Tired!

I found a photo that someone took of Canary Wharf at sunset from their office building. It's very similar to the view we got to enjoy from the train last weekend, so I thought I would post it!

We started up a game of Assassins here in the dorm, and now everyone is very paranoid that someone is after them. I have been very careful to use different bathrooms than normal and I haven't cooked anything in the kitchen since the game started. I have to cook tomorrow, but I have a pre-made chicken roast (I finally decided to buy one of the £3 whole chickens they sell at the grocery store, it's just too good of a bargain) that I figure I can toss in and check on every once in a while, minimizing my time spent in the actual kitchen at the mercy of my potential assassin. I refuse to be the first one killed! I plan on stalking my victim on Monday, as I have looked up his class schedule in the university time table...hahaha!

Today Maia asked me to come to a floorball game with her. I was a bit suspicious that she was just going to try to assassinate me, but after searching her pockets for "weapons" (aka clothespins) I agreed to go with her. She hadn't mentioned that it was for her real floorball club, and I can't really even play the sport let alone play against guys who have been doing it for years. But anyway! As we were running out the door (late), I saw that the books I ordered from Amazon had finally arrived! Whoo hoo! Unfortunately, being short on time I just left them and kept going. We took the underground as far south as we could and then we caught a real train further south, towards Clapham. Because the train was only traveling to Zone 2, my travel card let me on for free! South London gets a bad rap from people who live in North London, but it seemed fine to me. Besides having few and far between underground stations and possibly a lower average income per family, it was quite nice.

One of Maia's friends picked us up from the train station and then we drove to the rec center where practice was. We did some drills, sprints, butt kicks, etc, and I was ready to call it a day at that point (I'm so out of shape), but then we scrimmaged for about 90 minutes! Fortunately, we switched on and off frequently so I was able to catch my breath while I waited to go in again.

For those who are wondering, floorball is like the Nordic answer to floor hockey. It is almost the same except that there is a ball instead of a puck, and it is actually played in real leagues competitively, unlike floor hockey. I was probably the worst person there, and a few times I just ran around for my minute or two without actually touching the ball, but I scored once off of a nice setup, so at least I contributed something!

During the game my feet were kind of burning, probably because my shoes were too tight or too loose or something and when I pivoted quickly it hurt. Someone stepped on my toe while they were turning quickly and that really hurt too, but I ignored it. We walked to a pub after practice to have lunch and chat and I really did not enjoy the walk due to my toes' anger. The time at the pub was pretty fun. The team was pretty cool, and they asked me if I wanted to join but I couldn't afford it (£7 a practice, wooof! That's over £20 a week not including tournament fees). Still, I made some friends and I might go see them play just so I can hang out with them and Maia after the games, haha. One guy asked me if I would help him with usability tests on a website he and his friends are setting up in a month or so, and I said sure because it sounds like it will only be for a few afternoons. I need more experience in that type of thing and I can put it on my resume as "Usability advisor to XCompany.com," so that is cool. I will have to brush up on my accessibility reading materials, clearly, although I think for their purposes I may be knowledgeable enough to do an okay job.

I went home after the pub and stopped by the mailboxes to pick up my Amazon package, but it was gone! I figured someone had brought it up to my room, because people tend to do that here, but it wasn't at my room either! So someone in the dorm is enjoying my Asian Saga loose historical fiction, or a potential assassin has taken my package in order to gain the upper hand! I hope I get it back. So far we haven't had any trouble with mail getting stolen, so I am kind of cranky about this. All the packages for other people are still there! Sigh. They'd better turn up soon!

I got back to my room and I pulled off my socks and guess what! There was a reason why my toes hurt! My left big toe nail is all purple, and my right big toe nail is dark purple and oozing blood out the sides (you can even see blood under the skin behind the cuticle, towards the knuckle), so that is just fantastic! Maybe I need new shoes...this doesn't normally happen to me! I have a bad feeling my nail isn't going to make it....this is going to put me at a serious assassination disadvantage!

The weather here has been quite nice lately. I guess it is normally a bit colder, but most days it reaches around 50 degrees, although it is often cloudy, and at night it drops to around freezing. It never really "rains" here, although sometimes it will spit for a few minutes before slacking off. Serene and I went running outside one day up to a park near our house. It was probably around 45 degrees when we left although the temperature dropped while we were out. When we got to the top of the hill in the park, the sun was setting and some rain clouds were rolling in but we made it not only back to the house, but also back and forth from the grocery store before it even thought about raining!

Meaning, flowers are still blooming outside! It is really trippy. There are some snap dragons that were alive when I first moved here in September that are STILL here now, and it doesn't look like they are going to quit! One of the hedges by my house has tiny little flowers on it, and the hotel down the street still has planters out front with geraniums, etc. It's crazy! The trees no longer have leaves but otherwise you would not think that it was winter here!

Let's see, what are some more London cultural type things to talk about? Well, obviously the fact that we went to a pub in the middle of the day is an indication that it is perfectly alright to start drinking alcohol in early afternoon, haha. Also, I am developing a taste for weird sandwiches. Almost all the grocery stores, corner shops, and drug stores sell these premade sandwiches for around £2, but each store has a different variety! Some of them are normal, like BLTs, tuna, etc, but there are some crazy varieties. I personally like Coronation Chicken, which is kind of a creamy curry type sandwich, or Chicken Salad and Sweetcorn sandwiches. Around Christmas they had a bunch of Turkey Stuffing sandwiches or Cranberry Stuffing Ham sandwiches and random stuff. Sometimes you come across very Anglo-Indian sandwiches (besides the Coronation Chicken) like Korma or Tikka Masala sandwiches and things. I usually like them as long as there aren't too many onions hiding in them. I like Falafel sandwiches too, as long as they get heated up! I try not to eat on campus, but because of my timetable I usually end up buying around two sandwiches a week. I think it is worth the investment, because they are pretty filling as not too expensive as long as I am willing to walk to an actual grocery store and not just buy one from a campus deli/café. Throw in an 18 pence banana or something and I'm pretty much good to go!

I bought actual bacon the other day out of curiousity (and because it was on sale, as that is how I choose the majority of my random groceries). I put them in the oven on high and about ten minutes later I had some of the most deliciously salty stuff ever, so I was quite happy with my decision. I know you are supposed to fry bacon, but I didn't feel like dealing with the mess and I'm glad my solution worked out. I foresee more bacon egg burritos in my future...The moral of the story is that English sausage is just so-so, but English bacon is 10 times better than Oscar Meyers bacon, and not very fatty looking or tasting. Normally I don't like "real" bacon very much, but this was fantastic!

Well I have been rambling for some moments now, but I hope that Grandma Margaret in particular likes the bit about sandwiches and weather! Brad and I finally decided when we will go to Italy! We are going to go in April over a weekend, because he doesn't have to work on Fridays so we can just meet in Rome on Thursday night! I'm still on Spring break, so it shouldn't matter too much for me. I might go out a day early, if the flights are cheaper! So we are glad that our problem has been sorted out!

I am probably going to go to bed now. Floorball really tired me out and I'm not really getting much homework done, so I will sleep off my lack of productivity. Adios!