so it was actually quite a busy weekend for us, considering that our usual friday to monday schedule generally involves doing as little as humanly possible. friday night we met our friends emma and dave for drinks to welcome them home from their own round-the-world trip. we’d met them as travel mates on our uyuni salt flats excursion starting in chile, and ended up travelling in parallel with them for about three weeks up through peru (including witnessing the horrific accident together). we compared stories, moaned about their enviable tans, and in spite of drinking inadvisable quantities of wine and prosecco, i was actually feeling surprisingly fine on saturday morning (though that can’t say anything good about the state of my liver). i got up, went out to get bagels and eggs, made breakfast and coffee, considered going for a run a bit later in the afternoon.

and then bam! at one o’clock a massive migraine hit. this is the return of a very disturbing trend, and in spite of jonno’s incessant teasing, i know it was a migraine because i don’t get funny visual effects with just a plain garden-variety hangover. i was incapacitated for most of the afternoon, but rallied in the evening (assisted with a small overdose of ibuprofen) for dinner at chris and ton’s house. funny how the prospect of a home-cooked meal can make getting up from the couch so much more enticing. ordinarily, evenings at chris and ton’s end when chris starts going through his extensive wine collection and drunkenly opening bottles at random, while we start swilling it like water. luckily it was one of our rarer and more sedate evenings and i managed to steer clear of most alcohol and escape unharmed.

so i was feeling good sunday morning, when i woke up at a lazy hour, went for a run, and was in the shower thinking about breakfast and a relaxing afternoon when jonno burst into the bathroom.

“do you know anything about meeting muriel at baker street at noon?”

shit!! shitshitshitshitshit!

i dash out of the shower, and start running around the house, wet and naked, yanking on the nearest clothes, yelling “tell her we’ll be there in an hour!”

my aunt muriel, as I’ve mentioned here before, is my grandfather’s cousin, and my only relative here in the u.k. she’s a garrulous old bird in her mid 70s, and lives up near oxford, where we dutifully visited her for an overcooked sunday dinner and sherry every few months. she’d wanted to meet up with us since we returned from our travels, but now that we no longer have a car, agreed to come meet us in london for lunch. i’d made the plans, written them in my diary… and completely plumb forgot.

understandably, poor muriel, after taking the bus all the way down to london, sitting in the cold for a half hour and being stood up, was not all that interested in waiting around for another hour for our inexcusably late arrival, and graciously agreed to try again another day as I apologized profusely.

meanwhile, i’d barely had time for a sigh of relief and to dry off properly when, not three minutes later, my friend kim popped by for an impromptu visit – something i have always been encouraging her to do, but which only a few minutes earlier would have resulted in her witnessing my wet and frenzied racing about like a madwoman. however we had an enjoyable chat over coffee, as I tried to slow my heart rate from all the earlier excitement, and she was thoughtful enough to drop off a cool little travel book for us as well.

after that, the bulk of the afternoon was taken up with grocery shopping (read: me forcibly dragging j through the grocery store) and noodling on the computer, until later that evening we headed over to kerryn and tracey’s place for our traditional weekend dinner and videos date. kerryn flexed his culinary muscles with roasted sea bass with chorizo, and we watched the inane “my super ex-girlfriend”. (yes, i managed to stay awake.)

so that’s what our eventful weekend looked like – food, drink, friends, frenzy and a healthy portion of humble pie.

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in the past 24 hours, i have lost my wallet, my brand new work swipecard, and a receipt for the £40 ticket I bought trying to get from Birmingham to London (which I need to get reimbursed from work)

in the past 24 hours, both my wallet and my swipecard were found and returned to me. the world is full of good samaritans, i tell ya’.

however, i am going to start stapling things to my forehead if this trend continues!

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this is what happens when I don’t check my emails… anyone got tickets to the sold out “arcade fire” gig at the brixton academy?

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the arcade fire

According to the Blogosphere (and y’all know how reliable *that* is!), it’s National De-lurking Week (which nation? who knows? who cares?)

interesting concept, though. anyone want to de-lurk? any sneaky readers out there? i promise i don’t bite!

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national de-lurking week

Happy bloggiversary to me! Jen’s Den is officially 3 years old today. Though I love that there are a small handful of regular readers, y’all know I don’t do it for you – but I do very much appreciate everyone who reads and comments. Youz guyz make the internetz much more fun to hang out in.

Good things still to come ahead – so stick around.

On an entirely different topic, the nfl playoffs start this weekend, and my beloved patriots face off against the hated nj jets.

go pats!

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bloggiversary

my husband is trying to divorce me – at least that’s the message i get from the fact that this is the 3rd time he’s tried to lose his wedding ring.

we were in datong, china, in this tiny little hellhole of a hotel room when it first happened. very suddenly, he realised it was no longer on his finger, and we searched, panicked, high and low to no avail. finally i remembered him digging deep in his rucksack and suggested it might have fallen off in there. luckily he found it at the bottom of the pack, and we breathed a sigh of relief.

turns out his fingers seem to have lost weight (though the rest of him has stayed the same!) when i first bought the ring, we’d had to have it re-sized smaller, and now it seemed like it needed to go smaller yet again. his amazing shrinking fingers were trying to shed the ring like a snake shedding a skin.

i suggested to j that he wrap a plaster around the back of it to keep it snug, but he didn’t like that suggestion. i suggested he just wear it on his right hand (with bigger fingers) until we got home to get it properly adjusted. he didn’t want to do that either. instead he went shopping and bought a cheap smaller “guard ring” to wear on top of it and keep it from slipping off.

that worked well – until the day he was in a public bathroom and they both fell off and the guard ring landed in the toilet. he didn’t bother retrieving the guard ring (surprisingly) and once again i suggested he wear it on his right hand until we got home, which he agreed to grudgingly.

since being home, however, he’s not yet gotten around to getting it adjusted – which wouldn’t bother me except that he still insists on trying to wear it on his left hand. several times i have noticed the ring back on his left hand, and moved it to his right ring finger, scolding him that he’d lose it if he didn’t get it re-sized first.

so this morning, as i was grabbing my bag from the coat rack on the way out the door, what did I see winking at me from the corner of the floor? his ring.

so i’m conducting a little experiment. he never reads my blog, even though he always *claims* he does, so if he actually reads this here his fears will be allayed knowing i have the ring safe and sound. but if he doesn’t read it here (and i am presuming he won’t) i’m curious to see how long it takes him to ‘fess up to losing it, yet again. anyone care to take a guess?

our anniversary is coming up soon – guess what i’ll be getting done for him as a gift?

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a lot of the time, i’m a really sucky londoner – i rarely leave my little zone of work/home lately, and i almost never make it across the river into north london.

but there were two instances recently where i realised how much i’ve limited myself. first, we had dinner plans with friends down at gabriel’s wharf the other evening. they were a bit late arriving, and it was one of those really mild but windy nights that feel so invigorating your feet start to tingle. so we walked around the south bank, people watching, looking at all the lovely lights, listening to the water. i was so annoyed i didn’t have my camera with me because the christmas lights, and st. paul’s illuminated against the night sky, and the restaurants aglow were all so beautiful i just wanted to capture them. and i remembered other winter nights long ago, when i used to come down to the south bank, and how much i enjoyed it then. i’m not sure how or why i forgot to come down there anymore, but it made me sad that i let it drift away from me.

then again, today. i’d decided i needed to start taking my lunch hour and just get out of the office for some air (which i never do). so i walked across vauxhall bridge and wandered up past the tate museum, past gorgeous stately buildings and riverside gardens. i walked all the way up to the houses of parliament and westminster abbey, and it occurred to me that i hadn’t been near them in years probably. there was a shiny cold afternoon sun beaming down on the golden spires, and a stiff breeze coming off the water, and i had some amazing music playing on the ipod, and it struck me once again just how much i’ve taken london for granted lately. how little effort i put into taking part of this city i live in. the london eye was towering proudly and the graceful arch of bridges seemed to be keeping the two sides of the city from floating apart. there were buses and boats gliding by, and even the green monstrosity of the mi5 building and the looming hulk of the battersea power station seemed to claim their place in the landscape. i hadn’t bothered to pause and appreciate these things for ages – and it has been my loss. i’ve worked in the same location for a year, and never once explored what was at the doorstep.

i need to make the effort – because one day i won’t live here anymore, and you can’t miss what you don’t remember.

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Just for the hell of it…

What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?
Too many things to list, so much of this year was a brand new adventure.

Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Hellz no. I leave things behind in the year past and look forward to the year to come. Anything else is a waste of time.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Vanessa, Alex, and Nicola all had babies this year – must’ve been something in the water!

Did anyone close to you die?
Thank god, no. Please not this year either. J’s grandfather died while we were away.

What places did you visit?
Well, since you asked … China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Costa Rica – strange lands and exotic experiences galore!

What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
Money. And some willpower would not go amiss.

What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory?
15 April – the day we got on the plane to leave. 4 Sept – the day a traumatic accident unfolded right before our eyes. 16 October – the day we got off the plane home.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Beating J for the title of “Least Likely to Get Dodgy Tummy”! I’m gonna have a plaque made and hang it in the lounge. Also, not bludgeoning my husband with a thick “Lonely Planet”. That deserves honorary mention.

What was your biggest failure?
Failing to exercise. Like, at all. I spent most of the year on hiatus. Any exercise was completely accidental.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
No, thank god, given my natural klutziness. I thought for sure I was gonna tumble off the Great Wall of China and land in Mongolia, and J did get a scary fever in Laos where I had visions of bundling him on a plane back to Bangkok. But the most use the first aid kit got was J dipping into the Immodium stash.

What was the best thing you bought?
My travel towel – that thing rocks.

Whose behaviour merited celebration?
J’s – for putting up with my shit, day in, day out. The boy deserves a medal.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Every fucking politician I can think of.

Where did most of your money go?
Bus tickets

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The aforementioned RTW trip. Isn’t it obvious, given that I mention it every second sentence??

What song(s) will always remind you of 2006?
Anything Jack Johnson. In every single backpackers we stayed at.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder? Happier
Thinner or fatter? I decline to answer
Richer or poorer? Poorer in money, richer in a million other ways

What do you wish you’d done more of?
Travel. And sex. More sex is always good.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying about money, and haggling. I suck at haggling.

What was the best book you read?
Goodness, I can’t remember the best, but I certainly remember a lot of bad ones. English books are scarce on the ground in China!

What did you want and get?
The trip of a lifetime. But that was through a lot of hard work.

What did you want and not get?
A winning lottery ticket.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Nothing. Really. It was a great year.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
“Five Easy Outfits”. I wore variations of the same five things every single day of the week. High fashion takes up too much room for a rucksack.

What kept you sane?
Who says I was sane?

What political issue stirred you the most?
The midterm elections stirred me like I haven’t been stirred in a long time.

Who did you miss?
Everyone we left behind.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
Wherever you go, there you are.

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new year, meme

our friends kim and andy are back in north america for the holidays, and while they’re away, we are watching their cat maryann for them.

i say we’re watching her “for them”, but truth be told, it’s really for us. i’ve always been a devoted pet owner my entire life (both dogs and cats), and have really struggled with not having had any furry family around me since moving to london. i had a dog who i’d intended to bring over shortly after my move, but she passed away before she could make the trip – and ever since then i’ve not stayed put any one place long enough to really consider taking on the responsibility of caring for another little creature. but i’ve never *not* had a pet before, so until i have the opportunity to remedy that, i take every chance i get to lavish some affection on o.p.p. (other people’s pets).

where my pets were always cherished members of the immediate family (living indoors, sleeping in our bedroom, having run of the house), jonno grew up in south africa, where pets are generally viewed primarily as animals first. that means most live permanently outdoors, and often serve a functional purpose of guarding the property as well. i’m not implying they care less about their pets – just that they tend to view them from a different frame of reference than the typical western culture which caters to dogs and cats as though they were small children. so where we’ve often talked about getting a dog in the future, we both have fundamentally different philosophies on pet ownership.

i think maryann’s visit to our home, however, is quickly and radically altering j’s view. he’s never been around cats before, and the way he has immediately taken to maryann is really terribly amusing. where he initially tried to halfheartedly feign disinterest in what he calls “the walking furball”, his actions reveal a distinctly tender side. he’s become inordinately protective of her – when i grumpily kick her out of the room at 3:30 (!!) in the morning after she starts jumping on my head, he rushes to her defense. when i am more than 5 minutes late in preparing her dinner, he accuses me of being a meanie. when i involuntarily yelp after being pierced by a wayward claw as she scrambles into my lap, he tells me not to shout at her. the balance of favour is shifting dramatically – i’m last to get a good morning kiss and she is first to get a welcome when he returns home. he talks to her, cuddles her, and even sings to her. if it wasn’t so adorable, i’d be distinctly jealous.

so where he originally professed to dislike cats, clearly sweet maryann has managed to wrap his heartstrings around her little paw. as i look over and see him curled up with her on the couch, i have a feeling he’ll be loathe to see her leave. something tells me there’s a cat in our near future.

and all i can say is that if he’s this overattentive with cats – if i have to compete with such a little furball for his affections after only a few days – thank goodness we don’t have kids.

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one thing i find myself missing every year around this time is the christmas movies in the states which provide a kind of cinematic countdown to the big day. from thanksgiving to 25th december, there’s something for everyone, and everyone has their particular favourite – “a charlie brown christmas”, “how the grinch stole christmas” (animated original or jim carey remake), “a christmas story”, or the claymation “rudolph” (which ever fails to make me cry). these are all movies which evoke childhood holiday memories for me – but almost none of them are shown over here. there is no “miracle on 34th street”, no “white christmas” with bing’s classic song rendition, not even the very dickensian “a christmas carol“. i’ve heard tell of “its a wonderful life” being shown, but I’ve never actually seen it, so it remains unsubstanitated rumour. hell, i’d even settle for some recent xmas stinker, like “elf” or “the santa clause”.

no – these things are not a christmas tradition over here. what *are* christmas traditions include the christmas number one pop single (including songs like the ridiculously depressing “mad world”, the annual contribution from the ancientand laughable cliff richard, and hits by “bob the builder” and “mr. blobby” – and, i kid you not, they even bet on this at the bookies), the queen’s christmas day speech, and getting too pissed at the pub to make it to midnight mass.

no – i can’t watch “frosty the snowman”, but even as i type, jonno is watching terry pratchett’s “hogfather”. turtle worlds, death, and pigs. this is what passes for christmas season viewing in britain.

bah humbug.

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christmas movies

one of the best things about living in a big city is when you stumble across a piece of “neighbourhood”. a place that feels like it belongs at the heart of a small community, rather than a massive impersonal concrete jungle. it’s one of the little wonders that stand in such stark contrast to the rest of the everyday humdrum.

last night we went out with kerryn and tracey for a pre-christmas christmas dinner, since they leave in a few days for their ski holiday. we had a tough time deciding where to go, because around this time of year everything popular is jam-packed. in the end we decided to meet at a local little italian restaurant, just up the street from where we used to live in tooting broadway. a work colleague of mine lives in that direction as well, and had mentioned this place to me several times as a nearby hangout, where everyone knows the owners, and during new year’s eve the restaurant stays open all night for the regulars to party. for some reason, in spite of her recommendation, we never quite made it there in the 2 years we lived at our old flat.

and it was definitely our loss. when we sat down last night, the owner (an old world effusive little italian patriach) embraced me from behind and kissed my head, exclaiming, “bella!!” what better start to the evening can there be? we had a lovely bottle of prosecco to get in the festive spirit, and the food was to die for. it was nothing fancy or overly complicated – just some antipasti, pizzas and pastas (the best puttanesca sauce i’ve had in a long time), and an exquisite round of tiramisu and gelati. simple food done extremely well. the service was informal without being lazy or inattentive – italian phrases called round to the rest of the working famiglia, welcoming hugs for old faces, and enthusiasm for new customers which was genuine and unforced. extra loud choruses for someone’s birthday. granddad behind the bar working the cappucino machine. complimentary limoncellos to accompany our desserts. a surprisingly small bill at the end of the evening, and wishes for a merry christmas floating after us as we parted.

j and i walked home to digest, and could not stop talking about it. so often in london, it’s all too easy to leave a restaurant or bar feeling far poorer for the experience rather than richer. to find fault with the service or food or value. i can’t recall the last time i felt truly valued as a patron, rather than just a walking wallet. so when you find yourself basking in the afterglow of a good meal, and a warmhearted feeling that lasts long after the limoncellos have worn off, it’s a lovely reminder of the gems that do exist in the nooks and crannies of this city, if only you make the effort to find them.

and then keep them to yourself, so as not to spoil the secret.

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oooh a big old box of halloweeny goodness from my sister! (yes, she sent this aaaaggess ago…)

that’s love.

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poor misguided souls: a recap of the year’s funniest google searches leading to my blog

- bangladeshi sexy bitch
- head over heels video tears for fears “red sox”
- “images of dead bodies” “effects”
- le peep french toast recipe
- picture of a person holding a mobile phone standing in front of a vending machine
- genteel jaunts
- is uranus got life? and why
- sweaty rubber bloomer stories (??!!)
- if my boyfriend is deported from the uk how can he come back to the uk
- “bob hunter” “home of the wren”
- uk or united kingdom or british, tattooed tits
- the needle chairlift isle of wight
- fucking african immigrants
- organisational structure of ASDA WAL*MART
- porn blow job clips

a) how disappointed were *they* ?!? i almost feel bad for people looking for porn who stumble across my ranting
b) clearly i need to stop using such smutty language…

resolution for the new year!

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google search terms

goodness! looks like we travelled at just the right time because there’s been a wake of unrest in many of the countries we passed through. coup in thailand, coup in fiji, violence and protest in bolivia, and now violence and protest in chile.

and before we left, I was trying to convince my mum that everywhere we were headed was perfectly safe.

it’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

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well it had to happen sometime: after 8 blissful months, I am back at work. and i think my brain is officially fried – it was a whirlwind day of meetings and getting caught up to speed. it’s been ages since i had to concentrate for more than 3 minutes at a stretch, and now it feels like there’s raging thunder inside my head and i’m knackered.

on the plus side, getting paid will be a nice change of pace!

and bless j, who must’ve realised there was no way i was cooking tonight – he brought home roasted chicken, potato salad and ciabatta rolls for dinner. mmmmm. what a nice boy he is!

better blogging tomorrow, I promise.

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in an effort to branch out a bit, i’ll be contributing on a weekly basis to “shortcut – a european city and travel blog”, writing about city life/events from a london perspective. check it out if you get a chance – should be interesting! (and feel free to mention ideas or events you think would make for good blogging!)

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last night, j and i headed over to K&T’s place, for what has quickly become a weekend tradition of dinner and rental movies. sometimes it’s held at our place, more often it’s at theirs (what can I say – they have far more sofa space and a big telly!) sometimes it’s takeaway, sometimes it’s a home-cooked meal. wine and beer are consumed, and two videos are rented. and i take a serious ribbing for what i have come to call my “pavlovian movie response”. no, i don’t salivate to the sound of a bell – instead i fall asleep during movies.

now, oftentimes j and k have been in charge of procuring the movies, and given that they have the emotional mean age of 12 between them, this usually results in film selections from one of the following genres:

teen spoof movies with only the thinnest thread of a plot as a device for bathroom humour, slapstick comedy, and more bathroom humour. there are whole series of sequels involved with names like “i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-on-another-teen-date-while- meeting-the-parents-and-eating-american-pie-part-2″.

horror movies (and associated sequels) with only the thinnest thread of a plot as a device for gore, psychological tricks and gruesome special effects. screaming weak girls running around in skimpy outfits and bloody torture. none of which puts us off our dinner, of course.

hollywood comic-book action hero blockbusters, and associated sequels/prequels. Superman, spiderman, batman, X men, etc. movies 1 through 12. superpowers and villians interchangable as the principle protagonist has to save the world from destruction.

none of these kinds of movies are my particular cup of tea, so to be perfectly honest, i generally don’t mind sleeping right through them. after a big meal and several glasses of wine, i’m happy to curl up on the couch with my head in jonno’s lap and drift off as i lose interest. i awake just in time to head home.

the problem is, however, that it has become such an ingrained response, such a habitual pattern, that i now find myself unable to stay awake *even during movies i want to watch*. last week i finally got a chance to pick a movie, so i was excited to see the latest coen brothers flick “romance and cigarettes” out on dvd. i was enjoying the usual offbeat dialogue and musical tangents of ethan and joel’s wacky film for only 10 minutes before i found my chin hitting my chest. the previous week we’d rented the “inside man”, a denzel-icious bank caper film which looked reasonably well done, and i again fell asleep in spite of myself. i mean, if denzel can’t keep my eyes open, there’s something wrong, right?

it’s become immensely frustrating because not only do i have to suffer the jokes and ribbing about my movie narcolepsy, but also because i can’t seem to stay awake even through force of will. i drowsed my way through film after film, and i was beginning to despair of ever seeing a whole movie again.

this weekend, however i managed to lick it. using various techniques (sitting away from jonno’s comfortable cuddle, limiting myself to only one glass of wine, keeping good posture) i managed to maintain alert attention through not only one, but two halves of the double feature. inordinately proud of myself, i knew i’d accomplished something special when even k joked that i’d managed to stay up with the rest of the grown-ups.

so i’m hopeful that my rem reflex is now a thing of the past. that i can be sure of seeing how the movie ends, and not just begins. that i can follow a story from start to finish without involuntarily leaving for la-la-land.

now if only i could do something about j and k’s puerile cinematic taste.

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movies

“as good as it gets” is on. i love this movie, and at the same time, it makes me a little sad. they filmed huge chunks of this on my old street in windsor terrace, park slope, brooklyn. in fact, we watched them film the early morning bakery scene at the next corner from our apartment building, and the bar scene at the pub across from our door. the outside scenes of helen hunts house were around the corner from us.

so it makes me incredibly nostalgic. i loved that neighbourhood, that apartment, more than anyplace else i’ve ever lived in my life. it’s what i still think of when i think of some of my happiest, most comforting moments. my park, my bagel place, my pizza joint, my movie theatre. that was *my* neighbourhood. that was *me*. it was a perfect fit, as good as it gets – and even 8 years later, i regret having moved away.

but at least i get to see it on t.v.

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movie, brooklyn, as good as it gets, park slope

thanksgiving dinner was lovely – amity made a wonderful dinner with all the traditionals (gorgeous turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and glazed carrots) and I brought pumpkin and apple pie for dessert. good company, good food – it really felt like home away from home.

the only downer was having to keep the wine to a minimum, as i had an interview this morning for my old post and didn’t want to be muzzy-headed. i got the job (hooray!) so, (sadly) i’ll soon be back in the world of gainful employment. j will be thrilled – i think there must be nothing worse than having to get up early and face the cold wet morning while your spouse gets to stay snuggled up warm in bed. let’s just say he’s not been entirely successful at hiding his bitterness.

i’ll be back at work just in time for the department christmas ‘do, as my boss pointed out. i’ve been blocking the creeping approach of christmas from my mind, but now that thanksgiving is past, the merry season is well and truly underway. it started far too early here, with lights, decorations and adverts beginning weeks ago now. i’m even less enthusiastic than usual because this will be a rather spare christmas – the “family” are all headed off to snowboard or see relatives, and since we still haven’t got our financial feet back under us just yet, we’re not buying presents for each other. so it’ll be just the two of us with our thin cup of cheer. that sounds so very lonely.

i’ll also be another year older. 34 sounds dangerously close to “mid-thirties” and with each passing birthday, my mirror and mind are increasingly at odds with each other. add to that my usual patina of end-of-year wistfulness, and you begin to understand why i’m not looking forward to the next few weeks.

but even in the face of my determined maudlin musings, there is this: the annual blooming of my beloved christmas cactus. Like clockwork, its buds arrive to burst into vibrant colour just when it is greyest both outside and in. defying the clouds milling about in my head. tracey cared for it while we were away and proudly returned it to us when we got back. i love that little plant and it makes me happy to see that even in the winter bleakness, there are signs of renewal. something i need to bear in mind these days, and there’s nothing better than a beautiful flower as a reminder.

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we finally have our cable/phone/internet connected! life is good.

in other news, there’s something wonky going on with my web server – sorry if the site has been down at all

i’m so thrilled to be able to get my podcasts once again! i love podcasts and am quite addicted to them. to me it’s like being able to read a newspaper, flick through a magazine, watch a television programme, or tune into radio. and the best part is it’s all completely portable, customised, and i can do it while i’m running, on the tube, or falling asleep. my favourite podcasts are:

newsweek on air – the weekly podcast based on the news magazine

espn’s “pardon the interruption” – i love the t.v. show and this is it, in podcast form. lets me get my daily sports fix.

slate’s political gabfest and daily explainer podcasts – really, just love anything and everything slate.com churns out. always insightful, even when i vehemently disagree.

npr’s “wait, wait… don’t tell me” – the most hilarious newsquiz you’ll ever hear.

e! answer bitch – all gossip all the time.

science friday – great overview of interesting and serious science news

and finally, in celebration of connectivity, here’s a playlist – haven’t been able to put one out there for a while, so enjoy. just some fun, catchy tunes.

MP3 playlist (M3U)

feel good hits of the fall

podcast is here.

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anxiously awaiting the election results. (which won’t even begin to come in until midnightish here.)

because, you know, things *have* to start getting better. they just have to.

right?

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Unlike

midterm elections