st. james's gate

I've been meaning to write about the science museum, and the DINOS at the natural history museum, and all the cool things we did, but oh well i didn't. and now I'm at heathrow at the red carpet club (for united, my mom gets everything basically and i just tag along)- i'm eating a banana and drinking a guiness.

see- there are things that i will miss about being over here. but i'm ready to come home. And in my mind I'll be leaving for l.a. in 24 hours (but actually add 8 for time change), 11 of which will be spent on a plane. yippee. i think this will be my last post on this blog, you'll have to go here from now on. welp, it's been fun and exciting and cold and wet and new and uncomfortable and it has tasted very good. peace out.

whoa do tell

ok so... i'm irresponsible. we went to prague and it was magical. still. we were in austria and it was COLD and we ate 7 course dinners and just ate in general. we went to munich and i want to go back. now we're in london at our magnificent flat. I've taken no pictures. and i want to go home. i'm enjoying being abroad, i love europe, and yay for the u.k. but... can i come home now?

the obvious child

dad and john are here. the rain has stopped (for the most part) and now the hugs and back rubs (or at least someone to lean on while waiting to cross the street) are flowing in the streets. laminar flow, it's not out of control, distrubances dampened by viscous effects. easily modeled, parabolic velocity profile. reynolds number < 2000. you know.

OK EXAMS ARE OVER LINDY DROP IT.

but the streets are brighter and the days are longer and the walks are shorter when i'm with the people I love. too bad they're jetlagged now and went to bed at 6:30. i ought to sleep, too. or pack. sleep.

the hotel bed in leeds

luckily, subtlety is not a fruit of the spirit, and all i want for christmas is you. and a large if they fit like american apparel. p.s. i do not support american apparel it's poor quality and when it says "made in downtown l.a." it means the garment district, which is the closest I have ever come to a sweatshop and can't see how foreign sweatshops are much worse. also all of their clothes are super super small, which is frustrating.

and the way you would speak, and all that we wouldn't say

I made chocolate chip coffee cake tonight. sort of. I forgot to get chocolate chips so it was m&m's and chocolate buttons coffee cake, and I got creme fraische thinking it was sour cream, and i used wholewheat flour entirely, and I guessed on the measurements (but an educated guess, and i asked the opinions of others). I guess any time you mix chocolate, sugar, butter, flour, and cinnamon it will come out alright. And this time it was colorful!! oooh.

now the pan is soaking
and the stomachs are sitting
I need to pack up my bags
john and dad are arriving tomorrow! in 13 hours (and counting)

i had something witty and now i forgot it. dang. it wasn't even snarky either, just pure unadulterated and innocent wit. as my mom would say, "cheese! and! crackers!" (it means you're upset)

phish food

um so finals are over. YES FINALLY AND I AM FREE! kristin and I went to glasgow today. kristin = friend visiting from usc, will be my roomie next semester yay!! here's the hottest picture:

and now i'm going to bed. will update later. like... some time i don't know. we'll see.

murder on the dancefloor

i'm in bammental! yay! bammental via heidelberg, via mannheim, via frankfurt int'l, via lufthansa, via the wonderful edinburgh airport. well.... hmm... this time I took the train by myself all the way to bammental and there was no crying. true story. i even made some friends along the way.

me: [i show her my ticket] regionalbahnhof or fernbahnhof?
lady at help desk: fernbahnhof
me: fielen danke. (i think that's how its spelled)
lady at help desk: you're velcome.

also

me: "mannheim?"
man on train: "da."

me: "heidelberg?"
woman on other train: "da."

me: "bammental?"
girl on last train: ?
me: "neckargemund?"
girl on train: "da."

I'm tricksey, and I'm good at taking trains. And making friends (slash making conversation, and that's like 90% of it right?) Anyhow, today I played with Ellis who is like amazing, and Rachel. Well, she is amazing but I didn't play with her. She skeptically watched me make hot chocolate (but the kind you put warm milk into... it's harder than it sounds guys) and took me grocery shopping, and we went to the Heidelberg Christmas Market!

We got some gluhwein, which means glow wine. Apparently it makes you glow from the inside, but it kind of made me want to barf from the inside. sorry. Rachel suggested some kinderpunsch, but I defered. We got some hot schokolade instead. well, not much else to report. I hate finals, I would like to just fail them then have the university of edinburgh sink into the forth (ocean-like thing) then usc doesn't get my transcript oh well. is that allowed? i will allow it. now off to studying, then bed. then who knows!! this country is crazy and pretty jawsome. peace (on earth).

bologna

so my mom sent me some tea (with a cool foldy christmas tree card. i made a video of it and i'm trying to post it on this blog but having trouble. any tips?), anyhow the two kings are: eggnogg'n and ginger snappish (it has lemon, too). kelly and I approached them with skepticism, which is well-deserved. because they smell awesome and you lift up your mug to your lips and inhale: "oooh smooth creamy egg nog yum yum- WATER." and it's a let down. But the ginger tea is better, because ginger is a legitimate tea flavor (unlike egg nog, which is a legitimate flavor for EVERYTHING ELSE).

but i was drinking some ginger tea, studying for my exam (in 30 minutes so i gotta scoot) and i burped and it tasted like warm gingerbread. so not all is lost.

[event]:[BPA- British Points Awarded]

1."Kelly before we leave I need to top up my mobile": +10 points for "top up" +20 points for "mobile" = +30 points
2. wearing a shirt, sweater, sweatshirt, vest, scarf, jawsome hunting hat: +40 points for layering
3. still being cold: -50 points for being a wimp
4. i still don't understand cricket like at ALL: -25 points
5. but i do know that 'lorry' means 'big truck': +15 points
6. dislike rain: -30 points
7. but i understand how quickly the weather changes so it won't be here for long then i can make a run for it: +20 points
8. enjoy oasis: +15 points
9. do not enjoy having to 'top up' said 'mobile': -10 points
10. i'm going home in january, in case that wasn't clear: -100 points

-95 points. hmmm all this math reminds me to study for my finals (DEATH!)

millworker

lindy has some exciting travel plans coming up...

dec 6th- fly to frankfurt to visit cousins
dec 10th- fly back to edinburgh to take rest of exams (boo)
dec 16th- edinburgh airport to pick up john + dad
dec 19th- fly to prague
dec 22nd- train to this place in austria to meet mom + greg + thomas
dec 29th- fly to london
jan 6th- fly to s.f.o.
jan 7th- drive back to l.a. (NO TURNOVER! i am at the mercy of jet lag)
jan 8th- classes start (actually i don't have any monday classes so it's jan 9th for me)

wow. life goes pretty fast. and i cringe at my CO2 emissions... maybe bike to l.a.? dragging my bed, etc. with me? I wouldn't make it past pacheco pass and would spend the rest of my days subsisting off casa de fruta nuts and malt balls. haha no one reading this probably gets that. but it's super funny, f.y.i. also super true.

borderline

things i love about train stations:

#1: TRAINS
#2: whistles and the blowing thereof
#3: very high vaulted ceilings and other 19th and turn of the century architecture
#4: TRAINS
#5: the cool info boards that change frequently
#6: lots of newsstands and places to get coffee
#7: the sounds of trains coming and going
#8: TRAINS

under the iron sea

I'm going to be on a train for five hours and then be in a different country!! (sort of)!! did you know that the queen is the queen of canada, too? and of australia i think!! are we the only ones who don't have a queen?! and if/when we get one... can it be me? that would be SUPERBE.

desperado

did you know that the difference between a latte and a cappuccino is the steamed milk : foamed milk ratio (and, by conservation of volume, the ratio of those two things to the espresso)? it'll all just turn into steamed milk by thermodynamics eventually.

I thought there was somthing monumentally different between them. And I sat down at the starbucks at bristo square and did my maths homework, and outlined some of my bio notes to begin studying, and read the 'latte' and 'cappuccino' posters several times. is the whole world built on ratios of the different phases of milk?? milk is a colloid, by the way. that's a gas dissolved in a liquid (right? someone please correct me). so it's sort of both phases all the time, when you think about it.

people are contracting aids at the rate of one new infection every 8 seconds. people are being bought and sold like lattes and cappuccinos. sometimes i wonder what good knowing the resultant moment on a beam does, or why I make 3 flashcards about it, and commit it to memory. why am i transfixed by all the different kinds of artificial sweetners I can put in my tea? i've gotten so lost in the world, and i'm sick of it. and all we argue about is if two men or two women can get married. there is nothing new under the sun, but people try to get excited about milk : milk ratios and i'm not impressed anymore. i don't know what i'm trying to say, or what I'm going to do now. buy fairtrade coffee and use linen grocery bags. turn off lights whenever possible. not have unprotected sex or start doing heroin or something. say 'thank you' more often.

cold feet

in my hands (but on the desk now since I'm typing) I have a letter. the letter is from my director of studies (like an advisor) to accomodation services.

i give the letter to accomodation
they shred the year-long lease and give me semester-long one
several people notify registry and adjust my account
my usc advisor gives me clearance for my spring classes
i take my exams
accomodation gets my flat keys back
i get on a plane
i'm back at usc for spring semester


gaaaaaaaaaaaaah piece of tri-folded A4 paper!!!

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." -Isaiah 30:21

"Rise Up With Fists!!" (Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins)

oh to heck with it everyone go buy "Rabbit Fur Coat" now.

What are you changing?
Who do you think you're changing?
You can't change things, we're all stuck in our ways

It's like trying to clean the ocean
What do you think you can drain it?
Well it was poison and dry long before you came

But you can wake up younger under the knife
And you can wake up sounder if you get analyzed
And I better wake up
There but for the grace of God go I

It's hard to believe your prophets
When they're asking you to change things
But with their suspect lives we look the other way
Are you really that pure, sir?
Thought I saw you in Vegas
It was not pretty, but she was (not your wife)

But she will wake up wealthy
And you will wake up 45
And she will wake up with babies
There but for the grace of God go I

What am I fighting for?
The cops are at my front door
I can't escape that way, the windows are in flames
And what's that on your ankle?
You say they're not coming for you
But house arrest is really just the same

Like when you wake up behind the bar
Trying to remember where you are
Having crushed all the pretty things
There but for the grace of God go I

But I still believe
And I will rise up with fists
And I will take what's mine mine mine
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I

"Born Secular" (Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins)

I was born secular and inconsolable
I heard that he walked, he walked the earth

God goes where he wants
And who knows where he is not
Not in me

It's the way mothers greet their sons
When it's a moment too late
It's the law of the land
That sometimes the dam just breaks

God works in mysterious ways
And God gives, and then he takes
From me, from me, from me, from me, from me

It was a toss-up between this song and like every other song on the album... if i'm feeling uncreative the next post will be "Rise Up With Fists!!" (Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins)