"No mooring"

Some would say that I have been slacking off on my blogging duties. However, you must all understand that if it were up to me, I would be online all the time. This is what happens when you share a desktop with three other people.

All right, a brief overview of what's been up --

I guess the biggest news is that I've planned a bunch of trips! (Note: They are not in chronological order just so I can save the best for last.)

Trip Numero Uno: Katie, Wendy and I are going to Dublin, Ireland October 7 - 9. We fly out of this really obscure airport at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, so we think we're going to leave Friday and just spend the night in the airport so we don't miss our flight. We will arrive back in merry ole England on Monday at 9:30 a.m. Whoops. I'll be late for work.

Trip Numero Dos: Wendy and I are going to Berlin, Germany November 3-6. Apparently they have really good blueberry truffles there that Katie wants us to bring back for her. Oh, and the whole Berlin Wall thing should be cool. We might travel a bit throughout Germany - maybe hit up Munich - but that has yet to be formally decided. We still have time!

AWESOME TRIP: Unfortunately, this one is only tentative for now, as I have to beg and plead and probably kiss the feet of my boss and coworkers since I'll need to leave for fall break 2 days sooner than I'm supposed to. Katie and I have decided to go .... *dramatic pause* .... on a Mediterranean cruise. We leave from Athens, go to Istanbul, Turkey, and then island hop through the Greek isles. The WEIRDEST part of the whole thing is that I was sitting at work on Thursday and randomly - I get an ephiphany that I have to go to Istanbul. I don't even know what country Istanbul is in, at this point - only that I could see this elaborate mosque in my head and knew that I had to go there. I had also been filling her head with visions of Greece since we got here, so that was pretty much certain. So when we went to a travel agency on Saturday and the woman found a package cruise that stops over in ISTANBUL - I think that's pretty much fate. I'm soooooo excited!!

In other news... Katie, Wendy, Lara and I went to Cambridge today. It was sooo pretty. We got off the train and it was kind of '70s, mod, ghetto ... American ugly? But we trekked the mile and a half inward and found our adorable little English college town. We had lunch in a pub (codfish, new potatoes, broccoli and green beans - SO GOOD) and then shopped a bit. I almost bought a £70 pair of black boots, but they were really challenging to get on. I had to put my foot in completely vertically and then try to slowly get it to lie horizontally. I almost tore a ligament. The main point of this story? Mom and Dad, if you don't send me my black shoes ASAP, I'm going to resort to spending the equivalent of $140 on a pair. And I know you don't want that.

Speaking of shoe problems, I had one of the biggest nerd moments of my life yesterday. Katie, Wendy, Rachel and I were at an Aussie pub in Earl's Court just hanging out. I arched my foot in my flip flop and the thong part snapped. Did you know that it's impossible to walk in a broken flip flop? I pretty much had to drag one leg home. Fortunately, I have very caring and thoughtful friends. Their only regret was that they didn't bring their cameras to document the event. It was quite funny, I will say.

The streets here are disgusting. You just put your rubbish (garbage) out in bags on the sidewalk for the garbagemen (rubbish collectors?) to pick up. I think they pick it up twice a week. It always smells really gross. Anyway, it was Friday night and Katie and I were walking to the tube station. We passed Hogarth, the other flat for students in our group, and Sara, a girl who works in the same office as me (I eat lunch with her, ride to/from work together, etc.) kind of stumbled down the steps with another girl. She had told me at work that day that she couldn't walk home with me because she had to have an evaluation with her boss. She's pretty much obsessed with her boss, Michael, who's like 31 and very cute, as only British men can be. Anyway, the evaluation ended up being at a pub where he bought her 4 drinks and she bought 2 rounds. This is after going out to lunch with him and drinking earlier. She was in very bad shape. The worst of it was that she was walking on the DISGUSTING London sidewalks WITHOUT SHOES. I about died. I was like, "SARA, DO YOU REALISE YOU DON'T HAVE SHOES ON?" And she's like, "Oh yeah, I never wear shoes." Omg. As we walked away, I turned to Katie and said, "Do you think she really knows she doesn't have shoes on?" and Katie goes, "I think you made that pretty clear..."

Anyway, back to Cambridge. After shopping we headed down to the River Cam (creative) where we went punting. Punting involves a canoe-like boat which is propelled down a river by a person holding a very long stick. You push the stick off the bottom of the river to get the boat to move. It was so gorgeous and so much fun. Our guide was fun, too. He almost fell out of the boat laughing when I asked if, by the "No mooring" signs posted everywhere along the bank, that meant no swimming? He was like, "Well, I'd feel sorry for the unlucky chap if that were the case - because if he fell in, that would mean he wouldn't be allowed to swim to get out!" British humour. Apparently mooring means parking along the side of the bank. Who knew? My next guess was fishing.

I got a Cambridge University t-shirt. I kind of have an obsessed with prestigious UK colleges. I now have, in my possession: an Oxford sweatshirt, an Oxford t-shirt, a Cambridge t-shirt and a St. Andrews sweatshirt. Too bad I've exhausted all the cool ones.

I MIGHT BE GOING TO A PRODUCTION OF SLEEPING BEAUTY AT THE THEATRE. OMG.

We're having some cleanliness issues in the flat again. It's getting pretty intense now. My mom is really big into hygiene and I never really thought I had inherited it until now. I think the idea of washing dishes by hand is revolting. You know you're not going to get it all clean. And even if you trust yourself to do a good job, you never know who washed the dish prior to you using it. So every time I had to grab a dish to eat, I would get a little queasy. However, I think I may have solved my own problem. Wendy and I went shopping on Saturday and I bought my own cereal bowl. That's the only dish I use, AND it was cheap (£2), AND it was cute (teaberry red). And who can put a price tag on peace of mind anyway? I put my cute bowl on the top shelf of our cupboard, away from all the other infected dishes ... and Nichole came back and was ruffling through the cupboards, and finally peeked her head out the kitchen door and said, "Ashley... did you buy something?" And I said, "Yes. I did." And she said, "It's very cute. Do you mind if I put it with the other dishes?" And inwardly I wanted to scream, "YES. I MIND VERY MUCH." But I'm way too passive and I couldn't bring myself to explain my OCD, so I said, "No..." But no worries - I moved it back later.

Anyway, this whole thing really comes to light because Diana and Nichole do not do their dishes. They do them eventually, of course, but that eventually comes at least two days later, when all the other dishes are dirty. It is the WORST thing in the world to wake up in the morning and have to clean a bowl to even use it. If they touch my beautiful red, clean cereal bowl, I'm going to start throwing things. Sometimes they don't even put their dishes in the sink. Like this morning, I went to plug in the hair dryer, and I leaned down and found a plate full of day-old rotisserie chicken bones on top of a box of books. Tommy, does this ring any bells? I nearly went into shower hyperventilation mode. The disaster that was the Tijuana/San Diego mission trip came back full force and Bobbie was alive and still choking from emphysema, all in front of me. And George, the creepy-looking dog, and Dre, the creepy-looking ogre, were there, too. And of course the parade of ants were marching out from my suitcase.

If we even get mice, I'm moving out and coming home.

Katie wants to bring this up with them. I wouldn't mind, really, besides the fact that I hate doing stuff like this... but Katie also has the logic that because Diana and Nichole don't do THEIR dishes, she shouldn't do hers either - as retaliation! So now there are three people in the flat not doing their dishes. I guess as long as they don't mess with my bowl, but the plate of chicken has really got to go...

I think I've exposed enough of my OCDs in this blog. Some psychologist would have fun with me. Speaking of, Nichole works in a psychologist's office and some of her patients are former Playboy models and famous actresses! But it's all very hush-hush, so I can't say who. :) Hehe.

I should probably go to bed. Or work on my project proposal for Clyde's class. Or.... go to bed.

Night, y'all. :)