The Way His Collar Falls
Having my birthday come and go in a country full of people who do not bat an eye at the thought of my birth was a very sobering experience. A few people who I informed of my upcoming birthday made it a point to mention it, including my creative writing teacher at who's home I spent most of the day, but the overwhelming majority of people treated me just as they would have on any other day of the year. I was walking around Bloomsbury by myself looking for Virginia Woolf's house when an adorably graying British man asked me if I needed directions. He could not have been more pleasant even if he invited me in his house for tea. He didn't do this because it was my birthday, he did it because he was a nice person. By the same token, apparently I was taking too long to cross the street for someone and they beeped at me. Initially my mind raced to thoughts of "On my birthday!?!?" but realized, of course, that this had nothing to do with anything going on in this angry van drivers life. On the one hand, it was really kind of shitty not to be able to see my mom of all people who pushed me out of her on the day in question, but it was also eye opening to spend my birthday among virtual strangers. I recommend everyone try this at one point and see how they feel. There's something almost liberating about ignoring your birthday that makes you recognize your relative insignificance in the big wide world.
Last night, Sable and Chris and I went to the Waterstone's in Picadilly Circus to partake in some of the pre-HP madness. First of all, we felt like we were the "coolest" people within at least a 10 mile radius. There was such a gathering of "colorful individuals" (they'd probably rather I said "skilled witches and wizards) that I truly felt like Danny Zuko in Grease, inexplicably cool and on point in every possible sense. We sort of semi-snuck, semi-waltzed-in-in-broad-daylight into the Mugglenet.com podcast taping on the 4th floor. We sat in the room, knowing this even was meant to take place, and a few people wearing mugglenet t-shirts looked in our direction and chatted with us but largely seemed to assume we were where we were meant to be. Then about 15 minutes after we got there hordes of insanely dressed mostly teenagers flooded the room with red tickets around their necks and sat all around us. Still, no one seemed concerned that we had no tickets and were wearing jeans and t-shirts. Ultimately, we sat amongst this madness with no right to be there, having waited on none of the insanely long queues, having purchased no tickets, for the entire podcast. I still have no clue how this happened. And if that weren't bizarre enough, when we left Waterstone's, Picadilly Circus (which is somewhat comparable to Times Square) was absolutely packed with similar freaks. Everywhere you looked there were the tops of cheesy costume store witch hats poking out above the what had to be tens of thousands of people waiting to get their book. There were cars honking trying to get through these crowds, to little or no avail. It was really probably the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.
However, I should not call the kettle black. I reserved my copy of Deathly Hallows at the Watersone's in Kingston and woke up at like 9:30 this morning feeling like it was Christmas. Essentially I am only writing this update to pass the time until Sable and I go get our copies. I am pretty terrified of finding out what happens in some sort of strategically placed spoiler, so I'll just have to read quickly.
I'm coming home a week from tomorrow and I'm definitely ready. There are things in London that I want to see but haven't, but if anything these outstanding places on my list only serve as incentive to come back. Over all I've enjoyed my experience here and don't regret for a second my decision to come here, I'd do everything the same if I had the chance, but it's just long enough to be away from home and everyone I know. Not to mention 5 hours ahead of them. Also not to mention insanely busy every single day, which is not my favorite thing. I have a new appreciation for waking up to face a day of doing whatever I want. I don't see myself complaining about having nothing to do at LEAST until I go back to Albany. And maybe not even then. I still have a fair amount of work to finish for my two classes but will hopefully set aside this weekend (we have Monday off too) to get everything done. I'm not overly concerned about my grades in these classes at all because as long as I get a C the credits transfer and don't effect my GPA, but I think I'll probably get As in both of them anyway. I've enjoyed creative writing but I'm glad I took it in the summer and not at St. Rose because there's something about A) voluntarily taking classes in the summer and B) the English way of doing things that allowed me much less coddling and hand holding than I'm sure I would have received at St. Rose.
Anyway, it's less than 20 minutes until I go pick up my book. Perhaps I'll be able to squeeze in one more update before I'm back stateside where I belong.
Last night, Sable and Chris and I went to the Waterstone's in Picadilly Circus to partake in some of the pre-HP madness. First of all, we felt like we were the "coolest" people within at least a 10 mile radius. There was such a gathering of "colorful individuals" (they'd probably rather I said "skilled witches and wizards) that I truly felt like Danny Zuko in Grease, inexplicably cool and on point in every possible sense. We sort of semi-snuck, semi-waltzed-in-in-broad-daylight into the Mugglenet.com podcast taping on the 4th floor. We sat in the room, knowing this even was meant to take place, and a few people wearing mugglenet t-shirts looked in our direction and chatted with us but largely seemed to assume we were where we were meant to be. Then about 15 minutes after we got there hordes of insanely dressed mostly teenagers flooded the room with red tickets around their necks and sat all around us. Still, no one seemed concerned that we had no tickets and were wearing jeans and t-shirts. Ultimately, we sat amongst this madness with no right to be there, having waited on none of the insanely long queues, having purchased no tickets, for the entire podcast. I still have no clue how this happened. And if that weren't bizarre enough, when we left Waterstone's, Picadilly Circus (which is somewhat comparable to Times Square) was absolutely packed with similar freaks. Everywhere you looked there were the tops of cheesy costume store witch hats poking out above the what had to be tens of thousands of people waiting to get their book. There were cars honking trying to get through these crowds, to little or no avail. It was really probably the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.
However, I should not call the kettle black. I reserved my copy of Deathly Hallows at the Watersone's in Kingston and woke up at like 9:30 this morning feeling like it was Christmas. Essentially I am only writing this update to pass the time until Sable and I go get our copies. I am pretty terrified of finding out what happens in some sort of strategically placed spoiler, so I'll just have to read quickly.
I'm coming home a week from tomorrow and I'm definitely ready. There are things in London that I want to see but haven't, but if anything these outstanding places on my list only serve as incentive to come back. Over all I've enjoyed my experience here and don't regret for a second my decision to come here, I'd do everything the same if I had the chance, but it's just long enough to be away from home and everyone I know. Not to mention 5 hours ahead of them. Also not to mention insanely busy every single day, which is not my favorite thing. I have a new appreciation for waking up to face a day of doing whatever I want. I don't see myself complaining about having nothing to do at LEAST until I go back to Albany. And maybe not even then. I still have a fair amount of work to finish for my two classes but will hopefully set aside this weekend (we have Monday off too) to get everything done. I'm not overly concerned about my grades in these classes at all because as long as I get a C the credits transfer and don't effect my GPA, but I think I'll probably get As in both of them anyway. I've enjoyed creative writing but I'm glad I took it in the summer and not at St. Rose because there's something about A) voluntarily taking classes in the summer and B) the English way of doing things that allowed me much less coddling and hand holding than I'm sure I would have received at St. Rose.
Anyway, it's less than 20 minutes until I go pick up my book. Perhaps I'll be able to squeeze in one more update before I'm back stateside where I belong.