unbilotitled

oh, and graham coxon was there too.

how can they be tired of england?

I haven't posted since before my birthday, which is about a month ago now. i could have foreseen that i would lose interest in the thing, and to be honest, i feel kind of like a narcissist in assuming that people want to read about my daily life, but then again, i'm sure i could find lots of other reasons to qualify me for that title. So let's go back a bit... I know that on my birthday weekend i went on something of a 3-day bender and came out pretty worse for wear, both in body and finances-- although i seem to recall that it was fun. the monday afterwards was actually my birthday, and i still hadn't recovered, and spent actually kind of a dismal day at school. i met with kate after class for a birthday dinner and drinks, but i remember feeling so sick, and ordering such a shit dinner, that i only really enjoyed the company. i also tripped and fell in a pothole... welcome to being 22. ah! it comes back to me now... actually it was a nice evening, and after parting with kate, i just caught the train from egham (lucky, since it only comes every half-hour), and had a good playlist all set up on my ipod which only enhanced my tipsy good-spirits as i gazed out the train window. (looking out the window on trains being one of my favourite pastimes). Then i think i dipped into a bottle of wine at home to continue my mood, and when asked by irene online how my birthday was going, i replied "drinkin' wine and feelin' fine", to which she said "that's my girl." it was a little weird being away from everyone and made me feel a bit homesick-- in fact it didn't really feel like a birthday at all-- but i have lots of things to be thankful for and look forward to at the moment, so i didn't really mind.

after that i remember i got incredibly sick with some sort of bronchitis-like ailment. it got steadily worse all week, and yet somehow (i think out of desperation after realizing how much money i had spent in the last month), i mustered the strength to drag myself to a job interview at a bar in the west end. to my dismay when i got there, there were about 30 other people all vying for the job, and i had to wait in line for over an hour, coughing and feeling like i was going to pass out the whole time, and seriously considering walking out. and miraculously... despite having no restaurant or bar experience... i was hired as a bartender, with about 6 others. hallelujah! employment. still sick, i attended training, the second session of which lasted 11 hours, and saw me thrown behind the bar at friday night happy hour, an accursed time when all the throngs of city businessmen descend upon the local watering holes and order massive rounds of draught beer with weird syrup/lemonade variations which i've never heard of, and cocktails which i have no idea how to make, and the like. but surviving that, i've now worked a few shifts there, and am surprisingly kind of enjoying it. it's not the fun kind of bar where you get to wear trampy clothes and chat with cute boys and get drunk at the end of the night, but the people are nice, and it goes by really quickly, and i get unlimited fountain pop with ice! in england? imagine.

that weekend (Jan 31 i believe), Krystal arrived from Toronto. I was still sick, but really excited for the week ahead. We packed it full of drinking, shopping, sightseeing and eating... although not in that order, because eating and drinking always took precedence. as a result i'm still feeling like i've retained a little bit around the midsection... not helped by the fact that i don't really exercise, and still eat prettily heartily. going to have to work on that one. but anyway, krystal and i, despite fears of snow-trouble-- oh shit-- i didn't mention the snow--- ok well basically, all of england got about 20 cm of snow, and london shut down for the day. no transit was running, buses, trains, tubes, planes, everything. most things were closed because 6.4 million people didn't go to work. so basically it was like a mass snow day-- and despite the news making it seem like the city was in a panic, i've never seen so many happy people in my life. we went to the park with my roommates, and had to arm ourselves with snowballs because of snow-ball wielding attackers around every corner. this blew krystal and my minds, but was a really fun game. there were snowmen everywhere, and we built one of our own, but i have to say, despite the energy, krystal and i just couldn't get that excited about snow, and made our way to a packed pub for mulled wine. now that's a good day.

snow day

so anyway, since nothing had been flying out monday, we were worried about catching our flight tuesday, but we were really lucky and it all went off without a hitch, and we met some uncommonly nice people along the way, who were only too eager to help us and show us around, for... get this... NOTHING in return. krystal and i were both shocked by this, which leads me to believe that there are actually some truly nice, unselfish people in the world, and we are not among them. if you'd like to find them, try ireland. i'm not sure i can labour into the particulars of that journey at the moment... i think the best part for me was when we went to the crypt of the christ church and saw a mummified cat and rat who had gotten stuck in the organ, "presumably one chasing the other." i'm still pretty amused by that. that evening, we endeavoured to get very drunk, and started with an uncommonly expensive dinner (dublin is way more expensive than even london, somehow), and i tried stilton cheese on a burger, thinking this was very english and adult of me. but i couldn't eat it, because i was convinced it tasted like a barnyard. i'm not as refined as i thought, obviously. as we were told that we were in the "drunken party" section of dublin, we were very eager to partake. but we found only touristy irish pubs, with virtually no one our age. at one point, krystal and i began flattering ourselves when we noticed a group of young, semi-attractive guys noticeably directing their attentions at us. when one finally approached us, it turned out he only wanted a picture of krystal's red hair for their "collection". we refused, and i proceeded to tease krystal about her freak-ishness all night. dejected and bored and not nearly drunk enough, we even considered trying the dubious sounding "club m" for kicks... until we happened upon a sort of cheesy rock bar, which looked ok. we ordered a bottle of house wine and sat down to watch the classic rock cover band "white chocolate", the lead singer of which kept referring to the "millionaires" drinking "cristal" (us) and making me feel pretty embarassed. but it was hard to be embarassed next to the group beside us, comprised of a few dumpy spanish girls and an excessively nerdy asian guy, all dancing awkwardly and emphatically doing air guitar. we obviously hadn't cracked the hip dublin social scene, and probably never will. but before we left, krystal made her acquaintances with the red-bearded bassist of White Chocolate, and he took us out for a drink which by this time we did not need. we agreed to get into his car so he could drive us home without even thinking twice, and somehow made plans for him to pick us up and take us sightseeing the next day. as we had to be out of our rooms at 10 am, naturally we felt like all hell in the morning, and prayed that he wouldn't show, out of sheer embarassment for our state. he did. luckily, as krystal was obviously the object of interest (obviously), i got to sit in the back seat and look out the window. (i also love car rides). he took us to his adorable little house in the dublin suburbs for tea, and as the mountain road was closed, we opted to go to the seaside. it was a lovely ride and we climbed a little hill for a good view of the beach. it was actually a really nice way to spend the day and see a little more of ireland, and easy on our hangovers. he suggested that we visit the guinness brewery as well, but krystal gave an emphatic "NO."

krystal goes to dublin

look at me, i'm a millionaire

the seaside

After that there's not too much of interest to tell...well yes there is, i'm just tired of writing. we continued to sightsee and party, we met up with the coast and saw them play in hoxton, also saw them get accosted by some troll-like fans who kept accusing them of being "too cool for them", and us being "too cool" by proxy, which was confusing and weird, and as a result, we saw the coast get into their van and totally ditch us in order to escape. but they apologized profusely, and we went to a house party with them in hammersmith the next night, where everyone got quite drunk and danced in the living room. saturday we mustered all our remaining energy to go out one last time, and my roommates took us to this super posh club bungalow 8, which apparently is a known celebrity hang out. i didn't see any celebrities, but i did see $20 drinks, which i guess is the cost of hanging with celebrities. the fact that ena got us on guest list through her friend into this place that looked like a 5-star hotel kind of made me feel like a VIP though, and sadly underdressed in my favourite rose-bowl t-shirt. emma assures me though that these things are all about understatement. haha.

strappin' it on with the coast

the final event worth mentioning i think is krystal and i getting sunday roast... oh sunday roast... you may well have been the best meal i ever had. i am eternally in your debt. i can taste the horseradish now.

this is not sunday roast... but i did finish everything on this table... kind of like a vaccuum

since krystal left there's not much to tell... in fact i've been uncommonly lazy. i have a few essays coming up, and plenty of reading, so i generally spend my days lounging around in my room, alternating between short bouts of reading, and long bouts of eating and sleeping. if i didn't feel like such a slug i would admit it's a pretty good life. generally i have something to look forward to every other day or so, (which i do earnestly) like meeting with a friend for drinks, or, like tonight, seeing pete doherty live! ahh. i don't think it's really even set in yet, that i'm finally seeing an idol of many years, who is probably a huge part of the reason i ever wanted to come here. i'm sure it will when i get there. i'm going alone, which is a little weird, but it's a small price to pay. more on that later i hope.

i will end this lengthy and probably largely un-stimulating entry with a passage i just read from david copperfield which made me laugh out loud-- luckily i was alone, because i hate when people laugh at books. even if they explain it to you, it's never as funny, and you just kind of think of them as nerdy assholes. but i'm going to recount it here anyway, and be that nerdy asshole.

"Mr. Chillip was married again to a tall, raw-boned, high-nosed wife; and they had a weazen little baby, with a heavy head that couldn't hold it up, and two weak staring eyes, with which it seemed to be always wondering why it had ever been born."

i hope i don't have babies that look like that.
adieu!