An Excellent Trip

Well, I must say the trip went much better than expected. We arrived just outside of Cambridge by noon and had a lovely pub lunch with the owner of the tannery before venturing off to see the place. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the skins they receive are already tanned (as in they don't smell of dead animal) and then they re-tan them and dye them various colors. We were able to see how the whole process works and I even bought two skins. One emerald green and a second deep purple/maroon. They had an amazing shocking pink (a rare color for quality book binding leather), but it was a special order from America and they were not sure if they would have extras so I will be emailing them later to find out if I can buy one off them. I really hope they have a spare.

The sleeping situation was fine and I got to sleep in a full sized bed which is always nice. The next day we visited Cambridge University Library and were shocked to find conservators that did not whinge and moan about their jobs, they actually seemed enthusiastic about what they were working on (a rarity in this field I have found). We saw all sorts of books and manuscripts and even a set of very early bones that were written on. This was the only visit we went on this term unlike last term where we went out nearly every week, so I'm really glad it turned out to be such a good experience.

Road Trip

Well tomorrow 6 of us plus our tutor David are going on an overnight trip to a leather tannery and Cambridge. I gotta say I'm not too excited about going to a place that has been described as smelling like dead animals. We saw a slide show about how leather is tanned and frankly that was enough for me, but I guess seeing as the trip has already been planned and the rooms booked I can't back out now. What is far more scary is the idea that we will be together for 48 hours straight....and I will be sharing a room with someone who is not Sonia as she paid a bit more to have her own room (that Sonia's a smart cookie). Anyway, it should make for some interesting stories and I'll be sure to take pictures and fill you in when I get back.

Confession

After recently watching the movie "Brick" I couldn't figure out what else I had seen the character called "The Pin" in. In a last stitch effort to figure out why he looked so familiar I looked him up on IMDB. Turns out I recognized him from his acclaimed role in Material Girls....wow, how sad am I.

(side note: he was also in 3 episodes of 24 in 2005, don't remember that)

Dear Readership,

Should I pay out and attend the Mavs v Spurs game while I'm home or pay less and see Mavs v Jazz? Which game would be better? How are each of these teams doing this season? How badly do I want to see Tony Parker, TD, Finley, and Ginobili cry? Please help.

Love,
Kristi

I miss the NBA

I recently decided to catch up on some Sports Guy columns and had the privledge of reading his Hip Hop Woodstock article. I'm sure everyone has read it and knows how amazing that weekend must have been. This article caused me to check up on my dear friends, the Mavs. 16 wins in a row!!!!! I mean I've been checking all season and slowly watching their skill reach new levels, but I couldn't be happier that they squashed D. Wade's big ass ego and sent him crying to his mama. Way to go guys, I have never been more proud.

Spice Up Your Life

Well last night was round two of girls night and I must say it was superb. We started out by going to a pub for drinks and then took the party back to Jenny's room. Several things happened that I found very entertaining.

1. We blasted Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, and various other quality music and belted it out at the top of our lungs
2. Sarah was jumping on Jenny's bed and we were egging her on to "do something cool" and she did a massive seat drop breaking the bed
3. Three people got pushed out of Jenny's first floor bedroom window into a bush
4. We re-enacted several Grease moments including the hand jive, the Better Shape Up dance sequence, and the song where they make fun of Sandra Dee
5. The evening came to a close with a 5 person rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"

All in all an excellent girls night.

Head Gear

This weekend Harm and I were on the tube and this guy got on with a huge silver box that was a really odd shape. Naturally we were curious as to what was in this box and we made several guesses from a single shirt to a huge cake. (when he dropped the box we hoped it wasn't a cake) The name printed on the mystery box was Philip Treacy. Harm looked him up and as it turns out he is a fantastic hat maker. The picture above shows just four of many many hats on the site. I can only think of one event where these would be worn, and that is Ascot (a really really posh horse racing event). This lead me to the conclusion that I one need that polka-dot hat and two need to figure out a place to wear it.

Someone stop her!

Last night I entered the Dower House common room to find 5 people sitting in chairs typing on their laptops...a very rare thing for that room. It is usually filled with tv watching, loud music or drinking, so as you can imagine I was pretty shocked by the silence. Well, they finally installed a wireless network in the Dower and last night was apparently the time to use it. I chatted to Jackie and got our hotel stay in London squared away, then had the joy of listening to some Stephen Colbert (who I miss soooooo much) and I was finally shown this video which blew my mind. I realize that I'm in England so you may have seen it, but if you haven't seen this bride go psycho and cut her own hair one hour before her wedding I strongly recommend viewing. It's basically a car crash that you can't look away from. Enjoy.

An Excellent Weekend

Well this weekend turned out to be pretty sweet. Harm and I arrived in London on Saturday around noon and headed right to Portobello Road. We walked all the way down to the bridge and had a lovely lunch at Falafel King which was excellent. Next we went to Trafalgar Square and visited the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. You will all be sad to know that the David Beckham portrait is no longer there. After that we had dinner at Bella Italia followed by a movie in Leicester Square. (a long but excellent day)

Next we headed to our hostel (YHA Thameside) where Harm was given his own 6 person room with ensuite bath, and I was handed a key to a room with 5 other girls. BUT thanks to some shameless eyelash batting I was able to secure my very own empty 6 person room as well.

Sunday Harm went to a 2 hour church service called Hillsong which I believe was basically a christian rock concert (if there is such a thing)...needless to say I opted out for that part of the day and went to Covent Garden where I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I also went for a slice of 1pound pizza and was shocked to find out that it is now 1.49 now, so if you are planning on eating nothing but pizza next time you're in London make sure to account for this price change. Next we headed to the Tate Britain (which I haven't visited in a long time) and I remembered why as it is mostly filled with Turner paintings. All in all I must say it was an excellent weekend filled with museums, good food, and excellent company.

I'm sensing a good weekend ahead of me

Well 10:30 tea break just ended and Harm and I managed to suss out the fact that we both desperately want to go to London. So, tomorrow we will be taking a little trip to London town and probably staying the night there to make the trip more worthwhile. Just talking about going to Portabello Road, Evensong at St. Paul's, and the National Gallery made me deliriously happy. Needless to say this should be a kick-a weekend and I can't wait for it to start.

Jesus Walks

Yesterday amidst my half day off I was reading some articles about malachite and listening to some tunes. For some reason I decided to organize my music by songs most played just to see how much time I had wasted listening to my top played songs. Turns out I have listened to Jesus Walks a grand total of 189 times. 189 times!!!!! Let's consider for a moment that that song is roughly 3 minutes. This means that I've spent nearly 9 hours of my LIFE listening to this one song. It was at this moment that I truly believed my blog subtitle, "A blog devoted to useless dribble, incoherent thoughts and general ridiculousness" was the new tagline I should start attaching to my life. That said, I think I'll listen to it one more time.

Lazy Wednesday

Well Wednesday is the day where we have a science lecture in the morning, work for a couple of hours and then have free time after lunch. I gotta say West Dean has some genius ideas when it comes to educating people.

Stormin' Norman

Well yesterday I received a lot of information from my family, including the fact that my cat Norman was put to sleep. Norman was a 10 year old fluffy white and gray Persian who enjoyed waking me up in the middle of the night by letting his long whiskers tickle my face. He was a good kitty and I will miss him. I know this seems like some crazy cat lady's freaky cat entry, but I just wanted to mark the day somehow.

R.I.P Little Red

A sad sad thing has happened. Last night Catherine's little red Micra was stolen by a couple of bastards and taken for a serious ride. The police found her in a ditch in Lavent and the damage was so bad that they won't even let Catherine see it yet. Needless to say it is a sad day for Micra's the world over. May she rest in peace.

A Surreal Evening

Michon made a comment once that my life should be a reality tv show. Now I’m not saying that my life constitutes having an entire show devoted to following me around or even considering the fact that I am that interesting, but last night would have made a pretty sweet episode. Several of the instrument makers have been working hard on bring their dream of having a good old-fashioned American jug band complete with washtub bass. Well, last night that dream came true. I sat in the Dower House common room and played the jug while the rest of the real musicians made music. The band consisted of a washtub bass (which was made from an oil drum cut in half with a stick and a string) , banjo (made with a large tin that used to house cookies), mouth bow (made of a stick, string, and a tin can) guitar, two sets of spoons (one set wooden another metal), the jug, a cheese grater, and a shaker. And you know what the craziest part was, all of the instruments actually made music that sounded like music. At one point I was sitting there playing the jug in a state of shock because I couldn’t believe this was going on around me. Needless to say West Dean can be a pretty strange place, and last night it was taken to a whole new level.

Warning: Boredom May Occur

Well I was thinking about the things I've seen here and what we do and I decided I needed to mention it at least once in this blog if for no other reason than to avoid being called a transponster in the future. Last term we saw a lot of pretty amazing things that I managed to take some pictures of, so I thought I would share a few of them with you.

I thought this book was interesting mostly because it looks like a patch work quilt. I fully intend on trying to produce one of these some day.

The cover boards of books used to be made of old waste papers laminated together with paste or glue. This cool looking guy used to be part of a cover board before the board was humidified and the sheets of paper making the cover were separated. I think it is a sketch of one of the carvings on Canterbury Cathedral.

This one is a super fancy book with really heavy silver embellished covers. Really amazing and really heavy. I'm pretty sure the original owner of this book would take one look at me and ask where her tea was and why I am so slow at answering her every beckoned call.

This is what happens when a velum book comes in contact with a fire. Not pretty. Sadly there isn't a way to make this one go back to its original shape, the plan is to humidify the pages enough to temporarily flatten them and scan them so that the contents will still be available for readers. The binding itself will go back to this shape once it drys out.

Ok, hopefully you made it through all of that without suffering some sort of head injury from your melon hitting the keyboard. Then again maybe you learned something new, maybe that thing was that Kristi is boring and should never talk about conservation again.

Girls Night Out

Last week amidst my mental breakdown Sonia insisted on taking me out to dinner, and I must say it was exactly what I needed. Once it was over we decided that it should be a weekly event. Girls night out. This week was the first time we tried it out and it went really well. We ended up with 6 girls; Sonia, Catherine, Jenny, Sarah, Emma and myself. You wouldn't believe how many people (men) we had to turn away from our fun. We went to The Fox Goes Free to have drinks and were rudely interrupted by "quiz night", a game English pubs like to play where everyone puts in a pound to play and the winning team gets to keep the money. I have played this game once and did horribly due to the fact that most of the questions are about English history or sport, making it hard for a team of Americans to play. So after listening to the quiz-master repeat the same question three times we decided to head to another pub, The Earl of March. We spent the next three hours exchanging stories and laughing A LOT. All in all a fantastic evening. Long live girls night out.

Silence is Golden

This morning I sat eating breakfast at a full table with 4 other people. We spent the entire meal in silence. No talking in a room filled with chatter for 20 minutes. I'm not sure which is more strange, the fact that we sat there for so long with no words, or the fact that I enjoyed it so much.

I long to go to Brighton

Well I have to say this has been the best weekend I've had here this term, not too bad considering it's the end of week 6. Harm and I decided to take a little day trip to Brighton to get out of West Dean and do some shopping. By mere chance we got to the train station just in time to catch the express train, shaving 30 minutes off our journey time. When we got off the train and starting heading down towards the sea I couldn't stop smiling. We were in Brighton! We started the day off right with a nice cup of coffee and a muffin then headed to Gap. I know I should be going to English stores and getting cool stuff, but sometimes you just want the classic stuff and that's what I found. Next we went to a pipe shop because a friend of Harm's has a pipe with a missing piece so he was called upon to find a new mouth piece. Once that was done we had a fantastic lunch with Stephen and Sonia and then spent the rest of the day shopping. When it came time to go home we once again caught the express train! What are the odds!?

There was a party at the Dower House last night and apparently the drinking started around 5pm, so by the time we arrived at 7 everyone was already pissed. It was hilarious. As the next 5 hours passed by things slowly got more and more out of control. It went from people chatting and smoking, to all the wine, tequila, rum and absinthe is gone which lead to karaoke singing followed by lots of dancing to various tunes with the evening culminating in a sweet drunken rendition of Thriller.

All in all a sweet weekend, one I really needed after such a shitty week.

Text message log:

Me to Sonia: "Harm is smoking!"

Sonia to Me: "Smoking hot? or smoking a cigarette?"

Man she's funny. And by the way, smoking a cigarette. He was feeling like a rebel. It was funny.

Dear Readership,

Sometimes life pats you on the head and sometimes it kicks you in the shins. My shins hurt.

Love,
Kristi

Expelliarmus!

Something I forgot to mention about paper marbling. To apply the paint you use a wooden stick, similar to a wand. By the end of Saturday evening Sonia and I were casting every spell we could think of as we applied paint to our scummy surface. Have I mentioned how much I love Harry Potter?

Seaweed and Splatter Paint

Well this weekend several of us bookies participated in a marbling short course. Sonia and I were marbling partners so needless to say we had a grand time. Basically the way it works is you flick paint on a surface of seaweed goop, swirl it around and make a pattern and then place a piece of paper on the surface and the paints print on the paper. A pretty mind boggling thing really when you consider you're using seaweed scum what is essentially spatter paint. This is a picture of me with my first try at a pattern called "flame". As you can see I was pretty excited about this one, so excited in fact that I made Sonia go and get my camera and take a picture of me. We spent the next 5 hours trying all different patterns and exclaiming the same thing after each one was pulled from the bath, "that one is my new favorite!". All in all a pretty kick-a weekend.

BRAVO

Wow! I couldn't stop laughing at all of your answers! They were all fantastic! Can you imagine if that was the number of times someone sneezed? or the number of felony idictments I've been working up to? And may I just say Annalise that now more than ever I really wish I was going to Cracker Barrel and a movie with you, and of course the rest of the crew would come along. Anyway, none of you were correct, but many of you were close. 49 was the number of times that particular person said "ummmm" in the 15 minute presentation.

Les Triplettes de Belleville

Last night we "rebelled" and decided not to eat dinner at the college...I know, getting pretty crazy here at West Dean. But anyway, we went to Marks & Spencer and bought a bunch of Chinese take-away and had a lovely dinner back at the student accommodation. We decided to put on a film and ended up watching a fantastic animated story called "Les Triplettes de Belleville". It is a French film and has very little subtitles, it's mostly music and events. I highly recommend seeing it if you can find a copy as it was BRILLIANT!

Air Loss

Today I sat through 5 presentations about how to monitor and control humidity, temperature and moisture in libraries. Needless to say my brain has turned to mush and I am slowly sucking all the air from the atmosphere due to excessive yawning.

Quick game: I counted to 49 during one of the presentations....what was I counting?

"wishing i was somehow there again"

Am I a member of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

The other day I was going to the bus stop and my friend asked if I wanted to take a short cut through the grave yard to get there faster. It was at that moment that I heard that little voice in my head screaming "don't do it!" We've all seen this scene in movies and tv shows and I think we all know what happens when the short cut is taken. So in true horror movie fashion I ignored the voice, opened the gate and proceeded through the sea of tomb stones. It was pretty creepy, but I made it out ok.

Music Update

I'm not sure if this song is popular in the states or not, but I really like it. It's a little Scissor Sisters-ish, very happy and upbeat. It's by a guy called Mika and the song is Grace Kelly.

Dear Jackie,

James Morrison is the free song of the week on iTunes!

Enjoy.
Kristi

Dear Kristin,

Where has your blog gone?

Love,
Kristi

This weekend I went to a barber shop concert....I know, how weird is that. There was a 30 man strong barber shop choir at West Dean this weekend for a workshop with some American barber shop extraordinaire and on Saturday night they had a one hour concert. It was one of those moments in life when you're sitting there wondering if it was a dream or reality. Imagine 30 grown (and many retired) men belting out Zip-a-dee-doo-dah in 4 part harmony while doing jazz hands and making uncomfortable eye contact with you, it was awesome.

Do You Segway?

I was doing pretty much everything I could think of today to not make my Powerpoint presentation about how to safely regulate the temperature and moisture content of a chained library (still there? did that put you to sleep yet?) when I came across a Segway tour of Amsterdam. I really wanted to go on one when I visited the W's in Balboa, but was informed it was quite an expensive day of ridiculousness. Well, I looked into it and apparently Balboa isn't the only place ripping off people. It costs 60 euros to go on a Segway tour of Amsterdam! At a loss about this I decided to visit the Segway website to see how much these mothers are. They had an option to "build your own Segway" so I clicked and made my own that will set me back a mere 5 grand! It's times like these I wish I was rich so I could buy a fleet of Segways and start leading people around West Dean for 60 pounds a pop.

I have a question

There is an episode of Sex and the City where Carrie is dating a European man that is very old world romantic. He does things like read her poetry, write her songs and dance with her in front of the Met. When I write all of those out in a list like that it seems romantic and exhilarating yet cheesy and ridiculous. I would like to believe that if that were to happen to me I would be able to contain my inner teenager laughing and pointing, but I'm not sure I could do it. This whole thing started when a friend of mine well call her "Phonia" began receiving love poems from someone quite frequently. While I enjoyed hearing about how thoughtful they were I couldn't help thinking to myself how cheesy this was and how I had no idea what they meant. Could you handle being romanced like this?, cause I'm pretty sure that I couldn't.

Retraction

I recently posted the release date of the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows....I was wrong. Apparently Amazon.com had the wrong date listed on their site, it will not be available on March 31st as previously specified, but come July 21st you will not be able to pry that book from kung-fu grip.

Quick question....Sape Friend of Foe?
I say friend. Kristin I expect to read a kick-a blog entry with your answer and a detailed list of reasons why you made your decision.

It's official! Bring on the windmills, tulips and wooden shoes! Jackie and I are heading to Amsterdam! I'm so excited!

A Question Was Posed

What do you do with a hot water bottle that wears a sweater?

1. use it to warm up your bed before you get in
2. put it on a sore muscle
3. give it a good squeeze when you are having "a little problem" (Harm speak for your time of the month)
3. zip it in under your coat and pretend you're pregnant
4. dress it up and take it out for a night on the town

Those are just a couple ideas.

Say Hello to my Little Friend

Every night when Catherine, Sonia and I meet up for our evening ritual of coffee and hot chocolate Sonia boils a kettle to fill her hot water bottle with. It is not an ordinary hot water bottle as it has its own cashmere cover (she only does cashmere, nothing else). Well tonight Catherine and I broke down and ordered our own cashmere hot water bottles. Mine is green and Catherine's is pink. I never thought I could get this excited about a rubber bottle with its own sweater.

Katy and Baby Jack

Chirstmas Ball Pictures

Just thought ya'll might want to see some pictures from the West Dean Christmas Ball.

Me & HarmWicked Bass Player
Alex & Sonia
Laurel & Hardy

Nigel & Imagen

In an effort to put off the writing of a really boring science assignment I have been categorizing my blog entries (notice the new set of labels attached to each post). This has given me the chance to go back and re-read bits of each entry in order to attach it to a specific label, a job not easily done as many of my posts are riddled with ridiculous comparisons and inarticulate thoughts. Nevertheless it has brought me to the conclusion that my posts are not nearly as funny as they used to be. What has happened?! In the beginning is was like "joke joke joke" and now it's "Hi I'm Kristi, this is what I did today". BORING! There are several obvious differences between the posts of yore and the posts of today.

1. I was working at a place where I spent around 50% of my day coming up with and perfecting my posts in order to maximize the funny.
2. I was surrounded by REALLY funny people (obviously not while at work, but the other hours of the day).
3. I was able to relate to said funny people with the help of several TV and inside joke references.

Needless to say I need to "up my funny" or start making up some really sweet stories about my new British friends "Nigel" and "Imagen".

Snow!

Yesterday my alarm went off at 7:30am as usual and as I was walking past the window near my bathroom I saw white out of the corner of my eye! It had snowed! I realize that to all of you living in the butt cold of Utah this is not an exciting thing, but it actually made me miss Provo (well maybe not Provo the city, but the people and events that took place there) and the snowy mountains. It was also Harm's birthday so that was a wonderful gift for him on his special day. A bunch of us went out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant (that was actually really good) and then moved on to a celebratory drink at the local pub. As Harm and I were walking back to the Dower House he said that it was one of his best birthdays, and I must say it was a lovely evening of well mannered frivolity.

Jenna just sent me this picture of Kate's first sleepover! I couldn't resist sharing it!

Baby Jack has arrived!

I just opened this email from Katy and thought you might want to see it too.

After 41 weeks 12 hours and 29 minutes, baby Jack has finally arrived! We are so excited to finally be parents and very nervous to take him home. Jack was born 7 lbs 9oz and 19 inches long.

After reaching a week over the due date, Katy and I decided yesterday to hit the track for about an hour. Later on Saturday night after dinner, Katy's contractions started to increase and were around 6-10 minutes apart. We arrived home after eating some dinner and were bored out of our minds. Believe it or not, I was actually reading a book on a Saturday night. As the night progressed the contractions started to increase to a consistant 6 minutes apart and at that point we decided to go to the hospital at 10:45pm.

Only dialated to a three, we took doctor's orders to walk around the nurses station for about a half hour. I don't believe I have ever seen a woman go from being in pretty good condition to one who can't walk anymore in a matter of minutes. Contractions intensified and Katy went from a 3 to a 5. At this point, Dr. Rice (our doctor) decided to admit her.

After getting into a room, Katy's wish came true very quickly; she recieved an epidural before even being officially admitted. Finally, after about 11 hours of heavy contractions, Katy started to push around 11am. At 12:29 pm on Sunday, Jack William Warren was born. He is a beautiful baby with a very, very cone shaped head.

We plan to stay a couple days in the hospital returning home on Tuesday. Thanks for all the support and prayers.

Love,

Clay and Katy

To those interested,

I was just re-watching a couple episodes of season 2 of Sex and the City and there is an episode where Miranda dates Gob. Ironically it is the episode about fetishes and he is obsessed with having sex in public places. The whole time I was waiting for him to perform some sort of illusion.

Just thought you might want to know,
K

Dear Jack Bauer,

Good luck on the container ship. May your next 24 hours be filled with kick-a killings, roundhouse kicks, and the trust of others.

Love,
Kristi

Catherine often uses three excuses.
1. She's ginger
2. She's a woman
3. She's gay

I tried to use the "same: three excuses this evening and came up with these:
1. I'm blonde
2. I'm a woman
3. I'm an American

Not quite the same. She called me the superior race.

Sticky Sticky Web

I went to a pub the other night called The Fox Goes Free and there was a live blues/jazzy type band playing. One of the members of the band was visiting from Boston and (Jenny pay attention) she played the harmonica REALLY well. So well that the majority of the time she was playing I found myself gasping for air because I was convinced she was going to pass out due to lack of oxygen. The best part was when she played a song called Sticky Web where she went on and on saying things like "my web is very sticky" only instead of the 6 or so notes that phrase could take she was dragging it out for 27. The best part was all I could think of was Phebe and her sexy phlegm as she sang Sticky Shoes.

Westwarts? Hogdean?

Well Jenny, I finally remembered to look up the title of the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Sounds scary. AND I had no idea it comes out March 31st! That is soooo soon! Just in time for my Easter holiday in fact! I couldn't be more excited! All this thinking about Harry Potter got me thinking about how similar Hogwarts is to West Dean....thus I have compiled a list of similarities.

1. Hogwarts is a castle -- West Dean is also a castle
2. Hogwarts has a whomping willow -- While the West Dean whomping willow does not whomp, it looks just like THE Whomping Willow
3. Students at Hogwarts celebrate by having a winter ball in the great hall -- West Dean students celebrated Christmas by having a fancy dress ball in the Oak Hall
4. Everyday Hogwarts students eat breakfast lunch and dinner together in a great hall where their meals magically appear -- Everyday West Dean students gather together and eat meals prepared by a not quite as magic kitchen staff.
5. Hogwarts is haunted by several ghosts -- West Dean has had several ghost sightings throughout the house
6. Hogwarts students have houses and secret passageways to their common rooms and dormitories -- West Dean has 7 programs and each one has a hidden away workshop within the college that is guarded by a secret code.
7. Hogwarts mail is delivered by owls -- West Dean HAS an owl. (ok that one was a long shot, but I can hear the hooting of an owl every night as I'm falling asleep)

Ok, I could go on and on about the similarities, but I'll spare you. Needless to say I am REALLY excited for the new Harry Potter book and can't wait to see what happens!

iMazing

I realize that every 4-6 months I go off about how amazing Apple is...but I gotta do it one more time. First of all I went to the Apple website to replace the shuffle charger that the airline managed to completely CRUSH on my flight here, but to my surprise I was greeted by the above image. So Apple is going to combine an iPod, a phone and the Internet into this amazing device called iPhone. I won't go into all of the kick-a features of this little miracle, but I will say that the HUGE screen is all touch activated...pretty sweet. This got me thinking about something else I saw over Christmas that made me love Apple even more.

I was walking through the mall and my sister and I see this really big vending machine filled with iPods and iPod accessories. That's right people, there was a GIANT iPod VENDING MACHINE IN THE MALL!!!!!! Those people at apple are always thinking! I wish I was one of them. Maybe they have some old computer manuals I can conserve for them.

Back at West Deania

Well I'm back in West Dean again. Sometimes I feel like I live in Groundhogs Day. I am seriously living the same day over and over again. It's weird....and slightly annoying. Things here are going as usual. We have jumped right back into the swing of things and each day is full of lectures and practical work. I think I'm coming down with something as my throat is feeling like somebody dragged a porcupine down it and then rinsed it off with a little salt and lemon. (too graphic...probably so) Man this is turning into a downer of a post, I'm so sorry.

Lets lift it up a little. I finally checked out the Scissor Sisters web page and made a couple videos for my own enjoyment. Still wasn't able to see the ones K and J made for me, but atleast now I have a clue as to what they look like. I made one of Harm and Sonia that was pretty priceless. I can see how that would easily keep anyone entertained for days.

Anyway, just wanted to update ya'll on what's going on here and how I'm filling my time.

Dear Readership,

I miss you.

Love,
Kristi

ready or not here I come

This afternoon I brought out my inner child by playing hide and go seek with Kate. It was unlike any challenge I have ever undertaken. After counting to the specified number of 22 I would go and look for her through the house. The best part was that after looking for less than one minute I would hear "I'm in Jill's room!". It was awesome! Man that girl is funny!

No Bull

The other day I decided to take a walk around the block (our block is 1.5 miles) to get some fresh air and enjoy the 70 degree Texas weather. I took the time to pet several horses from different pastures as I went and was lucky enough to have one follow me along the fence because it liked me so much. As I got closer to the main enterance to our neighborhood I heard two bulls from different pastures screaming at one another. One bull had horns and the other was the size of Sloth from Goonies. Needless to say walking between the two pastures where these two were facing off was a little scary...and matters became much worse when the horned beast noticed me and started following me along the fence while charging and mooing at me. It was at this point that I decided animals on the whole do not like me.

Exhibit A - The charging pecking chicken previously mentioned in another post

Exhibit B - The goose that charged me at a pub in Portsmouth

Edhibit C - Los Bull who also charged me and would have killed me had the fence not been there.

It is for the three above reasons that I have decided to place charging animals with a mean disposition on my "dead to me list". Take that suckas!

1 Year Annaversery!

Well one year and two days ago today I joined the blogosphere. And you what promped the whole thing to start? I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia with Annalise and Kelly and before the show started Annalise went to buy a package of Red Vines (crazy deliscious). As Kelly and I were sitting there somehow we got on the topic of blogs and what they were. At the end of the conversation I still had no idea what a blog was and decided to check it out the next day at work. In a last stitch effort to fill my day with something to do at I started a blog to unload my meaningless deivle on others. Thus my blog was born.

It's been an amazing investment of time and typing skills, google skills, photoshop skills and occasionally list making skills. In an effort to keep up on those skills I decided to make a couple lists, none of which have much relevance to one another.

Top 8 post titles:
8. Jolly Bunch of A**holes
7. All I want for Christmukkah is a Bar Mitz-vahkkah
6. Two Jacks, a crooked puppet, and a knocked up chick
5. does it look like i'm "hitn' that"?
4. "It's not like I "o-pah-ed" her plate"
3. The cackle of a man who's ankle should be broken.
2. I love lists. Lists, lists, lists
1. You bring your baby, I'll bring my dog and we'll meet at PetsMart. (thanks J)

8 Favorite British-isms
1. Pleased as punch: so happy you could drink a whole lot of punch
2. Nackered: to be shattered
3. Shattered: to be nackered
4. Foofle: to mess around and waste time
5. Two bites of a cherry: doing something the hard way
6. fagging winger: what Sonia says when she's trying to say wagging finger
7. Twit: jerk...but so much better
8. Tosser: glorified twit

3 nicknames I have received recently
Nursie Nurseberg
Bossie Bossberg
Drunkie Drunkberg (don't worry I wasn't drunk)
This game goes on and on with my name these days, it's really pretty funny.

One year of post reading and this is what I reward you, my readership with....I'm so sorry.

Call for Entries

A week from today is the West Dean Christmas party. It's "fancy dress" also known as a costume party in American. The theme is the 1920's or murder mystery...the theme keeps changing, but I'm sure if I came dressed as either of those it would be ok. I was planning on going as Velma from Scooby-Doo, however I have not been able to locate a short red wig...and as it turns out she doesn't wear the outfit I thought she did....so I don't have the right clothes anyway. In short the plan is crap and not gonna happen. So basically I have no costume and no plan and no other great idea for what to wear. In this time of need I am turning to you, my readership to help me solve this problem, or atleast give me some new ideas as my reservoir has run dry.

Happy Sint Nicholaas Day!

Last night Catherine, Jenny, Sonia, Harm and I gathered together next to the roaring fire in the Oak Hall for a night of Dutch tradition. In Holland they celebrate Sint Nicholaas day on the 6th of December. On the night of December 5th children put their wooden shoes in front of the chimney with a carrot or hay for Sint Nicholaas' horse. The next day the shoes have a little gift if the child has been good and salt & pepper if they were naughty. It is also tradition to receive the first letter of your name made of chocolate, Harm was lucky enough to receive a H and a J from his family.

Catherine got Harm a tiny hammer and Sonia and I got him a bottle of tomato ketchup. Harm LOVES tomato ketchup and never ceases to amaze me with his new uses of the condiment. We decided to wrap them in about 20 layers of paper, boxes and bags to make things a little more fun.

Chocolate letters are hard to find in England so he gave each of us a little bag of chocolates from Montazuma's (a really good chocolate shop). We all sat around enjoying one anther's company eating traditional Dutch biscuits, candies and crisps for an hour or so. The whole evening was gorgeous (and now I can't wait for Christmas).

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.

Dear Jackie,

I think the winner is an American named Sara...her liver is toast.

Love,
Kristi

Week 2 of the West Dean Story

Well week two has come and gone for me and lots of things have happened, here are the main events of the week:

1. Monday and Tuesday we had lots of lectures and not much practical work. On Wednesday mornings the metal, furniture and book restoration departments combine to have a science lecture with the books tutor (aka my tutor), David. Wow! I haven't had to sit through a science lecture in a l--o--n--g time and man was it a little painful. One consolation was the fact that Rachel, a fellow student who we sometimes call "the knitter" sat there in front of David knitting a scarf or a sweater or something! Right in front of him! I would never have the balls to do that in front of a professor, good night nurse! Ok, just had to get that off my chest.

2. Wednesday I went into Chichester with Sonia in an effort to purchase a watch (because I never know what time it is) and a mirror (because there is not an electrical outlet in my bathroom and I dry my hair based on nothing but faith that it is turning out ok). After several hours of walking around I came back with a NEED to purchase the new Killers cd...which I later bought, a package of Hob Nobs, and a bottle of nail polish remover.

3. Wednesday night I went to a bar with some other students and listened to a live blues band which turned out to be quite fun.

4. Friday we took a field trip to Chichester Cathedral Library and we all got to pick some new books to work on. It was pretty amazing. I saw some of the biggest books I have ever seen in my life. We're talking bigger than that big dictionary that libraries used to have on it's own stand. Friday night I watched Everything is Illuminated with some people and once again thoroughly enjoyed it. I left a while afterwards when everyone started taking shots of absinthe.

Tomorrow I'm going to London alone which is ok with me because I can't wait to go. The question is what to do while I'm there...way too many options!

Excerpt from an email I just sent

It's weird here because most of the people in my program are older, there is only one guy younger than me and he was born in 1982, which is only a couple months younger. Here is a list of people I like to hang out with so far...

Sonia: She is SO funny, she's English but has been living in Ireland for the last 5 years. She used to restore old maps and paper so she's pretty experienced in paper stuff. She's 41, which you would think would be weird, but it isn't at all. She keeps asking me to say things like ya'll and partner it's really funny

Jenny: An american from Virginia who went to school in Washington, but I don't remember the name of the school. I guess it's a place where you don't really have to pick a major and everything is pretty free thinking...Evergreen? that might be the name I'm not sure. She studied conservation for a year in Boston as North Bennet Street School which is a really good conservation school in the states. She's 28 and really smily.

Katherine: She's studing furniture restoration and is from Ireland. She is HILARIOUS! She is always doing differend accents and her American accent is pretty good.
Ham: His name is pronounces Harrrm. He's from Holland and is slowly learning English from all of us. He is also studying furniture restoration. Sonia always makes him laugh a lot and he usually ends up having to walk away because he's laughing so much. We taught him how to say "lovely" on Saturday and us used it many times correctly...sometimes incorrectly.
Those are just a few of the people I like to hang out with so far on the course, there are many more but I can't go through all of them.

This is the place I get to go eat breakfast in every morning...unreal.

Well my first week at West Dean has come an gone and it went fast and at the same time very slowly. It feels like I've been here for a month sometimes which is really weird. I think it's because my schedule is so rigurous here. I haven't had a schedule this structured in a long time.

I thought I would share several of my favorite moments from this week.

1. On my first night here we had a get to know you cocktail hour followed by dinner, then on to the pub in the school and finally more drinks at my dorm....I'm not in BYU anymore.

2. I didn't actually meet any of the "bookies" as we're called at the meet and greet, I somehow got caught up with the fine metal workers who are quite quiet.

3. I started working on my first project which was to reattach a coverboard to a book from the Chichester Cathedral Library that is from 1658. And I actually did it! And pretty well!

4. We took a trip to an old used book shop to get books to work on. I bought two books, on called Christie's Old Organ (I couldn't resist) and another called the Cigarette Papers, we'll see how repairing those goes.

5. We had a get to know you bbq on Friday night. I gotta say it was the second most interesting party I've been to in a while (first being the gay party with Steve). As one of the few non-drinkers I got to single handedly witness the slow steady decline in soberness. The school provides 1 bottle of wine for every two people at the school...I know, it's crazy. Anyway, the drinking started around 7pm and continued for some time, I left around 11, but I heard people out until around 1 or 2am.

6. Yesterday I went in to Chichester in the afternoon and went into WHSmith, a couple chocolate shops, Army Navy, Lush, and the Chichester Cathedral, it was a good day.

Ok, I'm done for now just wanted to give my readership an update. I miss you all!