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ablution of the blues

<< May 19, 2005 @ 01:52 >>

Ehhhhhhhhh shite. I'm missing London. I threw in my Franz Ferdinand CD tonight, partly because I hadn't heard it in forever on account of my never ripping it into iTunes, and also partly due to discovering Maxïmo Park tonight who is like halfways between Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads... well maybe not halfway, maybe somewhat sideways... anyway, as 'The Dark of the Matinée' played I suddenly found myself painfully missing my days of study at University College London a block off Tottenham (TOT'un-um) Court Road on Gower. Tottenham had shops, and pubs, and all sorts of things to do between classes on any given day or after them. I miss being able to stop into Purves & Purves to look at crazy PoMo furniture, or stop into the little basement arcade there with Henry and his fauxhawk, or yes indeed even go down a little further to check what was playing for the Matinée. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. On top of it I feel old.

I cracked open my old Let's Go London – an exceedingly useful line of books, which actually make you much LESS a tourist by your mere possession of them. Although, if you are truly living in London, you'll need Time Out to stay up to date. The Europe version was known as The Bible for our 7km (what is that a mile?) trip in the Speug. I almost got emotional when I saw the Tube map.

Dara suddenly decided to contact me again a few days ago, I'm pretty sure just to rub in the fact she's over there through BUNAC on a work Visa. I hate myself forever for not trying to intern in London after I finished my studies. I almost didn't get my paperwork for the study abroad filed in the first place because of the same thing... ahhh well: Better to have Londoned and lost than to never have Londoned at all. That's for fucking sure.

Probably a mistake, but I tried calling Libbey. I guess I just wanted somebody who could relate my reminiscing. Man, we really did have good times in London, and it was a blast being Jet-Set for several months – not to mention the coolness of Oregon and Portland – even if she did turn out to be a compulsive liar. Win some, lose some. I'm really glad I met her while I was over there nonetheless, but I'm more glad that I met her at the very end of my stay. It would have been a terrible thing if my entire stay in London was synonymous and defined by my relationship with a girl ... and I don't care what girl. I'd be angry in retrospect even if I had met my WIFE in London on day one, because London was the happiest I've ever been, and the happiest I've ever been single... I wouldn't trade that time I shared with myself in for anything. I actually broke it off with a really great girl earlier on while in London, a girl I went to Paris with for a weekend even, for no reason other than to be alone again. It is amazing how not-me of a move that is, but it was the right move. I do feel a little sorry for how she felt afterwards. My first date with Libbey started in the huge Victorian era Brompton Cemetery. Weird setting perhaps, but that place is amazing, and she was cool with it – she grew up next to a cemetery.

I've always written in this blog for me, for my sake... I realise for you [one] reader[s] out there that this entry is a bit melancholy. I've never actually written much, if anything, about this time in my life. A lot of it happened before I was blogging, and the rest of it I kept close to me instead of sharing. That is what INFJ's do. Maybe I finally felt a need to release myself from the clutches of some of these memories tonight, or maybe I just kept on writing because I enjoyed revisiting those moments surrounding London. On a completely unrelated note, my hands feel like they weight ten times normal right now. This is one of the oddest sensations ever.

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Reader Comments...

May 19, 2005 @ 09:45:06

sith33 (#999)

Not to make a mockery of your introspective blog, but I'd like to make a mockery of your introspective blog.

So I have a very attractive coworker at one of my jobs who is in to NIN, technology, linux and other cool stuff. Plus she's of non-eurocentric descent. You should come by some time and make her fall in love with you.

May 19, 2005 @ 10:48:30

Christy (monster)

Hush up, sith.

I have lots of memories that I like to keep close to me, too, but eventually I find that I want to share them. And then I can't remember them as well, so I usually end up wishing that I'd written them down, even if not in a public place such as this one.