The computer is still non-functional, so I'm going to the Apple store as soon as I'm done here to see what the Genius Bar can do to it. It starts up fine, but the cursor won't respond to the touchpad or the keyboard, and then it puts itself to sleep. You can wake it up, but it immediately goes to sleep again. Sounds like me, really.

I'll have to get a new laptop for law school in any case (damn law schools and their non-appreciation of Macs), but I'd really like to get at least another six months out of this one. We'll see what the Geniuses say.

I had a dream last night that I got into both Duke and Cornell (hey Mom, if any letters for me come from either place, please open them!), and to celebrate, Laura and I took a road trip to Belfast during which we were chased by criminals and ended up in a hilarious Lock Stock-type situation. I have to stop eating chocolate before bed.

I am really, really glad that the Apple Store just opened up down on Regent Street, because it looks like I'll have to take my laptop there tomorrow. Nothing serious (I hope) and fortunately I don't have anything computer-related due till the end of next week, but still annoying. I hope the geeks at the Genius Bar can fix it, or I'll be writing my last paper here in the Internet cafe next week.

Heh. I signed out of my hotmail account a minute ago to find this article linked on the msn.ca webpage. I wholeheartedly agree with the article's assessment, after having spent four years driving in Canada and one hair-raising weekend in Montreal.

I just thought the rest of you might get a kick out of it.

One term project down, two (and one small assignment) to go!

No news, really. I've been working on eating and sleeping better, and that kind of thing isn't interesting to anyone, and other than that it's been a quiet week. This weekend I'm going to spend some time going around London photographing green spaces for one of my term projects, and start on the research for my second one. I'm really looking forward to having all my schoolwork finished so I can go and do touristy things with my free time! Only another week and a bit to go, though.

There was something else I was going to blog about, but now I forget what it was. I'm boring lately.

Wow.

So I went to see Jerry Springer: The Opera last night, and, well, wow. I haven't seen anything that so successfully mingles the sacred and the profane (the incredibly profane!) since Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter.

People hear "Jerry Springer" and "opera" in the same sentence and laugh. But really, why? Look at the plot of any major comic opera, and you get Jerry Springer-esque situations. Cosi fan tutte, to name one, involves two badly disguised guys trying to make love to each other's fiancees on a bet from a misogynist friend. Opera buffa is meant to be crazy, bizarre, and a little profane. Jerry Springer just takes it to its logical extension, and adds a fat Liberace-esque God, a Jesus who's "a little gay," and a tap-dancing chorus of Ku Klux Klan members. Seriously.

One of my favourite things about the whole show was that there were people with real bodies up there on stage. Okay, I know this is because the stars and chorus members are supposed to be playing "white trash." But still, it's not every day you go to a major West End or Broadway musical and see one of the stars dancing in nothing but a diaper, man-tits jiggling and belly flapping.

The music, too, was interesting. Some of the numbers were your standard musical fare, albeit with filthy lyrics, but others sounded just like a Bach or Mozart religious chorale (again, with filthy lyrics). Imagine a choir of angels singing "My mum used to be my dad," "I was jilted by a lesbian dwarf," and, of course, "Dirty filthy crack whore." There's even a part near the end where the choir sings "Jerry eleison."

The one downside to the whole thing is that the only place in the world you can see it is London, which sucks because I think everyone who isn't easily offended should see it. Of course, it'll show up on Broadway at some point, and I'm personally holding out hope for a Cleveland appearance with Drew Carey as Jerry Springer and Wayne Brady as Satan, with the rest of the Whose Line Is It Anyway cast in starring roles. (Trust me, it'd be fabulous.) If you're in London, go see it. If it comes out on DVD, rent or buy it. When it comes to Broadway, go see it.

Really, just go see it, you filthy crack whores.

I keep getting a mild shock every time I look at the calendar and realize it's the end of November. It doesn't feel like it weatherwise, despite the appearance of Christmas decorations all over the city about three weeks ago. Thanksgiving's this week, and I'm used to celebrating it with at least three inches of snow on the ground, but I'd be really surprised if the temperature here's dropped below 40 yet (that's 5 or so, to you silly metric people).

Still plugging away at the schoolwork, but it should be fine. Other than going to see Jerry Springer the Opera tomorrow night (don't laugh, it's for my music class), I'm free other than class time all week. I have plenty of time to get all the stuff done that needs to be done. The thing that's giving me trouble is the sleep schedule... I'm still basically running on Eastern Standard Time, despite being five hours ahead of it. And, since it gets dark at four, I'm basically nocturnal. Fun, but a bit annoying.

So, yeah. I'm sorry I'm so boring lately. I don't even have any good law school news to relate yet, although I should know something in about a month now. I did find out, however, that my application to graduate has been successfully received, and once I mail the check in for my library fines, I should be graduating without incident on February 24. I have no idea why Canadian schools have the graduation two months after you finish, by the way. Weird.

It's been chilly, grey, and rainy all day here. Nice change from the foot of snow that's usually involved in late November in Canada, but it's still the kind of day that makes people depressed. So, here are a few things that should cheer you up...

Somebody has way too much time on their hands and a pretty damn good knowledge of Latin. I was howling out loud when I read this.

When googling for a present for my friends Paul and Kara's new baby, I found this site. I found some other sites too, but most of them were stupid. Maybe they'd rather have this.

I know I linked this in quite a while ago, but after living in London for two months and change, I can attest to the truth of this site. I haven't heard any of these particular ones, but I've heard some pretty good stuff. It's better than Drunk People Theatre (and quite often, it is Drunk People Theatre).

And finally, why didn't any of you Something Positive readers out there tell me about this t-shirt? Somebody buy it for me for Christmas. Please. I need this.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently! It's coming up to crunch time at the end of the semester, and I have four projects due (three major, one minor) in the next two weeks. I'm not feeling too stressed about it, since I have lots of time, but it's still something that needs to be done. I've also been feeling like crap the last week, due to either the virus that's been going around or the stress from other stuff. My sleep schedule's all messed up, and getting it back on track has been so far unsuccessful, although the fact that I'm posting right now and not napping should help.

I promise I'll do something interesting this weekend so I'll have something else to write about!

I feel better today. I got out of the house, met Laura for crepes, and ended up walking all over Kensington and Chelsea window-shopping and catching up. (For those who don't know the story, Laura was my best friend in grades 2 through 4, until her family moved back to England. Today makes only the second time I've seen her since grade 4, so it's always a special occasion.) Retail therapy and chocolate therapy make me happy, and I definitely needed the walk, but holy crap is Harrods crowded on a Saturday getting close to Christmas. It usually bugs me when stores set up their Christmas stuff so early, but not when Harrods does, because they do it so well.

I posted before about the food halls in Harrods, but today was the first day I'd been upstairs. Harrods' motto used to be "Everything, for everyone, everywhere," and while you can no longer order a genuine Indian elephant, it's still pretty much true. Harrods is the only store I've ever heard of that provides, among its other services, tailoring for your dog's coat (no, not the one it grows naturally). They sell everything from the usual department store stuff to pianos and sports equipment, there are 25 restaurants, cafes, and bars inside, and most of the fifth floor is a luxury spa. Harrods also has a section where you can buy stuff with the Harrods logo, to bring home for souvenirs or just to impress people.

It is, in short, insane. It's also a hell of a lot of fun.

That'll teach me.

I finally got the Internet working in my room (although for how long remains to be seen), so I decided to go check out some news from back home. I found out that one of my very good friends, the woman who played a large part in my decision to live and study in Guelph, has been murdered.

Shirley ran a lovely bed and breakfast in Guelph, where my mother and I first met her when we stayed there in the fall of 1999. Shirley's warmth and hospitality were part of what made me decide I wanted to study and live in Guelph, and my family and I stayed with her many more times over the last few years. Shirley is one of the only people ever to have met both my parents, too. We exchanged Christmas cards, gifts, and she even let me store some of my stuff in her garage when I was between houses (which is a sign of true friendship, in my opinion).

I also hope that her son, who is schizophrenic, is treated with the respect due him during this investigation and that the police don't hesitate to explore every avenue whether or not he is guilty. It's all too easy to assume that schizophrenia equals murderous rage, but it's not true, and I hope he's either cleared of all charges if he's innocent or given justice if he's guilty. Steven Truscott's case was bad enough... I don't want any of my acquaintances to have to go through that.

So, any good vibes to Shirley's family would be so much appreciated.

I haven't been to the travel agency yet, but it's looking highly unlikely that I'll have enough money to do my Italy trip. Oh well. At least I've had the chance to go lots of other places while I've been here, and now I can make some more time for all the London touristy things I haven't done yet (can you say "Madame Tussaud's"?).

Not much to say today. It gets dark here so early in the evening (about 4 PM), which makes me feel really lazy and sleepy all the time. It's hard to make myself go out and do stuff, which is good for my budget but not so good for my to-do list and my well-being. Don't worry, I'm not depressed, just lazy.

Interesting. Three votes for London so far, and none for Italy. I'd have thought the history geeks in the audience would want me to see Rome and Pompeii, at least...

I'm still thinking, and don't worry, I'm taking all your advice into consideration. One thing I learned from my Paris-Venice trip was that I don't really like staying in hostels. I like hotels where I have my own bathroom facilities that are cleaned regularly, and I like having my own room. Unfortunately, I don't really have the money for that at this point in my life... the Venice hotel was really nice, but it was about two-thirds of the cost of my entire trip. So maybe I should wait, and do Florence, Rome, and Naples when I'm a grown-up with a grown-up job.

On the other hand, London is a really expensive city. It might actually be a better use of my money (and I'm talking strictly cash here, not accommodations, etc.) to go eat in Italy where food is tasty and cheap. Plus, some of the stuff I want to see here in England will have admission charges and travel costs. I'd really like to get up to York to see the historic city and the cathedral, and I want to go to Bath and Stonehenge, and I want to go to Birmingham to visit Cadbury World (yes, I know). So it might not actually be saving me any money to stay here.

What I'm going to do is first of all, quit braindropping about it, and second of all, go to the travel agency and find out how much the Italy trip would cost. I'll decide from there, because after all, I still have Christmas presents to buy...

I have a Very Important Dilemma that I need some help with.

My academic semester (and my undergraduate career) is over on December 9. I've scheduled my flight back to Cleveland for December 23. This means I have two weeks, give or take, of free time in Europe.

My choices are a) max out the credit card and go have fun in Italy, or b) be financially responsible, stay here in London, and do all the touristy stuff I probably won't get around to otherwise.

I've got a safe place here in London to leave my stuff if I go to Italy, but if I go to Italy I'm paying for my accommodations, etc. there as well as my room here in London. I've been pretty good financially so far, but it is coming into the home stretch of the semester and the bank account is dropping ever lower. Not to mention, I still have all my Christmas shopping to do, because everyone's going to want cool stuff from London.

Feel free to post your advice in the chatterbox...

Quiet weekend coming up here... everyone's buckling down and getting to work on their upcoming assignments, and having just come back from a week's vacation, most of us don't feel like traveling again for a while. I'm certainly happy to stick around London for a bit, although I'm going to try to start making a dent in my London to-do list (consisting of all the museums, galleries, etc. that I haven't gotten around to visiting yet). I think the Tate Modern's open late tonight...

God, how depressing.

Every single county in my home state of Ohio voted for the constitutional amendment dictating that marriage is between a man and a woman only.

All I can say is that if I don't get into either Duke or Cornell, I'm filing my official papers to become a Canadian. I'm really, really not proud to be an American right now.

OK. I told myself I wouldn't do this, but I'm going to make one overtly political post here because this says pretty much what I would say if I were more articulate. This post was written by schroeder at Salon.com's Table Talk forums today, and I think it's a really good expression of the way I feel even though I can't take credit for writing it.

"Of course, it's not over yet, but the thing that really disturbs me is that, so far, it seems like Bush is going to win it fair and square.

I can't tell you how profoundly depressing that is. It's actually worse than him winning through fraud and the Supreme Court trashing the law. Because it means people actually really want the guy to win. The worst terrorist attack in human history happened because this guy was asleep at the switch. He presides over the worst economy since the Depression. Then for an encore, leads us into an unwinnable quagmire, and all his reasons for doing so turn out to be lies. And 3 million more people said, "four more years" than said "enough."

How can this be? How can you have lived through the last four years and want this guy to stay in office? What person could watch the first two debates and say, "yeah, that totally incoherent guy who looks like he's having a stroke has my vote."?

I can't remember feeling as bad as I do tonight. Even on September 11th, I had blessings to count - friends who worked in the towers, or lived in the neighborhood who were unharmed; the fact that there weren't more attacks as many of us feared. And I was proud to see the best of my fellow New Yorkers in the rescue effort.

Where's the silver lining here? An ultra-conservative Supreme Court for another generation, which means goodbye to reproductive rights and God only knows what else. We'll be stuck in Iraq for the long haul, and who knows which other countries we'll invade - either way, tell your 18-25 year old friends and loved ones to get ready for the draft (Puffy wasn't kidding when he said Vote or Die, kids). Meanwhile, Iran and N. Korea and who knows who else will be working unimpeded on their nuclear programs.

The tax burden will be completely shifted off the wealthy and onto working people, and that burden will be made worse by the mounting defecit and out-of-control spending. No one currently under the age of 40 can expect to retire comfortably, because Social Security will be gone when our time comes. And then there's always the looming threat of castastrophic environmental disaster.

So, where do we go from here? Can Bush do so much damage that it can't be undone? And is there anything we can do to stop it, short of civil war? Because if the Republicans ignored the Democrats and unfavorable public opinion after 2000, they're going to shift into high gear starting tomorrow."

Last night's election party was pretty fun. I wore my "Republicans for Voldemort" shirt and had a few people confused (apparently the brain sees "Republicans" and stops working there), but most people understood it and appreciated it. I even had a few people take my picture because they loved it so much. I also got interviewed by a team for a documentary on attitudes toward Americans abroad, which was fun, although the documentary won't be out till 2006 sometime. If I make it into the final cut, I'll let you know so you can all go and watch me explain why I hate George Bush. (No, the documentary team wasn't Michael Moore-related.)

As for the election itself, obviously we're in just as much suspense over here as you are. I'm biting my nails waiting for the Ohio result, and praying that Ohio voters don't want another four years of job losses and mass murder. I know I've done all I can personally, but I still feel kind of helpless over here.

I'm cautiously optimistic (but reserving judgment because I fully expect this election to be decided in court), but when I get depressed I just console myself with the thought that at least we can't have Bush for any more than four more years this time.

All photos from the last two-three weeks are now posted, organized, and properly captioned, including the ones from Edinburgh, Salisbury, Paris, and Venice. Go have a look.

Still working on those photos... I'm currently uploading the last batch, so I think (I think) they'll all be in proper order and properly captioned by the end of today. It's a nice semi-mindless task to keep my mind off today's election. I can't remember ever having been so nervous about anything that doesn't involve me being on stage, and I'm not even sure why I'm so nervous. I've already cast my vote, I've already exhorted those of you who can to vote, and there's really nothing more I can do from over here. Maybe it's because I keep getting e-mails from Democrat groups trying to get me to come out, help campaign, donate my time, and I can't! I would do it in a second if it were at all possible, but I'm over here and they're over there, and I've already done all I can. I think I'm going to go to a Democrats Abroad party tonight to watch the returns come in, though. It'll be good to get together with like-minded people to celebrate (or commiserate, God forbid).

Argh. The new uploading system works, but it takes almost as long as doing it the old way. So I apologize for the length of time it'll take to put up new photos and caption them properly. Bear with me, and keep checking to see if there have been updates...

I'm home and there will be pictures very shortly, although it may take me more than one session since I still have the Edinburgh and Salisbury backlog to deal with. I'm in the midst of trying to download stuffit software so I can upload more than one photo at once, so if that works, I can get them all up today. Here's hoping!

My vacation was utterly fantastic. Paris was great, Venice was better, and I got an e-mail from Duke yesterday saying they've received my application. (Cornell already notified me.) So I have nothing to worry about right now except how best to caption all my photos.

Oh, yes... I should wish everyone a Happy Halloween, a Happy Birthday to those I missed, and one more incredibly important thing.

Tomorrow is quite possibly going to be one of the most important days in history. If you're one of my American readers, please, for the love of God or whatever deity suits you best, vote. I don't know how to make text in here gigantic or multicoloured or sparkly, but you get the message. I'm not going to tell you how to vote (you all already know my personal preference, of course), but make sure you vote. We saw in 2000 that one person's vote actually does make a difference, and for those of you Ohioans, Ohio might be the next Florida. Vote.