lots of firsts

i got in trouble for sleeping through a lecture. julia called me into the hall afterwards and said, "i noticed you were asleep for about 75% of that presentation. we pay you to be here. we expect you to stay awake." my first instinct was to dispute the number--i only slept for 33% tops. and if she's gonna accuse me of 75, then why the hell did i struggle so hard for the other 42%? i was sensible enough to just apologize. i think it made me the rebel hero of all the other new hires...a ton of people came up to me afterwards and were like, "hey, i heard you got caught sleeping, hahaha, i can't believe what a tightass she's being." gotta work a gimmick to get recognized. any press is good press?

i rather like english beer. pimms is good too. i honestly can't taste the alcohol in it.

we got half the day off friday, so a couple of us bought big red bus tickets (£20!). st. paul's is the pimp daddy of cathedrals. we were lucky enough to go in during a choir service. the whole thing felt very spiritual...solemn but joyous. gothic architecture is such the manifestation of religious feeling. i didn't say a word the whole time i was inside. awesome.

other notes about london: boy do they love their clocks. and the town mascot is a dragon. there's a murder of ravens living in the tower of london, and rumor has it that if they fly away, the whole of london will crumble. brits claim to be unsuperstitious, but who can blame them for hedging...they've clipped the wings of the birds to make sure they never leave. !!! could you begin to imagine something like that happening in the states?!!

london mascot.

buckingham gates.

bank of england. no windows on the first floor = enhanced security? true, until a janitor found an entrance via the sewers.

ben.

london eye.

tower bridge. it only opens 90 times a year.

view from london bridge.

westminster? parliament?

trafalgar square.

saturday, dave (an aussie) and i went to stratford upon avon. there's currently a two day rave called global gathering happening there, so we were treated to sights of very weird people on the train. girls would wear bikinis and hairy, purple boots. shorts revealed many a buttock. except for the sluttiness, they reminded me a lot of japanese goths. the journey there took us 3 hours, so our first order of business was to hunt down a good pub lunch: steak and ale pies with local beer. my best meal in london. the hunger helped, but the pie was flaky, the meat was tender...what the fuck did we lose when we got our independence?

after lunch, we rented a rowboat and went up and down the river avon. very idyllic, that town. lots of swans, but they're trying to get rid of the geese. there's a sign that says please don't feed the geese, and if you feed the other birds, try to make sure the geese don't get any. basically, feel free to kick the geese around if you want. anyways, we found some baby swans (or as shuang would probably say: swanlings). i'm a much better rower than steerer. i steered us straight into a motor boat once. after rowing, we had proper british tea and scones. the cream was delicious. once again, why oh why don't americans get that stuff? dinner = english roast with yorkshire pudding (did i mention that everything is called pudding here?). that's three things off my food list.

in swan theater has a box full of costumes for us to peruse. fun fun fun! i, of course, chose the knight and i muscled david into the faery costume.

we also saw shakespeare's birthplace and his burialplace. did i mention i love stained glass windows?

today, i saw the changing of the guards (highly overrated). they play a little ditty, march around some...and then i left before it was over. westminster abbey is closed on sundays, so instead i visited the sherlock holmes museum (221b baker street). very very nearly bought a deerstalker hat.

in hyde park (near kensington, where peter pan is), there's a testiment to free speech called speaker's corner. any demagogue wannabe with a voice and a soapbox can pontificate. today, a christian and his wife berated muslims for their oppression of women. they weren't really trying to convince them of anything...just kept telling them what pieces of crap they are. at one point, he actually said, "i can understand why you're angry. if i had this for my holy book (poke a finger at the koran), i'd be angry too!" i have no idea why the crowd of muslims gave him the time of day. they actually tried to argue him down. if they had just walked away, i don't think he would've been up there very long.

people say americans are dicks, but i bet they've never met a brit. even the people who are paid to be helpful are bitches. and how!