i spent the day living vicariously through my own imagination, fueled by my scant knowledge of history and my surroundings... walking down the esplanade (i think) from the financial district to the staten island ferry, seeing the statue of liberty silhouetted in the sunset, and whilst on the ferry itself, cruising along in the waters... thinking, although this isn't the exact skyline that so many people, my own great-great grandparents included, yearned for, that copper woman on her lil' island was the sight they had all heard about... how glad they must have been, just for the sight of land after how many days, weeks, across a massive ocean... and i complain about jet lag after an 8 hour flight... how nervous, scared, and tentative about the unknowns that awaited on that shore... the anxiety with the legal process of immigrating... so many emotions on those ferries...
new york is one of those places where i can imagine some parts of history, like wall street and all that jazz... its what i do in the UK alot, also... except in the US, we're not as keen on keeping our old buildings, we'd rather have a plaque in the sidewalk outside of the skyscraper that now covers the area where something used to be... i guess there's a lot of mystery behind our fascination with history anyway... why do we dedicate massive buildings to put old stuff in? and we pay to walk around and look at this stuff, glimpses of the past, whether its a portrait, castle, or belt buckle...
its also the home of ground zero... its a massive construction site, which on a selfishly morbid thought, was somewhat disheartening for me... i like my photography, big fences, cranes, and orange vests aren't that photogenic... but that aside, its 6 years later... its time to rebuild... visiting the WTC memorial building brought me to tears today... the photos of the new york city skyline pre-9/11.. those towers were massive. walking along with the amoeba of corporate america and looking out windows to see construction, not a set of massive, glass-enclosed buildings looking back at me... i never saw the world trade center, but again, living vicariously, i can't imagine what it must be like, to see a gaping hole where a business center stood... my friends live 10 minutes walking distance, in a straight line, from where the twin towers stood... close enough to have felt the ground shake, smelled the fuel burning, hear the people scream... i can't imagine what it would've been like... so many buildings, so many people, so close together... and the heart of it all was slashed away...
so yes, today i cried... not because it affected me personally, nah, 9/11 has yet to mean something personally to me... so many others were hurt though, personally... they lost, they were left, they sacrificed...
right now, ground zero is not much to see... but its something i think every american should see... tragedies happen every day, everywhere, this is true... thousands of people are needlessly killed everyday... but taking it all on is highly overwhelming... oh i'm drifting... you get my point...
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
crunching the big apple
they wanted to charge me $7.50 for a chicken caesar wrap. welcome back to the USA! i said no...
so i'm back in the states, after the over night train from edinburgh to london, the train to heathrow, 6 hours in that airport, 8 on the plane, and 2 hours of various forms of public transportation in new york city, i sit in an apartment with my roommate from my first year at macalester, and my body thinks it's 4 am... and someone is vacuuming upstairs...
watched some great films on the way over... "waitress" which stars keri russell and andy griffith, a "sundance" film, really really good... all about relationships and realities and people and how we change... how life changes... "the darjeeling limited", again about relationships but family ones, a wes anderson film, and that about sums it up... and "the counterfeiters", a german film based on the true story of the jewish counterfeiters, printers, and artists who were forced to make british pounds and american dollars for the nazis during WWII... virgin atlantic is the way to fly, about 30+ films to choose from, great service, AMAZING desserts, and there was hardly anyone on our airbus flight so we all basically had rows to ourselves... not saying much for the environment, but i bought back the carbon miles already... need to hit the city tomorrow though, or later today... or whatever day it is... lady liberty here i come!
so i'm back in the states, after the over night train from edinburgh to london, the train to heathrow, 6 hours in that airport, 8 on the plane, and 2 hours of various forms of public transportation in new york city, i sit in an apartment with my roommate from my first year at macalester, and my body thinks it's 4 am... and someone is vacuuming upstairs...
watched some great films on the way over... "waitress" which stars keri russell and andy griffith, a "sundance" film, really really good... all about relationships and realities and people and how we change... how life changes... "the darjeeling limited", again about relationships but family ones, a wes anderson film, and that about sums it up... and "the counterfeiters", a german film based on the true story of the jewish counterfeiters, printers, and artists who were forced to make british pounds and american dollars for the nazis during WWII... virgin atlantic is the way to fly, about 30+ films to choose from, great service, AMAZING desserts, and there was hardly anyone on our airbus flight so we all basically had rows to ourselves... not saying much for the environment, but i bought back the carbon miles already... need to hit the city tomorrow though, or later today... or whatever day it is... lady liberty here i come!
Monday, 10 December 2007
the spinning needle
two strands of thought:
first, the golden compass was an enjoyable movie: lots of action, great acting (for the most part), special effects were incredible... but complaints: i wish they had made the movie a bit longer and aimed for a slightly older audience, allowing for character development and a clearer story line; i didn't like how the reading of the alethiometer was interpreted, it bothered me how they changed the order of the storyline but understand why, and they changed a name... and the ending... but overall, enjoyable
second, i give full support to people who protest seeing the film for its anti-religion (anti-Judeo-Christianity, more or less) take, which i have to admit is clearer in the film than in the book... but please know what you're arguing against... like any good argument...
first, the golden compass was an enjoyable movie: lots of action, great acting (for the most part), special effects were incredible... but complaints: i wish they had made the movie a bit longer and aimed for a slightly older audience, allowing for character development and a clearer story line; i didn't like how the reading of the alethiometer was interpreted, it bothered me how they changed the order of the storyline but understand why, and they changed a name... and the ending... but overall, enjoyable
second, i give full support to people who protest seeing the film for its anti-religion (anti-Judeo-Christianity, more or less) take, which i have to admit is clearer in the film than in the book... but please know what you're arguing against... like any good argument...
Thursday, 6 December 2007
the eye in the storm.. and the storm
my friend jeannie also came to visit... it was a lot shorter of a visit and a lot more relaxed, meaning we didn't hit every 2-4-1 cocktail deal we found :) but it was still really good, she spent some time in inverness with her cousin also, so didn't see as much of her as i'd liked, but gave me a day to catch up on sleep :) we climbed arthurs seat, went to the national museum in edinburgh, saw lots more people in st andrews and saw the sights WITHOUT the crutches! went to a film at the dominion, had fish and chips, saw jk rowlings house, went around the Christmas carnival and german market in the city centre.. had some really good chats which was much appreciated.. good to just open up... wish it had been a longer stay but it's soon my turn to travel...
i'm flying out to nyc in 4 days or something crazy to start my own holiday, visiting my roommate from 1st year at Macalester to start the holiday, as well as catching more people from Mac and St. Andrews... then out to wyoming.. then north dakota... then minneapolis/st. paul.. then chicago... then back to edinburgh... why? cuz i'm home here, for now... its not permanent... those details later... but i can't find myself living in wyoming, trying to establish a temporary life and then leaving all over again... aside from my family, not much sits for me in wright, wyoming... the friends i had, left... like we all did... its all okay, i love where i'm living, who i'm living with, and where i'm working, even when i complain about it... so i'll be in the UK until the first part of may... after that?...
i'm flying out to nyc in 4 days or something crazy to start my own holiday, visiting my roommate from 1st year at Macalester to start the holiday, as well as catching more people from Mac and St. Andrews... then out to wyoming.. then north dakota... then minneapolis/st. paul.. then chicago... then back to edinburgh... why? cuz i'm home here, for now... its not permanent... those details later... but i can't find myself living in wyoming, trying to establish a temporary life and then leaving all over again... aside from my family, not much sits for me in wright, wyoming... the friends i had, left... like we all did... its all okay, i love where i'm living, who i'm living with, and where i'm working, even when i complain about it... so i'll be in the UK until the first part of may... after that?...
taking the UK by storm
right. photos are going up on facebook, thoughts going down in blogger land. i am back from my holiday from my little bubble and going to tell you all about the adventures -- hopefully briefly. but this won't last long, cuz i'm flipping the coin and will be traveling soon... but that's later...
my lil' sis erica was over to visit for 10 days... we saw the sights of edinburgh, both the touristy stuff : castle, calton hill, arthurs seat, the new parliament, the royal mile, jenners, had haggis, neeps, and tatties, fish and chips, and so on, and also the non-touristy stuff: the dominion cinema, jk rowling's house, my flat, the waiting room (the local pub), the cowgate on a saturday night... day trip to st andrews: rugby game was cancelled, sad... met some of my friends, saw the old course, new course, castle, cathedral, pier, walked along the pier in one of the windier days i'd been up there and we were both yelling, terrified :), north sea, jannetta's ice cream, my stomping grounds in st andys... glasgow: shopping streets which included primark and every pound shop in town, tallest cinema in the world, coolest pub in the world (i think), river clyde, a glasgow gig, a mini-pub crawl for cocktails, a funky club, the lighthouse, staying with a friend of mine... london: all the sights, buckingham palace, westminster, houses of parliament, big ben, the london eye, regent park, kensington park and peter pan, leicester square, the british museum, a hostel, and the lion king on the west end (highly, highly recommend it to EVERYONE!!!)... all of which involved speaking german to random men, getting drinks from random men, dancing with random men, pictures in kilts with random men... you get the idea...
i told everyone my sister is a blond version of myself who talks more and is a lot crazier... only now do they believe me :)
we had great fun... but now you know why i was tired...
my lil' sis erica was over to visit for 10 days... we saw the sights of edinburgh, both the touristy stuff : castle, calton hill, arthurs seat, the new parliament, the royal mile, jenners, had haggis, neeps, and tatties, fish and chips, and so on, and also the non-touristy stuff: the dominion cinema, jk rowling's house, my flat, the waiting room (the local pub), the cowgate on a saturday night... day trip to st andrews: rugby game was cancelled, sad... met some of my friends, saw the old course, new course, castle, cathedral, pier, walked along the pier in one of the windier days i'd been up there and we were both yelling, terrified :), north sea, jannetta's ice cream, my stomping grounds in st andys... glasgow: shopping streets which included primark and every pound shop in town, tallest cinema in the world, coolest pub in the world (i think), river clyde, a glasgow gig, a mini-pub crawl for cocktails, a funky club, the lighthouse, staying with a friend of mine... london: all the sights, buckingham palace, westminster, houses of parliament, big ben, the london eye, regent park, kensington park and peter pan, leicester square, the british museum, a hostel, and the lion king on the west end (highly, highly recommend it to EVERYONE!!!)... all of which involved speaking german to random men, getting drinks from random men, dancing with random men, pictures in kilts with random men... you get the idea...
i told everyone my sister is a blond version of myself who talks more and is a lot crazier... only now do they believe me :)
we had great fun... but now you know why i was tired...
Friday, 16 November 2007
the differences between lemonades
its been awhile since i've taken time to sit down and contemplate on a computer... often this occurs at home, while i'm sitting in my bed with a journal and am able to see my breath cuz its that cold in our flat... but i still like it... winter in scotland...
my sister erica is over visiting... its a bit strange, because she is a part of my life that has been absent for 5+ years or so... we've both changed a lot... in good ways... we haven't really talked in a long time, didn't hang out much last xmas... its been really good... we are a lot more alike than i would have ever expected...
we had haggis, neeps, and tatties... hello scotland :)
if anything, she has reminded me that no matter what happens, we're still family...
and now i officially have another degree... what a world this is...
my sister erica is over visiting... its a bit strange, because she is a part of my life that has been absent for 5+ years or so... we've both changed a lot... in good ways... we haven't really talked in a long time, didn't hang out much last xmas... its been really good... we are a lot more alike than i would have ever expected...
we had haggis, neeps, and tatties... hello scotland :)
if anything, she has reminded me that no matter what happens, we're still family...
and now i officially have another degree... what a world this is...
Monday, 12 November 2007
giga-life
sunday: usually relaxed, starts with breakfast and usually a sermon -- the last few weeks saturday night has been too long so i've gone to the evening service. end the day with a spiritual challenge, maybe a spiritual high, and intense re-realizations about my faith that i've known for years but have forgotten over those years.
monday: usually a good day, refreshed from sunday, pro-active, productive, go to work for a chill day at the cinema
tuesday: another short day at the cinema, probably run in the morning, read, watch a film, enjoying the late start to the day before work
wednesday: full day at work. having to work until 9 - 10 at night, every night, starts to wear on me. crabby customers leads to a crabby lisa.
thursday: day off from work. small group bible study at night usually reminds how much i've ignored God and the solid concepts of my faith since sunday.
friday: long day at work. reminded how bored i am of my job while trying to hold on to the fact that i have a job, its easy, it pays rent, coworkers are great, bosses are alright, should have no complaints. but i still complain.
saturday: busy, long day at work. feel under-appreciated, under-worked and over-worked at the same time. dulled into melancholy and forget to see the little joys of life while focusing on the little annoyances.
sunday: start over again.
monday: usually a good day, refreshed from sunday, pro-active, productive, go to work for a chill day at the cinema
tuesday: another short day at the cinema, probably run in the morning, read, watch a film, enjoying the late start to the day before work
wednesday: full day at work. having to work until 9 - 10 at night, every night, starts to wear on me. crabby customers leads to a crabby lisa.
thursday: day off from work. small group bible study at night usually reminds how much i've ignored God and the solid concepts of my faith since sunday.
friday: long day at work. reminded how bored i am of my job while trying to hold on to the fact that i have a job, its easy, it pays rent, coworkers are great, bosses are alright, should have no complaints. but i still complain.
saturday: busy, long day at work. feel under-appreciated, under-worked and over-worked at the same time. dulled into melancholy and forget to see the little joys of life while focusing on the little annoyances.
sunday: start over again.
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