A moment I probably should have had a long time ago

I have never been in a position where I was receiving pressure from people to drink....until now. Last night I was sitting with some friends in the Stewards Bar (the bar in the college) and a fellow student kept asking me if I wanted a drink. I kept replying no, and then he said something that made me think.

If I continue to not drink and then gave it a try later in life would i look back on my 20's or 30's and think I had missed out on something?

It's questions like that one that worry me, because my brain started whirling around and I can't make it stop.

Chip & Lundges

Yesterday Harm, Catherine and I went on a little trip to Brighton (a city that is a 45 minute drive away). Brighton is a beautiful city by the sea with lots of cute colorful streets filled with shopping and restaurants. We had a wonderful day there eating cake and strolling the streets window shopping, basically enjoying one anothers company. I had to go to Rachel's (a girl from the books program) for Thanksgiving dinner so we set off around 4pm to get back for dinner at 5pm (I was planning on being fashionably late). Well after a train, another train that was delayed due to "youth causing mayhem", a third train, a bus (which almost ran us over), a little hail, another delayed train and a taxi we were finally back in Westdeania. It took us 3.5 hours to get home! And to top it all off once we were back in Chichester I slipped on a greasy chip causing me to rein act a move from Flashdance. It was awesome.

Dream Dream Dream

I've been having really weird dreams lately. One involving me and Jenny roller skating in the rain in London. Another where I was in a military training camp with a girl called Sarah and she was making me blow a whistle that would give away my position. And finally last night I was asleep for maybe 45 minutes and I screamed a little whimper of a scream and woke myself up. I had no idea what the hell happened. I think my brain needs some conserving.

Pretty Stuff

Last night Harm was working on his essay in the computer suite while I chatted with Annalise and distracted Catherine from working on her essay. At the end of the evening Harm told me what his favorite English words are pretty and stuff. He had made this decision because they are words that have so many uses. It was at this moment that I decided I couldn't agree more...not to mention the fact that I was so proud of him making that decision as Catherine and I try to use those two words as much as humanly possible in life. Well done.

Today I told my friend Jenny about the BYU honor code...something I did NOT want to ever talk to people about. After explaining what's in said code her exact words were, "i can't even wrap my mind around that."
It's moments like these that I realize how strange our religion can really be.

I decided to check up on the news today in an effort to stay connected with the US of A. This was one of the top stories on MSNBC.com.

Here's a teaser in case you don't want to click through: "There’s a California sea lion that’s either brain damaged — or frisky."

Looks like I'm not missing too much.

James Morrison

I'm not sure if this guy is big in the states yet, but just wanted to give you a heads up. James Morrison...I'm a big fan. To learn more go here. I also found a podcast on iTunes with more about him and a better listen to his music, but I don't think the album is on the USA iTunes store yet. I really like "Wonderful World", the video is on his website. Enjoy.

Birthday Stuff

Well another year older. As many of you know I am now 25, some would say a quarter of a century. (actually many many people did say that to me) All in all it was a great birthday. The first 9 hours pretty much sucked, but the last last 5 made all the difference. I spent the entire day on my birthday making a knife used to thin down leather. We're talking 9 hours of grinding down a piece of STEEL in order to make a knife! It was a really really hard day that was made better by an amazing cake at tea time given to me by Sonia. After all the knife sharpening Sonia, Catherine, Harm and I went to and Indian restaurant for dinner. It was VERY needed. My hands hurt so bad from rubbing the metal on the stone all day, and I actually developed a twitch in my thumb for a couple days. But anyway, dinner was really good and we took our sweet time eating it and chatting about Sonia's amazing life.

After dinner we met up at the Sesly Arms for a drink with some other people and then I got to go home and talk to Kristin on the phone.

The picture above is a little summery of what I got for my birthday. Catherine gave me the cute green mug filled with hot chocolate, Jenny made me the amazing origami flowers, Sonia gave me some Poppycock and Harm made me a strop with my name carved on it. (a strop is used to sharpen knives) The cool looking curly wood is the "ribbon" Harm put on the wrapping. It was so cute. All in all an amazing birthday.

Every night me Sonia and Catherine end our day with a cupa something. I usually choose a hot chocolate, Sonia usually has a cappuccino, and Catherine has a "malt beverage" that is traditionally given to children to help with sleeping. This beverage is called Horlicks.....HOR----LICKS. Is it just me or does that sound like porno flick?

Bookie Open Workshop

Every workshop in the college has an open day during the year to invite other students to come in and see what you're working on. Yesterday we (the bookies) had our open workshop.

It's basically an excuse to drink and munch on snacks and see a little bit of our work. People came around to each work bench and got to hear all about exotic things like Japanese hinge repairs, and crossed structures. I set up a sewing frame for people to have a go at sewing on cords which went pretty well...the finished book wasn't something to write home about but at least people got to have some hands on experience. All in all it was a good night. It's always interesting that people want to know about what we're doing because to us it seems so boring, but lots of people came around and asked questions and seemed interested. I'm pretty sure the free booze had something to do with this interest, they gotta repay us somehow.

Anyway, I thought this picture was great, and I figured it was time to start slowly introducing you to the people I work with, and now I have a picture of pretty much everyone. This is Patrick, a very funny chap who sits on the opposite side of the room as me . I took the Calligraphy short course with him last week and got in trouble a couple times for laughing during the lecture because of the comments he was making. So there you go one down, 8 to go.

Yooooour Daaaaaalaaaas Mavericks!!!!!!!

I took a chance and decided to visit the Mavs website today.....to my complete approval this is what I saw:I have never wanted to be in Dallas more. Mavs v Spurs! Mavs fans! Crazy crazy Mavs fans! I love you and miss you sooooo much.

Dear Mavs,

Kick some ass tonight.

Love,
Kristi

Show and Tell

I took a calligraphy course this weekend where I learned how to write the lower case letters in an old typeface called Foundational. I realized it's tough writing in calligraphy when you're left handed mainly because you have to write like you're right handed to make it look right. Anyway just wanted to share that with ya'll.

I would also like to thank Kristin for sending me a kick-a package containing Halloween candy, a sweet card, and my evening entertainment for the next couple days. AND it arrived on Halloween! Brilliant.

Kristin I salute you! I'm pleased as punch.

Skittles!

Last night a bunch of us went out to a pub in Liss and played skittles! For those of you unwilling to click through to the link let me give you a run down of what this rainbow coated candy game is. It's basically the father of bowling, except there are 9 "skittles" (or pins) that are wooden and you throw a much smaller ball down the unwaxed lane to knock them down. You get three rolls and if you knock down all of the skittles before your third roll the skittles get put back up so you can have a possible high score of 27 points per turn. (this never happens, but it COULD if you were an exceptional skittler)

As for me my first try I only got 3 points for my team, as in I only knocked down three pins, that's an average of 1 pin per roll. (I'm real good at math). Or in other words I suck at skittles. There were about 16 people on each team so that meant loads of down time between turns and the opportunity to fill up on drinks and chatting. By my third try I was up to 6 skittles so things turned out pretty well. All in all a great evening. I'll be sure to post more of the skittling pictures asap because Sonia got some good ones.

Dream Dream Dream

Have you ever had a dream that was so real you expected it to be that way when you woke up. Last night I had a dream that Megan was alive and that her death was a really mean joke. I'm not telling you this to make you sad or feel bad for me or anything like that. It's just that I haven't told anyone at West Dean about her and I can't bare to tell people, but I needed to tell someone about that because it was so unreal. Anyway, I woke up thinking I would be in Plano or at my parents house and it was so strange. Just had to get that off my chest.

Meet n' Greet

I figured all of you would want to see the people I'm always talking about, so here they are:

This is Harm:

Ok, here's what he actually looks like:

And this is Catherine:

I don't actually have a picture of Sonia so I'll have to work on that. There are a couple other people I usually hang out with, but I never seem to have my camera when they are around. I'll have to work on that.

A Trip to Fishbourne

Today me, Catherine, Sonia and Harm went on a little trip to a place called Fishbourne. We left at 10 am "at the dot" as Harm says and it was pretty cool. It is the site where the Romans built bathes when they were in occupation of England. I found out how to tell if a mosaic was made by a good or poor craftsman (by how big or small the pieces are), and I also liked that when the ground moves the mosaics move in the same way. So some of them have big dips where the pieces of the mosaic just followed the movement perfectly.

All of this was great, but I think my favorite part of the day was when we all got back in the car to leave and Catherine turns to me and says in a hushed voice "Kristi..." at which point she covers up the westsus and the .com in the web address on a bag saying http://www.westsussex.org in order to show me the word sex. I couldn't stop laughing. Man I'm immature.

Harold & Maude

This woman named Karen...who sometimes claims she goes by KG has a movie night every week at West Dean. (First let me just mention that when she tells people her name is KG all I can think of is KG and the power of three of Mean Girls, after which I start singing All You Sucka MC's in my head and stop listening to what she's saying) But anyway, this week we watched a film called Harold & Maude and it was pretty sweet. Maybe you have already seen this one, but I wanted to share this information with you in case you hadn't.

Here is the plot outline from IMDB:

Harold is a depressed, death-obsessed 20-year-old man-child who spends his free time attending funerals and committing suicide in front of his mother, but he does not die. At a funeral, Harold befriends Maude, a 79-year-old woman who has a zest for life. She and Harold spend much time together during which she exposes him to the wonders and possibilities of life. After rejecting his mother's three attempts to set him up with a potential wife, and committing fake suicide in front of all of them, Harold announces that he is to be married to Maude. However, Maude has a surprise for Harold that is to change his life forever.

I realize this movie sounds a little morbid and freaky, but it's hilarious. It's kind of a dark humor type of film, but it's really funny if you don't take it too seriously. If you can find it I suggest you check it out.

Enjoy.

Slip Slidin' Away

Well yesterday I finally got my lazy butt up in time to go into London. This slide is a current exhibit in the Tate Modern. It is the work of Carsten Höller who I believe is German. He used this quote by the French writer Roger Caillois who described sliding as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’. Höller askes these two questions about slides: How might a daily dose of sliding affect the way we perceive the world? Can slides become part of our experiential and architectural life?

Well Carsten I say h yes, bring on the slides. Had the queue not been five miles long I would have gladly taken a trip down the slides to see how my perception of the world was changed.

I love London. When I'm not there I miss it every once in a while, but going back yesterday just brought memories flooding back and made me wish I was living in the city. Don't get me wrong, I love West Dean...who wouldn't love going to school in a castle (I know I told you guys that this place is a large British manor...that was a load of bollocks, it's a fing castle), but I just love London. I love the people rushing around, I love the smells (even the bad ones), the sounds, the crazy things you are bound to see. Take for instance my dinner which I chose to eat in Kennsington Park. While sitting on my bench I saw three different men singing to their dogs, it was pretty funny.

Yesterday I managed to visit Borough Market, walk the Thames walk, visit the Tate Modern, shop at High Street Kennsington, eat one of Ben's Cookies, walk down embassy road and have Cafe Diana while sitting in the park. All in all an amazing day. And the weird thing was the second I set foot in the Victoria tube station I felt like I lived there again, it was amazing. I know you are all tired of me talking about London and hey I can't really blame you, but I love this place and if it weren't for the lack of 32oz Diet Cokes I might stay here forever.

Dear Readership,

This morning a chicken ran straight towards me pecking. I screamed and ran. Just had to share that.

Love,
Kristi

Church?

I received a text message from a girl in the Chichester ward on Monday inviting me to attend institute on Tuesday night at 7:30. I made a bold choice and decided to take her up on the offer and we made plans to have her pick me up at 7. The ride to the church pretty much terrified me out of ever wanting to attend this ward.

First of all last Sunday they had 20 people show up! 20! Then she told me that the average age in the ward is somewhere around 80! 80! As in 20 minutes away from taking the great dirt nap. She then went on to tell me that the ward used to be bigger but several people had died recently causing their numbers to shrink. (These are not things you say to a person who is already dreading going to church!)

So we get there and I find out that institute is me, Victoria (the girl that picked me up), and her sister....that's it. The three of us and Brother Kent, sitting around a table for an hour taking turns reading scriptures....which by the way I didn't even bring a set (oops).

The sad thing is when I arrived back at West Dean I stood around outside for 2 hours talking to a group of people that were hammered at 8:30 on a Tuesday night. I am very torn about what to do in this situation because I feel out of place with the alcoholics and the religious fanatics. Just had to put that out there. Comments and advice welcome.