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  • Chicago

    I've fallen in love with Chicago! I almost feel like I'm betraying San Francisco but they're such different cities. Say San Francisco was, I don't know, Football (or as the Americans term it, soccer) then Chicago is Hockey! One is played on grass whilst the other on ice and last time I checked there are no sticks involved in football. Honestly though, the buildings are amazing and whilst it is a skyscraper city such as New York, for me personally, Chicago far exceeds New York for beauty. The river that meanders through the skyscrapers and Lincoln Park that is located to the west of the enormous Lake Michigan just singles it out as a winner for me. Was talking to a woman who was staying in the same dorm as I was, and who always stays at the Chicago Getaway Hostel, was telling me the best thing to do in Chicago is to go swimming in Lake Michigan with the whole city skyline just right in front of you. Wish she'd told me this before I was just about to leave to get the bus! Went for a walk along the river walk downtown, all the way from Millennium park (which is also really pretty) and I got completely lost in my surroundings, honestly felt like I'd been swallowed up by the city, but in a really good way. I know this all sounds really cheesy, but I'm in love, people in love get all sentimental and gushy! There's also loads of wildlife around. Was talking to Otis on the phone, and every other minute I was either squealing or gasping because there was a millipede on me, or a mouse running past my feet or a firefly flying into my face (ok, I've become aware that these aren't really the creatures you want to encounter anywhere, BUT the glowing fire flies were really cool, and these were all just right outside my hostel) Needless to say, Otis didn't believe I was in Chicago at all, and had actually crossed the border into SOuth America somewhere. There was also a flock of geese, probs about a hundred of them, in Lincoln Park, but I stayed WELL clear of them, never trust geese, especially when they're in a huge crew! I've also not really overcome my recent habit of attracting birds to fly into my head, not sure whether I mentioned this before, but in the last week in San Francisco there were 5, YES 5!!!! instances where a bird either flew into my head or arm....crazy s***. To top things off, the majority of these times I was hungover. Enough about the wildlife, I did actually venture out and do more productive things than just count the number of millipede species I'd encountered. Went to the Chicago Art Institute, where there was a Lichtenstein exhibit on, which I really enjoyed. Not so much a fan of his more recent work, but his pop art and early abstract work was really interesting and fun to look at. Also saw some other American art and an exhibit of statues found in South East Asia. Got the bus to Cleveland yesterday afternoon, last 3 hours felt SO long. We got one break, and everyone was queuing for starbucks or KFC or Burger King cos the "convenient" store, was closed for inventory and NONE of them realised there was a gas station RIGHT NEXT DOOR, or they did and couldn't be bothered to walk there, either way it doesn't portray them in a good light. So I got back on the bus feeling really smug when I got quizzical (and at times hostile) glances from my fellow travelers. Got to downtown Cleveland, in what I'm guessing is their less touristy/ more run down part of the city at midnight, and once again google maps lied to me, leading me to completely overestimate the distance I needed to walk with my huge hiking back pack (which seems to be getting heavier, despite me actually losing stuff rather than acquiring it). Now, I bet you're thinking that's a good thing right? WRONG. It just meant I still walked the distance I'd been expecting to walk, only to have to turn around and walk that erroneous route all over again, and be smirked at by drunk idiots who'd just seen me walk past them in the opposite direction. I'll be honest, I didn't have very high expectations of Cleveland (in fact, they were pretty much down there with my thoughts on the right to bear arms and religion) but, I was mistaken. Obviously, didn't touch Chicago, but it's not half bad. Downtown is relatively pretty and clean and I found a really nice, old graveyard to explore once I'd walked the entire circumference of the downtown area.... Nah it was fine, although VERY quiet, this could have had something to do with the gay pride parade that was going on today, but something tells me that when students aren't at the State university here, it's not exactly buzzing with life. After 5 hours of walking around 2 of which were through a cemetery (really peaceful, and really interesting/sad because it was an old one and most headstones were surrounded by entire families, most of which had an average of 3 to 5 infant deaths on them) I decided to walk back to the hotel to write this. Still got an hour to kill before I need to leave to get my bus to Pittsburgh, which thankfully is only a 2 hour trip.....Was just offered some vikidin off a guy, maybe that would be a good way to spend the time left..... I kid I kid I didn't buy any...why would I? I've already got some in my bag leftover from my appendectomy surgery!
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  • grace






    :Amie Grace Woodgate

    In the 2 weeks I have slowly been making my way from San Francisco to my current location of St Louis, Missouri, via Santa Cruz, Santa Ana, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Memphis. Attempted to write a blog jst over a week ago, but couldnt get internet access so here is it in all its glory: Blog Entry 07/06/12- All Change Here Currently sat on an Amtrak train from San Jose to Los Angeles, although has more similarities with a plane! SO much leg room (I know that doesn’t sound like a lot coming from myself, but even a 7 foot legged man would be comfortable). Listening to a bit of the old Kings of Leon, how did they digress so much from their early days? Scenery outside (hills, miles of vineyards and farms) is making the prospect of another 9 and a half hours on this train a little easier to process, but still, over 10 hours to get somewhere a car can get to in half the time? It’s like the opposite to trains in the UK. Leaving Santa Cruz lads and lasses was a bit too much at 7:00 this morning, didn’t help that I fell asleep before properly saying bye to everyone before going to bed, feel terrible! Woke up and first thought was “wow, I’m a dick!” I wrote a note apologizing and sent a text to Tom, so hopefully they’ll find it in their hearts to forgive me. Had so much fun hanging out with all of them this past week. All the girls were lovely, really easy going, so thank you for making me feel so welcome Jena, Kaitlin, Sasha and Sarah. Our trip to the Garden of Eden is also something I’ll never forget, so beautiful there, and the walk to it down a still functioning railway track made it all that much more exciting. Was a shame Charlie had to leave so early on in my visit, she seemed to have knowledge about everything! And Kaitlin and my attempts at creating mini red velvet cupcakes for Jena’s 20th didn’t fail quite as epically as we had expected after mixing the first bowl of mix and only being able to smell/taste the olive oil we were instructed to add. Also saw a dolphin at Natural bridges beach with Charlie and Jim, which was then abruptly switched from being a majestic moment by the arrival of their friend Ben who informed us that there is a real problem with dolphins raping people…. This then led to a very long discussion on the most uncomfortable and disgusting youtube videos we’d all seen, which included one about terminally ill people competing in their own Olympics to win money for their family when they die by cutting off limbs and other horrific contests. Also saw my first banana slug, so called for its vibrant yellow colouring. Apparently in Santa Cruz it’s custom to kiss one of these slugs if u see one, for good luck, so when neither Otis or I were willing to uphold this tradition, Jim took it upon himself to do the honours. Think the last week of drinking is catching up on me, absolutely exhausted, might just sleep for the entire train journey, but don’t want to miss out on where I’m going through. Almost feels like the end of an era! I’m really excited to start my trip across the U.S but at the same time I don’t want to leave California. It’s also going to be weird not having Otis around after living with him these past 10 months, but it’s ok, our house can’t be entirely split, planning on meeting Mikey in Austin (that’s if he actually puts words into actions) sure he will, might just need to nag him a little  Actually, really thankful to Mikey for his bluffing and negotiation skills with our pedant landlords, who were asking for $2000 out of our $2400 security deposit. Nearly had a heart attack when he informed me that a grand of that was being appointed to a tiny paint job of 3 walls! It doesn’t cost that much to paint an entire house, let alone 3 measly walls in an apartment. Douchebags! They must think we’re absolute mugs! (which mikey informed them quite diplomatically that we’re not) Ooh, just passing one of those totally anonymous central Californian towns, seriously they all look so alike, it’s kinda disconcerting. Anyway enough ranting! On my way to LA to meet up with these Irish girls I unfortunately only really got to know in the last two weeks in SF, but they seem sound, and pretty hilarious. Off to Vegas with them. Was going to go to Grand Canyon with them as well, but they decided it was better for them to do vegas first rather than GC, which I completely understand. I would just go see it on my own, but trying to play catch up with Henry and Andrea, who are steaming ahead, think they’re on their way to Austin now, and if I do end up flying there, it won’t be till at least Monday (4 days from now) so time really is of the essence right now. Got a month to get to Boston, via New Orleans and cities along the Mississippi. Just want to start actually organizing transport for it, but kind of need to know plans of others to do this. What I really don’t understand about American transportation is that a bus that takes 2 days is MORE expensive than a flight that takes 4 hours….honestly it really is just flip reverse to England, where the faster a journey is the more pricey it’s likely to be. Was looking at Cait-Lynn and Mandrea’s photos from New Orleans the other day, and it looks so amazing, I can’t wait to just be there. Really got that travelling bug now, kind of couldn’t be bothered with it all last week, but think that was because of the stress of moving out and cleaning up and deciding what things I’ve accumulated over the last year was worth keeping or sending home, and what was just junk that could be thrown out or given away. And back to the present. New Orleans was as amazing as I had expected, if not more so. The French Quarter was beautiful, although Bourbon Street was a bit too cheesy and touristy for my liking, but went out for a night out on Frenchmen street, and that was far superior. Live jazz and blues bands playing in pretty much every bar, and you could just saunter in and out, enjoying and soaking up as much of the atmosphere as you could. Henry foolishly drank two hand grenade cocktails too fast, as the alcohol was barely detectable, but it was there, which Henry soon found out.... he just kinda wondered behind us, not really knowing what was going on. We were able to watch quite a lot of the Euro football matches which was a good and bad thing, always great to watch nationalistic sport, but it did delay our exploration of the city to a certain extent. Went to try and see the remnants of devastation Hurricane Katrina left 7 years ago, but the lady at our hostel (The India House,really good hostel may i quickly add) directed us to the completely opposite part of town for this, could have been because she was looking at the map upside down, but that's no excuse! Ended up having really good bbq in that area tho, so every cloud has its silver lining. Then Mikey, Henry and I walked through the french quarter again (stopped to watch some guys break dance as they threatened the crowd that if they didnt donate some money for the show hey'd be robbing their houses) I gave $4. Decided to walk all the way to the warehouse and arts district to see the guide book labelled a house constructed of debris from the hurricane by an artist. At first when we got to the spot it was supposed to be at we thought maybe because the book was slightly dated, the house had only been temporary, but then we came out of the park we thought it had been, to find this tiny little sculpture of a house in a tree.....yeh, not so much a house, more of a statue. But hey ho, it was still kinda cool, if not what we'd exactly envisioned. Anyhow, since then I've travelled northwards with henry and andrea and stayed in Memphis with them for a couple of nights (they were couch surfing, I was doing chores to earn my keep in the Pilgrim Hostel, not actually as bad as it sounds, I just had to wipe down the surface of the hob to get my deposit back, which I didnt actually end up giving them as they wanted it in cash, so I basically just cleaned for the fun of it). Oh nearly forgot, one last thing about New Orleans, watch out for the huge green Io Moth caterpillars. One unfortunately took a liking to the inside of Henry's pj bottoms.....the girly scream that echoed in our dorm was kinda hilarious, but the caterpillar was massive and terrifying and did cause quite a lot of pain on Henry's part.....was close to being his more private parts, but once again, every cloud, could have been a WHOLE lot worse! Memphis was alright, didn't really do it for me though. Bit of a mismatch of things, I mean, what is a mid-town part of a city? Uptown i understand, downtown, I understand, but is there really any need for a mid-town? Also the neighborhoods there are manic, one minute you're commenting on how beautiful the houses are, next minute you see a shack with barred windows and posters declaring unsettling religious statements about how everyone's going to hell unless they sacrifice a dog, by gouging its left eye out whilst also drowning it simultaneously and then eat its spleen, chewing only on the right side of your mouth! or something along those lines. MADNESS! Had a quick glance at Graceland and bought a t-shirt from sun studios, standard procedure. Went to the same suchi place we'd gone to the night before and went for drinks, where i parted ways from Henry and Andrea, who are off to nashville, the smokey mountains and ashville. Really hope they managed to replace their tyre. It's the second time a tyre has burst whilst ive been in the car on this trip, and Andrea's wheels are pretty much brand new....perhaps i should stay away from cars for a while, obviously not the luckiest of companions. Had to get up at 5 this morning to get a bus from memphis to st louis. Was really hoping there would be lockers at the station so i could have a look round downtown as the only hotel i could get was like 10 miles out and a good $40 cab fare, but alas, st louis is stupid, so didnt really get to see much more than what i saw from the bus on arriving, and been cooped up in my room all day! But HEY, CHICAGO tomorrow, hostel and bus all booked, and already have a vague plan of what i want to do when im there, so that's something. This whole being organised thing is such a foreign concept to me, but i really dont want to have to sleep on the streets so kinda making it happen, had to book another hotel in Cleveland because, like St Louis, they dont believe in hostels, absolute travesty! Anyway, I should probs be getting to sleep, got a long day ahead of me tomorrow.
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  • agracewoodgate

    agracewoodgate

    New Year, new blog account....because travelblog has decided to lose my last account...oh technology

    So, think the last time I added to my blog was waaaay back in october or something ridiculous like that, despite it being one of my new years resolutions....well my only one, and even that has taken me nearly 4 months to put into effect. 

    As some of you may or may not know, christmas brought a little shock for me.....my appendix, having been on good terms with me the whole of my life, decided it was time for us to part ways, so instead of enjoying the first couple of days of my holidays (after a very gruelling 18 week semester) I spent it in hospital, having doctors prod me here there and everywhere trying to find my appendix, that despite the horrific pain it was causing me, was also playing hide an seek. One bright side, was that it was a nice hopsital, and the staff were overall very friendly, even the student doctors that saw a "perfect 2cm diametre circle" in my abdomen on the portable ultrasound, which instantly made me think I had a tumour growing inside of me. I would like to thank my housemates, Otis and Mikey for looking after me, and even managing to drag other poor souls into hospital to visit me, despite my "drugged up to the eyeballs" manner....I now understand why people get addicted to morphin, it is rather delightful. However, nothing could prepare me for the reaction I got from one of my friends, who I hadnt even realised was in town, when she came to see me in the post op recovery room.....she literally nearly fainted and had to be sat down and given apple juice by one of the nurses....that knocked my confidence a bit, I thought I'd be looking glamerous as always, but apparently not.

    Anyway, I'm all recovered now, and found out just last week how much that stint would have cost me if I hadn't had health insurance....It was enough to put anyone straight back into hospital with a fatal heart attack. So kids remember, when travelling anywhere, but in particular the US, GET HEALTH INSURANCE! Just had spring break, managed to get in on a road trip down saaf to Santa Barbara then North East to Death Valley, which was actually breathtaking, I dont care if that's cliche and cheesy, it's fact! Just as well that the weather decided to turn appalling just as our spring break began, because if it hadn't we probably would have stayed in SB and completely missed out on Death Valley, every cloud, even a dark monsterous rain cloud has its silver lining. Had my first experience of couch surfing, whereby you ask anyone who lives in a place you're visiting whether they'll put you up for a night for free. We ended up in this guys "house" on a ranch (it was actually a "converted" horses stable....in which all the horse stables were still in place, just minus the straw and the horses). Seriously tho, beat paying for a motel room, and he did have a pool table, ping pong table and hot tub, so cant complain too much. Brought back a salt rock from Bad water basin salt flats in DV, dont really know what to do with it, but it's still awesome! Oh yeah, did a spot of driving through the desert, and I'm not exaggerating when i tell you I nearly crashed...on a straight road, with no cars around me....quite an achievement...watch out mum and dad, you've insured me on the hire car when you come out, be prepared for the consequences! 

    Talking of the rent's visit, I've been trying to get my work done in advance before they arrive, and I have a confession to make.....I got so desperate to find ways of procrastinating I went onto Demand 5 and started watching episodes of Neighbours....that was definitely a new low, but it feels good to get it off my chest, a weight has been truly lifted from my shoulders. Think we're hosting a 70s Funk party this weekend which will be fuuuuun, planning on styling out an afro especially for it! But what I'm REALLY excited about is the spontaneous decision of one Lucy Basnett to fly out and visit me in May! OH YEEEEYAAAAAH gonna be SO good to see her, I'm just sad the rest of the Norwich gang can't join her! 

    Cant believe it's nearly April already! I've already had to start planning how to get most of my stuff back, hoping I can sell a lot of stuff and also dump a load on my parents to take back with them, hope they're ok with this plan....

    K, well I think I've sufficiently brought you guys back up to speed with my life since my last entry....not that probably care, you're all probably just reading this as your own form of procrastination, and for that, I salute you!


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    agracewoodgate

    Wed Aug 17, 2011 23:31:55



     
    Thu Aug 18, 2011 00:12:13
    So, It's been a whole week since my feet first set down on US soil......and they're loving it! (well, not the whole walking for miles part, which is the best way to see San Francisco). It's been our orientation week at SFSU this week, which started out pretty dull it has to be said, being spoken to as if we were 10 year olds, with such advice as "don't wave your ipod in front of a homeless crackhead" (which there are many of, especially in the Tenderloin, which is incidentally where our hostel is) and "only cross the road when the green (actually white over here) man flashes otherwise you might get hit by a car" but after today I feel I judged sfsu prematurely. Imagine an American day time talk show with a  presenter walking through the crowd with a microphone, talking about dating and sexual experimentation on your year abroad,who calls herself 'Mamma J' stating, in a true Southern accent "Now y'all dont go timbucktoo-ing till after at least 100 hours of conversation".....because you know, after 96 you might just realise the person's a pervert or just plain weird. This topped off by what I can only describe as the American version of Jo Brand mocking all forms of stereotypes, eg Valley Girls, North Koreans and Australians etc and hating on the American health system, frequently distracted by her new cat bag and a spanner on the table in front of her just made the 30 minute Muni (bus on rails) trip all that worth while.  Oh and not to mention Mamma J's advertisement of 'Good Vibrations', a sex shop essentially, in which, 10 years ago she bought her own mother (a then 86 year old) a book about sex for those in their later years of life. Brilliant.

    Also looked at a really nice house earlier, just outside of the Mission district (which is a much sought out area for sfsu students) with hardwood floors, granite work surfaces , a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom, and a garden in which the landlord has given us free reign to have parties and grow potatoes in if we so please, right by Mission street on which there are hundreds of charity/thrift stores, all resulted in it being pretty damn hard not to sign the contracts right there and then. Can't wait to have somewhere permanent! Living out of my suitcase, in rooms with strangers, and until last night having to share a bed with Harry due to lack of beds has really taken it's toll. So much so, that, that combined with the stress of house hunting has left me with very little appetite but a huge urge to drink wine all day. This is what happened yesterday, in Berkeley (where, once you come out of the train tunnel it is suddenly 10 degrees hotter and everything looks that little bit cleaner). Let's just say a bowl of porridge for breakfast then 2 glasses wine followed by a handful of fries for lunch, another 2 glasses then fries again for dinner don't constitute as a healthy balanced diet.



     
    Thu Aug 18, 2011 13:58:47
    Was far too tired to write enough yesterday. I just wanted to mention Painter Dave, some guy we met in Berkeley at a rather cool bar where everyone was absolutely wasted by 5 in the afternoon. Mikey also made an acquaintance in the form of Cory, who had said she lived on her own with a bunch of cats, but in actual fact has a husband and rang Mikey yesterday whilst we were on the Bart (yes, you can get signal on their underground) asking him if he was interested in 'meeting up' with her and her man......SWINGERS!!! 
    Just managed to book myself a few more nights here at the Adelaide Hostel, which is marvelous, really nice/friendly hostel. I would recommend it to anyone visiting San Francisco. Staff are really helpful and there's wireless pretty much everywhere. There are also games and books in the lounge area (including a particular book , explaining the treatment of a rectal prolapse in your pet cat....standard)!

    I've decided I really want to get myself an SLR camera here. Otis managed to find a pentax K100 with an added zoom lense and a case and red filter for like $100, Bargain, so jealous. Finally managed to upload my photos from the past week. So many from Outside Lands festival, which was SO goood. Beruit were awesome then the rest was a bit of a blur, but a blur that i know i enjoyed. Becca and I managed to befriend some guy with weed, which i completely forgot about until becca told me the next day. Best thing tho were the free blankets, so appreciated when waiting at the bus stop at the end of the festival. I may have looked like an earthquake evacuee but I was warm! Lets not lie, we're all waiting for that BIG earthquake, which us SFSU students are now fully equipped for....canned food, gallons of water and a flashlight, that's what we have been told to do the first thing we find a house. We were also told a gruesome tale of this girl a few years ago who got sliced in half by a car that had been hit by another car on the freeway just outside our uni, highlighting the importance of getting the right health insurance, because without evacuation protection, her remains would not have been able to have been sent home to her family! Way to bring down the mood of a generally humorous and upbeat orientation talk. Just about to head off to a free lunch on campus, never turn down free food, especially when ur living out of a suitcase in a hostel for the foreseeable future. 



     
    Mon Aug 22, 2011 15:59:55
    On campus at the moment and all I can say is a library in a building very much similar to an aircraft hanger is not convenient, sensible or remotely cool. Had to walk about a mile through car parking lots just to find a printer that works in this so called "university". And once you get all the insurance crap you needed to get printed off, there's no one in the international students medical office, so I have to hang around for an hour. On the up side tho, the greek salad here at Cafe Rosso is rather splendid, not too big, not too small and not too unhealthy!......sorry just talking about it meant i had to take my attention away from writing this for a moment so that I could take another mouthful :) and another.

    Moving into our new house today SO EXCITED! Otis has even found a guy that will sell us 3new kingsize matresses and deliver them for us for $400, pretty sick deal. Crashed on Catherine and Emily's sofa last night (they only got their house yesterday) So grateful. Woke up yesterday morning completely forgetting I had to check out and find somewhere else to stay. The consequences of going on a pub crawl having already consumed half a bottle of wine with Helen, my room mate. That was fun tho, went with these 2 Canadians then met these 2 Australians, who went on to create a song about the 6 of us, which included lyrics about maple syrup, vegimite and mushy peas. The Australians didnt fail to live up to their crazy reputation; one, whilst ordering his next drink at the bar, turned to the side to throw up then carried on drinking. And their dance moves....wow, just legendary.

    My eating habits are also improving greatly, yesterday for the first time since getting here I had 3 square meals, 3!!!! even if it meant having to eat alone in a cafe, which is what I'm doing now, altho it is mostly just to kill time. Really want to go grocery shopping, find some wholesome gluten free foods and make real meals, miss cooking so much, and our new kitchen is just begging to be used. 

    Anyway, hopefully after I see this women about my insurance and she accepts it, I can go get rent money out of the bank and then Mikey, Otis and I can go move in! Got my keys snuggly safe in my purse. Then the task of buying shit to fill the house with, marvelous :) 



     
    Sun Aug 28, 2011 21:26:21
    Oh the joys of having internet at last in our new home! Today has been a true hangover day, there's been films, cheeky bit of Curb you're enthusiasm, mozzarella cheese strings, Spanish Tortilla breakfast and general nothingness. Moral of the story, have more than a banana for dinner if drinking, dont play the skittles drinking game on wine. and never tip a taxi driver $14 even if he did let a couple of you get in the trunk.Oh and try not to be hungover and playing host to 3 people who don't live with you when your landlord comes for their first 'check up'.

     Our house is finally feeling more like a home, got a 'comforter'(America's poor equivalent to a duvet) soft Panda blanket, candles, towel, matching cooking shizz, a mini basketball hoop and A BOTTLE OPENER!!! sorted. Just had to pay out $65 for emergency medical evacuation cover, so SICK of forms and bills, blaaaah, just let me be already! Done the reading for class tomorrow, wasn't too hard. Just counted out 13 of the 50 state quarters I'm going to be collecting this year, wish I hadn't have had to use my Vermont quarter to get the bus yesterday, bet that'll be the one I never find again. I promised Mikey I'd mention the very common and irritating occurence here in San Francisco of every public restroom being locked, where is one to urinate? There are no alleyways, not much shrubbery, nightmare. 

    Anyway, back to the last week or so. We started uni on tuesday, I've been given an assignment whereby I have to write an autobiography, no more than 1500 words......errrr why? Feels very much like the kind of bullshit homework you get set in high school with it's sole purpose of being something to do, just for the sake of it. At least they've given us  2 weeks to do it I suppose. I've had 4 of my 5 classes, got my photography one tomorrow evening, 6-9......fun times, going to be in so much need of a glass of wine by the time I get back from that one. Should really start thinking of cooking some dinner soon, but this bed is just too damn comfortable! Worth every cent of the $100 it cost me, and the nightmare of trying to direct the delivery van to our place, having no idea myself of which route to take, which direction to take the freeway, let alone know which exit to take off it! In fact, that guy was a bit of a dick really. Left it to Mikey and I to haul the mattresses and box springs up to the truck and nearly got us killed by virtually coming to a standstill in the middle lane of the freeway. Spoke to mother and father Woodgate earlier, which was nice. They weren't too happy to hear that our landlord doesn't have a bank account and we've probably got illegal immigrants living under us, but apart from that, the conversation was quite delightful. Mikey's just off out for a run, I really need to start up again, maybe tomorrow morning....



     
    Mon Sep 05, 2011 13:12:03
    Currently sat on our reclining leather sofas with the Sir Harry Swann, who arrived in San Francisco on Friday night. He is philosophizing on what can't be achieved in the 2 days he has left here before getting a greyhound bus (& most probably getting decapitated) to Oregon. We've also had Jake, one of Mikey's friends staying here almost a week now......and without trying to sound mean, I can't wait for that week to be over. He's a TOTAL nightmare as a house guest! the spare room in which he's in, reflected that of a bomb site literally within 4 hours of his arrival. I have just cleaned our bathroom (8am on a bank holiday Monday, aka Labor Day, due to noisy Chinese people downstairs) and I swear, if that bathroom is anything but spotless after he gets out, blood will be shed! 

    On other news, I managed to start a fight between two homeless gentlemen the other night. One wanted 15 of my babies then started an AWFUL rendition of Hound Dog on his guitar, to which one bystander pointed out the obvious fact that the guy was serenading me. Then this other homeless guy, started on homeless guy number 1 then they just started slagging each other's mums and sisters. Eventually Mikey stepped in and we had a chat with homeless guy number 2 after number1 had jogged on. Really nice guy. Lesson of the story, dont sit on a street curb in Mission, even if it is because you're looking after an absolutely wrecked Jamie. Really good night other than that though, worth the horrific hangover I had yesterday. Harry remembered he and Otis stole a bunch of limes from a stall when we were waiting for a taxi home and by the time we actually got into a taxi (which involved me lying across Henry, Mikey and Harry in the back as there were 5 of us) the limes had completely soaked into the paper plate they were on......I dont really even understand why they wanted the limes, I mean limes are great, but at 3 am? I dunno....Maybe it's just something I dont get.

    Ok, I just inspected the bathroom, it's not looking too bad, no blood shed today after all. Instead, today, I need to finish writing my autobiography, read some of Frank Norris' McTeague and go have a gander at the olden Gate Bridge. I've been here nearly a month and I still havnt seen it, not up close anyway, so thinking we're taking Harry later. Harry is a marvelous house guest, he asked us whether it was ok he'd put ALL his stuff into one of the numerous empty cupboards we have in our house.....B-E-A-Utiful, all hidden, not exploded over an entire room. He even helped Otis cook fish pie yesterday (and man was it good)! Even in my hungover state I KNEW it had to be amazing, because the smell of it didn't make me want to throw up like everything else had during the day. Speaking of good food, Mikey bought me a coffee ice cream lolly from safeways, and it was honestly like heaven in my mouth, pulled me right out of the abyss of my Hangover. So thank you Mikey :) I was just trying to think of something else to include today and Harry has just aptly imparted his knowledge that Mikey has turned racist because he hates Asians.....But I'm pretty sure it's specifically in relation to the Chinese (illegal immigrants) that live beneath us, in a LITERAL SENSE! Calm It!





     
    Fri Sep 16, 2011 12:48:55
    It's 9:15 am and I just bumped into this gay guy we picked up in the Castro LOL! dont really remember being in the Castro, but I only spent $18 so there's an upside. I should really check on Monty, our one remaining fish. Bacchus and Heskey (Otis and Mikey's fishies) sadly passed away, then got dissected. Heskey''s little black heart was squished and rolled around on a plate by Mikey, so don't think he was too traumatised by the death of Heskey, I on the other hand having witnessed the biopsy rather was. Getting an American bank account today! Fiiiinally. Mikey and I were going to then go into town to get sentimental presents for family, speakers and some more postcards but having just seen him in his fragile state, I dont think I can do it to him. just the bank account i reckon, then i've promised we'll 'get the lagers in' at our local who are doing 50 cent pints from 5-7.....doesnt really apply to me seeing as I can't drink beer but hey ho. 

    Got class in a few hours, only an hour then my weekend can begin. Hurraaaaah! Not sure what we're doing this weekend. with any luck, maybe just sleeping and sitting. Went to my first baseball game on Tuesday night. The Stadium was beautiful, the game, not so much. There were 4 runs in the entire game, which went on for over 4 hours and had to go into extra time to determine a winner. The SF Giants, who won the championship last season seem to have completely lost their magic. Tickets only cost us $5 so doesnt really matter it was one of the worst sport games i've ever been made to watch. Our mini bottles of whiskey and baileys certainly helped. When I say the games are exactly as they portray in movies and sitcoms, such as the simpsons, Im not exaggerating! The organ music, the guys selling hot dogs "HOT DOG, Get your hot dog". One guy selling corn dogs actually exclaimed "get your corn dogs, I KNOW you're HUNGRY!" How could he KNOW?! There was a dance cam bit and one of the vendors, this really old guy started dancing, waving the crisps he was selling around his head, which would have been fine, had it not been for the expression of sheer boredom/ anger upon his face. Never found out who won that game...hmmm. Oh yeh there was also a marriage proposal at the baseball game, which is the second one we've seen since gettting here, the first one on top of a hill with the view of the Golden Gate Bridge in, which Harry nearly completely ruined by heckling "DONT DO IIIIIT!" oh and the kiss cam was funny, they just go round the stadium filming people sitting next to each other and wait for them to kiss. Mikey loved this guy, who, as  his gf was going in for the kiss, pushed her head down towards his lap, an absolute legend in Mikey's mind. Really need to do some laundry later actually, been a bit scared of the huge washing machine in our garage since practically falling into it last time trying to reach for that innocuous sock! Rightiho, Im off for a shower, try and make myself look presentable for uni. All I can smell at the moment is the stale beer eminating from my purse,  which someone like poured into my bag last night..ridiculous!

    This time next week our house guests, G and Lorne will be long gone, and our house, for the first time since we moved in will be empty of visitors! This will probably be the time Mikey, Otis and I realise we cant possibly live together and cause havoc for each other! Fingers crossed that won't happen.....



     
    Fri Sep 30, 2011 00:04:35
    It's been a while, and seeing as Im missing out on a night on the town today due to a self inflicted, sobre concussion I thought now is as good as anytime to update my blog. You'll all be happy to hear that Monty the fish is still alive and kicking and so are my housemates, although Otis' motorbike, Penny, is on her last legs and he is having to sell her.....sad times! Im just glad I got to have a ride yesterday onto campus (to go to the clinic to check my concussion out) and then to the beach, which ultimately took its toll on the bike and we had to get a lift back with the tow truck. In all fairness, that was pretty fun in itself, the two guys, one who had obviously just enjoyed a fat spliff before picking us up, told us stories of San Francisco. Found out that NO ONE is burried in San Francisco, they're all transported to Daly City, just south of the city. And we were also told that a certain cathedral on Gough Street was designed so that at certain times of the day at certain times of the year, the top of the building casts a shadow the shape of a woman's breast, nipple and all! You just cant beat the knowledge of locals. The beach though, honestly my favourite part of San Fran so far, SO picturesque and the recent weather just made it glorious. Otis enjoyed a bit of pebble skimming whilst I read and sunbathed in the sun. On the topic of University, I am currently trying to drop a class as Im doing 5 when I could be doing 4, but I missed the deadline to offically drop classes, and it's all getting too much, suffocating on the amount of books and articles I need to read each week. The last two saturdays, I've missed fun days out at Jazz festivals and poorly executed American Shakespeare plays in the park to read for 10 hours straight....it's seriously tampering with my sanity, so I'm just going to plead, and beg my way to the Uni Dean, using the exchange student sympathy card to get out of one of my classes, probably Contemporary Cutlure; I dont enjoy writing about the Post Modernist character of a hotel building in Las Vegas, it's just not relevent to my life.  Nor, is religion. Two missionaries came up to me, ON CAMPUS, when I was just trying to enjoy a cheeky cigarette between classes, and started telling me that God had a plan for me and I foolishly used sarcasm when they asked me whether I wanted to know what God had in store for me, and so they thought I was actually interested and started quoting the bible at me....my own fault really, but they just wouldn't get the message! I'm all for people having faith in their religions and trying to reach out to others, but if someone is so OBVIOUSLY not interested, dont waste their or your own time.....Anyway, they think I'm meeting them at a local church next tuesday and have my cell number......Won't be answering any 'private/unknown' numbers when that fine day comes around. To follow this anecdote, I think a brief description of the Folsom Street Fair (a bondage festival) is called for. So, Mikey and I, despite both of us believing there was a strong possibility we might vom everywhere on the public transport system, decided to head into downtown to meet Otis and Craigy at this, what can only be described as the most bizarre place I've ever been to. Thousands of men in leather jock straps, gimp masks, cop outfits, drag queen attire, ropes or in nothing at all, walking round, many with semi erect penis' getting drunk, whipping eachother, tying eachother up and occassionally giving each other special handshakes on corners. Now, this would be a lot to adjust to on any day of the week, but a hungover sunny sunday afternoon.....Anyway, needless to say, my mind was soon taken off my hangover, and my self piting state of mind, to be replaced by that of pure disbelief. I'm honestly not doing it justice by simply writing about it, I dont think you'll properly appreciate the absurdity until you experience it yourself (not as  an S&M spectacle, but as a festival spectator). I have just asked Mikey whether there was anything else I should include, and he offered me his diary to compare, but then remembered it's just about girls he's fallen in love with that day, and what he plans to do the next day, hence defeating the whole purpose of keeping a day by day diary, as as soon as he goes to write in it, he's already written about what he's done that day. Oh Mikey. Oh I promised I'd mention how nice Mikey looked today, and all the other days in fact. It's a vital piece of information to include in my blog entries of course. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lucy Basnett for the parcel she sent me, 6 weeks without a cuppa.....it was MAGNIFICENT! and the glaxy, and cultured Liverpool postcard! What more could  have asked for?! Having said this, the percy pigs are rapidly disappearing, they're just too good.



     
    Wed Nov 16, 2011 23:32:48
    SO.....its been a rather long time since I last even thought about my blog what with essay deadline, 'pop quizzes' oh yes, they really do exist and they really do set them at SF State (you'll notice I've left out the 'Uni' part as Americans don't call it university, even though it's in the title of their educational institution....go figure!)  Thanks Giving is coming up and after a drunken conversation between Mikey and Otis at 3 am this morning led to the decision to actually LEAVE San Francisco and visit Santa Cruz for the holidays, which would be pretty amazing. They then veered off onto plans to also do Santa Barbara and LA in the same road trip.....I don't think they realise quite how far away we are from these places, and the time restraint of having just a week off. In other, more important news, I've become rather apt at shooting hoops (miniature hoops in our sun room that is) Kind of addictive, probably pissing off downstairs neighbours.....we can only hope! Had a pretty lousy day yesterday, really indecisive mood which led to me missing one of my lessons and turning up to another fully expecting an exam worth 20% of final class grade which I had done absolutely no revision for, mainly due to the fact I have no notes from this class as I fall asleep in it EVERY single time without fail. Not that it really matters, as it's a credit/non credit module which basically means I can fail it and it doesn't really matter (well that's my assumption anyway) but Charlie guilt tripped me and played the conscience card to get me to turn up......we ended up watching a film, La Classe which is actually rather interesting but STILL. This teacher is lovely, but you do have to wonder whether she's on crack half the time. She'll start a sentence which then lasts for the full hour and fifteen minutes of the lesson, and will NEVER reach a point. She just babbles and breaks the computer/projector. Once again though, she is really nice. 

    836 Edinburgh street hosted its first house party last Friday, and WHAT a party it was. Without sounding too arrogant, it was pretty epic. Otis and I decided vodka jelly shots and Long Island ice tea punch were vital, so we made about 180 jelly shots, some vodka, some tequilla, all with real pieces of fruit in them and varying from lime to strawberry, to orange to cherry flavour.....oh yeeeaaaahhhhhh! And our punch....lets just say it was in an industrial sized washing up bowl and all of it was consumed within a few hours of guests arriving. So ultimately, we succeeded in getting everyone absolutely wasted, Mikey included a little tour to the park for a moon and star viewing, and I managed to get myself and Tubby (who was up visiting from Santa Barbara) quite lost around my neighbourhood.....it's always good to explore new places, just probably not at 4 in the morning. Needless to say, the next morning, no one was feeling their best and to top it off in my case, I had a date in the evening, and hands down, was still vomming until half an hour before leaving to meet this poor guy.

    All you guys back in the UK will be happy to hear it's definitely getting colder and starting to feel more like autumn here. On our trip downtown to get Otis a guitar for his birthday a couple of sundays ago, Mikey and I were both overcome by that nostalgic feeling you often get when autumn arrives. I almost felt like I could have been walking through the streets of London on a crisp cold October afternoon. Bizarre but kind of pleasant at the same time. Did make me a bit homesick though. Can't wait for thanks giving break, I keep thinking how if I were back in England, I would have broken up for christmas by now in terms of how many weeks we've been at uni. We're just finishing our 13th week and we've still got another 4! It's just too long! 

    Speaking of Christmas, on a rather amusing note my mother has started posting christmas packages! she obviously hasn't gotten over the debacle of the first parcel she sent out, which by the way, if anyone was wondering, had been sitting in the post delivery office just round the corner for months, and the first I heard of it was through a rather rude final notice. What I would like to know is WHERE WERE THE FIRST, SECOND OR THIRD NOTICES?!!!! Sorry, rant over. I might get back to the reading I need to do for tomorrow, rather interesting book by Philip K Dick 'Do Androids dream of electric sheep?' which I would recommend to anyone that likes science fiction and in particular the film Blade runner, which is based on this novel. Oh and here are some little statistics I've found out in the last couple of days: 1) There are more dogs in the city of San Francisco than children under the age of 15. 2) San Francisco's population had a majority of 66% women, 34% men, 20% of which are gay meaning it's a good city for guys to come find the ladies, particularly because the average marriage age here is  30, a whole 6 years older than the national average 3) Oral sex is illegal in Indiana. There we go, my fun facts for this entry!



     
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    Thu Aug 18, 2011 00:12:13
    So, It's been a whole week since my feet first set down on US soil......and they're loving it! (well, not the whole walking for miles part, which is the best way to see San Francisco). It's been our orientation week at SFSU this week, which started out pretty dull it has to be said, being spoken to as if we were 10 year olds, with such advice as "don't wave your ipod in front of a homeless crackhead" (which there are many of, especially in the Tenderloin, which is incidentally where our hostel is) and "only cross the road when the green (actually white over here) man flashes otherwise you might get hit by a car" but after today I feel I judged sfsu prematurely. Imagine an American day time talk show with a  presenter walking through the crowd with a microphone, talking about dating and sexual experimentation on your year abroad,who calls herself 'Mamma J' stating, in a true Southern accent "Now y'all dont go timbucktoo-ing till after at least 100 hours of conversation".....because you know, after 96 you might just realise the person's a pervert or just plain weird. This topped off by what I can only describe as the American version of Jo Brand mocking all forms of stereotypes, eg Valley Girls, North Koreans and Australians etc and hating on the American health system, frequently distracted by her new cat bag and a spanner on the table in front of her just made the 30 minute Muni (bus on rails) trip all that worth while.  Oh and not to mention Mamma J's advertisement of 'Good Vibrations', a sex shop essentially, in which, 10 years ago she bought her own mother (a then 86 year old) a book about sex for those in their later years of life. Brilliant.

    Also looked at a really nice house earlier, just outside of the Mission district (which is a much sought out area for sfsu students) with hardwood floors, granite work surfaces , a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom, and a garden in which the landlord has given us free reign to have parties and grow potatoes in if we so please, right by Mission street on which there are hundreds of charity/thrift stores, all resulted in it being pretty damn hard not to sign the contracts right there and then. Can't wait to have somewhere permanent! Living out of my suitcase, in rooms with strangers, and until last night having to share a bed with Harry due to lack of beds has really taken it's toll. So much so, that, that combined with the stress of house hunting has left me with very little appetite but a huge urge to drink wine all day. This is what happened yesterday, in Berkeley (where, once you come out of the train tunnel it is suddenly 10 degrees hotter and everything looks that little bit cleaner). Let's just say a bowl of porridge for breakfast then 2 glasses wine followed by a handful of fries for lunch, another 2 glasses then fries again for dinner don't constitute as a healthy balanced diet.



     
    Thu Aug 18, 2011 13:58:47
    Was far too tired to write enough yesterday. I just wanted to mention Painter Dave, some guy we met in Berkeley at a rather cool bar where everyone was absolutely wasted by 5 in the afternoon. Mikey also made an acquaintance in the form of Cory, who had said she lived on her own with a bunch of cats, but in actual fact has a husband and rang Mikey yesterday whilst we were on the Bart (yes, you can get signal on their underground) asking him if he was interested in 'meeting up' with her and her man......SWINGERS!!! 
    Just managed to book myself a few more nights here at the Adelaide Hostel, which is marvelous, really nice/friendly hostel. I would recommend it to anyone visiting San Francisco. Staff are really helpful and there's wireless pretty much everywhere. There are also games and books in the lounge area (including a particular book , explaining the treatment of a rectal prolapse in your pet cat....standard)!

    I've decided I really want to get myself an SLR camera here. Otis managed to find a pentax K100 with an added zoom lense and a case and red filter for like $100, Bargain, so jealous. Finally managed to upload my photos from the past week. So many from Outside Lands festival, which was SO goood. Beruit were awesome then the rest was a bit of a blur, but a blur that i know i enjoyed. Becca and I managed to befriend some guy with weed, which i completely forgot about until becca told me the next day. Best thing tho were the free blankets, so appreciated when waiting at the bus stop at the end of the festival. I may have looked like an earthquake evacuee but I was warm! Lets not lie, we're all waiting for that BIG earthquake, which us SFSU students are now fully equipped for....canned food, gallons of water and a flashlight, that's what we have been told to do the first thing we find a house. We were also told a gruesome tale of this girl a few years ago who got sliced in half by a car that had been hit by another car on the freeway just outside our uni, highlighting the importance of getting the right health insurance, because without evacuation protection, her remains would not have been able to have been sent home to her family! Way to bring down the mood of a generally humorous and upbeat orientation talk. Just about to head off to a free lunch on campus, never turn down free food, especially when ur living out of a suitcase in a hostel for the foreseeable future. 



     
    Mon Aug 22, 2011 15:59:55
    On campus at the moment and all I can say is a library in a building very much similar to an aircraft hanger is not convenient, sensible or remotely cool. Had to walk about a mile through car parking lots just to find a printer that works in this so called "university". And once you get all the insurance crap you needed to get printed off, there's no one in the international students medical office, so I have to hang around for an hour. On the up side tho, the greek salad here at Cafe Rosso is rather splendid, not too big, not too small and not too unhealthy!......sorry just talking about it meant i had to take my attention away from writing this for a moment so that I could take another mouthful :) and another.

    Moving into our new house today SO EXCITED! Otis has even found a guy that will sell us 3new kingsize matresses and deliver them for us for $400, pretty sick deal. Crashed on Catherine and Emily's sofa last night (they only got their house yesterday) So grateful. Woke up yesterday morning completely forgetting I had to check out and find somewhere else to stay. The consequences of going on a pub crawl having already consumed half a bottle of wine with Helen, my room mate. That was fun tho, went with these 2 Canadians then met these 2 Australians, who went on to create a song about the 6 of us, which included lyrics about maple syrup, vegimite and mushy peas. The Australians didnt fail to live up to their crazy reputation; one, whilst ordering his next drink at the bar, turned to the side to throw up then carried on drinking. And their dance moves....wow, just legendary.

    My eating habits are also improving greatly, yesterday for the first time since getting here I had 3 square meals, 3!!!! even if it meant having to eat alone in a cafe, which is what I'm doing now, altho it is mostly just to kill time. Really want to go grocery shopping, find some wholesome gluten free foods and make real meals, miss cooking so much, and our new kitchen is just begging to be used. 

    Anyway, hopefully after I see this women about my insurance and she accepts it, I can go get rent money out of the bank and then Mikey, Otis and I can go move in! Got my keys snuggly safe in my purse. Then the task of buying shit to fill the house with, marvelous :) 



     
    Sun Aug 28, 2011 21:26:21
    Oh the joys of having internet at last in our new home! Today has been a true hangover day, there's been films, cheeky bit of Curb you're enthusiasm, mozzarella cheese strings, Spanish Tortilla breakfast and general nothingness. Moral of the story, have more than a banana for dinner if drinking, dont play the skittles drinking game on wine. and never tip a taxi driver $14 even if he did let a couple of you get in the trunk.Oh and try not to be hungover and playing host to 3 people who don't live with you when your landlord comes for their first 'check up'.

     Our house is finally feeling more like a home, got a 'comforter'(America's poor equivalent to a duvet) soft Panda blanket, candles, towel, matching cooking shizz, a mini basketball hoop and A BOTTLE OPENER!!! sorted. Just had to pay out $65 for emergency medical evacuation cover, so SICK of forms and bills, blaaaah, just let me be already! Done the reading for class tomorrow, wasn't too hard. Just counted out 13 of the 50 state quarters I'm going to be collecting this year, wish I hadn't have had to use my Vermont quarter to get the bus yesterday, bet that'll be the one I never find again. I promised Mikey I'd mention the very common and irritating occurence here in San Francisco of every public restroom being locked, where is one to urinate? There are no alleyways, not much shrubbery, nightmare. 

    Anyway, back to the last week or so. We started uni on tuesday, I've been given an assignment whereby I have to write an autobiography, no more than 1500 words......errrr why? Feels very much like the kind of bullshit homework you get set in high school with it's sole purpose of being something to do, just for the sake of it. At least they've given us  2 weeks to do it I suppose. I've had 4 of my 5 classes, got my photography one tomorrow evening, 6-9......fun times, going to be in so much need of a glass of wine by the time I get back from that one. Should really start thinking of cooking some dinner soon, but this bed is just too damn comfortable! Worth every cent of the $100 it cost me, and the nightmare of trying to direct the delivery van to our place, having no idea myself of which route to take, which direction to take the freeway, let alone know which exit to take off it! In fact, that guy was a bit of a dick really. Left it to Mikey and I to haul the mattresses and box springs up to the truck and nearly got us killed by virtually coming to a standstill in the middle lane of the freeway. Spoke to mother and father Woodgate earlier, which was nice. They weren't too happy to hear that our landlord doesn't have a bank account and we've probably got illegal immigrants living under us, but apart from that, the conversation was quite delightful. Mikey's just off out for a run, I really need to start up again, maybe tomorrow morning....



     
    Mon Sep 05, 2011 13:12:03
    Currently sat on our reclining leather sofas with the Sir Harry Swann, who arrived in San Francisco on Friday night. He is philosophizing on what can't be achieved in the 2 days he has left here before getting a greyhound bus (& most probably getting decapitated) to Oregon. We've also had Jake, one of Mikey's friends staying here almost a week now......and without trying to sound mean, I can't wait for that week to be over. He's a TOTAL nightmare as a house guest! the spare room in which he's in, reflected that of a bomb site literally within 4 hours of his arrival. I have just cleaned our bathroom (8am on a bank holiday Monday, aka Labor Day, due to noisy Chinese people downstairs) and I swear, if that bathroom is anything but spotless after he gets out, blood will be shed! 

    On other news, I managed to start a fight between two homeless gentlemen the other night. One wanted 15 of my babies then started an AWFUL rendition of Hound Dog on his guitar, to which one bystander pointed out the obvious fact that the guy was serenading me. Then this other homeless guy, started on homeless guy number 1 then they just started slagging each other's mums and sisters. Eventually Mikey stepped in and we had a chat with homeless guy number 2 after number1 had jogged on. Really nice guy. Lesson of the story, dont sit on a street curb in Mission, even if it is because you're looking after an absolutely wrecked Jamie. Really good night other than that though, worth the horrific hangover I had yesterday. Harry remembered he and Otis stole a bunch of limes from a stall when we were waiting for a taxi home and by the time we actually got into a taxi (which involved me lying across Henry, Mikey and Harry in the back as there were 5 of us) the limes had completely soaked into the paper plate they were on......I dont really even understand why they wanted the limes, I mean limes are great, but at 3 am? I dunno....Maybe it's just something I dont get.

    Ok, I just inspected the bathroom, it's not looking too bad, no blood shed today after all. Instead, today, I need to finish writing my autobiography, read some of Frank Norris' McTeague and go have a gander at the olden Gate Bridge. I've been here nearly a month and I still havnt seen it, not up close anyway, so thinking we're taking Harry later. Harry is a marvelous house guest, he asked us whether it was ok he'd put ALL his stuff into one of the numerous empty cupboards we have in our house.....B-E-A-Utiful, all hidden, not exploded over an entire room. He even helped Otis cook fish pie yesterday (and man was it good)! Even in my hungover state I KNEW it had to be amazing, because the smell of it didn't make me want to throw up like everything else had during the day. Speaking of good food, Mikey bought me a coffee ice cream lolly from safeways, and it was honestly like heaven in my mouth, pulled me right out of the abyss of my Hangover. So thank you Mikey :) I was just trying to think of something else to include today and Harry has just aptly imparted his knowledge that Mikey has turned racist because he hates Asians.....But I'm pretty sure it's specifically in relation to the Chinese (illegal immigrants) that live beneath us, in a LITERAL SENSE! Calm It!





     
    Fri Sep 16, 2011 12:48:55
    It's 9:15 am and I just bumped into this gay guy we picked up in the Castro LOL! dont really remember being in the Castro, but I only spent $18 so there's an upside. I should really check on Monty, our one remaining fish. Bacchus and Heskey (Otis and Mikey's fishies) sadly passed away, then got dissected. Heskey''s little black heart was squished and rolled around on a plate by Mikey, so don't think he was too traumatised by the death of Heskey, I on the other hand having witnessed the biopsy rather was. Getting an American bank account today! Fiiiinally. Mikey and I were going to then go into town to get sentimental presents for family, speakers and some more postcards but having just seen him in his fragile state, I dont think I can do it to him. just the bank account i reckon, then i've promised we'll 'get the lagers in' at our local who are doing 50 cent pints from 5-7.....doesnt really apply to me seeing as I can't drink beer but hey ho. 

    Got class in a few hours, only an hour then my weekend can begin. Hurraaaaah! Not sure what we're doing this weekend. with any luck, maybe just sleeping and sitting. Went to my first baseball game on Tuesday night. The Stadium was beautiful, the game, not so much. There were 4 runs in the entire game, which went on for over 4 hours and had to go into extra time to determine a winner. The SF Giants, who won the championship last season seem to have completely lost their magic. Tickets only cost us $5 so doesnt really matter it was one of the worst sport games i've ever been made to watch. Our mini bottles of whiskey and baileys certainly helped. When I say the games are exactly as they portray in movies and sitcoms, such as the simpsons, Im not exaggerating! The organ music, the guys selling hot dogs "HOT DOG, Get your hot dog". One guy selling corn dogs actually exclaimed "get your corn dogs, I KNOW you're HUNGRY!" How could he KNOW?! There was a dance cam bit and one of the vendors, this really old guy started dancing, waving the crisps he was selling around his head, which would have been fine, had it not been for the expression of sheer boredom/ anger upon his face. Never found out who won that game...hmmm. Oh yeh there was also a marriage proposal at the baseball game, which is the second one we've seen since gettting here, the first one on top of a hill with the view of the Golden Gate Bridge in, which Harry nearly completely ruined by heckling "DONT DO IIIIIT!" oh and the kiss cam was funny, they just go round the stadium filming people sitting next to each other and wait for them to kiss. Mikey loved this guy, who, as  his gf was going in for the kiss, pushed her head down towards his lap, an absolute legend in Mikey's mind. Really need to do some laundry later actually, been a bit scared of the huge washing machine in our garage since practically falling into it last time trying to reach for that innocuous sock! Rightiho, Im off for a shower, try and make myself look presentable for uni. All I can smell at the moment is the stale beer eminating from my purse,  which someone like poured into my bag last night..ridiculous!

    This time next week our house guests, G and Lorne will be long gone, and our house, for the first time since we moved in will be empty of visitors! This will probably be the time Mikey, Otis and I realise we cant possibly live together and cause havoc for each other! Fingers crossed that won't happen.....



     
    Fri Sep 30, 2011 00:04:35
    It's been a while, and seeing as Im missing out on a night on the town today due to a self inflicted, sobre concussion I thought now is as good as anytime to update my blog. You'll all be happy to hear that Monty the fish is still alive and kicking and so are my housemates, although Otis' motorbike, Penny, is on her last legs and he is having to sell her.....sad times! Im just glad I got to have a ride yesterday onto campus (to go to the clinic to check my concussion out) and then to the beach, which ultimately took its toll on the bike and we had to get a lift back with the tow truck. In all fairness, that was pretty fun in itself, the two guys, one who had obviously just enjoyed a fat spliff before picking us up, told us stories of San Francisco. Found out that NO ONE is burried in San Francisco, they're all transported to Daly City, just south of the city. And we were also told that a certain cathedral on Gough Street was designed so that at certain times of the day at certain times of the year, the top of the building casts a shadow the shape of a woman's breast, nipple and all! You just cant beat the knowledge of locals. The beach though, honestly my favourite part of San Fran so far, SO picturesque and the recent weather just made it glorious. Otis enjoyed a bit of pebble skimming whilst I read and sunbathed in the sun. On the topic of University, I am currently trying to drop a class as Im doing 5 when I could be doing 4, but I missed the deadline to offically drop classes, and it's all getting too much, suffocating on the amount of books and articles I need to read each week. The last two saturdays, I've missed fun days out at Jazz festivals and poorly executed American Shakespeare plays in the park to read for 10 hours straight....it's seriously tampering with my sanity, so I'm just going to plead, and beg my way to the Uni Dean, using the exchange student sympathy card to get out of one of my classes, probably Contemporary Cutlure; I dont enjoy writing about the Post Modernist character of a hotel building in Las Vegas, it's just not relevent to my life.  Nor, is religion. Two missionaries came up to me, ON CAMPUS, when I was just trying to enjoy a cheeky cigarette between classes, and started telling me that God had a plan for me and I foolishly used sarcasm when they asked me whether I wanted to know what God had in store for me, and so they thought I was actually interested and started quoting the bible at me....my own fault really, but they just wouldn't get the message! I'm all for people having faith in their religions and trying to reach out to others, but if someone is so OBVIOUSLY not interested, dont waste their or your own time.....Anyway, they think I'm meeting them at a local church next tuesday and have my cell number......Won't be answering any 'private/unknown' numbers when that fine day comes around. To follow this anecdote, I think a brief description of the Folsom Street Fair (a bondage festival) is called for. So, Mikey and I, despite both of us believing there was a strong possibility we might vom everywhere on the public transport system, decided to head into downtown to meet Otis and Craigy at this, what can only be described as the most bizarre place I've ever been to. Thousands of men in leather jock straps, gimp masks, cop outfits, drag queen attire, ropes or in nothing at all, walking round, many with semi erect penis' getting drunk, whipping eachother, tying eachother up and occassionally giving each other special handshakes on corners. Now, this would be a lot to adjust to on any day of the week, but a hungover sunny sunday afternoon.....Anyway, needless to say, my mind was soon taken off my hangover, and my self piting state of mind, to be replaced by that of pure disbelief. I'm honestly not doing it justice by simply writing about it, I dont think you'll properly appreciate the absurdity until you experience it yourself (not as  an S&M spectacle, but as a festival spectator). I have just asked Mikey whether there was anything else I should include, and he offered me his diary to compare, but then remembered it's just about girls he's fallen in love with that day, and what he plans to do the next day, hence defeating the whole purpose of keeping a day by day diary, as as soon as he goes to write in it, he's already written about what he's done that day. Oh Mikey. Oh I promised I'd mention how nice Mikey looked today, and all the other days in fact. It's a vital piece of information to include in my blog entries of course. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lucy Basnett for the parcel she sent me, 6 weeks without a cuppa.....it was MAGNIFICENT! and the glaxy, and cultured Liverpool postcard! What more could  have asked for?! Having said this, the percy pigs are rapidly disappearing, they're just too good.



     
    Wed Nov 16, 2011 23:32:48
    SO.....its been a rather long time since I last even thought about my blog what with essay deadline, 'pop quizzes' oh yes, they really do exist and they really do set them at SF State (you'll notice I've left out the 'Uni' part as Americans don't call it university, even though it's in the title of their educational institution....go figure!)  Thanks Giving is coming up and after a drunken conversation between Mikey and Otis at 3 am this morning led to the decision to actually LEAVE San Francisco and visit Santa Cruz for the holidays, which would be pretty amazing. They then veered off onto plans to also do Santa Barbara and LA in the same road trip.....I don't think they realise quite how far away we are from these places, and the time restraint of having just a week off. In other, more important news, I've become rather apt at shooting hoops (miniature hoops in our sun room that is) Kind of addictive, probably pissing off downstairs neighbours.....we can only hope! Had a pretty lousy day yesterday, really indecisive mood which led to me missing one of my lessons and turning up to another fully expecting an exam worth 20% of final class grade which I had done absolutely no revision for, mainly due to the fact I have no notes from this class as I fall asleep in it EVERY single time without fail. Not that it really matters, as it's a credit/non credit module which basically means I can fail it and it doesn't really matter (well that's my assumption anyway) but Charlie guilt tripped me and played the conscience card to get me to turn up......we ended up watching a film, La Classe which is actually rather interesting but STILL. This teacher is lovely, but you do have to wonder whether she's on crack half the time. She'll start a sentence which then lasts for the full hour and fifteen minutes of the lesson, and will NEVER reach a point. She just babbles and breaks the computer/projector. Once again though, she is really nice. 

    836 Edinburgh street hosted its first house party last Friday, and WHAT a party it was. Without sounding too arrogant, it was pretty epic. Otis and I decided vodka jelly shots and Long Island ice tea punch were vital, so we made about 180 jelly shots, some vodka, some tequilla, all with real pieces of fruit in them and varying from lime to strawberry, to orange to cherry flavour.....oh yeeeaaaahhhhhh! And our punch....lets just say it was in an industrial sized washing up bowl and all of it was consumed within a few hours of guests arriving. So ultimately, we succeeded in getting everyone absolutely wasted, Mikey included a little tour to the park for a moon and star viewing, and I managed to get myself and Tubby (who was up visiting from Santa Barbara) quite lost around my neighbourhood.....it's always good to explore new places, just probably not at 4 in the morning. Needless to say, the next morning, no one was feeling their best and to top it off in my case, I had a date in the evening, and hands down, was still vomming until half an hour before leaving to meet this poor guy.

    All you guys back in the UK will be happy to hear it's definitely getting colder and starting to feel more like autumn here. On our trip downtown to get Otis a guitar for his birthday a couple of sundays ago, Mikey and I were both overcome by that nostalgic feeling you often get when autumn arrives. I almost felt like I could have been walking through the streets of London on a crisp cold October afternoon. Bizarre but kind of pleasant at the same time. Did make me a bit homesick though. Can't wait for thanks giving break, I keep thinking how if I were back in England, I would have broken up for christmas by now in terms of how many weeks we've been at uni. We're just finishing our 13th week and we've still got another 4! It's just too long! 

    Speaking of Christmas, on a rather amusing note my mother has started posting christmas packages! she obviously hasn't gotten over the debacle of the first parcel she sent out, which by the way, if anyone was wondering, had been sitting in the post delivery office just round the corner for months, and the first I heard of it was through a rather rude final notice. What I would like to know is WHERE WERE THE FIRST, SECOND OR THIRD NOTICES?!!!! Sorry, rant over. I might get back to the reading I need to do for tomorrow, rather interesting book by Philip K Dick 'Do Androids dream of electric sheep?' which I would recommend to anyone that likes science fiction and in particular the film Blade runner, which is based on this novel. Oh and here are some little statistics I've found out in the last couple of days: 1) There are more dogs in the city of San Francisco than children under the age of 15. 2) San Francisco's population had a majority of 66% women, 34% men, 20% of which are gay meaning it's a good city for guys to come find the ladies, particularly because the average marriage age here is  30, a whole 6 years older than the national average 3) Oral sex is illegal in Indiana. There we go, my fun facts for this entry!



     
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