Playing Catch Up

Wow. haven't had time to write here in a while (other than venting about rent recently)
Much has happened in the past week or so. We'll start with last weekend I suppose.

Rent Remixed. You know how i feel about that. no need to go any father.

Last Wednesday was the Laying Up Dinner...marks the "end" of the sailing season. kind of crazy table plans because the vice commodor's wife kept changing everything on us which was entirely annoying. Finally got to feel event oriented though, helping annabel sort through the mess the woman caused literally minutes before we were supposed to be seating guests. once the dinner started it was nuts. i didnt know how to behave really, so i was observing everyone else and didnt make a move until i saw someone else make the first move. the three course meal...or four course meal? three rounds of wine...sets of silverware...conversation to be held with complete strangers sitting next to me. it was intense. but still an awesome experience. learning social skills is probably the best thing i can acquire from this job. which will be really helpful in the future.

thursday we kind of recouped and searched around for christmas party venues online. we went out to this little italian place down the road for dani's birthday. Yay for 22!! it was quite yummy. risotto was pretty darn good.

friday was the day of fun. venue searched online pretty much all day because annabel was in calpe for the regatta. jonathan and i went to this little hole in the wall pub after work, and i met up with danielle afterward. we ran around trying to find little pieces for our halloween costumes, because we were throwing dani a halloween costume birthday party that night with all the intern girls. It was awesome. Pocohontas made an appearance, britney spears, the emo kid hiding in the corner of the TBS concert, and i was a walk of shame thanks to ashley's free condoms from work and her awesome lacross shorts :) it was one of the best nights ever. mattress surfing into the third floor (pretty much our entire dorm was gone because they all had fall break. and we're interns so we still have to work). the dirtiest game of kings ever. and lots of laughs. <3 these girls.

saturday...what did i do saturday...shopping! went to lillie whites to get a jersey, then came back home and got ready for the Rugby World Cup *pretty much the superbowl for the UK/rest of the world*. It was just plain awesome. we went to the greyhound and staked out a spot at like...4:30. sat there all afternoon and caught the manchester united game, which was a sweep. then the cup began. fans were awesome. asked two girls if they would paint my face, and made new friends haha. too bad the game got kind of lame second half, and it was so flipping hot in the pub. i almost fell asleep. wait...yup, did kind of drift off for 30 seconds at one point. We lost :( but its all good. England is still second best, and will try again for the title next year.

Sunday was another day of shopping. Danielle and I took to oxford street and made a clean sweep of Primark and couple other little shops. Very proud of our quality purchases. I got my Pippy Longstocking costume and danielle got about 4 pairs of shoes. :) and we were home in time for dinner. well done. well done.

Monday-Thursday were boring for the most part. Monday however, Scott and I met Danielle for lunch and went to a cute little cafe near her work. I registered for classes which was a beast and a half but at least i'm enrolled still lol. nothing too exciting at work. in reality theres absolutely nothing exciting at work. started to get things together for Paris :) very exciting.

finally talked to Mom thursday night, released lots of frustrations. filled her in on my MIA week because i was so busy as was she. Ireland trip with Kelsey is finally booked. Absolutely cannot wait for that. it will honestly be the trip of a lifetime from what i'm hearing from other kids that have gone. i'm super stoaked. totally learning to irish jig with some of the irish boys at the pub and kissing the blarney stone. heck yes. cant wait.

Got home from Paris tonight. Will have another post about the weekend. Good to be back in the UK...funny how i missed "home."

Wrote a bagillion and one post cards. Check your mail box if youre lucky. (and i have your address) ;)

x <3 Krista

Rent Remixed : "Can it get any gayer?"

Alright. I promised myself I wouldn't go off an a huge tangent and i'm wicked tired, so i dont have the patience to sit here and tell you everything that went wrong with this performance.

However, i have to vent it out in some way shape or form. first let me start by saying, we got tickets to the opening night of Rent Remix...pretty much some asshole decided to take Rent, and change the music and format to fit the London audience because the originally bombed here years ago. We got there, and were waiting in line and just looking at the posters outside i wanted to scream. Joanne - White blonde with big boobs. Maureen - white blonde with big boobs. Angel- White boy, with no hair. Mimi- white anerexic red head, with no voice, and no acting talent AT ALL. Mark- oh my god, don't get me started. Abercrombie Model, with huge lips and a huge Joker mouth and the worst characterization i've ever seen. no glasses. no scarf. no old time camera...ugh i can't handle this...i tried to block it out of my head.

In a nutshell it was god awful. Pretty much, the director RUINED everything. he basically put the movie version on the stage, and redid all of the original music and formatted it into this horrid arrangement filled with Pop, Duwop, techno and Jazzblues. It was AWFUL.

The actors had absolutely no chemistry. Collins and Roger had the best portrayels of their characters, but didn't have much to work off of with the rest of the cast. Half the Brits were trying to out sing each other. it seemed like they had no idea what they were singing about, why they were saying certain things to one another and had just awful interpretations of Johnathon Larson's masterpiece. RUINED. I was honestly sitting with my arms crossed and slouched in my chair. we had 3rd or 4th row seats. great view, nice theatre. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL.

There was no passion, no understanding, and just a big misinterpretation of the entire play. themes extremely stressed throughout the entire play, very tacky and very disrespectfully: homosexuality, aids, Sex. Sex. Sex. yes, those themes lie within the play, but by dressing Angel in a skin tight belly shirt displaying an original american flag with 13 stars in a circle, and the DARE logo slashed through it....accompanied by his sequined jean jacket with "ANGEL" laid out in diamond studs on back. Are you kidding me.

I wanted to push mimi off the stage. she looked so uncomfortable. sand with her hands and just looking out at the balconies with everything she sang or said. which is what nearly all of them did. like i said. there was NO chemistry, no interaction. HORRIBLE blocking. oh my god. i can't talk about this anymore. and im sure you dont want to read about it.

I can justify all of my critisms now though. and it was well worth the 23 pounds. Ugh. Othello with Ewan McGreggor will make up for it <3

xox Krista

Abbey Road: Risking Lives for "The Photo"

Saturday we went on a Beatles walking tour. the tour was alright, but pictures at abbey road were fun. I ran into the median, and stood on the edge of a statue, and after three tries got the crew in the perfect abbey road shot. scott took his shoes off, and was in his element entirely. after seeing just a few sites and stuff of beatles locations in london i think it would be way cooler to go to liverpool. possible day trip in the future? hmmm...

saturday night the boys and i searched out for a pub to watch the rugby game and grab dinner. unfortunately zetland arms was packed, as expected. So we ate lebaneese at Beirut Express. ha. then we pub crawled our way back to the greyhound, where ash met up with us, and we were all drenched in spilling beer, english chants and sad faced frenchies. COME ON ENGLAND! we're in the finals. i'm so pumped. it was pandamonium. i can't wait till the next game. we're getting prime seats somewhere, and living up the spirit and madness.

yesterday was dedicated to accomplishing those awful tasks such as laundry (took me 3 hours aprox....) and catching up on homework. booked a day trip to belgium in dec, for a bit of christmas shopping and lights and christmas cheer. that will be fun! still working on ireland. haha. talked to maja :) shes coming the third weekend in november. pretty stoaked about that. too bad britty can't come :( I have class in 5 minutes, then its off to work for the day, and possibly Rent Remixed try number two since last friday was "press night" and we couldn't get tickets. I'm sure ill have a mouthfull to say after this experience.

later gators
<3 Krista

Koko -mo?

woot! the week is over :) That means it's time to play catch up. I have loads to do. Literally, loads of laundry that have piled up. my hamper doesn't fit under my bed anymore. i sure hope its warm today because i dont have any pants.

the work week is over :) friday was kind of cool. went to get sushi for lunch, which was awesome. then it was more of a laid back day at work. busy, but everyone was excited for the weekend. i started looking into this thing called Race Night, for the spring. Think themed-dinner, like a murder mystery type of thing, but with horseracing and betting.

Went to this venue/club/bar Koko last night. Awesome. As per usual Scott's work hooked us up. VIP guest listed, so no cover and no line. This place was amazing. Minus the disgusting floor because no one can seem to hold onto their drinks. But the venue was honestly incredible. HUGE disco ball descending from the ceiling, and like....4 or 5 floors of balcony look outs overlooking the main stage/screen and open air dance floor. it was redic. The Alones also put on a good show. I was into them. I might have a crush on the lead...he had my black chucks on. and his pants weren't groping his ass. always a possitive. Once again, on the way home, the Knight Bus decided to pass us by the first time, so we had to wait for another half hour in camden town before 27 decided to show its face. We all then proceeded to line the pavement, swinging our jackets and scarves, ready to jump in front if it didnt pick us up. It did stop though for any of you concerned of my well being.

Getting my laundry done hopefully at some point. Gym/swimming. Errand running. working on my magazine article/s (?) i have to write. ugh. Joy. Also have to start planning when i'm hitting the road to ireland, my mom's life when she comes to visit and discover if i can find ben carter on a jukebox in a random pub in Bristol. Paris is in two weeks! Holy wow. It's gonna be a bon weekend as Lars would say.

Tonight is one of the final matches of the World Cup for rugby. Oh my god. I'm so excited. England vs. France. it's going to be sick. We have to kick their ass, or there will be some sad faces at work monday. I mean, we beat Australia....We HAVE to beat France.

ps) I talked to my lover today for the first time in a month and a half. and by talked i mean she typed to me, while i was skyping her. Victoria berger, get a headset so i can hear your beautiful voice. Also note: Aly Keves knows everyone. (i miss you aly) She apparently is good friends/used to work with Josh, the Ra Ra Riots manager we met the other night. You never cease to amaze me. even over seas. :)

Cheers kids!

<3 Krista

Busier Than A Bee

I can't believe it's already the second week of October. wow.

Friday night was a definite milestone. Interns night out after the first week of work. Just a preview for our Paris trip together at the end of the month. In a nutshell it was rediculously amazing. We ended up at kavanagh's...met the queen's regement (the british cavalry boys) danced...sang...snogged in the corner. on the dance floor. at the bar. in the corner again*coughashcough*....(yes, i just used a harry potter word. what?) it was good fun though. definitely more chill than thursdays. less people, more conversation and interaction with other kids there. big plus.

saturday i was kind of sick. yeah...not fun. signed up for Ethos Gym :) yay.

Sunday though, sunday was awesome. i went down to the Thames, and found my way to the Globe, but couldnt get a tour bc there was a current performance. no biggee...went to the Tate Modern Museum of Art instead and walked around there by myself, which was nice and relaxing. im an art geek as you may know. saw a few Andy Warhol's, jackson pallock's...always a pleasure. :) i took a stroll along the river walk and grabbed some dinner...then waited for the crew to get there so we could go see our show 'Love's Labours Lost' at 4. Wow, talk about an awesome experience. We were groundlings for a few hours. The backpain was worth it. The costumes, the acting, the gorgeous irish chap playing one of the leads...it was all incredible.

This week at work has been busy. We have a lot of work to do on the Prizewinners' Dinner coming up, for all the yachters and sailors who have won races, rallies, etc over the past year with the club. Today Jonathan and I spent nearly the whole day sorting out the trophies to take down to Harvey's to get engraved. I got to go on my first london cabbie ride. sweet. I also dropped part of a trophy and nearly broke the bloody thing, and it turns out it was worth 3000 quid (pounds). I wanted to cry. So embarassed. but everythings alright. water under the bridge.

Last night i went to see The Editors and the Ra Ra Riots (who are actually from syracuse) They were pretty sick. the crowd over here obviously LOVES the Editors, and went nuts for them. Scott's work got us in backstage and vip, so that was wicked cool too. felt almost like i was back home working a show. except no load in or load out :-D Talked briefly with the rarariots manager, and one of the guys in the band. they seem really chill and i think we should look into them maybe in the spring or something. they're very different. electric cello and violin girls, and then a typical four guy set as well, bass-guitar-drums-lead/piano. really really cool new sound. mix of indie almost ska, but not. it was like sublime meets yellowcard meets academy is... ish. haha.

I'm exhausted and a little cranky because i havent had time to run a bunch of errands i need to get on top of. but thats life. i feel like im getting back into the busy body swing of things again. I'm extremely jealous im missing out on this amazing weather you kids are having back in the states right now. you all better be at the beach soaking it up for me. i think in the next few days im going to compile a list of things i miss most, and i want you to use that as a check list to make sure you take advantage of and do in my honour.

I love you all and miss you more.

<3 Krista

Birthdays!! Yay!

Week one: DONE.

i really am liking the RTYC. today annabel was out because shes on holiday in france till monday afternoon. so i had a lot of phone calls to make, and stuff to take care of for her and jonathan. nothing major, but definitely kept busy. we also get out at 4 on fridays which is quite nice. :)

breaking news: so apparently some guy stole/replicated our club credit card, and made a few purchases over the course of the past few weeks. he then proceeded to have these purchases delivered to the RTYC...and on top of that had the balls to show up and try to claim them. so all week has been slightly exciting because we've been trying to catch the crook. yesterday we got him, so the scandal is finalized. but kind of funny to remember for my first week starting.

Wednesday after work, annabel, jonathan and i went down to visit george, the bartender, before we had a mini- YM cocktail party (which is what i went to back in september) this time it was much smaller, and intimate with the newer members that were there and it was really nice chatting with them. George debuted his new concoction "El Diablo" (the devil) delicious.

i also forgot to mention another perk to my job. every other morning i get to see the royal cavelry walk past my window as they are passing through hyde park to get to buckingham palace for the changing of the guards. honestly, sometimes i feel like im living in a fairy tale when i see stuff like that out my window.

Last night was Kelsey's birthday bonanza! (which hopefully will continue on through this weekend.) I bought a community crown, to pass along the tradition, and gave it to her at breakfast. after work we came back and ate dinner. Then we got dressed up and went to Kavanagh's...where apparently the rest of the Kensington community decided to go for the night. imperial freshers (new students?) had a pub crawl and that was one of the main destinations i guess. it was massively packed. rediculous. but fun. i also learned that i need to take certain people out of my uk cell phone book. because some late nights are gonna get me in trouble if i don't watch my pre-paid minutes. (sry about that/the yelling btw. but we're still in a fight. no excuses.)

my internet connection on my computer is being a biznit, so i wont be online much until i get it back. sunday? fingers crossed.

and to finish off this latest update: I GOT MY IMPERIAL ID- which means i can FINALLY go sign up for a gym membership!!!!!! i'm stoaked. end of story.

<3 Krista

DASHBOARD IN THE UK?!

Day Two of work took off with a bang. I faced the misting rain and just walked because I am getting restless STILL not having a pass to a gym. Another day at the office, still fun just doing random tasks to check off the major To-Do Lists of Annabel and Jonathon. It's wicked because the horses and "Queen's Men" trot by all dressed for the changing of the guard everyday, on their way to Buckingham Palace. They go right by our window, so it was so cool to see/hear them trot along the cobblestones.

Major excitement went underway as of last night. Motion City Soundtrack will be here Friday, and I'm gonna try to go if I can find a buddy/the venue isn't too far. Then ben showed me that say anything will be here in december, which is also awesome, so i definitely need to look into that. this all led me to looking up other shows and as of when i left the states, dashboard was NOT posting anything about uk places. HOWEVERRRR. last night i found that he's gonna be about and around all these different towns in the UK from like the end of November until early December. How stoaked am i? in a word. VERY.

possibly joining Dani to see the new pornographers show thursday night. (its another band mom...not something gross) not sure yet. im on the fence still.

<3 Krista

The RTYC

First day for the internship!! Woot!

Got there at 1:30ish, in the pouring rain. Not fun. But, never the less, met Anabel, my boss pretty much, and she took me around giving introductions and a tour of the yacht club. It's so nice, and everyone seems so friendly. It's a great environment.

I have a desk. ha! Between my other boss Johnathon and Anabel, and in front of us is this huge bay window that directly overlooks Hyde Park. It's fantastic. Too bad the weather was crap today. I just did a bunch of random things, like getting phone numbers/emails and stuff like that from a bunch of members so we can send out invitations to this huge annual Prize Winners Dinner, where the Trophy winners from each of the regattas, rally's, races, etc all gather with other members and have this huge celebration. So that is our main planning project at the time. Not too much else went on today, and I'm laying low tonight most likely since the weather is rubbish. Shower, tea, outfit- picking, hanging out with cools kids...I really need to go grocery shopping but not until there's a bit better weather. Until tomorrow-

<3 Krista