yet, they said we simply must go out and eat. At first, my roommate Lydia had offered to cook instead since she's the Martha Stewart of the house and all, but that plan got scrapped and we went to some tavern instead. I must say it was delicious! Heart attack delicious but nevertheless good! You can pick your meat[lamb, chicken, or beef...we all went with lamb]; the lamb came with roast potatoes, carrots, cauliflowers, some other salad looking thingie and mashed sweet potatoes. They also had some mint paste sauce looking thing which everyone else seemed to love, but I wasn't too hot 'bout. Lydia and Claire consumed the bottle of wine which came free with the meal as we talked and I told them about the stereotype; they hastily replied "we don't boil everything!" Then Lydia explained to me where it might have come from...something about post-war depression and since water was free, that was the main way to cook stuff. Sounded plausible, myth dead. She came back at me with American jibes, saying we eat 'cake with every meal'; examples used: donuts and cornbread. I was like "Cornbread's not cake." "It looks and tastes like cake to me" said Lydia. "well, it's not cake...it's....Cornbread!" I retorted. After the meal, we went to SaYNsbury's where they got dessert: apple pie and custard. I always thought custard was something solid but that turned out to be wrong when they offered me a bowl of some yellow looking liquid with a lump in it...turned out to be the apple pie in the custard. Still it was good. Ahh, I feel so English now....

2. Friday - Went to the Bath International Music Festival with Mabu and some of her friends from her program, where I didn't hear a lick of music..so much for 'music festival.' When we got there, they immediately wanted to "go get some donuts." Are these magical donuts?? They must be because that line was soooo long, I was like OK. When they came back with the 'magical donuts', I realized that they were just plain sugar or cinnamon donuts, but I guess since they don't really eat them here all that often, it's a must have when you actually do get a chance to eat one. But Ive seen them in the grocery store! But whatever. Started walking around the stalls, eventually Me and Mabu got separated from her friends; both of us bought some earrings for 2 pounds. Theyre so purty! As we waited for the fireworks to come on, I noticed that many people were carrying around gigantic cans of beer...I mean at least three times the size of a regular beer can! They even use an international music festival as an occasion to drink! But Im done commenting on how much they drink. Fireworks start, tried to take some pictures, came out crappy, fireworks over, Mabu commented on how lame they were. We walked around for a little bit more then decided to leave.

CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO GO TO MY PICTURES.


Image hosted by Photobucket.comMe trying on hats.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Me and Mabu in the cold, cold night.

5.22.2005 

Eurovision: Crappy music at it's best

I must say that Europe does crappy music the best. No wonder people go to Europe[and I'm guessing Japan is the same say] when theyre trying to make it. These suckers listen to anything. Case in point, Eurovision, [official English site here] a show that pits ALL 800, 000 Europeans nations against each other in a 'singing contest.' [Seriously, why are there so many damn countries on this ONE continent??] Let's just say these people would NEVER make it in America, except a couple cuz of course they look hot and that's all that makes money nowadays anyway. Not to say there weren't some performances that weren't good, such as the first girl that was from Hungary and the singer from Israel who could give Mariah Carey a run for her money.

Apparently the show used to actually be credible[back in ABBA days and Celine Dion even won the contest in 1998], but now, Europeans make fun of it...actually make that ENGLAND makes fun of it. Apparently, people hold Eurovision parties; my roommate Shelly went to one last night. And a lot of the comments that were running on the screen from people sending in text messages were from some people at Eurovision parties. My roommates are thinking of having one next year too. They make a mockery of it basically beacuse England never gets any votes...ummm...because apparently no one likes them. And apparently no one likes any of the big Super countries either, as evidenced by the final four countries: Spain, UK, France, and Germany. All the other 50,000 countries vote for each other and will usually give votes to their neighbours.

The commentator was THE BEST. An Irishman named Terry Wogan had us in stitches. Ive never laughed so hard. He would make fun of the contestants and their songs and lyrics. His sarcasm is unparalleled, especially when he was commenting on the voting. For example, all the Scandinavian countries usually give each other LOTS of votes; like when Denmark was voting, he sarcastically said "...and 12 points goes to Norway! Big surprise there." He would also remark "apparently microphones are useless in this competition" when he was referring to how the female host would scream at the top of her lungs. But apparently everyone knows it's political and everyone knows exactly how the voting is gonna go. So I asked my roommates why anyone watches the show then. Apparently, the other European countries still take the contest, in its 50th year, seriously, but the big 4 just watch it for fun and to mock the contests. Like I said, they hold parties to do this!

The contestants: like I said, some were actually good, Hungary, Isreal, Denmark; but sadly, the bad outnumbered the good. Some highlights:
1. Norway was the worst, with some band that was trying to be like Rolling Stones/Aerosmith/The Darkness, but he just looked like a gay transvestite[if that makes any sense];
2. Moldova, with some Red Hot Chili Peppers wanna be's with lyrics such as "Grandma beat that drum, Grandma beat it hard" and whose performance only got worse when they ACTUALLY brought out this rotund old woman with a mallet banging away at a big ass drum like the song said;
3. The "refugess from a boy band" [according to Terry] from Latvia[I do give them kudos for signing the song at the end of their performance though];
4. The Serbian Justin Timberlake from the ONLY boy band of the competition from Serbia and Montenegro; I was like 'No child, Justin rocked that hairstyle two years ago'; they even had the cheesy boy band hand movements[a la Backstreet Boys] down;
5. the wanna be Celine Dion from Malta[she was singing to the tune of 'The Power of Love']; one text message even said 'Celine really let herself go.' referring to how....ahem....rotund she was.
6. and my FAVOURITE reject, the Cypriot Ricky Martin with his too tight and too small white shirt and tight black pants, and with his cane and odd looking pelvic thrusts.
7. TOO MANY MORE TO DESCRIBE!!

That's why as soon as he announced there was gonna be a DVD, I decided I must buy it. It is too cheese-tastic not to get some kind of token to remember it by.

The show also strangely contained a large amount of drums and canes; they were in every other performance. My roommates' friend Karen kept asking "what's with all the [expletive] drums??"

After all 1,000,000 countries turned in their votes, the winner was some girl from Greece singing some song about 'your my lover, undercover.' whutever. She was aight and she was close with the girl from Israel, who I really wanted to win, at first, but then she pulled away. Dunno how the hell that happened. The Fat Celine came in second.

5.21.2005 

WHAATT??

I want someone to tell me why the hell I woke up this morning at 5:40????????

I've never been so mad in my life!!!!

Why do I always wake up so early? Do I look some old woman that needs to wake up early to make breakfast, clean the house, and get her 8 kids ready for school? NO!! So I don't need all this extra time.

Plus, I was fooled by all the sunshine that was peering into my window. The days must be really long here or something cuz I see sun at 540 and I know it won't get dark till like 2045.

And the thing is that won't be able to fall back asleep until I eat something. So whenever I wake up early, I eat breakfast, then go back to bed. [I sure enough did fall back asleep and didn't get up till 1200.] That's why no one usually sees me eat breakfast. And why Im usually hungry again by like 1100. But why can't I be normal and sleep till at least 10?? FRUSTRATION!!

There must be some medical terminology to describe this and therefore some kind of drug to destroy this annoyance.

5.20.2005 

The Manual of Falconry

Walking home yesterday, I was passing by a vendor in Green Park Station where Sainsbury's is [pronounced saYNsbury's, not sanZbury's like I've been incorrectly doing]. A vendor was there selling a whole bunch of old-ass books and one in particular caught my eye.

The book was called "The Manual of Falconry." I laughed to myself and said what the frick. I picked up the book, priced at 6 pounds, and started reading the intro. It started talking about the revered sport of falconry in Britain and how difficult the sport can be if not done carefully. SPORT?? If you say so. I wanted to have a laughing fit but I was in public dammit. The table of contents had fascinating topics such as "Choosing a Hawk." I was thisclose to buying the book just for fun and as memoribilia, but I decided not to.

This whole situation was so funny because it reminded me of the Saturday Night Live skit called "The Falconer" in which Will Forte plays the Falconer, some weird guy who gets lost in the forest and always tries to send his trusty hawk to find help, but all the hawk ends up doing is drinking and partying in the city and then comes back to his master with no help whatsoever. I just can't believe this stuff really existed!

The Manual of Falconry. The picture of the man and his hawk in the front of the book was priceless. Damn I shoulda bought it.

5.19.2005 

YAYUH!

oh yeh, so apparently the "yeah" thing that comes after most sentences I hear here are not only part of the Indian Kenyan vernacular, but it's just a British thing in general. I keep hearing it more and more.

More commonly used words:
1. Hiya! [said very loudly and with much enthusiasm]
2. Sorry [they apologize for EVERYTHING]
3. Cheers [I wanna use this one when I get off the bus or something, but I don't have the guts to. I think they'll KNOW I'm a fake]
4. Brilliant [catch-all term for everything, kinda like the F-word]
5. Bollocks [but I already knew that one]
6. Alright? [their version of "How are you?" or "wassup"]

I know I've heard more, but can only think of these for now.

I also learned some Australian when I roomed with one in London.

"How are you going?" instead of "How's IT going?" I like our version better...a little more general...opens the floor up for many topics instead of just ME and how I'M going. lol

 

Fear

It sucks. It paralyzes. It discourages. And it's only in our imagination!! It's just so weird how the mind works, how it can make things seem real. I bet that most of the stuff that 'happens' in our life is only imagined. I know that's how I am. I bet half of the stuff that I think happened didn't even happen at all. I think this is how insecurities arise. They are fear based and are therefore aren't real. We think one thing about ourselves[what we're insecure about] but most of the times, that's not what's real and not what other people see.

I got this email today for an article in Pharmacy Times [yes, I subscribe to semi-professional literature.] The article describes how fear controls a lot of aspects of our lives. The one thing I can say I took away from this article is that it might be a good idea to define small things in your life as successes. For example, waking up and being able to walk to the bathroom. The way my back pains me sometimes, I am starting to appreciate walking more and more everyday, because I swear one day, I will be hunched over and barely able to move two feet.

This is not to say that it's not good to have high standards and set goals, like wanting to make a million dollars a year, but we might not consider ourselves failures as much if we change our definition of success. That is one of the biggest contributers to the generation of fear and changing our thinking might not let fear control us as much.

Im rambling. Im out.

5.17.2005 

Fruit shouldn't disappoint me

Nothing is going right.

1. First, my preceptor sucks. What's new? But maybe that'll be changing soon cuz yesterday I met with the lady that does hospital placements and there might be a possibility for me to start working. Secretly though, I was hoping it won't go thru, but we'll see.

2. Next, now I LOOOOVVVVE passionfruit-anything: juice, jam, whatever! But up until now, I've never had the actual fruit. I saw them in the grocery store the other day and was like "OOOOOOOHHHHH." I love it how the grocery store tells you how to know when fruit is ready for eating and sometimes how to eat them, helpful when you're unfamiliar with a particular food. Now I waited per instructions until the skin was kinda soft. Then I took a knife to the sucker.

This is where the trouble started.

First of all, it was sooo hard to cut open. I don't like to freakin wrestle with my fruit. As I finally cut it, a whole buncha juice starting leaking out the other side. WASTE! THEN when I finally got it completely open, there was barely any 'fruit' inside. It was delicious, mind you, but it took me whole of 10 seconds and only two scoops with my spoon and the damn fruit was done...OVER!!! What a ripoff. How could something I love so be so disappointing? I would have to eat about 5 of them to just get started. It takes me longer to eat 5 grapes than it took me to eat this thing.

I guess the lesson is that I need to buy 10 passion fruits at once, instead of two.

Also, my radio is playing in the background and all I can think is "I know Nelly didn't just sample Spandau Ballet." He's singing to the tune of "True." SHAME.

Jackson, out.

5.16.2005 

New site

I've started a separate blog to post my favorite pictures.

Notaphotographer

Ive always had an interest in pictures, but now I think I'm really starting to fall in love with photography. Not that I'm gonna be quitting my day job anytime soon to become a professional photographer and whatnot. I'm just overwhlemed and amazed sometimes by some pictures that I see. It sometimes amazes me what people can capture with a camera. It's probably something simple, but it'll take my breath away. Like the images at one site I bucked up on today, daily dose of imagery. Check it out.

 

Shuffle Game

While randomly checking out other blogs[that "Next Blog" button is ridiculously addictive], I saw one blog that had something called the Shuffle Game in it. I decided to try it too. Here goes the instructions:

1. Open up the music player on your computer. [go Winamp!]
2. Set it to play your entire music collection.[isn't it always like that?]
3. Hit the "shuffle" command.[again, always like that]
4. Tell us the title of the next ten songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing....

Now thanx to an extension I just DLed for Firefox called FoxyTunes, I can control my Winamp from the browser window. THE BEST THING EVER!! Now I don't have to be going back and forth to my player. Ahhh, Firefox....

Now, onto A-Marie's list:

1. Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz - Contract[ft. Jazze Phe]
2. Mike Jones - Back Then
3. Snoop Dogg - Let's Get Blown
4. Tenacious D - With Karate, Ill Kick your Ass ["I dont even believe this! My spine is pierced and Im totally into Satan! Oh really, no way! Oh my god!" HAHAHA]
5. Dane Cook - Head["My dick feels like corn." "Gimme the butter baby." HAHAHA]
6. Mario Winans - I don't wanna Know [ft. P. Diddy] [I actually hate when this song plays now]
7. Michael Jackson - The way you make me Feel
8. Hoobastank - The Reason
9. Olivia - Cloud 9 [ft. 50 Center] [Of course that THUG is in the goddamn song]
10. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Anointed One [I actually have never listened to this song..just DLed it one day cuz it has pharmacist in the title..lol..im a frickin geek]

I know it said 10 but I wanna keep going!

11. Reggae mix - Gal Pon de Side
12. Amerie - Outra[All I Have album]
13. Kelis - Milkshake
14.Sly and the Family Stone - Let me have it All [I have this song??]
15. Amerie - Not the Only One [my FAVOURITE song from her new album]
16. Mike Jones - Still Tippin [Mike Jones, twice??]
17. Alicia Keys - If I ain't got You
18. Dane Cook - Five Sisters ["Dude, I had to wear a tampon just to fit in."]
19. Reggae Mix - Big Things a Gwaan
20. Jay-Z -Lucifer [haven't heard this one in hot minute]

OK I think 20 is enough. Wow, I like my music list! Too bad no songs from my favourite new album didn't show up. That would be the Scissor Sisters album...9.99 pounds in HMV..yay! My favourite songs: "Filthy/Gorgeous" and "If Music is the Victim." My favourite lines from the second song: "I left my heart in San Francisco/It's in some mother fucking disco" & "them bitches sho was crunked up on it/But I said Id rather smoke some chronic." Too good.

5.14.2005 

Cigarettes are vitamins?

Yesterday, I saw the dumbest thing I think I've seen in a while. My flatmate Shelly's mother came to visit cuz apparently they have some therapy session or some shit to do today. Are the crazy? I dunno. So yeh, her mother comes in and immediately declares "I need a fag." She proceeds to go outside and smoke her cigarette, since you're not allowed to smoke in the apartment. Now I don't mean to, but I can't help but to ALWAYS laugh on the inside when I see smokers outside in the freezing cold puffing away. I seriously think if you told them they could only smoke in a ring of fire while a being beaten with a cricket bat that they would still do it. So she's puffing away outside[well semi-outside since she stayed half-in half-out], then comes back in and then immediately does what?

TAKES TWO PUFFS OF HER ASTHMA INHALER. Incorrectly, I might add. I wanted to scream and say "that's not how you use it!" But then again, no ones seems to ever use them right. So eff 'em. Good luck with the asthma. It's not like it's your breathing or anything!

Illogical? Yes, but people don't always do what's logical. Stupid? No shit, Shercock. Funny? Definitely yes, because I see chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder in her future[COPD for all the lay people]. And her daughter's a pharmacy student! But hey, I guess she can't really control what her mother does.

She's a nice lady though. She brought some Welsh food for Shelly, and I was offered to sample some ball with what looked like corn beef hash inside. 'Twas delish! She also brought some Welsh newspapers for Shelly to read. I proceeded to look at the papers and exclaimed "what the hell?" Shelly laughed and told her mother. Welsh...ahhh...same alphabet..TOTALLY DIFFERENT FOREIGN LANGUAGE. At first, I thought Welsh would be somewhat close to English. But it might as well be Russian! It made no sense whatsoever..most of the words didn't even seem to have vowels so I asked Shelly how to pronouce stuff....Im still clueless. That thing takes a special tongue. One headline read "3 millwn pounds" so I think to myself that all the W's are basically O's.

They were planning on going out later that night, but I thought I might call up Mabu and see what she's doing. She said she was trying to do work, but being the devil incarnate I am, I said don't do any work and come out for a drink. We agree to meet at RSVP at 10pm..excuse me 2200. Like this is the military and shit. Getting ready, I hear a knock on my window. Tis Moussa, who came to return my wireless card that I had loaned him. Since it was almost time for me to go out, I felt obligated to invite him out too, so I did. I told him a little about Mabu and he proceeded to ask if she knows this other Tanzanian girl. Ummmm, I dunno! And not all Tanzanian people know each other lol. "I thought all the black people would know one another" he jokes. Yehhhh OK. And seeing as how she says she never really goes out in Bath, I highly doubt it. Anyway, off to RSVP. We were a little early, so he bought me a drink. I will say the one thing I definitely like about going out with him is he'll always buy at least the first drink for me. Yes, im a user...sue me. Yeh and the music was wack. Apparently, the night I went there before was a Saturday, not Friday so I suggested we go to Babylon instead.

Mabu arrives and we all get a drink and sit down. I see some people that had worked in one of the pharmacies with me, and I went over to say hi. Now I dunno if it's because they were drunk or what, but they were acting like they didn't recognize me. Or I guess they didn't seem very enthusiastic to me, so I said Eff you and I let them be. Maybe im overreacting.

Off to Babylon, where it was sorta empty but I assured my companions it would definitely get packed. They immediately flashed me the 'whatever' look but I said trust me, it will. A shot of Sambuca[I saw the bottle now I know how to spell it!] and a smirnoff and lemonade in my hand, and I was off to the dance floor. The music was good except of course that annoying little thing where they played the song to the freakin end! Ya, can I have my songs sans those two seconds of silence in between? What is this? A CD?? Can I get some mixing? But whatever...since this is the best playlist Ive heard in Bath so far, I accept it.

We dance. We talk. I semi-vomit at the sites of all the couples kissing, including one that was THISCLOSE to my damn face. I do the 1,2 Step. We loudly sing all the words to "1 thing" by Amerie[we both love that song! and apparently it's a Go-go song, a type of music they listen to in Washington, D.C]. We get annoyed by people that can't dance in a confined space[make a square and stick to it, people!] The music takes a horrible "cheesy" turn ["cheesy" = old 80s type music...I think it can go even further back cuz they even started playing music from "Grease"]. We go to the underground 'grottos' to sit. Get annoyed by the smokers right next to us. Move to another part, when Mabu sees a girl she knows. They start talking and a friend of the girl starts talking to me. Interesting conversation. I pick up his bag of cheap cigarettes[they don't even have the decency to put them in a carton] and ask if the warning labels have any effect on him. He proceeds to tell me hell no and says that the labels actually make people smoke more. He then starts to tell me that he discovered one good reason for why people should smoke. I think "what the hell!!" and ask him to elaborate.

This is the gist: though it might be bad now, in about 200 or 300 years, the contents in cigarettes may actually become vitamins and therefore beneficial. WHAT?? He says it's some theory about genetic mutation, blie bluh blah . I laughand tell him I don't think benzene and tar would ever be beneficial and then Mabu says she's about to go. That girl never stays till the end of anything, but I didn't think the music was gonna get better again anyway, so I said I'd leave to. We'd lost Moussa earlier in the evening, but I sho nuff spotted him as I was leaving chatting up some girl named Stef who had introduced herself to us earlier in the evening when she was the only one of her friends dancing and she wanted to join us great dancers instead.

On the way home to dropping me off, he would tell me that him and the girl Stef had gone out to his car where they had kissed. I said "Whatever" accompanied by the W sign from 'Clueless.' "Of course we did. She wants me." I swear to Jehovah, this boy thinks everybody 'wants him,' but I don't think he means it like how I think. We go to Halal's House of Fried Chicken and I mooch some of his chips. End of night. Tomorrow, I'm going out for a traditional English breakfast with my roommates since I told them I haven't had it yet.

Few times I been around that track so it's not just gonna happen like that, cuz I aint no Hollaback girl.

5.11.2005 

My new favourite song....

....is "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani. It's so damn catchy!! [sighs] And then I saw Pharrell in the video. [shakes fist violently] DAMN YOU NEPTUNES!! Why must everything they make sound so good?? I actually prefer this Neptunes sound though. The classic sound heard in such recent garbage songs as "Signs" by Snoop is kinda old and I instantly recognize it. But when they do tracks for No Doubt and non-rap people, it sounds pretty unique. The video is also good. Those Harajuku[or however you spell it] girls are the most brilliant marketing tool I've ever seen. Four Asian girls dancing behind you?? Genius!! Plus they sure know how to dance.

Speaking of Gwen Stefani, when I got to England, I was all excited cuz I thought I would be hearing different music..get a chance to hear what British music is like. UMMMM, has that happened? eehhhh, not really.

This is because the most popular music here is TADA, American music! When I watch videos, who do I see? Gwen, Snoop, Usher, Ciara, Amerie...and DON'T even get me started on how much hey play The Game and 50 Cent. If I see "Hate it or Love it" one more time, someone's gonna die. By stabbing of course, since they don't have guns or automatic weapons here. This also extends to the radio, where most stations are some tattered version of Y-100.

I pondered why this is so and basically came to the conclusion that entertainment of most varieties are America's top export. This includes not only music, but movies. Nearly ALL of the movies that they show in theatres and on TV are American! I thought I would come here and see creative British movies[since I usually like them so well], but that's not so! I think a good British movie comes out once every year and a half. This also applies to things like magazines. Most British magazines are these cheesy, fake-ass US Weekly wannabe's that talk about David and Victoria Beckham EVERY MOTHER LOVING DAY.

I will say I want to get the album by the Scissor Sisters, though. Their songs are SO GOOD. Buuuuttt, the thing is, I heard about them even BEFORE I got here, so theyre not really that new to me either. But I like three of their songs already so I think I should risk it and buy the album. But of course, only if I see it for 10 pounds or less, otherwise, Ill wait till I get home. Where's Best Buy when you need him?

So yeh, wheat? What's that? Grain? Pisshhhaaw. America's main export is nothing VITAL to the survival of the human race. Actually, maybe movies and music are vital. Go America!! The British Soap Awards are on. Gotta go!

Jackson, out.

 

Do I look like I came here for lectures?!?!?

[Sigh] I'm REALLY tired of complaining, but...one more time. Now my preceptor suggested that I go to a lecture and a couple of workshops tomorrow. And I DO mean 'suggested' because he didn't demand that I go, which means I'm not going.

Do I look like I came here to sit in on lectures and workshops?? EFF NO!!! But the workshop sounds aight actually, cuz a girl who has to attend that same event told me it's a clinical pharmacy one. Unfortunately, I've been doing that type of stuff since I freaking got into pharmacy school. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to check out what the English do. My dilemma is that since I've already done clinical pharmacy in class, it's time for me to APPLY the shit. That's what I came here for, but that's not happening.

I wouldn't have such a problem with what's been going down here, except for the fact that my preceptor is a fucking[pardon my French] retard who seems to be planning everything at the last minnute. And I hate when I complain, cuz I think people think Im just being sour and not letting myself enjoy my time.

But I know myself. I don't like when there is no orgnization. I don't like when I have nothing to do!!! That's why I've quit most of the jobs I've have in my lifetime...I can't sit around twiddling my thumbs and 'looking busy.' Put me to work dammit!! That's why I would even do menial manual labor as a job because, guess what?? At least I'd be doing something!! DAMMIT!!!! Im so frustrated. And now I've been told that if I wanna go home early, I wouldn't be able to get reimbursed for this trip. That's the official version, but hopefully I can return home soon unofficially.

That's the work front. On the social front, had a lovely lunch yesterday with Mabu. I told her I would call her at 12 with my new mobile[yes, I said it] phone. I called at 12:05 and the girl was already gone. But apparently, her class had let out early and she was actually kinda waiting for my call. When she didn't hear from me, she left to go into town. But no biggie, I just rode back into town. Takes two seconds anyway. We went to a Thai restaurant where I had some bomb ass dumpings[I think I'm starting to like the Asian version of 'dumplings' better than the Caribbean one lol] and had some spicy main meal. Thai something or other. We talked about her trip to Holland, travel, languages, etc. Then yada yada yada, lunch was over. I bid her adieu and came back up to campus and spent the next three hours in the library on my laptop, cuz I haven't had proper internet time in a hot minute.

Today, I've done ummmm, nothing. Actually that's not true. I worked on my Curriculum Vitae because apparently, I need to email it to a person that could potentially get me a placement in a hospital. KEYWORD, POTENTIALLY!!!!!

I swear before God and man that if I am not doing anything next week more than sitting on my ass, I am SO out of here. Forget the reimbursement. Even though I've spent a whole buncha money already and put about $600 on my credit card, I would rather be at home. I can't take having nothing to do!

This would be a slightly different issue if I was at home when this sort of thing was happening. At least I'd be at MY house, with MY family, with MY friends within close distance[if you call Pembroke Pines and NORTEHRN Tamarac close], in a city that I KNOW and am very familiar with. But Im not. Im in another effing HEMISPHERE where I don't know that many people. Even though I'm getting to know a few, business takes precedence over pleasure. This thing has got me so stressed out, I haven't even been focusing on trying to visit other countries. Looks that might be even less of a possibility now that Im weighing whether or not to get a reimbursement.

HOLLA.

5.10.2005 

Things that made me say EW today

In this continuing, FASCINATING series, I have come across an intriguing blog. Intriguing because it's in another language, which means I have not a damn CLUE what they are saying on the website, but I believe pictures are worth a thousand words, so it's worth perusing. My favourites are the one of the woman digging her heels into the man's balls[scientific name: testicles]...in this case, I believe blue balls ARE possible; and the one of the black woman with the 'overgrown' private parts...weedwacker anyone?

ENJOY!

 

Ahhhh.....Londres

...that's French for London for you "I took Spanish in high school" people. I've been in London, actually, just away from Bath, since this past Monday. I originally came cuz my aunt was to take me to get my hair done on Tuesday. My hair hasn't fallen out yet, so I guess it was done well.

So I stayed with Sharon and her family since then, and decided to leave on Thursday so I could be in the center of the city. Man, finding a hostel for the weekend was a bitch! I guess that's the popular time. But after calling around for a while, I finally found one, the International Students House. Hmmm, sounds fine but Lord, please let my roommates speak English, I thought. Of course they will! Everyone speaks English everywhere.

Got to the hostel. Im in a four-bed room, aka two bunkbeds like we're 10 year olds. I noticed one bed was already taken but the owner wasn't there. I had some urgent biznazz to care of, including faxing my petition form to the office at my school so that I can get this thing shortened to two months, BUT still get reimbursed, so I went a-searching to find someplace that'll fax. As I was leaving, one girl was coming into the room. Another one of my roommates, I guess. Missing my car, I started walking and I started to become tempted by the stores. I resisted and seeing as how everywhere I stopped in wanted to charge me an arm and a leg just to send a stupid page, I decided to fax it back at my hostel instead. I stopped in one shop that was selling discount tickets for the theater. I saw the Lion King poster and decided that I should at least see ONE show. So I decided to buy a ticket. 33 pounds...not too bad, thought I was getting a discount, but ill later find out I was wrong.

Got back, sent my fax, went back to my room to find a Caucasian young lady with a head full of braids. Tourist at Dunn's River Falls, anyone?? Her name's Ashley and she's from Canada eh, Newfoundland specifically. She's very nice! We talked for a bit and then I had to go to the show. She asked what I was doing later, and I said hopefully, using the drink voucher I got when I moved in, i.e. Id be in the bar. She said cool, that's what she wanted to do too, so I told her Id see her after my show.

I've come to realize I ALWAYS underestimate how much time it'll take me to do something, so I decided I was definitely gonna leave the house early. But OF COURSE, I was almost late to the damn show. I don't even know how. Oh yeh, I got kinda lost! But still, I broke out my effective method for finding where I'm going: ask people!! Eff maps.... So I was eventually pointed in the direction of the theater district and eventually, I bucked up on the Lyceum theater. Got to my seat, where I noticed flashbulbs going off even though the man blaring on the speakers specifically said photography is prohibited. Damn people don't listen! Which would include me, cuz of course, I broke out my camera too and tried to take a picture of the stage. It didn't come out right. "Try it without the flash," I heard someone say. Good idea-r! Took another one, with this one being only semi-wack. This suggestion came from the Asian young man named Yoon sitting to my right who would become my roll dog for this Lion King experience!

First act: was good, almost fell asleep a couple of times; Yoon DID fall asleep, and I woke him up one time and told him not to waste his money, but I let him sleep the other times. I think it was because seeing as how I've seen the movie umpteen times, I knew all the damn songs and the story up, down, backwards and forwards.

Intermission: me and Yoon really got to talking: Originally from South Korea, moved to Winnipeg[was the ONLY Asian in his school, he claims....I joked and told him there's always at least one other minority], now lives in Toronto[two Canadians in one day??], studied civil engineering [he said engineering and science is full of Asians...he said it, I didn't lol], this trip is a graduation present from his parents, he was going to Spain on Saturday, he's staying in the hostel I originally wanted to stay in["Oh my god, it's so nice." he says. Thanks for rubbing it in my face], the Asian equivalent for 'Oreo' is 'Banana,' yellow on the outside, white on the inside[when he told me that, I laughed so hard, and he said he was surprised I've never heard that before], he was going to see Phantom of the Opera the next night[he likes musicals a lot, but I don't think there are any gay Asians so there ya go], plus much more! He was talkative but not TOO talkative, ya know? The conversation just flowed and he helped me find my program that I paid three pounds for and thought I lost. So he's cool.

Second act: MUUUCHH better! Evidenced by the fact that we both stayed awake the whole time. This act including songs I hadn't heard before and stories that weren't really in the movie so I appreciated it much more. The costumes in the show were fantastic! The set decorations were spectacular. Overall, excellent show!

As we were leaving, we found out we were both headed in the same direction, so we walked together to the trains. We'd come to find out we had a lot of things in common! We laughed when talked about how we still referred to everything as 'dollars' instead of pounds; how the streets were short as hell, how they put the street names ONLY at the damn beginnings and ends of the streets rather than at every intersection like back in the US and Canada, and how nobody knew directions, just landmarks; the suckiness of converting the prices in your head[Canada is 2.5 to 1, so even worse than the US], etc.

I was so glad to have met him! He even said it before I did when he said that he could've just come to the show and not necessarily feel too alone, but good luck would have it that we would sit next to each other and talk so well. He was getting off at the second stop on the train, me the fourth, so he broke out his dying camera and snapped two pictures of us. I quickly wrote down my email address and bid him adieu. Looking back on it now, I should've suggested we hang out the next night after his show, but I wasn't thinking at the time. It would've at least guaranteed something to do on Friday night.

I came back to the hostel and woke up my Australian roommate. Ashley wasn't in the room so I decided to go to the bar to see if she might be there, which, lo and behold, she was, slightly drunk. I won't talk about this part much, but let's just say I had three drinks[actually six, cuz they were all "doubles"], talked with a bunch of Canadians, including one who said "Eh" a lot, tried to read some screenplay by some Goth kid, laughed hard as hell when Ashley said she thought "prawns" was the British word for hoofs[HAHAHAHA, im still laughing..who eats hoofs???], cheered on the Canadians as they did karaoke to the Bloodhound Gang, and walked in the bathroom as I was headed back to my room and had the lovely vision of a white girl's bare, soapy ass burned into my corneas forever more. I was tired as hell by the time the second day had come. Sightseeing and being a tourist is a mother. So for all those people out there who have ever been on some kind of vacation/extended outing with me and I've gotten cranky, I sincerely apologise. But overall, it was a fun experience! I didn't expect to find it so easy to be by myself and was glad to have met those people, especally Yoon.

The end.

5.06.2005 

I'm not dead

Maaaannn it's been a long time since I've posted! But that's cuz I haven't had any real internet connection since last week and right now I'm in a hostel in London using up my pennies by the second to post this!

But since I felt like by me not posting, the world would think I was dead[not that anybody cares lol], I just wanted to put up this little note. But since Ill be up at the University this coming week, Ill get a chance to post my stories about my likkle adventure...

...including my unfortunate view of the ass of a Caucasian female who was wandering out of the shower in the hostel like she had no shame. First time I've ever seen a white girl's butt....at least in real life, that is. UMMMM, actually, that's pretty much the extent of that story, but more to come.

Joe E. Crack