This was morning was pretty exciting for me. I got to wear my brand new awesome Santa hat, it was snowing, and I had plans to see Tron Legacy which promises to be super duper awesome. Waiting by the bus stop, I realized that the snow is really coming down, but it was still a doable amount of snow. It wasn't until I was on the bus and riding around Hyde Park that I realized my movie partner is from Virginia and thus not used to said snow. Sure enough, I had a text that said the weather was too crazy for her and that she was backing out. Also, apologies. I sent one back saying that it was fine, wanna catch a later flick? She can't because a friend is staying over because her flight got canceled. That sucks. Are you sure you can't brave the weather? No, but you can come over for dinner later tonight. And new plans were made.
I thought about going to the movie alone. I've been to a movie alone before. It was to see some silly chick flick and the only reason I was alone was because the friend who was supposed to meet me didn't show up at the theater. I was stood up by a friend. Since that incident, however, I have been fairly leery about this friend -- if she won't put in the effort for me, then I won't put in the effort for her. But that's neither here nor there. The point is that I would see a movie alone, but a movie in a theater is a different experience than a movie alone in your room. My How to Be Alone poem/video suggests going to a movie theater alone. But when I thought about it, I thought about how Tron Legacy has such promise as an awesome, awesome movie. Surely such geekery had to be shared and not kept to oneself.
So I got off somewhere around Hyde Park and meandered around. I attempted to find the first bus to Baker Street where I would then sit in the library and do some work. On the way, I picked up a kebab because, well, I was hungry and it was lunchtime. Ate a little bit waiting for a bus that wasn't coming anytime soon. I knew where one tube stop was, but I was pretty close to Paddington Station, so let's attempt to go there.
Completely overshot Paddington. I somehow managed to get to Edgeware Street. On the way, I passed through a small pedestrian tunnel that claimed to lead to Little Venice in London. Then I found myself in a really residential area. So residential there were no such things as maps and I had no idea which way was north (although I assumed north was somewhere based on the fact that I think I just came from the south. Therefore, there was east and west and I went west for some reason. That's how I found a bigger street and followed that street to Edgeware Street. I knew I was really lost, legitimately lost, and I wanted to get somewhere so I went to find some buses to take me to Somewhere Else. Found a map and saw that a Bakerloo line station was nearby. Bakerloo takes me directly to where I need to go, so off I went . . .
. . . and found that the Bakerloo line was on strike. My first thought was "What the #($@#* is this #(@#(??" Really? A partial strike? What kind of people have a partial strike?? On a weekend??? Meanwhile, ever other Tube line was either partially suspended or severely delayed (with the exception of Northern and Victoria, lucky bastards) because of either the weather or maintenance work. And that kind of ruled out the Tubes for me. What was next? Why, buses of course!
Oh buses and slush, what a glorious combination. I waited for a bus to Baker Street again, but it wasn't coming. Then I went to find one that would take me to the next place library place: Oxford Circus (which would take me to Polyteknik which is the Regent Street/Wells Street library). Waited at one stop, but no bus was coming. By this point, I was sick and tired of buses not coming. I was impatient, cold, wet, and didn't get to sit down to eat my lunch which, by the way, was kind of spicy which I don't like. So I wasn't feeling the best at this point in the day. There were also plans with Becca later tonight that I was thinking about skipping because I wanted to be home in warmth and dry in new clothes. But I couldn't because I had to finish up the final report for my Internship Toolkit class and I should really rewrite my creative writing short story at least to say that I really wanted to improve it. And because that bus wasn't coming, I went to a different stop. Lo and behold, a bus came right away. Finally, my day was looking up.
At the library, I did finish my organizational report for the internship class. I did attempt to fill out the skills tracker worksheet. I did think of a way around the whole reference sheet thing. I also finished my creative writing rewrite. I printed half the things I need to print, but the other half went unprinted because when I went to print them, I couldn't find my ID. I called it a day, but then I remembered that you needed your ID to get out of the building. You also needed your ID to print in the future. I also need an ID to get into the Harrow campus to turn in my film essay eventually. I'm kind of academically screwed without my student ID. I searched everywhere on my being, but I gave up. So I left the building and went straight to dinner with Becca and her friend.
Took the tube because I was annoyed with the buses. Severe delays on the Central line because of a signal failure in the late morning, which was six hours ago, so instead I hopped on Victoria which had good service and switched to the Northern line at Euston station. Rode that to Old Street where Becca lives, and got lost again. I overshot the correct street again and I called Becca saying "I'm at this intersection. Where is Alexander Flemming?" She actually had to come outside to get me, not because I was that lost, but because I was lost enough that she couldn't give me directions. So I was that lost.
Becca had a friend staying over named Megan. Megan had been studying in Edinburgh and was supposed to go home tonight. Her flight from Edinburgh to London was canceled so she hopped on the first train to London so she could make her flight. Except during the train ride, her flight was canceled too. So when I first met her, she was a teary mess in constant communication with her mom and uncle on the computer all three of whom were frantically searching for the earliest flight home for her. Meanwhile, Becca and I got pizza, garlic bread, and (because I would want some if I were in Megan's shoes), booze. She appreciated that.
Tonight, I tried pear cider because it was interesting and it had the 'cider' label on it. It was good stuff. I really liked that. If there's one thing I'm going to miss in the States, it will be easy access to cheap alcoholic cider. Really. The food was good too. Nice and greasy and everything you wish pizza could be for a crappy day. We would have had frozen pizza, but when Becca tried to make one earlier, it got completely burnt and had to be thrown out. She wasn't going to try again with her second pizza, so to the pizza place around the corner it was.
Megan managed to find a flight that left from Gatwick the next day. She jumped at the opportunity and she got the seat. She was considerably happier after that. We spent a long time talking, a long time. Becca and Megan were leaving on the same day from the same airport so they decided to split the cab ride to Gatwick. I left around ten-thirty/eleven because they had to get up early. But it was nice to be able to sit and hang out with friends like I would back home. Becca and I both wondered why this didn't happen sooner. I told her not to be a stranger and keep in contact on Facebook. If we're ever in each other's areas, we know where to stay for a couple free nights; we know who to go to. We're welcome at each other's places. Etc etc etc. Catch you in the States and we'll see you later.
Interesting thing about Becca: she knows how to bind books. Like, from scratch, bind books. She makes the papers and she sews them together and glues them together and glues them to the cardboard cover together. Handmade books. Mostly journals because the paper is blank. But it's awesome craftsmanship and I'm so jealous she knows how to do something that awesome. I have to look into book binding classes so I can learn how to make my own journals. Who cares that it doesn't have much of a use, that's an awesome skill to have!
Nothing happened on the ride and walk home. Except when I got home, about the same time I was wondering when the Project for Awesome live stream was going to happen, I learned through email that my brother's own flight to London was canceled. They worked on getting a flight as early as they could, but the earliest they could get was on the 21st. So he's arriving on the 21st at noon and we're leaving the next morning for Paris. The only thing that's affected by this would be London. The Delta woman was nice enough to extend Ryan's stay and give him a flight on the 31st of December, which gives him a couple extra days in London, but they will be a couple extra days without me. I'm looking into hostels and hotels for him, but now that I have so much extra time, it's not high on my priority list. Besides, the entirety of my plans went to shit today so I'm taking a break from making plans and will deal with this all tomorrow.
Except for one thing. When I came home, I noticed that Chris across the hall was still hanging around. He doesn't leave for home until the 5 January, and I once again and knocked with the question of "Why the hell didn't you hang with this guy earlier? You could have made Christmas plans or something!" Anyway, he's staying for the holidays and my weekend had opened considerably, so I went and I asked if he wanted to see Tron Legacy tomorrow. He hasn't heard of the movie, which makes me think I pronounced it funnily enough to be misheard, but he was willing to see a movie. Has to do Christmas shopping, though, but he'll contact me through Facebook or by knocking on my door. I could give him my number, but he admitted to wanting to limit his phone use because his previous bill was 150quid from his time spent in Italy. Whoops. So at least I still have hope of seeing my movie this weekend.
Things to consider, possibly forgoing Denmark and flying directly into Norway. More things to consider: possibly scrapping Hanne's plans for New Year's with me. Which I can say right now is totally mean of me to do because I'm not sure how much effort she's doing in preparations for my arrival. So if that were to happen, I would have to tell her ASAP. But this is something I would talk about with certain people first, like Hanne and my parents. I would also have to look into canceling my flight to Denmark and booking a flight to Norway, which I might as well then go to Tromso anyway since it's one the easiest ways to get there. But this is something that will require further consideration and thought. I'll keep you all informed of further developments, and until then, it's currently 3 in the morning and I want to go to bed.
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