oops!

ha! i guess it's monday! sorry about not having a post but things. stuff. more things. check back next week, k?

leff and i made you a thanksgiving video

turkey rabbit hand.

here is a thanksgiving post because i know you are bored

HAPPY THANKSGIVING HAHAH I HAVE SAGE BUNNY EARS

and clouseau is THE WORST at hide and seek.

fuji doesn't really care though.

i am just glad to not be wearing these boots anymore. stupid fucking more then 5" of rain in 48 hours.

none of these represent fucks that i give.

and i can't even.

i really can't even. 

anyway, happy thanksgiving if that's a thing you do. see you on monday.

ugh and ugh again

here's my situation: almost 5" of rain in the last 24 hours with no sign of a reprieve any time soon. the sky is the color of slate. street lights are on at 10 in the morning and i am having to make that pact with myself to try and hang in there until feb.

welcome to november in this shitty, shitty state.

bright point of the week! a lovely card from bunny! THANK YOU BUNNY!!

otherwise, the squash has been moody

but i guess the green stuff has been fairly upbeat.

i have not been drinking as much as i would like because the price of booze in this state is fucking scandalous. (airplane bottle courtesy of rhys. THANKS RHYS!!)

it seems like the cats have hunkered down for the rest of the year too.

although they are not reading because they are illiterate. WHAT THEY ARE CATS CATS CAN'T READ

anyway, GIVE ME YOUR OWL

'cause i'm gonna' need SOMETHING to get me through the rest of the year.

ed note:  possible updates during the thanksgiving holiday because, well, because. i am nice. clinically depressed, but nice.

rhys leaves and life gets back to boring

caution.

moodiness ahead. what, i am HERE in the state that i can't stand and everyone i care about (other than leff and the cats) is THERE. THERE IS NOT HERE. i am wounded in my heartal area because of all of the missing of peoples and things. aw. *pity party dance*

sigh... rhysling is one of those people who is THERE. but for a while he was here with kitty loaf clouseau and it was good.

poor rhys. i keep thinking that our jet lag isn't going to be terrible but HA it is always terrible. the poor guy has gotten used to me just dropping things on the floor. and running into things. and not being able to finish a sentence without falling asleep in the middle of i............

on the third day after we got back though, i was feeling a LITTLE more human so we went to ish

and that new taqueria in downtown b'ton.

that pupusa is DER BOMB.

and i think i voted that day. i'm not really sure WHEN i voted, i just know that i did. FUCK YEAH I DID.

you know, i think the reason rhys puts up with jet lag days is because 1) it's probably really funny 2) i make food that i ate in the uk. this time it was fake nando's

jerk chicken,

sausage rolls

and steak and ale pie.

i would pirate them all pretty high on the delicious scale.

(sorry. that was a terrible pun.)

but, all too soon, rhys was headed to the ferry, to the light rail to the airport. and now he is in the atl. SADS!! and i am left on my own with only my secret british stash to keep me company.

HAHAH I LIKE HOT CHOCOLATE OKAY?!

since rhys left, it has gotten pretty damn cold.

i have been eating a lot of grilled cheese.

and i started doing light therapy. because FUCKING HELL IT IS SO DARK AND MISERABLE HERE. ugh.

another bright spot beside the light was getting postcards from jens. he's been on holiday in japan! (i have loved reading about it on plus!) he always sends the best cards

complete with awesome postage.

heart you, jens!!

right, i'm going to get back to plexing british tv shows on youtube to my roku. and also thinking about how that last sentence wouldn't have made any sense to me just five years ago.

yours in mopeitude! see you next monday!

last rhys update will post soon

but not today unless i can shake this post trip funk. apologies, etc.

uk trip, part two, autumn edition --- cardiff ---> london ---> seattle

UGH leaving day. * sads* i'm always of two minds on this day. the one that is all "NOOOO I AM SO HAPPY HERE DO NOT MAKE ME GOOOOO" and the other that is very much  "if i miss my coach, i miss my flight and I CANNOT MISS THAT FLIGHT because NO RESERVATIONS AT HOTELS also TOO MANY CASH MONIES TO REBOOK"

guess which mind i listened to. sigh....

funny thing: my phone updated in the middle of the night or something and reset itself to british summer time. (the "fall back" had happened the previous day and we were on british standard the day of our flight.) so HAHAHAH WE GOT UP AT 5AM INSTEAD OF 6AM and PANICPANIC until we called the front desk to verify what time it actually was.

silly old phone.

speaking of coaches, leff and i were taking a dave's coaches to heathrow. okok, so it was national express. but, come on, you cannot begrudge me a "gavin and stacey" joke.

anyway, national express. YES, TAKE THIS! especially if you can get a fun fare and book at least a month in advance. it's really quite a nice coach!

we will use this again unless the coach from heathrow to reading/train from reading to cardiff is less expensive.(rates vary depending on WHO KNOWS REALLY so it's always smart to check many travel options for the best deal.) time wise, it's pretty much the same. (nice things to know:  national express does drop off/pick ups at all terminals at heathrow INCLUDING THE DREAD TERMINAL FIVE. sadly, there was no free wifi on our coach.)

on gloucester day we had crossed the severn on the new bridge. on leaving day, we crossed it on the old bridge. HI HEY HELLO NEW BRIDGE i wish i was not seeing you again so soon. *sads*

amazingly, leff and i were able to nap on the coach. well, ok, i texted some. WHEN AM I NOT TEXTING I AM A TEENAGER but there was some nap action. thankfully, we did not miss basingstoke. FANCY BUMPING INTO YOU BASINGSTOKE

things were uneventful on the way to heathrow, things were uneventful at heathrow. leff and i grabbed a bite at wagamama. i had a ginger beer

and chu chee chicken curry. of course. i have had this every time i have eaten at wagamama.

and then we moped around terminal five until our gate was called, killing time by filling out landing cards (see, i TOLD you snails were verboten!)

and wondering if anyone actually DID buy a gallon worth of hot sauce from the duty free.

i would like to say that the flight back was uneventful but HAHAHA NO OF COURSE IT WAS NOT at the gate, this was immediately stuck in my head because ARGH i have not been surrounded by such a loud, obnoxious crowd of braying assholes in such a long time.  even the nun who was on this flight was chagrined.

one bastard kept honking about how he couldn't wait to get back to the states so he could get "decent customer service". and i kept thinking, well, the REASONS the brits hated you, let me go out on a limb here,  totally just basing this on what i observed at the gate, but let's guess that 1) YOU SCREAM WHEN YOU TALK HONK 2) you probably did not research about the very small but vital cultural differences before traveling. 3) you more than likely ordered people around and did not say "please" and "thank you", you rude fucker. THIS MAKES YOU AN ASSHOLE

look, being an ugly american is one of my major pet peeves. OF COURSE there will be times when things are difficult or outside of your comfort zone THAT IS WHY YOU TRAVEL. it opens up your world. it pushes you and makes you learn to trust yourself and, ha, OTHER PEOPLE too. it is awesome but it is not always fun. and, yeah, occasionally you will make an ass of yourself but, here's the important thing, NO ONE REALLY CARES and most things can be smoothed over with good humor and apologies if required. fucking up often makes for a better trip, if i'm honest. GRACE AND DIGNITY, BITCHES! TRY TO HAVE SOME OF IT heh

if you aren't willing to accept these things, PERHAPS YOU SHOULD STAY AT HOME HONKING DUDE. i'm sure no one would mind. ugh.

sorry, /rant. but, like i said, PET PEEVE.

ugh, just, the flight was awful. BUT we found a new cab service that is quite lovely so it all came out in the wash.

huh, how can i end this on a high note? ah! well? i am still pronouncing the "t" in "literally" so i sound quite bonkers as i'm currently in the states and no one does that here. OH YES! there is a REALLY GOOD CHANCE that i will be seeing at least ONE brit in may! IT HAD BETTER BE TWO if the second one knows what's good for him. (heh) but more about that when things have been confirmed.

TOMORROW:  the last of the rhys updates! SADS!! and then we get back to a normal posting schedule. i'm sure you will all be relieved. heh.

uk trip, part two, autumn edition-- cardiff, day eleven

BOO-URNS! LAST DAY IN THE UK! i keep hoping that i am not a drag to everyone on my last day abroad because, UGH, it is always in the back of my head that i will be leaving again and i get so fucking depressed. * saddest, most wistful sigh you have ever heard.*

thankfully, i was able to distract myself from der sads with the quandary of "hey! howsit spider get outside my window ON THE 20TH FLOOR?!" (i never figured it out.) while waiting for shed and shed jr to arrive in the panda. (i love the freakin' panda.)

because, YEAH BUDDY ROAD TRIP TO GLOUCESTER HI HEY HELLO AGAIN ENGLAND

gloucester! edward ii is buried here! beatrix potter set the tailor of gloucester here too! but, more relevant to me and leff, shed and gaz both lived here! which, yeah, maybe not so much fun for them to be back (I would not want to be taking people around the tennessee mountain town where I grew up. likewise, leff is over d.c.) but it was MUCH APPRECIATED THANKS GUYS

GLOUCESTER DOCKS! (pro tip, non uk residents:  those two words kinda' rhyme. it ain't "glOH-chester, it's glosster. so, um, glosster docks. (i knew this heading in AND DID I GET BRIT RESPECT FOR IT?! NO I DID NOT! I CAN'T EVEN! heh))

so yeah, the docks are awesome!

and shed jr was my photography assistant. he found some pretty great places for luther deer pictures. THANKS, JABLES!

and GET THIS GET THIS ME AND LEFF AND SHED AND JABLES ARE GONNA' BE IN THE DECEMBER UPDATE OF GOOGLE MAPS HAHAHAHAHA

IT'S TRUE! the driver stopped and told us and i am probably WAY more excited about this than i should be. (yes, i will post a screengrab when it's available. heeee!)

he did not GIVE US AN OWL though.

oh god, that video never stops making me laugh until i cry! (you will probably have to wear headphones to hear it though BUT IT IS WORTH IT)

you know what? it is REALLY hard to get a brit to punch a swan. (IS this a swan? or is it a goose. i don't know. for this joke, IT IS A SWAN) anyways, i dared shed to punch this swan but he wouldn't because, idk, he's afraid of the queen punching him in the head or something.

it's complicated, i guess.

GIVE ME YOUR STYLIZED OWL

so gloucester cathedral right? I DIE

this place blows notre dame out of the water. you know why? because behind this red door

HARRY POTTER LAND BITCHES

look, even if it HADN'T been used in the "harry potter" movies, i would have lovedLOVED this place because JUST LOOK AT IT IT IS SO PRETTY (haha. yes. my art history professors would be SO PROUD of that assessment. IT IS SO PRETTY. *eyeroll*)

the hallway takes you to the great courtyard too. sigh...so lovely.

HI HEY HELLO PRIEST DUDE

there is also really old tagging in the cathedral. i love how graffiti used to have serifs.

oh, remember edward ii? HERE IS HIS TOMB

HERE IS LUTHER ON HIS TOMB HE IS THERE BECAUSE OF SHED OMG SHED BWAHAHAHAHAHA WE WILL SO GET KICKED OUT OF SOMEWHERE ONE DAY XD

yeah, OF COURSE i found the george and the dragon. OF COURSE I DID

we all looked at luther in the mirror

because looking at luther against the ceiling would give you the dizzies

did i mention to you that i had been fist bumping statues all across the uk on this trip? um, yeah, i had been fist bumping statues all across the uk on this trip.

BISHOP LUTHER

KING SHED

SO HEY GAZ AND GAZ JR MET US AT THE CATHEDRAL!! EEEEEE!!!! we all went up to the whispering gallery where HAHAH THE TWO JRS DID NOT EXACTLY WHISPER

and shed used his phone to check us into our flight. *sads* STILL it was awesome to be able to do something so future in the past, right?

after the whispering gallery, we let the jrs run around in the courtyard for a while and we were all pirate while leff went to get us some holy water coffee.

seriously, the coffee is REALLY GOOD at gloucester cathedral.

you can be forgiven for thinking that we spent the whole day at the cathedral because of all the pictures but, ha, that would be an erroneous assumption on your part because BEATRIX POTTER OH MY GOD THERE IS THE TAILOR SHOP

i ran upstairs and took a picture

and then bought a postcard while the guys all waited for me. i'm pretty sure the owner of the shop thought i was nuts because i was all HILOVELYPLACEYOUHAVEHEREHEREIS50PIHAVETOGONOWTHANKYOUBYE!! because i don't like making people wait.

anyway, HERE is something that you wouldn't know if you hadn't been in gloucester with some gloucester boys, amirite? ENTRANCE TO THE BUNKER! AWESOMESAUCE!!

GIVE ME YOUR OWL I CAN SEE IT

yeah guys, gloucester has flava.

you should go to here. MY CAT HAS A BAND HERE

and the architecture is pretty great.

and it tops london because HAHAH IT HAS A THREE COCKS LANE

MEET ME AT THE DUREX ON THREE COCKS LANE BWHAHAHAHA!

so, since i got no love on my glosster pronunciation knowledge, i called this "sure" hall and not shire hall EVEN THOUGH I KNEW HOW TO SAY IT heeeeeee

anyway, it had been a long, wonderful day and then SURPRISE DOWNPOUR. shortly after i had said "what is up with that cloud?"

BOOM BUCKETS OF WATER (i am not sure that this is the correct british measurement but YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN)

me and the jrs and gaz and shed all hunkered in gaz's car while waiting on leff to get back from finding a loo. the funny thing is, leff is the only person who did not get soaked HE IS A DRUID WITH MAGICAL GORTEX POWERS

it was sad saying bye to gaz and son BUT WE WILL SEE ONE OF THEM SOON YAYYAYAYAY!

on the way back to cardiff, we saw this sign. i thought it meant no picnics but i am wrong. it is the end of the roadway.

shed jr was worn out so we dropped him off at home before NANDOS IT IS ADVENTURE TIME AT NANDOS BWHAHAHA

seriously, shed is awesome and nandos is delicious and why, oh, why did we ever come back to washington state. *sads*

TOMORROW: return to wa state. BOO-URNS i will wrap this trip up. THEN on tuesday, we will finish with the RHYS RECAPS THAT YOU LOVE. god i am so sad. *whimper*