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2002-11-24
The week's exhausted summary...

The weekend really wore me out.

Really wore me out.

It was all the walking and the traveling and everything and I just...

Yeah. Wore me out.

 

So it started last Saturday, where we took a nice long trip to London. Once we got there, we checked in, and discovered that they had given us a room with two single beds -- which is never good, especially when you ask for a double bed. When we complained, we were told we'd have to deal with it for the night, which sucked. But we were able to nap and space out and everything for a bit.

We went from there to the Comedy Theater to see Gillian Anderson in What The Night Is For. We were up in the balcony, and I had the worst vertigo. I was convinced that every time I stood up, I was going to fall, even though I was sure I wasn't. With the vertigo, and the bright red decor of the set, I ended up with a pretty massive headache towards the end, which was distracting, but not quite enough for me to not enjoy the play.

Which was good. It wasn't brilliant, but it was enjoyable, and she was rather good in it. So it was fun.

Afterwards, we waited around to get their autographs (well, the husband did. I wasn't quite so bothered and desperately needed some air, so while he waited, I went and got drinks and enjoyed the cool air), and then walked around, looking for a place to eat. As we were walking past the many West End theaters, I saw one theater that was presenting "When We Were Young," starring Keiran Culkin and Colin Hanks.

"Hey -- that one has Colin Hanks in it!" I said to the husband, laughing. Then I looked a bit closer. "Hey -- and there he is!"

Yep, Mr. Hanks was signing autographs and taking photos. We pointed and laughed from across the busy street, and then kept walking.

 

After we ate (a busy Italian restaurant right on Leicester Square), we discovered a truly nifty thing.

If you go to the Tube station, and go to the Picadilly Line via King's Cross stop, take a few minutes to stop, rest, and watch the mice.

Yep, mice.

It takes awhile, at first. You have to see one. Then once that happens, you see the others. We counted over five, and they were scurrying around the tracks, up, down, and everywhere right and left.

And then it gets even weirder. Because, see, the mice start fighting.

Mice Wars are the fucking coolest thing in the world. They run and then -- bam! -- they're bouncing against each other! They do it again and again and it is the utterly coolest thing to see on a Saturday night.

No, really. Go see. You will be as amused.

 

After a particularly sleepless night, we hit the street again, heading towards Camden. It was my first time really seeing the Camden area, and despite the rain, I had a great time going through the stores and seeing all the weird stuff they had on sale. Oh, if I only had a little more money!

We walked a lot, found some random gifts for people, and then went to the Roundhouse (a former train house turned into auditorium) to see Michael Moore. That was a lot of fun and thought-provoking as well, lots of anger mixed with lots of comedy, and all together goodness.

To make the day even better -- we found a Mexican restaurant right by there and it was faaaabulous. Finally! A Mexican restaurant in England that has strips of beef in their chimichangas!

But all that walking was very tiring. We needed to spend some time off of our feet, and wouldn't you know it -- the Prince Charles theater -- the place of the amazingly cheap movies -- had Y Tu Mama Tambien on.

And, damn, that was a fantastic little movie -- all sexy and sunlight, all sleazy and yet perfect. It makes me want to get a car and drive through Mexico, all right.

After that, we were wiped out, so it was a jump to bed (with a stop in the Leicester Square stop for more Mouse Wars!), and, luckily, we had a double bed this time around.

The next day, it was the Aztec exhibit at the Royal Academy. And, damn, was I looking forward to that.

There were too many schoolkids and even more old people who had to stand a certain length away from anything and get in the way of everyone, but with my little headphones and minidisc narrating the exhibit, I was on my way.

And, damn, I got to see so many cool things! Ceremonial daggers! Pots to hold human skin during the celebration of Xipe Topec! Statues of all sorts of terrible and wonderous creatures!

Honestly, if you're in England, you should go down and see it. And if it ever comes to your town, you have to see it. It's so cool -- even with the annoying people in the way. All feathered snakes and shed skins and...so very very cool.

We walked around a bit more after that, headed towards Forbidden Planet for more mayhem, and met up with Roz for dinner. There, we gossiped, enjoyed things, hung out, and just generally had a great time. I got to try wind-dried meat (a Chinese delicacy, apparently -- it just tastes like very salty meat), and it was just fun all around.

The next day, we went looking for certain shops, couldn't find them, and, instead, ended up in HMV, where, embarrasedly, I purchased Britney's "I Love Rock N' Roll" single (for the video too -- how lame!) and the Kylie "Come Into My World" DVD single (for the live video -- which is from the Manchester Fever tour show and my favorite part of the show -- Sparkle Queen Kylie of Nine with silver-skin dancers....yessssss...).

After that, it was the train ride home. Another trip done, and we were all terribly happy. But terribly tired too.

 

When I got back to work the next day, I found out that I would be going to London on Thursday (yes, one day of work, then back to London!) for the Mac Expo. "Well, darn," I said.

And Mac Expo was a lot of fun -- all technoporn and everything. I got to see how Adobe's InDesign works, and that looks like something I could really get into -- it lets you pop things into XML, which then makes everything so much easier to just slip everything back and forth between the web and the print world. Yessssss...

I got some freebies (not as much as I was hoping for), ordered a subscription to MacUser (for more freebies), and just generally had a good time.

 

So since I was running around like a crazy little monkey, I am now So. Very. Tired.

We went and saw Die Another day yesterday, and that was veering between "okay" and "bad" and it took a lot of resolve for me to not fall asleep during it.

And today, I have to clean, pulp, cut, boil, and liquidize three pumpkins -- plus trying to figure out how to make pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie. Then some laundry, some websites, and general mayhem. Oof. Tired.

So very tired.

 

But, hey, I got Secret Slasha up and running again. Wheeee!

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