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[Jul. 13th, 2007|09:54 am] |
Hey kids. It's been a lonnnnnng time, but I have a few things on my mind. Boulder trip went fantabulous, I felt like I was HOME. That place is amazing. But in about a month I'm going to Santa Fe to see if it feels even MORE like home. My bestest Rache is gonna come with. Wheeee!!We shall see.
Life in Midland is still....dry. But only 6 more months! It's impossible to have a significant other with my schedule, which gets really lonely. Merrr.
But I'm gonna take 2 art classes in the fall, which will totally feed my soul. This is good. Ok. I think that's all I have the energy to share right now. Hope all are well!!
PS~Did you know the Iraqi war is costing us 10 billion a MONTH?!?
Good gawd. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 24th, 2007|12:55 am] |
Hey kids. It's me again. So I'm going to Colorado in 2.5 weeks. Did I mention that? Yup. I'm frustrated tho, cause I ALWAYS get a tax return, and this year I OWE the govt money. WTF??? I'm too poor for this to happen to me. But alas. So there it is--me figuring out how to afford this trip AND pay Uncle Sam. Tis possible after all, just won't be able to throw any money at my credit card debt next month. Ah well, c'est la vie. Anyway, Steph and I are packing our bags. Shweeeet. Totally. Totally. Stoked. Like really. I promise I'll come back and write about it.
Anyway. Everything else is good. I've made one really good friend here. Karla--love her dearly. We hang out anytime we're both off work. Truly truly a kindred spirit. But otherwise, I find myself rather lonely. I mean, I'm too busy to be too lonely, but it still crosses my mind. I just want someone to call on my drive home at 11pm, to tell about my day, someone to hold me sometimes. But I think it foolish to get into a relationship when I'm moving in 11 months, and at the same time, I don't want something meaningless. Meaningless doesn't work for me. And I don't know what the happy medium is, but I keep throwing hope out there that something feasible might manifest. We'll see.
Anyway, otherwise life is good. Working out on a (semi)regular basis, going to my Al-Anon meetings, hanging out with friend(s), taking small steps toward grad school, seeing family, road trips to Austin when I get a chance, and basically taking care of myself. Go me.
And it is definitely time for bed. Love!!! |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 6th, 2007|09:59 pm] |
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| |  peaceful | ] |
Hi! It's me again. Man, this site has evolved. My little entry page looks weird. Anyway, I'm gonna make a short little post. Grad school developments are going along swimmingly--got all 3 rec letters back, and am confident in all of them. Got my letter of intent almost ready to be final-drafted. Planning a road trip to Boulder next month with Steph--WHOOOOT!! Emailed director of art therapy program to mark his calendar for my arrival. *wink* I'm so there. I'm so frikkin there.
Life is simultaneously busy and uneventful. My hair is entirely too short, but it's mahogany so that's fun. :) I keep not going to the gym--bad girl. Been almost a week. Credit card debt is shrinking by the month. Savings acct will soon be growing by the month. My cat is still adorable. My favorite band du jour is Blue October. Press on, keep your eye on the prize. And that's about all I know right now, kids.
Namaste! |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 30th, 2006|12:10 am] |
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| |  annoyed | ] |
So I decided to stop eating meat about a month ago. I avoid the term "vegetarian" because it rouses the response people have to whatever stigma they attach to that term. I don't know why I bother, considering that the typical response to, "I don't eat meat anymore," is, "you're a VEGETARIAN?!?!" [to be read with a tone of confused disgust. G0dd@mn these West-Texans and their ways....] Anyway, yeah, I stopped eating meat. I'm not asking YOU to stop eating meat, nor am I swearing off dairy, claiming to never wear leather again, or to go on hellfire tirades against the mistreatment of prairie dogs. Just. Not eat meat. Thanks.
So anyway. Right now, as of yesterday, I am also on a "fruit cleanse." This comprises, in Tiffany-terms, of eating fruit eating fruit eating fruit allll day and then eating a big salad for dinner. Loosely. Based (again, loosely) on a cleanse we advertise at my health food store. Basically for as long as I can take it. Til I get tired of fruit or run out of money to spend on it. We're lookin at about 3-5 days here, no biggie. Just to cleanse the system with all those wholesome enzymes and acids and antioxidants and such.
Well. Little did I know that the House Cleaning Crew at the rehab center I work at was out to thwart my health-conscious little plans. I'd made this HUGE, beautiful salad (and trust me, I can make a frikkin salad) in a huge plastic bowl with a lid on it, complete with lemon wedges and olive oil to dress it with. It was enough for about 3 days of dinner at work. I ate some last night, came to get it out of the fridge this evening (it was all together in a grocery bag), and it was gone. The whole damned thing. Well. The only thing the kitchen had left us to eat, as it is closed on Sundays and makes dinners to leave for the patients, is burritos. The rumor was that there were a couple of bean and cheese ones in there, but I looked at every damned one, and every damned one had meat in it. Frikkin cleaning staff. Frikkin kitchen. They know I don't eat meat, and were kind enough to try to consider me, but apparently those bean burritos wound up on a different unit.
Well I am not the type to go without dinner. So I ate 2. It was gross. I don't think it was gross because I've lost my taste for meat, I think that that particular meat was just gross. So about half an hour after breaking my veggie-ism AND my fruit cleanse, it occurs to me that in our unit's kitchen, we have a whole drawer full of nutri-grain bars, crackers, peanut butter, etc. Le sigh. My infidelity was unnecessary after all. I give up. For the day at least. Tomorrow is another day, and I will come prepared with lots of fruit, and will remember to NAME AND DATE MY DAMNED SALAD so that no one can saunter in and decide that it's "old" and throw the whole fucking thing away, container and all. And that is my story.
I am now exhausted and must go to bed. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 17th, 2003|08:34 pm] |
Well, I'm settled back into my little apartment in San Marcos, so it's about time to wrap up this tale. I was right about doing well in my classes--I got 2 A's. :) The last week of England was pretty interesting. Lots of people headed out of town (rather, out of country) right after finals to visit more places they hadn't seen yet, such as Spain, Rome, Scotland, Wales, Holland, France... But the lesser, um, funded of us stuck around to enjoy our last days in Canterbury. It was kinda like the first few days of being there all over again: days of playing and goofing off without any classes to wake up for. Then again, it was also kinda like daycare. -Here's what I mean. Remember the days--it's 5:45 in the evening, you've had a looooong day of playing and learning, you're hungry, getting cranky, you're stuck at a place that (though you like it) is not home with a few other lucky stragglers, and your parents are late picking you up. --Apply that mentality-only extended and slightly more mature-to about 10 young adults, and you have the feeling of the last week.
-It was time to go home!!
Truly, the length of the trip was about perfect. We had loads of fun, took all our trips, spent all our money, learned all our classwork, and then had a few days to let it sink in that it was over and we were leaving. I was hanging out in my room one afternoon with a few other girls when I finally shared my growing sense of loneliness that was based in my desire--much as I loved everyone there--to just be around some people "who really know me." I got a hearty round of "Exactly..." It was sort of ironic because, in sharing our mutual feelings of having to keep a smile on your face in order to continually "flow" with 25 people who really don't know you that well yet, we ended up bonding. Kinda cool. And good to know I wasn't alone in feeling that way.
So it was a few more English cafeteria meals and trips to the good ol' pub downstairs to hang out with the awesome barstaff, one last SUPERFUN trip to town with some of my favorite girlies, and off to London to wake up early the next morning to catch my 10:30am flight the next morning. Wonderful Dr. Frost had booked and paid for a room in a hotel not far from the station that any of us who needed to could share for the night. Perfect. Luckily there were only 2 of us so no sleeping on the floor.
Now here's what's funny. I got to the tube station by 7:30 just fine. I got to the train station by 8-something just fine. I got to the airport by 9 just fine. I got on the plane by 10:30 just fine. I got to D/FW airport by 2:30 (which, of course, was actually 10 hours later, not 4!)just fine. Then, I got to hang out at that monster of beehive for 5 hours. Don't even ask. Luckily, when I arrived at Austin-Bergrstom at 8pm, Jeromy and Pepper were in very chipper moods, having had enough time to go out to eat while waiting for me, and had 2 huge bearhugs for me, which more than revived my mood.
Then they took me by the house to drop my stuff off and pat the kitty, and then to get Tiff a good old American hamburger. Beautiful. |
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| Dali and Giant Ferris Wheels |
[Aug. 7th, 2003|02:03 pm] |
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| | relaxed | ] |
So finals are over and it is time for me to continue my updating. (By the way, I think I did quite well, thank you.) So we all arrive home safe from Paris. The Monday and Tuesday afterward weren't too eventful, but then on Wendesday I met Nana and Denny in London, for the last time before they left. We perused the Salvador Dali exhibit, which was fascinating and entertaining in and unsettling, Dali-sorta way. They also had a Picasso exhibit and a Marylin Monroe exhibit, which we caught glimpses of. Pretty cool. Then we hopped on the London Eye, which is the most enormous ferris wheel in the world, and it looks like a giant bicycle wheel. I could almost see some giant one-wheeled bike come rolling up, click the Eye on as its second wheel, and go rolling off down the Thames River. The compartment thingies were these clear oval rooms, which comfortably hold about 20 people. I'd heard nasty rumors about crowded, hot, stuffiness and body odour, but whoever had told me that had apparently not ridden the Eye. It was quite pleasant. It takes half an hour to go round, and it goes so slowly that it doesn't stop to let people on and off, so the ride is continuous. We got a magnificent panoramic view of London. Great shots of the Thames, the House of Parliament (with its attached companions, the Tower of London and Big Ben), as well as Westminister Abbey and a slightly distant view of the Palace. (Along with lots of other pretty buildings which I could not identify.) Pretty cool stuff. I think I got some good shots with my camera--we'll see. Then, as we approached the platform to get off, we got to pose for one of those in-motion pictures like they take at Disney Land while you're cheeks are flailing in the wind at 90mph on some roller coaster and then you get to buy it for $400 when you get off. Except, our pic turned out really cute. It was really big and came with a cute little fold-open paper frame. Nan and Denny and I were posed perfectly, and were quite proud of ourselves for knowing exactly where to look and when, in order for the pic to turn out well. Nan got one for me and her to share. :)
Then we had a scrumptious dinner in Covent Garden, where there was lots of music and street performers. I'd like to go back there, but time is running quite short. (However, once you've been to the other end of the world, you realize what a managable feat it really is, and that you can probably do it again someday. So I'm not worried about the stuff I didn't get to do or didn't do more than once.)
And so, after dinner, we all hopped on the train for our last ride together. Nan and Denny had to hop off and switch so they could go back to their B&B while I stayed on to Canterbury. I almost cried when they got off! It was so wonderful having my Nana with me in EUROPE!! I mean, how many people actually get that lucky?!? Having her and Denny there made my whole trip that much more awesome. And needless to say, they got smashing reviews from all my friends. "They're just so precious! -cool! -sweet! -fun! awesome!" Seriously, you two, everyone loved you guys. (But not as much as me. :) )
And so, off I went back to Canterbury. The next night, Thursday, I went back into London to see a bluegrass band called Yonder Mountain String Band. It was Dr. Frost, Jesse and his parents, Meredith, Faith, Heather, and myself (not that any of that means much to ya'll, but the chemistry of the group was perfect for the activity. Plus, it was kinda cool to have parents and a prof with us at a concert!) The band was too awesome. Lots of booty-shakin' and foot-stomin'. Then, their finale was a bluegrass version of Ozzy's "Crazy Train," which I absolutely ATE UP. Loved it. Everyone else stayed that night in London, but I had to catch the last train back so I could return my borrowed BritRail pass, which would be needed by its owner early the next morning.
That weekend was pretty chilled out. I was too outta money to go anywhere, but luckily there were 4 or 5 others in the same boat. (Yes, this means I had to forfeit Amsterdam...) But it's ok -t'was nice not to go 90mph for one weekend. I can't really say that I did too much, honestly. Just hung around and caught up on reading and journals and sleep. Others went to Edinborough (Scotland), Amsterdam, Bath, and Whitstable. So it was nice to hear their stories when they got back. Some were actually a bit jealous of my relaxing weekend!
-Oh, and MOM! I totally forgot to mention this in my Paris posts! My roommate at the hotel in Calais, who had to go back to England, went to a play in London where she got to meet *dun-dun-dunnnnn!* Patrick Stewart! Yup. Got his autograph and everything. She said that, while he was signing her book, he looked up at her and said, "well hello there!" Prolly sounds pretty anticlimactic just reading it from a computer screen, but according to her it was terribly exciting. :) Anyway, thought you should know that. :)
Ok, here is where I shall end this post. I love and miss you all!!!! |
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| Gaye Paree, continued |
[Aug. 2nd, 2003|01:41 pm] |
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| | French-ha! | ] |
So after the luxurious dinner, I went back to my room to find a note from my roomie, stating that they were hanging out at the Plage Paris (the beach along the River Seine). So off I went in search of my cronies. After much wandering up and down the river, I finally ran into a couple of the guys, neither of whom had seen anyone else. So we hung around for awhile until we decided it was time to go home.
The next morning, Nana and Denny and I set out again for the museums. First stop was the Musee D'Orsay, which was magnificent. Huge open spaces with high walls and great lighting. Really great sculptures and impressionism. We had a nice lunch in the museum, finished our browsing, and headed off for Rodin's Sculpture Garden. That was cool. The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, and various other famous works were waiting to greet us there. I got some great pics. Then we decided we would try and get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, but the rain had other plans. We scampered around for awhile, searching for the ever-elusive taxi, and finally resigned ourselves to the tube. We took the subway to the opera house, which was across the street from a very posh food market called Fauchon. I made off with a small bar of dark chocolate, a cheap bottle of wine, and an awesome rubbery handbag bearing the name of the store. Nan and Denny made off with more impressive delicacies, such as duck pate and honey made from bees residing in the roof of the opera house (or somewhere cool like that, I can't quite remember). Then off we were back to the hotel, so I could catch up with my girls and they could do their own thing.
I finally had my requisite bowl of soup d'oignon avec cidre et salade de tomate. Then off to the little hole-in-the-wall giftshops to buy myself some really great hats and a couple of souvenirs for loved ones. After this, Emily and I caught up with Susan and Cathy, who were on the hunt, apparently, for The Perfect Bar. I say this because they kept saying they just wanted to find "a bar," but we passed about 50, to each they replied, "no...." So we ended up some funky place that served them these drinks that lit on fire. They were surprised that their throats were burnt! DUH!! And then off to someplace else, until The Interruption.
While standing on the sidewalk discussing what should happen next, a couple of all-too-suave Frenchmen took a fancy to us. Yeah. Bought us roses, kissed us on the cheek, took our arms, exclaimed, "I looooveh you!" many more times than necessary. At first it was endearing, even flattering. But then it started to get creepy. Especially when I tried to tell them it was time for us--and ONLY us 4 ladies--to go back to our hotel rooms, so thank you and good night and please go away. I know that I knew enough French, and they knew enough English, that they should have gotten the point. But they chose not to. Right about then, Mercie Dieu (thank God!!), Denny and Nana pop around the corner. Denny grins and says playfully, "oh, I'm pretending I don't see you guys!" I rush up and reply, "NO! You DO see us! You have to rescue us from these guys!!" We all flock to Nan and Denny, while I yell to the guys in the best GO AWAY tone I can muster, "La? C'est ma grand-mere!" over and over in hopes that they get the idea that their gig is up. Susan, however, can't seem to escape her admirer as he relentlessly attempts to clasp a necklace around her neck. Nana, probably a full foot shorter than he, puts her hand on his chest and says, "NO. NO." He finally goes away. They both do. But not after the first one runs back up to Susan and places the necklace into her hands and exclaims, "I looooveh you!" once more. What a mess. Thank God for Nana and Denny at something-past-midnight in the streets of Paris!
And so the next morning, it was off to England again. Back on the train, back on the fantasy ferry, back on yet another train, then a taxi, then to my blessed bed.
Yes, I know. There are many things in Paris that I did not see. But I refuse to focus on that. Instead, I'm grateful for what I did see and do, and for the determination I have upon GOING BACK!!! And it is here that I shall break, so as to make these looooong posts a little less cumbersome to the eyes. |
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| Nana, Denny, and Gaye Paree |
[Aug. 1st, 2003|11:19 pm] |
Ok, I'm back. Yes, it's been awhile, I'm aware. Nana and Denny came into town last (not this last, but last last) Tuesday, and met me in Canterbury on Wednesday. We had a great time at the children's literature museum, taking a boat tour of the town (Canterbury is soooo olddddd!), checking out the Cathedral, and having a wonderful dinner. THEN I pulled a class-A Tiffany and got us lost. Ahem. I felt so bad and so frustrated that I actually cried! But thank goodness for taxis and patient Nanas.
Then, the next day, it was off to Paris! We did not ride the Chunnel, but we took a train to Dover and then a ferry to Calais. What an amazing ferry ride! My ferry ride to the Isle of Wight was basically half an hour of lined-up chairs, crying kids, and nothing to do. But THIS. No, THIS was amazing. It was like being in a great big floating airport for an hour and a half. Nice restaurants, bars, awesome gift shops, lavish lounge areas, and a wonderful view of the ocean as we sailed along. I think everyone had a blast.
However, we ended up pulling up to Calais a leeeetle late. Which caused all something-teen of us to miss the last train to Paris. So we stayed at the "hotel" across the street from the train station: The Bansai. Ha. It was some sort of hybrid between a dorm and an RV. The beds were not as nice as those at the youth hostel I'd stayed in the weekend before, the hallway reaked of _________(<-fill in the blank), and the "shower" was a nozel that lifted out of the sink so you could bathe yourself whilst basically standing in the toilet. It was a scream. Nana and Denny were quite the troopers, however. Probably better than I was. We all got eaten alive by mosquitos while we "slept," and my face was amusingly distorted the next morning from all the swelling. Ha. Also, my poor roommate lost her wallet at the restaurant we ate at that evening (which was actually quite good), and so she and I had to troop down there at 11:45--after it closed--and try to explain to the non-English speaking owners that we had "perdue quelque-chose" (lost something). No luck. No wallet to be found. Leann was a very big girl, however, and immediately began her plans to simply return to England first thing in the morning to cancel all her cards and let her parents know what had happened. Bless her heart. One good thing, other than dinner and a place--however makeshift--to lay our heads that night, came of the Aventure Du Bonsai. And that was when Roxanne, in her attempt (as she flipped through her translation book) to request her room en francais, ordered "twin boys" in her hotel room, instead of twin beds. Ha! How classic! Later that night, we found a cute American boy from Florida who proceeded, after hearing the story, to knock on Roxanne's door and announce to her that "his brother was on his way." Too funny.
Then, wayyyyy too early the next morning, we were off to the Paris. Well, kinda. Our decision to go ahead and change our train tickets instead of just buying new ones cost Nana, Denny, and myself another missed train. Joy. Lots of trekking up and down cement staircases to different platforms, confused attempts at dialogue with conductor-type-people, and aggravating the very classically French-looking ticket lady behind the counter when we, again, requested to reschedule our departure times. (She had short, curly dissheveled hair with pursed lips, tired but alert eyes, and a very large and pointy French nose. I wanted a picture of her.)
And so, finally, we arrived in Paris somewhere around 12:30. I was quickly fading from Pixie (new nickname, a la Dr. Frost) to Grade-A Please Go Take a Nap Gremlin, so Nan and Denny fed me and sent me off to my hotel room to sleep and recuperate. Yes, I know. How, you say, does one NAP in Paris, in good conscience? But I'm afraid I would have only spread the negative energy I was harboring, rather than actually enjoy myself. So off I went to have a 4-hour nap, while Nana and Denny hit the town. Good for them.
Later that evening, I arose for a gorgeous dinner of duck breast with orange sauce, mixed vegetables, champagne with black currant (?) in it, and dessert a la framboise (raspberries). It was magnifique. I don't exactly remember what Nana and Denny had, or else I would relay that as well. The restaurant was beautiful, with lots of antique furniture and red satin drapes (? don't really know how to put it) on the walls, and lit candles on the tables. It was awesome.
And here is where I shall end my account, so I can start again with the rest of Les Aventures du Paris tomorrow, when I have more energy. |
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| STONEHENGE! WHERE THE BANSHEES ROAM!! |
[Jul. 22nd, 2003|04:51 pm] |
For those of you who don't know, that title comes from a song, which Damon chanted overandoverandover the whole time we were at Stonehenge.
--That's right. You know that magical, mystical, 7 Wonders of the World kinda place that you learn about on the Discovery Channel? That has been around for over 4000 years, and we still can't figure out how they did it? That links us, as humans, to our most ancient of ancestors not only in architecture, but in religion, spirituality, and our general understanding of or place/space in the Universe? Yeah. We were there.
The youth hostile was surprisingly un-disgusting, and we got up in 2 groups that morning (one at 5:30, another at 6:30) to have an early morning tour of the site. Thought I'd been talking about it with everyone else all weekend, it wasn't til first thing that morning that I crawled out of bed and actually said, "dude. We're going to Stonehenge."
So off we went. There were these absolutely adorable sheep in another Middle-Earth-esque pasture that we baaaa-ed at while waiting for the first group to finish their tour, and then we were off. We got about 15 minutes to wander around amidst them (yes! I stood right in the middle and felt my own personal connection with the history of humankind!), and then we got an awesome history lesson by the tour guide. She told us about how the stones --all hundreds of tons in weight-- were transported over 200 miles away from Wales before the invention of the wheel. That's right. She speculated about how they may have rolled them on logs (for 200+ miles?!?!?!) to get them there, and about how they may have used wooden ramps to get horizontal stones laid atop the vertical ones. She told us about how they used to go all the way around, with the smaller stones being placed there first, and the outer walls arriving second. the whole thing was in-the-making for 1500 years. We're really not sure yet what happened to these people, because we have reason to believe they weren't done with it yet, and then they just disappeared. Pretty crazy. The guide talked about how the shadows and the reflectiveness of the stones--in relation to the positioning of the sun--probably had to do with fertility rights in the symbolic joining of the Sun God and the Earth God. Very relevant to the changing of the seasons and the need for sun and earth to come together to provide sustenance through crops. It's amazing how closely tied religion is to the subsistence of the culture. It was all very beautiful to hear about. But if I recapped all the history I heard about, it would take hours.
But HERE was something REALLY cool. The guide took out a bag of little instruments called dowsing rods. All they were were metal, L-shaped rods, about 12-13 inches by 2-3 inches. We set them on our hands so that we were holding them up but they had the freedom to move, and then she showed us how to find the "energy lines" in the earth. Yeah, pretty far-fetched, but hang in there. So we had one in each hand, and when we were on an energy line, they would warble and cross back and forth over each other, and when we moved off of one, they would straighten out. We all wandered around, weaving in and out of the stones, in circles, in straight lines, or wherever the rods took us. The experience was the same for everyone. If I stood HERE and my rods crossed, then yours would cross HERE as well. They did NOT move with the wind. It was incredible. What were we in contact with--what were we communicating with--?? I don't know. I thought maybe it was magnetic, but then I found out that they could be made of wood or plastic as well. Apparently this is very similar to the way one finds underground water, as well. The guide proposed that there are energy channels--that we don't really know what they're made of--running all through the earth, as our veins run through our bodies. Modern humans have (possibly) largely become uanware of them, as we cover our feet with rubbers soles and cover our grounds with cement and asphalt. But apparently some people can still feeling radiating up through their feet without even using the dowsing rods, and apperently it tends to be stronger for females (which makes sense, if we're feeling the energy of the Earth Goddess!) She speculates that the people who built Stonehenge--as well as the myriad other stone structures (and what about pyramids, etc???) were much more aware of this energy, and felt that they were tapping into a very strong and direct source by raising Stonehenge at that specific site.
-And here's what else was cool. There were a few of the females who were either on their periods or on a specific birth control, who found--and this only held with them--that they got really strong reactions from their rods at certain spots on the ground. Like, there were very specific places where the rods would turn toward you and point at you, and so you'd turn around so see if they would straighten out. But lo and behold, there they were, pointing right at you again. The rods just went crazy at those very few points, and it was only for those very few ladies. Wierd. Were they in touch with some sort of earth-female-fertility-energy-force, or something?? I dunno. But it was wild. And for once, contrary to my typical character, I did not want an explanation. For any of it. For the rods, for the mysticism that surrounded the whole structure and its story, for the "reason" why it existed at all.-- I just wanted to accept it and let it be. Leave it beautiful. Leave it magic. And it was wonderful to surrender that way to a place--an experience--that was so marvelously inexplicable that it just didn't fit into my paradigm of understanding. And I didn't want it to.
I thought I would cry, but I didn't. A few other people did, though. It was just. Magic.
You can't really ask for a better weekend than a chance to be one with the most powerful force of energy on this earth (the ocean, duh) and then get to discover one of the oldest mysteries of humankind and feel its own force of energy--and know that these great phenomena put you right next to-holding hands with-our cousins from 4? 5? 6? thousand years ago. Man, they were there with us, all weekend. Ha! Laugh at me if you want, but it was absolutely spectacular. |
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| The Adventures of Middle Earth |
[Jul. 22nd, 2003|04:06 pm] |
So last weekend, we all hopped on the train as soon as class was out, to head toward the Isle of Wight, which is off the English Channel. Well. That was quite an adventure. The original route we were taking got muddled because one of the trains was cancelled, so we had to take a more complicated path that included the Underground System. So there we were at the train station in London buying out stupid tube passes, and I turn around, realize I'm one of the last in line and everyone is wandering off around the corner. I say, "is anyone gonna wait for us?" and luckily Leann heard me and waited for me. By the time the machine spit out my ticket, everyone had disappeared around the corner. Ok. So we follow suite and reach the platform just in time to see our tube go whizzing off. Great. Not only do we not know how to navigate London Underground, we're not even sure what we need to do next. Luckily Leann kept a MUCH cooler head than me. (I was quite bitter and disshevelled for most of the afternoon.) But we figured out what tube we needed to get on, and then we spent a VERY LONG TIME at the next train station trying to figure out what came next. Neither of us had Dr. Frost's emergency number on us, and neither of us remembered what our ultimate destination was. So, after leaving 2 heart-attack-caliber messages on her parents' answering machine (read: "MOM. This is Leann. I NEED to talk to someone at home. Are ya there? Pick up. Pick up. Ok. Stick by the phone til I call you back.")- she asks me if there's anyone I could call that might help us. I try a friend's cell phone to see if she might hack into my email account and get Frost's number for me, but there seems to be problems with calling US cell phones from the station phones. So I call Nana, at what would've been about 8am in the States, she gets Claire Bear on the phone, and Claire gets into my account and starts opening one email after another until she finds Frost's number for us. VICTORY!!! So we thank them profusely, get off the phone, and discover that Frost's cell phone is apparently OFF. So. We pull out the emergency # card we were given, and call the Foreign Studies office at SWT, and get them to get Dr. Frost on the phone. (Apparently he'd realized we were MIA about 5 seconds after we tried to call him.) So he tells the secretary what we need to do, she then tells us, and we're off. We stop at a couple of stores in the station and buy commemoratory scarves (which I then lost on the train) and a well-deserved bottle of wine for the final trainride. We finally meet up with the group not long after they arrived at the ferry station to the Isle, because apparently we took a fast train and they took a slow one. Perfect. Not too far off schedule.
So then, reunited, we all set out on the ferry ride to island and set up our camping gear when we get there. When that was done, a few of us scrambled down the "cliffs" to the beach to see what it was about. It was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. I rolled up my pants and climbed out on a rock and lifted my arms in homage to the Life Force of the ocean (for which I gained the nickname of Pixie from Dr. Frost. Funny, I've had that nickname before...) The sea was ABSOLUTELY CALLING MY SOUL, so I immediately went and put my suit on to go for a swim right after dinner, but it was way too dark by the time we got back to the campsight. But let me tell you. A group of us just sat out there, near the edge of the cliff, and chatted and listened to the ocean and gazed at the night sky for like HOURS that night. It was JUST. ABSOLUTELY. INCREDIBLE. You hear this flowing ROAR in the not-so-distance, and you think, "that's NOT traffic! That is...that is...the ocean!!" And there was this enormous half-full orange harvest moon climbing up the sky and absolutely haunting the clouds it passed behind. And the STARS. We all know what the stars look like when you can actually see them. We had a couple of forced moments of silence which were magical (and the longer one ultimately interrupted by someone readjusting their velco sneakers, which resulted in bursts of involuntary giggling, but that's how it goes). Man...just ridicuously, disgustingly romantic. We all loved it. About 8 of us slept right out under the stars even though it was chilly and there was a huge tent about 10 feet away. We didn't care.
The next morning we all woke up really early and had breakfast and pretty much milled around the beach and the campsite all day. I, of course, went right down to the water as soon as possible, and absolutely immersed myself in the energy of the waves. I just sat about 1 1/2 feet into the tide and let the waves crash into me. It was surreal, spiritual, perfect, solitary, cleansing, exactly what I needed. I loved it.
Then we were all pretty much on our own to get to Salisbury in time to check into the youth hostile that evening. I went with Kiyomi and Leann and we had a nice dinner in Salisbury and checked out their cathedral (which was FULL of really great stained glass and sarcophaguses--sarcophogi--??) -OH, and the reason this was the Adventures of Middle Earth, is because that's exactly what it looked like on our busride to Salisbury. The Isle of Wight was absolutely untouched--just ancient, pristine, rolling hills full of sheep and goats and green green grass, with lines of trees separating the land, and it was just absolutely picturesque. Right out of Tolkien, baby.
Ok, I'm gonna stop here and tell about Stonehenge in the next one.
Whew! *deep breath* |
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| Chronicles of Canterbury, Volume # ??? |
[Jul. 22nd, 2003|03:52 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | happy | ] |
Alright, so it's been awhile, but I told you I refuse to let this stress me out. Been veddy busy since my last post. In fact, I shoulda checked it to see where I left off. I think Leeds Castle... Well I don't remember anything exciting happening last Tuesday or Wednesday, so we're gonna skip ahead to Thursday. I met up with a friend of a friend in London--at the London Eye--at 5pm. It was Darcie's ex and good friend Jason, who was in London for the day to renew his visa. We had quite a lovely time there, and I was impressed that he knew where on EARTH he was going, because as gorgeous as it is, London is a MESS of windy streets and wierd little nooks. We went by Buckingham Palace so I could take some touristy-type pictures, and we passed by some other really cool places like the House of Parliament and ...ummmm. other stuff I can't remember right now cause it all jumbles together in my head. Then we went and had dinner at this really nice pub (yes, I just used "really nice" and "pub" together!) But Jason had to catch the 7:25 back to the airport so that was the end of our journey together. It was really nice running around London in the early evening with just one person who's actually from the UK (as opposed to a huge group of silly clueless Americans), who could kinda show me about town as we chatted it up. --And good thing Jason took his own way back to a different train station, because I got a bit turned around and didn't reach Waterloo 'til after 8! But that was ok, cause I ended up chatting with this really cool "local" all the way home. He's a few years older than me and not bad looking, and very friendly, so we had a good time. We "snuck" up to first class and he told me all about how he's an emcee (which is kinda like being a deejay or something, for those of you not-so-young folks reading this!) and he told me all about the England music scene, and where we should go out in Canterbury for good music. I told him to email me and let me know next time something exciting happens since he lives either in or near Canterbury, but I haven't heard from him yet. Which is quite alright, because I've found that we all seem to do quite well enough entertaining ourselves as a group with or without the help of the "locals!"
Then I got home from the station just in time to see the last of Karaoke Night at the campus pub. Ohhh lord. Surely we've all been to a Karaoke Night at one point or another, so there's no need for me to explain how ridiculous that was.
Ok, here is where I'm gonna split my journal entries up so their length isn't overwhelming. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 15th, 2003|11:44 pm] |
Ok, so I'm back. Word to the wise: DO NOT try to "hand wash" your laundry just because you don't have the right change. Just go break your £10 (<--ha, I can make a "pound" sign!!) and throw it in the stinkin wash. I tried to hand wash my laundry, and I realized how silly the whole idea was when I started rinsing my "clean" clothes in the little tiny basin and my shirt got soaked with scalding hot water. Not fun. Anyhow, they're clean now, and I've just finished enjoying a nice round of jukebox selections with my cronies at the downstairs pub.
Ok, so. I'd have to say that Sunday was the funnest day I've had so far. And it was so simple. After class, starting at about 3, a bunch of us ended up together on the infamous grassy knoll. -Actually, I was studying like a good girl, and 3 or 4 of my friends came and invaded me (but not unwelcomely). We hung out and chatted allllll evening, and 4 of them let me draw on their feet with a pen. Yeah, don't ask. Ya had to be their. One of the girls liked the design so much that she wanted to go straight away and get a tattoo of it! I was quite flattered. But seriously. Chilling all afternoon and all evening was absolutely the BEST.
Then, yesterday (Monday), we all went to Leeds Castle at about 4pm. It was AMAZING.
Before the tour, we got to roam around the grounds and check out the gardens an stuff. they actually had a hedge maze that was much larger and nicer than the one at Hever. And in the middle of it, you got to go down into this stone-laden tunnel and see a grotto (well, ok I thing the grotto was what I am referring to!) There was this well opening at the top of the maze, and then when you went down into the tunnel-thing, there were all these gorgeous stone walls, and right below the well there was this face that was made obscurely from the shapes of the stones. That is what I understood the "grotto" to be. Then they had an aviary with all kinds of wonderful birds that I took tons of pictures of. They made the best noises! One of them, a cockatto I think, I got to say, "hello?" and the "tsk-tsk-tsk" noise that you make at kitties. It was so great. They had black swans swimming in the mote, and peacocks wandering the grounds. I loved it.
So then we went on a tour of the castle. Again, this was a castle that King Henry VIII was involved with, that he apparently visited Anne Boleyn at frequently. We didn't get to see the whole castle, like we did at Hever, but still. The rooms we did see were just breathtaking. Again, there were the portraits that just reached out at you from centuries ago. The rooms were HUGE, unlike Hever, and they were decorated absolutely exquisitely. For instance, they had incredible Italian marble fireplace imported from who knows where, at who knows when, when who knows who was the current resident of the castle. There was one room, my personal favorite because everything in was absolutely beautiful, that had wood panelling imported from somewhere that the ceiling of the room had to be altered for so that it would fit. Can you imagine the extravagance of that kind of living!!! At first, I questioned the authenticity of the place, because all these changes had taken place since it was first built, but then it occurred to me that those kinds of changes had probably been going on throughout the centuries.
Then, after the castle, we had a delicious dinner and a "play" that one of the classes put on, which was a VERY LOOSE adaptation to the sheppherd's tale from Canterbury tales. It was a riot. Then we all went back and hit the pub.
Ok, well, I have a bit of homework to do, and it is quite late, so I think I'm going to retire now. I'll catch you all up on what else is happening as soon as possible Love to all! |
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| The Chronicles of Canterbury: Volume 3 |
[Jul. 15th, 2003|08:14 pm] |
Hello all! And so I'm at post #3. I almost feel guilty for not doing this more often, but I refuse to make it a source of stress/obligation. So I'll just include as many details as possible in each entry! Well, I didn't end up going on my 21-mile bike ride, but that ended up ok. What happened was that we couldn't figure out how to get enough bedding for 5 people- plus a big tent- plus other supplies onto our backs and on bikes. The situation began to get stressful, and I decided something had to give, so I let that be me. I intended to meet them in Dover (where the beach they went to was) via train later that evening, but I didn't get back from what I did end up doing til almost 10 that night.
-I ended up going to see Hever Castle, which is where Anne Boleyn grew up, with Dr. Warms, his son, Kiyomi, and Damon. First we stopped at a quaint little one-street town and ate packed lunches in the cemetery yard of this precious old church. Then we went on to Hever Castle (which I can't remember what town it's in), which was a very neat experience. It was a smaller castle (presumably because it wasn't built for royalty), but the rooms were just beautiful. We got to walk through every room and read little placards about what went on there. Everything was just exquisite. The books in the library--and there were 1000s of them!- were 100s of years old, and they were absolutely beautiful. I wanted to open them and smell them! And they had all kinds of huge, gorgeous tapestries hanging on the walls, and lots of reeeally old furniture and glassware and stuff. They even had a room which displayed the different kinds of armor and torturing devices. Ha! They had lifesize statues of Henry VIII, his six wives, and his court (since he visited Anne there a lot), and they were so realistic. Looking at the huge paintings of these faces--and you see TONS of the same person--and realizing they were actually sitting there for each and every one of them is just awesome. It really brings home the fact that these uncanny renderings were REAL PEOPLE, not just names in a history book. -And this was where they lived! Right there in those rooms you stand in while gazing at their portraits! It's just unreal.
The grounds of Hever Castle also had a hedge maze, a water maze, and some stunning gardens. It's just like in the movies. (I hate that expression, but it's just so true in this case!) The hedge maze was like one of those metal puzzles, in that it's a lot harder to put it back (or get out of the maze) than it was to undo it (or get to the center). But lots of fun, no less. The water maze was this pool with plants and stones sticking out and a fountain in the center, where you can climb to the top and watch other people get wet. Some of the stones were rigged where water would spout out if they had enough weight on them. I took it easy with the water maze because I was wearing a white shirt that day. :) And the gardens were- well, just how you'd imagine them. TONS and TONS of roses and -well, ok, I don't know a lot of flower names, but you could imagine! And there were little shaded walkways with that HUGE ivy that actually gets bark on it and absolutely takes over whatever it's climbing on. SOOO gorgeous.
After Hever Castle we went to another little town to look at an old church, but I decided to stay in the car. (verrrry tired) Then we headed back home, where we met Susan right as she was hopping out of a taxi. She suggested that us students go out for a little bit, which turned out to be quite a mess. It went from 4 of us thinking we might go by the campus pub, to 8 of us trooping into downtown, trying to find one place that A)would let us in past 11, B)would let us in with our stupid tennis shoes on (although they had no problem with flipflops! go figure), and C)wasn't doing the "one in, one out" number that really packed clubs have to do. ...No luck. After such a ridiculous amount of cavorting around downtown Canterbury "just for a pint" (NOT worth it!!!), I decided it was time for bed.
Alright, I'm gonna take a break from my narrating and throw some laundry in. I'll be back in a bit to catch you all up on what went on yesterday and today. |
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| The Chronicles of Canterbury, Volume 2 |
[Jul. 11th, 2003|11:43 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | exhilarated | ] |
Sorry I haven't updated sooner, it's very busy over here! We've gotten into our coursework, which I am naturally loving cause I'm such a geek of a bookworm. We all went to the Canterbury Cathedral yesterday, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was so awesome learning about the different styles of Gothic architecture and being able to distinguish them at the points where certain areas had been torn down and rebuilt. The place is freakin huge, and it has a very loooong and interesting history. I think my favorite part was going into the Crypt, which is the underneath part that supports the Choir. Nothing in the Crypt had been altered since it was built, and it was absolutely amazing. The air--the atmosphere--was so thickly and thoroughly 14th Century that you just weren't at any other time or place while down there. There's something comforting about the cool, solid feel of really old stone against your hands. I kept leaning my hand on the colemn I was near to, and just thought, "history!!!" to myself. You could feel the age in the walls. I got some great pics of the elaborate ceilings and stained-glass windows. Basically, the place is a monster, especially gazing up at it's flying buttresses and enormous arches from the outside. I loved it.
We also found (or rather, Dr. Frost directed us to) a French-owned Tex-Mex place (in England! nice mixture!) that had killer margaritas and the absolute best tostada I've EVER had. It had goat cheese on it! Way yummy. A few of us took a taxi back to campus after dinner and Roxanne got the scoop from the taxi driver about all the local pubs and clubs that are a must-see.
Then, we had our "wine and cheese social on the grassy knoll." *grin* This was great. I don't remember whose idea it was, I think between myself and a couple other girls. We decided we would acquire a blanket, some cheese, and some wine, and head out to field/hill thing we're all always chillin on, and enjoy the evening. This hill has the most beautiful view of town, and the sun doesn't set here til about 10.30, so it's just the perfect place to hang out. Well, the awesome thing was (aside from how much fun we had regardlessly), by the end of the evening, we had EVERYONE--including all 4 professors and the Dean of Liberal Arts--out there sipping and chatting and having a grand old time with us. It was SO awesome. I guess the word just spread and everyone was down for it. It was so much fun hopping from cluster to cluster, seeing what everyone was up to. I had a very nice conversation with Dean Ellis (or as she insists, Anne Marie). --I only hope my brain did more talking than my wine did! It's surprising how "cool" people over 50 turn out to be sometimes!
You wouldn't believe how quickly a group of 30 people who don't know each other will bond, out of neccesity for human interaction. You could not imagine a tighter group of people-who-just-met. There is not a single one I don't like. Even the couple I don't imagine I'd have much in common with, they're still definitely cool to chat with at lunch or whatever. I can't believe what a blast I'm having, and how awesome all these people are. The chemistry is incredible. The locals even are really awesome. Did I mention in my last post that the bartender at the campus pub told me I had the "best American accent he's ever heard," and I wasn't sure if it was an insult or a compliment? Yep. Hmmm. Anyway, I'm having an absolute blast. Tomorrow, a group of us are renting bikes and riding 21 miles out to the north (?) coast in Dover and camping out by the beach. I cannot wait. We all have our cheese and bread and fruit and granola bars and wine and water, leave it to fate to tell what/where/when we'll sleep! Can you believe I'm over here running around doing stuff like that?! It's wild. I love it. Anyway, I have to rise very early so we can head out to the coast, so that's all for now. I love and miss all of you, and I'm very much enjoying the emails I'm getting. By the way, those of you who aren't livejournal savvy, the order of posts goes backward. As in, this post will appear above the one written before it, and the next post will appear above this one. So keep that in mind when reading through.
Ta for now!!!! |
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| Chronicles of Canterbury, Volume 1 |
[Jul. 8th, 2003|04:32 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | British-Ha! | ] |
Hullo all, I have arrived at my destination of Canterbury, England. WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!! My flight was 9 hours long, and quite tedious. By that I mean that I couldn't sleep, but was too tired to read, and they weren't really playing anything on the TV that I was interested in. I didn't get to sit next to anyone I knew on the plane, and I had a drink in hopes that it would help me sleep, but it only made me frustrated 'cause then I was really tired and STILL couldn't sleep. But it was painless enough, over all. After all, who am I to complain about a flight TO EUROPE?!?!?
We took 2 trains and a taxi to get to the campus, and it was about 2pm by the time we arrived. I'd only gotten about 1 1/2 hours of dozing on the plane, so I was zonked, but I followed the orders of trying not to sleep and trooped into town with everyone else. It's about a half-hour walk from campus to downtown, and it's beautiful. English ivy everywhere and windy little roads filled with red brick houses. We didn't visit the Cathedral yet or anything, just meandered up and down the main street. It is absolutely picturesque. Just exactly what you would expect an old English village to look like. There are tons of cute little shops that myself and my wallet will attempt to distance ourselves from, and about 1000 adorable coffee shops that I'll probably all but live in!
It was so odd at first to hear all these proper English accents everywhere I turned and realize it was the norm, but I got used to it quickly, and as I feared, it's already wearing off. *sheepish grin*
Somehow I managed to stay alive long enough to come home from town, eat dinner, shower, and even introduce myself to the campus pub. The bartenders are an absolute riot, and apparently there are several local students who tend to "fancy the Texans," so we had a grand old time showcasing our telltale accents and general ignorance of the culture.
I got to bed around 12:30 (6:30pm your time), after basically being up since 10:30am US time the morning before. (It felt more like 4am!) This morning I awoke around 6:45 and was unable to go back to sleep, so I headed down for breakfast around 8. Afterward, I returned to my room and drifted in and out of consciousness til about 3pm. T'was very nice, and very necessary.
The buildings of the campus are not all that pretty, but the rolling hills and fields, and the killer view of downtown from campus most definitely make up for it. I really like pretty much everyone in our group. There are the partiers who plan on being the pub mascots, the intellectual culture freaks who intend to see every museum they can get their hands on, the guy who jogged twice around downtown before breakfast and plans on renting a bike and cycling 6 miles to the coast, the shy ones who are down for whatever someone else suggests that we do, and a few random others who fit somewhere in between. Glad to have company that caters to different interests of my own. :)
Anyway, I guess that's about enough for now. And don't worry--not every post will be as dry and play-by-play as this one. I just wanted to set up the background canvas for ya. Classes start tomorrow, and I believe we're going on a tour of the Cathedral as well. So I'll let ya know how all that goes. Hope everyone is doing well! |
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