uppercase F

Busy work week August 31, 2008

This week I started my new job at the Natural History Museum. I’m working on digitizing those books within the collection that are out of copyright, so that people will have access to them on the internet. I’m technically working for the Internet Archive, which I’ve used many times at 3am in order to finish a paper that is due the next day. So I’m thinking of this job as a way to return the favor. I get to handle some pretty cool stuff, and I’ll gain lots of great experience while working there. More than I got from my waste-of-space digitization class anyway. Besides being awesome, the job is also completely intimidating and slightly overwhelming. It might take me a few weeks to get the hang of it.

Besides learning all the ins-and-outs of the job I’ve also been struggling with my new, more adult sleeping schedule. Of course by struggling I mean not at all following a new, adult sleeping schedule. I have a feeling it might catch up with me soon.

The picture above is of a Banksy found not too far from my house. It’s a pretty famous one. And my favorite.

Carnaval in London! August 25, 2008

I went to the Notting Hill Carnival today. I can post pictures of it here, but it’ll be fairly impossible to convey the insanity. The carnival is kind of like the Brazilian Carnaval, but planned and executed by British people. So less sexy. The whole area of Notting Hill is taken over by the festival, with parades and music and dancing and drinking. There were different stages for different kinds of music, with DJs playing some really amazing stuff through the largest speakers I’ve ever seen in my life. There was a moment where a DJ started playing some James Brown and everyone just started dancing in the street. Amazing.

It seemed like the entire city was in attendance, with it taking a good half an hour to move a block in any direction. For some reason the carnival was really Caribbean oriented, with lots of the floats and music reflecting some Caribbean island motif. Neither me nor my roommate could figure out the reason for this, or the reason the carnival takes place at all for that matter, but it was really really cool. Considering I had fun despite the heinous train journey to and from the place, I’d say it was pretty successful.

Cheerleaders in Scotland

This weekend I went up to Scotland with my friend Danielle. I took the train to meet Danielle in Milton Keynes- where she lives- and then we drove up to East Kilbride with her dad. I hadn’t done this drive in a really long time, but I promise you that boring endless highway looks exactly the same in any continent. There are some lovely views in Scotland, especially of the hills, but by the time we hit Scotland it was dark. So no lovely lush, green, hilly pictures for you. But I did manage to snap a couple of pictures of the beautiful sunset.

I basically spent my weekend being a lazy bum, eating everything put in front of me and then promptly falling asleep. I did go up to the town centre in East Kilbride on Sunday to see Danielle’s cousin and daughter perform with their cheerleading troop. Who would have thought that I would travel so far from Texas only to be faced with cheerleading performances. It was interesting, and a valiant effort. Though still a teeny bit ridiculous.

Yuck August 20, 2008

Yet again I completely overestimated my ability to tolerate ickiness. Today I decided that I should go to the Wellcome Collection to check out their exhibit on London’s skeletal remains. As expected it was completely morbid and extremely interesting. They are displaying the remains of about 30 Londoners, mostly from the medieval times, and explaining how their socio-economic status led to the state of their bones. It included the skeletons of infants with smallpox, prostitutes with syphilis, and bricklayers with osteoporosis. It only got slightly disturbing when I read about the skeletons that were removed from a mass grave at Spitalfields Market, which used to be a medieval hospital. This market is right next door to where I’ve been working all summer, and somewhere I frequent regularly.

I then checked out their permanent exhibit, which I figured would be a little less intense. Sir Henry Wellcome was what you’d call a medicine man, and collected lots of medical gadgets. For some reason though, he also had an impressive collection of medieval torture devises (?). I was enjoying myself, looking at all the gizmos, when I turned around and was face to face with the mummified body of a man in the fetal position, his arms and legs tied together and his mouth open. I actually screamed. In a museum. And then I left.

Brighton is nice August 17, 2008

This weekend I went to Brighton. It was the first time I had been outside of London (with the exception of Scotland) since arriving here three months ago. As soon as I stepped off the train I found I could breath all the way in without falling into a hacking cough. Oh clean air, how I’ve missed you. I also realized that I haven’t seen a legitimate hill in quite a while. Everything is so flat in London. And instead of the constant sound of sirens, there was the constant sound of seagulls. Slightly more pleasant.

Anyway, Brighton is lovely. Full of really nice seaside pubs and shops and people. It’s got the whole British seaside town thing going for it, but has a different feel. Like the pavilion above- it’s a giant Indian looking building right by the sea. Completely weird and appropriate. I was graciously hosted by a friend, so was able to see bits of the town that I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Especially because I’m a really lazy tourist and don’t visit things on my own volition. Like, remember the time I went to the British Museum and didn’t see the Rosetta Stone? Yeah.

(The last picture is not of Brighton, but the decidedly less picturesque view from my window in Dalston. The sunset was just really nice.)

My Hood August 10, 2008

I promised pictures of my neighborhood and room, so here they are. I’ll post more pictures of the area as I find good ones to take. This graffiti is on a building on the opposite street to mine. The construction is for the East London Line, which is being extended right past my street. My room looks small, but it’s actually really spacious. Apparently two people used to share it, which I think is absolutely ludicrous, but by London standards it is technically a double room. I also get a lovely view of the basketball courts. Which unfortunately means I get the lovely sounds of the basketball courts all day long. But, all in all it’s a great place to live.

Field Day

This weekend has been a wonderful weekend from heaven. Yesterday I was lucky enough to go to Field Day with my friend Melody and her sister Vanessa. It was a rainy and nasty day, but a surreal and great one too. The festival took place in East London (in Victoria Park), really close to my house, and had indie and electronic/house artists. It was set up like a county carnival, complete with a bucking bronco, life-size connect-4, cotton candy, and potato sack racing. There was even a fake cow milking contest. The crowd at the event were pretty much the most attractive group of people I’ve ever seen in my life. Vanessa summed it up nicely when she said that she’d seen two ugly people all day, and they came with really pretty friends. It was like a giant fashion show. So, I spent most of the day staring at people and surreptitiously taking their photographs.

The music was great. There were multiple tents with DJs, where people just danced their fannies off. We showed up at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and the above picture was taken as soon as we arrived. People were just going crazy and dancing like maniacs. My kind of people. Of Montreal played later in the afternoon, which I was excited about. Unfortunately it was raining pretty steadily during their set, so I really don’t think I got the whole Of Montreal experience I hear so many people talk about. Though I did see a guy doing interpretive dance in a silver bag/cape, and giant balloons being popped over the crowd. Outside of the DJs and hyped up indie bands, there was also a small brass band that played in the middle of the festival, kitted out in brass band suits. It was fantastic.

Later in the day I went to the pub with my new roommates, and that was fun. Both of them are musicians, so I got to tag along and hang out in their studio while they played music until the wee hours of the morning. I love my life.

A London Tale August 6, 2008

There once was a girl who lived in London. One Wednesday evening she found herself in the Hill of Notting around a half past the eleventh chime. She breezily jumped onto the underground train to make her way home. At that very moment, a crazy woman also jumped on the train and pushed a poor, unsuspecting fellow from his seat. This crazy woman then proceeded to place her bag upon the seat next to her to prevent other people from sitting in it. At the following stop, a young shirtless gentleman boarded the train and made the erroneous choice of sitting down next to said crazy woman. He kindly asked her to move her bag, to which she responded with screams and rejections. A fight of words ensued. Then, once words had been exchanged, a mischief maker decided to shake a coke, poke a hole in the top of the can, and throw it at the poor contained train passengers. Our heroine was soaked with fizzy beverage. Then, after the coke can was disposed of, a drunken man fell upon a small woman. More screams ensued. After an agreement was reached between our heroine and her fellow passengers that this was indeed the most insane tube ride of all time, the previously mentioned crazy woman (who was now busying herself drinking canned gin and tonic and reading 70s fashion magazines) screamed that we were all disturbing her. Our heroine then disembarked the train full of crazy and went home. The End.

The Diner August 4, 2008

This- friends, Romans, and countrymen- is a Jack Daniels Coke Float. I bet you didn’t think that something so delicious could actually exist. But, oh, it does. In London. Dangerously close to my house. Ilovemyneighborhood.

New Pad August 2, 2008

I haven’t uploaded any pictures yet, but I’m now officially in my new pad. Dalston is pretty great. There’s oodles of people around all the time, and always something going on. Today on my way to Sainsbury’s there were people on microphones rapping outside of McDonalds. That’s when I knew that me and this neighborhood we meant to be together. My room is amazing. It’s huge, which is unusual for London. And cheap. Also unusual for London. I’ve only met one of my housemates so far, but he’s pretty great so I think this is all going to be fantastic. I sound like Suzie Sunshine.

This week has been fairly low key because of all the finding somewhere to live and moving business. I did go on a behind the scenes tour of the Natural History Museum. So cool. I got to see the giant squid (gross), pickled pig fetuses (grosser), and a ten year old decomposed sandwich (nasty). They have giant tanks where the scientists store they’re specimens, and they are stored in a mixture of alcohol and water. Apparently they actually have hard alcohol on tap. Party time at the Natural History Museum! But I’ll tell you something- there is not a more disgusting smell in this world than old, pickled fish. It’s like bacardi and sushi times ten.