Just in time!

In my last post, I said that I was hoping to post more information about my trip in the coming week. So, for anyone who has been wondering why the post hasn't appeared yet, it may be useful to note that the phrase "the coming week" has been redefined by the Board of Definitions and Redefinitions of the English Language. It now means "the next 19 days." Therefore, this post is just in time - not late, as you might have imagined.

The trip was great; I had lots of fun hanging out with Homeskillet and Strong Sad (a.k.a. Victoria and Kelly) at their place on Holy Spirit Street. Jess and I also got to go visit Jonathan in Los Hueros (which is a.t.p.e.c. - I'm giving a whopping 50 points to whoever is the first one to figure out this acronym), and he hung out in Madrid with us as well. The trip mostly consisted of hanging out with friends and visiting the places we used to frequent, for example: Casa Mingo, el Rastro, Ricci's, etc. Jess and I both spent a substantial amount of money on clothing, I made Bailey's brownies a couple of times, and we (Victoria, Kelly, Amy, Jess, and I) watched the entire collection of "The Office" - which amounts to about 8 hours of fun... or should I say, the equivalent of the average day at the office? I also got to see Troy and Heather, Ana, Shawn, and Nicole Trabes. Plus, I got to know V & K's roommate Amy, and meet some of their other friends. It was an all-around good time. Also, Matt 3 came to town the day before I left, so we met for some wonderfully minging food at Casa Mingo. Here are some pics from the trip:

Jess, Jo, Vic, and I, at La Finca de Susana, which is a culinary school where you can get amazing food for a very reasonable price. Jonny and I on the Madrid Tour bus. Jonny "working hard" at the office.This sort of reminds me of Gareth's phone holster. "Did he make 5 calls, or six? You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, punk? Well? Do you?That Uncle William sure has one big Tub O' Mayonnaise.
This place has the best mojitos in the world.

This is the most amazing chocolate in the world. Seriously.
Jonathan? Playing video games? There's a shock...

Posting of post postponed until post-travel

I typed up this post a couple of days ago when I was hanging out in Gatwick. However, since I was not connected to the internet, I was unable to post it at the time. I'm hoping to post more about my trip in the coming week, but for now, here's Tuesday's post:

It is now 7:26 am of Tuesday, March 28th. I’m sitting in Gatwick airport, twiddling my thumbs. Except for the “twiddling my thumbs“ part... I’m fairly good at avoiding boredom. But I’ve been counting the hours until my flight, and they are many. Luckily, I’ve come well prepared. I’ve been reading Jane Eyre, and I occupied about 3 hours in finishing the book. I’ve got the entire collection of The Office with me (both seasons and the special), so I’ve watched some of my favorite bits as well as the special features (yes - this includes the commentary, and yes - I know I’m a nerd for watching it. It’s actually quite funny, though. Ricky Gervais is ridiculous). I accidentally left one of Kelly’s DVDs in my laptop (oops… sorry about that, Guills, I could mail them to you…), so I spent about 2 hours watching episodes of Arrested Development which I hadn’t seen. I also have a copy of Nicholas Nickleby with me, which I am eager to read. So, I’ve got plenty of supplies to help me while away the hours.

My plane was scheduled to arrive at 10:15 pm last night, but it was delayed and did not arrive until 11:45 pm. I didn’t mind, that just meant less time that I had to hang out here at Gatwick. My flight today is not until 2:00 pm, but I am over halfway there. Consequently, with all of my provisions and the amount of time that has already passed, I’ve been feeling quite optimistic, if a little tired.

I haven’t slept, because I don’t want to risk any of my things getting stolen. I’m not really that tired, though, and in a bit I’ll go buy some coffee at Starbucks - on second thought, that could be a bit risky. Last time I went to the Gatwick Airport Starbucks, I ordered an Iced Caramel Macchiato and the barista put steamed milk in it instead of cold milk… Hmm… I wonder if they’d let me make my own drink? Yeah, probably not.

Anyway, back to my optimism. I was just contemplating the fact that the time has gone by relatively quickly and it shouldn’t be too hard to get through the next few hours. Then I looked at my itinerary. I have a total of 15 hours of flying ahead of me today plus a 3 ½ hour layover in Atlanta. Fun times. Well, at least I should be able to get a little sleep on the plane. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll upgrade me to first class. I definitely need to get as much sleep as possible, because I don’t get in until almost 11:30 pm tonight, and I have class tomorrow morning - my first day of classes in my last quarter at the UW. Technically, the first day of classes for spring quarter was on Monday. Obviously, I didn’t go…

I think I’m going to close here. Someone just walked by carrying Starbucks coffee and the sight of it made me conscious of the necessity of a caramel machiatto. One of the annoying things about traveling alone is that I can’t just run down, get some coffee, and bring it back - I have to pack up all of my stuff and drag it down to Starbucks. But that is of little consequence, I desperately require a caramel machiatto. Now. I am convinced that oversight of the requirement of this critical, life-giving manna would lead to certain death. Hence, I must bid you farewell.

Random side note: If you’re looking for a song with some cowbell, “The Undeveloped Story,” by Anberlin is a great one.

Random pictures

So, Kelly says that this is a fun game to play if you're bored: Type the answer to these categories into google images and pick one picture out of the first page each word brings up. So, I tried the first one out and decided it was definitely worth doing. Here's what I got:

First name: Marianna

Middle name: Jean (Jean Claude Van Damme - Oh yeah)

Last name: Willey

Age on my next birthday: 26

City I grew up in:Centralia (This appears to be the welcome screen to an online Italian grocery store?)

Favorite color:Red

Place I'd like to live:Madrid (Oh yeah, let's hear it for Real Madrid!)

Place I live now:Renton

Habit I have:Drinking coffee

Favorite food:Sushi

Favorite animal:Frog

Religion:Christian

Dream job:World traveler

Grandmother's name:Verda

Favorite smell:Cinnamon (Actually, I love good-smelling things, and I can't really pick a favorite. This is a good one, though, and this is an excellent picture.)

Well, that's it. Kinda weird, but I thought it was fun. Here's the question of the day: Which picture do you think is most representative of me?

Anybody out there?

I posted 3 separate blogs in one day, and there hasn't been a single comment on any of them. Have my bloggings become so sporadic/strange/boring that nobody reads them anymore? Or has my rambling shocked you into silence? On the other hand, was it just the absence of a "question of the day" that has prompted the lack of response? If it was either of the former two possibilities, that's unfortunate, but I regretfully report that my blogging style isn't likely to change much. If it was the latter possibility, I can fix that! I submit to you now... a question of the day: Are you a procrastinator or a plan-aheader (I know, I know, that's not a word - but it should be)? Bonus question of the day: Where does the following quote come from? "Corn chips are no place for a mighty warrior!" Okay, people, now it's your turn to leave a comment.

P.S. If you're just now tuning in and you haven't read the previous posts, please start at "Choose your own title."

Final update or I am wired(weird?)

Hey. So. I finished off that energy drink, and about halfway through the class I started getting sleepy. Luckily, we get a 10 minute break halfway through the class. So, I went over to the HUB (Husky Union Building - there are a bunch of restaurants and a convenience-type store there) and got myself another Full Throttle. It did the trick. And then some. I am so wired. Hey. I just realized that wired is an anagram of weird. That's weird. Or is it wired? Umm..ok, that's the Full Throttle talking. Anyway, so I got home a few minutes ago, but now I need to leave again to go to my cadre. Hopefully the energy drink doesn't wear off until I get back home. I just need to hold out for a couple more hours! In conclusion, today I learned that energy drinks combined with a lack of motivation to study make me a compulsive blogger.