London

One very important thing I learned in London. Never; Get completely inebriated, eat enough chocolate to go into a sugar induced comma, and then stay awake the whole time your body recovers from the debauchery.

London, like most big cities, is a pretty amazing place. It has a melange of colorful people running around all over the place going about their busy lives, it has cafes on every corner in the tourist areas which make excellent lattes, it has art galleries, it has a thriving music scene, etc... Well worth checking out, and definitely worth your money. London is unique to these other big cities though, because it shuts down at night. It actually sleeps. Which could be good and bad depending on how you look at it. For me, I just wanted to stay out all night but couldn't, because the night buses are a pain in the ass to deal with. It was also annoying when Stina and I needed a place to store our bags.

I was greatly inspired (as I usually am) by the Art galleries that I went to. They were not quite as good as the ones in NY, but I still liked them a good amount. My favorite kind of art I think is by far French impressionism painting. I feel it captures life most accurately, or at least in the most visually pleasing way. I bought a sketchbook and have started attempting to rekindle my talent for art I had when I was about 5 years old.

Even though I had a great time, it was still kind of lonely. My host sister (Stina) is grumpy 75% of the time, and when she's grumpy, she's possibly one of the most unpleasant people to be around on the face of this planet. Maybe it's me who needs to change, but the majority of our time was spent in silence (the void mostly being filled with Stina's grumpy vibes which are about as pleasant as a dead cat). The trip actually made me a little homesick. But it was interesting, because for the first time, My house in Sollentuna felt like a second home. I was a little bit homesick for Sweden. I never thought that would happen! I drank one metric assload of coffee while I was there, most cups of which were very good, but would have been better if I'd had someone to talk to. Although, my alone time was not completely wasted. I had a lovely time trying to get the pretty waitresses to come talk to me. Some of which i was successful with. I was also tempted to invite them out for a drink, but then I remembered that I would be with the grumpapotomous later who might not take kindly to strangers. It was very nice to be able to approach people, which is the thing I think is the general thing I miss most about the Bay Area. I was able to look at someone across the tube from me, smile, and not be labeled as a rapist in that person's mind.

I discovered somehting about myself. Even if it doesn't really have any practical use in life. I really like to look at people. The human form really interests me. I also really love sitting in cafes. I spent about 3 hours at this one cafe doing a combination of reading, watching people walk by, and debating whether to ask the ridiculously good looking Italian (I tried to channel you Emmett) waitress who made me an excellent cappucino and talked to me briefly.

And how could I not talk about how amazing and trippy it was to hang out with Rees at a pub on Halloween. I've known the guy since I was around 5 or 6, and I share a birthday with him, and then I met him in London on October the 31st no less. He seems to be someone who will continually be popping in and out of my life for as long as it lasts. And I have no complaints about it whatsoever.