Thursday, August 12, 2004
This land is your land, this land is my land....
from California to the NEW YORK ISLANDS!!
from the redwood forests to the gulf stream waters,
this land was made for you and ME!!!!
Oh friends, I am back on U.S. soil, and so excited about it that I have wet myself numerous times. Upon exiting the airplane after the longest 8 hours of my life, I was greeted by a very large sign that said, "Welcome to the United States of America," on an American flag backdrop. I knelt and wept. Well, not really, but I was VERY happy and I applauded in sign language.
It only took me about 2 hours to get home from there. That's including at least 3 different trains and customs an all that jazz. My new apartment is absolutely fabulous!! I've taken some pictures that those of you in NC will be able to see NEXT WEEK!! And for those of you who live in NYC, feel free to make the trek any time. Just take the C to 162 and Amsterdam and walk up St. Nick 1 block. It's really not that bad. I just took the local all the way up from Spring Street and it only took about 30 minutes. So if you hop on the A, skip most of the west side and then just get on a local at 145, it'll be lickety split. ANYWHO, the apartment is amazing, and now I just need some furniture and to retrieve my belongings from their temporary homes throughout the greater NY metropolitan area. I'm working on the stuff in storage this week. If you would like to help me take a load...just one...I would surely let you and buy you ice cream.
Alrighty, so the last afternoon/evening/night in London was amazing. I went to the British Library and saw all the cool stuff they have on display for free. Free=good, especially when 1 pound=$1.92. So they have all kinds of 1st Bibles, 1st Bible in English, 1st bound this way, 1st bound that, 1st King Jimmy, 1st printed with a printing press (aka Gutenberg Bible), etc, etc. They are all very large and written in caligraphy, and that, paired with the fact that one is in Old English made me think of my mother, who can recite parts of either Beowulf or Canterbury Tales (I always forget) in Old English. They also have some hand-written stuff by Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte (I mean Jane Eyre for sobbing out loud!), Jane Austen (Persuasion), Handel's freakin' Messiah, and some Beatles' lyrics. And just for your entertainment, the original hand-written draft of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" says, "Oh please say to me you'll let me hold your thing." What!? I bought a postcard with it on there just for proof and a good laugh. And one of the songs was written on the back of what looked like a little kid's birthday card. Love those Beatles. If Jane Austen had written Persuasion on a b-day card, she'd be that much cooler to me.
After that, I headed to the Queen's Theatre for the 7:30 showing of Les Miserables, which was, well....I don't even know...I'm still speechless. It was phenomenal. The cast was great. I was impressed with everyone in it. Poor Jean Valjean sounded like he had a little cold, but he sang the mess out of "Bring Him Home," so I was more than pleased with my bird's eye view tickets. Now I have to buy the CD again because I've lost 2 of them. Or maybe one of my sisters has the CD and I can just upload it. I mean, it's not like I haven't paid for the thing twice. Anywho, I sat next to a Spaniard whose name I have forgotten, which is a cryin' shame because he was really nice and bought me ice cream at intermission. I didn't ask him to. He just appeared with it. I think he was just ecstatic to have someone to speak to in Spanish because he had been in London studying English for 3 weeks. So we talked about musicals and how much I adore Les Mis, and Spain, etc, etc. It was quite pleasant.
I spent the last night at Camp Lee Valley, boosted some extra bread and a croissant from "breakfast included" so's I'd have something to nibble on in the airport, and headed to Heathrow. I spent the entire afternoon there, got on the plane at 6, and got back to NY 8 hours later...at 9:00. I had lots of sweet "welcome home" messages waiting for me, which I thank you all for. I still need to return some of them. I will. Don't you fret.
I'm still trying to get used to the time change. I keep waking up at 7:15 a.m. because my body thinks it's noon. Then I get really tired around 6 or 7:00 p.m. because it should be 12 or 1 a.m. It's just a big mess. I'm working on it.
I got 7 rolls of film developed. If you want the whole presentation with all the commentary, just a warning: It takes about 2 hours. Or you could wait until I have compiled the scrap book, which will be readable, and look at it in your own time, which will likely be significantly less.
Uh huh...so I think that's about it. Please give me a call should you be so inclined. I can't wait to see everybody and give lots of hugs!! Soon, and very soon.
from the redwood forests to the gulf stream waters,
this land was made for you and ME!!!!
Oh friends, I am back on U.S. soil, and so excited about it that I have wet myself numerous times. Upon exiting the airplane after the longest 8 hours of my life, I was greeted by a very large sign that said, "Welcome to the United States of America," on an American flag backdrop. I knelt and wept. Well, not really, but I was VERY happy and I applauded in sign language.
It only took me about 2 hours to get home from there. That's including at least 3 different trains and customs an all that jazz. My new apartment is absolutely fabulous!! I've taken some pictures that those of you in NC will be able to see NEXT WEEK!! And for those of you who live in NYC, feel free to make the trek any time. Just take the C to 162 and Amsterdam and walk up St. Nick 1 block. It's really not that bad. I just took the local all the way up from Spring Street and it only took about 30 minutes. So if you hop on the A, skip most of the west side and then just get on a local at 145, it'll be lickety split. ANYWHO, the apartment is amazing, and now I just need some furniture and to retrieve my belongings from their temporary homes throughout the greater NY metropolitan area. I'm working on the stuff in storage this week. If you would like to help me take a load...just one...I would surely let you and buy you ice cream.
Alrighty, so the last afternoon/evening/night in London was amazing. I went to the British Library and saw all the cool stuff they have on display for free. Free=good, especially when 1 pound=$1.92. So they have all kinds of 1st Bibles, 1st Bible in English, 1st bound this way, 1st bound that, 1st King Jimmy, 1st printed with a printing press (aka Gutenberg Bible), etc, etc. They are all very large and written in caligraphy, and that, paired with the fact that one is in Old English made me think of my mother, who can recite parts of either Beowulf or Canterbury Tales (I always forget) in Old English. They also have some hand-written stuff by Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte (I mean Jane Eyre for sobbing out loud!), Jane Austen (Persuasion), Handel's freakin' Messiah, and some Beatles' lyrics. And just for your entertainment, the original hand-written draft of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" says, "Oh please say to me you'll let me hold your thing." What!? I bought a postcard with it on there just for proof and a good laugh. And one of the songs was written on the back of what looked like a little kid's birthday card. Love those Beatles. If Jane Austen had written Persuasion on a b-day card, she'd be that much cooler to me.
After that, I headed to the Queen's Theatre for the 7:30 showing of Les Miserables, which was, well....I don't even know...I'm still speechless. It was phenomenal. The cast was great. I was impressed with everyone in it. Poor Jean Valjean sounded like he had a little cold, but he sang the mess out of "Bring Him Home," so I was more than pleased with my bird's eye view tickets. Now I have to buy the CD again because I've lost 2 of them. Or maybe one of my sisters has the CD and I can just upload it. I mean, it's not like I haven't paid for the thing twice. Anywho, I sat next to a Spaniard whose name I have forgotten, which is a cryin' shame because he was really nice and bought me ice cream at intermission. I didn't ask him to. He just appeared with it. I think he was just ecstatic to have someone to speak to in Spanish because he had been in London studying English for 3 weeks. So we talked about musicals and how much I adore Les Mis, and Spain, etc, etc. It was quite pleasant.
I spent the last night at Camp Lee Valley, boosted some extra bread and a croissant from "breakfast included" so's I'd have something to nibble on in the airport, and headed to Heathrow. I spent the entire afternoon there, got on the plane at 6, and got back to NY 8 hours later...at 9:00. I had lots of sweet "welcome home" messages waiting for me, which I thank you all for. I still need to return some of them. I will. Don't you fret.
I'm still trying to get used to the time change. I keep waking up at 7:15 a.m. because my body thinks it's noon. Then I get really tired around 6 or 7:00 p.m. because it should be 12 or 1 a.m. It's just a big mess. I'm working on it.
I got 7 rolls of film developed. If you want the whole presentation with all the commentary, just a warning: It takes about 2 hours. Or you could wait until I have compiled the scrap book, which will be readable, and look at it in your own time, which will likely be significantly less.
Uh huh...so I think that's about it. Please give me a call should you be so inclined. I can't wait to see everybody and give lots of hugs!! Soon, and very soon.
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