London is like Disneyland - the people suck and the food is overpriced.

This past visit to London wasn’t my favourite trip of all time.  I’m not kidding when I say the GBP is at a record high - over $2 USD to £1.  Buying a metro pass for the day ran about $12.  My Starbucks (yes, I went to Starbucks, and we were the only three people walking around with *gasp* COFFEE CUPS IN OUR HANDS!  The SHAME!) cost me $9 when run through my bankcard (which is how I usually get decent exchange rates).

Unfortunately, I had the bright idea of trading in my euro for pounds, thinking I’d use them sooner.  Um, not.  I’m definitely likely to go to the UK again, but I had more fun in Ireland.  None of the sights I used to miss about London were anywhere as awesome as they were ten years ago when I was there.

Ayoaka, Daniel and I are walking around London, coffee in hand, seeing the sights.  Having a FANTASTIC time.  I must say, I was on top of my game - I had Ayoaka in stitches most of the day.  At one point we were under a tree, waiting for the pouring rain to let up.  I was (probably loudly) cracking them up, ragging on the signs in the metro (”This is the HOT SEASON!  Stay COOL!”) … “People, you wouldn’t know a hot season if it bit you in the arse!  You wouldn’t survive a hot minute in the New York subway during OUR hot season!”

Some older British gentleman walked up to me and said, without preamble, “It’s not polite to sweat in public in England.”  I was totally taken aback, as I - unfortunately - am one of those people who can’t seem to help but regulate body temperature the proper way, regardless of whether I’m in public or not.

“Oh.  Really?  Dammit.”  I laughed a bit awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

He threw up his hand, making a disgusted noise.  “Go back to America,” he called over his shoulder.

I looked at Daniel and Ayoaka.  “I’m thinking I misunderstood his accent.  I think he said “It’s not polite to swear in public in England.”  They agree, but mention that Bridget Jones and nearly every other film shows otherwise. “Also,” Daniel adds, “that enormous umbrella, his socks with his sandals and the bright turquoise roll-aboard suitcase they’re oddly dragging with them through the park around Buckingham Palace tells me they might not know what the fuck people actually DO in public in England.”

True.

Whatever.  We enjoyed ourselves, and I cursed as much as I liked.  No one else batted an eyelash.  I even had one guy trying to stifle his laughter on the tube when the three of us were DYING laughing at our own renditions of the train’s computer voice announcing that “This is the train to…COCKFOSTERS.”

No shit, thats the name of an area in London.  And only in London.  I love the British, sometimes.

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phone broken. i suck.

I fell off the sidewalk.  Really.  I’m walking along after dropping off the rental videos, talking to Jess, got distracted by the perfectly placed sweater and handkerchief spread neatly beside the entrance to an apartment building….BAM!

Not 20 feet from my own door I turned my ankle, slid off the side of the sidewalk, dropped my phone (which busted into about a thousand pieces), bruised my knee and cut my palm.  Directly in front of a pretty cute guy who happened to be walking past, who immediately stopped to help me pick up the pieces and offer me his phone to make a call.  How sweet.

But seriously, my phone is in a thousand pieces.  It’ll turn on, but the whole top is disconnected from the bottom, so that doesn’t help at all.  Took out my sim card.  Hopefully all of my numbers are saved to it.  Please let my phone numbers be saved to it.  Going tomorrow to buy a new phone.

so, maybe it’s the time to buy an iPhone?

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finding new songs to add to my soundtrack

Her face is a map of the world
Is a map of the world
You can see she’s a beautiful girl
She’s a beautiful girl
Everything around her is a silver pool of light
People who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She holds you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see
Why the hell it means so much to me

And I feel like walking the world
Like walking the world
And you can hear she’s a beautiful girl
She’s a beautiful girl
She fills up every corner like she’s born in black and white
Makes you feel warmer when you’re trying to remember
What you heard
She likes to leave you hanging on a word

Suddenly I see
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see
Why the hell it means so much to me

And she’s taller than most
And she’s looking at me
I can see her eyes looking from a page in a magazine
She makes me feel like I could be a tower
Big strong tower
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see

Suddenly I see
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see
Why the hell it means so much to me

“Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall

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guess he figured there was nowhere to go but up

I fell asleep last night after sneezing, coughing and sniffling my way through a box of tissues and Casino Royale.  This morning (ahem, this afternoon I mean) I woke up with a raging cold. Like, full on, nose-blowing, hacking, spitting GROSS COLD.

After a shower, without putting on make up or even attempting to cover up the zit THE SIZE OF WYOMING on my chin, I went to my favourite Russian Pharmacy up the road a bit (I like them because they love it that I speak tiny bits of russian to them!) to get some DayQuil.  On that same side of the road, there is a deli, a medical supply store, a Dunkin Donuts and a real estate office.  As I’m on the corner, passing the real estate office, some guy walks out and says “Excuse me, but do you have a cigarette?”  I half-turn and say “No, I’m sorry, but I quit smoking.”  I flash a quick half-smile and start to head across the street.

“That’s okay,” he says, as he steps beside me “I don’t actually smoke, either, I just wanted an excuse to talk to you.”  I laugh, because that was kind of funny.  He walks with me another block and I head into my corner bodega to get some water - girlfriend needs some DayQuil in her face, STAT.  He’s chatting away, asking me how I like the area, etc.  Then he says - and I love this, considering (as mentioned above) I LOOK LIKE SHIT - “You’re beautiful, I’d love to go out with you sometime, can I get your number?”

“That’s unbelievably sweet, but I’m married.  Thank you, though!”  He says the usual, he’s lucky, blah blah blah and exits.  The guy behind the counter and I make eye contact and exchange a smile.  That was pretty ballsy of him, I admit.  But I’m pretty darn happy with what I’ve got, thank you very much.

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I’ll be back in Barcelona

For the second time in two weeks I was in Barcelona, for twenty-four hours, during which I drank a ridiculous amount of alcohol. I’m pretty sure the only reason I wasn’t kidnapped, had my kidney(s?) removed and woke up in a bathtub of ice was because they took one look at me and said “That one’s not going to be any good.”

After having the best duck confit and sangria (not in the same dish) I’ve ever had IN MY LIFE, we (me and some other ladies I flew over with) found a great lounge in downtown Barcelona called Guru. All white marble and subdued neon lights and beautiful people from all over the world - it’s now one of my favourite places. I WILL go back there. Anywho. About six shots of pre-mixed jagerbombs (I can do the shots, the whole drink, not so much), four very large caipirinhas, two shots of tequila and a sip of a margarita later I was busting moves you’ve never seen on the dance floor. Not really, but I was grooving to some great tunes, and getting outrageously flirted with by a guy from Belgium, a Brit and a Spaniard. Ha! Apparently, the European men love me. Adrian must be more European that I originally thought!

I got a few pictures, I think, but still didn’t do the touristy sight-seeing thing. Must visit the beach next time I’m there - I hear it’s beautiful. Donde esta la playa?

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