dietsch ::

X-Mass

Got back yesterday after six days in Evansville with family. Still don't have photos online from my London/Paris trip. Should be soon. Today, tomorrow, Sunday--something like that. I also want to get some of those journal entries online, probably in a different space than this weblog (since they're longish). I've picked up a copy editing project that'll help keep me busy during this slow vacation period. It's always really quiet in Bloomington while students are away. I kind of like it, since it's much easier to move about town and get in restaurants and such. On the other hand, most of my friends are away with family and other friends during this time, which means my social life also quiets down substantially. Although with the amount of drinking and late, late nights I have during the school year, a slow week or two is nice. I'm going to update my site design (again) during break. I want to learn the trick of providing one CSS doc for Netscape users, one for IE users, one for the eight or nine people out there on Opera, and one plain-looking thing for people with crappy, outdated browsers. I saw how these pages look on WebTV finally, while I was visiting my aunt on Christmas, and it's ugly. The right-side menus overlap text. I'd like to fix that, somehow, even if it's just so my aunt can read my pages.

Home again

Well, I've returned to Bloomington. Spent yesterday (Thursday) in transit, after a morning at Harrod's. Today, I've just been doing basic housekeeping: picking up my mail from the post office, a couple packages at UPS, finishing Christmas shopping, and so forth. I'm still jetlagged a little. I got sleepy at nine pm and wondered why before realizing my body thinks it's not nine pm but two am. Anyway, although I haven't kept Blogger updated, I have a healthy set of journal writings, some of which I'll put in here for both of you who've actually been reading this. I've finally got photos developed. I'll get a few online tomorrow while I'm doing my laundry.

A-walkin' London

It's been a busy couple days, and I haven't had much time to update. A lot has happened, though, which is exactly WHY I haven't had much time to update. Let me give you a rundown of life since Thursday. I'll fill in details later. Friday: Walked from Victoria Station (where EasyInternetCafe is located) to the London Eye, on the south bank of the Thames across from Parliament. Went up in London Eye and saw nearly all the city from the air. Walked to Tate Modern and saw the Surrealism exhibit. Went back to hostel, dropped stuff off, and came back out for the Jack the Ripper Walk. Ate after the walk and dropped in bed at about midnight. Saturday (today): Went to Camden Market and bought cool stuff. Did more shopping and bought more cool stuff--some for me and some for Arwen. Met up with London members of the Warren Ellis Forum at about 1:15 at the Ben Crouch Tavern. Left Ben Crouch at 10:30. Yes, that's right. I was in Ben Crouch, drinking, for nine hours. What's the longest you've been in the same pub? Consecutively? I'm tired, and still a wee bit drunk. I'm heading soon to bed. Tomorrow, I go off to Paris for a couple days. That should be damned cool.

Pubbin'

Tuesday, 13 December 0730 I awoke to the sounds of rustling and shuffling in the room. I looked up, groggily, to see what was going on and saw one of my roommates dragging his bag across the floor. Leaving early, I guessed. I rummaged under the bed and found my watch: 7:30. I'd gone to bed only 6 hours before. I stayed in bed a bit, hoping to go back to sleep quickly, but no luck. After getting a shower and clean clothes, I gathered up my stuff and headed out. I walked around the corner to a small grocery hoping to find a bit to eat. I was looking for Pop Tarts or something similar, but the grocery did me much better than that. As I was wandering around, I noticed the singular smell of fresh baked goods. Following my nose, I found several bins of fresh breads and pastries. I settled on a pain chocolate and a lemon-custard danish. Still warm. I took those and some orange juice to the register, where the counterman said, "You've got great timing. They're still warm." We all have these moments of serendipity when we travel. That's one thing I love about traveling. You turn a corner, not really knowing what you'll see on the other side, and you're face-to-face with some famous monument or museum. You meet a person from your home town or school. I love these moments. The pastries were not just warm; they were so hot I burnt my fingers. Now that's living. I walked to the Tube stop and hopped a train for Tower Hill. First stop: the Tower of London. Now, when I was in London in '93, I didn't go to the Tower because I didn't want queue and crowds. But I feel rather silly telling people I've been to London but never to the Tower. I picked the right time. 10am on a cold December morning isn't the most tourist-friendly time to visit. Instead of the long queues you'd expect at the Tower, I was often alone when seeing things. When I entered the vault containing the Crown Jewels, I was the only one there. They have this people conveyor set up to carry queues past the Jewels. They do this so people don't linger, clogging up the queues. Makes sense when you've a couple thousand lined up to see, but when it's one person, it's a bit silly. So the Beefeater standing watch invited me to go back as many times as I wanted. He also answered all my questions and was generally a convivial fellow. Which I noticed to be generally true of the Beefeaters. The guide who led our tour was a hilarious, friendly man of about 55. He cracked jokes, took the piss, had fun with the kids, and charmed the ladies. A couple large groups of children passed by, on field trips or whatnot, and shouted and hollered all the way. He shouted down at the adult chaperones, "Please! Please! Keep them quiet! I can't give a tour when my group can't hear me!" But he said it with humor and grace, which isn't easy. I enjoyed the Tower, the history. I remarked to my new friend Tess later than day that I loved that I could see the exact places I'd only read about. Anne Boleyn executed here. Traitor's Gate there (reminds me of Elvis Costello: "The pretty things of Knightsbridge / Lying for the Minister of State / Are a far cry from the nod and wink / Here at Traitors' Gate"). But after a while I was happy to go. I caught the Tube again, made the necessary transfers to get to Covent Garden. I wandered around Covent Garden Market a little and found my way to the London Transport Museum. I like trains and I especially like transport art, as anyone who's seen my apartment will know. I didn't buy any posters (mainly because I wasn't sure how to get them home), but I did buy a couple books of Underground-poster reproductions. I also picked up two appropriate fridge magnets for Ellen. After leaving the Transport Museum, I went off to Picadilly. I was looking for Wagamama, a noodle bar I've heard much about. I had an address and a map, but not much else. After walking about for an hour, I finally found it in Soho. (Funny that both London and New York have Sohos, but the names have completely different origins.) I got a big bowl of ramen in chicken broth, with sliced chicken and vegetables on top. I also bought fresh juice and some grilled dumplings. Very tasty--all of it. Wagamama rightly deserves its reputation. I headed back to the hostel. After being displaced the previous night, I was nervous that there's be someone new in my bed again. I went back to the room. It was dark inside, but my bed was empty. A young woman was kneeling in front of a locker fiddling about. I rummaged in my camera bag and pulled out a flashlight. I said something, and she said there was a guy asleep in one bunk. By her accent, I could tell she was North American. We chatted a bit and then she left. I saw her again briefly downstairs in the rec room when I went to check my e-mail. I took off for the pub. I was supposed to meet members of the Warren Ellis forum, a Delphi forum I frequent. Ellis writes comic books, video games, short fiction, and film scripts and he's got this forum where his fans meet to discuss his work, music, films, current affairs, and just about anything really. I've met up with people from his forum before (in Boston). We planned to meet at the Bull and Mouth pub, near Bloomsbury, at 6pm. The Bull and Mouth is a regular Thursday gathering place for this crowd. I entered the pub, not knowing how I'd know anyone or be known, although I'd given a brief description of myself on the forum. Although many of us have posted pictures online, I wasn't sure I'd know anyone that way. I got a pint from the bar and, because the place was packed out, I stood so I could be seen from the entrance. After a short time, this young man walked in, blinked a few times at me, and walked up, saying, "Are you Michael?" It was Lindsay, as it turns out. Very shortly after, others began to arrive. We eventually had about a dozen people there. Funny enough, two people arrived who looked EXACTLY like their pictures, or close enough that I knew them on sight--Christian Adams and Stuart Nathan. It was a fun time. Chris Adams and I talked at length about the September 11 situation, world reaction to it, and whether the actions in Afghanistan would bear any fruit for long-term peace. Stuart and Chris and I talked about sites and dance clubs and I got recommendations from them about where I might find a good time clubbing. Andrea urged me to walk Waterloo Bridge at night, which I must do. Stuart again recommended the Jack the Ripper Walk, which I'm doing tonight. Around nine or so, Chris, Stu, and Andrea were hungry and recommended Wagamama. Because I had mentioned on-forum, before leaving Indiana, that I wanted to go, I couldn't tell for sure if they were recommending Wagamama for my sake or theirs, so I stayed quiet and didn't mention that I'd lunched there. But I didn't really care anyway. I liked the food enough that eating it twice was no problem for me. And we went to the Bloomsbury location anyway this time, and it's nice to know where more than one is located so I can go back easily. Just as yummy the second time as the first, I think. I got back to the hostel around 10:30. I was exhausted and ready to wind down a bit. I saw the woman again who I'd seen in the room earlier (in the dark) and sat and started talking to her. Tess is from California and is attending a year of university at a school in Canterbury. She up in London because her term's ended and she wanted to see some shows here. We chatted a little over an hour and went back to our room around midnight to get some sleep. Well, that was long, wasn't it. I'm getting a late start today, so I'm going to either the Globe Theater or the Tate Modern. I wanted to do both, but as it's noon now, that won't happen. I'll catch the other tomorrow or next week.

Hamlet. Also, moving rooms

Prior to meeting lovely girls last night, I saw Hamlet by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Unfortunately, my fatigue and the warmth of the room caught up with me, and I kept dozing off. Shame, really, because what I saw of it was excellent. Although the woman doing Ophelia and the actors playing Claudius and Gertrude seemed rather lifeless, the man playing Hamlet was superb. And it's a double shame. Although I was in a sort of terrace-level section (not really balcony), I was in the dead center of the auditorium. Dead center. I was thrilled with my seat, but completely unable to watch much of the show. Went back to the room last night, after drinking and meeting cute girls, and found a guy sleeping in my bed. Since virtually everyone else in the room was also trying to sleep and I didn't want to keep them awake while we sorted it all out, I offered to take a new room, provided they had a bed for me. So at about 1:30 last night, I was moving rooms. Brother, what a hassle. Well, I'm off. I'm supposed to meet up some people from the Warren Ellis forum and I need to get going.

Got cut off last night.

Got cut off last night. My Web access ran out and I didn't have change to refeed it. Anyway, here's the rest of what I was going to say... ...and since I doubt I'll remember their names by the time the pictures come back AND since I doubt I'll see either of them again, I wanted to get their names into some form of writing while I remembered.

Hostelling

I love the fact this place has its own bar. I've been sipping beer since about 11, with Vivienne and Jimmy, who are two of my roommates. Strangely, Vivienne isn't really Vivienne. She's Sally or something like that, but she's moving from Italy to London to make a new life for herself, and I guess a new name's part of the package. You really do meet the most interesting people when you travel. I met up with Jimmy and ol' Viv in the bar tonight and shortly after I caught up with them, Vivienne invited two other women to join us. Lily is a Brazilian from Sao Paulo, and Elena is Swiss-Italian. Both of them are beautiful, I must say. Elena could be a model--she has the looks and the twig-thin build for it. And she gave me my first-ever test in the Italian kiss goodbye thing. I failed. Lily, on the other hand. Oh boy. Perhaps not as classicly pretty as Elena, but still. Okay. I'm bragging about meeting pretty women tonight. I'll admit that. But I'm also getting their names down in writing because I have pictures of them, and since I doubt I'll

Arrival

Well, I'm here, finally. Here's a little test. If you're reading this, send me an e-mail to let me know. I'm curious whether this does any good for anyone but me. So, my flights went pretty well. The trip from Indy to O'Hare was about as flawless as I might have hoped. The trip to Heathrow was good, too. British Air now has seatback video throughout its 777 fleet, so that helped while away the time, especially since sleep was so hard to come by. We were able to watch a real-time model of where the plane was throughout the trip, the miles and hours left until Heathrow, the altitude and ground speed, and so on. That was pretty cool, if you find geeky things cool. My seatmates from O'Hare to Heathrow were interesting and nice. Both were meeting connecting flights--he to Saudi Arabia and she to Cairo. That's a lot of travel on top of a flight from Chicago to London. I don't envy them. After retrieving my luggage at Heathrow, it was a piece of piss to jump on Heathrow Express for Paddington Station. Quick, too. 15 minutes instead of the hour or so you'd expect to spend on the Underground. I then caught a series of tube trains to my hostel... ...which is interesting in itself. It's been described as Blade Runner come to earth, and if you recall how rundown and seedy some of the settings were in that film, I'd agree. What they really mean, though, is the future-chic the movie puts forth. The hostel certainly is rundown and seedy. But the beds and bathrooms are clean, and that's all that really matters. The staff is friendly and helpful, which is also nice. And there's, so far, two women in my room. This hostel only offers mixed-sex rooms. Which should be interesting for me tonight, since I forgot to bring my jammies. Heh. Well, it's not worth being embarrassed over. Ye, gods. One problem with my lack of sleep last night: I can't hold open my eyes now. And I'm supposed to see Hamlet tonight. Wonder how well that will work out. I considered a nap, but I figured there was a better-than-even chance I'd sleep straight through the play and awaken sometime around noon tomorrow. My thoughts are losing coherence. It's a wonder my thoughts ever had coherence.

Down and Out

I've been reading George Orwell's first novel Down and Out in Paris and London in preparation for my trip. I've intended to read this book for quite a while, and this seemed like the perfect time. Orwell writes about a young writer living in poverty in the two cities. The book is based in part on his own experience as a young writer living in poverty in the two cities, and that comes across in rich character detail and his descriptions of living for days without food. It's quite a brilliant book, really, and although I'll be actually be rather up and in while in Paris and London, it seemed a perfect title to borrow for my log.

SETI survey

Here's an intriguing little survey, from the folks at the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

Anticipation

Ah, it's getting close. I have one more final project to complete and then it's off to London. I just checked the weather for Indy, Chicago, and London, and so far there's no talk of bad weather. In exactly 48 hours, I'll be on a plane to Europe!

RSC Hamlet

I now have a ticket to see Hamlet at the Barbican in London. I've never seen the Royal Shakespeare Company perform, so I'm excited. A little disappointed they're not doing anything at the Globe Theater in December, but it's no big deal.