Seeking Sun in London: May 2009

Wassup Homies :)

Hello to all! It's a nice sunny day here on May 21 in London-- surprisingly sunny, because the last week has been overcast.. IN MAY. I think it was last week when I walked outside.. IN MAY.. and noticed it was about 50 degrees farenheit and overcast (and drizzling) that I decided I could never live in London for any long period of time. Apparently we're having a good spring.. I suppose I'm just a spoiled Californian.

The sunny AM view outside my window.

Right now is revision time. For the last two weeks (and for the next three) all the students in my Masters course are revising the 1000 or so pages of text we read for each class and working on creating perfect exam answers, which we shall memorize and hand-write back out to our professors on the day of the exam. My exams are June 11, 12, and 18th, after which I plan to spend 2-3 weeks finishing a good draft of my Masters thesis, and then go on a month-long sojourn through Western Europe with Barrett, my brother :) Should be a lot of fun, but a lot of work to do until then.

My life currently entails getting up around 7 AM, eating, stretching if possible, then going to LSE and working on essays until 4 PM, when we have group study sessions till 6. At night I usually go running (training for a marathon in Switzerland in July) or lifting, or do gymnastics class. Apparently I'm getting better at gymnastics- got my front handspring down last Tuesday, in spite of having a cold! Gynmastics is fun; I wish I'd taken more time to learn the sport when I was young, as it is such a solid foundation for all other sports. Being aware your body and balance is key in any situation; gynmastics and yoga provide a good core.

LSE has been teaching me to be more succinct with my writing. Because of this and AM time constraints I will be fairly brief in this post. The last month has been amazing. Haley came to visit for a week and we did the Great London Tour- saw some really interesting little niches of London (such as a housing project build entirely out of recycled shipping containers) and we even ended up in Cambridge for an afternoon of punting (took a while to figure out the physics of that one, but I ended up being a solid punter) and in Brighton to eat bony fish and chips and attempt to ride a mechanical bull. The trip was amazing and it put me in a good mood to start revising; the perfect end to Spring break.

Haley comes to visit! This on the roof of LSE.

We saw this at Harrods- 80,000 Pounds for a Swarovksy crystal
gold-plated fusball table. Huzzah... I ended up buying a running shirt :)

I can't remember where this was, but it's funny :P

We saw a proper British Pram.

And some cool flowers!

Kensington Gardens (Hyde Park).. like some damn painting.

Princess Di Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park..
It's actually very cool; you can step in and get your feet wet.. very touching :)

Container City in London! All from recycled shipping containers,
and Haley's big project for UC Merced.

Clouds in Brighton.

This was the creepiest-sounding carousel! It was playing some strange
clickety-clackety grinding music that sounded like something
from a Tim Burton film..

Another painting.. this from the bar in Cambridge where Sid Barrett
of Pink Floyd used to hang out and ended up playing in a band on Fridays..

Here it is.. who would have thought the band started in Cambridge?

Coolest. Clock. Ever. In Cambridge.. It's got a
dragon grasshopper whose legs move with the time.

This was just so random.. they call it the Gerkin; I think it's more of a spaceship.
What it really doesn't look like is an office building.

I also got dragged to my first fashion show.. one picture's good :)

The Eye at night :)

..aand Haley and the willow tree.
She got into USC for a Masters Dance Program
and is looking good for New York-
best wishes with either!!

Since revising has started I can't say I've done anything too amazing. I've spent a lot of time with my good friends Yann, Mike and Andy- we've found a cool spot by the river near Camden where you can watch boats go through the lock and eat good Spanish tapas with a glass of cheap wine. We're waay too grown up, but what else can you do on a pleasant evening in London? All the locals go down to a pub and trash themselves; sorry to say that just isn't my cup of tea. On the weekends I find myself hanging out with various friends, running for hours through Hyde Park, or watching animated cartoons late into the night. I know, I'm 25 and I'm watching cartoons- a cartoon called Naruto specifically that has over 220 episodes. I'm currently on episode 175 and it's getting a little boring, but I MUST finish.

Essays are going well; my professors keep yelling at me but I'm gradually getting yelled at less and less. Hopefully it will be enough to do well here at LSE. The programme is challenging, but definitely worthwhile.

In the Shaw Library at LSE we discovered a stained glass window with
the founders of the LSE 'shaping' the world. The whole thing is a bit of a mockery
but also a taaad eeerie...

On one side the window says:
PRAY DEVOUTLY HAMMER STOUTLY..
I wonder if that's what they're doing to my brain right now..

I've been thinking a lot of what I'm going to do when I get back to Cali. I'm sure to start working as a tutor again, but I think I'm giong to look for a solid day job as well; perhaps in some enviornmental job, or maybe as a yoga instructor.. maybe both? I'm also going to continue training for marathons, and I plan to surf a lot. Hmm.. what else is there to say? I've been hankering for some reason to start learning how to draw buildings.. I think this might be a bit of the trapped artist in me, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I have a solid eye for architecture/ spatial arrangement, and I have always had a mechanical mind. I don't know.. something about building things that actually have physical reality to them (as opposed to writing metaphysical essays on philosophy, politics and ethics) really appeals to me. Perhaps I'm not ultimately cut out to be a professional academic.

London brickwork; I just like the pattern on a sunny day.

I kinda want to make things like this.. or at least be part of making them..
Interesting that I might have come to London ultimately to discover this.

Time shall tell. Best wishes to all! May you find sun, happiness, friendship, love and joy each day, in whatever activities you choose to challenge yourselves with.

What follow are random pics: