Home home home. Well, somebody's home at least. My parents think of it as home, as well as my youngest sister. It's enough of a home for me that I actually swept the floor yesterday to clean up the dog hair. Cleaning, in case you didn't know, isn't something I do regularly. My mom even asked me, with genuine concern and curiosity, "What are you doing?" when I had the broom in my hand. Perhaps she thought that I had spilled something everywhere and I was trying to hide the evidence. I also bought a pet hair roller, which is a slightly more sturdy version on a lint roller. As much as I love my pets and love to pet them, I HATE having fur all over me, so I've rolled my clothes and linen through two sheets of sticky already. Perhaps today I'll vacuum! (I HATE VACUUMS!!!!)
Today is one of those dangerous times where I could simply do nothing at all, like a day on summer vacation in middle school. However, that's a trap I feel I could fall into all too easily. I need to be looking for apartments in Portland so that I can settle in and get on with my life. It's just so beautiful out that I want to go for a bike ride, take the dog for a walk, read a book in the sun, help out at soccer practice, have a Murphy's on the porch, cook myself breakfast again... anything but actually sitting down and doing what I need to do. Tell me to get crackin'!
Monday, September 26, 2005
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Road Trip
Sorry for no updates in awhile. I've been on the road, traveling on 90 from New York back to Oregon. There have been a few interesting pit stops along the way - Chicago, the Badlands, Montana, etc - but I'll have the details later. Right now I'm at my sister's apartment in eastern Washington and we're about to go and eat dinner at our aunt's nearby. Woohoo!
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Malted Barley
I keep meaning to post something about Dublin, about the smell of malted barley drifting in through the windows in the morning, about how cool this hostel is, but every time I sit down to do so I stop by the news sites, read about Katrina and get depressed and pissed-off and forget to write in my blog. So yes, I'm at the Brewery Hostel in Dublin which is next door to the Storehouse and across the street from the St. James Gate Brewery... the GUINNESS storehouse and brewery, that is! It's a magical feeling, knowing the you're breathing the air that is making the greatest form of liquid since water!
I really wish I was traveling with someone, though. Hanging out in a pub by myself isn't much fun and a little scary at times. I have to walk back alone and Dublin's streets are confusing, slightly dangerous and swathed in creepy yellow glow of the street lights. The first night I was here I must have walked 6 miles just trying to make my way back from downtown. All the streets in the British Isles have a tendency to fork or hit a traffic circle and come out facing a slightly different direction on the other side and aren't labeled very well. Dublin is no different and in fact the streets change names every block! For instance, I'm on Thomas St, but at some point about 50 feet from here it becomes Cornwall St and then High St and then I'm not quite sure what happens to it, as it then hits a busy intersection and I'm too preoccupied with not getting hit by a bus to pay attention.
My feet are throbbing at the end of the day and I'm developing shin splints. It's mostly my own fault though, due to my stubborn refusal to carry a map with me. I guess I keep thinking that if I get lost enough times that I'll have mapped out the whole city in my head anyway, and I'm partly right, except that I keep underestimating the sheer number of little unlabled roads that drift off into a direction I didn't think they were going to go. Turn around and the road I came from is gone. Fairies playing tricks on me, I tell ya!
Tomorrow I have a good long walk to the bus station and even though I was there today, I'm not sure I trust myself to get back there again, so I'm going to give myself about an hour and half to get there. There's a bus every two hours though, so I'm not too concerned. The ticket they gave me is the most archaic slip of paper ever issued officially. It makes no mention of time, the date of issue is off by a month and doesn't say when I'm coming back. All of this is printed in faint Xerox blue-purple. If I were a bus driver, I sure wouldn't accept it. And this is the most major bus station in the biggest city in the country! I shudder to think of what the station in Killarney will be like.
Yep, that's where I'm off to next. It's in the southwest corner so I'll get to see a good deal of the country on the ride over there. I'm contemplating taking a train back even though I've already bought a return ticket. It's not very expensive and it's much much shorter. Might take me through some other scenery as well!
I really wish I was traveling with someone, though. Hanging out in a pub by myself isn't much fun and a little scary at times. I have to walk back alone and Dublin's streets are confusing, slightly dangerous and swathed in creepy yellow glow of the street lights. The first night I was here I must have walked 6 miles just trying to make my way back from downtown. All the streets in the British Isles have a tendency to fork or hit a traffic circle and come out facing a slightly different direction on the other side and aren't labeled very well. Dublin is no different and in fact the streets change names every block! For instance, I'm on Thomas St, but at some point about 50 feet from here it becomes Cornwall St and then High St and then I'm not quite sure what happens to it, as it then hits a busy intersection and I'm too preoccupied with not getting hit by a bus to pay attention.
My feet are throbbing at the end of the day and I'm developing shin splints. It's mostly my own fault though, due to my stubborn refusal to carry a map with me. I guess I keep thinking that if I get lost enough times that I'll have mapped out the whole city in my head anyway, and I'm partly right, except that I keep underestimating the sheer number of little unlabled roads that drift off into a direction I didn't think they were going to go. Turn around and the road I came from is gone. Fairies playing tricks on me, I tell ya!
Tomorrow I have a good long walk to the bus station and even though I was there today, I'm not sure I trust myself to get back there again, so I'm going to give myself about an hour and half to get there. There's a bus every two hours though, so I'm not too concerned. The ticket they gave me is the most archaic slip of paper ever issued officially. It makes no mention of time, the date of issue is off by a month and doesn't say when I'm coming back. All of this is printed in faint Xerox blue-purple. If I were a bus driver, I sure wouldn't accept it. And this is the most major bus station in the biggest city in the country! I shudder to think of what the station in Killarney will be like.
Yep, that's where I'm off to next. It's in the southwest corner so I'll get to see a good deal of the country on the ride over there. I'm contemplating taking a train back even though I've already bought a return ticket. It's not very expensive and it's much much shorter. Might take me through some other scenery as well!
Monday, September 05, 2005
Ha ha!
I'm in Dublin and you're not! Neener-neener-neener!! Off to get some Guinness and enjoy the rare sunshine.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Feeling guilty
I just plopped down a hundred bucks to the Red Cross and you should too. Does anyone know a way to volunteer hands-on, rather than just sending in money? I'm still young and able-bodied enough to fill sandbags (and oh lord am I practiced at that!), carry jugs of water and dodge bullets. Thought that whole dodging bullets thing was over with, but with America sinking faster and faster I should be grateful that I'm at least experienced. You could say that I have a headstart.
This sucks. While wandering around the British museum today and reading about lost civilisations I kept thinking about what I would do if MY civilization were to collapse (a reality made increasingly possible with each passing day). What would my band of survivors be like? Where would we settle? What would our specialties be? What would my place in the tribe be? What is my place in the tribe now? Sigh. Too much deep thinking today. BTW, the British Museum has a great book shop! I think I spent as much time in there as I did in the whole rest of the museum. Tomorrow I'm going to try and hit the Natural History museum. Not that it's anything significant compared to the other museums in London, but Natural History is something that has just always interested me, so I must go. Hopefully I won't do as I did today and walk around London for 2 hours trying to find the damn place.
I almost bought a t-shirt today that read "BUSH & SONS: AMERICAN BUTCHERS est 1989," but the £24.99 price tag and the XL size stopped me. Virgin music superstore was the single most expensive CD store I've ever stepped into. At first I was appalled with System of a Down and Green Day's CDs being £13.99 ($26.20, roughly), but then I saw Flogging Molly's Drunken Lullabies for £16.99 ($30.00) and I turned around and left. Franz Ferdinand was also £13.99 so it wasn't an issue of import/export, as Franz is Scottish.
I've been looking forward to my drive home when I return, until recently. The thought of extremely high gas prices has got me thinking that I should get home as fast as possible and maybe camp along the way. Cripes, that trip is going to cost me more than my 3 weeks in Europe!
Well, that's all for now. Remember, DONATE!!
This sucks. While wandering around the British museum today and reading about lost civilisations I kept thinking about what I would do if MY civilization were to collapse (a reality made increasingly possible with each passing day). What would my band of survivors be like? Where would we settle? What would our specialties be? What would my place in the tribe be? What is my place in the tribe now? Sigh. Too much deep thinking today. BTW, the British Museum has a great book shop! I think I spent as much time in there as I did in the whole rest of the museum. Tomorrow I'm going to try and hit the Natural History museum. Not that it's anything significant compared to the other museums in London, but Natural History is something that has just always interested me, so I must go. Hopefully I won't do as I did today and walk around London for 2 hours trying to find the damn place.
I almost bought a t-shirt today that read "BUSH & SONS: AMERICAN BUTCHERS est 1989," but the £24.99 price tag and the XL size stopped me. Virgin music superstore was the single most expensive CD store I've ever stepped into. At first I was appalled with System of a Down and Green Day's CDs being £13.99 ($26.20, roughly), but then I saw Flogging Molly's Drunken Lullabies for £16.99 ($30.00) and I turned around and left. Franz Ferdinand was also £13.99 so it wasn't an issue of import/export, as Franz is Scottish.
I've been looking forward to my drive home when I return, until recently. The thought of extremely high gas prices has got me thinking that I should get home as fast as possible and maybe camp along the way. Cripes, that trip is going to cost me more than my 3 weeks in Europe!
Well, that's all for now. Remember, DONATE!!
Thursday, September 01, 2005
This may be my last vacation... ever
I picked up the Evening Standard today on my way back from sightseeing in Westminster and apparently, while I'm on holiday the world is ending. A great American city is wiped off the map and there is rioting, gun fights, and mass chaos. The troops that are supposed to be there for exactly this kind of scenario are dying in that unwinnable debacle known as Iraq instead. China warns of impending nuclear war with the US. CBGBs is closing due to an asshole landlord. Gas prices are skyrocketing with no end in sight. Sigh. I'm gonna have to sell my car, walk everywhere, and live off of carrots I'll have to grow in my window sill. If I have a window sill.
I'm trying to enjoy myself and make the most of my last vacation ever, but food is so goddamn much money here that I'm getting stingy. I'm supposed to be off at the pub every night, but instead I'm eating two meals a day consisting of supermarket sandwiches and orange juice. I'm thirsty, it's hot, it's even hotter in my room and I'm whining like a little bitch. I am enjoying London, though. I could have done without the security guards following me throughout the museum today, but that seems to have happened to me all my life and I may as well get used to it.
I'm trying to enjoy myself and make the most of my last vacation ever, but food is so goddamn much money here that I'm getting stingy. I'm supposed to be off at the pub every night, but instead I'm eating two meals a day consisting of supermarket sandwiches and orange juice. I'm thirsty, it's hot, it's even hotter in my room and I'm whining like a little bitch. I am enjoying London, though. I could have done without the security guards following me throughout the museum today, but that seems to have happened to me all my life and I may as well get used to it.
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