Journey into the unknown

As a natural-born citizen of Rhythmania[more affectionately known as "Rhythm Nation"], I have never been so hurt and offended by another human being's blatant disrespect for my country's creed: one should at least have an OUNCE of rhythm. I'll get to that in a minute....

So yesterday, due to some mix-up with time and factor in the little issue that I don't have a mobile, I didn't get to practice with the group, even though it's the day before the show. Seriously, what did people do before cell phones? Arranged everything beforehand?? HA HA What garbage! I like finding things out at the last minute...everything feels more urgent that way. I was supposed to meet Shelly to go out at 8:30 and I told Krupa and Mabu, who I saw on the street, that if I went to practice I wouldn't be able to make it and I really wanted to go out. Plus, it wasn't my fault that I would be missing practice so they can't really be mad at me.
Over to "my flat" at 8:30, we said goodbye to Margot, who wasn't gonna come with us since she had to leave for her plane to Ireland this morning at 6:30. Their goodbye for their roommate who was gonna be leaving for four months didn't seem too sentimental to me...I was like "geez." No heartfelt goodbye or nothing. Over to another flat of another pharmacy student. She introduced her two friends who were visiting from Wales. All I remember one of them saying was I can call the other one "Smelly." OKKKKKK...

Sitting, chilling and drinking for a bit[2 glasses of citron vodka and diet lemonade sho nuff did the trick..I was HELLA relaxed], I come to find out that, out of the 8 people in the room, NOT A DAMN ONE was from the actual country of England: 5 from Wales, 1 from Ireland, 1 from Jersey[which is apparently NOT England; Taiwan/China anyone?], and then moi from the frickin other side of the world. But I've come to expect this...there are ALWAYS Welsh and Irish people around. I don't think they like to stay in the own country. Plus I don't think it happens the other way around..I doubt you find many English emigrating to those countries. I dont think they look upon them that well lol.

This reminds me of what an Englishman said to me yesterday at work when I told him I wanted to visit Wales: "Don't go to Wales...it's full of Welsh people." lol He was joking but still, that's messed up.

I started talking mainly to "Smelly." She and her friend are in dentistry school at the Uni of Cardiff. cooool. I found out we were first going to Weatherspoons, a huge chain of pubs, then on to Babylon. We left and as I was walking between two Welsh people, they started talking about Wales, which sounded just like how I imagined it from what I've seen in pictures. I kept saying how nice it sounded and one of my future roommates[I totally forgot her name...eek] said she was going to Cardiff next Wednesday and said I could come with her if I want because I told her I have next week off. I said I would LOVE to go, even though Cardiff isn't really "Wales, Wales" but she said once her father hears I wanna see real Wales, he would definitely volunteer to show me around. So hopefully she was serious about that. But that means I would only go to London for the day so I can get my hair done and come back in time.

On to Weatherspoons, where they serve...COCKTAILS!!! YAY!!! I got a "Jamaican..." something or other...basically Appleton Rum with OJ and some other stuff. REALLY GOOD. I kept hearing them talking about how Shelly "pulled" this and that guy last week, last month, whatever..."pulled" meaning "kissed." I found out the Welsh girls would be going to Thailand this summer. I told them theyre probably gonna basically be Thai millionaires when they go there cuz Im sure the exchange rate is crap, and since it's a Third World country, everything should be mad cheap. They laugh. Shelly also mentioned about how Margot was "useless, stupid, and selfish." lol I dunno if it was the alcohol, but I dont think she REALLY meant all that.

On to Babylon, where there were WAAAYYY more people than last time. My future roommate Claire [I remember this one's name!] bought me a Malibu and coke, which she said is her favorite drink too. Smelly told me she loved to dance...and she wasn't lying. When we got to the dancefloor, I realized after a while, it was just me and her dancing our asses off. It was fun!! She was off the chain and I have to give her mad props cuz she was sho nuff doing the "1,2 Step" when that song came on. She also kept informing me when a British band would come on cuz I told her I don't know any music from here.

The night goes on...and I keep seeing this Hannah girl doing what she deemed "dancing." She became more and more drunk. At one point she fell flat on her ass, one of her shoes flying in my direction. I was obligated to pick it up or I would look like a total jerk.

I just REALLY wish I could write in words what this girl was doing!! I'm sure the look on my face signaled a combination of disgust and utter confusion. I was perplexed as to where the hell this girl came from. If you read this, and you'll see me personally in the future, PLEASE ASK ME TO DEMONSTRATE HER DANCING. I really want to do it for people that would appreciate the funny nature of the situation. As she got more drunk, she would start doing this move in an effing CIRCLE and start bumping into people...I started to think she was that damn ball in a pinball machine as she bounced from person to person.

After a while, I realized I was stuck with her and drunk Shelly and I started looking around for my new friends. I actually wished the two visiting girls were gonna be my roommates! They were so cool and I actually spent most the night talking to them. They bought some shot for me that smelled like licorice and tasted like bad cough medicine. They kept saying the name to me as I asked what it was, but dammit if I haven't forgotten it by now. Hopefully I see them again before they leave Monday.

Since this post is waaayyy too long time, I'm gonna stop. Moving in a couple of hours, show tonite, party afterwards. Is there a place in heaven for people that drink two nights in a row? Probably not, so not too much to drink tonite...definitely not. But after last nite, I think I need to be around some minorities.

Holla crack.

ps NOW that biatch Ares actually wants to work for me!! So I sure nuff downloaded a whole buncha stuff, including Amerie's new songs. She has some good ones on there like "Touch"[damn you Lil Jon!!!] and "Not the Only One" and the characteristic Amerie slow jams, which are reminiscent of the old album. Not as good as before, but sufficient. And she didn't become THAT whorish with her second album, so I might still buy it to support her. next up, JASON MRAZ, whom I'm TOTALLY in love with now. Ahhhh..he's such a damn good singer!! It makes my head hurt.....

yeeeehhh, so since I'm mad tired of listening to the same 400 songs and desperately need to download Amerie's new songs and since WinMX now BLOWS and/or chooses not to work for me anymore...

CAN ANYONE OUT THERE RECOMMEND A GOOD FILE-SHARING PROGRAM???

I've heard a few, including Ares, which was suggested to me previously and even just today. That didn't work for me...the biatch never connected...

so do it...tell me what I can use to get my music illegally..I mean free. you know you're all doing it...

skeet, skeet, skeet. out.

That's how tired I am...I couldn't even think of a damn title. One more day of work! Im beat man..work blows...lol. I think I want a PART-TIME job lol. Four days on, off three. That's how it should be anyway!!

Dance practice again today...actually got my heart rate up. Thank the Lord cuz I don't think I've had a good 20 minutes of 'moderate' excercise in about...hmmm, a month?? The thought of which sickens me to my stomach. It's going well, except we just need to get spacing and stuff down and some timing is still off. All in all though, i'm proud of our little number!! We keep seeing the other people rehearse too and apparently, the show's supposed to be off the chain.

Can't believe I just typed those words.

Turns out, Mabu is a fricking worldwide traveller!! Her mother lives in Maryland, her father lives in Holland, where she's going next week. She's been to China...TWICE...I don't think most people have been there once! She's cool though. She also volunteered to help me move this weekend. I told her Moussa woulda be helping me instead, cuz he actually has a car, but I thanked her for her generosity. BUUUUTT, apparently that's not gonna be happening either cuz as I was coming home from my local Publix..uhhh Sainsbury's, I saw the girl Shelly, who lives with Margaret. She said she was coming to see when I wanted to have her help me move on Saturday. What?? Turns out she has a car and she figured she was gonna be helping me. How nice! She also invited me to go out with them tomorrow. Half eight I gotta be at their place.

Who the hell goes out so early? But I guess they like to start their drinking early. Crap!! I just realized....better brace myself for the cigarette smoke.

Then this weekend is the after party for the ACS show...sounds like it's gonna a good, fun weekend! Im definitely looking forward to it all.

Damn these posts have been so effing boring lately. I gotta go back to my 'witty' observations of English life...starting tomorrow!!

"Things that made me say "EW" today": Thanks to Satan[I'm not joking...apparently, God was right...he does exist!], I now have a permanent slideshow playing in my head of pictures of what can happen when disease go out of control!

I told people they can get gonorrhea in their eye. Now they should believe me that anything's possible...

So apparently, NO ONE ELSE can see the "characters" that I'm referring to on my page.

So then I must be going crazy because I see them like every sentence. I swear I keep seeing the sign for the damn Euro over and over again when I open up my Blog in BOTH Explorer and Firefox.

Maybe my blog is secretly trying to tell me I should be in a country that uses the Euro instead...

Go to Ireland? hmmm.....nah, I heard it's even more expensive than London! Thanx, Paul.....

PLEASE LEAVE ME A NOTE TELLING ME WHETHER OR NOT YOU CAN SEE THE CHARACTERS TOO!!

I'd also like to start something new today. It's called "Things that made me say "EW" today." First up, Tom Cruise and JOEY????? Hooking up??? All I have to say was WHAT THE EFF? Where did that come from??

So my head is spinning right now and that's because my classmates is going home like almost a month early!! But I'll get to that.

Today began my third day of working at Lifestyle pharmacy and involved the longest conversation I've had with the guy who works there, Paul. He has some shifty eyes, my friend: he'll look at you for a second, then look away, then look at you, then away. Make up your mind! Lol Im kidding. He was a really nice guy. He actually came in to work like AN HOUR late today and during talking, he would tell me that he had massive amounts to drink last nite….aaannnnd he would tell me he's Irish. Now, I've always heard the stereotype that the Irish like to drink, and of course, all stereotypes of have grain of truth. And he definitely was the stereotypical Irish. He kept going on about how much he liked to drink; he told me he had some friend that was going to Cali for a year that he might eventually visit, and on that trip he hoped to get "completely wasted;" and I believed I heard him mentioning something about giving "two drinks" to any girl to entice her….as long as she was over 16, of course. So I basically made fun of him all day telling him it sounds like everything he does involves alcohol and I wouldn't be surprised if he had some at work, to which he replied "hey it’s all I know...it’s how I grew up." He's from some small coastal town in Ireland, where he says it rains on MOST days and has THE worst weather in the world and that I should be happy I'm in England instead. Thanks.

So yeh, on to school/work related matters…yesterday, 'arrogant' Mike comes into the pharmacy and told me he’s going home next week Tuesday. NEXT WEEK!! I was like "WHAT???" Turns out he and our preceptor had a little conversation the week before and he was basically told that our preceptor basically has "nothing else for him to do." He was told to think about what he wanted to do over the weekend and he chose to go home early. Now….how is this supposed to make me feel?? Im already having doubts about whether this man might have any work for me for when I come back from London next week…and now, I'm SERIOUSLY in doubt. And, at that moment, I decided that I dunno if I wanna wait around to find out.

This trip to Europe was supposed to for business/pleasure with the business of getting to work and learning skills and information that would help me develop into a competent pharmacist being the most important thing. When that is NOT happening, the pleasure of being here cannot FULLY happen. If I'm not here accomplishing my primary goal, then the pleasure side if gonna suffer. I can't stay here and have my precious time wasted, in addition to having my precious MONEY being wasted. I would rather be home. This is the time when I'm supposed to making a decision about what I want to do with my life and because this trip isn't seeming to help me with that anymore, I'm frustrated.

I really had high hopes for this trip. There really aren't THAT many differences in the roles of pharmacists and the requirements of pharmacy students between home and here in England, I've come to discover, so this trip could've been VERY useful...IF I was being put to any use. So later on yesterday, after taking a ridiculously long nap, I wrote my teacher the longest email of my life…shit took me like an hour. I basically outlined for him all that I've done and essentially asked if I could come home a month early, and hopefully rework my schedule a little.

I basically told him I would do ANYTHING as long as I could come home early…if I was a ho, I would've offered sex…in the email no less. That's the 21st century for you…

I got a reply today saying he doesn't see why that wouldn't be possible and that he just has to talk to another teacher…so cross my fingers!! I then thought about how I was gonna email the next guy who's supposed to come in September and basically tell him DON'T COME…and it turns out, Mike had the same feeling. He came back into the pharmacy today and told me he was gonna do the same thing, especially since he knows the guys. GOOD.

Im definitely gonna try and have fun for the rest of the time I'm here tho.

Moses had invited my to watch another football game tonite…apparently it's THE big one. Chelsea vs. Liverpool. I said hell no. Lol. I told him NO MORE FOOTBALL cuz 1) it's boring and 2) he's not paying attention to me 85% of the time. I told him we could have a drink afterwards at RSVP or something and he said he'd call. But I went to bed to take a nap and I just woke up like 30 minutes ago…it's 2am now. So either, he didn't call or I didn't hear the damn phone ring. Tomorrow, it's serious practice for the dance, which is this Saturday. This weekend..moving tiiimmmee!

Long enough…holla!

Nuff said.

Actually, not really...I dunno what the hell happened, but all of a sudden, there are all these WEIRD characters on my page. It blows! And I have no idea how to fix it. Another day....

Sod it.

Yesterday involved more 'dance' practice at 6. The show's in one week so we've gotta 'get it down.' I was the first to arrive[as freakin usual] and I met yet another Indian girl…this is in addition to the 4 I've met already. Turns out theyre all in pharmacy school here! My dance partner, D, said she told me that already but she don't know me well enough yet to know that my short-term memory is all effed up. I chill for a bit, then Mabu shows up; I asked how her weekend in London went, she said great.

We decide to start practicing even though the Nigerian hadn't shown up yet. It's going well, although it seems the people in the back row got a little more of the 'coordination juice' when God was serving it up. No biggie. We decided to go row by row and critique the other row. In the end, everybody was a little more synchronized and next practice Monday.

An Indian fellow[I'm assuming he too is in that narrow minority of 'Indian Kenyans'] had dropped by and he watched us rehearse. At the end of rehearsal, as they all talked, I noticed something….they used the word "YEAH" a lot…basically, after every fourth sentence. I had noticed before that Krupa, the girl I first talked to about this dance thing, said it too, but it wasn't until they were all in a group that I fully noticed. "Is that stuff about the number pi true, YEAH?" "So when you do like this, YEAH,…." It was pretty funny.

I wondered if Lil Jon had noticed this characteristic too and decided to use it for himself!! I mean, after all, there are no original ideas anymore, are there? And hip-hop is known for sampling. Lil Jon stole from the 'Indians' too. Damn Americans!

Earlier in the day wasn't as hot. The pin of loneliness pricked me….and it hurt. I really miss my family and my home and my friends and the weather. It all climaxed as I was sitting in a pub called the "Assembly Inn" where Moussa and a bunch of other people were watching a football game. I really didn't feel like being there. Plus I'm reallllly tired of all the cigarette smoking. These two men in front of must have smoked about 15 cancer sticks between them! AND they were drinking beer after beer!! Are they nuts?!?!?! Whatever…

We left and I wasn't talking much. I wasn't feeling too hot. Got some Chinese food at the Podium. Bid Moussa goodbye. He asked if I wanted to go out that night, I said nah. Plus going out in the rain/cold weather and being subjected to pub smoke wasn't really helping my cold too much, so I said Id rather stay in and not get any sicker.

Bye.

Cough...cough...sneeze...cough...blow...retch...cough...
swallow...ew...blow...draw up nose...cough...

Mommy! I'm sick. Bring me some Vit-amin C, woman!

I've never coughed up, spat out or blown out so much junk out of my body in entire my life, EVER. And it doesn't seem to stop coming. The mucus/phlegm/miscellaneous junk production factory in my body has been working harder than Asian children in a Nike factory. It's annoying and has been non-stop since Sunday. This is the one time I can pinpoint exactly when I got sick: while standing outside Victoria station and freezing my balls off, even though I have none. [checks to make sure]

All week when working at Boots, Ive had to leave every hour for the bathroom so I could blow out whatever 'bodily secretions' had accumulated in my airways. I didn't wanna do it anymore, so I called in "sick" today. If I was getting paid, OF COURSE, I wouldve gone in, but seeing as how Im a 10th hand, they don't need me. So I put on my best 'craggly' phone voice, and it seemed to work. The girl who picked up the phone said I sounded terrible and so did the pharmacist, Chris.

It's a shame though, cuz it wouldve been my last day and Chris was very nice and I wanted to say a proper goodbye. But she wished me luck and hoped I had a good time during the rest of my stay. This is the woman who told me the story of how excited she was when she had pizza for the first time 20 years ago in America. She was a really good pharmacist.

cough cough, im out.

What kinda name is that for a pharmacy? Oh well, anyway, that's where I'm 'working' at the moment.

Started on Mon., where a lovely girl by the name of Reena, showed me the ropes. She's done with pharmacy school and just waiting to take her test.

Worked with a 'locum' i.e. fill in pharmacist from [gasp] Afghanistan!!! OUTRAGE!! jk..he made a bigger deal of it than I did. When I asked where he was from, he replied "Promise you won't shoot me?" thinking that, as an American, I would be shocked and would immediately want him annihilated. I told him I could care less. But what is going on?? He's the second...make that fourth person I've talked to who thinks that ALL Americans basically sleep with guns under their pillows. I met a bunch of guys on the train last week when they sat down next to me, and they told me they're gonna go to America and buy guns. Apparently, you gotta give an arm, a leg, and a first-born baby to get a gun here...which is why I've noticed that anytime a murder is committed here, it's usually due to someone being stabbed, bludgeoned with a hammer, or the like.

Personally, I'd rather be shot. Go America!

The way the pharmacy is operated is TOTALLY different. For instance, they tell people they'll have stuff ready in 5 minutes. I tell the people who work there that Eckerd back home is immediately ONE HOUR. They freak out. But we also do more checking than they do. I really wanna know how many prescription errors have been made cuz with the way they run things, I wouldn't trust that I was getting the right drugs from Boots.

Oh, went to that Babylon club on Tuesday. The music was GOOD, but again, not a lot of people. During the night, I would be 1. accosted[my new favorite word] by a weird guy who poked me in the stomach and tried to dip me. It would turn out that he was mentally retarded...or so I gathered and so did Ranya when she gave me the international sign for 'crazy.' 2. accosted by some drunk, white young lady who announced it was her birthday, told me to smile[I wish people would stop telling me that!!!], informed me she was Nigerian[whaatttt??] and AGAIN poked me in the stomach. Also met one of Alicia's friend's who seemed to become offended when I told him I didn't know much about some controversy going on in his home country, Zimbabwe. "Ummm, I don't watch the news." I was drinking too but didn't get a buzz. DARN! Is my tolerance that high??

Also, been practicing for the upcoming African-Caribbean Society dance. The girl I meet at the campus library is an Indian Kenyan...what?? But seriously, she's from Nairobi. I dunno how the hell that happened, but oh well. Her other friend, my ' dance pahtnah,' is the same but then we meet up with another girl who has a sort of American accent. Turns out, her mom is from Tanzania[more Africa!], she was born in DC, moved back and forth between England and US, has been to Senegal[which she described as 'ssoooo much fun'..maybe Moussa was right about his homeland] and will be moving to Montreal for a year coming up. Ummm, I think she likes to travel.

Kept meeting more people who were doing other dances too. One girl found out I was from Jamaica and asked me if I know any soca moves she can use. "Uhhh, there are no moves. All you do is wine and gyrate." We'll see if she takes my suggestion.

On my way home from work today, was accosted by a young man who wanted to 'preach the gospel to me' as he so delicately put it. Get outta my face, ye Christian!! I told him I was in a hurry, but of course, they don't LISTEN, so he basically followed my home. During this loooonnngg 5 minutes, he tells me blah blah blah and I say 'good luck with your religion."

What I really wanted to say was "Did you know that you guys are just one big cult?" lol Seriously, I always wonder how the heck Christianity became so widespread. I mean, if somebody was to tell that kind of story today, people would immediately dismiss them as a cult.

C'est ca.

FINALLY!! Made my way to el capitale of London, Hengland. Im gonna write this one in points since, due to ‘engineering problems,’ Bitch Blogger erased my LONG post that I spent a whole bunch of time on!!! Im mad, but anyway…..

1. Sometime last week…came across the return train ticket I bought when I first got here and, realizing it expired in a week, remarked “SHIT” and called Sharon up to see if I could stay with her. She said “SURE! Anytime.” Tru. Off to London!!

2. Left on Friday afternoon. Was supposed to go to Gatwick Airport but genius me decides to get a hot chocolate 5 minutes before my connecting train was supposed to leave. Thanks to French incompetence, which led to my large cup not being filled up completely, I had to go back to the stand and request that he fill up my damn cup. And seeing as how to British love to form damn lines, or queues, for no reason, I had to wait. Can’t make America look bad by bypassing them all, now can I?? Got back to the platform just in time to see my DAMN train going off into the fog. Deciding I didn’t wanna wait another DAMN hour, I bought a ticket to Paddington instead and freaking got to London in like 2 seconds!! Forget Gatwick.

3. Got on the London Underground to transfer to Victoria station, where Sharon was the meet me. BUCKED UP ON RUSH HOUR. GREAT!! Hundreds of people whizzing by me at 100mph. So many people, so overwhelming!! Well not really overwhelming, but I feel sorry for anybody that wouldn’t be able to understand how to figure out the system. LOTS OF PEOPLE. “This would be an excellent terrorist target,” I thought. Seriously, I hope they are protecting that place with all their resources because lots of people could go in an instant. Sorry to be so morbid.

4. Noticed that everybody had either 1. an ipod mini or 2. some other type of mp3 player…I mean, SERIOUSLY, ive never seen so many people with earphones on. Made me jealous...now I want one…lol.

5. Got to Victoria, where I would have to wait an hour for Sharon to get there. Never been so cold in my damn life. Think Im catching pneumonia as we speak. I got freaked out and thought I was in the wrong place and she couldn’t find me, but it would turn out she just lives hella far from the center of London, even though she still technically lives in London.

6. She and her daughter, Shereen arrive. We would make another couple of connections just to get to where she lives, in Essex.

7. Her house looked really nice, very modern unlike most of the 100 year old interiors Ive been seeing since I got here. Turns out she redid the whole inside of the house. We watched Eastenders…..I didn’t recognize any of the characters. I asked about people like Dan and Mel and Shereen laughed at me and said those characters were like 4 years ago! My bad….I guess 4 year old episodes is the best the PBS in Ft. Lauderdale can do.

8. Saturday, they went with me to go do some sightseeing. But first, we met up with my aunt and her son, Darmaine. This boy was so quiet, shy and reserved, it kinda bordered on annoying. lol. Turns out he’s 17, but he don’t look a day over 15. Shereen was quiet too but it was cool. She actually reminded me of my old roommate Christie: dark skin tone, skinny, long hair, didn’t look you in the eye too much when they talk to you..lol.

9. Took the underground. At this point, we were LITERALLY underground…when we had to leave the station, we had to go up three stories just to get out!! I did notice that we went kinda deep when we first got on. At this point, Im seriously worried about a terrorist attack in that piece. There’d be no way to get out!! I thought…

10. Got off at a stop right in front of Big Ben and the House of Parliament. Yay!! Nobody else was as excited as I was, so I truly felt like a damn tourist. Saw the London eye. Looked closely and realized it’s actually turning. Went to Buckingham palace, etc.

11. I kept feeling like a fool cuz I was the only one taking pictures. I was grateful they were there, but I don’t think I got to absorb it as much as if I was by myself. At this point, I say to myself that although I sometimes say it might be nice to have someone on the trip with me, I realize that sometimes I think people get in my way and I don’t really do what I wanna do lol..or I mean, I just don’t think I focus as much, because Im worried that I might be keeping them or boring them and such. So therefore, Id much rather do it alone.

12. Was very worn out by the time the day was done. Evidenced by the fact that I never quite recovered when we made it back home and I was in bed by 9:30 and didn’t get up till 11 the next day.

13. Sharon cooked dinner for me and even gave me some to take. Reminds me of my mommy!! She shares a lot of similarities with my mother, I would realize, so no wonder I like her so much.

14. Ill be back in London in two weeks, and Sharon said I could stay with her, but I wanna stay in the heart of the city. It gets annoying after a while when you have to take a long ass journey just go to do touristy stuff everyday. Same thing happened when I stayed with my aunt in damn Queens when I went to NY. Bad idea. Ill still stay with her a couple of days though, just to not seem ungrateful, but hopefully a hostel the rest of the time.

Anyway, I believed Ive been tricked into doing some dance for the African-Caribbean society here. lol. Actually, I don’t mind, cuz I wanna get involved, especially since I NEVER get to go up to the campus since I really have no reason to. I think this girl Alicia, who’s from St. Lucia didn’t wanna do it so she asked me. But on the bright side, Im going out with her and the girl down the hall from me, Ranya, to some club called Babylon tonite. In talking, I told them Ive been to Delfter about three times already and they said they’ve never even been there and that Ive been out more than them and the only reason they’re going tonite is cuz someone else is there to force them to do it. They seem nice! So hopefully it’s fun…it’s supposed to be RnB and Hip-hop nite.

Le fin.

1. I think I might be eating too much junk because seriously, my stomach has been feeling a little..um...soft lately. I ABSOLUTELY cannot gain weight in that area. I got enough oversized adipose tissue in other places. I think I would look like a TOTAL FREAK if I had BOTH a big butt and a big gut. That just ain't right. God didn't mean for that! And I actually caught myself thinking "I think Im eating too much carbs." I cant believe that lo-carb propaganda had actually infilitrated my train of thought. Lo-carb bitches! But I really do think that's the culprit. I've been eating a lot of bread, A LOT, have had two belgian waffles at the Bristol train station[they are THE best thing I've ever tasted and smothered in chocolate makes them twice as good...damn maybe it's the chocolate], a lotta pasta and so forth. Anyway, from now on, I definitely gotta watch what I eat. Butt/Gut..EW!

2. Went into a record store and saw Now! 60. WTF?? Isn't America on, like, Now! 12??? Man, guess they started way before us.

3. Saw a store called "Pound World" aka dollar store. HAHAHA had a good time laughing at that one.

4. I actually saw a couple of houses in a row with 2 car garages. They must be ballers!

5. Saw another black girl one day when I was on my way to cash like 8000 pounds worth of travelers cheques!!! Surprised I didn't get mugged...anyway, I decided to take ONE LAST CHANCE and ask her about her hair. Mother effer...what did she say? "Oh, I go to London. But Ive heard about this Jamaican lady here that does it." I was like "Yeh I heard about her, but I dunno if I trust that." She said she only charges about 40 pounds, but anyway..I let her go on her way.

6. In terms of "work," Im still basically shadowing people. I basically go to where people work and watch THEM do THEIR JOB for like 4 hours. That shit was cool last week, but another week aint right. And plus, EVERYDAY I have to go somewhere else so I find out how to get somewhere everyday! No stability. Thank god tomorrow's the last day. Today I went to the prison pharmacy, where the pharmacist told me women criminals are more manipulative and cunning than most male prisoners and lack a sense of humor. Of course they don't...they're in jail!! lol But she just meant male prisoners are just big children..immature. A girl named Roberta worked there...she told me she was Italian, specifically Sicilian. I couldn't place her accent when I first started talking to her, but Italian was the LAST thing I would think...poor Eastern European country was my first choice. I told her the gangsters in American mob movies are always Sicilian and she said that wasn't true. Of course she would. She's prolly in the mob. lol

7. Yesterday saw me visiting with a chiropodist...aka podiatrist. Never seen so many messed up feet in my entire damn life. But then again, the people she gets are kinda the worst of the worst, mainly diabetic patients with foot ulcers, sores and other lovely ditties. I feel sorry for them though. One woman there had had a kidney transplant, a skin graft, and a couple sores on her feet and she had to wear some big ass velcro boot....and she was only 39!! I felt terrible for her. Poor her. Diabetes is a BITCH!!
Anyway, part of her work involved cut off dead skin cells and other lovely junk and at one point, I got a tad too close to where she was working cuz a few times the crap flicked in my direction. I watched those things fly past me in horrow. She noticed that and apologized...but I swear to god, if those things had ever hit me, much less hit some vital organ like my lips, I would've gone BALLISTIC and starting screaming, embarassing the patient...and myself in the process. Im sure they would have my pharmacy license revoked for that kind of display, even though i dont even have it yet!

8. On to Boots! Next week I begin work in the department store/chemist. I dunno yet which one Ill be in, but hopefully it's the big department store-looking one with the damn clinique and estee lauder counters in the front. What is this? Buh-dines?? [NOT burrr-dines as some people like to say lol] I don't need to buy Fashion Fair foundation and Ralph Lauren perfume when im picking up my antibiotics, spank you very much.

9. I had emailed the African-Caribbean Association to ask them when they would be having stuff. I got a reply saying they'd be having an "unofficial" social on Tuesday at this club called Poo-NaNa....yes, ill get to the name in a minute. I called up Moussa to see if he'd go with me, but poor thing was sick. He sounded terrible. I hadn't spoken to him in a couple days and it was actually weird not to have heard his voice for so long. [never thought I'd say that] Anyway, Poo-NaNa?? Am I the only one that knows that this word is euphemism for vagina?? Apparently not, cuz my neighbour, the girl from Maldives, knew what it meant too and we had a good laugh about it.

10. Just called Sharon to see if I could come stay with her in London this weekend. She said sure...that I should just call her whenever I wanna come..yay!! Basically, my return ticket was gonna expire next week so I need to use it up quick. Im so excited! See another part of England...even she's never been to Bath. She calls it country lol.

11. My flat iron wasn't broke..I was just being impatient. Works perfectly AND reduces frizz! WOW!

12. Met the rest of Margaret's roommates today. They seem very nice. Im still excited. I wish Margaret was gonna be there though cuz she is HILARIOUS. She cracks me up with the way she says stuff...this weird sarcasm she got going on. I gotta try to imitate it. I was asked how much pharmacists in the US make and I told them. They all almost had heart attacks[theyre all pharmacy students] and then they all agreed that they should move to the US and work for Walgreens.

Joe E. Crack!

So yesterday...hmmm…qu’est-ce qui s’est passé? The evening began with me and Moussa going to some pub called “The Weston” because a reggae DJ would be coming to play music. We got there and had a few drinks and went into the room with the dance floor and I wasn’t shocked….very little people were in there and consisted mainly of some drunk woman who took up the whole floor with her [holding up four fingers for emphasis] “dancing” and who OBVIOUSLY wasn’t listening to the music that was playing and two Jamaican dudes in the background smoking weed…[sigh]. Why they gotta be so stereotypical?? Anyway, the music was actually REALLY good since he was playing fairly current stuff. Too bad more people weren’t there or else Im sure I’d be dancing and having a much better time.

The night consisted mainly of me wasting my money on some stupid bar gambling game; watching other people who actually had skill play the game and win money; slowly playing pool the American way since the two dudes beside us finished two games before we finished one; chatting with the fellow pool players; and the weirdest part, kept being talked to by some ridiculously drunk man named Gordon. Five times, this man ask me my named and where Im from and told me that he’ll be going to FL next week. Jesus Cristo! I asked him if he was going to Disneyworld, and OF COURSE he was….I told him it was boring and it’s gonna suck lol. He even got hostile with Moussa and told him he was a waste of space lol. That is so dangerous! To be drunk alone out in public…hope he makes it to FL.

Stayed til the bar closed, but I wasn’t tired so we went to Delfter. I knew the line was gonna be long as hell and it was but I had peeked inside and saw Moussa’s friend making out with some chick right in front of the entrance and Moussa called him over. We got in without standing in the line…yay! Cuz it was cold as a witch’s tit outside and I didn’t wanna wait. I told his friend he shouldn’t be making out with girls in public and he laughed saying what else can he do. Go do your job! Aren’t u the DJ?? Lol Went upstairs where the music was REALLY good. I danced, ignoring my company then the music changed and I INSTANTLY got bored and then went downstairs. Kinda remained quiet till we left at almost closing time and went to “Halal’s Southern Fried Chicken.” Now… what in the HELL do Middle Eastern people know about southern fried chicken?? Guess they know a lot, cuz the fries were off the chain and those nuggets were the best I’ve ever had…McDonald’s cant touch this!

Earlier in the day, after washing out the burning conditioner, I reached for my flat iron and realized that it broke in my suitcase! DAMN!!! No worries…I still tried to plug it in, but would the thing work?? I was gonna cry. I think I might have to end up buying one here. Did my hair, then went to an internet café by the bus stop that charges a reasonable pound for 20 minutes. Spent the next 40 minutes emailing and such, including my supervisor, to whom I kindly said “get my internet cut back on!!” lol cut on. Came back with just a little time to get ready to go out for tea/coffee[!!] with Margaret. She has got to be the, ummm, 10^th Margaret I’ve heard of or met. Man, it is SUCH a common name. But I actually like it. Very British. And you can call them Margot apparently, another name I like.

She rang and I went downstairs to meet her, and she looked TOTALLY English lol. Or what I used to stereotype an English person as looking: Preppy looking scarf, shoes, sweater, but she was dressed really nicely. We started walking and chatting and she asked if Id just rather have tea at her place so that I can see her place and meet her roommates, killing two birds with one stone. She lives on the other side of the supermarket in what she calls the nicest apartment on the street. I said “so which one do you live in” as we were approaching them. She said “the nice one over there.” I said to myself “they all look the damn same” lol. Guess she’s just proud of where she lives or maybe was just making a joke….who knows. So we went in and her room is right next to the entrance and the only one downstairs and I was soooo happy to see it because it looked like a REAL room.

I realize the reason I don’t like where I am very much is because it feels like Im going backwards. I haven’t lived in a dorm in like 2 years!! So seeing her place made me feel like a grownup again. She gave me a tour, gave me tea, got coffee for herself then we went to watch TV cuz she said she’d been watching the whole Camilla/Charles wedding thing the whole day. They have Sky TV! Which is satellite…I think. Alls I know is, it’s a ton of channels and Ill be happier when I move in. As we watched the TV, she kept commenting on how everybody looks, which was pretty funny. She kept saying the royal family were the most drab and boring dressers and pointed out how Zara, the queen’s granddaughter has “a big arse.” And that Camilla’s family dressed 10 times better. Camilla looked really good actually. I was happy for them to be getting married because this ceremony should’ve happened about 30 years ago and everybody knows that. The queen is seriously a bitch. Throughout the whole service, she didn’t even crack one smile. No wonder people think she’s cold. She wasn’t even singing when they were singing the national anthem! I mean, I know the song’s about you, but at least sing along. Sheesh. I’d also asked her if she met Mike. She said yeh and commented that “he’s very laid back.” I dunno what they mean by that, but Dr. Moss said the same thing about him. I would later find out exactly what she meant by that because I would bring him up again in the conversation when I said he told me mullets were the new hair sensation and she remarked “he’s very weird.”

Anyway, only one of her roommates was home, I think her name was Rachel…not too sure. She told me she had just come back from NY and she kept going on and on about some Abercrombie outlet in NJ and how all the workers were fine lol. Then they got off on the topic of men. They were HILARIOUS. I was cracking up the whole time. I told them I can tell they talk about that issue a lot, and Margaret said yes, men, or the topic of them, are one of her favorite pastimes. They were also telling me about the places to go in town and asking me where I’ve been. I mentioned about RSVP last weekend and they said hell no….too many BCRs…Bath City residents lol. They actually used that term! It reminded of how people talk about Gainesville locals. They said it’s better to go to the student places.

Anyway, I left after maybe an hour and a half since I didn’t wanna wear out my welcome. She said she’d call me sometime next week so I can meet the other roommates once they’re back from break and so we can go to the letting office to let them know who’ll be taking over her room. Oh, and apparently she’s not English, but Irish and her roommate that was there was from Wales…sometimes I could barely understand her! Margaret said she had another roommate that is Welsh also and that I definitely would not be able to understand her. I had told them I wanted to go to Wales eventually and they said Cardiff’s only an hour away…even closer than London.

I re-enter the room after going to the kitchen and here goes the conversation[as I recall and imprecisely summarize]:

Moses: [British/African/French accent] they were just talking about Michael Jackson on the news. Do you think he really did it??
Me: hell yes.
Moses: He couldn’t have done it!
Me: Of course he could…he’s a frickin weirdo. He’s capable of anything.
Moses: He couldn’t have. An adult can’t have sex with children. They’ll die!
Me: ?!@??$!$?$?#?#$%? What? What you mean “they’ll die”?
Moses: An adult can’t have sex with a child. They’ll kill the child.
Me: So you’re telling me that YOU REALLY BELIEVE there are children out there dying from being sexually molested by adults because it’s an unfortunate fact, but adults have sex with children everyday. And I can’t remember the last time I heard of that being a leading cause of death for children.
Moses: nooooo. But you don’t think it’s possible?
Me: nooooooo. People don’t die from having sex!
Moses: Children do.
Me: [sigh] I can tell you exactly how someone dies from a gunshot wound or a stab, or meningitis. Now please ENLIGHTEN me and explain to me how someone dies from having sex?? If that was the case, we’d all be dead!
Moses: …….
Me: Lemme explain a little something to you about human anatomy and physiology…..

…at which point, I went into describing to my friend why it’s highly unlikely that such an event would happen. Hahahahaha that has GOT to be the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. I explained to him that, yes, they may hurt or even injure the child, but nobody dies from intercourse!! Except people with heart conditions who get a little too excited buuuuttt that’s another topic for another day. He seriously tried to explain it to me that an adult, specifically a man, is capable of causing death to another human being with his penis. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so we got into a heated discussion, which I eventually won because he said since Im in pharmacy, I should know more than him and which eventually progressed to other issues, including the other fascinating topic of sodomy. I told him that, in my opinion, a heterosexual couple who engages in anal sex is doing the same EXACT thing as gay men. He disagreed, exclaiming “im not gay!!” HAHAHAHA Of course you’re not, Moses…I never said you were. Oh man, what an evening.

I actually went over there to visit because it’s about my weekly time to get some essential TV-watching done…since I don’t have one for myself!! My visit ended on a sour note though because, AGAIN, Moses had to mention to me that he likes me. It basically ended with me saying ‘I don’t want you’ and me telling him that at this point, it’s making me uncomfortable to be around him. He promised never to mention it again. I said GREAT, let’s see how long that promise lasts. I didn’t even say goodbye when I was leaving. I just left. He caught up with me at the bus stop, where he stood with me in the freezing cold as I waited for the bus. Initially, as he tried to speak to me, every response came out “grumble, grumble, grumble” so he could tell I was mad and again apologized. FINE, WHATEVER. He’s an awesome guy…up to that point. Then he reaches the level of annoyance. Anyway back to my ONE TRUE LOVE…..

I never thought I’d miss TV, but maaaan, I do. Even if I have to watch boring crap like the news, I need TV’s seizure-inducing lights to keep my brain stimulated. And at least I could have it running in the background as I do other things…I think that’s the reason I miss it the most. It’s background noise so your house or room isn’t TOTALLY dead. Especially since I don’t really talk to any of my neighbours, I can get bored HELLA quick. I also watched the movie “City of God” while I was there, which is a idiculously well done movie.

As for today, just washed my hair cuz it needed a-washin’, going to get coffee at 2 with Margaret, the girl whose apartment I might be taking over and she has roommates, so thank god, I might not be as bored. And then going out tonite. My internet isn’t working right now, so Im TWICE as bored. Lol wow I sound REALLY pathetic when I read that. But it’s cool. I forgot that my internet was gonna end on the 7^th cuz that’s when the school officially thinks Im supposed to be moving outta this room. Unfortunately, Ill be staying here a little longer cuz the other girl wont be outta her flat until later this month. So I gotta go get my internet hooked back up.

Ummmm, is conditioner supposed to burn?? Cuz for some reason, mine is kinda burning right now, and Im not talking about that tingling sensation your supposed to get from conditioning. So Im off to wash it out. BYYYYEEEEE!!

Im not a Catholic. My family has always attended Protestant churches, mainly Baptist, and I haven't been to church in a long time. But I couldn't help but be overwhelmingly sad as I watched the funeral for the pope today on AOL..since I aint got no TV lol. Seeing the masses of people that were present, including a large number of world leaders, made me realize how enormous the Catholic Church is and how wide its reach truly is. This was also evidenced by all the flags that were flying in the air from many different countries all over the world and by the makeup of the officials of the church including bishops and cardinals. I may not agree with the forced conversion that would take place a long time ago to bring Catholicism to places such as South America and some of the past and current 'not-so-Christian' practices of the Church, but we can't rewrite history and what's done is done. I at times have a problem with the idea of religion because I try to rationalize it, and if one thinks rationally and logically about religion, one will come usually come to the conclusion that most of the ideas in MOST relgions, not just Catholicism, are big jokes. Reincarnation?? 40 virgins for being a martyr?? Come on! However, I think I need to start taking it for what it is, just the simple idea that a person should have something to believe in. I admire the idea of religion mainly because it gives people some sort of guideline for how they should conduct their lives. I like the fact that religion tries to teach people to be good to their fellow man and take others into consideration, which is the highest good I think a human being can do. I sometimes equate it with the idea of government in the fact that it lets people know what is right and what is wrong. But government lacks one characteristic of relgion, and that is that religion gives people hope. Hope that even though things might not be so great now, they will get better if you devote yourself and believe in something that is bigger than yourself. I think this serves to make people humble and make them realize that they are not the biggest thing on the planet, qualities which a vast majority of people lack.

I honestly have no idea if anyone can follow in the pope's footsteps as he was so well-liked. Even though he was the leader of the largest religion on the planet, he made great efforts to reach out to everyone all over the world, going to Cuba, worshipping at Jewish sites, reaching out to Muslims, etc. He was the most well-travelled pope, which showed his conviction to not only get non-believers to believe, but also that he was respectful of religions that were different from his own. Even though I wasn't a part of his religion and I may not agree with all his views, I did admire him, most of all because he was a man who stood by his convictions and what he believed in, even though they may not sometimes be very popular. If any of the world leaders that are at the ceremony could be even HALF the man John Paul was, this world would be a much better place. They would be concerned with helping ALL the people in their society and not be greedy and selfish and only thinking of themselves and their friends and their party. I agreed with his criticism of capitalism, one of the most selfish ways I believe one can conduct a society. I also overwhelmingly agreed with his opinion that this world has entered into difficult times and that it can be an unbearable place to live in sometimes. I watched the movie "City of God" yesterday and also got really sad because that movie epitomizes how difficult it is to just survive for MOST people on this planet and yet we want to chastize them when they get involved in certain illegal activities such as selling drugs. I don't agree that they should be doing it, but sometimes I cant blame them because their government and essentially how the world is set up sometimes leaves them with no other alternatives. This world is ridiculously unfair and somestimes deperate times call for desperate measures. I guess my belief that this world, in essence, sucks is one of the reasons some people may see me as pessimistic. At present, however, I lack John Paul's belief that it will "get better." In other words, I lack the hope and faith he did. I think I really need to change that. R.I.P

So we all know that from time to time, we hear some names that makes us go "what in the HELL were your parents thinking??" or "hAhhAHAAHAHA that names sounds funny." Today I've seen one from BOTH categories.

The first is Jamesetta, 'submitted' to me by one C.B. [Thanks to her for keeping me up to date with the names. I just hope she's not laughing at anything else that could be in those UF students' profiles lolol] Im guessing you pronounce it phonetically, but that name's just messed up. My all time favorite though was NAFERTERIA[rhymes with cafeteria] I SERIOUSLY wanted to meet this girl's mother[I doubt her father had any part in naming her] and ask her whhhyyyy did she commit she a heinous 'name crime.'

Browsing the websites for Bath student clubs, I came upon a website for one society that was talking about a potential speaker they may have, a Mr. Wim Kok. Wim Kok. HAHAHAHAHA I dunno about you, but that name is HILARIOUS! I laughed for at least 2 and a half minutes.

cheers.

Yeh man...FINALLY[english], FINALEMENT[french],[I dunno how you say it in spanish but finally], I went to "work" on Monday....and by 'work' I meant I went in and looked on the internet all fricken day, something I already do at home.

Apparently, nobody knew we were coming. GREEEAAATT! What a way to start off the day. Some sort of "miscommunication" it seems...that was the word thrown about. I could see the contempt in my classmates eyes lol. He wasn't too pleased. He already thinks Dr. Moss lives on another planet and this is another reason to think the man might be loco because apparently, he'd been telling him about it for weeks. He later told me, though, that he doesnt think it's Dr. Moss's fault, but the guy who's supposed to be in charge of us here, Mr. Alaster Rutherford. He wasn't even there when we got there! Probably in Egypt or some shit because I guess that's where the English like to go based on the plethor-uh of ads for Egypt Ive seen!! Seems they LOVE florida too cuz about 90% of the people Ive met and talked to have been to FL, of course, orlando. Disney IS a huge monstrosity. Cali is another big one...san fran and san diego and hollywood, I've heard so far. Anway, his assistant scrambles for what to do with us and eventually puts us in Rutherford's office where another pharmacist, BethAnn is doing her work. Talk about RED HAIR!! Lindsay Lohan aint even close. She will tell me she's involved in writing clinical guidelines for the government..and apparently guidelines are a new thing for the british!!

Another new thing for them.....REFILLS!!! aka "repeat dispensing" I had to choke back saying "what the EFF do u mean you don't do refills?" when I heard that. There's a new 'contract' starting now where people wont need to go back to their doctor everytime they need a new prescription, but instead the DR can write for prescriptions for up to a year...ummmmmm...I dunno any other way to do it! but I guess each country is different. There are some other stuff in the contract but that's the 'biggest thing.' So yeh, we basically chill in the office, eventually go to get lunch, come back, get back on the computer and then go home. FUN! But for the next day, there's actual stuff to do, even though it was put together in about an hour.

The next day started with me going to a health centre to follow around a 'district nurse,' a woman named Renata, as she drove around to see patients. This would also be the first time in the day, out of a total of 5 times, that I would offered tea or coffee. She would be very helpful cuz she explained A LOT about the british health care system. The not-having-the-dentist-as-part-of-the-health-care-plan thing STILL trips me out...um your teeth are in your body aren't they?? But yeh, being with her was an interesting experience, seeing as how i've never seen so many bed sores in my life!! HOLY CRAP!! Three..... I saw...THREE. The first two were actually healing and fine, but the last one....[gulp] my stomach. lol It wasn't that bad actually, but man....hmm, nevermind, it WAS pretty bad. I cannot BELIEVE something like that can happen just from sitting on your ass all day, and Renata told me it could even develop within a DAY! [jesus, please don't let me get old..thanx a bunch] jk...it all depends on a bunch of stuff, so it might now even happen in some people. But it really did LOOK sore. poor old lady. Plus as we were inspecting her sore, a bird flew straight into the window and got knocked the fuck out...HAHAHAHAHA so that made the sore less traumatic. guess they use Windex in that nursing home. She also told me the area we were in was not as glamorous as the rest of Bristol and that actually a lot of Somalian refugees have been coming into the area. I can TOTALLY tell what a Somalian looks like now...they have very characteristic features: 1. the burka[well, their whole FACE was visible but I dunno what u call that one] 2. chubby cheeks and 3. dark lips.

After getting back to the centre, I was told a taxi would be coming to pick me up and take me to a hospice to meet Rutherford's wife. I was AGAIN offered tea or coffee, but refused[they love the liquid] Waited downstairs, saw more Somalians and was then picked up by a Sudanese! The Africans just keep coming! lol. Thank God they sent a cab cuz that place was WAAAYYY on the other side of town and if I had to find it by myself, I would have seriously said 'eff it' and gone home. During the long ride, began talking with the gentleman and asked him some stuff about his people, about Islam, and told him how I've been meeting and hearing about many different african people here. Got to the hospice, told the receptionists who I was here to see, and she basically didn't have a clue who the Eff I was talking about. Dont you know the people who work here lady?? obviously, NOT. I asked for Dr. Margaret Rutherford, but I would come to find out she goes by Maggie Hook, so no wonder the broads were confused. Id been sitting there for a good while, and she said she felt sorry for me so AGAIN offered up tea/coffee. I had also previously mentioned I aint had nothing to eat, so she offered biscuits too, another staple!! They turned out to be off the chain. I ended up waiting an hour and a half for this woman to come.

Finally got to their pharmacy where she was bombarded by people. She was a very nice woman...I could tell she was well liked. She then told me about how the hospice worked [apparently, they aint only for the dying! who knew!], gave me info about drugs[they use HEROIN as an analgesic in hospices...HEROIN!! I almost had an epileptic seizure when she told me that], among other things. I also ended up talking to the DR on duty that day, and she told me some interesting stuff. Seemlingly, being a health professional is not as LUCRATIVE a career as it is in the US...huuuhhhh? Yes, you are well respected but you aint making the big bucks like you would here. And apparently, not only are there a shortage of dentists, there are a shortage of DR's too!! They even import them from other countries in Europe and elsewhere! weird. But I think all this stems from the fact that 1. MOST health professionals in this country are basically government employees and we know how govt's dont like to pay they people. So unless you go into private practice for yourself, you can't equate being a doctor here with being richer than most people. And 2. healthcare in the US is a treated as a BUSINESS not a social service like how they treat it here. Most people aren't govt employees and a large amount go into practice for themselves.

We then left there and went to the second location for that hospice..ALSO on the other side of town, but closer to where I would need to take the train. I followed her as she counselled patients who were being released. She was a very good practioner and I was very impressed. I discussed with her some of my fears, including how I think DR's dont respect pharmacists. She gave me some good advice: be confident, just know what your talking about, and offer suggestions if you are gonna contradict a doctor. Ive heard that before, but I never really believed it until she said it, so she was very helpful. Anyway, she was gonna be taking too long and had other patients to see so she asked me if I just wanted to go home. I said sure and left at 6.

All in all it was a good day. I like working tho, or basically getting out of my house cuz it means the time goes by soooo much faster...I cant believe it's thursday already!! Cant wait for Saturday...that's when some reggae thing is supposed to happen at a pub. Hmmmm sounds FISHY and I hope by REGGAE they dont just mean Bob Marley, but if not...Ill just get drunk and have a good time. Cuz I really havent been drunk since Ive been there and I think once I do, Ill feel more English than ever! Ive been by an told by an Englishman that the Scottish drink liquor like it's water and are twice as bad as the English. TWICE. Man...I cannot even IMAGINE how that's possible.

Le fin.

mmmmmaaaaannnnnn im soooooo tiiiiirrrrrreeeeddddd! Finally, i went to 'work' but since im so fatigued and lethargic, i cant post nothing. But I need to soon or im gonna forget everything. But nonetheless, since Im the self-anointed queen of 'taking my own damn picture,' I snapped some pics of myself before my first day of....um...'work.'

Joe E. Crack the don.

Yesterday began with me waking up and realizing the sun was out...weather.com was right on point! I had promised myself the very next day it was sunny, I would be off to Bristol, so today's the day! Moussa, my self-appointed and self-anointed "British guide" suggested I take the bus instead of the train, since I could see more of the actual country and the train takes whole-a 3 milliseconds to get to Bristol. Shouldn't someone remind him he's 'Frican?

Apparently, it's not that far...maybe 10 miles or so. But since they aint got no I-95 in this piece, it'd take about 40 minutes to get there, based on what the bus website told me. It actually took about 30. And he was right...it was nice to see the drive thru McDonalds on my way lol. JK I did see that, but I also saw some typical houses and some not-so-typical mansions, a car with a spoiler[huh?], a ton of Ford focuses[who knew!], and characteristic British fields of green and fields of yellow. [I wish I was a poet so I could make that sound soooo much better]. Anyway finally got to Bristol..didn't know where exactly to get off, but the bus made a stop and everyone else got off so I did too. Turns out I was in the right place, cuz it was the street a Bristol website told me was the main shopping centre of the city. The bus also dropped me smacked dab in front of the Hennes & Mauritz store(aka H&M) so you know I was foaming at the mouth and I thought my shopping adventure would start off on a good leg since the store is nicely priced. Went in, almost had a epilepsy cuz I wanted everything I saw, but ended up getting some sunglasses, earrings, and something else[i forget].

My next stop was a store called Oasis, whose jewellery collection I LOVED. Ended up getting an "Indian princess" necklace and a half-priced scarf/belt with some stuff on the end that makes the noise when belldancers dance...what is that called?? I noticed that's a trend now tho, the Indian theme. It's nice. The store also had the belt id been eyeing! But can't fork over the 30 pounds. NEVER! I protest! But unfortunately, no one else is protesting with me..... soooo the price will remain the same. Left there and went walking around. It reminded me of Bath, except the opening of stores weren't an inch from each other. The width was more like that of a normal street, except only pedestrians can walk on it. Walked by a store with Naomi Campbell listerally PLASTERED on every inch of the windows. But she was wearing some off the chain stuff so I went in. Called Accessorize, guess what they sell?? Got some nice earrings, a necklace and a bangle...and they had some shoes I liked, buuuuut of course they didn't come in my size so I moved on. This frustration would continue the entire day! I basically gave up on finding any size 8 shoes...guess they are no different than America in that "discrimination department."

Got a frappaccino at El Starbucks..went into the Galleria...um, what is this Boca?? Saw a store called T.K. Maxx, started laughing, whipped out my camera and took a picture. Got a clutch purse in there which can barely hold anything, but it looks good! [all in the name of fashion] Got tired and dizzy from the shopping and throngs of people, so went back to the bus stop at about 2:30. Got back home and went straight to bed.

Woke up..couldn't think of what to eat. Realizing I STILL had no pots and pans or any food to cook in those pots and pans, I decide to visit my neighborhood TGIFs. unfortunately. Got a sampler and as I was making my way back home, heard Moussa say 'Hey' as he was getting out of his car. He told me he'd tried to phone me earlier but I wasn't home and I told him about my adventure. He said he was going to midland so to call him if I wanted to go out later. Told him I might. earlier, I had tried to see if Mike wanted to go out, but he told me he was waiting for the students to come back into town since he "knows a lot of the pharmacy students and they usually have parties and stuff." i.e. he don't wanna spend money and thank god for Moussa. WHATEVER. I ate, and didn't feel like staying in so I walked down to the Pub.

They say there are no dumb questions, but asking "is he drunk?" in England is definitely one of them because the probability of that is..hmmm...7 in 10...i.e. very high when you see someone out. As I entered and went to greet Moussa, who was at the table with his friends, saw some old dude sitting there and he appeared to be mumbling sumthing to himself. I dismissed him and sat down and asked if he was drunk, to which Moussa replied "yep." He went on to tell me he always sees this man EVERYWHERE...he just goes in, starts drinking and just sits and doesnt bother anybody. What a life. lol. I was then informed it was Karaoke nite. Moussa told me he had already gone up and sang "I believe I can fly" by the R-uh Kelly. At this point, I started cracking up and told him I can't believe he sang a slow song. He told me he was horrible....and I believed him. With his accent, who knows what song he actually sang...thank god the audience could see the words on the screen behind the singer or Im sure they wouldve been totally lost. He told me we should go up and sing something, to which I emphatically replied "HELL NO"...too embarassed of course.

I eventually caved of course, and went up to sing Senorita by Justin Timberlake. I was dancing away with the R-H-Y-T-H-Y-M that most people here lack. At bar closing time, I wasnt ready to go yet, so we decided to go to RSVP, which ended up being really nice and playing really good music, including Amerie and even some reggae songs. This is getting too long but ill wrap up by saying it was a good nite. Walked around bath after that closed at 1, then went home to bed.

The End.

I just had to post this one. Check out the credit card prank. I literally almost died of laughter. LITERALLY! In your face, Ladaun Jackson!! LITERALLY

SERIOUSLY, this is gonna be a short one. lol

I have never wanted to have Oprah money more in my life than I did today. HOLY CRAP!

I was walking in Bath City Centre after getting off the bus...I finally went and registered today and did other foo-ha's at the actual University of Bath. Of COURSE it's no UF..tee hee so it's aight. Kinda old. But then nobody renovates and builds like UF! now i see why....The trip there was cool. I got to see some really nice houses and it was my second trip venturing away from the city so it was waaay up on hills. I actually saw one house that looked like it was built within the last few years! I was shocked! But then again they had a Mercedes SUV and a CLK in their yard so obviously, they can afford to rebuild. Cuz I swear every other building in bath is at least like 100 years old. Apparently, Delfter Krug, which a found out was named after a 1930's ship, has been there since the effing 1800s!! The structure, I mean, cuz of course the inside is newer.

So back to City center, I went into this one store called "Top Shop" and I [MadTV-esque] literally wanted to say "gimme one of EVERYTHING in the store." OMG the purses, the BELTS, the earrings, the necklaces!!!!!!!!!! I wanted EVERYTHING! But I couldn't bring myself to it. I cannot get the US price out of my head. I saw this one belt...OMG: 20 pounds. I can't use $40 of my hard earned govt money just to buy a belt. But I will definitely be going back to get some of the earrings and stuff..some, a reasonable 4 pounds(I gotta find the symbol for pound on my keyboard!) I kept stopping by shoe stores too and I wanted to cry even more because the fashion now are FLAT SHOES!! So therefore, I should be in heaven but I cant pay $80 for some sequined flats. Hopefully, Bristol is better, which hopefully, I finally go to tomorrow. I just dont wanna buy anything now...maybe in a month. Definitely...

See? Short and sweet!! At first I thought about calling Mike and asking him if he wanted to go out since I haven't seen him in a week, but after today, I was so tired and just woke up from a three hour nap, ate leftovers from yesterday so now Im even more relaxed, and now I just feel so chill, so I don't think I'll be going out tonite. Maybe tomorrow. I should try and go out as much as possible...I think.....since I'm not here for that long. Ill start..tomorrow! lol Ill definitely give him a call tomorrow. But 1) that'd be too expensive of a habit, 2) I still hate the smell of smoke on me[though I am kinda getting used to it and I've kinda figured out a way to get the smell out..or maybe I should just buy Febreeze...hmmm?] 3) I get sicka going out after a while.

cancelled my phone today, finally. I discovered 'toll-free' is not free outside of the US lol.

later.