FEBRUARY 22 - 25, 2011
Alex Kovalev's return to the Pittsburgh Penguins, as well as the addition of James Neal and Matt Niskanen, has been the buzz of the hockey world over the last couple of days. Only reason I'm saying this is because I'm waiting for the Pens game to start - though I'd shoot out a quick update.
I'm sorry it's been a couple days - I've been busy, surprisingly. Well, maybe not so surprisingly considering I had a Thermo exam today. But anyways, here's a quick recap of what went down in London this week (other than 'Fashion Week' of course.. fingers crossed Emma Watson will show?)
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I had an alarm set for 12:30pm on Tuesday. In reality, my alarm came at 11am in the form of a random black English guy at my door. Maintenance, here to fix my light (which had been flickering - I told you that, right?). I was confused - not because I was groggily staring, red-eyed at some guy while he looked incredulously back at my half naked and sleepy self, though that was confusing - but because yesterday a different maintenance guy had come and replaced the lightbulb. Problem solved, no flickering. The only thing was that in order to get to the lightbulb, you have to remove the cover. The damned thing is about 100 years old and is as brittle as your grandma's 50th perm. Yeah, that brittle. In fact, I literally put my thumb right though it. Whoops. When the light started flickering, I tried to take it off to see if the bulb was loose. One touch and the thing's got a hole the size of a golfball. Powerful thumbs, I guess. Thumb war champ wooooo.
Anyway, when the first guy was taking it off, he literally had the same problem and just ended up ripping off the whole thing, which instantly turned into powder in the plastic bag I offered. When he was leaving, he made some offhand comment about not knowing how long it would take to get it replaced. So I incorrectly assumed that it would be some time in the future.
Nope it was the next day. 11am on the day I get to sleep in. So this guy gets to work, leaves, comes back, takes the ENTIRE light fixture out, then replaces it with a new one, for about an hour while I'm sitting there half naked on my bed playing crosswords on my phone. Actually, the dude vacuumed up the mess before he left, which was legit. Then I went back to bed for another hour and a half, not minding the fact that it was already noon. Hooray Tuesdays!
Eventually got up and went grocery shopping, amongst other odds and ends. 5pm class. Piece of cake. Speaking of cake - thought I'd treat myself tonight (Friday, really tonight) and but a little 2-quid Belgian chocolate cake from Sainsburys. But that's tonight's story.. Anyway, I don't think anything was going on Tuesday. Stuck with the Vietnam War theme and watched "Full Metal Jacket" - a Kubrick classic that'd I'd been meaning to see for a while now. I love Kurbick, so I had high expectations - I wasn't disappointed, but I did think the movie was a bit short, with a lack of focus towards the end of the movie. Good stuff behind the camera and in the writing, as well as a couple of the performances, but nothing too stand-out as far as acting goes. No big names either. Love R. Lee Ermey as the drill sergeant though. Defining performance. Finished off my ice cream and hit the sack. Night..
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10am lecture to start off Wednesday. Came back and just relaxed - did some studying in the afternoon though. No football match again today.. Bummer. I miss it, actually. Or more like I miss actually having SOMETHING to keep me active. Oh well. That night, met up at The Waterfront pub with a bunch of the guys from the football club. It was supposed to be a 'club social' and we were mixing with the girls from the netball (like basketball.. sort of.. who knows) club - to the theme of cops (them) and robbers (us) no less, but while the football club as a whole had a good turn out, the 4s could only muster 4 lads. Weak. But there are some good guys in the club, so it was fun. At least everyone was in a decent outfit - almost universal black/white striped shirts and beanies/hats/masks, including myself - and the girls made a good show out of the 'cops' outfits. One word: handcuffs. After several pints at the pub, moved on to the Australian-themed club 'Walkabout' for some dancing and another pint or two. Eventually made my way back home around 12:30am and caught the majority of the Pens game. They lost 3-2 to the sharks with 4 seconds left in OT, but it was a well-fought game. More 10am class to look forward to, so I hit the (new) lights..
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Lectures from 10-1pm on Thursday. Came back and put myself into study mode for the Friday thermo exam. Not much else happened, actually. I'll tell you this though: the John Williams Pandora station is the way to go as far as study music goes. Everything from movie soundtracks to the classics. Great stuff. Favorite of the night: Aaron Copland's 1942 'Rodeo' Suite. Everyone knows it as a classic Western soundtrack staple. Great stuff. Stayed up late to study - not looking forward to 9am lecture.. Yikes..
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This morning: lectures 9-12, then nap time. I've been waiting for a call from an old soccer coach of mine, who is in London for the week, but haven't heard back from him and can't get a hold of him. Hmm oh well. Took an hour nap, then ate lunch and studied a little more before heading out. The exam itself wasn't too bad: completely had NO idea on the one question though. Geez. Still don't know what was going on there. Other than that, pretty confident I scraped a solid score. One math lecture after that and then I was home-free for the weekend. Came back and Skyped with some of the guys from Case. Good to hear from them, missing those guys. Trying to figure out housing for next year - looks like I'm definitely getting into the village; just trying to figure room configurations now. We'll figure it out. Decided to treat myself, since I hadn't spent any money today, so I went to get some Chinese take-out.
'The Old Vic', an old theatre south of me down Waterloo Road
Another cool little area. There are lights all over the south bank. It's nice
'Culture Grub', the Chinese place where I got some take-away
Sainsbury. Picked up some cake for dessert tonight during the Pens game mmmmmm
That's some solid Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice. Real good, actually. Anthony Bourdain's 'Back to Beirut' episode in the background. Both Beirut episodes are great. Love Tony Bourdain - I'd like to read his book.
Good music of the moment:
Horse Feathers - "The Drought", off their great album "Thistled Spring"
Love these guys; very chill, with a great indie/folk sound
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Sorry for the quick update, Pens are on.. Early morning tomorrow - going to Warwick Castle and Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare's hometown!
Cheers!
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