I'm a big fat liar, aren't I? I really just don't have the time for this anymore. I've given up on saying I'll post soon because I lie every time. But for now, I'll give a mini update...because I'm stressed. So here goes:


1-I need to find a place to live. Soon.
I'm going to be kicked out of halls at the end of August (possibly in September) and I still have no where to move into. I'm very picky and that makes things bad. And I want to live with my friends, but that doesn't seem to be something plausible which makes things worse. Because I won't be a student anymore, I'm going to have to pay council tax and all my student friends don't want to live with me because they are exempt otherwise. For those of you who don't know, Council Tax is basically a tax you get for living in a residence in England and it can cost up to £3000 a year, I'm told. Oh geez....
I've been searching on Gumtree and finding crap all. I want to live as close to Central London as possible, but its more expensive and smaller. Sigh. Why, London? Why must you make my life so difficult??!! I just want a bath tub and a double bed....is that so much to ask for? *cue stress attack*

2-My dissertation deadline is slowly approaching. I've got to write 3 chapters by the end of September and a written piece about how my writing has changed and how it fits into the literary world. I've completed 2 chapters so far, though one still needs editing, but I have one more to write and no clue what it's going to be about. I did write for 5 hours in Starbucks today and am quite proud of the amount of editing I did, but tomorrow I think I need to buckle down and figure out the next chapter...or at least what it will be about. I'm still on track, but I feel like I'm only just...

3-I've been working a lot lately. I love my job, but this past week I ended up working full time and I started to see what it would be like to no longer have school. I don't think I've ever actually had that feeling before. In the past it has always felt more like summer vacation, even after graduating from FSU. But I'm beginning to feel what its like to just be in the real world. It's very repetative...very tiring. Very interesting. I'm just glad this week is back to normal hours so that I can get my other things done.

4-Throughout it all I normally have my friends. And I still do. It's just that its getting harder and harder to see people lately. Marshall has moved out of halls, Alice is busy with her dissertation and has been in hibernation for weeks now, Paul wasn't speaking to me for about a month, and so Jay has had to entertain me entirely on his own. I worry that sometimes I get overbearing and I don't want to drive him mad. I love that boy to bits...he's become my best friend over here. And he was here with me when Uncle Howie passed away a few weeks ago...something I'm very grateful for.

And so....the stress is building. I'm reaching a point where if I push one thing from my mind, the next sidles on in and takes over. I've got stress on the mind all the time. I need to go for a jog to clear my head. And actually, I'm in training for a half-marathon in October, so I really should go for a jog soon! I'm doing the Run to the Beat London Half-Marathon on 5 October 2008 with Leukaemia Research UK, so if anyone has a spare dollar, pound, etc and they would like to donate, it would be greatly appreciated. You can donate to my run at:
http://www.justgiving.com/hilaryklein


Finally, I've been writing poetry again. I haven't written anything in over 2 years so it's not very good...but the fact that I'm doing it means something, doesn't it? Ah well...

I’ve Read This One Before

I’m sure I’ve read this one before.
The story is too familiar, too well-known.
The characters are new, but the prose are the same.
And I know how it goes.

Each page feels just like déjà vu,
the twists, the turns, the dénouement.
It’s a tear jerker for certain.
Oh, I know how it goes.

Re-living proves hard for the well-read.
The binding is old, the pages feel brittle,
the cover is tattered and worn.
Yet I know how it goes.

Look! There’s a plot point
strategically placed, obvious to a trained eye,
revealing in its subtle way.
Can’t you see how it goes?

Perhaps you dislike spoilers,
don’t want to know the tragic end.
You’d rather read through every page
to find out how it goes.

But, I know how it goes.
I’m sure I’ve read this one before.

HRK 2008


Tug ’o War

Pulling
Pulling
Pulling
Afraid to win,
But more afraid to lose.
How did I end up in a game that I never wanted to play?
Tugging
Tugging
Tugging
Scared to tear you in two.
Why has it come to this?
Why do you have to choose?
Will I win?              Will I lose?

HRK 2008


And on that note, it's time for a shower and a bit more work before bed. Hope this is sufficient for the time being.

--Hils

I'm crap, I'm crap, I'm crap!

I've been so massively busy I haven't had time to keep you all updated. I'm sorry. Let's make a deal: I should be relatively free over the weekend. If you really want me to...I'll update properly then.


In the meantime, I'm going to brag about how great my job is and all the free stuff I'm getting this week.

Sunday-New Product Employee Box
I received a box Sunday afternoon (aka I didn't check my mail Saturday) full of lush goodies! New products are coming out this summer and the company thought they would send all the employees a box of the new treats so that we could try them out for ourselves and have the knowledge needed to help sell them to customers. In this box I received:

• White Wedding Bath Ballistic
• English Garden Bath Ballistic
• 100g B Electro Soap
• 100g The Godmother Soap
• 100g Porridge Soap
• 100g You Wash My Back Soap *potential new fav
  
• 100g Spice Curls Soap
• 100g Rub Rub Rub Shower Gel *potential new fav
  
• 100g Yummy Yummy Yummy Shower Gel
• Up the Wooden Hill Emotibomb
• Vit C Toner Tab
• Sample Pot Paradise Regained face moisturizer *potential new fav
  
• Sample Pot Skin Nanny face moisturizer *potential new fav
  
• Sample Pot Vanishing Cream face moisturizer

For those of you doing the math, thats 14 new products to try and approximately worth £30.

Wednesday-Intro Training
I'm set to go to three training sessions this week in different aspects of the shop.  The first was the introduction.  At the end of the session we received a massive bag full of more treats.  This time I received:

• Avobath Ballistic
• Big Blue Ballistic
• Sex Bomb Ballistic
• Floating Island Bath Melt
• The Comforter Bubble Bar
• 90g Buffy Body Butter
• 100g Honey I Washed the Kids soap
• 100g Sea Vegetable soap
• 100g Tramp Shower Gel
• 45g Helping Hands Moisturizer
• 100g Sexy Peel soap
• Ultrabland cleanser
• Therapy Massage Bar
• T'eo Deodorant
• Honey Trap lip balm

Yup...that's about £50 worth right there.  Wow...and I still have 2 more training sessions to go.  How much do I love my job right now?  I'll update this as I go to more trainings.  Sweet.

--Hils

EDIT
Thursday was haircare training.  Yesssssss!

• Hard shampoo bar
• Seanik shampoo bar
• 100g Reincarnate solid shampoo
• 100g The Blonde solid shampoo
• 100g Trichomania solid shampoo
• Big shampoo
• 100g Cynthia Sylvia Stout shampoo
• 100g Daddy-O shampoo
• 100g American Cream conditioner x2
• Retread conditioner
• 100g Jungle solid conditioner
• King of the Mods gel
• H'Suan Wen Hua hair treatment
• Snake Oil scalp massage bar
• Brun hair henna

Yup...another £80 worth...I feel like my birthday has come early!

EDIT AGAIN
One final training day.  Bring on the skincare:

• 30g (approx) Angels on Bare Skin cleanser
  
• 30g (approx) Fresh Farmacy cleanser
• Baby Face cleanser
• 50g (approx) Coal Face cleanser
• 30g (approx) Herbalism cleanser
• Sweet Japanese Girl facial scrub
• ANOTHER Ultrabland cleanser
• 30g (approx) Aqua Marina cleanser
• Eau Roma Water toner
• Imperialis facial moisturizer
• Paradise Regained facial moisturizer (brand new product not yet released!)
• Charity Pot hand and body moisturizer

I'd guess thats probably close to another £70 but I'm approximating the price of Paradise Regained since I have no idea and it's not yet released.  I'm so happy...I never need to buy anything every again!!  lol

While I will still be using this as my main journal, I thought some of you may be interested in seeing my other one. I don't update it as often as I should so there isn't much there, but it does exist. It's meant to be more for non-fiction practice/classwork more than anything else.

Feel free to check out:
http://www.livejournal.com/~wannabenglish


Back to working on my dissertation...I'll write again soon.

--Hils

For the Approaching Summer Months

*see Hairspray
*see Wicked
*write 4 chapters of my book
*book a holiday to someplace sunny with a beach (any ideas? I'm currently thinking maybe Spain?)
*book a holiday to Morocco to see Sean and Meg
*see QI filming
*make more of the fact that I live in central London
*visit Ys and Jemma in Wales
*visit Hell in Lincoln
*read The English Patient
*re-read all 7 Harry Potters
*read for fun
*look into visa extensions (igs?)
*somehow, someway get a tan so that in the scale of how white a person is, I'm not in the negatives anymore!
*update Live Journal with a proper entry!

--Hils

Would you like to know my schedule for the next few weeks? Well here it goes....


March
16-work all day
17-bake Hamentashen (hopefully)
18-work all day/clean room
19-Nicole arrives
20-Disneyland Paris
21-Nicole/work
22-Nicole/work
23-Easter with Nicole/Quidditch
24-Oxford/Ave Q
25-Nicole leaves
26-possibly work, possibly do papers (don't know work schedule yet)
27-ditto
28-Natasha and Jimmy arrive/going away party for Alice (??)
29-good times with Nay and Jimmy
30-ditto
31-ditto

April
1-ditto/Alice leaves for Rome for 2 months
2-ditto
3-Natasha and Jimmy leave
4-Leave for Paris to see Mum
5-Paris
6-Paris/watch Paris Marathon
7-Versailles
8-Normandy (history)
9-Burgundy (wine)
10-back to London
11-work on papers/stories
12-ditto
13-ditto
14-ditto
15-ditto
16-ditto
17-ditto
18-finish all papers
19-passover at Marshall's
20-and on the final day Hilary rested...and it was good...except she was unable to eat bread or corn products while resting and thus starved
21-papers due/begin summer term/dissertation/random lectures


I'm not sure if you should pity me or be jealous.
Perhaps both?

--Hils

Apologies!! I somehow got sidetracked, backtracked, out of whack, and other words that vaguely rhyme/slant rhyme. My absence from the world of livejournal updates is inexcusable. But I have sent out some 'London Update' emails, so I'm not completely useless!


Tons has happened since the Sweeney premier, but this will just be a short update as it's ridiculously late and I need sleep.

Yesterday was my last class for grad school. Madness!! All thats left now is my dissertation over the summer. I can't believe it. I'm off for a month for Easter and then I have a few lectures in the summer, but they don't have grades and are just one off deals.

I've been working a lot on my novel. I've got about 4 chapters done now which I'm pretty proud of. Hopefully, I'll continue working on that over my month break and into my dissertation period.

There are tons of people coming to London to visit me for Spring Break. Justin and his friend Eddie came to visit about 2 weeks ago. They were in London for 4 days and then went to Ireland. They were the first people to really come over to visit. Nicole is next. She's arriving on Wednesday and going to be here for a week. Then I've got a two day gap and Natasha and Jimmy show up for a week! THEN they leave and the next day I'm off to Paris to see Mum, Patty, and Patty's mother. Mum and Patty are running the Paris Marathon so I'll be there for a week with them. When will my work be done?? I'll have about 2 weeks to work on papers due on April 21st...and just to make the deadline a bit tighter, Passover falls on the 19th and I'm going to my friend Marshall's house for that which means my papers need to be done before then really because I can't imagine anything getting done in the small amount of time after. Excited for friends though.

Now I just need to work on getting Josh and Sarah to visit...you are both being asked about!! C'mon people!! I miss you both and my friends want to meet you guys! :) Work on that!

Speaking of my friends, I've gotten a lot closer with both Alice and Marshall over the past few months. I think I talk, text, or see both of them nearly every day. I'm really glad I've finally found some good friends over here (other than Hell...she's so far away!!!). Marsh is going skiing for a week tomorrow so that will be sad because he'll be MIA and then on April 1st Alice will be going to Italy for 2 months and that will be sadder because she'll be gone for, basically, forever! I don't think I'll know what to do with myself when they are gone...thankfully, they are going away at separate times. If their holidays overlapped I may regress back to my first week here and just sit alone in my room.

I'm lying of course. I couldn't sit alone in my room for a week because I got a job!! I work at a bath and body type store called Lush (for those of you who somehow missed my Lush obsession, check it out at www.lush.com ) It's a really fun job and I've made lots of new friends there. I may be going out with some of them this weekend which is neat. I've never really had work friends who were real friends before...aside from Carla. This would be the group of us going out so it's quite exciting really. The job itself is great fun too. Last weekend we were modeling products in the shop window and I was one of 3 girls who got to model a massage bar by getting a 20 minute massage in the shop window. Yes, I was paid to lay in a window and get a massage. How cool is my job? You're jealous...admit it.

Well, I ought to go to bed. That's really all I can think of at this ungodly hour. Is it really 5am? Geez!!

Night night.

--Hils

Well, after months and months of anxiously waiting I finally went to the Sweeney Todd premier in London and it was bloody fantastic (no pun intended!). Alysia and I arrived at Leicester Square around 4-4.30 for the 7pm premier. The celebrities were supposed to begin arriving at 6pm and it was cold, windy, and raining. Very promising conditions for standing around outside. Ha!

Well, Alysia and I tried to scope out a spot around the outskirts of the Square, but Alysia kept pressing me to ask the guards if there was a way we could get inside the inner Square. For those of you who don't know, the inner portion of Leicester Square within the confines of the garden is where the celebrities will DEFINITELY go. The red carpet leads into the Square and the reporters wait inside for their interviews. The fans who get to stand inside the closed gates of the inner square have typically camped out in Leicester Square the night before in order to get those spots. Anyway, I went around and asked 5 or 6 guards at all the entrances to the inner square if there was a way to get inside. They all said it was full and that I could try at another gate, but the probability was against me. Well, I finally went over to the last gate where a guard lady in a pink coat stood looking like a drowned rat in the rain.

Me-"I have a question for you. Everyone has told me you are the one to talk to."
Her-"I'm not anymore. I'm all full up."
Me-"Oh...they said you had spots."
Her-"Well, I don't."
Me-"Is there a chance of getting into the square if people leave from the rain?"
Her-"No one is leaving."

At this point a man comes up to the guard and starts asking her to let him out of the square for a minute. The two of them talk for a while and I just stand there with Alysia a few feet behind me talking to some other random girls who have gathered near us. After about 3 or 4 minutes the man leaves and she looks back at me.

Her-"Oh, sorry"
Me-"It's ok."

And then another guard walks over and starts talking to her. I'm back to standing and waiting for her to stop talking to random people. The girls talking with Alysia walk off to find another gate to ask at in hopes of access and the lady in the pink coat continues talking to her guard friends. A few minutes pass and she looks back at me still standing there.

Her-*sighs and looks at Alysia standing off behind me* Is it just the two of you?
Me-"Yes, just us!"
Alysia (noticing I've motioned to her and have made some sort of headway runs forward)-"We'll close our umbrellas so we don't take up as much room if you want."
Her-"Oh I don't care if you use the umbrellas or not. For all I care you can poke out the other people's eyes with them to get up to the front. Though I didn't tell you that."

And then she opened the gate!! Are you freaking kidding me? We got into the gated off square and were certain to see Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman! Alysia and I darted off into the barricades with the other fans, found a spot close to the front with a view of the red carpet and looked at our watches. It was 5pm. We only had to stand outside for an hour and we were in the Square. Fan-freaking-tastic!!

Just after 6pm they began arriving. Timothy Spall was first (he plays Beadle Bamford in Sweeney and Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail in Harry Potter). He stuck around for a while and did a bunch of interviews with the reporters. I did manage to get some decent pictures of him. Then came Johnny Depp!! We could see him standing on the red carpet and doing interviews and it was a madhouse. We waited and waited for him to finish on the carpet and come down to the sections with the fans further inside and suddenly Alan Rickman was there! How we missed Alan's arrival I don't know, but it doesn't matter because he did his interviews and then came over to the fans. Photos galore! After Alan Rickman walked to the next section, Johnny came down to do more interviews with the reporters in the centre. And after that he walked all the way to the very last fan in teh very corner and signed everything that he walked past. He was the only one to go out of his way to make sure every fan got to see him close up and, oh dear G-d, is he beautiful. It was ridiculous. He's even more beautiful in person than on screen. Lovvveeeee!! We didn't get anything signed, but Alysia got some really great pictures while I took a video of him. It was amazing! He was really nice for coming and making sure everyone got a chance to see him. After Johnny left we still had more to see though. Tim Burton and Laura Michelle Kelly showed up and then, to the surprise of absolutely everyone, Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs Lovett in Sweeney and Bellatrix in Harry Potter)!! She just had a baby and every source was saying she would not be at the premier, but she showed up anyway. She looked cold and a bit unhappy, but she was still beautiful. She did a few interviews and then went into the theatre. I saw her close up at the Harry Potter premier though, so I was ok with the fact that she didn't come to our section. Anyway, I was just excited she was even there! The child stars were there too. I felt bad for them because the film isn't out in England yet so most of the people near me had no clue they were even in it. I saw the film twice before I left America though so I recognized Johanna, Antony, and Toby (though Toby had his back to us the whole time while doing his interviews).

Anyways, it was an amazing night and I wanted to make sure I got it all down while I still remember everything in detail!

--Hils

I figure it would be worthwhile to do an update while I'm in the States, but being that I'm tired this is going to be more like notes I think. My trip to Florida in a nutshell:

*daytrip to Disney
*multiple Taco Bell runs
*visits with friends--Nicole, Chloe, Natasha, Jimmy, Rachel, Andrew, Will
*VISIT WITH JOSH!!!
*watched waaaayyy too many films...thus far
-Stardust (two and a half times)
-Chuck and Larry
-Run Fatboy Run
-National Treasure 1
-National Treasure 2
-Sweeney Todd
-Juno
*homework
*3 trips (so far) to the beach
*Christmas with Nicole
*Americas Next Top Model supermarathon on VH1 (a good way to stop me from doing anything for an entire week...damn you VH1!!)
*6 bags of groceries to bring back to London
*reading
*experimental, minimalist, modernized play of Sweeney Todd
*no hot water in the house

And in fact, thats all I can think of at this hour. Time for a bit more reading and then bed!

--Hils

So, in the past 4 days I've been referred to as a 'lady' twice. I'm wondering if this is just a British cultural thing or not. I can't recall ever being called a lady before...ever. Usually, I'm a girl. Friday night, the bar tender in the dorm said he was going to call me 'Drunk Lady' from now on...and tonight I went to see the Hanukkah decorations in Trafalgar Square and some older woman was talking to me about Hanukkah. Someone walked past and she told them "Oh, this is for Hanukkah...I'm just speaking to a Jewish lady from America" and pointed at me. It just seems weird to me. Usually, I'm a 'girl'. I don't think of using the word 'lady' until you're at least 30. Maybe thats just me though.

Did I grow up without realizing it?

--Hils

Heck yes....

--Hils

Things to do before going home to Florida for the holidays:

*See Mary Poppins one more time before it closes in London in January
*Fail at ice skating at Sommerset House
*Organize a holiday party in the dorm/teach the Brits about Hanukkah
*Start both critical essays for class
*Finish at least 2 more books
*Buy holiday gifts


More to come...

--Hils

Well, I finally saw Rent last night, and I know lots of people wanted to hear about it so here I go.

It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Don't get me wrong...it wasn't great by any means, but it wasn't as G-dawful as i had imagined it would be.

First off, I have no idea what city this was taking place in. Nearly everyone used a British accent (Maureen and Benny are the notable "American accents"). At the beginning when Mark gets a message from his parents they mentioned that they were sad he wouldn't be able to come in to London for Christmas and then wished him Happy Christmas (does this bother anyone else?). Later, during the song Santa Fe there was a line about living in New York. Then at Angel's funeral Mimi said she and Angel had met in London, but Mark said Angel had escorted tourists out of Alphabet City...so where they heck were they???!!

Another thing you may have noticed up there was the discrepancy over Mark's religion. His parents wished him a Happy Christmas at the beginning but during the Tango Maureen (which was waayy too late in the play) he mentioned that he learned to dance at the Jewish Community Centre. Also, Mark was big and buff and took off his shirt at one point to reveal pecs and muscles. Thats not how he should look at all...though it was nice to watch. haha

As far as song changes, Out Tonight was turned into a cabaret number. The Happy New Years song sampled Madonna's Holiday. But, by far the worst (aka the song I couldn't stop laughing during to the point where Marshall couldn't look at me) was You're What You Own. It is now a solo...and a slow song. Mark sings it almost entirely alone though Roger comes out for like a second to sing 1 line. Mark sings the song with a thick British accent which makes it laughable as he annunciates "you're living in A-Mer-I-Ca....at the DAWN of the millennium". I just couldn't stop...I laughed so so hard.

On to the singers. Roger and Collins were the best singers. They were both really really good and I have no complains. The girl who was Mimi confused me. She could only sing if she was harmonizing with Roger. It was odd. She did Light my Candle well and Another Day (though that song made no sense...I'll get back to it in a minute). But when she sang with anyone else or alone she couldn't harmonize right. It was painful. Also, she wasn't Spanish (I think she may have been Irish actually...) so when she sang the line about "It feels like home when the Spanish babies cry" it made no sense. Ya.... Joanne was alright, but she didn't have the vocal abilities to hit those notes as strong as she should have. Also, it was the first time I'd seen Joanne played as white. I found out later that she was an understudy so I forgive that, but I was a bit disappointed.

Now for the plot and direction changes. The Tango Maureen came towards the end of act 1. The last song in Act 1 was Christmas Bells. Act 2 began with Over the Moon and La Vie Boehem happened into the act. There was no weird sex scene during Contact...just Angel dying. Also, in Another Day, Roger sang "Who do you think you are..walking in on me and my guitar" and Mimi was nowhere near him. They chose to make it all metaphorical which was just confusing again seeing as the song is them yelling at each other. He was above the stage yelling and she was in the catscratch club. Strange. Angel wasn't dressed as a girl...he was just really camp. And referred to as a 'he' the entire time.

There was also a weird LCD screen across the bottom of the upper section of the stage. It counted down from 525,600 every time they sang Seasons of Love. It also named people who died of AIDS with their birth and death years whenever they sang "No Day But Today". As the play progressed further they listed people like Freddie Mercury, but typically it was just random people. They also had the names running during Contact and when Angel died during his name flashed alone across the screen. And they never put Johnathon Larson there...they just had a thing at the end that said Thank You Johnathon Larson during the end songs. Also, we never saw Marks video nor did Angel run out at the end (I know you are supposed to end on a picture of Angel basically). Instead Angel just came out during the curtain call.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I know most people wanted to know the differences. Marshall and I went to the Q&A session with some of the cast members afterwards and people were saying they didn't think that Rent: Remixed worked. The cast said Rentheads typically are purists who don't want anything changed but a lot of people seeing it for the first time seem to like it. It was interesting to hear what they had to say.

Anyways, thats all for now.

--Hils

I went to a pub quiz in my dorm last night. One of the questions was "Who was put forward for the 1939 Noble Peace Prize, but had the nomination revoked in February 1939?"

Moira and I immediately said Hitler, but no one else in our group thought that sounded right. We weren't positive on it, but we both thought it made sense and that he was considered a unifier until invading Poland in 1939. Everyone else wanted to pick a Jewish scientist and thought the nomination would have been revoked for that reason. In the end they conceded and wrote down Hitler.

Later, when the judge went through each question and read out the answers, he got up to that one and announced, "The person who was put forward for the 1939 Noble Peace Prize, but had the nomination revoked in February 1939 was..." A hush fell over the room. It appeared we weren't the only team that struggled over that one. "Adolf Hitler" And the entire room cheered liked crazy. Clearly, we all got it right...but I wasn't thinking about that, since if we all got it right the question was moot. I was much more interested over the fact that a room of at least 50 British people had just cheered for Adolf Hitler! I don't think that has ever happened before in all of history!!


We ended up winning by 1 question. It was very exciting. The 8 of us got to share a bottle of sparkling British wine and we each got a £5 book voucher (they sell vouchers here that are able to be used at any shop as long as you are buying a book with it...how exciting is that???). I'm going to continue to insist that I am the reason we won, because we had one question that I was unwavering on my answer and absolutely no one else believed me no matter how much I insisted. We argued over it for the better part of an hour. In the end, the only reason they wrote my answer was because no one could come up with anything else that they agreed upon. And guess what. I was right and we were the only team who jumped up and cheered at getting that one correct! I soo won it for my team!!

I know you guys must be interested in some of the questions so I will post a few below and if you click on the answers link it will bring you to ALL of the answers, so be warned. I will include the question mentioned above that I got right, and also a question that I didn't know even though I had done extensive research on the topic (someone else in my group did though).

Enjoy!


-What is the 5-letter stage name of Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner?

-What boxer gave his name to a product with the slogan 'Lean Mean Fat Grilling Machine?'

-What letter in Scrabble is worth 8-points in the English version, 4 in the Dutch version, and not an option in the Italian version?

-What author made up a middle initial to go along with her real first initial because her publisher said boys were unlikely to buy books from a female author?

-What was the first Australian aborigines word to be introduced into English?

-What popular holiday island is about 700 miles from New York and about 3000 miles from London? (another answer that only I knew)

-What animated film got its name from the Yiddish word for monster?

-Whose flag is this? (this would be the question I knew and no one else believed me on!! We were given about an hour to work on picture questions)


( Answers )


--Hils

Mum-"So, is there anything you want?"

Me-"Umm...well, actually, I could use some tampons...they don't sell my brand here and I'm not a big fan of trying new ones...I'm almost out of the ones I brought from home."

Mum-*bursts out laughing* "Well...ok....I guess I do have 8 days to figure out...."

Me-"Wait! You meant for Hanukkah? Not for Hanukkah!! I don't want those for Hanukkah!!"




Yeh...I just shared that story.

--Hils

I want you to know, I had a Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks today. Also on the menu was Eggnog Latte and Gingerbread Latte...and Creme Brulee Latte. Yes, the Christmas stuff is out now.

Crazy.

It's early November and the Christmas stuff is out.
Yum yum!

Ok, so do any of you remember the singer Robyn from back in like middle school? Her big songs were 'Show Me Love' and "Do You Really Want Me?" I think they are pretty classic 90s music:




Ok, so first off, did anyone know she was Swedish??? I always just assumed she was American so that's really weird. Second, I've been watching the music video channels here in London and I keep seeing this one song that is pretty strange and the girl in it is weird looking. Anyways, I just noticed that it said the singer's name was Robyn and I thought, "Are you allowed to have the same name of another artist...even if the first one was aggeeeess ago?" Turns out its the same person. No idea she was still singing and she looks terrible now.




Anyways, I feel like people like Chloe might find this interesting so I decided to post it even if its totally a pointless and random post. Ah well...back to homework.

--Hils

The past two days have been fantastic.

Sunday:
Sunday evening I was able to get tickets to go see a symphony at the Royal Albert Hall. It was to benefit Leukemia Research and the concert was called "Kenneth Branagh Presents: Patrick Doyle's Music from the Movies". It was amazing on so many levels. #1-Patrick Doyle music at the Albert #2-KENNETH BRANAGH!!! (I have had an unnatural crush on that man for far longer than any normal teenage girl ever should have. Kimmi and I had a giant poster of him in Hamlet hanging on our wall in the dorm freshman year) #3-ALAN RICKMAN!! #4-Emma Thompson #5-Derek Jacobi, Judy Dench, Imelda Staunton, Mike Newell, etc etc It was such a good time. And they played music from Goblet of Fire. A steal for only £15!!

Monday:
I had recently been invited via Facebook to join the London Universities Harry Potter Society. Apparently, this is a registered student organization dedicated to loving Harry Potter. Of course, I'm all for that cause ;) Well, in the first chapter of the first book, Professor McGonagall is discussing the fact that Voldemort has been defeated by baby Harry and says, "Today will be Harry Potter Day!". Well, that was supposed to be October 31, so tonight, we celebrated Harry Potter Day a bit early. I met the HP Society and we all went for a fully costumed Harry Potter Pub Crawl through London. It was such fun and the people in the group were really nice. We had 7 different places we were supposed to go to and 7 different drinks we were supposed to have at each place. I invited my friend Katie (from FSU) to come along and so we split most of the drinks because we couldn't afford to have our own and didn't want to get too drunk anyways

Pub #1-"Firewhiskey"-1 shot of whiskey each
Pub #2-"Straw-pedos"-half a Smirnoff Ice
Pub #3-"Butterbeer"-1/2 pint of Strongbow
Pub #4-"Cocktail"-we attempted to order an amaretto sour, but they didn't know what that was and made something that was just gross. We shared it, but didn't even finish. Yuk!
Pub #5-"White Wine"-shared a glass of white wine
Pub #6-"Guinness"-that would be me opting for water...ewww
"Pub" #7/Platform 9 3/4-vodka-we left early because we had to catch the tube back, but they had bottles of vodka that they brought to 9 3/4...lol Ohh funny.

I promise I wasn't that bad...my worst point was just after we left #3, but I was always very aware of what was going on and it was very fun. I was Hermione (obv) and there was a Bellatrix and a Hagrid as well as other people in house scarves. Ohh and I am now an official member, with a Ravenclaw pin! :)


Off to bed now.

Tomorrow is my designated homework day.
--Hils

Soooo....

If you are up for the idea of London ruining the play Rent, feel free to visit these links. It is horrendous. I'll be seeing it next week and I'm just prepping myself for what is to come. For real...I'm not sure how I'll get through without laughing and crying...at the same time

La Vie Boheme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsKh2AHENCI
What You Own: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0keqMHLxPc
Out Tonight/Another Day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRLQE8xMs9I



Some reactions:
Sarah: i am going to make this illegal
Alli: WHAT
this has to be a joke
Allison: k... can't listen to all of it
it's bad
really bad
the estate authorized this?
Andrew: so basically someone who isn't smart enough to make their own show took a dead mans show that no one ever said was broken and decided to "fix" it by takin music from other shows that were also considered successful and putting the two together in England where the show didnt open and there are prolly less people who obsess over the show so they find it artistc and fresh when it is really just good enough to make me not cut my dick off, which means a gay man would cut his dick off cause he would be appalled beyond belief



In summary, who is excited about the holidays?
CAST RECORDINGS FOR EVERYONE!!!!


--Hils

I had a fabulous day on Saturday. And most of it was spur of the moment, never would have expected it things.

I started off the morning very early for me. Woke up and found out the fabulous news that Dumbledore is gay. I'm so happy about this! Jo never had a gay character, but was so p.c. about everyone else that it kind fo bothered me. I love this news! Then, I met my new friends Moira and Alice to head to Borough Market, a huuuggggeeeee fresh foods market. We got there and met with Alysia and one of her friends. The market was totally overwhelming. There were so many fresh fruits, veggies, breads, cheeses, chocolates, spices, meats. I wound up buying a bunch of strawberries for £1.50 and a loaf of tomato, olive and pepper bread (sooooo sooo good) for £1.65. I can't wait to get back to the market later this week to buy more food. Too bad it's only open Thur, Fri, and Sat.

After the market, I came back to the dorm to do a bit of homework. Then Moira and Alice asked me to go to the Bloomsbury Festival. Basically, just outside the dorm there was a huge festival. Food stands, concerts, fairtrade items, jewelery, books, street performers, poetry readings, etc. And the night before we saw the parade that started the whole festival. It was pretty neat going down there. Then it was back to more homework before I went out for the evening.

Alysia and I went to a pub (who am I kidding? We went to freakin 'O Neills, but not by our choice) to watch the Rugby World Cup Final. I'd never watched Rugby before, but it was really fun to watch and I have a vauge idea of whats going on now. lol We sang songs (Swing Low Sweet Chariot) and screamed chants, etc. Anyway, England lost to South Africa (sadd day!), and then I went back home and did more homework. It was a really good day and I didn't expect most of it other than the market!

I love having random things to do here.

--Hils

*I really don't want to write fiction

*I learned a new way to walk to Covent Garden today

*Still no word about a job...though I popped in today and they said it's still early

*I have begun to fall into a ridiculous regiment: sleep till 11-->homework/read/errands-->dinner-->shower-->Scrubs-->The O.C.-->sleep (yes, I do suddenly watch the O.C...it's kinda sad, but there are 2 hours a day so I'm going through a months worth of episodes in 2 days...lol)

*Fire alarm tests at 1pm EVERY Wednesday morning are really annoying...especially when I don't have class till night time and would like to maybe stay out Tuesday night to sleep in on Wednesday

*I think I need to clean the bathrooms here more often then I normally would due to limescale...hmmm....

*Postal Strike sucks...especially when you're waiting for birthday stuff

ok...this is less interesting than it was in my head. Goodnight

--Hils