discoveries

discovery most wonderful: my back yard. it was a very lazy weekend, spent indoors attempting to do work, catching up on sleep, talking little walks in the dying sunlight. on saturday i walked out for a bit to get a panini, and instead of going straight back to read henry v i went into the little park that is in front of our converted nurses' dormitory, langton close (ie, it used to be a home for little nurses...we are right next to a dental hospital...all very odd). but this park, i always think it is dead, probably because there is a large ugly building on one side of it and i have a very low tolerance for such monstrosities next to precious green parks. it is a very tiny park. but when you sit within the park, especially as the light is fading and sipping your espresso, it is absolutely perfect. i felt so excited as i sat on my park bench, watching the sun dip in and out of clouds, the light shifting on the orange brick of langton close. it was cold, but not freezing -- that cold where you feel perfectly awake, and the espresso and the gauloise only heighten that sensation of consciousness. i did not want to let the moment go, because i knew if i listened to reason, and slowly dragged myself back to my stuffy room with my stuff books, i would just be sad that i was missing the dying light in the perfect cold in the tiny park. but i finished the espresso, and the cigarette was gone, and i reluctantly went back to reality. but when i found my two french suitemates in the kitchen, and that same light was pouring into the room, with the window pane casting shadows on the wall. it was heaven. also, my gigantic gigantic "biopot of strawberry yogurt made the situation more glorious.

discovery most 80s: roller discotheque. in a large wharehouse behind kings cross. three rooms with great lights, and 70s, 80s, 90s music (each room, different era etc). very intriguing, but after about ten minute that novelty fades and it becomes a loud boring club but on rollerskates (i.e. kate flirting with death by rollerskate collision while other people dance/skate to the music and exhibit extreme grace/coordination). very fun in the beginning, but inevitably not the ms. klutz scene.

discovery most filled with sundried tomatoes: la provence. bakery/sandwich shop down the street. got yelled at for wanting to throw away my banana, calling it "garbage" instead of "rubbish." delicious paninis with sundried tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto, olives. everything else looked wonderful too. but got panini for lunch on saturday and sunday -- yes, it is open on sunday, what a concept to the english. was probably also drawn into the shop due to allusion to french countryside.

discovery most tasty: wagamamas. delicious chocolate cake with wasabe icing. couldn't breathe. will return promptly to try more tasty main course dishes, and to sample every single desert. because they were obnoxiously tasty looking.

discovery most *possibly* lucrative: i got a job as a caterer. the training was obviously embarrassing for kate, as it included learning how to hold multiple plates in one hand, serving people with a fork and a spoon (one-handed again), holding heavy trays, and being coordinated and elegant on the whole. so, i'm hoping that after my first job i don't get sacked, since i envision me serving some rich well to-do-banker his chicken, and accidentally knocking over the wine, and the chicken then flying on the lap, and then tripping someone with a tray as i run back to the kitchen to get napkins to dab the wine that has spilled on an unfortunate area on the well-to-do banker, and having wives screaming and bankers frowning and babies crying and me out on the street with no pay and a pair of ugly funeral black shoes that i had to buy for the job.

discovery most comforting: my suite. apparently all of my suitemates are absolutely wonderful. they ask me why i do not cook, and what exactly i have been eating, i reply that i am inept at life. i then realize that i have been starving myself for two weeks. it is apparent from this post that i am very obsessed with food. the suitemates pointed out that we have a goerge foreman grill, something was has clearly proves that i am very blind and very silly. this goerge forman grill made me extremely happy. indeed, i think that i will call it

discovery most awesome: GF grill. because it is. the revelation that there is said george forman grill (think, paninis, think, anything i can think of that i can simply take out of a bag and smush in the george forman grill) will possibly help kate to better taken care of stomach, which has been very much abused the past few weeks. yesterday i went to market with my suitemate sean, and eyed him as he picked out basic foods. learning how to take care of oneself, v. important.

discovery most proud of: my ability to have a day filled with meaning after not sleeping for god knows how many hours. at school, my sleepless nights usually end up in me passing out long before i should, therefore missing class or going through the day so discombulated that i should have just surrendered to bed and pillow. but yesterday - ah. i knew i would make it through the night after moses' life was complete (big fat american men jump on other big fat american men, and moses' bfams were triumphant, after a long streak of being very un-triumphant). but it was shocking that the day was so good. at 10am i had modern literature, in which a old british woman talked about philip roth and his "jewish-american sensibility." very odd. then a lecture on as you like it, then one on camus (dizzy kate listened to bald lecturer: "sometimes you are riding on the early train from brighton to london, doing your crossword, and you look up and think: this is absurd. i am going to die. the question is, will you go back to the crossword, or will you make more of that moment"). but the great part of the day came with my shakespeare seminar, led by gautam's old tutor, the great paul davis. sitting in that room with ten other brits (and three absolutely silent americans) made me realize once again how absolutely horrendous columbia education is. for the most part, there was actually a lively discussion for a full two hours. and rarely was there one student who would put forth a self-important load of bullshit, but they were actually engaging in what they were reading, and actually paying attention to what the person who came before had said. now maybe this was all a dream, and i was simply over exhausted delusional and too hot (the room was SWELTERING and in a basement, and i refused to take my cashmere sweater off because i felt like i would be too awkward. seriously.) but i sense it was real, and that the columbia english department has failed me. well i mean, duh. that and we were talking about henry v, so what COULD go wrong (columbia would make it go wrong. they would fuck up speghetti).

anyway after not sleeping for 30 hours i passed out, still in my cashmere sweater, waking up a sweaty and confused mess. this was a very mundane post. but it is because henry v / a supremely long day has sucked all the life out of me. apologies.