a link to some new and exciting pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/srosesilva/LondonWanderings25
Busy busy week. My job may be a bit tedious, but I always have something to do. Watch for it: Butterworth's Law Directory 2007 will be available in December, and the deadline for all the keying is November 3rd. That's in two weeks. You should see the size of my pile of proofs -- it's enormous! And the fax machine on Friday was basically going at it the entire day. So I've been busy. And I guess I should stop writing long emails to people while I'm at work. Nah.
On Thursday I saw the Cryptogram starring Kim Cattrell. It's always weird to see famous people in small theatre productions. It was a very interesting play, but I'm still on the fence about it. We mocked it considerably afterwards, but that's because the kid wasn't very good. But he was a cutie.
Friday I got paid! Needless to say, I was quite excited. I finally have British pounds to spend and don't have to keep worrying about how much American dollars something costs. That led me to purchase a new coat today -- it's my new love and there is a picture of it in my photo album. And no I can buy postcards so get ready!
Over here at East India Dock there has been quite a lot of mishaps -- no electricty one morning, no internet for two days, showers broken and then magically mended... it's always a surprise here at East India Dock. Always a surprise. And outside, East London is getting ready for Guy Fawkes Day (November 5th), which means kids with explosives, basically. I watched a group of kids set off dozens of fireworks and aim it at a tree in hopes of setting it aflame. Nice. I will be spending Guy Fawkes day in Central London, thank you very much.
Saturday I boarded a coach for Brighton -- a seaside town about two hours from London. It was a beautiful day, the ocean reminded me of home, and the Brighton Pier reminded me of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk but much less dodgy. And, some wonderful fish 'n chips. Yum, deep-fried goodnes. And don't forget the mashed peas, my favorite part. When we got home, Elizabeth and I went to pub and engaged in a mean game of Scrabble, with help from the locals, of course. Yep, I had that game in the bag. I slice and dice my opponents. I show no mercy. More Scrabble tourney details to follow in the future, I guarantee you. It's going to become our new obsession. That and Batman Uno, but we're saving that for a really rainy day.
Today it rained. A lot. There's a lot of puddles in Oxford Circus. Huge puddles. My old and flimsy Converse shoes can't take that. Basically a chill day. Did some shopping, went over to Tesco and got some food for the week, complained about the bland bananas, etc.
Tomorrow it's back to work, but then Thursday... flying to Portugal! That's right, I'll be flying to Portugal via Air Portugal (that's not the real name of the airline) and will be gallavanting in Porto for three days. I'm so excited to go! As the pop said in a statement from an email that I found particularly amusing, "enjoy the motherland." Oh, I will.
And a special thanks to my mommy for sending me a care package filled with tasty treats -- Sun Chips rock my world. And Dole fruit cups. And ramen, baby -- ramen!
Off to bed -- godspeed.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Bottle Up and Explode!
Every time I go on a trip or go off to a new place for a time, I always have a new soundtrack featuring one artist for that time. At Stanford it was Neutral Milk Hotel (In the Aeroplane over the Sea is a fine album), another trip featured Arcade Fire and A Silver Mt. Zion, another one Against Me! -- all of them, in some way, lend me some perspective on the current state (pun intended) that I'm in. In London, I have officially found my one artist that will take me through the next two months -- Elliott Smith. If you've never heard of Elliott Smith, you're missing out. He's the epitome of forlorn, soft-edged, mellow rock. I've had his albums forever and appreciated them, but I never listened to them as much as I listen to it now. I cannot enter the tube in the mornings without Elliott Smith's "Baby Britain," "Pictures of Me" or "Junk Bond Trader" on my Ipod. I find it interesting, though, because he tackles a myriad of subjects, some that I'm familar with, others not at all. And even though you can call his music "depressive," "moody," and "sad," he doesn't leave me that way at all. I just get it. And it leaves me strangely contemplative and content. Anyway, the reason I posted this is that I'm not going to be able to think about London without associating it with Elliott Smith, just like all the other places where I have listened to a certain artist or a certain CD excessively. It helps you understand things, you know? I don't even know. Maybe I'm just too much of a hipster for my own good. But you love it. ;)
So this weekend was pretty chill for me. Elizabeth went to Paris (yes, be jealous), so I was left to meander around London (yes, be jealous also). And that's basically what I did. I wandered. I walked for hours upon hours. I went into about 20 H&Ms. I sat in Kensington Gardens and found the Peter Pan statue again. I walked around Leischter Square and Picadilly Circus. I went to the National Gallery and looked at paintings by Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, etc. On Saturday, I met up with yet another Elizabeth (who will be forever referred to as ER), and we ate at McDonalds and watched the theatrical version of Mary Poppins. I'll tackle McDonalds first: everybody says it different here, but, you know what? It's not. The chicken sandwich and french fries that I ate tasted exactly the same. Granted, I haven't eaten McDonalds in the states in about three years, but I feel that I have enough McDonalds experience from my heyday of fast food eating to determine that it's not different at all. So there. After that, ER and I had our Disney fix with Mary Poppins, which was charming, to say the least. Your standard Disney fare -- very nicely executed, with a set design appealing to the eye. Of course, I was a big fan. The area that they plopped that play was interesting though... more of an area where Cabaret should be playing, or Chicago. But that's just another London contradiction.
Elizabeth just came back from Paris with croissants and chocolate yum yums, so I'm currently in a chocolate coma. And apparently, I have sprained my ankle, according to Elizabeth's expert opinion (it's pretty expertly), but it's a light sprain. I must have done it yesterday somehow, but I don't know how. It's swollen and it's going to get all bruisey in a couple of days, so fun! It doesn't hurt that much, though, which is weird. Only when I do things like, I don't know, miss a step walking down the stairs because our house is so dark. Then it hurts.
Back to the drudgery of work tomorrow, woohoo! It's not that bad, I'm just being dramatic. But weekends are just so much more fun...
So this weekend was pretty chill for me. Elizabeth went to Paris (yes, be jealous), so I was left to meander around London (yes, be jealous also). And that's basically what I did. I wandered. I walked for hours upon hours. I went into about 20 H&Ms. I sat in Kensington Gardens and found the Peter Pan statue again. I walked around Leischter Square and Picadilly Circus. I went to the National Gallery and looked at paintings by Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, etc. On Saturday, I met up with yet another Elizabeth (who will be forever referred to as ER), and we ate at McDonalds and watched the theatrical version of Mary Poppins. I'll tackle McDonalds first: everybody says it different here, but, you know what? It's not. The chicken sandwich and french fries that I ate tasted exactly the same. Granted, I haven't eaten McDonalds in the states in about three years, but I feel that I have enough McDonalds experience from my heyday of fast food eating to determine that it's not different at all. So there. After that, ER and I had our Disney fix with Mary Poppins, which was charming, to say the least. Your standard Disney fare -- very nicely executed, with a set design appealing to the eye. Of course, I was a big fan. The area that they plopped that play was interesting though... more of an area where Cabaret should be playing, or Chicago. But that's just another London contradiction.
Elizabeth just came back from Paris with croissants and chocolate yum yums, so I'm currently in a chocolate coma. And apparently, I have sprained my ankle, according to Elizabeth's expert opinion (it's pretty expertly), but it's a light sprain. I must have done it yesterday somehow, but I don't know how. It's swollen and it's going to get all bruisey in a couple of days, so fun! It doesn't hurt that much, though, which is weird. Only when I do things like, I don't know, miss a step walking down the stairs because our house is so dark. Then it hurts.
Back to the drudgery of work tomorrow, woohoo! It's not that bad, I'm just being dramatic. But weekends are just so much more fun...
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Pictures!
in case I missed anyone in my mass email, here's the link to some pictures that will knock your socks off:
http://picasaweb.google.com/srosesilva/LondonWanderings
http://picasaweb.google.com/srosesilva/LondonWanderings
Monday, October 09, 2006
Scrum!
First off, Tesco sells delicious apple-filled donuts for 12 pence.
This weekend was filled with time zones and mash and men smashing into each other without proper padding. We started the weekend off right with Friday night cleaning/laundry, yeah! We vacuumed our pants off -- I know, crazy, right? The next day Elizabeth, Allison, and I went to Greenwich, which is quite possibly my favorite place I've visited so far. We walked up to the Royal Observatory, which allows you a great view of London. Greenwich is also where the prime meridian line is, so you can be in two different time zones at one time! And take pictures! We also walked Greenwich Park, a beautiful place with loads of dogs (I will get to English people and their dogs, later -- oh, believe me, I will), and anicent Roman ruins! Actually, there was no ancient Roman ruins, the signs just lied to us so that we would walk this weird path. It took us to an ancient Roman fence leading to ye olde highway. After that we took a boat ride on the Thames from Greenwich to Westminster, which was beautiful. All in all, good times on Saturday.
The next day we got up early to make breakfast before going to a rugby match. First, though, we needed to get those Portuguese custard things for our roomates, who were making traditional Sunday dinner English roast. After a mad 25 minute trek, we finally got to a Portuguese bakery, selling lots of yummies. Oh man, can those Polish people bake some mean Portuguese baked goods! It felt like I was in the Azores as Elizabeth spoke Portuguese to a Polish woman who knew no Portuguese whatsoever! The custard things were good, though. Don't think I didn't greedily dig in after that 25 minute walk.
Important fact #2: Tesco doesn't open until noon on Sundays. Silly Europeans. That meant we couldn't cook breakfast, so it was to our safe haven of Cafe Diana. Cafe Diana is this crazy little restaurant in Notting Hill across the street from Kensington Palace, and is a mecca for Princess Di fans. The walls are covered with Princess Di pictures, and there's even one with her posing with the owners of the cafe, wow! I don't envision Princess Di as a big falaffel fan (it's basically Mediterranean food), but you never know. Falaffels are quite tasty. After that we hopped on the charter bus with a bunch of study abroad kids to go to a rugby match. As I switched on my Ipod and leaned back for some relaxing bus sleeping, I was hit with memories of EPGY and taking the kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. These kids were much quieter than my lot, though But still good times. :0) <---- Look at the nose on that happy face! That was completely unintentional. I like it.
So rugby is boring. They hit each other real hard. They don't have any protective gear on whatsoever, so they get hurt a lot. They get into massive huddles, which is like mass cat-fights, called scrums. That's about it. The best part was sitting behind the goal posts where the balls would come flying at the crowd (no net!) During their pre-game practice, we almost got hit on multiple occasions. It was pretty hilarious.
After that Elizabeth and I went home to a nice dinner prepared by our flatmates. Our flatmates are good people -- most of us get along great. We had roat chicken and vegetables and potatoes and salad, yum, yum! We were a very happy group of people after that.
But back to work today and back to lawyers and data entry. As Bob Geldof sang, "tell me why, I don't like Mondays, I'm going to shoot, ooooh ooooh ooooh oooh ooohh, the wholeeee dayyyy downnnn." That song will forever remind me of Monday mornings car rides to St. Lawrence with mom. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Bob Geldof and Bon Jovi got me through senior year. :)
Here's some british slang for you all to wow your friends:
real stroppy cow -- someone who is in a bad mood; a moody or tempermental person: "He's acting like a real stroppy cow." (You can also just use strop: "she was in a strop")
bullocks -- ridiculous: "what a load of bullocks"
bloke -- guy: "Look at that bloke over there."
gutted -- disappointed: "Did you see X-factor (their version of American Idol) last night? I was gutted!"
And that's all the British slang I have for you right now. Tune in for more. I spell like a British person now: recognise, programme, behaviour, etc. And now I write the date with day, month, year -- my birthday is 04/09/1984, not 09/04/1984. Oh, changes.
And now, for my rant: British people and their dogs in parks. They don't use leashes when they enter a park with their dogs. They just let their dogs run mad, which inevitably means you'll have some giant beast of a creature running at you. And then the owner will shrug their shoulders and laugh while this unfamiliar animal runs toward you. There has been two instances where massive dogs have run at me while the owners remained unfazed by their dogs running wildly at people. It's not the dogs' fault at all, it's the owners. It's driving me crazy! I don't like unfamiliar creatures with teeth and a large amount of body strength running wild while I'm walking in a park!
Rant complete.
I'm currently uploading a massive amount of photos, so in about 10 years I will be able to share them. No, I'll try to do it tomorrow. It's time for me to sign out, because Christmas music begins at 6:45 am! (Elizabeth...) Goodnight and godspeed.
This weekend was filled with time zones and mash and men smashing into each other without proper padding. We started the weekend off right with Friday night cleaning/laundry, yeah! We vacuumed our pants off -- I know, crazy, right? The next day Elizabeth, Allison, and I went to Greenwich, which is quite possibly my favorite place I've visited so far. We walked up to the Royal Observatory, which allows you a great view of London. Greenwich is also where the prime meridian line is, so you can be in two different time zones at one time! And take pictures! We also walked Greenwich Park, a beautiful place with loads of dogs (I will get to English people and their dogs, later -- oh, believe me, I will), and anicent Roman ruins! Actually, there was no ancient Roman ruins, the signs just lied to us so that we would walk this weird path. It took us to an ancient Roman fence leading to ye olde highway. After that we took a boat ride on the Thames from Greenwich to Westminster, which was beautiful. All in all, good times on Saturday.
The next day we got up early to make breakfast before going to a rugby match. First, though, we needed to get those Portuguese custard things for our roomates, who were making traditional Sunday dinner English roast. After a mad 25 minute trek, we finally got to a Portuguese bakery, selling lots of yummies. Oh man, can those Polish people bake some mean Portuguese baked goods! It felt like I was in the Azores as Elizabeth spoke Portuguese to a Polish woman who knew no Portuguese whatsoever! The custard things were good, though. Don't think I didn't greedily dig in after that 25 minute walk.
Important fact #2: Tesco doesn't open until noon on Sundays. Silly Europeans. That meant we couldn't cook breakfast, so it was to our safe haven of Cafe Diana. Cafe Diana is this crazy little restaurant in Notting Hill across the street from Kensington Palace, and is a mecca for Princess Di fans. The walls are covered with Princess Di pictures, and there's even one with her posing with the owners of the cafe, wow! I don't envision Princess Di as a big falaffel fan (it's basically Mediterranean food), but you never know. Falaffels are quite tasty. After that we hopped on the charter bus with a bunch of study abroad kids to go to a rugby match. As I switched on my Ipod and leaned back for some relaxing bus sleeping, I was hit with memories of EPGY and taking the kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. These kids were much quieter than my lot, though But still good times. :0) <---- Look at the nose on that happy face! That was completely unintentional. I like it.
So rugby is boring. They hit each other real hard. They don't have any protective gear on whatsoever, so they get hurt a lot. They get into massive huddles, which is like mass cat-fights, called scrums. That's about it. The best part was sitting behind the goal posts where the balls would come flying at the crowd (no net!) During their pre-game practice, we almost got hit on multiple occasions. It was pretty hilarious.
After that Elizabeth and I went home to a nice dinner prepared by our flatmates. Our flatmates are good people -- most of us get along great. We had roat chicken and vegetables and potatoes and salad, yum, yum! We were a very happy group of people after that.
But back to work today and back to lawyers and data entry. As Bob Geldof sang, "tell me why, I don't like Mondays, I'm going to shoot, ooooh ooooh ooooh oooh ooohh, the wholeeee dayyyy downnnn." That song will forever remind me of Monday mornings car rides to St. Lawrence with mom. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Bob Geldof and Bon Jovi got me through senior year. :)
Here's some british slang for you all to wow your friends:
real stroppy cow -- someone who is in a bad mood; a moody or tempermental person: "He's acting like a real stroppy cow." (You can also just use strop: "she was in a strop")
bullocks -- ridiculous: "what a load of bullocks"
bloke -- guy: "Look at that bloke over there."
gutted -- disappointed: "Did you see X-factor (their version of American Idol) last night? I was gutted!"
And that's all the British slang I have for you right now. Tune in for more. I spell like a British person now: recognise, programme, behaviour, etc. And now I write the date with day, month, year -- my birthday is 04/09/1984, not 09/04/1984. Oh, changes.
And now, for my rant: British people and their dogs in parks. They don't use leashes when they enter a park with their dogs. They just let their dogs run mad, which inevitably means you'll have some giant beast of a creature running at you. And then the owner will shrug their shoulders and laugh while this unfamiliar animal runs toward you. There has been two instances where massive dogs have run at me while the owners remained unfazed by their dogs running wildly at people. It's not the dogs' fault at all, it's the owners. It's driving me crazy! I don't like unfamiliar creatures with teeth and a large amount of body strength running wild while I'm walking in a park!
Rant complete.
I'm currently uploading a massive amount of photos, so in about 10 years I will be able to share them. No, I'll try to do it tomorrow. It's time for me to sign out, because Christmas music begins at 6:45 am! (Elizabeth...) Goodnight and godspeed.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Broken chords can sing a little
It be cold over here. It's like winter came early. Today was windy, rainy, and frigid. I couldn't seem to get warm all day. This is also because the Butterworth's LexisNexis office decides they want the air conditioner on all day, despite the wintery weather outside. So I basically wear layers of clothes to try to keep warm.
I opened up a bank account yesterday and yelled at some snooty lady in HR about tax forms today -- I'm a big girl now! What did I learn? The banking system in London is inefficient and slow, and people in HR want to make everything harder than it has to be. Love it!
Today I had a gourmet microwaveable vegetable lasagna meal from London's top market chain: ASDA. Yum yum. It had runny cheese and everything! Actually, I liked it, but that's mainly because I miss mommy's spinach lasagna. Cheese...yummy. Today I also missed fruity cheerios, tortilla chips, and Armadillo Willy's BBQ.
After my fine meal (it conveniently came with it's own tray and everything!) Elizabeth, our friend Jose, one of our flatmates and I went to see a play called Pump Girl. It was in a very small theatre, and it actually wasn't that bad. Elizabeth and I were exhausted and anticipated some napping time, but I actually stayed awake throughout the whole thing! Now all I need to do is get me a copy of Manos: the Hands of Fate hosted by MST3K and see if I can watch it all without falling asleep (this is the last movie I watched where I actually stayed up for the whole thing). If I succeed, then I know I have mastered these narcoleptic fits that have been plaguing me.
Tomorrow is Friday! End of the work week! Greenwich on Saturday and then a rugby match on Sunday, weee! And next weekend there's a possibility of going to Paris...
Must sleep now.
I opened up a bank account yesterday and yelled at some snooty lady in HR about tax forms today -- I'm a big girl now! What did I learn? The banking system in London is inefficient and slow, and people in HR want to make everything harder than it has to be. Love it!
Today I had a gourmet microwaveable vegetable lasagna meal from London's top market chain: ASDA. Yum yum. It had runny cheese and everything! Actually, I liked it, but that's mainly because I miss mommy's spinach lasagna. Cheese...yummy. Today I also missed fruity cheerios, tortilla chips, and Armadillo Willy's BBQ.
After my fine meal (it conveniently came with it's own tray and everything!) Elizabeth, our friend Jose, one of our flatmates and I went to see a play called Pump Girl. It was in a very small theatre, and it actually wasn't that bad. Elizabeth and I were exhausted and anticipated some napping time, but I actually stayed awake throughout the whole thing! Now all I need to do is get me a copy of Manos: the Hands of Fate hosted by MST3K and see if I can watch it all without falling asleep (this is the last movie I watched where I actually stayed up for the whole thing). If I succeed, then I know I have mastered these narcoleptic fits that have been plaguing me.
Tomorrow is Friday! End of the work week! Greenwich on Saturday and then a rugby match on Sunday, weee! And next weekend there's a possibility of going to Paris...
Must sleep now.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Aluminum on the hardpan
What's been going on at East India Dock Road? Ceiling leaks! Shower leaks! Arguments! Pumpin' electro-pop! Smashed-up aluminum being ran over by cars right outside our window in the middle of the night! Yes!
So we spent another fun evening at ASDA, this fine nation's version of Walmart. It takes a lot of time to get through ASDA, and a lot of debating goes on. This is where debate teams should hang out. Plus, there's begging -- yes, begging! They're not supposed to give clothing hangers away for free, you know, but after some begging, they'll take pity on you. ASDA trips are always bittersweet -- you get good munchies for later, but all your money goes away. :( Not good. Just waiting for that care package...
Another day of data entry work. Lawyers. Receptionists. Fax machines. Writing an email that take the whole day to write. Getting my way around blocked websites (they block gmail! but not myspace! It's like EPGY, but in reverse!). That whole jazz. The highlight of the week is sure to be our next play on Thursday! Can't wait.
Nothing much else to report. The working world drains a person. And it be cold outside. Like really, really cold. At least, super-cold for me.
The most exciting part of my day tomorrow: opening a bank account! I can't wait to haggle with bank employees -- lawyers and bank employees, what more do I need in life! Disneyworld, that's what I need. Some Disneyworld. :)
Shower and sleep time!
So we spent another fun evening at ASDA, this fine nation's version of Walmart. It takes a lot of time to get through ASDA, and a lot of debating goes on. This is where debate teams should hang out. Plus, there's begging -- yes, begging! They're not supposed to give clothing hangers away for free, you know, but after some begging, they'll take pity on you. ASDA trips are always bittersweet -- you get good munchies for later, but all your money goes away. :( Not good. Just waiting for that care package...
Another day of data entry work. Lawyers. Receptionists. Fax machines. Writing an email that take the whole day to write. Getting my way around blocked websites (they block gmail! but not myspace! It's like EPGY, but in reverse!). That whole jazz. The highlight of the week is sure to be our next play on Thursday! Can't wait.
Nothing much else to report. The working world drains a person. And it be cold outside. Like really, really cold. At least, super-cold for me.
The most exciting part of my day tomorrow: opening a bank account! I can't wait to haggle with bank employees -- lawyers and bank employees, what more do I need in life! Disneyworld, that's what I need. Some Disneyworld. :)
Shower and sleep time!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Junk bond trader
The imitation picks you up like a habit
Riding in the glow of the TV static
Taking out the trash to the man
Give the people something they understand
-Elliott Smith
Good weekend, made better by the fact that a certain flatmate has moved out. Let's just say he was from the foreign country that precedes "toast" and "fries" and pretty much encompassed every single stereotype of people from that country. I just found out he left. I'm beaming. Rays of light exude from my cheeks.
I don't know what I'm saying.
Today was a beautiful Sunday. First, though, the weather here is insane. We woke up this morning to beautiful weather -- sunny and warm. Within 20 minutes, though, there was this crazy deluge that lasted for about an hour. We're talking black clouds, thunder and lightning, high winds -- the whole deal. But after the hour ended, it was nice and sunny again. So weird.
Elizabeth and I went to Notting Hill to make a home-cooked meal with our new biffer Allison. It felt so good to cook a meal with other people and enjoy it together in a nice, clean kitchen. We went all out, too -- pasta with tomatoes and bell peppers, garlic bread, salad, and strawberry trifle for dessert. Nice. Afterwards we watched a movie, in which I promptly fell asleep. I cannot seem to stay awake during movies anymore. It's impossible for me now. I don't know if narcolepsy is contagious, but I think I may have caught it from someone.
In other news, I just heard that a girl I knew from SCU died in a car accident a couple of days ago. We were in Writing for Children and Young Adults together and exchanged stories all the time. She was quite talented, and I wish I kept in touch with her. She will be missed.
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