south by sad west

ugh. i'm so sad i missed sxsw (as usual). it just seems like everything i read/listen to is a big flag saying, I WAS IN AUSTIN LAST WEEK-WHERE WERE U? poop. i am obsessed of late w/ paolo nutini, amy winehouse, mxpx, gym class heroes... and all of them were where. oh yeah. austin. poop.

bloggers and radiostations and my mean roomate all keep reminding me of what i missed. dang it.

big resolution for march 2008: I WILL BE AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST AND IT WILL BE AWESOME. ellen's coming too.

watch me hate every band there. wouldn't that just be my luck?!?
no
that's impossible. there's so many. i have to love a few. or all of them.

ugh.
anyways.
the spoon concert at mfa is sold out. dangit. and i even had rishabh willing to go with. how depressing. i need to find another show for us to go to. and i'm missing fountains of wayne where ellen and i would sing along to sink to the bottom and then i would glower with arms folded during stacy's mom. that song is whack. like ur mom. HAHAHA. i've been at work too long.

jenny, don't be hasty. no, don't treat me like a baby. i love this kid. jenny you are crazy. first i'm perfect now i'm lazy.

also i'm obsessed with 'mind the buzzcocks'. it was on the allfg top10 or something so i checked it out and now i'm addicted and watch like two eps everynight. not every episode is awesome, but on the whole they are v. entertaining and have made me laugh out loud more than once. and for some reason, addicting. i usually hate quiz shows and vh1style dumbness. but this is great.

by the way

i uploaded all my pictures from my trip.

you can find the abridged version in facebook.

a few more in flickr, where i've added ge0-tags and such: http://flickr.com/photos/florajasmine

and a full set is up on my picasa albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/florarj/UKSpringBreak2007

i spend too much time on the internet. yes.

also, music i found over there due to store soundtracks, museum lists and magazine reviews: klaxons, little man tate, and paolo nutini. recently discovered they're playing paolo on us mtv cos i just saw him the other morning before work. i downloaded all those guys and b/c i couldnt find my new teenyboppermusic, gym class heroes, anywhere i went out and bought a cd at the store! after a first listen, i decided, me gusta.

argh

annoyed.

i thought i finished up with this crap in college. ugh.

things i did/saw/ate while in UK

i walked around a TON and hit a million tube stations. tried to cover as much as possible in the week i had. did a lot i think.

check out my list:

edinburgh castle
palace of holyroodhouse
royal mile
sausage and mash at monster mash
calton hill w/ national monument and view of arthur's seat
princes st
george st
national portrait gallery
royal museum of scotland- leonardo, donatello, raphael (real life tmnt)
miniature livestock, highland cattle (on the internet)
scottish parliament
victoria & albert museum
kylie minogue exhibit
tate modern
jacket potato w/ chicken salad and cheese
walk across the millenium bridge
walk along the banks of the thames
boys in tight pants and keds
wicked in the west end
soho
portobello road
buckingham palace
changing of the guard parade
hyde park
green park
st.patty's day parade
westminster
big ben
st. paul's
v. cool punks with creative mohawks
dinner at epicurean lounge
house of parliament
london city hall
girls with flat, pointy 80s boots
walk across the tower bridge
tower of london
london bridge
guy that looked like hannibal
globe theatre
egyptian room at harrods
lunch at lazy daisy cafe
portobello market
cupcake from hummingbird bakery
shopping everywhere
oxford st
bond st
topshop
marks & spencer
harvey nichols
movie in leicester sq
cricket on tv at the bar ALL the time
picadilly
covent garden
kensal green
all of terminal 3 at heathrow

woohoo

i've got my wheels back. get excited. it looks like a brand new car except for the right side where i scratched up the door. yeah. the didn't fix that, understandably. otherwise. purty and shiny.

time to sell.

blip blip blip boom

so, my uk trip was totally awesome up until about 1130a this morning.

edinburgh was fun with anna/ wandering on my own. i saw all the highlights from the castle to the palace and everything in between. i took pics of ppl and graffiti (there wasn't much) and a pub called 'white horse'. aww.

then at and i made our way on the train down to london. it was a sleepy but pretty trip. our days in london were sunny and relatively warm. it was great. we saw buckingham palace, trafalgar square, westminster abbey, and big ben. more than a few times we had to 'step in to the map' just like joey did on their friends trip to london. we also got to catch 'wicked' in the west end though tix to history boys were way out of my vacay price range. the wicked witch had an amazing voice and the cute boy from coyote ugly was in it. so yeah, anna and i had a good time and have tons of pictures with our big heads and tiny landmarks in the background. i'll put them up when i get back to the states.

anna left me on saturday night but it wasn't as lonely as i'd expected it to be. after wandering around leicester sq, catching a movie (good german- eh) and watching the drunks in covent garden i went back to the good old london bridge tube station. i made friends with my new hostel roomates and we got drinks at the hostel bar which is constantly smoky and filled with cricket fans. so yeah, a good time. on sunday i went to mass in st. paul's and then caught a bit of the st. patty's parade along hyde park. i did more touristy wandering and then eventually made it back to the hostel to crash. after a chat w/ the roomates we all passed out into afternoon naps. one of my roomates said she always took them (v. cool obvs, like me) and called them 'granny naps'. thought that was funny. back to the bar again and had a sunday roast that was pretty ick (bar food, what did i expect) but still a good time and lots of magners.

i got up this morning with big plans to stow my luggage, hit london and tower bridges and then make my way back to the hostel to pick up luggage and run to the airport. only after walking past london bridge and across the tower bridge i got lost looking for a tube station. i shouldve gotten on at tower bridge station but i didnt. anyways, finally made it back to the hostel and then no one could find the key to where my luggage was locked up. great. that took up more time. i got my luggage down the tube escalators and ran to catch a waiting train on the platform. only this train ended up having some sort of 'medical emergency'- i think someone was having a heart attack, and the ambulance took more than 15 min to get there. by this time i had 2.5 hrs before my plane left so i went up the escalators to take a different train/route to the airport. of course 10 million other ppl had the same idea so that platform was crammed with people and i didn't get on til a second train came through. eventually i got on the right train headed to the airport but by that point i knew it was a lost cause, there was no way i could make it as there was less than 2 hrs before my plane left. i got to the virgin queue about 45 min before my plane actually took off which was at least 15 min too late. poop.

no other boston flights avail so i had to choose between flying to nyc and figuring something out there or waiting a day and taking the tues morning flight out. i went for tuesday. tres annoying but less annoying then trying to find a way out of nyc it seems.

when i left heathrow to return to the city it was snowing. i had to find an internet cafe to book a room so i did that and then wandered around oxford street for a while. then when i was ready to get a tube out to my hostel the entire station was blocked up for some reason. and it was snowing/raining. so i wandered around more shops, drank tea and read a book, and then made it out to the edge of london to this new hostel. its cheaper/older than the other one we stayed in. this one reminds me of the old wing of tams dorms. funny.

i was going to try and upload pictures now but my camera wont connect so instead i've done this long long post. i'm pooped and probably heading to bed soon. flight is tomorrow at 3p but i'll definitely leave SUPER early this time. no more close calls, unfortunate events, etc. i AM flying back to boston tomorrow. cos london's been great, up until today, but now it's just really really gross and cold and i want to sleep in my own bed. yes.

from the 'burgh

... edinburgh.

got in yesterday. after a overnight flight from boston to heathrow. then customs and a treck through heathrow. then a flight to edinburgh's airport. then a busride to at's place. a very long trip, but not the worst.

now i'm here. safely w/ all my baggage. good.

anna picked me up and we rode a double decker bus w/ plaid seats to her place in the city. after lunch at a little coffeeshop nearby we went up a little bluff to see some landmarks, climb walls, and almost get blown off the hill by the wind. scotland sure is windy! then we came to her place and i passed out to nap while she did a little school work.

last night we met anna's boy for dinner. then some of her friends for coffee a little later. one of her friends is from the same town as a one of my friends from tams. funny. everyone's been nice. :) anna knows cool kids. (obvs, she does like me, right.) walking around edinburgh is totally useful. the stuff is all pretty near and though street names change frequently its easy to tell direction by landmarks and such.

last night i passed out dead asleep (i was pooped) but this morning i was able to wander along the royal mile w/o getting lost or mugged and saw lots of cool/old/new things. and took pictures. anna worked on her paper. grad school, pshh. having to write papers again might be a bit annoying...

now anna's in class and i'm going to take another nap. just a short one! maybe wander around a bit... we'll see.

dish w/o deets

quick update.

• bought some silver t-strap shoes. and play-doh.
• sunset last night, love it. dirty ho's all around.
• ellen got a wii. i love wii tennis. and boxing. not golf.
• i like watching other ppl play on the wii. its almost as fun as playing yourself. we've spent most of the day in the living room trying the thing out. activity day at hotel columbia!
• sushi for din.
• acn prom tonight at top of the hub. i'm dressing up and brushing my hair. craziness.
• daylight savings update tonight. spring forward.
• i have to wake up at 7/8 am for work.
• i fly to london at 7:30p tomorrow night.
• arrive in edinburgh at noon on monday.
• annatudor and i get to play together for a week! fun. :) yay for vacay!

lyrics

i think its funny when you're in a certain mood and you hear a song you've heard 10,000 times before. but cos of your mood/situation some of the lyrics just jump out at you, like WHAM. and you're like dude, that's TOTALLY how i feel. even if the song has nothing to do with your situation. i'm projecting. in this case its a girl mark's singing about while i'm thinking about a work thing. hmm... anyways...

why am i still hanging around
when i know it brings me down,  
i'm hating everything

oh mark. this josie chick is important. blink182 always and forever. love it.

this made me laugh

a few of my favorites, taken from a facebook group... 'you know you're from texas when...":

• You measure distance in minutes.
• You say “Yes, ma’am” and “Yes, sir” to your own parents.
• Directions include "down yonder".
• There is a Dairy Queen in every town with a population of 1000 or more.
• You discover that you can get a sunburn through your car window.
• You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.
• School gets canceled for 1/2 an inch of snow, your "snowmen" are less than 2 feet tall, and a majority of it is sand and leaves
• You know that roadrunners don’t say Beep Beep.
• You know the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• Hot water comes out of both taps.
• You realize asphalt has a liquid state.
• You carry jumper cables in your car ... for your OWN car.
• You have known someone who has had one belt buckle bigger than your fist.
• You know what "cow tipping" and "snipe hunting" is – and you know better than to go “snipe hunting”.
• School is cancelled for Stock Show/Rodeo.
• You have 5 pairs of boots and they all serve different purposes.
1) Work boots
2) Rodeo boots
3) Dress boots
4) Casual boots
5) Huntin’ boots
• You attend a formal event in your best clothes, your finest jewelry and your cowboy boots.
• You shop at HEB.
• You can wear a T-Shirt one day and the temperature drop 50 degrees with ice on the ground by the next morning.
• You can drive all day and not leave the state.
• When it rains, everyone is smiling.
• The Pastor wears boots.
• Four generations of the same family sit together in worship.
• You see more Texan flags than American flags.
• You know someone who ate the 72 oz steak and got it for free.
• You prefer Whataburger to McDonalds.
• You're disappointed when a food doesn't come in spicy flavor.
• You can tell a rock from an armadillo at 300 yards.
• You know people with black cars and/or leather seats are just asking for it.
• You know what Lone Star Beer is.
• Your idea of the perfect summer involves floating along in the sweltering hot July sun while your butt freezes in the cold Guadalupe for 8 hours straight!
• 45 minutes to work is the average... on a good day.
• Texas has two political leanings: Conservative and Austin
• On any given day, there's something someone's allergic to somewhere in the air.
• You know that that plural of “y’all” is “all y’all”.
• Yes, it is possible for it to be 3 A.M., 85º and 95% humidity. And then there's Houston...
• There are days when your towels won't dry.
• We have four geographical regions; how many do you have?
• It's called a bluebonnet. Leave it alone.
• Let's get this straight; it's called a "gravel road." Your Lexus WILL get dirty.
• You drive a pickup truck because you want to.
• You know 4 seasons - summer, hot summer, scorching hot summer and Deer Season.
• You go to the gas station and there is a sign in the window that reads, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service!”
• You have used/heard the term “booze cruise” when bored on a Saturday night.
• So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.
• A Mexican restaurant can be judged by its salsa.
• Yes, by "Mexican", we mean "Tex-Mex" -- the only version that counts.u
• you ask for ice tea, and they automatically bring sweet tea
• you remember the last time it snowed in texas right down to the day, hour, min etc
• People can name more Texas cities then capitals of other states
• you know your from Texas when you can dip, drink a beer, and eat bbq all at the same time
• by the time that you are 7 years old... you have most likely driven a tractor by yourself
• when you truly believe Texas could be its own country!
• you don't like people from oklahoma


JUST TO NOTE:
It's a common misconception that everything is twice as big in Texas, really, everything is 1.965 times bigger, but we round up.
It's a common misconception that we have killer bees, fire ants, gigantic roaches and mosquitoes and other awful insects, tornadoes, hurricanes, and damaging hailstorms. We tend to think of them as a few bitty bugs and a bad hair day.
It's a common misconception that everyone speaks with a Texas draw. Y'all just don't know what y'all are talkin' about.


Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this conversation:
“You wanna coke?”
“Yeah.”
“What kind?”
“Dr. Pepper.”

up and at 'em

since i went to sleep at 7p last night, i was wide awake at 730am this morn. i always plan on getting up early on saturday to take pictures, so today i finally did it.

it was pretty mild out this morn and early enough that not too many people were out. i definitely got to see some cool stuff and take my time looking around.

while in an alley taking this awesome headshot, a guy stopped to watch me and then talk. he said he was friends with some artist and talked about a recent graffiti show called 'freight' at the store right around the corner. i had read about it somewhere, and now i'm mad i didn't check it out. it was a bunch of miniature trains painted up w/ graffiti. man. anyways, this guy was drunk (at 8am) and asked if i wanted to grab a drink w/ him at wonderbar right then. 'cos he owned the place.' sketch. it was a funny convo and i would legitimately like to talk to him, since he did know stuff/people, but not an 8am drink. no thanks.

so yeah. productive morning. then i got breakfast at mickey d's and came home to pick up the dog and take him for a walk. yosh. always entertaining.

next time i want to take a trip down to the train yards to take pictures. only i'm afraid of hobos and um, train-yard people. i might need to take someone along with me for that one...

oh the places I will go

countries i would like to visit in the next five years (listed in no particular order):

1. mexico
2. ireland
3. egypt
4. england
5. scotland
6. france
7. spain
8. italy
9. costa rica
10. argentina
11. brazil
12. japan
13. china
14. australia
15. new zealand
16. greece
17. turkey
18. south africa
19. kenya
20. switzerland

so that's twenty countries. and i'm pretty sure its not a complete list. but 20 countries and five years. four countries a year? totally do-able. knocking two of those out in a week. and two more *hopefully* come june.

mostly i want to live abroad somewhere for a year or two... for school or working, dont care. i just want to immerse myself in something else for a while...