MARCH 21 - 27, 2011
Well, to start off, this wasn't a very exciting week. It had it's good moments, but it certainly wasn't the most exhilarating week in London. Not that London hasn't been awesome - I've just basically been pretty frugal when it comes to my daily expenditures. All in the name of my approaching trip to Italy; I figure I'd rather splurge while I'm Italy rather than here, where I've been splurging for three months (holy crap!) now! I can't believe it's almost April already.. which means that I'm done with classes next week! Isn't that crazy? We've just passed the halfway point of spring semester back in the states, and I'm across the pond finishing classes for the term. Granted, after my month off for spring break, I do have final exams in May. But whereas we have 'reading days' and 'finals week' back home, they basically have an entire month of intermittent finals and empty days - which is good news, I guess; more study time!
Anyway, like I said: this past week hasn't been exactly the bee's knee's. But there were some fun times: a new haircut, a pub quiz with some pals, some new music, a night out last night with almost the entire football club, a thermo exam. Well, the exam wasn't exactly fun, but it wasn't terrible - just one more step towards being done with the term!
So I'm not going to bore you with a daily recap, since not much happened; we'll just go with a highlight reel for the week..
- On Monday, my OS professor announced that we were done with lectures for the term - no more 9am Monday lectures for the rest of my life! (Hopefully!)
- Watched 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' at some point: it was pretty good. Great performance by Jim Carrey in a more serious role (unlike that 'The Number 21' fiasco). Didn't really like the character of that chick from Titanic. But a pretty good story with a solid cast. Nice.
- Pens won a big two points against the Red Wings on Monday night (loving this 4-hour ahead thing - I get to actually watch the games AND get to bed before 2am!). Great game for the Pens; well, maybe great two periods - third was meltdown city, letting the Wings come back to tie after being down 4-0. But a nice win in the shootout: Neal coming up big with a great shot. Creeping up on those Flyers for the top of the Eastern Conference wooooooo
- Another movie this week: 'The Searchers' - an old John Wayne classic considered to be one of the greatest Westerns of all time. I'm starting off on a bit of a 'classic movie' binge, focusing on some considered 'the greatest' in their respective categories. So I thought I'd start off with a Western, and I wasn't disappointed. John Wayne was great in a surprisingly serious turn, the story was solid, and the beautiful scenery of Arizona/Utah stole the show. Just amazing landscapes all around. Great stuff
- Got a haircut on Wednesday. It was getting pretty long, curly, and unmanageable. Now it's back to the classic shorter version of the same thing. Good as new. It wasn't too hard finding a place to go - there's a barbershop right behind my complex and they were pretty good for a decent price. Guy even used a straight razor around the edges, which was new to me. Pretty sweet though.
- Pub quiz on Wednesday with some pals. We didn't win (top prize was 75-quid! darn it!), but it was fun. Some pretty rough questions though..
- Another big shootout win for the Pens against our in-state rivals: Philly. Followed by yet ANOTHER shootout win against Jersey on Friday. Unbelievably, we went on to win STILL ANOTHER shootout today against Florida. Unreal. Oh well, as long as we're taking the two points, I'm not too concerned. Inching closer to Philly with each point.. And these wins are great in the continued absence of big-hitters Crosby and Malkin, though Crosby's been skating and playing fantastically in practice. Eastern Conference better get ready. Fleury's been on fire too - Neal/Kovy have been huge in the shootout, with flashes of greatness each game.
- Found some time this weekend to sit down for a couple of hours and record a new song. It's called 'Spark' and you can check it out on my music site: purevolume.com/swissarmysounds!
- Went out with all the football guys Saturday night. Got all dressed up (even busted out the suit jacket - I looked good). Went out to an Indian restaurant on Brick Lane, which is a huge hub for Indian food
Brick Lane by day..
.. and by night!
I had some laughs with the lads talking about how every single restaurant advertised the fact that they were 'The Greatest Indian Restaurant in London' or had 'The Greatest Chef in London'. We were also convinced that they were all connected to one kitchen - it was apparently well known that not only did they all offer the same menu, but all their courses tasted the same. But in the end, it was a ton of fun: good food, 60 football lads crowded into the basement of the restaurant, lots of booze, and lots of fun stories from the season. Oh, and each team gave awards to some of their players like 'Leading Scorer', 'Player's Player' (voted by the players), 'Fresher of the Year' (best freshman player), and 'Muppet of the Year' (token funny guy or guy involved in some embarrassing or hilarious story). I didn't get anything.. until later that evening when one of the lads from my team decided he didn't really deserve the 'Top Goal Scorer' trophy and just handed it over to me. I, with my one goal on the season, didn't feel I deserved the trophy more than anyone else - they pointed out to me that I was the leading scorer on our team this term, as the majority of our goals came from players from other teams who were filling in. Plus it was agreed upon I probably had the best goals-per-game average with 1 goal in 5 games. So now I've got this thing as a nice little reminder of my time with KCLFC 4s:
I guess I'll take it!
After leaving the restaurant, we proceeded to do the usual and wandered the streets of London yelling KCL chants into the night..
"When I was just a little boy, I asked my mother 'What will I be? Will I be UC or will I be King's? Here's what she said to me: Wash your mouth out son - go fetch your father's gun, and shoot all the godless scum! KCL-CL! KKKKKCL-CL! Whatever will be, will be! We shat on the LSE! KCL-CL!"
- The final movie of the week, and one considered to be the greatest of all time: 'Citizen Kane'. I'd never seen it, but had been been curious for some time. This 'classic film' binge seemed the perfect time to check it out. And it was indeed a fantastic film, from all perspectives: solid performances all around (you gotta love Orson Welles), innovative film techniques, great dialogue, and a gripping biopic of a man who had everything but all he ever wanted was for people to love him. Do I feel it deserves the 'greatest film of all-time' moniker? Maybe. It certainly ranks up there in my own measly film collective - I don't think I have the experience, knowledge, or context to truly analyze it from both a consumer and a film specialist's perspectives, or to understand just how ground-breaking a lot of the movie techniques were. Great stuff, nonetheless.
I still, however, have to give either 'Shawshank Redemption' or 'Saving Private Ryan' the honor of being my personal favorite movie. Sorry, Charlie [Kane].
- Well, now's as good a time as any to show you how my room turned out:
Map of Dublin (top left), postcards from all the places I've been, and Penguins poster. Woot!
Best thing about this picture? Not the 'Boondock Saints' poster, guitar, or map of Edinburgh (top right). Nope, it's the huge jar of JIF peanut butter atop the fridge. Love it. Thanks mum!
Did I mention I was collecting beer cans? It's still got a ways to go in my opinion..
And that was really it! Just fill in all the blanks with me either studying, hanging out, or watching TV shows. Speaking of: the new Anthony Bourdain episode in Vienna was absolute quality. Tony being hilarious and truly enjoying himself, couple with the amazing scenery of a snowy Vienna, made me a very happy viewer. And the new 'How I Met Your Mother' episode was solid - the Trinity Killer from Dexter even made an appearance! Gotta love it..
Some fun stuff on the horizon for this week so we'll see what happens!
Good music of the moment:
Bright Eyes - 'Shell Games', off their new album 'The People's Key'
This song is one of the reasons this album may eventually grow on me. It's catchy and well-written. Good stuff!
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And that's all I have to say about that..
Cheers!
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