Part two tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
Several Nevers
1. Never do a play that starts out as a male order bride-husband mix-up.
2. Never promise to do a play three months away when you are not sure who will play in it and you are pretty sure you will have no actors.
3. Never do a play that involves a nurse with a new age religion, a gay hindu doctor and his lover the midwife who has been to prison, and a Southern Baptist drawl cowboy car salesman who is the husband of a wife who also is into New Age. (Ok, maybe do that. It seemed funny at the time.)
4. Never make a play in two weeks, and agonize over how bad it still is, and then have it cancelled.
5. Never agree to do a totally different play in less than two weeks.
6. Never agree that changing main actors two days before the play is a good idea. Also never agree that you think it will still be a nice play if you do agree that changing actors two days before the play is a good idea.
7. Never agree to do a play in the middle of the day when you promised someone you would help them find a place to live in Leuven at the exact same time.
8. Never agree to get all the lights and sound set up when you don't even know how to buy a vowel. Or a light. Or a mike.
9. Never agree to dress up as a woman for a play. Again.
10. Never agree to impersonate a Spanish man pretending to be a spanish woman. Ever.
11. Never agree to do a play that clearly no one wants to play and that you don't actually understand why you are doing it yourself, especially if it's the first play of the year.
13. Never think that it won't be alright, since it's only fifteen minutes of your life. Really.
All I have to say is, when all the signs point to 'this is a bad idea clearly getting worse' I may need to learn to jump ship before I take people down with it. I don't know why I have this 'never say quit until I die' policy, but while it's good in some cases, I feel that I may have overdone it a bit. I'm alright for playing this play, and it will be fine, but it's sad because it could have been so much better, and the circumstances make it something not very nice, so that makes me sad. But, I am trying to be zen about things, so I will do my best to be happy and perservere. I think it will be alright.
I need to go to bed. And then I need to go to Brussels in the morning. If we have time. Sigh.
2. Never promise to do a play three months away when you are not sure who will play in it and you are pretty sure you will have no actors.
3. Never do a play that involves a nurse with a new age religion, a gay hindu doctor and his lover the midwife who has been to prison, and a Southern Baptist drawl cowboy car salesman who is the husband of a wife who also is into New Age. (Ok, maybe do that. It seemed funny at the time.)
4. Never make a play in two weeks, and agonize over how bad it still is, and then have it cancelled.
5. Never agree to do a totally different play in less than two weeks.
6. Never agree that changing main actors two days before the play is a good idea. Also never agree that you think it will still be a nice play if you do agree that changing actors two days before the play is a good idea.
7. Never agree to do a play in the middle of the day when you promised someone you would help them find a place to live in Leuven at the exact same time.
8. Never agree to get all the lights and sound set up when you don't even know how to buy a vowel. Or a light. Or a mike.
9. Never agree to dress up as a woman for a play. Again.
10. Never agree to impersonate a Spanish man pretending to be a spanish woman. Ever.
11. Never agree to do a play that clearly no one wants to play and that you don't actually understand why you are doing it yourself, especially if it's the first play of the year.
13. Never think that it won't be alright, since it's only fifteen minutes of your life. Really.
All I have to say is, when all the signs point to 'this is a bad idea clearly getting worse' I may need to learn to jump ship before I take people down with it. I don't know why I have this 'never say quit until I die' policy, but while it's good in some cases, I feel that I may have overdone it a bit. I'm alright for playing this play, and it will be fine, but it's sad because it could have been so much better, and the circumstances make it something not very nice, so that makes me sad. But, I am trying to be zen about things, so I will do my best to be happy and perservere. I think it will be alright.
I need to go to bed. And then I need to go to Brussels in the morning. If we have time. Sigh.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Birthday!
This was my birthday breakfast! It was toasty! =D
This was my birthday card from my brothers! They all actually signed it! =D (Miracles of miracles, let me tell you.)
This is a check from my grandma on my Mom's side! I laughed when I got this, because she just can't stop sending me money, no matter how old I get!
These are two very funny books I recieved from my mom! Love her!
I got sport socks! Wicked!
This is Ginny, my Belgian Buddy in training! I am teaching her the ways of the Force! =D
This is Jeanne! She had steak for dinner! So did I!
This is Peter, Jeanne and Ginny sitting together in the park. We had ice cream. It was nice!
This is Peter taking the picture. Peter said my camera was crap. I agreed!
Then I took Ginny back to her place, and walked 5 kms home! (Good times. Long story.)
Anyways, I'm tired, but I'm 23! =D
Thursday, September 07, 2006
You know, I am deciding that I may just absolve myself of any guilt/and or responsibility EVER for lack of familial communication. I haven't talked to them in approximately a month now. For all they know, I could be dead! It could be some other guy writing this! You don't know because my face hasn't been in any pictures lately!
I mean, really. I have been trying to get a hold of them, but there's no love. NO LOVE, I SWEAR.
*grumble* See if I try and make the effort, then noooo, but when I'm actually busy and the school year is crazy, THEN they want to talk*
In other news, I used french today! Good times! (Except I STILL don't know when to say 'bon' and when to say 'bien' although I read it somewhere a long time ago the different usage.)
I mean, really. I have been trying to get a hold of them, but there's no love. NO LOVE, I SWEAR.
*grumble* See if I try and make the effort, then noooo, but when I'm actually busy and the school year is crazy, THEN they want to talk*
In other news, I used french today! Good times! (Except I STILL don't know when to say 'bon' and when to say 'bien' although I read it somewhere a long time ago the different usage.)
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
I want to tell you all how much I love where I know live, because this program was brought to you by toast...the kind you have in a toaster. And in case you're wondering, yes I did eat half a loaf of bread on Sunday with jam. Yes I did.
This was the first time I've had toast (at home) in a year and a half.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Tired
Well, I am very tired because I helped friends move today...all day, but it was good because there was a whole girl's scout troup worth of people that came. It was really fun, and wicked good excercise as well! =D (Part of my total enjoyment factor!) So that makes me happy, since I got to spend a really good day with a lot of really cool people. It also meant that I did language stuff late at night, which meant low rentention, but it's all low rentention, baby! =D Anyways, have lots to say, but I'm really too tired to say most of it, but needless to say, I am glad I helped them, and they managed to get all their stuff moved (and remember how I brought way too many books? Well, Jim and Krista own AT LEAST three times more books than I own. So I do not feel bad at all about how many books I have here. And, I plan to de-load some of them through selling, giving away or whatever ASAP. As soon as I'm in my new room I will de-clutter. It will be fun.)
Anyways, I am too tired to say much, but a little is alright. Things here are well. I am well. I'm planning on doing another art contest, although I won't say when yet, but probably in the near future! =D Talk to you all soon!
Anyways, I am too tired to say much, but a little is alright. Things here are well. I am well. I'm planning on doing another art contest, although I won't say when yet, but probably in the near future! =D Talk to you all soon!
Monday, August 28, 2006
Yet another episode from BRENNAN'S COOKBOOK OF TERRIBLY....GOOD FOOD!!!
Yes, yes, YES! It's that time again, so get on your oven mitts of mass destruction, and sit back while I take you on another messy cooking eat-dition which will include two of my favourite things, cheese, and...everything else! This one is simple, so simple, which means that I could make it and not mess it up! Well, uh, relatively speaking, of course! =D
Swingin' Ciabatta Pizza Snack
Snack itself:
1 loaf of ciabatta bread
3/4 cup of shredded ham (or approximately 4-5 pieces of pre-packaged ham)
1 tomato
3/4 cup mushrooms (or about 1/2 can or about 4-6 mushrooms, depending on your love of fun guys, I mean, fungi. Don't cook fun-loving men in the oven. Everyone knows the Silence of the Lambs was only a good movie because of Jack Nicholson, not because of the subject matter. Er, literally.)
1 and 1/2-2 cups of shredded cheese (I used Gouda because the Gouda I had was turning out to be...on the edge of passing from the state where I could eat it--because I don't believe in eating moldy cheese. Although one time I accidentally ate a cheese that had mold on it. This made me unhappy.)
Pizza sauce (recipe below)
Olive oil (because everything that even remotely has to do with pizza in Europe has olive oil. Seemed like a good idea at the time.)
Zippy Pizza Sauce (No, really, it has a lot of spice. You might want to tone it down a bit.)
500ml of tomato sauce
1 tblspn of mayo
3 tspns of oregano
2 tspns of spaghetti seasoning (or thyme, rosemary, garlic and basil each in small amounts,. about half a tsp each)
1 tspn of cumin
pinch of chili powder
The first step is the sauce, because this part actually takes a bit. You will need about 500ml of tomato sauce, so, in other words, a can or so. Or, if you live where I do, tomato sauce often comes in these cute little boxes. I had to show you because, well, you know. I think everything is novel.
Next, pour the sauce into a small pot, and add a table spoon of mayo. You can use miracle whip, but the mayo I have here is really good (one of the many food perks of Belgium) so do the best you can, but something to make it creamy. I don't recommend cream. Really, use something like, well, anything, but you don't want to thin out the sauce, you want it thick. Yay for super-fattening products produced from eggs. (You know, Belgians produce really rich foods, but hardly any of them are overweight. Can you say....strange?)
Now you need to take your crazy looking mayo and tomato sauce mixture, and produce something tasty. We do this by adding the appropriate amount of spice to make it taste pizza-esque. Basically, garlic and some oregano will be fine, but if you're like me, you realize that you have fourteen million spice bottles, that you'll never use all of them, and so the easy solution to this problem is for you to pour as many spices as possible into every single meal. You can follow my choice in spices, which include a spaghetti mix of spices (because I didn't have any rosemary or thyme on hand. I feel like singing Simon and Garfunkel now, but I digress.) garlic, oregano, cumin and chili powder. You need to cook this for about 15 mins or until flavours mix. Make sure it's on low heat, unless you like red stains on your clothes. (Again, this could be yet another good time to reference Silence of the Lambs, but, let's say we did, and not.)
While your sauce is a-cookin', you can now make your toppings as you desire. I was originally going to use some salami I had, but I decided that I didn't really want to use up all my meat in one sitting, and so I stuck with the ham, which turned out to be a good idea, since the toppings all hardly fit on the pizza as is. As you can see, it doesn't look like much, but my loaf of bread wasn't that big. Also, I really should have used more mushrooms, since because of a milk accident with the box of fresh mushrooms I had, they went a little, uh, bad. To say the least. (Don't ask.)
Now we take out bread, like so, cut it length-wise, and apply the olive oil on first and then a layer of pizza sauce (generous or stingy, depending on your sauce-preference.) which should be ready by now, unless you cut things slower than I do. Which should be nearly impossible, I'd say. Now that I think of it, you could probably use any long bread to make this thing, and actually, on a baguette wouldn't be half bad. Something grainy would have also have been nice. So, anything goes, really, no rules here. Not that I cook with rules. That much is certainly obvious.
So sauces and oils applied like so. Do not be alarmed by the view from the side. Your head is attached right. Mine isn't because I forgot to add in the picture at the right view. 'Nuff said.
This is what they looked like as they went in the oven. Again, I would like to point out that the oven that is in the house I now live in (I could cry that's how happy I am. AN OVEN.) is not sideways, like some bad Coca-cola commercial, but instead, I really should re-orient all my photos. Later.
This is what they will look like when finished. I cut them in half, and it makes 4 rather generous pieces. I couldn't eat more than three of them, and saved a fourth for lunch the next day. (And burnt the roof of my mouth because I thought I could get away with eating it while it was still burning hot. I was hungry.)
So, that's all for this episode! I also managed to make a pizza dough, but I haven't perfected it yet *in other words, I got too hungry and ate it before it was fully cooked because I'm a genius* so I will give out a recipe when I have it down pat. (I hate making dough, by the way, and I'm very bad at it. Currently a skill I need to learn.)'
This would have been up sooner, but thanks to Blogger which eats my photos 75% of the time, I nearly cried trying to put this up. I'll post more later, probably in the next day or three. I have lots to say, but it's 2:30 in the morning, and...I need sleep. =D
Swingin' Ciabatta Pizza Snack
Snack itself:
1 loaf of ciabatta bread
3/4 cup of shredded ham (or approximately 4-5 pieces of pre-packaged ham)
1 tomato
3/4 cup mushrooms (or about 1/2 can or about 4-6 mushrooms, depending on your love of fun guys, I mean, fungi. Don't cook fun-loving men in the oven. Everyone knows the Silence of the Lambs was only a good movie because of Jack Nicholson, not because of the subject matter. Er, literally.)
1 and 1/2-2 cups of shredded cheese (I used Gouda because the Gouda I had was turning out to be...on the edge of passing from the state where I could eat it--because I don't believe in eating moldy cheese. Although one time I accidentally ate a cheese that had mold on it. This made me unhappy.)
Pizza sauce (recipe below)
Olive oil (because everything that even remotely has to do with pizza in Europe has olive oil. Seemed like a good idea at the time.)
Zippy Pizza Sauce (No, really, it has a lot of spice. You might want to tone it down a bit.)
500ml of tomato sauce
1 tblspn of mayo
3 tspns of oregano
2 tspns of spaghetti seasoning (or thyme, rosemary, garlic and basil each in small amounts,. about half a tsp each)
1 tspn of cumin
pinch of chili powder
The first step is the sauce, because this part actually takes a bit. You will need about 500ml of tomato sauce, so, in other words, a can or so. Or, if you live where I do, tomato sauce often comes in these cute little boxes. I had to show you because, well, you know. I think everything is novel.
Next, pour the sauce into a small pot, and add a table spoon of mayo. You can use miracle whip, but the mayo I have here is really good (one of the many food perks of Belgium) so do the best you can, but something to make it creamy. I don't recommend cream. Really, use something like, well, anything, but you don't want to thin out the sauce, you want it thick. Yay for super-fattening products produced from eggs. (You know, Belgians produce really rich foods, but hardly any of them are overweight. Can you say....strange?)
Now you need to take your crazy looking mayo and tomato sauce mixture, and produce something tasty. We do this by adding the appropriate amount of spice to make it taste pizza-esque. Basically, garlic and some oregano will be fine, but if you're like me, you realize that you have fourteen million spice bottles, that you'll never use all of them, and so the easy solution to this problem is for you to pour as many spices as possible into every single meal. You can follow my choice in spices, which include a spaghetti mix of spices (because I didn't have any rosemary or thyme on hand. I feel like singing Simon and Garfunkel now, but I digress.) garlic, oregano, cumin and chili powder. You need to cook this for about 15 mins or until flavours mix. Make sure it's on low heat, unless you like red stains on your clothes. (Again, this could be yet another good time to reference Silence of the Lambs, but, let's say we did, and not.)
While your sauce is a-cookin', you can now make your toppings as you desire. I was originally going to use some salami I had, but I decided that I didn't really want to use up all my meat in one sitting, and so I stuck with the ham, which turned out to be a good idea, since the toppings all hardly fit on the pizza as is. As you can see, it doesn't look like much, but my loaf of bread wasn't that big. Also, I really should have used more mushrooms, since because of a milk accident with the box of fresh mushrooms I had, they went a little, uh, bad. To say the least. (Don't ask.)
Now we take out bread, like so, cut it length-wise, and apply the olive oil on first and then a layer of pizza sauce (generous or stingy, depending on your sauce-preference.) which should be ready by now, unless you cut things slower than I do. Which should be nearly impossible, I'd say. Now that I think of it, you could probably use any long bread to make this thing, and actually, on a baguette wouldn't be half bad. Something grainy would have also have been nice. So, anything goes, really, no rules here. Not that I cook with rules. That much is certainly obvious.
So sauces and oils applied like so. Do not be alarmed by the view from the side. Your head is attached right. Mine isn't because I forgot to add in the picture at the right view. 'Nuff said.
This is what they looked like as they went in the oven. Again, I would like to point out that the oven that is in the house I now live in (I could cry that's how happy I am. AN OVEN.) is not sideways, like some bad Coca-cola commercial, but instead, I really should re-orient all my photos. Later.
This is what they will look like when finished. I cut them in half, and it makes 4 rather generous pieces. I couldn't eat more than three of them, and saved a fourth for lunch the next day. (And burnt the roof of my mouth because I thought I could get away with eating it while it was still burning hot. I was hungry.)
So, that's all for this episode! I also managed to make a pizza dough, but I haven't perfected it yet *in other words, I got too hungry and ate it before it was fully cooked because I'm a genius* so I will give out a recipe when I have it down pat. (I hate making dough, by the way, and I'm very bad at it. Currently a skill I need to learn.)'
This would have been up sooner, but thanks to Blogger which eats my photos 75% of the time, I nearly cried trying to put this up. I'll post more later, probably in the next day or three. I have lots to say, but it's 2:30 in the morning, and...I need sleep. =D
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
A Trip!
And really, it totally did. Apart from eating, sleeping, and drinking (Karen did all the consumption of alcoholic beverages) we did not much else other than think about hanging out somewhere else for the day at some random cafe. It was really fun, and I miss her already, even if she had malaria. (Time will tell, har har.) We talked about lots of things, and ate lots of things, and Karen decided that she would go home fat, and I said I was waaaay eating too many things with cream sauces by the second or third day (Seriously, my resolve went out the WINDOW) and now I have to begin the steep up hill climb called DON'T EAT SO MUCH, BRENNAN, SAVE YOURSELF! So yeah. I have too much food left here, and most of it is cheese. (And don't think I'll forgive you, KAREN, for leaving all that chocolate here, either. Do you have any idea how much junk food I now have here?!?!?) Other than the last half day and morning when I felt really, really tired, I had a really good time, and I am so glad she came. Anyways, I'll post more a little later, for now I have to go to bed. I was up late tonight talking to Andrea about French perfume. (Don't ask, it's the sort of thing me and Andrea talk about over the internet. It's like Seinfeld without the paycheck.)
OK, later days!
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Post before....tomorrow
Or is it today? Well, whatever. Today is the last day I will be sleeping in 'my place,' I think, other than for small things here and there, I am pretty much done here. Tomorrow I will pack up everything else I haven't packed up yet, since pretty much everything is ready to go, and Patrick said he will come with his car tomorrow night, and I will move everything, yes, EVERYTHING, minus a few bits and pieces, over to my new place. I'm pretty excited. (Also a little nervous about having to clean and pack for a whole day straight until I go to bed. Yeah. Fun times.) Anyways, I'm really happy that Patrick is helping me, and I really appreciate that he is, and boy, I don't deserve such good friends. Yoy.
Anyways, the interesting thing about today is that I spent it with Polish Perogie master Zuzanna, and she made me literally a meal of perogie, which is good, but bad, especially when she basically makes you eat them all. I ate approximately two dozen perogies. I literally wanted to cry from how much I ate. It was really tasty. And, honestly, I am extremely envious at how well Zuzanna can make a dough. She's a DOUGH MASTER.
Here is Zuzanna at work. I'm not sure if this is a Zuzanna thing or an all Polish women thing, but geez, I wasn't allowed to help in the kitchen! I tried, though. Usually she just told me to sit down and eat. OK, then.
I did get to pinch a bunch of perogies, though, which was way fun. She reminded me about how to use a fork to close the perogies. What was really cool was that we made dessert perogie, and ate them with various sweet toppings like sugar and stuff. Way cool. I also recieved a bunch of phone calls while we were making things. I felt special.
This is Zuzanna making her "I'm going to kill you in the face once you're done taking this picture because I hate pictures" face. Besides that, however, we had a great time, and we made way too many perogies for the two of us. As is obvious since Zuzanna made me eat pretty much all of them. And she didn't eat any of the 'regular' ones which we filled with mushrooms, but only at the dessert ones, and fried a bunch for me in butter. Zuzanna was very self-conscious about her skill at making perogie, and I think she thinks they turned out badly. Personally, I was quite happy with them. They're my comfort food. They're not like, say, anything which ever really gets you going, but they're just nice to have and they really fill you up, and it helped me to learn a better recipe, and a couple tricks here and there. Every time I took a bite, Zuzanna was watching my reaction, which was highly unnerving. This would have been less unnerving if I knew I didn't do the same thing when I was unhappy with how my cooking turns out. Anyways, we had a very nice time, even if I was very tired by the end. I nearly busted my gut trying to walk home on a full stomach, though, lemme tell ya. Good times. I promised I would have her over for a meal once I moved into my new place.
Anyways, it's obscenely late here, so I should go, and I wish you all the best, and I'll talk to you all very soon!
Anyways, the interesting thing about today is that I spent it with Polish Perogie master Zuzanna, and she made me literally a meal of perogie, which is good, but bad, especially when she basically makes you eat them all. I ate approximately two dozen perogies. I literally wanted to cry from how much I ate. It was really tasty. And, honestly, I am extremely envious at how well Zuzanna can make a dough. She's a DOUGH MASTER.
Here is Zuzanna at work. I'm not sure if this is a Zuzanna thing or an all Polish women thing, but geez, I wasn't allowed to help in the kitchen! I tried, though. Usually she just told me to sit down and eat. OK, then.
I did get to pinch a bunch of perogies, though, which was way fun. She reminded me about how to use a fork to close the perogies. What was really cool was that we made dessert perogie, and ate them with various sweet toppings like sugar and stuff. Way cool. I also recieved a bunch of phone calls while we were making things. I felt special.
This is Zuzanna making her "I'm going to kill you in the face once you're done taking this picture because I hate pictures" face. Besides that, however, we had a great time, and we made way too many perogies for the two of us. As is obvious since Zuzanna made me eat pretty much all of them. And she didn't eat any of the 'regular' ones which we filled with mushrooms, but only at the dessert ones, and fried a bunch for me in butter. Zuzanna was very self-conscious about her skill at making perogie, and I think she thinks they turned out badly. Personally, I was quite happy with them. They're my comfort food. They're not like, say, anything which ever really gets you going, but they're just nice to have and they really fill you up, and it helped me to learn a better recipe, and a couple tricks here and there. Every time I took a bite, Zuzanna was watching my reaction, which was highly unnerving. This would have been less unnerving if I knew I didn't do the same thing when I was unhappy with how my cooking turns out. Anyways, we had a very nice time, even if I was very tired by the end. I nearly busted my gut trying to walk home on a full stomach, though, lemme tell ya. Good times. I promised I would have her over for a meal once I moved into my new place.
Anyways, it's obscenely late here, so I should go, and I wish you all the best, and I'll talk to you all very soon!
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Moooooooovin'
Ok, so maybe no cows will be involved, but you never know. (Well, other than the lovely cow postcard on my wall. Liz, you're an angel.)
Anyways, I start moving stuff today, and I will be officially living in my new place starting, uh, tomorrow or the day after, I guess. Whew, I don't even know. Wow. Anyways, I can't believe I'm moving already, I haven't adjusted to this idea yet, but I think it will be very, very nice. And I kinda...forgot that I was moving so soon. LOL. It kinda crept up on me. Talk about being in my own world. (Yeah, big surprise for me.)
I haven't decided whether I will move in and show Karen my 'new' place, since she made special mentioned she wanted to see how Brennan would live on his own, which I totally understand, or if I should just get the moving over with. I don't really know which to do, since it would actually be bigger and my room staying in my studio, but it would be nicer living accomodations at my 'new place. Any ideas?
OK, well, I'm outta here, it's almost midnight already, and geez, where does the time go, eh? This summer is going so fast. (TOO fast for me, actually. Need more time! LOL. Never thought I'd say that, sheesh.) So, if you drop me a line, before August 15th would probably be the smartest, and I'll send my new address within a week and a bit. =D
Anyways, I start moving stuff today, and I will be officially living in my new place starting, uh, tomorrow or the day after, I guess. Whew, I don't even know. Wow. Anyways, I can't believe I'm moving already, I haven't adjusted to this idea yet, but I think it will be very, very nice. And I kinda...forgot that I was moving so soon. LOL. It kinda crept up on me. Talk about being in my own world. (Yeah, big surprise for me.)
I haven't decided whether I will move in and show Karen my 'new' place, since she made special mentioned she wanted to see how Brennan would live on his own, which I totally understand, or if I should just get the moving over with. I don't really know which to do, since it would actually be bigger and my room staying in my studio, but it would be nicer living accomodations at my 'new place. Any ideas?
OK, well, I'm outta here, it's almost midnight already, and geez, where does the time go, eh? This summer is going so fast. (TOO fast for me, actually. Need more time! LOL. Never thought I'd say that, sheesh.) So, if you drop me a line, before August 15th would probably be the smartest, and I'll send my new address within a week and a bit. =D
Saturday, July 29, 2006
London
So here are some pictures from London, which is very, very nice and I liked it very, very much, if for no other reason that the great people I hung out with
.
I had to wake up at 3:45 in the morning to catch my train because I had to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and walk to the train station. All I can say is that it was depressing to see that while I was walking to go on a big adventure, most people still hadn't gone home from the bars because Thursday is party night, and I left Friday before the sun came up.
Traveling on the Eurostar was fun, once I got on it and everything. It was pretty nice. I like train travel, I think. Although all I did was sleep the entire way with my face smushed against the glass.
Once I got into London, Caitlin and Bridget, (after a hug tackle that Caitlin is infamous for) being the kind souls that they were, helped me to find a cheap place to eat breakfast. This cost me 3 pounds. I was so happy I could have cried. (Re: Meat is expensive in Belgium)
Not to mention it was really, really good. All the breakfasts I had were approximately 3-4 pounds, and they were all this size...you know, meal size. It was so refreshing.
This is a picture of Caitlin while we went to look at the Cathedral where Nelson's tomb was. I like this picture for some reason, although it's very fuzzy. Note how very, very smily Caitlin looks. By the end of the weekend she was giving me the infamous two fingers about every fifteen minutes. I won't say I didn't deserve it. (What can I say, I was cheeky.)
This was in front of...St...Paul's? I think? I don't remember the Cathedral name, since we didn't go in (because it cost 9 pounds to look at stuff in there, and Bridget got in for free because she was researching there.) but Bridget was very nice and told me all about the differences between Ionic and Corinthian and...uh...another type of column. Anyways, the long and short of it is (no pun intended) that there are 'male' and 'female' version columns. Who knew? Not me. I really should go look that up, now that I think of it.
This is me looking like a deer in headlights for some reason while I look over yonder. We were in the church waiting to see how much it cost and stuff.
This is what a typical London intersection looked like. Busy. We were on our way to the Virgin megastore, in which Caitlin nearly lost her sanity, and certainly lightened her wallet. The next day when we went there again, I also bought a bunch of stuff, and now I own a bunch more CDs, and they're actually quite nice. Virgin megastores are really, really big. like, not just by European standards...they're REALLY, REALLY big. I can't imagine how much it would cost for them to have a store that big in central London.
This, Caitlin informed me, is where all the famous Shakespeare actors studied. I was really impressed, it looks like a really rundown building, in a pretty normalized neighbourood, but I guess that's where all the genius hides.
Caitlin nearly cried when she saw this sign that said this was once the home of the Pre-Raphaelites. I was like, "Whose the Pre-Raphaelites?" All I could think about was religious orders at the time, so it didn't make any sense to me. I got it later. Good one, Brennan.
This was Caitlin and me in a VERY dodgy going-outta-business store where they literally were GIVING things away. Everything sold for one or two pounds. I made Caitlin try on this hat. I also tried on hats, and she laughed at me. It was fun. Now, it was funny because I practically DRAGGED Caitlin in there, and she was the one who found a nice Dr. Who shirt for very cheap. I tell ya. No gratitude. =D
This I saw while we were walking to the museum. I had to take a picture because I just would not have grown up the same without Calvin and Hobbes, and really, even thoughI practically wanted to own this placard, what would I do with a placard? I certainly couldn't put on some rank smelling clothing and then walk around proclaiming the "End is nigh!" (Even if that's a very Calvin and Hobbes thing to do, really.) I just wouldn't suit me. I'm not tall enough to be a doomsday-guy. They're all lanky and stuff. I thought this was the greatest thing on earth until Caitlin told me she had taken a picture of the very same thing for her ex-boyfriend. Then I was a little embarrassed. But I still really like the picture.
This was the front of the museum...of...uh....um....Liz would know. I forgot already. It was either the V & A, or the British Museum...I think it was the British Museum. =D The best thing about British Museums is that they are, for the most part, completely free, which I think is terrific. If I had any sort of income, I would have given money of large sorts, but, uh, I don't. =(
This was one of the many, many Buddha-buddies in the East-Asian gallery. And, to suit the atmosphere of the culture, it was stifling and hot in there. We basically looked at some jade, chatted about Eastern culture, and headed on out.
THIS WAS TERRIFIC!!!! Well, I was happy, even if Caitlin was pretty disenchanted. This is the Rosetta Stone, and wow, it's big! I thought it would be a little smaller for some reason. Anyways, it was really cool, and I really, really liked the fact that I got to see it. Especially, when I was like, "Hey is this the Rosetta Stone?" and Caitlin said, "Yeah, I guess." Then I started doing my happy dance.
This was the thing I liked best out of everything we saw, I think. This was the Temple of the Nereids. This was a burial temple for a family, I think, and it was just beautiful, and MASSIVE. Like, mega uber massive. And it was just so beautiful. I really liked this.
I don't know why I found this appealing, but I did. I guess it represented to me all the things that I ever supposed that a headless statue would be, if that makes any sense at all.
This is Caitlin taking an ULTIMATE CHOMP out of her ULTIMATE BURGER. There was an honest-to-goodness burger restaurant, and I hadn't had a REAL MEAT BURGER IN, LIKE, A YEAR, and so we had hamburgers, and it was everything I thought it would be. I love meat. I really, really love meat.
Look at how beautiful it is. *Sniff* Look at it. *SOB* I MISS YOU ALL BEEF PATTIES!!!! If you look, you can see the chili fries we had with the meal. While they weren't anything too special, I didn't care BECAUSE THE FRIES HAD MEAT. That made me happy. Really, really happy. I love beef. Regardless how much this meal costed, it was totally worth it. TOTALLY.
After this pleasant meal, we went to the V & A , which had some really impressive fashion galleries, and a bunch of modern art. Because Caitlin said I wasn't supposed to take pictures in most of the galleries, I just took the ones where she said it was alright or didn't yell at me for taking photos. Probably the two most interesting things were
'
This
and this. The hanging...um...whatever it was...was at the start of the museum, dangling above the museum receptionist's head. The crazy bicycle thingy was actually a piece of art which had one of those coin wells where you put in a coin and watch it go round and round was at the end of the museum. It was made to work only for larger coins, we thought, since the small coins basically just went klunk, but like I was giving them 2 pounds to see something roll. I mean, really.
The next day, we went to Trafalgar Square, with the whole history of the battle of Trafalgar, blah blah blah, ask Bridget about it. It was very, very, VERY crowded, and Caitlin didn't like the tourists, even though she accepted the fact that she was one of them. I accepted the fact that she, as she puts it, "At least tried to learn something about the culture before coming here, and not just walking around aimlessly." And, I mean, really, all Caitlin and Bridget did while I was there was fill my head with facts. Very fun.
I don't know why I like this picture, but really, this is just so typical. Don't they both just look so smart? I mean, really.
This is us figuring out how to get to one of the places Bridget needed to see for her research. Very nice. We also mapped out how to get to Church for the evening, and they indulged me by letting me visit Buckingham Palace. (I'm of the impression that they had no desire to go. Especially since that's what they said while they waited outside the gates.)
This was the monument at Buckingham Palace. I was pretty non-plussed with the palace on whole...I was expecting more trumpets, or fountains going off while men on horses talked genially with ladies and tipped their hats. I don't know why I thought that but I did. However, I did get to see the soldiers in fuzzy hats, AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AND MAN IT WAS GREAT. I watched them do some marching, and I decided that being a soldier in a fuzzy hat made you a near certain volunteer for shin splints. Keep digging in those heels. I would love to watch a military parade or an English march past now. Military drill. Never get tired of it.
This was 'Mini-Big-Ben' which we saw on our way to Church. I also saw the real Big Ben from a distance, and I didn't see any need to get closer, since it also was a little disenchanting. I was kinda hoping it was...well, bigger. Sad, right? Anyways, this guy was constructed during the time when Big Ben wasn't working, as an apology to the people of London. It said something to that affect on the plaque. That's another thing, everything in London has a plaque. Everything.
This impressive building is where we went to church. It was absurdly big, and I mean that. I was so big that they had....something like six people serving communion. I think there were more than a 1000 chairs in there. It was very pretty, but it had too much smell of tourism, so there just wasn't any 'feel' to it that was probably supposed to be there. Mass was also a bit of a downer because, well, there was no singing. Yeah. It was all spoken, so I was really sad because I wanted to hear some English hymns. But it was still really nice because I went to mass with some very nice people. =) I have now heard Mass in 4 countries. Not bad.
Anyways, that's my trip! After all this, we went back and relaxed and just chatted the night away. I got up at 5 in the morning to catch my train, and I had a wonderful time. I'm SO glad I went. It was a really good break for me, and it was a nice sort of way to forget about school for a bit and just veg. I slept HUGE hours, even though it was really, really hot there. I had fun, and I would say that London is really fun. I liked it. I would certainly recommend you go, since it's so accessible and not too unfamiliar. =)
OK, well, I'm outta hear. It's late, and this took a while because I uploaded so many pictures. =P Later days!
.
I had to wake up at 3:45 in the morning to catch my train because I had to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and walk to the train station. All I can say is that it was depressing to see that while I was walking to go on a big adventure, most people still hadn't gone home from the bars because Thursday is party night, and I left Friday before the sun came up.
Traveling on the Eurostar was fun, once I got on it and everything. It was pretty nice. I like train travel, I think. Although all I did was sleep the entire way with my face smushed against the glass.
Once I got into London, Caitlin and Bridget, (after a hug tackle that Caitlin is infamous for) being the kind souls that they were, helped me to find a cheap place to eat breakfast. This cost me 3 pounds. I was so happy I could have cried. (Re: Meat is expensive in Belgium)
Not to mention it was really, really good. All the breakfasts I had were approximately 3-4 pounds, and they were all this size...you know, meal size. It was so refreshing.
This is a picture of Caitlin while we went to look at the Cathedral where Nelson's tomb was. I like this picture for some reason, although it's very fuzzy. Note how very, very smily Caitlin looks. By the end of the weekend she was giving me the infamous two fingers about every fifteen minutes. I won't say I didn't deserve it. (What can I say, I was cheeky.)
This was in front of...St...Paul's? I think? I don't remember the Cathedral name, since we didn't go in (because it cost 9 pounds to look at stuff in there, and Bridget got in for free because she was researching there.) but Bridget was very nice and told me all about the differences between Ionic and Corinthian and...uh...another type of column. Anyways, the long and short of it is (no pun intended) that there are 'male' and 'female' version columns. Who knew? Not me. I really should go look that up, now that I think of it.
This is me looking like a deer in headlights for some reason while I look over yonder. We were in the church waiting to see how much it cost and stuff.
This is what a typical London intersection looked like. Busy. We were on our way to the Virgin megastore, in which Caitlin nearly lost her sanity, and certainly lightened her wallet. The next day when we went there again, I also bought a bunch of stuff, and now I own a bunch more CDs, and they're actually quite nice. Virgin megastores are really, really big. like, not just by European standards...they're REALLY, REALLY big. I can't imagine how much it would cost for them to have a store that big in central London.
This, Caitlin informed me, is where all the famous Shakespeare actors studied. I was really impressed, it looks like a really rundown building, in a pretty normalized neighbourood, but I guess that's where all the genius hides.
Caitlin nearly cried when she saw this sign that said this was once the home of the Pre-Raphaelites. I was like, "Whose the Pre-Raphaelites?" All I could think about was religious orders at the time, so it didn't make any sense to me. I got it later. Good one, Brennan.
This was Caitlin and me in a VERY dodgy going-outta-business store where they literally were GIVING things away. Everything sold for one or two pounds. I made Caitlin try on this hat. I also tried on hats, and she laughed at me. It was fun. Now, it was funny because I practically DRAGGED Caitlin in there, and she was the one who found a nice Dr. Who shirt for very cheap. I tell ya. No gratitude. =D
This I saw while we were walking to the museum. I had to take a picture because I just would not have grown up the same without Calvin and Hobbes, and really, even thoughI practically wanted to own this placard, what would I do with a placard? I certainly couldn't put on some rank smelling clothing and then walk around proclaiming the "End is nigh!" (Even if that's a very Calvin and Hobbes thing to do, really.) I just wouldn't suit me. I'm not tall enough to be a doomsday-guy. They're all lanky and stuff. I thought this was the greatest thing on earth until Caitlin told me she had taken a picture of the very same thing for her ex-boyfriend. Then I was a little embarrassed. But I still really like the picture.
This was the front of the museum...of...uh....um....Liz would know. I forgot already. It was either the V & A, or the British Museum...I think it was the British Museum. =D The best thing about British Museums is that they are, for the most part, completely free, which I think is terrific. If I had any sort of income, I would have given money of large sorts, but, uh, I don't. =(
This was one of the many, many Buddha-buddies in the East-Asian gallery. And, to suit the atmosphere of the culture, it was stifling and hot in there. We basically looked at some jade, chatted about Eastern culture, and headed on out.
THIS WAS TERRIFIC!!!! Well, I was happy, even if Caitlin was pretty disenchanted. This is the Rosetta Stone, and wow, it's big! I thought it would be a little smaller for some reason. Anyways, it was really cool, and I really, really liked the fact that I got to see it. Especially, when I was like, "Hey is this the Rosetta Stone?" and Caitlin said, "Yeah, I guess." Then I started doing my happy dance.
This was the thing I liked best out of everything we saw, I think. This was the Temple of the Nereids. This was a burial temple for a family, I think, and it was just beautiful, and MASSIVE. Like, mega uber massive. And it was just so beautiful. I really liked this.
I don't know why I found this appealing, but I did. I guess it represented to me all the things that I ever supposed that a headless statue would be, if that makes any sense at all.
This is Caitlin taking an ULTIMATE CHOMP out of her ULTIMATE BURGER. There was an honest-to-goodness burger restaurant, and I hadn't had a REAL MEAT BURGER IN, LIKE, A YEAR, and so we had hamburgers, and it was everything I thought it would be. I love meat. I really, really love meat.
Look at how beautiful it is. *Sniff* Look at it. *SOB* I MISS YOU ALL BEEF PATTIES!!!! If you look, you can see the chili fries we had with the meal. While they weren't anything too special, I didn't care BECAUSE THE FRIES HAD MEAT. That made me happy. Really, really happy. I love beef. Regardless how much this meal costed, it was totally worth it. TOTALLY.
After this pleasant meal, we went to the V & A , which had some really impressive fashion galleries, and a bunch of modern art. Because Caitlin said I wasn't supposed to take pictures in most of the galleries, I just took the ones where she said it was alright or didn't yell at me for taking photos. Probably the two most interesting things were
'This
and this. The hanging...um...whatever it was...was at the start of the museum, dangling above the museum receptionist's head. The crazy bicycle thingy was actually a piece of art which had one of those coin wells where you put in a coin and watch it go round and round was at the end of the museum. It was made to work only for larger coins, we thought, since the small coins basically just went klunk, but like I was giving them 2 pounds to see something roll. I mean, really.
The next day, we went to Trafalgar Square, with the whole history of the battle of Trafalgar, blah blah blah, ask Bridget about it. It was very, very, VERY crowded, and Caitlin didn't like the tourists, even though she accepted the fact that she was one of them. I accepted the fact that she, as she puts it, "At least tried to learn something about the culture before coming here, and not just walking around aimlessly." And, I mean, really, all Caitlin and Bridget did while I was there was fill my head with facts. Very fun.
I don't know why I like this picture, but really, this is just so typical. Don't they both just look so smart? I mean, really.
This is us figuring out how to get to one of the places Bridget needed to see for her research. Very nice. We also mapped out how to get to Church for the evening, and they indulged me by letting me visit Buckingham Palace. (I'm of the impression that they had no desire to go. Especially since that's what they said while they waited outside the gates.)
This was the monument at Buckingham Palace. I was pretty non-plussed with the palace on whole...I was expecting more trumpets, or fountains going off while men on horses talked genially with ladies and tipped their hats. I don't know why I thought that but I did. However, I did get to see the soldiers in fuzzy hats, AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AND MAN IT WAS GREAT. I watched them do some marching, and I decided that being a soldier in a fuzzy hat made you a near certain volunteer for shin splints. Keep digging in those heels. I would love to watch a military parade or an English march past now. Military drill. Never get tired of it.
This was 'Mini-Big-Ben' which we saw on our way to Church. I also saw the real Big Ben from a distance, and I didn't see any need to get closer, since it also was a little disenchanting. I was kinda hoping it was...well, bigger. Sad, right? Anyways, this guy was constructed during the time when Big Ben wasn't working, as an apology to the people of London. It said something to that affect on the plaque. That's another thing, everything in London has a plaque. Everything.
This impressive building is where we went to church. It was absurdly big, and I mean that. I was so big that they had....something like six people serving communion. I think there were more than a 1000 chairs in there. It was very pretty, but it had too much smell of tourism, so there just wasn't any 'feel' to it that was probably supposed to be there. Mass was also a bit of a downer because, well, there was no singing. Yeah. It was all spoken, so I was really sad because I wanted to hear some English hymns. But it was still really nice because I went to mass with some very nice people. =) I have now heard Mass in 4 countries. Not bad.
Anyways, that's my trip! After all this, we went back and relaxed and just chatted the night away. I got up at 5 in the morning to catch my train, and I had a wonderful time. I'm SO glad I went. It was a really good break for me, and it was a nice sort of way to forget about school for a bit and just veg. I slept HUGE hours, even though it was really, really hot there. I had fun, and I would say that London is really fun. I liked it. I would certainly recommend you go, since it's so accessible and not too unfamiliar. =)
OK, well, I'm outta hear. It's late, and this took a while because I uploaded so many pictures. =P Later days!
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