I don't think God really wants me to be OK with meeting new people. Either that or he doesn't want me to date. I can't decide.

Today I went to get a sandwich for dinner down the road, only 200-300 feet down the road actually, but that was far enough. One my way out, the same Indian looking guy that I passed on the way there stopped me and asked me to help him fill out a job application because his English isn't very good. He was about 5 feet tall, and looked sort of nervous, so I didn't know to be afraid. I said OK, but then we couldn't go back to the place I bought my sandwhich because he had applied there too. He suggested a park, which admittedly should have stopped me, but no, I thought I could take him if he tried anything so I said OK. We ended up in the back area of one of the colleges on this bench, and I did my best to help him, but I didn't really understand what he wanted me to do, and he couldn't really spell in English either, and he kept screwing up on the form, in pen, so I took the paper, filled it out, and told him he'd need to get another copy because he had mispelled Starbucks, among other things.

THEN, he got all weird and wanted to date me, and it took me about 20 minutes to shake him lose. He wanted to call me, or come over and "hold me". NO JOKE! He was 22, but it was OK that I was 28, he said. He could come visit me in America and I could visit in Austria. Did I mention that he lives in Austria? Guess I can't ever go there now, because with my luck I would definately run into him. I told him I wouldn't promise that I would email him, but I would try, and he really, REALLY wanted me to promise, and he wanted to know exactly when I was going to email him. And he wanted to meet at the same scary bench tomorrow at 8. People were staring as he tried to get me to commit to anything at all on the corner, and I thought that this was probably not helping their view of Bangledeshians. He said the English are racist. I think they might just have better intuition than me. Seriously. Any guy I meet is either taken, uninterested, or a stalker.

On to better subjects. I have decided that my tutorial instructor has given myself and Jon more to read than anyone else's professors. I can't even believe how much crap I have to do so I can write my 4000 word essay for Tuesday and the start all over again for my essay due on Friday. Vacation? What Vacation? I was also a bit, what would you call it, chatty today in class. I kept rasing my hand, admittedly because no one else had anything to say, but I am pretty sure all the Florida State people think I am a total freak. But I figure since I am taking two versions of the same class, I have an advantage, and they're all frustrated by the work load and not getting their reading done. One girl, Marina, told me she was relieved that someone had something to say, and she just hid in her book. I like Marina. But seriously, I'll be quieter on Monday.

Last night I went to the sherry party and then dinner withe SCU. There were large periods of time where I just sood there by myself holding my glass of sherry, but people did eventually take pity on me and come to talk. I spent a lot of time talking to this guy Mark. He goes to law school in New Hampshire, spent years in the military, is a Republican, and is dating a professor at his school. We actually found quite a bit to talk about, so I was happy to have a friend. Then at dinner I met James (the cute one), Robert, who is one of those guys who is going to be a married politician with 3 kids before he figures out he is gay, and Ben, who today became my second crush for the trip. He says he always wants to be poor so he never becomes a Republican. He absolutely loves the kabob truck here, but wants his first restaurant experience to be at Aziz's, supposedly the best Indian restaurant here. He's eaten dog (we think, but he might have been kidding), tongue of cow, black pudding, and drank alcohol with cobra blood in it and a cobra in the bottle. Oddly, all of this just made him seem interesting rather than scary and carnivorous.

Today we all went to the pub to watch the footbal game, and I mostly went because I couldn't do any more work until I took a break, and because I knew James would be there. Never really saw James, but I spent a long time talking to Mark (republican guy) and this girl Jasmine who strck up a conversation with us. I like Jasmine. She isn't at all like the other blonds in the program. On the way back I was about 50 feet behind the "popular group" and then suddenly Ben was there and he was waving for me to catch up. So cute. He talked to me about how good the Mexican food is from Taco trucks. He really likes food. I told him I didn't think I had ever seen a taco truck, so he told me where two are near SCU. I thought about that case in North Carolina, but I decided not to share. He has dated two vegans, which he thinks helps make up for his meat eating ways, and a Mexican girl for 4 years, which is why he thinks American Mexican food is not so great (except of course from the taco trucks). Later, I was taking pictures of the building when he walked out with Josh, and he asked if I had had dinner yet. Unfortunately, I had, which is how I met the stalker, so I didn't get to go to dinner with Ben and Josh. *sigh* So I have decided that Ben is kinda cool, and he's cute and adventurous, albeit most notably with his food choices, but I have decided I must get to know him better.

And that was my day. Oh, and I still sort of stare when the guy who told me all about Oxford walks buy. He's a cute, scrawny English guy, and he is definately cute. Clearly, my body thinks it's Spring, because I am all twiterpated.

Sat across from my new crush at dinner tonight. Quite cute and mysterious in a way I can't quite put my finger on. He's cute too, but I mea, there's mre to his being cute than just his looks. Google found no pica, so I can't show you. Alas.

Also, is anyone interested in meeting in Amsterdam the weekend of the 15th-16th? I say this in part because I have always wanted to see Amsterdam and partly because James is organizing the trip and you know I'll never go unless I know someone I am traveling with. I need a chaperone!

Today in class I saw why it is that the rest of the world thinks Americans are obnoxious and superior. While most of us were either silent or optimitic, attemting to understand what the EU actually is and how it works, others were busy concluding that it is badly made and destined to end in a war. A war! One kid even stayed after class to tell the teacher how useless the European Court of Justice is based on what she told us. It felt just like Dale was there with us. *sigh*

I am feeling a little lame for deciding to take a lecture course with my tutorial, especially since they are both on he same topic and the reading for both is brutal, but today I started to see the overlap and that made me feel better. So it takes me an hour to read one case. That's no biggy. I didn't want to do anything fun anyway. If I don't get a job where I get to use this knowledge I am aquiring, I'm gonna be bitter. This is no cake-walk summer course. Grrr.


In an attempt to procrastinate a bit, I started reading the label on my juice bottle. It is called Innocent Juicy Water, and the little face has a halo. The back provides "an innocent promise" that "anything innocent will alwas taste good and do you good. We promise that we'll never use concentrates, preservatives, stabalizers or any weird stuff in our drinks. And if we do you can tell our Mums." The ingredients say that my drink has 89 crushed cranberries and 13 crushed rasberries, some natural sugar and half a freshly squeezed lemon. It may be a sign of how bored I am, but I find this label very amusing. Sadly, this very small botle has 621 calories in it, so it may turn out to be more decorative than nutritious. Good thing the label is intresting, eh?

Right. Well then, I must go study.

I am eating nutella out of the plastic jar with my new plastic spoon. I have heartburn, and my theory is that I have it because I have gone two days without clotted cream and scones. I think the Nutella will help. Today was a busy day, and filled with practicalities. I got up and met Silvia (my new American friend from Mondova). We walked to the breakfast hall and chatted with some new people. We then went and had a two hour lecture with this super important guy here, and it was interesing, but I got all tired and my Lyrica kicked in and my vision got so blurry I couldn't focus on the notes I was taking to keep myself awake. There was no one in front of me, so I did everything I couldn to keep from looking like I was falling asleep. Then, after about 20 minutes my brain waves returned to normal and all was well. I think it was my first ever waking nap. Next we walked to this huge library and swore indivudual oaths that we would not bring fire into the library, or smoke there. Seriously. An oath. They gave us our ID's and sent us on our way without even showing us the part of the building where Harry Potter was filmed. This library is one of only two shared libraries at Oxford, and we're not allowd to use the one here at Magdelen because it only has room for the 13 law students that attend here full time. Weird. So anyway, this library is HUGE, and fills several buildings because the guy that built it arranged with the publishers back in 16-hundred and somthing to have them donate every book published in the UK from then on. ALL of them. They have over 8 million volumes! It also happens to be across the street from the biggest book store ever. It looks quite unassuming from the street, but it is 4 or five stories, several of which are underground. The bottom floor is like one floor of a B and N, but thn parts of it are sunk deeper to hold more books. There were more law books there than in the book store at McGeorge! I wanted to stay forever but I was tired and I had planned to meet up with Silvia after our tutorial meetings. The onl reason I abandoned her was because my professor scared me so bad I felt complled to buy books right then. I have a nutshell on the EU and my partner thinks I am
high strung and crazy. I don't feel stressed, but I can tell we have disappointed the professor, so I am trying to make up for it i guess. My partner is way into pubs and pints. I think he said today his goal was to find the cheapest pint in Oxford. How noble. So back to meeting up with Silvia. I got into m room, and about 20 seconds later she knocked at the door, so we headed of to find some things she needed. We went back to Blackwells Bookstore, but it, like so many stores here, closed at six. Alas. We also found a Blackwells Music and a Blackwells Videos. It seems to be the Tower Records of Oxford. Then we went and got sandwiches from the place that gave us directions to the grocery store earlier in the day. The guy at the counter was from Mongolia, and works there now because he ran out of money for school. He was adorable, but didn't look at all like he was from Mongolia (adorable like small and bubbly, not like a hotty). We took the sandwiches to Starbucks to get drinks and then ate in the back. It flt like home, only bigger. Then we walked home and I took my weary, blistered feet to my room where I planned to stay until a few minutes later someone knocked at the door. It was Rachne, who I had talked to for a few minutes earlier, and she wanted to go for a walk. So what the hell. I went for a walk. At least it had stopped drizzling. i wish it would just rain already. I fell like a dork under my umbrella, but fairly damp without it. Oxford has indecisive weather, and you know how I am about indecisive. Not OK. Tomorrow we have another library tour, and another lecture, and then we start working. I hope that I get to walk a little less until my body gets a chance to recover. I need to lay still for a few days I think. But everthing is so pretty and so close. My life is hard, I know. Mmmm. Nutella.

The Dining Hall

Captain’s Log: Stardate 25.6.06 (Ignore that other date up there)

Spaceship nearly ran over a bicyclist and then nearly hit same with the side door a she rode by slowly to yell. As I was not at the helm, I take no responsibility, but clearly, we need a new pilot before or next voyage. I, myself, arrived in Oxford Galaxy, a place with historic beauty around every corner. My quarters are respectable, although they do smell like mothballs. With the windows open it was a breezy 79 degrees at 6:00 pm. Nice. Cooler now. Local beings quite enthusiastic tonight because of something called “football”. Met the other student in my tutorial, Tim. He then ran off to watch football. Met Silvia, from some place that sounds like Montana but that used to be part to Romania. She and I explored the town, found two drug stores and shopped for necessaries, and then returned to unpack. Brought my new travel alarm clock to life, with thermometer. Later we went for a walk and had Indian food at a place we will most likely not return to, but it was decent. Food is very expensive here. Ug. Tomorrow we must find grocery stores to stock our little fridges with easy meals that require no heat to prepare. Went for another walk to the other end of the campuses. Feet quite tired, but I am pretty sure I burned off at least some of my calories. Talked to some ducks. Said hi to the deer in the deer park. Must photograph EVERYTHING while I am here. Soooooo beautiful. And now I must read more of my scary book so that I can have weird dreams in my new bed with my wussy pillow. I heart scary books. More tomorrow when the internet is actually working. That’s right. This is just a word file because I couldn’t wait to write to you until then.

London Update: Day 6

It's morning on our 6th day here and we're about to go have a lovely English Breakfast at Richoux's. The rest of the day looks hazy, except for a stop at Boots (like Long's or Wallgreens) to get me a hair dryer and curling iron.

Yesterday Mom and I didn't really get out the hotel util 2:00. Clearly we lack motivation when Dad is not here to drive us. We then went to a Jewelry store where we wasted a great deal of time before going to two more to waste the rest of it. We met Dad at 5:30 (did I mention he had to work yesterday?) and headed off to have dinner at Covent Gardens before our scary little play, The Woman in Black. It was scary, especially because the theatre was filled with teenagers who all screamed at the top of heir lungs (bos too) after anything scary happened. It was...shall we say...exhilerating.

On Wednesday we ent to see Hampton Court, built by Cardinal Woolsey who then had to give it Henry VIII because it was fancier than his place. Oops. Henry did qite a bit to make it even grander. Later, William and Mary moved in and added a new wing and some other modifications. All of this contributed to making it the biggest damn place you've even seen. The gardens were beautiful, but I was pooped by the time we got inside. I walked the queen's chambers, but at the king's out. What a party pooper I am. I blame the shoes.

Later we had dinner at an Italianrestaurant where one guy had the job of serving up briscetta with the bread by wheeling his little cart over and carving the meet right off this large, extended pig's leg that seemed to point the way for him. I was seriously disturbed, but remained quiet because I knew mom would demand we leave if she saw it, and fortunately, she had her back to it all night. It was NASTY! Stephanie, you would have fainted for sure.

I haven't downloaded everything yet, but here are some pictures to entertain you.

My trip to London: Days One and Two

We arrived at the San Francisico International Airport at a lovely 5:30 pm, and I was somewhat pleased when they upgraded me to economy plus. This meant that I was not quite in steerage anymore. Once on the plane, I found a very attractive man sitting in the window seat next to my seat. AND, he turned out to be talkative and friendly, that is, until they came and upgraded him to business class and he left. Meanwhile, the guy in front of me was freaking out because his seat and the one next to it had no power of any kind. "This is rediculous for a 12 hour flight!!!" He wanted an upgrade to first or something big, and they all looked concerned as they told him they couldn't do that. Then they upgraded some other guy, and so they gave Cranky Pants an isle seat a few rows up. This caused the guy across the isle from me to start plotting to get that seat so he could put this mother next to her daughter. The mother had a crappy middle seat in one of those five people rows, so nobody wanted her spot, including me. The flight attendants all came over and heard the story, explained to the guy how the seat had no power, none, nada, zip, zilch, zero, and that this meant it didn't even have a light. He was still willing, but alas, the seat had since been assigned to some other poor unsuspecting fool who had most likely also just gotten "upgraded" from steerage class. When he arrived, the flight attendants tried hard to persuade him that his seat was so powerless that amiddle seat (the mom's) was better, but he was so tired from the struggle to get his seat anyway, and his whole family was also split up, and he just didn't want to move. Then the attendant told him this meant there wasn't even a light (which apparently the gy didn't infer out of the long no-power explanation, and then he started to look very troubled. At this point it occured to me that the kid next to me now was actually related to this guy, and so I offered to switch with him, take the broken seat, and have some peace. The flight attendant asked me if I was sure and explained to me in detail how broken and miserable that seat was, but I assured him it was ok, and we made the switch. This made the dad and son happy. I felt a little bad for the mom and daughter, but figured that was the other guys problem and he could take her center seat if he really felt bad, which he apparently didn't. My new neighbor turned out to be nice, quiet, helpful, and we chatted just a little bit, which was perfect. I slept through most of the time the plane was dark, and then we opened the blinds a crack and read for the last hour or two.

Phew! We made it! London is maaavelous daaaling. I love it here, and am glad I brought so many shoes (I think 12 pair), because none of them were meant for doing serious walking in and I can only wear them one day each. I am on my third pair. Today I thought I would do my feet a delicioud favor and where my flip flops, the only whoes I own with no heels. But on the way out of my room I managed to ram the 500lb. door into my toe. OUCH!

So far we have had delicious food, seen the British Museum, and visited Hyde Park and St. James Park. I have taken millions of pictures of assorted wild fowl, and a few of actual British things, or more accurately, things the British stole from other people in the name of science...or something. Mom was fairly uninterested in Buckingham palace so we lingered there for a whole 2 minutes. Today, we're having tea and then who knows what.

Today I got my legs waxed for the first time in my life. I'm not quite sure what inspired me, but I decided I should do it. It wasn't so bad, so my mom decided to get her's done too. She wasn't very happy with me afterwards. Apparently I have very fine hair and so it's less painful for me. Oops. But now we have smooth legs and I am less afraid of waxing. I really am a girl! My only regret is that I didn't come out with amazing legs like this chick. Maybe next time.

Hurray for family team voting!!!

I filled out my parents' absentee ballots today, as I read the candidate's paragraphs to them and sought advice. I find the whole process of local elections silly because you have to decide based on teeny paragraphs. Worse still, many candidates don't have paragraphs at all, and so you have to make a decision based arbitrary factors.

A sample:

Me: OK, these three guys are running for Superior Court Judge in the county and they were all lawyers.
Dad: What types of law did they practice?
Me: "Attorney", "lawyer in Santa Clara County", and "attorney at law".
Dad: Um...
Me: Yeah, and none of them are women or minorites, and they list no party affiliations either.
Me: How about we each just vote for one?
Dad: Sounds good!

Sample 2:

Me: Uh oh. What do we do? They are both democrats, both women, and both named the same thing.
Me: Wait, their names are spelled different.
Dad: Spell them.
Me: Deborah and Debra.
Dad: Pick Deborah. Debra sounds lazy.
Me: OK, but let's read their paragraphs first.
Me: Uh-oh. Deborah helped write prop 82 (evil prop that would tax the rich an additional 1.7% annually to send other fairly rich kids to public pre-school with standaradized testing.)
Dad: No way, then. Vote for Debra.

We had to vote for prop 81, the bond measure to raise money for libraries because the con argument said a no vote will force the spend-happy legislators in Sacramento to stop wasting $9 billion on welfare for illegal immigrants if they want to pay for the libraries. Need I say more?

My favorite part though, is that my mom is still a registered Republican because we wanted her to be able to vote for McCain in the primaries back in 2000, so we wouldn't have to pick between Bush and Gore. As a result, in the primaries she always has to vote for the republicans. I discovered it is very hard to pick a favorite republican. It's really more about picking our least favorite Republican. One guy stands out in my mind, because he wanted to help stop illegal immigration because it would save us billions in prison costs for rapists, murderers and sex-offenders. Nice, huh?

This is why I can't go into politics.

Summer update:

So far this summer I have met with a criminal defense attorney, a superior court judge from Santa Clara County, A partner from a large law firm, and a deputy DA. Each meeting has caused me to reconsider my career path, and I think I have come to the realization that I don't want to go into politics anymore. Yes, I know, this seems odd, but I just can't live in Sacramento for years and years, and I don't want to move all the way to DC. I love the Bay Area. The people here are reasonable and moderate. The weather is perfect. I am an hour from the beach, Gurudev, my parents, and some of my best friends all live here. Furthermore, I just get too into political things. My mind gets all agitated and stressed, and everything feels so monumentally important. I need a job that is less absorbing than that. I think I want to go to work for a firm for a few years, and if I feel the need to move on I can become a deputy DA. Those in Santa Clara County are the best paid in the state, they only work 40 hours a weeks when not in trial, and they are civil servant, so that can't be fired just because a new DA is elected. It's perfect really.

Last week I decided to sell Ce Ce, the little Peruvian Paso that we got for my mom but no one rides. I have been out at the barn everyday since, grooming, lunging, etc. and I feel so happy. I don't spend all day on the couch, and subsequently eat a lot less. This caused me to start thinking about getting a horse I could do some dressage on while in law school. I was thinking quarter horse or haflinger, and then Lisa said I should get a haflinger and she knew one that is for sale. So, last Thursday I road a horse for the first time since I don't know when, and it was soooooooo nice. My whole body was tired for the rest of the day, and my shoulders and thighs were killing me the next day, but I have spent every moment since then thinking about whether I could pull it off and still do law school. I miss riding so much, and even thought it hurts, I am getting worse just from all the sitting I do in law school. So why not hurt and get to ride instead? My mother has decided it is a good idea for my mental health and so she has started to work on dad. I am out of it now, and just trying to get everything done before I head out for England on the 17th.


On Friday I went to the sprint car races for the first time in years. It was dusty and loud and so fun to be there again. Rick, and old friend of sorts happened to sit one row behind me, so we chatted for a bit. Then Lisa and I cursed BK, our favorite driver, she wanted someone to flip, and I wanted them to flip over the wall, and then BK did. I try and rationalize it as his karma for steering into the guy who made BK get a false start. Bad, BK, bad. At any rate, it was a very exciting flip, and BK was OK, and he has another car, so I think it all worked out in the end.


Raven tried to kill Daisy the other day, and Phoebe got involved, and Bailey was barking them on. I pried all the dogs off and they went along for about 200 more feet, but Daisy continued to bite a raven's ankles, and so the fight renewed. It was awful. Again, I pried them off, handed crazy Phoebe off to my dad, and took Raven to get a leash. We've decided that Daisy officially needs another home. She is so great, but she is also absolutely fixated on Raven. She has had two years to adjust, but things are as violent as ever. She could hardly walk that night, poor thing. So the search is on for a family with no other dogs, so that Daisy can be happy and Raven can have some peace.