Steve Carlson just added new music to his website. I am so incredibly thrilled that I will be seeing him live this Friday, in London. There is a squeal of joy coming from England, and it's ALL ME.

As promised, Chester pictures. See if you can notice a theme or two in them.

More Chester
More Chester 2
More Chester 3
More Chester 4

I get that it's kind of weird to take pictures of a graveyard, but they just seemed so interesting to me. And no, I did not plan on it. I was wandering around a part of town that I've never been in before and just stumbled upon it. I thought it was a park. Anyway I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

And no, I don't have a thing for the river. I don't know what you're talking about. Ssshh.

Also as promised, the new[er] computer:



I'm pretty happy with it. I do wish it had a larger hard drive (only about 40 GB, whereas my old one had 140 or more and I had only used half of it) but eh. I've got an external hard drive and I'm keeping my music on there. I just plug in the hard drive and play the music from there, so it's working out well.

Now to convince myself that yes, I have to finish my internship application, I need to proofread my younger brother's paper, and yes I really should be working on my project instead of reading a Terry Pratchett novel. I know what you're thinking ... he IS a good author, and really no one could blame me if I just read a little bit more.

RIGHT? (Seriously, check him out. Library's exist for a reason, ya know.)

I have a new (used) computer. It's a long story, but it ended up being that the store I was entrusting to fix my computer was planning on receiving a shipment of used Dells and it was either send in my computer for £155 or buy a used (but shiny!) computer for £189. As you can see, this computer is clearly British because I can make a £ sign. My plan is basically that when I get home, I'll send the old computer out to Best Buy because I have a service warranty through them, and it won't cost me to get the computer fixed there.

The whole thing has been an ordeal though, as not only did I have to wait awhile for the new computers to get in (Anyone who's met me for more than a day can tell you that I'm rather impatient), but then there was a read error and I had to take the computer back. The store owner just traded me another Dell that they bought (same kind and everything) but that one had a problem with the fan. I took it back and it seemed like it was fixed in the shop, but when I got back to my room it and turned it on it started making a horrible noise again. So basically what he did was switch the hard drives of the two computers, so that this one doesn't have a read error and the fan works perfectly (so far).

I've decided that I'm a jinx when it comes to electronic gadgets.

I'm in the middle of uploading some more pictures of Chester, I'll post them in a bit when I'm done.

I'm still trying to get used to having a computer that is made for the UK. the " and the @ symbols are switched, and the # sign is also in a different place. It's kinda cool.

I'm going to London and Stonehenge next week. Might also go to Windsor and Oxford. I'm going with the friend who let me stay with her in Liverpool, and we're staying with one of the girls that she hosted during my first stay. May 2nd is going to be a BIG day - We've booked a special tour in which we can actually TOUCH Stonehenge (they don't allow you to go near the stones on a normal basis because people are MORONS and try to flick bits off to take home), and we'll see a bit of Salisbury as well. Then we'll get back to London around 3-4 p.m. and probably hit up the British Museum and then we've got a concert at 8:00 p.m. EEEEE, I'm seeing Steve Carlson :o)

Okay now that the computer thing is settled, I really have to clean my room, iron my laundry, and start doing some more work on my project. Cheers.

Alas, when one thing breaks so will about five others. Okay, so five is a bit of a hyperbole (just a SMALL one, just is kind of an oxymoron) but yeah. My laptop has been sent in for repairs. I sent it in Tuesday afternoon, and it probably will take about a week to fix it, which isn't bad. What's annoying is the amount I had to pay for it, because while I have a service warranty with Best Buy ... well. Do YOU know of any Best Buys in England, let alone Chester? I certainly do not. Oh, enormous bright yellow price tag, how you mock me with your absence. Or ...whatever.

It's extremely early, for me at least. I started my new class on Monday and that meets at 9 and while that's only once a week (Tuesdays it meets at 10), I'm trying to get in the practice of waking up early again. Even so, I woke up EXTREMELY early this morning. Around 4 A.M. two girls (not sure if they were from my dorm or not, they seemed to be just visiting my next door neighbor, for whom my loathing increases with every one of these moments) were screaming and running in the halls about how they wanted to find a party. I tried going back to bed, but it was to no avail, so I figured I'd read a bit until I was tired enough to fall back asleep. This happened about 6 A.M., though a half an hour later I was woken up by the fire alarm going off. My first thought was 'it's not Sunday ...' because they test the alarm between 1-2 P.M. nearly every Sunday. My second thought was 'okay it's not stopping, I better get a move on'. I'm not entirely sure what or WHO set it off, but I do know that my neighbors and I waited 10 minutes out in 30 degree weather waiting for an all clear from two men dressed in bright yellow coats. By then, I knew I wasn't going back to bed so now here I am, in the library, after breakfast.

There's not much else to report. I have a paper due today, but I wrote it and turned it in yesterday. It was much easier than my other papers, for all that it was the same length. Now I just have to worry and wait to see what I get on my papers. I got one back last week, and I got a 62 on it. While at home that might be considered failure, here apparently it's very well. I don't pretend to understand but okay! I had a moment of panic, but I double checked with the department head who assured me it was a score to be proud of. I'm still waiting for my other papers, it takes about four weeks for them to marked, excluding some of the vacation time....which means that my final paper for the new class I'm taking, which is due May 20th? I won't know how I did on it until way after I get home.

Since I am without internet (and it's actually getting COLDER here instead of warmer, which doesn't make me want to go outside and venture about), my plan for this weekend is rather boring. Check out some books I've been wanting to read, as well as research for my new class ... which is about research. Go figure.

Today has been a crap day, and for one reason only: I broke my glasses. As in, stepped on them and the part where the lens is screwed in came apart ...it could have been easily fixed if the screw was replaced but the bugger refused to budge. So I had to buy new glasses.

Buying new glasses is ALWAYS an ordeal. Having to buy them when you're in a foreign country? A little bit more so. Finding a pair of frames that would fit with my lenses was, I was told, like "finding an needle in a haystack." I didn't know my prescription so I had to set up an appointment with an optometrist, and finding frames that I like is never easy because a) I'm picky and b) I have a small face. The entire process took about three hours, cost more than I want to think about it (but really, it's not like I had a choice. It was either pay, or don't see anything), and basically gave me a headache from the stress.

Here is the end result:

Liverpool again!

Once again I spent the weekend in Liverpool, from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. My main goal was purchasing the new Hard Days Night Hotel grand opening pins for my Dad - of which I got 10 for him. I also did so much walking that my foot bled, but it's all good now.

For your enjoyment, more pictures:

Liverpool Trip Two, Part One
Liverpool Trip Two, Part Two

I stayed at the same place as my last trip, and this time there were more internationals there as well. In total there were about eight of us, all spanning different countries and cultures. And yet with all that set us apart, we all found common ground in the absurdity of Liverpool girls and the clothes they wore when going out. Seriously, when it's about 30 degrees F outside at night ...well, it's a smart thing to wear a coat and you shouldn't be wearing five inch heels when you're drunk. And the HATS. I have yet to understand the appeal of the big hats.

So yes, Friday night we all went to the Cavern again and then to the local Reflex (dance/nightclub). We stayed out until around 2 AM, waking up just in time for the Liverpool football match. I didn't stay around for most of the match, as I really didn't care about it, so one of the other travelers and I went to the Liverpool Cathedral ...which basically is the largest Anglican church in England, I'm told. I was silly enough to go up to the top, and of course freaked out a bit. It wasn't the view from the top that was so bad, but going up the stairs to get there. They were really narrow and they winded up so you really didn't feel that they were sturdy. Plus, in view of the stairs was the bell tower and that was frightening. I didn't even get a picture of the bells, I was freaking out too much.

I had originally planned just to spend Saturday there and come back that night because I have a paper to work on. But the Gallery at the Hotel closed earlier than I thought it would, so I ended up staying an extra day in order to get the limited edition pins.

There were plans to go out to the bars on Saturday night, but I ended up being so exhausted from all the walking (and then staying up until midnight, because that's the time everyone else left) that I ended up not going. Sunday I got the pins, walked around Liverpool a lot with one of the other travelers (whom I then showed around Chester on Monday) and finally coming back to Chester after 5, just in time to miss the snow that fell in Liverpool.