What I can remember…

So the Brits want to:
Detox their bodies - Yea. This is a new one to me, but I have a strange feeling that it’ll end up in the US soon enough. Fasting is another way to describe the act. Someone cuts out pretty much all the additive foods from their life for a month to purify their body. Ex: caffine, sugar, etc. NOT EASY! It’s all over the place though. Simple packets in stores to clean ya out from the inside as well as chances to have TV shows put you through a week or day long detox session. Wild stuff… watch for it.

Stay awake as long as possible - Shattered. Some people are staying awake (with minimal allowed sleeping time - as in 3 minutes after a designated time has passed. The people on the LIVE SHOW then talk about what’s happening and what they’d like to do with their money. Um… bored yet? NO?! Watch the show for 10 minutes and you WILL be. It’s awful. If the show was editted AFTER the show was completed it’d probably be pretty rockin to watch. But LIVE? Enh enh. No no no no NO.

Look left, right, or both ways - At nearly EVERY intersection you will see ‘look left look right’, or ‘look both ways’ so you don’t walk out into the street and get hit by a car, truck, etc. !!!!!!!!!!! YES nearly EVERY intersection. I even saw this stuff in Cambridge and Bristol. It was really cool for we newbies to the UK world I’ll tell ya! Another thought I had on this idea is… it’s quite difficult to know which way a car is coming from because not every street is two way. Actually, many of the side roads are one way only. Guess them Brits got some magic grits after all. = ) Smart thinkin.

Clear up the traffic problem by driving slower… by driving in a lower gear - I’m not going to elaborate on this too much because it’s just rediculous and was laughed at by pretty much everyone. Though I’m not kidding that it WAS suggested on TV one morning while they discussed the traffic in London. (shaking head) Anri (Philip’s wife) told me a study was done and learned that traffic in the city is as fast as the horse and buggy days. Now THAT’s progress! Heh

Roomies: Bob, Emily, Dani3l, and Brian (for a few days)

That’s listed in order of appearance. = ) As well as my memory recalls the order at least. Bob (hello Bob) is very easy to talk to, as our lengthy conversation on politics proved one night. I’m looking forward to his directed piece for many reasons. Also he’s top o the top with knowledge of NY and the theater world there. Quite the impressive resume, but you’d never know if you met him.

Emily (hello Emily) She’s the only one that’s asked me WHY I hadn’t written about her. Well I’m writing about you now woman! NYA! So there! Emily is w3rd up yo. Yea, that’s a 3 in there… no it’s not because Dani3l has a 3 in his name that I use the 3 boys and girls. Her humor is very refreshing along with her energy and knowledge of theater and those involved in the world. She’s a good one she is. W3rd yo.

Dani3l (hello Dani3l with a 3) is Red Hat boy. I did not know until I got here and then wondered if he actually was. Answer - NOPE. All this time I was led to believe by other people that he was in fact a Linux geek when he’s just a dude. = ) Totally easy to get along with and… hehehe… he’s got an understanding of D&D and White Wolf. ROCK!

Brian (hello Brian) and I clicked the other night when we started talking about the one person that brings EVERYONE together — Dave Mustaine. Quite into the metal scene which we shared many a memory of for quite some time. = ) I also learned of Brian’s commitment to helping people when a discussion about security at SLC came up one night. You’re a good man Charlie Brown.

I need to get some sleep and pack now. It’s 11:29 and I’m still out and about after Taming of the Shrew - not good.

OUT

01-14-2004 06:35 pm

01/12/04

Christmas: I think I wrote about this, but I don’t remember so I’ll do it again. = ) A Bar Theater, ever been to one? Most of us hadn’t, but most of us want to go back. WOW! A play about four (4) guys… IN A BAR, which happens to be above a REAL bar. Understand why it’s called that now? = P This play was QUITE good. The only difficulty was one persons accent - Billy. For some reason he would slur his words… it couldn’t have been all the Guiness because he was drinking it during the play, but he was slurring from the beginning. He had to have had at least 3 glasses during the play which lasted about 90 minutes. IMPRESSIVE. Hit the lines AND put the beer down. The script was very tight and acted amazingly by the lead cast and the ensemble that appeared randomly throughout the play. This is defintely up there as onna the better plays we saw… if you couldn’t tell already. = )

01/13/04

Honeymoon Suite: Somtimes GREAT ideas are GREAT, and sometimes they need a little bit of a nudge. Arguably Jerry Springer and Honeymoon Suite are in the same position in my opinion. There’s only one difference - Jerry held my interest for the majority of the show while I had to force myself back into the play numerous times because of the pacing. Without spoiling the play: conversations between three (3) couples take place at the same time allowing for long pauses. This works well for much of the play but a build is needed. Something that puts all three couples into either the EXACT SAME conversation simultaneously or three different conversations need to take place at the same time building to the end of the play. Like I said, a great idea, but it missed the mark.

01/14/04

Taming of the Shrew: I just, literally just none of that kinda sorta just, I really just JUST got out of the theater and can now say I’ve seen the Royal Shakespeare Company perform. Heh, in London too. Hehehe. Honestly, the show was good, but nothing amazing. The set was brilliant. Doors, doors, and more doors! Opening, closing, swinging and all the like while people chased after each other and had a ball of fun delivering the lines. It was obvious that everyone on stage was very comfortable with each other and with the text. Hoorah to them. I think it was the play itself that was ‘enh’ to me. The story needn’t be as lon as it is because we all get the point… far too many times.

During the day I visited Whitechapel, The Globe, the original Globe, The Tate Modern, and met up with Margit - finally! Whitechapel was QUITE a different London experience than any other part of the UK has been to date. There was a much broader scope of people walking the streets and a much less clean area with tags (grafitti) all over the place. = ( This made me sad, but happy at the same time. There is a diverse culture here which I’ve heard about but hadn’t really seen until today. No Jack the Ripper tour for me though, it’s only available from another stop and only starts at 6:45 with the Beefeaters. Grr.

Visting The Globe and the original Globe again was very cool. The original is so run down, yet still occupied. I wonder if there are plans to repair it. Hmm. I wonder I do. At the Tate I went to an interesting exhibit where five (5) screens had different experiences of people falling into or out of large bodies of water. I have absolutely no way of describing it and doing it any justice at all. Except to say I’m glad I went back to see it per some recommendations while I was in Cambridge. Margit! Ha! The closest person to me that I wanted to visit… Hahaha. Well, we met up at, you can igh if you like but it was cozy and easy, Starbucks down the road from the theater. A Japanese girl from Nagano served me a Vanilla Mocha. = O I brought it back and got to see the Japanese come out of her. She was so sorry. = | I missed Japan as I have throughout this trip.

I digress, Margit! We hung out and caught up spreading the latest and greatest news about all our friends from TPU which was neat. Sadly we only had about 45 minutes because the play was about to start. Hopefully whoever I meet up with again in another country I have more time to chill out with especially since we had about three (3) years to catch up on! Ma-ma-mia! With that… you can return to the top of this day and read the review of the play. = )

01/15/04

Not that it’s possible to write into the future but I do know my plans so I’m going to write em since I have FORSIGHT! BWAAAAHAHAA! Tomorrow AM the remaining peeps in the group will attend a mini-breakfast at Dave’s place. He’s a kind man he is. From there the majority of the group will take a bus to the station at 11AM which means they’ll probably be on the road at 1120ish if everything goes smoothly packing all the luggage I tink. I’m going to take the Picadilly Line on the Tube to the airport. The last ride on the tube. Sigh. Be still my heart. = Sniff, sniff. = American Airlines holds my future in their capable hands then. I’ll depart from London at 4:30ish and arrive in New York at approximately 7:30. With that… I end my London edition of my we-journal. God save the Queen!

01-14-2004 06:34 pm