!!! - More like ??!#£%?

I went with Shiraz and his friend Louisa to the Maximo Park NME show at the Astoria last night. The first band we saw were Hot Club de Paris. They sang some funny a capella at points (like 'sometimes it's better not to stick bits of each other in each other for each other' or something to that effect) but otherwise they were extremely average.

Then came !!!. I didn't know anything about them except that their music is dancy and not at all like the headliners. Holy ummm what the hell is this?! was my reaction. It looked like eight Napolean Dynamites performing on stage to electronic music. They were so dorky, I couldn't tell if they'd just come from chess club or the local gun show. I thought they were great though and the singer was really charismatic; his dorkiness made him even more fun to watch. I would recommend seeing them, and you can put 3!'s at the end of that statement.

Finally were Maximo Park who played lots of old stuff and lots of new stuff. I'd never seen them headline a gig and the crowd went bonkers for them. They played a good show and you could tell they were really happy with their performance and with the crowd. Paul Smith looks tre cute with his new long hair and hat instead of his former combover from 2005; also the keyboard player controlled himself from doing the karate chop move for most of the set, I was so thankful!!

Shiraz took us to the Sanderson Hotel bar afterwards for a goodbye drink (it's one of the places we went the day we met.) It's so nice there.

On Tuesday night Dave and I saw Spamalot courtesy of his brother and sister-in-law (their Xmas gift to us.) I was hesitant about the show as I don't know much Monty Python and thought I wouldn't get the jokes. I did miss a few but overall it was really funny and original in terms of a show (of course not that original as they ripped it off from themselves but you know what I mean.) If comparing against Avenue Q, the other comedy-musical I'd recently seen, I'd say it was was better. Only bad thing about the theater (even though it was beautiful) was that the seats were steeper than at Shea Stadium, which can be pretty scary.

They are playing 'Sometimes' by Ash on XFM right now, it's my favorite Ash song, yeah!!!

Ana got extra hot chicken at Nando's the other day. That's the highest level of hot after Lemon & Herb, Medium, & Hot. Lemon & Herb is spicy for me (although I'm an exception with spice sensitivity.) She had to have the waiter wash the sauce off for her. Too ambitious!

I just met Ben in Chinatown. Speaking of, did you see the huge lit-up lanterns in Oxford Circus for the New Year? So pretty and surprisingly tasteful for the circ.

I just bought 3 books ('Love in the Present Tense', 'A Piece of Cake', and 'Never Let Me Go') with a gift voucher I had which I no doubt will have a problem transporting home.

I also bought fun scrapbooky things at Muji for when I return home.

Current Music: Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Saturday

I've been trying to spend time with all of my friends this past week (and this current one as well.) Saying goodbye is hard!!! Before I get on with posting mine and Liz's farewell party photos I can quickly comment on who else I've been bidding adieu to.

Last Saturday Sunil was in town so after a Ping Pong dinner with Dave and Krish, we met up with Mr. D and Shiraz for a Mountbatten's birthday. I'd been drinking since 2:00 pm though so I didn't last very long.

Sunday marked the last time I would ever do the Black Sheep pub quiz near Oval. Priyesh and Julian came and our mid-quiz freebie was actually a chicken roast complete with all the trimmings. I guess a lot of people didn't order them that day because we usually just get chips and onion rings. Oh, and we came in third.

I had lunch with Joy on Monday who has since changed her status from 'in a relationship' to 'engaged'!! Congrats Joy and Andi!!!

At night Liz and I met up with Matt Trager from Binghamton because I found out randomly (through my mom's friend's friend's friend kind of thing) that he works in London now. Nice to catch up, but quite crazy that after he left Kelly Osbourne and Amy Winehouse showed up! This possibly beats the prior week's Young Knives spotting at the accidental crashing of the Cold War Kids album launch party at the Social (though we didn't get free open bar at the Hawley Arms.)

On Tuesday night I went to dinner with Joy, Laura, and Zoe in Camden. Joy was soon to be off to beautiful Rome and Zoe was soon to be off to glamorous Ohio (she is going to Disneyworld as well though!!) and I planned to see Laura again before I leave, but not before giving her my pink heart chair. I know my favorite seat is in good hands (or butt i should say.)

Wednesday was lunch with Alex H. in the Kilburn area. He was nice enough to take a bag to NY for me as well, thanks again!

On Friday I had to go to his house to empty some of the bag because I overstuffed it. Whoops!

That night Laura and I went out for dinner. I gave her a bag o' stuff including fun things like my curling iron and alarm clock!

On Saturday I moved all my stuff (thanks Dave and Jay) to Dave's flat for the week. I parted ways with my flatmates and headed back to Camden (for the 4th time that day from Stockwell) for mine and Liz's leaving drinks at Lock 17, followed by dancing at the Underworld. It was fun fun fun!! Here are some photos:

Jay*Dave*Me*Ana

Julian*Me*Priyesh Alex H.

Dave*Me

Krish*Jay

Elliott

Marc*Me

Graham*Andy M.*Alex C.*Jamie

Andy C.*Ben

Simon*Me

Laura*Alex*Mike*Mairead

Laura

Liz*Graham

Rich*Alex

Graham*Liz*Andy

They played 'Starlight', I died.

Chris literally looked like night of the living dead when he fell asleep on the 88 with his eyes open.

That photo is #88 in my folder, which makes it even creepier.

Some butt at Bodeans cured my hangover and I also saw Hot Fuzz. It was not what I expected, I liked it a lot!!!

This week I'm meeting up for lunches, dinners, drinks, and a gig with Alex C., Ana, Shiraz, Ben, Val, and Laura, and I've got a West End show with Dave.

I may have to make room for the Roxy on Thursday and the Swan as well.

Current Music: Cast - Alright

I've Got the Claps

Too much to catch up on! But I've only got a short amount of time to write at the moment.

Prior to going to Italy I went with Laura to the Album Chart Show. We saw a two song performace from Fall out Boy which was a nice surprise as they were the only band I didn't know would be performing. We were then treated to three songs from Klaxons who I love and were really good. Next was Lady Sovereign. Her music made me want to put a bullet through my head and of course with my luck she was the only one who had to repeat a song because the camera guy messed up the taping. Finally were The Feeling. I didn't know any of the songs they played but the singer has such a lovely voice live. They played really well too and for a "softy" band I was surprised that the crowd absolutely loved them. Yeah Feeling!

We had to applaud for the cameras about 30 separate times. It was so much that my arms actually hurt and I could barely continue. Also, we had to clap for bands that had performed in the previous weeks like Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, and The Magic Numbers. I hate the last band, I think it was really wrong that I had to clap for them.

Oh my god! A good friend just got engaged and I just found out like 4 seconds ago!!! I can't reveal who though cause it just happened today but YEAH!!!

Stadium Arcadium

So, although you might know I'm somewhat of a Barnet supporter, I recently went to an Arsenal game. Yeah Premiership (thanks Alex!) Actually, it wasn't technically a Premiership game, it was an FA Cup match, but the two teams playing were Premiership level (Arsenal v. Bolton.) There were about 50,000+ more people at this game than the last Barnet one I was at. Emirates stadium (brand new) was sooo nice.

The fans have such potty mouths! As entertaining as the Colchester fans were at my last game, this was even better as it was huge crowds coming together to diss the enemy. I liked the simple but got the point across "Same old Bolton, always cheating," though I think that's chanted at every team at every stadium. Here's more photos:

It's old news and we all know it was a draw, but here's a tiny bit of the action. Please excuse my camera work.



Current Music: Last Week - True

To-Do List

Some things I plan to blog about in the upcoming days:

- I attended my first premiership football match

- I went to the Album Chart Show

- I unintentionally snuck into the Cold War Kids album launch party

- I went to Italy

- I unintentionally went to Germany

- I can't believe Tammy died on Guiding Light

Current Music: Klaxons - Golden Skans

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

Today was so great! I went to the bathroom early this morning and took a peak out the window at the Eye and realized that everything was covered in snow! I couldn't believe it, I haven't seen snow in probably about two years since my last New York winter. It wasn't a significant amount, but it was still a bit too much for my London co-workers to handle as a bunch of them called off sick...resulting in me being redirected to different buildings a couple of times in my half-awake state. No probs for me though, I love walking through snowy London (although everything has melted now.)

That's all for now!

Everyone's a Little Bit Racist Sometimes

Today is a very special day. Why you ask? Because it is the start of my penultimate week of work, hoorah! Just six more working days left until I go to Italy and don't have to be here at 8:00 am anymore. I will have to be more careful with money though which makes me sad. This weekend was pretty relaxed. On Friday I was tired so I elected to stay in. Saturday morning Dave and I headed to Kennington to have some brekkie with his fellow Clactonites. We spent the afternoon in The Porterhouse and Bok Bar killing time before seeing Avenue Q. I'd been waiting years to see this musical, although I wasn't as impressed as I'd expected to be, it was still funny and I'd recommend seeing it. We ate dinner in Chinatown. For the first time in the year and a half I've lived in London, I finally ate some good Chinese food. Miracle!!!

After that we headed to The Macbeth in Hoxton.
We'd gotten a tip that Pete Crackhead would be DJ'ing there. We arrived quite early though and had to sit through three crappy bands until Mr. D showed up, which he didn't (I can't completely blame him this time though as it was not confirmed in the first place.) Anyways the joint was packed with 18 year olds (plus Matt Bloc Party and Alex Arctic Monkeys look-alikes - I swear it was them!!) All the girls were dressed like it was 1985. I know this style is trendy but I really am not a fan. There was one guy who had hair like Faris Rotter and had white socks pulled up over his jeans with white buckle shoes. I felt like it was 1776 (just like the book I am reading) all over again. At least that guy wasn't as retro as the two dudes with Friar Tuck haircuts,

man was that a trip back to the old days! On Sunday I did successful shopping at Sainsburys,

and unsuccessful shopping at Primark. I need to (maybe) book my flight home now. Blah.

Harry Potter and the American Exchange Student

Weeee!

Sun Isn't In the Sky Oh Why Oh Why?

Dear London Weather God,

I am not sure why you have treated your residents so badly as of late. As you are very much aware, it has rained here for about three weeks straight with merely a one day break. My trousers have gotten soaked everyday, my hair looks a disaster, and it puts me in a terrible mood. You made things even worse yesterday with the horrible wind you inflicted upon us. I almost blew backwards down the escalator at Canary Wharf which really is not funny!

I am asking you kindly to rethink how you treat us Londoners or I will be forced to make a formal complaint to your superior.

Thank You,
Angry and Wet

Long, Long, Looong

This has possibly been the longest day of 2007 thusfar. And I'm in an office where I don't have to make bullshit conversation with the girl next to me PLUS I have an internet connection. Can you imagine how it usually is in the other offices?!

I've been terrible at blogging since I've been working and I always forget things I'd been meaning to mention. I can recap my weekend in Manchester though.

After work on Friday Laura and I took the Megabus (buckled up) to Manchester. We knew we'd have to book it to the hostel, change, and head out as we weren't supposed to arrive until about 11:00 pm. The driver got lost so we didn't get to the hostel till almost an hour after that. All was good though when it turned out a recommended bar Bluu (not sure if it's the same as the one in Hoxton) was 2 blocks from our place. We got free tequila shots from two greasy Greek guys who we didn't even have to figure out how to ditch when two 40-something year olds weedled their way into the conversation. Not sure why they didn't go for the gold as they obviously approached with an aim but it worked out for us when we said a normal goodbye at the end of the night.

On Saturday we toured the University of Manchester where Laura went to school. We even saw her old room in her 1st year dorm and chatted to the girls in there for a bit. After the reminiscing session we headed back to the center to do a lot of walking around and a bit of shopping. As you can guess, I was in the mood to buy tons but ended up with nothing.

We ate in Chinatown (thanks again for not bringing the prawn crackers out lady!) then went out to Deansgate locks via the tram (trams are fun, yeah!) We went to a couple of trendy bars and then back to the center. We then attepted to get into the Living Room but the bouncer refused as it was past 1:00 am (what the eff?) I asked two other bouncers what was open at that time but due to my delicious accent they let me in. Throughout this whole year and a half I've spent in England, that's the first time my supposed-to-be cute American-though-supposedly-Canadian accent has gotten me anything!! (The Brits get sooo much more attention in the States.)

At the night's end we got what was supposed to be a chicken doner kebab but was actually chicken tandoori with garlic sauce in a pita, eeewww!!!! Crazy notherners.

By the way the bus drivers in Manchester were so nice and helpful! They are 38923469 times better than the ones in London. They should send the TFL employees up there for a manners course.

After a disrupted sleep due to the crazy Norwegians in our room shining a flashlight in my face in the middle of the night, on Sunday we went on the Manchester version of the Eye. It was more like a ferris wheel which went around a few times in a mini capsule. We went to the Trafford Centre in the afternoon and it was so exciting because I felt like I was back in the States in a real mall! Of course it had all the usual high street stores but the inside (and outside) were beautifully designed and the food court looked like a cruise ship (photos to follow in an upcoming post.)

That's the end of my Manchester recap. I dropped some flakes from my chocolate croissant on the floor earlier and then stepped on them by accident. Now I have to scrub the chocolate off, appropriate though considering I look like a maid in my uniform.

Also, I just wanted to say thanks to the woman at Starbucks who served my toasted tuna melt to someone else. I only have a limited amount for time for lunch lady!!

Current Music: The Sound of my Head and Eyes Throbbing (that's not an actual song)

Footloose

For those who know, my support of League 2 team Barnet FC is somewhat of a joke. Last December when Erica and Heather visited, we wanted to see a professional football match for cheap. Barnet were playing that day, were located on the Northern Line, and tickets were inexpensive. Being that they are the only professional team I had seen since living in England, that was how they jokingly became my team to support.

Last night I went to watch Barnet v Colchester in their third round FA Cup match. Things looked very grim for the Bees after the first half when they were losing 0-1 to the team who sits 56 spots above them in the Championship. I was thinking how I could play for them, they were playing that poorly. Then by way of some miracle, things turned around in the second half, leading to a 2-1 victory, consequently sending Barnet into the 4th round for the first time in history. I couldn't cheer though because I'd bought £11 concession tickets in the opposition seats and thought if I did the Colchester fans would kick my ass.
So YIPPEE!!!!!!

Yeah Barnet!

Little House of Savages

I forgot to mention in my previous post that last Wednesday, Laura, Mairead, Tania, and I went to the premiere of Celebrity Big Brother. We queued for a few hours, had our bags sniffed by dogs, and braved the rain just to catch a glimpse at Davina and the Z-grade celebs that would enter the house.

The Lovely Davina Mccall

If you live under a rock, or in the United States, and haven't heard who the contestants are, let me tell you they are so non-celebrity that barely any of them even knew who each other were!!!
Here's some pics of the non-monumental but still exciting nonetheless event:

The Prison House

Braving the Rain

Jermaine "Germ-Free" Jackson - probably the biggest "celebrity" in the house.Danielle Lloyd - Shamed Miss Great Britain and WAG - got booed lots but she's cute.This filmmaker dude already left the house because when Jade's family moved in he thought it was gonna give him a stroke. I thought the walk up the steps was going to give him a strokeJo formerly of S Club 7, the cheesiest band that ever existedLeo "I Feel Thunder in My Heart" SayerShilpa Shetty - The Angelina Jolie of Bollywood. She is gorgeous!Donny "I'll do anything to be famous" TourretteSome dude from the A-Team. The whole audience wet themselves in excitement. I'm still confused.

Hello 2007!

Happy 2007! 2006 came to a lovely close.

I went to Dave's family's house in Essex for the Xmas holiday. The weekend started with his parents' Christmas Carol/Karaoke party. First we did the holiday songs and the kids got to request gifts from Dave's dad Santa.

During Karaoke I managed to not embarass myself too much (after a few drinks) by singing 'Angel of Harlem' in front of his whole family. We did a couple of other tunes as well, I was dead by the time the party ended at 3:00 am.

David doing Dylan

Me and Antony doing 'In the Morning' by The Coral

Dave and his mom doing the Zep

Post Xmas, we went ice skating at the Tower of London.

It was very windy!

Saturday was a Mountbatten convention. Ryan was in town from NY and Sunil was back from Brussels. We went to lunch also with Shiraz, Dave W., and Zoe & Hal. Later on I met Joy for a coffee and at night it felt like I had been shot in the right side of my face because my sinus was killing me. I watched The Devil Wears Prada which was completely unimpressive (the book was better) and Memoirs of a Geisha which I didn't finish yet (pretty good so far, the book is excellent.)

lhkgkuf

My New Year's Eve plans weren't decided until the last minute. I ended up in Balham but was in a bad mood, had a hissy fit (well, we were in the worst-rated Wetherspoons in the UK after all!!) and ended up watching the fireworks from Dave's bathroom at midnight which was very nice.

On New Year's Day I finally made it on the Eye!

I made it to the Sports Cafe to watch football which was really nice! I also went to Ana's newish flat in Highbury, and went to First Friday this week. Barnet v Colchester in the FA Cup got rained out yesterday so that's been rescheduled but instead we saw Perfume which was close to excellent. There's a cafe in Kings Cross which I think is new. It's called The Other Side and is cute and pretty good, I recommend it. Alex's birthday was last night and we went to Zebranos off Carnaby Street to celebrate. I didn't go to the Roxy after though because my sinus was attacking my face again and my shoes were crushing me almost as badly as my ice skates did last week.
kjgkufkjyf

Tonight I'm off to Bodeans (where I also ate BBQ the other day, yum) to watch some American football action with Ben, et al. Tomorrow I get to work 9-5 like normal people, I'm so excited!

khgkug

Current Music: Ash - Petrol