Wallflower

broonsfamilytn

Note to self: next time in Britain, look for Broons comic books. I don't know why or how we had one, but I remember hours and hours of reading the Broons when I was 11 or so. I didn't figure out for years that the family's name was The Browns. I loved reading about them and trying to figure out what they were saying. Tea time seemed really fun and I wanted to eat with them. They had lots of cakes and tea and good stuff on a long table. Yum.
Check this out for changes made to the comic's language over the years.

Recycling is sexxy!

Hey, you know what is awesome? When you take your hand me down, super old computer moniter to the recycling center, 30 SoCal miles away, and you fully expect to have to pay 15 bucks or so to have it disposed of properly (please god) and it turns out that it is now FREE to recycle tvs and computer monitors. (How DO you spell monitor?)
It's almost enough to make me believe in America again!
Hip! Hip!

heh.

Random Family Guy Quotes

Dangerous games

So we outsource torture?And the government can spy on us without a warrant. And, like the border "tightening" going on down here, I have to ask, is any of this making us safer from terrorism?
I'd say our involvement in torture makes American soldiers more vulnerable. Hell, journalists, too. We just can't behave like that--even if it's just turning our backs and letting another country do the dirty work. I'm sickened.

Too much relaxation makes me crazy.

Dream: I was dating a guy and he told me that he was the prince of Bulgaria. I was like, wow, i hate monarchy and totally don't believe in that stuff and power to the people, but I'm gonna be RICH if i marry you!
Message: I'm a sellout.
Dream: I was getting ready for the first day of school and someone said to me, uh, don't you have an 8 o'clock class? And I looked at the clook and it was nearing 11. SHIT! I was so embarrassed thinking of all the people I had to apologize to. When I woke up out of that dream, I was very relieved that once again, I can march into the world pretending that i have it all together. Only in my dreams does the incompetence leak out.
Message: Dreams aren't real. Hooray!

I love Torrey Pines

We saw whale spouts! gray whales migrating south! Also, some very close up raptors--I guess they were red tailed hawks. And some dolphins.

inverness hotel room

This was the view from my hotel room in Inverness. I could hear the River Ness at night, splashing along coldly and merrily. I was sick of travel by this point so I spent a full day lounging, eating digestives, drinking tea and watching bad British tv. Hooray! It was fun.

grandpa's sister?

In an old photo of Grandpa's family, I found a face that looks uncomfortably like my own. I've always thought i look like the McGhee side of the family--Kathleen recently said I look like Selina, but I don't see it. This gal, though. This gal looks like me and I wish she didn't. Cause she also looks like a big nerd.
Well, who knows. Maybe she was a big laugh riot.

Oscar Slater

One night, unable to sleep, I watched scottish tv for a few hours very late. (Saw a Ricky Gervais special--very damn funny) Anywhoo, I watched an interesting program about Oscar Slater who was wrongly convicted of a 1908 murder in Glasgow. (Arthur Conan Doyle eventually investigated the conviction and it was overturned. Slater was an Austrian Jew with a history of pimping and gambling and therefore easy to frame. Turns out the murderer was a member of a prominent local family.)What I liked a lot about the story was the photos of convicts in Glasgow in that era. I had just read somewhere that because so much of Glasgow's industry was shipping and dock work, convicts were photographed with their arms crossed over their chests so as to be easily identified by their missing fingers and scars earned from manual labor.
I love that kind of stuff.

Gerlad and Stevelad

Thanksgiving pix are up at Flickr. Soon, Christmas and then the UK. But now I'm taking a break to watch Deadwood.

This is only a dream.

I had a dream last night that I had two tiny alligators in flimsy paper envelopes in my hands. They were squirming to get out and I was afraid that they would bite me. Theur heads and tails kept flipping out of the envelopes and I held them as well as I could.

No idea what that means.

jiggity Jig:observations, notes, stuff.

Oh, the 6 hour flight from NYC to San Diego was punishing. at one point I jerked myself out of a dream and hit the guy next to me in the thigh. Could have been worse.

I should not disparage sunshine. sunshine is nice.

Scots are really into what they call "American pancakes." They come ready made in plastic packages in the bread section of the grocery store. Pancakes.

If anyone ever offers you the opportunity to go to Invergordon, Scotland, politely decline. It's hell with an offshore oilrig.

Always go for ensuite facilities. Always.

London men calling me "love" has to be one of life's sweet, small pleasures. Yesterday I picked up a city worker's dropped hat and he said, "thanks, luv" and I swooned.

Tea is always good. Even the cup of tea bag microwaved tea I had in (shudder) Invergordon, was GOOD. Maybe I should say tea is always good if you're in Britian and you're freezing and can't wait for a nice cup of tea and a sit down.

Why do American accents in foreign places sound so annoying? They're not annoying here.

Scotland is full of redheads. Redheads with rosy cheeks and sweet, lively accents.

I might get in trouble for this, but is British beer really that good?

yum

my new favorite thing is English pudding. It's kind of like a bran muffin in consistency--the first one that I had was in a pub and it was called "Spotted Dick" How could we not order that? It was swimming in custard--warm, eggy, custard. YUM! I love the whole pudding concept. I had a sticky toffee pudding at a fancy restaurant called giraffe in London and I think I may have died a little it was so GOOD!

Cold, y'all.

I keep saying it and saying it but I'm cold here in Scotland in January. There's salt on the ground but no snow or ice. I feel that I deserve snow after losing my nose to frostbite.
I went to East Kilbride today on the train. I bought a BritRail pass and guess what? Never do they check the dates--I could use this thing ten times over. Cool but a little annoying because I dropped 300 clams on it. Oh well.