Overload, museum style

Yesterday was a positive day. First, I interviewed for a data entry position with LexisNexis -- the guy who interviewed me (Eric) was really cool and made me feel very comfortable. I find myself intimidated by the British accent, mainly because sometimes I don't understand what comes out of their mouths, but he didn't intimidate me at all. He has a ponytail -- maybe I somehow can relate to him because of that. I also sport a ponytail at times. Anyway, after what I felt was a successful interview, he said he was going to call me back, so I headed over to Westminster Abbey for my next interview. I actually made the decision to walk to Westminster Abbey, and that took about two hours. Especially since I got lost a bunch of times. But it's good because now I know my way around that part of the city pretty well.

Right before I was going to go to my interview, I got a phone call from Eric. He wanted to offer me the position! I immediately said yes and then made a call to the lady at Westminster Abbey and canceled my interview -- no way was I going to go through that! The lady seemed kind of stodgy when I talked to her on the phone. So now I start work on Monday and I will finally be making British pounds! I'm pretty relieved that my job search ended fairly quickly and successfully.

I then met Elizabeth at Notting Hill and we had falaffels to celebrate. After that, I walked over to Kensington High Street, which is one of the many posh streets found in Notting Hill, and went to H&M, my favorite store in the world. There, I almost openly weeped at the mere sight of all the fabulous clothes that I can't afford. I then walked to Kensington Gardens to read and wait for Elizabeth to get off work. There, some ambassador son or some distant cousin of the royal family came out into the Kensington Gardens (the part fenced in so tourists can't go in) and played the rich man's sport, archery. It was kind of interesting seeing it -- I've only seen it on TV. The bow and arrow is quite large and appears weighty, and the target is very far away. I would fail miserably at that game.

After that I went to meet Elizabeth, and we went out to dinner with her coworkers (free!) before going to the theatre house to see The Producers (also free!). At dinner, Elizabeth and I had our first real dinner since coming here, and we ate it all. And then we paid. It's like Survivor when one of the contestants wins the hearty dinner, eats it all, and then gets sick. We sure felt sick after that. We must pace ourselves in the future.

But on to The Producers -- that has got to be one of the best musicals I have ever seen. It was funny, it was catchy, it had a moral center -- perfect. And any musical that does a song and dance number called "Springtime for Hitler" is okay by me. A sharp satire. Loved it.

Today I went to a few museums and got museum overload (an actual affliction), so now I need to take a nap. I saw the coolest thing at the National Portrait Gallery, though -- a sketch of Ted Hughes done by Sylvia Plath. It blew my mind. Sylvia Plath actually touched that piece of notebook paper from her journal, those were her pencil-marks -- I stared at that thing for a good 15 minutes. I wanted to touch it, but of course that is a big no-no. But that just about made my day. I decided that I wasn't going to see nothing as exciting as that, so I went home to eat some soup and surf the net. And now I'm going to take a nap before Elizabeth comes home from work. Good night.