Day 5: What’s London To You?

Oh, dear Internet, how much there is that I want to share with you that my drooping eyelids just won’t let me. It’s a funny and inconvenient phenomenon, but it seems that it’s always the times that I’m most busy that I have the most I want to do; the most I can let myself be distracted with. I suppose that’s because busyness gets my brain active on multiple levels, whereas when I’m on vacation and actually have time to write on all manner of thing my brain slows to a slow…just a second; Thesaurus…circumgyration. Yes. No. Whatever. It gets lazy.

That said, I intend to be productive this Christmas (never mind that I’ve said the exact same thing before all the major breaks in the past few years and have generally failed). The surroundings will stimulate me. And I have a list of topics to flesh out that’s longer than…well, let’s put it this way for digital era’s sake, the scroll bar’s getting awfully short.

I think I did a lot today. I think I can go to sleep feeling satisfied in my usage of this day’s time allotment (that is, after watching an episode of Spooks, a show I’ve really gotten into recently – how do I get it? Well, that’s quite a valuable piece of information that I do  happen to be planning to divulge to you, just not tonight. I’ve got plenty of other websites for you tonight). I went to a new church, I was my usual critical self but tried to suppress it and found myself pleasantly moved; I worked on my essay and, despite once again having collected far too much information, got about halfway through shaping a considerably more concise outline; I felt my brain getting frazzled so I decided to try to make some Christmas decorations out of sweets wrappers; I watched Ryan Higa’s “medium film” on YouTube; I sent more requests out to CouchSurfers; I once again participated in a valiant effort but disappointing result at the weekly Pub Quiz. Curse you, Mr. Flibbles. But I’m not gonna go into any of that right now, except to ask what you think of upside-down trees. Don’t try to make sense of it, just answer. All shall be revealed in Chapter 33.

Oh, before we go on, you need some music, don’t you? Well, you shouldn’t, seeing as I already told you about Spotify and Pandora and even how you can cheat the system to get them where you shouldn’t, but regardless here’s a gold nugget to accompany your reading:

No, instead of talking about my day which may or may not have anything to do with you or interest you, I’m going to be selfish and ask something of you. But I’ll trade you for it. Here are the websites I’ve found related to exploring London (and possibly other places) for cheap. Have at it.

• http://www.generatorhostels.com/ – I’ve never stayed in a hostel, but that’s going to change this month. Some of them are honestly dirt cheap. Probably for good reason. But that’s what reviewing systems are for.
• http://www.hostelworld.com/ – If any of you have hostel experience, tell me what to watch out for, that would be great.
• http://walkit.com/ – I do a lot of walking exploration. It usually ends up being more than I originally intended, and much less on the beaten path. But it reveals a wealth of seld0m-seen sights. I suppose it’s worth mentioning at this point that if any of you are looking to tour Shinjuku, I spent the better part of last year getting acquainted with all its nooks and crannies, so be my guest (next summer).
• http://londonforfree.net/ – This has been a rubbish list explanation, hasn’t it? I’ve just talking the entire time. But I figured it was safe to assume most of these sites are self-explanatory from the URLs. What do you think this one’s about?
• http://www.visitthecity.co.uk/ – And of course the official website is useful, too. I like how it’s just “the city”. As if there’s only one important city in all of the UK. Oh, wait…haha. (Oo, did you see the quote at the top of the London For Free page? Love it!)

Okay, that’s what I’ve found so far and it’s yours for the taking. But I need your help. Websites are useful to a point (I chose two fantastic universities on the strength of online information alone) but an inside perspective would be even better. So what should I see in London? How’s the best way to go about it? What are the nook-and-cranny places that no one knows about but you? And even if you’ve never been, what are some perceptions of London that you’d like me to prove or disprove? I’ll take all suggestions; I’m there for more than two weeks, after all.

I’ll also be in Manchester for a chunk of January, so I guess all these questions apply to there too. What’s Manchester famous for, other than Old Trafford? Really don’t know, come to think of it. It’s the third largest city in the UK, below Birmingham, I believe. Know absolutely nothing about Birmingham.

Okay, I’m gonna go get my daily dosage of espionage now, but thanks for sticking with me this far. The pace is picking up and things will soon be developing faster than either of us can handle.

See ya!

Day 4: Doing Much And Achieving…Well, Doing Much.

Okay, just a refresher for the sake of me and my readers on why I’m going to blog every single day of December: I’ve got a feeling a lot of big things are going to happen in it that will change me inside and outside for, probably, the rest of my life, and I want to document all that happens and all that I think and do for future reference and reminiscing. Seems that could be applied to all the writing I do, come to think of it – just replace ‘this Christmas’ with ‘my life’. Documentation. And the really neat thing is that I can change the date of publication on this blog, so even if I’m a bit late one night; say, I’m publishing around 2 am, I can still flip it back to the day it’s about. Tehe. Which is a real saving grace for me, seeing as I’m so lazy about these things (blogging every day will be good for me simply in that it’s a daily commitment, too).

I’d like to claim that I was busy today, and maybe I was, but it’s such a relative term, isn’t it? In the eyes of someone who clocks in 9 to 5, 5 days a week, like a businessman (because we live in such a business-oriented world; saw an interesting video today, check it out and may ye be productive-itised), I was not busy today – apart from going to the gym in the morning (which was open again, yay) I sat in my pyjamas reading and staring at my computer screen for the better part of the day. But on the other hand I did a lot of things; I progressed in my essay research and writing, though not as much as I’d hoped to (I never do); I did some interacting with friends and became involved in a potentially exciting- no, scratch that, I’m excited about it right now – project which may eventually reach public domain, but for now, just forget I said anything, I was just trying to add things to the list of what I did today; I hooked my site up to Facebook which resulted in a massive influx of visitors, completely thanks to all you, cheers cheers; and…I sent my first CouchRequest. Wow. That sentence had waaay too many commas.

I know I’ve talked about food and munching a lot recently, and I promise I’ll try to cut back after tonight (on the talking and the munching, I fear I’ve overdone the Christmas spirit a bit – that is until I cook up some delish cookies, or whatever you call them here). But do you remember that bit of conversation in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol about the connection of food and dreams? Don’t worry if you don’t, our dear friend Mr. Internet has conveniently supplied it for us (and if you have the time the full text can be found here).

“You don’t believe in me,” observed the Ghost [of Marley].

“I don’t.” said Scrooge.

“What evidence would you have of my reality, beyond that of your senses?”

“I don’t know,” said Scrooge.

“Why do you doubt your senses?”

“Because,” said Scrooge, “a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats.  You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.  There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then.  The truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a means of distracting his own attention, and keeping down his terror; for the spectre’s voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones.

…

“You see this toothpick?”  said Scrooge, returning quickly to the charge, for the reason just assigned; and wishing, though it were only for a second, to divert the vision’s stony gaze from himself.

“I do,” replied the Ghost.

“You are not looking at it,” said Scrooge.

“But I see it,” said the Ghost, “notwithstanding.”

“Well!” returned Scrooge, “I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation.  Humbug, I tell you!  humbug!”

This passage has stuck with me more than any other from that story, though it is fantastic in its entirety, as is Dickens. And I’ve found it to be true; when one snacks, particularly right before falling asleep, one is plagued through each successive sleep cycle with all manner of strange dreams. Some people claim to never remember their dreams; I typically remember fragments, and sometimes am inclined to write them down in hopes of fashioning some meaning from them, but lately have not been so inclined. It’s just weirdness. Partially enjoyable while in them but mostly just colliding illustrations of the random things I think during the day.

I could go on and on about both sleep and dreams, but I won’t; for now I’ll leave it at that I should stop eating so late at night (though I’m eating right now, mm, Velvety Caramel Chocolate Shortcake. Wow. I’m a pig. Last time I went shopping I told my friend that I was only buying all these sweets because of the occasion, that I do it no other time of the year, and he told me I say that every time we go shopping. Ouch. True. But I’m a firm believer in exercise!)

And I sent my first couchsurfing request today; two, actually. I meant to send out a bunch tonight, but, as you no doubt know, time gets away from one when one is occupied with so many concerns of varying importance. (I think even just that taster of Dickens did something to my language…)

It’s quite weird, asking a complete stranger if you can stay over. I could be doing it wrong, but I think the inherent nature of radical ideas is that it takes a while to get used to. That’s alright. We could all stand for a little more non-conventional interaction. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of these, because even if I don’t end up staying with the people I contact, I may still be able to meet up with them, possibly get some tours, and network! the sacrosanct activity of the modern era.

That’s about enough for tonight, isn’t it? Thank you so much for stopping by once again, and definitely remember that you can always tell me if you want to hear about something I’m not talking about enough (hard as it may be to imagine me not talking about something enough).

And may all your Internet trawlings be jolly. (Oo! I learned the difference between holly and mistletoe today too! Okay. Stop talking.)

-Brad