roof sitting + reminiscng

this weekend was a bust. spent all day saturday deciphering html/css and then most of the day and night sunday doodling web banners. and i am not done. i now have wordpress rage. make sure to NOT ask me to do a website for you because apparently i lack the skills.

we did get to roof sit on saturday night and have chats. it smelled of roof tar and gave me anxiety but beers help.. and we found out our friends are having a baby! now i've got baby on the brain. i can't stop thinking about tiny thrift store kid outfits. and starting a collection of glass baby bottles. and the increased urge to pee my mother always spoke about.

the countdown to vacation/wedding time/our MI visit is underway and i keep reminiscing about fun old friend times. like when we saw the 4th of july fireworks at freedom hill and tried to have a KFC gravy chugging contest and then tried to knock over cones on south blvd on the drive home, circa 2001. or when we played catch in kelly's backyard for far too long because we couldn't decide what else to do, circa 2001. or when we played "extreme" volleyball with the giant, pink bouncy ball at firefighters park and i made rachel, kelly and alicia spell out letters with their bodies so i could photograph them, circa 2001. or when we got drunk in the parking lot then went to see the ring and AD fell asleep then i got lost on the way to ram's horn, circa 2001. OR when kelly's mom paid us to paint their house that one week and we went to kmart to buy yellow paint from peter [but we said it "the diary of anne frank" style], then to seema's open house to eat pizza.. then moms decided to hire pros to repaint it all, circa 2001. what a productive year that was.

learn about man-size tissues via the peep show.

and just watch the first 20 seconds because there is some fabulous dancing.. AND the high five @ 2:20. rofl as kristen would wisely say.

we moved

today is day five in our new home. yesterday the movers brought us all our crap and we finally got to sleep in a real bed again. woo!

the car ride out here went smoothly. alice was mostly silent, even without her kitty tranquilizers. henry slept and occasionally tried to jump out the closed window. we arrived last thursday night ready to unpack the car and inflate the air mattress but it took a good 15 minutes to unlock the front gate. once we got inside alice disappeared and i got a side cramp and minor panic attack all at once.. so peter emptied the car while i paced and tried to find the cat. eventually we realized she was in the drop ceiling. i calmed down and we ate pho, drank beers and went to bed.

in the morning we woke up early and watched the kids walk to school and the sun rise. it was excellent. since then we've gone to five grocery stores and eaten at the following places: [pho at] baltimore pho, [the best tacos at] tortillarilla sinaloa, [perfect pizza and salad with creamy balsamic vinaigrette at] zella's, [coffee and egg sandwiches from] eddie's lunch in hollin's market, [bbq ribs, collard greens, slaw + bbq beans at] andy nelson's, [coffee and egg sandwiches from] chick n' trout, [lake trout, chicken wings, western fries, mac + cheese and sweet potatoes at] chick n' trout AND [sushi and ddeok bok ee at] h-mart. now we have to try and not eat like fatties. here are some photos:




also in the news..
this is yummy
seems as if detroit and baltimore have quite a lot in common
we will [attempting to] attend the bmore whistle stop tour event w. barack
anthony bordain does the rust belt!
MADE IN MICHIGAN.

booya barak

"It's like we went away for the summer and lost all the weight and got contacts! And also a tan."

bruges, bunkbeds + barak obama

i just read this and laughed until my eyes teared up. it reminded me that i haven't run down our trip. i am not going to now because i am lazy, but i will document a funny story. well, i think it's funny. you probably won't.

so. we got to bruges on a very wet sunday morning and checked in to our hostel. they told us what beds we were in and we stashed the bags in storage as our room was still occupied. but, the good thing about bruges [and brussels and antwerpt, even though we didn't go there] is that some company had provided the hostels with excellent, very cheap-traveler friendly maps with excellent suggestions on where to eat and what to see. so, we consulted the map and found a place where the owner looks like freddy mercury and you can get 3 euro spaghetti. because we had spent the night before drinking an entire box of wine in the park [that only cost 1.92 euro] we were hungover and needed drunk belly meal. so, we found said restraunt, medard, drank cheap belgian beer and ordered large spaghettis, even though freddy thought we might be better off with the smaller size. i told him i could handle it. when our bowls arrived, filled with [what looked like an entire pound of] pasta covered with cheddar [why?] cheese i felt a little sick but tried to eat it all. peter kindof accomplished this but i failed.

anyhow, after the pasta we were zombies and tried to walk it off.. we climbed the tower [which looked nothing at all like the one in the movie] and walked along the canals, checked out some shops and got stuck in a rain storm. eventually we made it back to the hostel, got our bags and went to check out our rooms. first we had to squeeze ourselves and our bags up a very scary free-standing spiral staircase that moved with every step. it was dangerous. then we saw out room was the first exit for the third floor. there was a sign on the door that read "in case of emergency all key cards work on this door." which really meant "anyone can get into this room at any time!" anyhow, we had a fire escape/balcony so i guess it made up for it. there were two bunk beds in the room and bed #1 had mr. man beach towels on it so we went for the far bunk bed thinking those two beds were ours. while peter changed and hot on the interweb i made the bottom bunk for us [with two pillows] and hung our towels on the top bunk to air out. we also met our australian roommie who was going to take a nap after staying out [until 6am.. what! we're too old!]. having made out bed for the night we peaced out to go find a grocery store. we got kindof lost of walked in circles around town but finally found a market that was jsut about to close. all the normal bread was bought up so we grabbed what looked like whole wheat pitas, red pepper, tomatoe, zuccini and goat cheese. and three bars of cote d ore chocolate. [we still have one and a half left!] back i the hostel kitchen i made sandwiches for the next day's train ride [just like my mom used to for road trips] and headed off to eat dinner.

i was hungry for ice cream and frites so we consulted the map again and found a close place named cafe brituur snack. it turned out to be an american themed diner filled a couple old farts who were drinking tiny glasses of beer chatting. we ordered frites and burgers from the lady with a blonde bouffant hairdo and 60s style eyeliner and sat down in a little booth with a mini-table-side jukebox. peter went up to get a beer and started speaking to one of the old farts. when we heard we were american he yelled out "barak obama!" and called us yankees. he also brought his adorable flemish sheep dog to meet us. he was a very friendly guy. after eating we went went to see the old windmills and wandered town for a while. it was so quiet and you could see into everyone's windows. made me feel like a creeper. eventually we bought beers and sat around in the park. we spotted a kitty stalking the ducks near the pond and, using my skills, eventually got her to come over and hang out for a while. she was very purry and obviously someone's lovey house cat. i wanted to steal her.

because we were leaving for frankfurt the next day we figured we had better go and try as many belgian beers as we possibly could. with guidance from the map [again!] we went to brugs beertje bar, the only brewpub in town. it was tiny and crowded and smokey and everyone was having a good time. especially the giant table of brits and australians [including our wino roomie] sitting across the room. anyhow, peter and i tried a few of their specialities and chatted until we got sleepy and headed home, stopping in quick [the belgian equivalent to mcdonalds] to use the restroom.

when we got back to the room i spotted a very large pair of yellow crocks in front of our bunk bed. i knew that our roomie was a petite girl so i thought she may have borrowed them from a large-footed, crock-wearing man. so i moved them so they were in front of her bunk. peter, of course. took our his laptop, sat down on the bottom bunk and started doing whatever he does on the internet. i took my pants off and brushed my teeth then went for a pee, then changed into pjs and sat down next to peter. i was sitting there for a few seconds before i realized there were infact an asian man sleeping in the bed. he was the owner of the mysterious yellow crocks and he was sleeping with both our pillows in the bed i so lovingly made earlier that day. he was also a very heavy sleeper, or thought i was a voyeur. anyhow, i laughed at peter's inability to realise when he was sitting on someone and was angry that he stole out bed and two pillows! i then had to make the other bottom bunk and we had to share. i was angry.

the next morning we got up and showered early to be first to enjoy free breakfast. i am greedy like that. and i don't like people to watch me eat 5 pieces of toast. mr yellow crocks sits down at the table next to us and i make peter apologize for sitting on him. instead of apologizing fo sitting on him and disrupting his slumber, peter tells him he slept in our bed and he should pay more attention to the bed he is assigned. a few minutes later they start talking all about traveling and engineering so its no big deal. turns out he is from korea and we are the stupid ones and made his bed for him instead of one of our own.

that is it.

oh, and we discovered that those sandwiches i made were the most disgusting things imaginable. the "pita bead" was actually sickly sweat and that mixed with goat cheese and red pepper tasted like a regurgitated meal.

lost in leeds

simba, take I and II
petey being attacked by a bee in howarth
fish + chips in leeds
neighborhood near uni. leeds






friday we went to the mackie's for dinner and very entertaining conversions. to get there we took a train to stalybridge then a very nauseating bus ride [winding through some yorkshire moores] to howarth. also on the bus was a middle-aged hiker who had asked the bus driver for some assistance finding his way. no less than three other local passengers took that as their queue to grab the bus schedule he was studying out of his hands and repeatedly advise him of the route they thought he should take. it was entertaining.

upon our arrival we caught up with the summer's events, which included a string of bad luck. thankfully after family dinner and wine the conversation became cheerier. topics included, but were not limited to, conspiracy theories regarding the US and UK government, german robots, england's pub culture, frank zappa, that notorious russian christmas party in clarkston [circa 1976], cuban cat-cuisine and traveling europe as an actual starving artist. we chatted until past bed time then ate cheese and biscuits then fell asleep by the fire place.

in the morning we bonded with the family pets [simba the old rickety persian and mac the henry-lookalike] and ate pie before wandering town a bit and setting off to leeds. i had spend most of friday morning at work making a list of vintage stores to visit. i included detailed directions for each and even found some cheap restaurants. unfortunately i forgot to print it out so we only had a map and my fickle memory to guide us. we did find one decent store from my list, then stumbled upon an excellent and very busy fish + chip shop. but then we wandered north and got lost trying to locate the notorious hyde park and the surrounding shops. we never did find it, but did get to see the ivy-covered neighborhood around uni. leeds and a very sketchy housing estate.

back in manchester we sat in st. ann square while petey recorded the terrible [but very well dressed] cover band and the tail end of an art market. afterwards we picked up some faux gordons gin and ate leftover fish pie [take II was much better than the first attempt] with green beans for dinner.

today we did not leave the apartment. the only thing worth mentioning is the very momoun's-ish lentil soup i made for dinner.

please observe the current 'most popular' page on NYTimes.com:
it seems as if the editorial team as well as the informed public have some concerns over that lady who looks like lemon.

my favorite duos

praha, wien + cesky krumlov

i need to spell check this as it probably makes no sense.. but.. we are leaving to go on holiday again tomorrow morning and i have been feeling under the weather so i am going to bed.

this is the longest post ever. i am writing all this because my memory is horrible and unless i write it all out i will forget, and it was too good to forget. i recomend looking at photos instead of paying attendiont to the essay below.

day one
we left for the train station with plenty of time to spare, as we were not checking bags. after the third train to the airport was canceled due to supposed "signal failure," petey started to get antsy [angry, really.. even agro]. when we finally did get on a train after sweating on four different jam-packed platforms, we sat for a good half hour, ready to throw up. luckily peter was able to call a friend who assured us our flight was, of course, delayed. after getting to the airport ate a celebratory dinner of drugstore sandwiches and flew to prague.

at the airport it took way too long to figure out the ticket machine, even though i had [what i thought were] detailed instructions of how to get into town. luckily no one else could figure them out either. after a bus ride we rode the metro from dejicka station to muzeum to staromistska. Each station had a very 60s themed wall adornment that made an excellent first impression on me. the stations were also spotless.. no vagrant-poos or beer cans or gum seats. and, people do not steam-roll you on the escalator if you have luggage, unlike in the london tube stations.

of course we couldn't find our hostel so we wander around a bit before we found someone to get directions from and checked in to our [again] spotless dorm. after a pee break [the toilet paper in cz is like cheap office paper towel], we asked for suggestions of where to get an inexpensive drink. the man/boy-receptionist was very enthusiastic about a floating latin dance party on the river vltava [moldova in english.. which makes no sense..] but we decided to pass. it was 10-ish at night but still warm and old town was pretty much deserted. we found a cavernous bar where no one was speaking english and had some brewskis. i liked that the czech's enjoy very inexpensive adult beverages and even cheaper cigarettes. we sat, drank and watched the table of men across from us as they bought a bottle of vodka, some glasses and a couple of small mixies. after get yawny we searched for any open shop to get some snacks. after lots of slow walking and looking up at giant doors and windows with nouveau decorations, we found an "all the time" store with pretzel sticks. we continued to walk and stare and snack until we found our way back into the main square and went to bed.

day two
on the suggestion of a friend of a friend, we ate breakfast at zanzibar in prague 3. i had baguette, blue and brie cheese with fruits and petey had baguette, eggs and veggies [which just turned out to be lettuce. ha!]. and coffee. after we went to the tv tower, a space-aged looking silvery antena featuring a very creepy and fantastic planet-ish sculpture of [giant] babies scaling the outside. it was surreal and excellent. we took an elevator to the pastel-colored observation deck and got to see a panarma of pastel-colored prague. next we wandered through a park, past the national museum and bought our train tickets to vienna at the main train station, hlavni nadrazi, which looked like it had been bombed out, but was still beautiful, like all the buildings in prague are. then we drooled over everything at the muncha museum. the best things were photos of naked-ish modeling ladies in muncha's paris studio that he used as reference for his paintings. they were, of course, all gorgeous.

lunch was at beas, right next door to the hostel. yummy indian delisciousness, then a walk down to the river and some time in the shade cooling off and resting our feet before we went for beers [sour cherry and green nettle] and snacks [fried cheese and smoked herring] at pivovarsky brewery. more walking, passed by rudolfinum hall where we could hear the philharmonic orchestra practicing then through the jewish quarter to alberts where we bought a dinner of grocery store baguette sandwiches, then ate them in old town square and torrist watched. i know that after that we went back to the hostel to shower and.. the rest we forget.

day three
walked over charles bridge to eat at bohemian bagel which was alright. it had a fun spiral staircase to the bathrooms. i think that was the best part. then climbed a gazillion stairs to see the castle and tons of tourists. escaped to the almost empty letna park with lots of shade trees and views of town. the best part was a giant metronome sculpture atop a stone fascad, covered in graffiti, complimented by a power line with a collection of dangling sneakers. apparently a giant statue of stalin once stood atop the monument, but it was blown up in the 60s. it was by far the coolest/strangest thing we saw. kept walking towards the mysterious "yellow market" in prague 7. we figured out that the "yellow" was for asian.. very un-p.c., very, very terrible. it had some goodies.. like the cheapest gelato imaginable, death stars and the most mock-crocks i've ever seen in one place. we bought some sour cherries from the farmers market and walked back towards the park, taking lots of water and sit-down breaks along the way. ended up back at beas

day four
checked out of the hostel and ate more bagels with veggie cream cheese and had lates at the bake shop. cutest bakery in the world. got an extra bagel for the road and toured the jewish quarter, temples, monuments, cemetery and lots of prague-specific history. also saw a few very cute and very old volunteer ticket-checkers. they made my morning. afterward we went on the interweb and ate the extra bagel in the hostel before heading out to catch the train to vienna. it was packed with tourists. packed with tourists who were sweating and fanning themselves and miserable. it was hot but the sights were mostly excellent. we passed several naked swimmers, adorable baby deer, lots of sunflower and corn fields and other tiny towns and communities. we were already irritable because of the heat [and forgetting to fill up our water bottle] and the company made it worse. we were sat near to two canadian sisters, an older, unrelated canadian woman and another younger girl from some other eastern european country. the euro girl was asking them about canada.. what is a traditional canadian dish [poutine and tim hortons were the first things that came to my mind], what was the weather like, etc. the conversation turned to how canadians had a good sense of humor and could laugh at themselves, unlike americans. how americans don't have to take world history, only have to know how to find their state on a map to graduate high school and how american news does not cover international events. who knew the most anti-american people we would come across so far would be canadians. geez. anyhow, after the hot train we took showers at our night club-ish hostel and gulped beers and ate dinner at a turkish restraunt. afterwards we walked around and saw all the sights lit up at night. we also walked through the museum quarter where tons of hipsters were drinking gocery store beers and lounging on the giant purple louge/sculptures. i was jealous. after more walking, buying a very overpriced bottle of water and walking along the danube where there were many outdoor pee-ers, we found a bar and had drinks, then slept.

day five
rose early and ate pretzel breadsticks and pineapple yogurt drinks from the grocery store. so yummy. went straight to the eating baklava from naschmarkt [flea/veggie-market] and looked at old treasures and an excellent selection of produce, sweets and snacks from what seemed like all over europe. bought some bakalava and ate in in the museum quarter as a replacement for our morning coffee. next we decided to go to the albertina as it supposedly has the largest collection of european art in austria including lots of mark rothko. and it is in a giant gaudy palace. sounds excellent, but it was all a lie. after climbing a scary-ish staircase in the hotness and paying 7.5euro each, we found a hundful of restored, original palace rooms, one room full of paul klee, which was good, and a handful of empty rooms where the permanent collection should have been. it was a bummer. after that we ate our pain away at the tiny indian buffet the is vego. they had the most excellent deep fried sandwhiches with dosa filling. dipped in raita i could have eaten them all day.

the weather turned poo-ish so we took the bus up to the small town of grinzing. it was deserted. petey had a pee in a very suspeicious looking public toilet with funny warning stickers then we took another bus up even further to kahlenberg hill. there were some vineyards, a hotel or two, a shop and a scenic overlook. it was overcast so it was not so scenic. took the bus back to town and got stuck in a rain storm on our way to check out the crazy housing project, hunderwasserhaus. we made it almost all teh way there on foot before we gave up and went into a cafe to have some lates. it was a cute little place with old ladies drinking wine in the corner. we paid a ridiculout 5.6euro for two of the tinest lates i have ever seen. they were good, but if i pay 4$ for 4ounces of liquid it better be drugs. or booze. so after the rain let up we saw the hunderwasserhaus and went off to eat an early dinner of the most deliscious pizza at vesuvio de mario. it made us very happy and it was incredable inexpensive. we were so happy that i carried the leftovers around all night and after some outside beers [back in the museum quarter] we ate the leftovers on the walk home. having a purse that smells like pizza is wonderful.

day six
it was our last day in vienna we tried to find somewhere to have a real life eggs/toast breakfast. the diner that we wanted to go to was closed for the month. instead we went to a place that we thought was a diner but was really a night club.. it was described as the place to go if it is morning but you're not done clubbing. we were the only patrons. we drank 3euro lates and watched the giant, eastern-european bouncer play the fruit machine and dance to michael jackson songs. it was strange. we ended up eating yummy cream cheese, pepper, tomato and cucumber sandwiches from anker then visiting the MUMOK. this was the best museum of the trip and the best i've been to period. one exhibit included some very impressive coverage of 60s performance art and alternative architecture/lifestyle technology [that is the best description i can come up with]. lots of things that looked like they came straight out of a spacey 60s movie, in the best way possible. it was amazing.

it was hot and clear and gorgeious out so we took a long stroll, wandering towards vegatasia, well out of the city center. they had a giant, all veggie buffet with things i have never seen at eaten before, and they were all good. our favorite was desert.. deep friend pineapple chunks and coconut rice pudding. it is my favorite combination. it tastes just like suntan lotion smells. we were in such a good mood we went out to prater park, a carnival/amusment park. there were at least four different variations of bumper cars, the best being americna themed. there was an air brushed picture of a biker with a confederate flag and large-boobed lady on the back. it was hillarious. we stood and listened to a very enthusiastic carnival announcer for a good five minutes. something about a german accent gets me every time. there were at least 5 beer gartens and scary sculptures of children eating their way out of ice cream cones. we bought some beers to go and went to danube island. i am pretty sure we were the only tourist there. everyone was relaxed and having bbqs, swimming, boating, rollarblading and sun bathing along the river. we picked a spot near the water and drank beer until the sun went down. for dinner we ate a traditonal vienese pub. petey had fish and potatoe salad that was vinigary and delisious and i had a dumping filled with sausage and surrounded by saurcraut. we were so full that we tried to walk around but were also so tired we couldn't. after trying to drink beers in voksgarten we had to dump them out and go to bed.

day 7
ate more veggie samiches from anker and drank more pineapple yogurt on the way to the train station. took the train to a very deserted gmund then another, tiny one-car train [back into czeck territory] to cesky budejovice. we saw more excellent cz countryside, sunflowers, naked swimmers and deer. along the way the tiny train made quite a few stops to pick up people along the track, even though they were not always at stations. most of these were cute old men. when we got into town we had to catch a bus from the main shopping center.. after walking in circles we realized the bus station was on top of the shopping center and not underneath. the bus ride was smooth and scenic and when we got to cesky krumlov we were happy to be off public transport. our hotel is krumlov was called krumlov house and was the opposite of the wambat hostel we stayed at in vienna, which was good. there were no pool tables, no bar and no drunk americans/australians boozing it up. instead we were told there were no shoes allowed [i never even went barefoot in my own apartment!] and that the river was really dreamy. i don't mind as i am getting old and would much rather deal with hippies than drunken backpackers. and we were pooped from all the wondering and hot weather. so, we sat right on the river on ate a yummy veggie-ful dinner at laibon. afterwards we explored the almost deserted castle, courtyard and gardens. we ended up getting locked in the gardens with some italins, czecks and some other people who didn't speak english. we were all confused but eventually some guy with an impressive euro-mullet came to let us out and laugh at us. later we went to the horror bar, known for being spooky at night, and drank frankova wine. there were some skelatins hanging from the ceiling and a few coffin tables. people kept coming through to take photos and leaving without buying any drinks. it was odd. the scariest thing about the horror bar was the music. i don't know what it was but i was terrified.

day 8
bought bagels and cream-ish cheese and hiked up to the monestary. on the way we met many giant snails and slugs. it was like olympia natl. park all over again. we tried our best not to smooh any but it was a very uphill climb and i think i got too delerious to care about half way up. after the hike we wandered and bought groceries for a picnic. we made sandwiches and drank wine by the river and watched the canooers go by. it was excellent. wine in the afternoon is the best. next we climbed the castle tower. it was slightly more scary than it should have been, as we had been sitting in the sun drinking wine just before. there was good panaramic view and we could even see the monestary where we were earlier that morning. after we got back down we headed back into the gardens and visited the reflecting pond. petey took senior pictures of me. we watched the ducks chase eachother. after more extensive wandering we bought some beers from the brewart for later and ate bohemian feasts at two marys. it was lots of potatoe and other assorted goodness. then more wandering along the river. we sat for a while listening to some guy play classic rock covers on the piano. it was funny and entertaining. highlights were stairway to heaven and bohemian rapsody. then more wandering. lots of it. then drank our beers back at the hostel where petey plated guitar and i read rick steves. we were getting sleepy so in an attempt to extend the night we went to nearby bar bar. it was literally around the corner. but it was empty. there was the bartender lady and an old man she was chatting with. that was it. and they only had one beer on tap. and it poured incredable slow. must not get much business. being in there made me even sleepier so we went back and slept.

day 9
the shower smelled of pee and i realized i was not wearing shoes and then i freaked out. then i saw a spider and it was all over. i put flip flops on in the hostel. made sandwiches for the leftovers from the picnic the day before and brought them along for lunch on another hike. we didn't know where this one went [as the name was in czeck] but it ended up being a horse riding stable. luckily the walk was not all uphill, only mostly uphill, but pretty. we stood in the corner of the farm field and ate our sandwiches. it was strange but good. then headed back into town for a few more hours of wandering and had italina for lunch. homemade gnoccis and pizza. then ice cream bars from the grocery store. yummm. then back on the bus and into prague where we caught the metro and another bus to the airport. here we are the only bad meal of the entire trip. 15-ish euro for a [unimpressive] baguette sandwich, small greek salad and yogurt drink. then stood in line waiting to check in for our flight. the brits behind us wouldn't shut up and it made me remenice about how pleasant it had been not hearing any [well, many] garbled or hen-ish british accents for ten days.

the end.

house guests, hoodlums and hot days

today was the hottest day of the year. 79º. it was sunny from 5 a.m. to noon, then gray, as usual. it is almost depressing. no, it is actually depressing. i wore a sweater and jeans. you must always prepare for the worst. it actually did rain during my walk home after work so my cynicism about the supposed british summer is warranted.

photos will be posted when i am sober.

lately i've been obsessively making lists at work in preparation of our upcoming holiday. at home we've been watching the new seasons of weeds, no reservations and project runway.. and missing friends. i wish we could re-live alicia's visit the way i had imagined it, but here is what actually happened..

last tuesday we met alicia and cayle at the airport. they were tanned and i was jealous. but they were also jet lagged and hung over so we made them walk all over manchester. we also fed them curry made them drink some mid-day beers, which was cruel. they had the typical manchester/british experience of day drining in a dark pub. we were successful, as there was a sleeping lady on the couch next to us at the pub. we then dragged them around the canals, by the old hacienda, castlefield, the museum of science and industry, st. anne's square, st. peter's cathedral, market street, exchange square, the curry mile, uni manchester and all of oxford street. then we ate pizza. they fell asleep on the couch at 9 o'clock.

wednesday we somehow got the fast train to london and avoided being bothered by hoodlums and their cell phone music, which was good. we ate noodles, checked in to our hostel, which was ehhh then walked through hyde park and all over without much rest. out feet ached. we rode the tube lots, ate 18$ fish and chips in the west end then had lots of beers and tried to sleep on our bunk beds. a loud woman woke me up at 6 in the morning. i was really already up because peter and i were reliving junior year of college and trying to both sleep on a twin sized bed. anyway, this lady was yelling at her kids for a long time. i felt a bit bad for them but i felt worse for myself.

thursday we saw notting hill and portabello road [peter really likes to go by the sausage + mash (s&m) cafe], westminster abbey, buckingham palace, lots of sparkly jewels at v&a, ate 14$ cheese sandwiches, drank coffee, walked by harrods, got rained on, rode the tube some more, walked along the thames and the wobbly bridge, wandered around tate modern then got our luggage, ate thai and got back on the train home. this time there were hoodlums on this train. 4 or 5 boys with a bag of booze. they were boozing it up [and singing?] and doing generally naughty things. i don't think they had tickets. we made an unscheduled stop at crewe where a copper came on and escorted one of the boys out. it was fun and exciting.we laughed at them then reminisced over stories of our [not at all] sorted youth.

friday i went to work while everyone recovered at home. we ate fried rice then made cocktails and forced them to watch peep show.. and they liked it. before bed i made pita pizzas. i am so handy.

saturday we went to liverpool. there were way too many people in town for the tall ships race. we saw excellent skyline paintings at the walker. peter's allergies attacked due to a giant tapestry depicting some debauchery. we ate lunch and got sassed at the egg cafe. after we tried to go to the tate liverpool but were denied. we saw some lobster ladies wearing stilts and kids on leashes. it was cold and windy. we tried to buy hoodies at american apparel but refused to pay 80+ american dollars. we were just cold. found an almost derelict, downstairs irish pub and got tipsy then waited it out to catch a very comfy train back to manchester.

sunday i don't think we left the apartment. for dinner we drank ginger beer, ate yummy fish + chips [with homemade tartar sauce and mushy peas] and reminisced at the marble arch. actually stayed until closing time.

monday i worked, hungover. made green curry for dinner and were generally bums. later on we went for some farewell drinks at the ducey bridge pub then cocktails and peep show back at the apartment.

tuesday went to airport and said good bye's. it was very sad. then petey and i ate egg + cress sandwiches for breakfast in piccadilly park before i had to go to work. i wanted to play hookie very badly but went to work anyhow. we are old.

wednesday thursday friday work, eat, sleeps. the end.

and also in the news..
fun baby names.. yeah detroit!
obamafest in berlin

beck, blackcurrants + bangcock

the boys at beck
beck
slot world in aston-under-lyne
ikea candles named after myself
petey eating goodies on the depressing balcony





last wedneday we went to see beck at the apollo with a canadian and a ginger. it was alright. beck looked tiny and he is still dressing like it is 1994. the girl playing bass had some good dance moves.

friday we made lazy tortilla pizzas and shrimp & avacado salad for dinner. fell asleep early. saturday we woke up early-ish, waited out the rain then took the train into ashton-under-lyne. we wandered in circles forever, ate sandwiches from boots then bought some goodies at ikea: two tiny stools and a balcony table. and two candles. and two packs of mylti-colored chopsticks.

later that afternoon on our way into town to buy groceries i saw an advert for ribena, a very popular juice drink made with blackcurrents. realizing i have no idea what blackcurrents are, i ask petey "are black currents like grapes only smaller?" he mumbles somthing and i go on.. "are sultanas from blackcurrants and raisins from grapes then?" then peter says something like "i think curtains are shear and drapes are heavier." haha. then we got caught in a sudden downpour that made it look like i peed myself.

after conning petey into clothes shopping for a bit we went to china town to buy groceries. we walked in circles for a while and found the suprisingly tiny ladyboys of bangcock circus. who knew you could make a whole circus from thai trannies. i am a little sad we did not get tickets to the show. afterwards we bought goodies at wong wong bakery. we went right home to eat sweets and drink coffee on the balcony, using out new ikea goodies.

the rest of the night we read the paper, planned activites for special visitors who are coming soon, made thai red curry (in homage to the carnies) and celebrated the fact that this week will be my last full week of work until september. hooray!

P.S. read this very sad but acurate story, mostly about detroit, from the telegraph.

reading, random grumpy ranting + rumps

i'm bored. spent the last few hours reading and browsing online for clothes i cannot afford.. and talking at peter while he played with musical toys and ignored me [he was wearing industrial headphones.. i'm assuming that is why..].

this morning we went out to boots and bought miniature bars of dove soap. we just ran out of the supply i brought over in january, thinking they wouldn't have it here. of course they have dove bar soap, but it is child size. we also went to tesco but it was miserable. it is mostly gray and raining. i forgot how rain affects things like my hairdo and my moccasins and especially my mood. you always read how peple from england [or people from seattle or people from dublin..] do not use umbrellas. i've read you'll stand out in the UK if you carry an umbrella. that is a lie. in manchester city center people love umbrellas and have terrible umbrella etiquette. they wack you in the head and throw them in the street when they get destroyed by the wind. if you want to fit in you should carry a giant umbrella and not move out of anyone's way. act like you own the sidewalk, but make sure to say you're sorry after you poke someone's eye out. don't forget your manners.

we are leaving shortly to attend a going-away gathering for a couple of australians peter met in the hostel when he first moved here. i've lived here for six months and have hung out with them one time. that is actually a pretty accurate snapshot of our social life.

this is hilarious. i don't mind seeing some nice bottoms. it sounds like bill cunningham doesn't mind much either. i don' t agree that men's pants rise and fall along with stock market, but i guess he had to justify all those photos of butts. some of my friends have been bearing their rears for a good ten years. i do not recall their pants raising or falling at all in that time. if anyting, the more dollars you have in your pockets the lower your pants would sag as the moneys pulled your pants down, so the opposite would be true. i would like to debate the topic. i could talk about exposed butts all day infact..

they don't display their rears much here [except by accident]. i don't believe the rears are quite as nice here either. i do miss it. i would love to see some sagging instead of the hoards of men in tracksuits any day.

bus rides, baguettes and bolton

another week is almost [finally] over. most of my time outside work was spent trying to convince peter we should have a chore schedule. he is not having it. he did finally pick a thesis topic. something about noise and models and math.

last friday we carried 5kilos [10lbs] of stinky mussels [on the bus] to piotr's flat and had a feast. we managed to eat 4kilos between the five of us. it was very fun and made me miss dinner parties at alicia's place. a lot. on the walk home i tried to yell at litterers and peter gave me a lecture about starting fights. i think he should know better. on saturday we stayed in town and went to all the markets where we found ridiculously cheap baguettes made by a real life, very stout white-haired french man in an apron and a german beer [and sausages] festival in st. ann's square. sunday we went to bolton on a coach bus.. like the kind we took to cedar pointe for math class. there we ate fish and chips and started a fried chicken takeaway shop photo collection. cherokee chicken was the best find of the day. we finished the afternoon back in manchester eating pop sickles in exchange square with lots of very well behaved gothic youths.

in other news i really enjoyed this. it has two things that i like very much, amy winehouse and vacuuming. i also kind of like these cryptic news blurbs. like finding a foot happens every day [apparently it does in BC].

lately..

allergies are attacking my face. i am counting down the days until my supposed two-month-long temp position finally terminates. i don't know what has happened to me, but i loath the idea of working another day. i have a very pleasant job but still manage to go through peter withdrawal daily. all i want to do is wear pajamas. i missed my morning cereal because it took 35minutes to pick out an outfit.. even though i was up at 5 a.m. cursing the sun for rising at 4:45 a.m.

friday we drank wine, watched more peep show and ate éclairs. saturday we were still in bed at 4 p.m. later we took the bus to longsight carrying smelly homemade salsa. i talked to grad students about american politics [some more] and dissertations. i thanked myself for being an underachieving office temp. eventually i got into an argument, gave someone the finger at close range and demanded to eat a cheese burger. on the walk home a car full of college-aged guys slowed down as they approached us and yelled "hey gay boy" at peter. they then drove away giggling. it brightened my mood and was a fitting end to a poo-ie night.

sunday we went to b&q to buy a squeegee and light bulbs then spent the afternoon eating sandwiches and reading the paper in angel meadow park. i got moss in my hair and my first real tan line of the summer. peter was recovering from his late night kabob and i don't think he enjoyed the park quite as much as i did.

tomorrow i am going to birmingham for work. they expect me to get on the right train and find my way from the station to the office all alone. they do not know me very well. when i was still working in lansing i went to the thrift store during lunch for the wednesday book sale. an hour and 45 minutes later i had to call in and ask for directions because i was lost. i made a huge loop around lasing while attempting to take a shortcut through neighborhoods. and, unlike lansing and most of the states, there are zero straight roads here. they also change names every block and do not have corner street signs.

things to envy about england

there are things about being here that i dislike. the most notable are: scary youths, garbage storms, terrible man haircuts, track suits and not saying "blessing you" after a sneeze.. and miniature washing machines. other things are extremely impressive. here are my favorites.

ploughman's sandwiches
free daily paper
fresh cut chips/french fries
man size tissues
'hiya'
red-yellow-green traffic lights
tame squirrels
freaky eaters, peep show, the inbetweeners
tea and biscuits
public transport
marks & spencer commercials
cadbury outlet store

also, i've been compiling a list of english [or maybe just northern english] terms. may favorite is knackered.

cheerio
jolly good
chat to
easy peasy
loads
brilliant
mate
nutter
ring [instead of call]
yeah or innit at the end of a sentence
bits and bobs
done and dusted
dead easy/simple/excited
kick off
hiya
the lot
diary [instead of calendar]
lads
fit [as in: he's a fit lad]
proper
knackered
range
scheme
reckon
bloke/bird
thick
sussed out
cracking job
snog
get your kit off
jumper
vest
scouse
scally
yobs
fancy dress
smart wear
do the washing up [instead of do the dishes]
arse

and.. if your phone number is 299 - 3909 it will sound like two double-nine, three, nine, o nine. they like the double. and o instead of zero. that combined with a garbled accent can really throw you off..

london, bjork, booze

peter is playing games and i am trying to understand why i felt i had to finish last night's kabob for breakfast.. and why there is an open bottle of bulmers in the fridge.. or , back to the food, how all the sweet pink sauce soaked into the samosa to make a cold mushy cumin-ey doughnut. sound gross and probably is, but i enjoyed it.

so, here are some photos from london.

highlights include a semi-authentic mexican meal, actual authentic spring-like weather, managing to get on the correct trains, cookie monster in oxford, being serenaded by a pre-schooler in regent park, sunset in hyde park, stolen greek history at the british museum and the map exhibit at V&A.

anyhow, i must document last night before my brain forgets how strange it actually was. thanks to cousin ian we were able to attend the bjork show at the manchester apollo. and because the tickets were free we felt obligated to spend the money we would have spend on admission on beers instead. we got there earlier than necessary, picked up our very unconvincing tickets from will call and wandered in to the tiny pub behind the venue.. the only real thing in the area [besides a william hill gambling outlet]. it was tiny and the walls were decoupaged with guest passes. notable shows included chippendale's and the beach boys.. which when combined would make n*synch, but more talented. inside we met two flatmates that classed us as "alternative" americans. i'm not sure what that means, but they originally guessed us to be canadians, so it must be a positive. after some brewskies we got a cider and watched adorable bjork prance and throw her fists into the air.

afterwards we went to gigantic pub just off piccadilly. on peter's way upstairs from a goodbye pee his hat was stolen by drunk girls. it all started off innocent enough, they called him sherlock holmes. we had been on our way out, so we asked for it back.. they asked where it was from and we told them it was from america, thinking that might make it sound special.. they asked if it was to cover up petey's thinning hair.. then they asked if peter was "a jewish".. ahhh, it is strange how english people can be so rude and sound so nice at the same time.

on the way home we got a veggie kabob at the usual place.. while waiting an older, drunker couple came in to get some cheeseburgers. the woman was very concerned about her order and kept repeating "salad but no chips.. no chips!" she especially wanted us to know about her request, which was very nice of her.