After walking to work the past two days I have great respect for my roomie. She walks to the train station daily to get the train. I have a little more than double the distance to walk to work should I hoof it. As it is, I definitely began to feel the climate impacting my face after I was well past the station, I can imagine how a daily dose of bitter cold temperatures and gusts of wind can spoil a morning. Yimminy.

I'm now at work after a 35 minute walk where my face felt the bitter cold and wind. Fortunately the feeling in my face is almost completely returned too. I was quite surprised when I realized that my cheeks and forehead were pretty much numb. Guess that's what happens when you walk for 35 minutes when it 'feels Like 0∞F' (according to weather.com). Good morning sunshine.

01-30-2004 09:25 am
- posted by garyploski @ 1/30/2004 09:25:00 AM 0 comments

Sometimes it's easy, other times... I'd say are nearly impossible, hence the typing of my thoughts. I can't focus. I just read two comics (G.I. Joe 25 & 26) which were pretty darn cool. I'd have liked 25's story to have carried through 25 & 26 instead of a quick wrap up in 25, but at least it was a good read. I, sadly, just wasn't into it while I read. = Damnnit.

Up and Down. Up and Down. Up and Down. That's the way the day goes Up and Down. Interestingly the down only seems to hit me after 10ish in the evenin'. How do I make myself not think when I'm reading or relaxing? OH! I think I know... I... CAN'T! Well that was simple, next thought...

About 10 minutes have passed. Now where'd that thought go to exactly? Damnnit get back here

I think I'll try the blunt approach... Recently many things profound have happened in my life. Some were brewing while other events happened almost as quickly as a bullet through a window. Without giving details, as that would just be flat out WRONG of me to do within such a medium as this, I can say I've never been through something so BIG mentally in my life when it comes to relationships.

Thinking about the event wasn't something I looked forward too as I found out just before I was leaving for London. While in London I only allowed myself at most an hour or two to think... at night... before I went to bed. I had to learn as much as I could while I was there. At least that's what I'd hoped to do while I was there.

About three days after I got back from London my brain decided to play catch up regarding this issue. So while I vacuumed my brain chugged along quickly! Remember that bullet, yea so do I. BAM! My head felt it so fast that I barely was able to understand what was happening. Did I have an answer about my feelings? Did my brain juices suddenly realize what it was that I needed to do? Amazingly the answer was a resounding: No.

All I figured out that day just added to my confusion. At least I'd finally though about it though. Answers were far from clear, but at least I had an emotion to place on it. Now, sadly, I have no way of wording the emotion. All I know is I FELT something and it jarred something lose within me. It wasn't a happy feeling, this much I remember. If I had to describe it I'd say it felt like a blow to the gut. Pain. Fear. They filled me and stopped me from doing anything else. Eventually it all subsided but I knew that I needed to talk to someone about how I felt which I did later that night.

A week passed and a couple very intense phone calls took place. My life had changed quite abruptly to my surprise. I broke in a way I didn't expect. It hurt. I cried and I cried some more. Happily or sadly, I'm not sure which, I wasn't alone. I'll need to elaborate more later as it's much too late to continue. Oyasumi.

01-30-2004 03:34 am
- posted by garyploski @ 1/30/2004 03:34:00 AM 0 comments

I've realized a few things recently. Many of which have brought me to tears. Last night (this morning) I was up until after 3 AM. Interestingly that was right in between the times for both days before. 3:45-ish and 2:45-ish the previous nights.

Hrmm...

All in all I've been pretty messed up for a while and as hard as life can be emotions can make it umpteen times more difficult - hence the late nights. =

Sigh, work calls.

01-26-2004 01:58 pm
- posted by garyploski @ 1/26/2004 01:58:00 PM 0 comments

Following up 'And now for something completely different - pain & The Toe & The Geyser!

As you may recall on 09-18-03 I dropped a 20 lb weigh onto my toe. Today - Sunday January 18th 2004 I am proud to announce that the nail has finally COME OFF! Though, admittedly, it did need a little coaxing.

Regardless! It is FINALLY off. The nail didn't fall off right away like most do. Instead a NEW nail grew underneath and is almost completely to the end of my toe. WILD STUFF! Gross to some, but wild nonetheless! WHOOOOOOOOOOHOOOO!

01-18-2004 03:58 pm
- posted by garyploski @ 1/18/2004 03:58:00 PM 0 comments

What I can remember...

So the Brits want to:
Detox their bodies - Yea. This is a new one to me, but I have a strange feeling that it'll end up in the US soon enough. Fasting is another way to describe the act. Someone cuts out pretty much all the additive foods from their life for a month to purify their body. Ex: caffine, sugar, etc. NOT EASY! It's all over the place though. Simple packets in stores to clean ya out from the inside as well as chances to have TV shows put you through a week or day long detox session. Wild stuff... watch for it.

Stay awake as long as possible - Shattered. Some people are staying awake (with minimal allowed sleeping time - as in 3 minutes after a designated time has passed. The people on the LIVE SHOW then talk about what's happening and what they'd like to do with their money. Um... bored yet? NO?! Watch the show for 10 minutes and you WILL be. It's awful. If the show was editted AFTER the show was completed it'd probably be pretty rockin to watch. But LIVE? Enh enh. No no no no NO.

Look left, right, or both ways - At nearly EVERY intersection you will see 'look left look right', or 'look both ways' so you don't walk out into the street and get hit by a car, truck, etc. !!!!!!!!!!! YES nearly EVERY intersection. I even saw this stuff in Cambridge and Bristol. It was really cool for we newbies to the UK world I'll tell ya! Another thought I had on this idea is... it's quite difficult to know which way a car is coming from because not every street is two way. Actually, many of the side roads are one way only. Guess them Brits got some magic grits after all. = ) Smart thinkin.

Clear up the traffic problem by driving slower... by driving in a lower gear - I'm not going to elaborate on this too much because it's just rediculous and was laughed at by pretty much everyone. Though I'm not kidding that it WAS suggested on TV one morning while they discussed the traffic in London. (shaking head) Anri (Philip's wife) told me a study was done and learned that traffic in the city is as fast as the horse and buggy days. Now THAT's progress! Heh

Roomies: Bob, Emily, Dani3l, and Brian (for a few days)

That's listed in order of appearance. = ) As well as my memory recalls the order at least. Bob (hello Bob) is very easy to talk to, as our lengthy conversation on politics proved one night. I'm looking forward to his directed piece for many reasons. Also he's top o the top with knowledge of NY and the theater world there. Quite the impressive resume, but you'd never know if you met him.

Emily (hello Emily) She's the only one that's asked me WHY I hadn't written about her. Well I'm writing about you now woman! NYA! So there! Emily is w3rd up yo. Yea, that's a 3 in there... no it's not because Dani3l has a 3 in his name that I use the 3 boys and girls. Her humor is very refreshing along with her energy and knowledge of theater and those involved in the world. She's a good one she is. W3rd yo.

Dani3l (hello Dani3l with a 3) is Red Hat boy. I did not know until I got here and then wondered if he actually was. Answer - NOPE. All this time I was led to believe by other people that he was in fact a Linux geek when he's just a dude. = ) Totally easy to get along with and... hehehe... he's got an understanding of D&D and White Wolf. ROCK!

Brian (hello Brian) and I clicked the other night when we started talking about the one person that brings EVERYONE together --- Dave Mustaine. Quite into the metal scene which we shared many a memory of for quite some time. = ) I also learned of Brian's commitment to helping people when a discussion about security at SLC came up one night. You're a good man Charlie Brown.

I need to get some sleep and pack now. It's 11:29 and I'm still out and about after Taming of the Shrew - not good.

OUT

01-14-2004 06:35 pm
- posted by garyploski @ 1/14/2004 06:35:00 PM 0 comments

01/12/04

Christmas: I think I wrote about this, but I don't remember so I'll do it again. = ) A Bar Theater, ever been to one? Most of us hadn't, but most of us want to go back. WOW! A play about four (4) guys... IN A BAR, which happens to be above a REAL bar. Understand why it's called that now? = P This play was QUITE good. The only difficulty was one persons accent - Billy. For some reason he would slur his words... it couldn't have been all the Guiness because he was drinking it during the play, but he was slurring from the beginning. He had to have had at least 3 glasses during the play which lasted about 90 minutes. IMPRESSIVE. Hit the lines AND put the beer down. The script was very tight and acted amazingly by the lead cast and the ensemble that appeared randomly throughout the play. This is defintely up there as onna the better plays we saw... if you couldn't tell already. = )

01/13/04

Honeymoon Suite: Somtimes GREAT ideas are GREAT, and sometimes they need a little bit of a nudge. Arguably Jerry Springer and Honeymoon Suite are in the same position in my opinion. There's only one difference - Jerry held my interest for the majority of the show while I had to force myself back into the play numerous times because of the pacing. Without spoiling the play: conversations between three (3) couples take place at the same time allowing for long pauses. This works well for much of the play but a build is needed. Something that puts all three couples into either the EXACT SAME conversation simultaneously or three different conversations need to take place at the same time building to the end of the play. Like I said, a great idea, but it missed the mark.

01/14/04

Taming of the Shrew: I just, literally just none of that kinda sorta just, I really just JUST got out of the theater and can now say I've seen the Royal Shakespeare Company perform. Heh, in London too. Hehehe. Honestly, the show was good, but nothing amazing. The set was brilliant. Doors, doors, and more doors! Opening, closing, swinging and all the like while people chased after each other and had a ball of fun delivering the lines. It was obvious that everyone on stage was very comfortable with each other and with the text. Hoorah to them. I think it was the play itself that was 'enh' to me. The story needn't be as lon as it is because we all get the point... far too many times.

During the day I visited Whitechapel, The Globe, the original Globe, The Tate Modern, and met up with Margit - finally! Whitechapel was QUITE a different London experience than any other part of the UK has been to date. There was a much broader scope of people walking the streets and a much less clean area with tags (grafitti) all over the place. = ( This made me sad, but happy at the same time. There is a diverse culture here which I've heard about but hadn't really seen until today. No Jack the Ripper tour for me though, it's only available from another stop and only starts at 6:45 with the Beefeaters. Grr.

Visting The Globe and the original Globe again was very cool. The original is so run down, yet still occupied. I wonder if there are plans to repair it. Hmm. I wonder I do. At the Tate I went to an interesting exhibit where five (5) screens had different experiences of people falling into or out of large bodies of water. I have absolutely no way of describing it and doing it any justice at all. Except to say I'm glad I went back to see it per some recommendations while I was in Cambridge. Margit! Ha! The closest person to me that I wanted to visit... Hahaha. Well, we met up at, you can igh if you like but it was cozy and easy, Starbucks down the road from the theater. A Japanese girl from Nagano served me a Vanilla Mocha. = O I brought it back and got to see the Japanese come out of her. She was so sorry. = | I missed Japan as I have throughout this trip.

I digress, Margit! We hung out and caught up spreading the latest and greatest news about all our friends from TPU which was neat. Sadly we only had about 45 minutes because the play was about to start. Hopefully whoever I meet up with again in another country I have more time to chill out with especially since we had about three (3) years to catch up on! Ma-ma-mia! With that... you can return to the top of this day and read the review of the play. = )

01/15/04

Not that it's possible to write into the future but I do know my plans so I'm going to write em since I have FORSIGHT! BWAAAAHAHAA! Tomorrow AM the remaining peeps in the group will attend a mini-breakfast at Dave's place. He's a kind man he is. From there the majority of the group will take a bus to the station at 11AM which means they'll probably be on the road at 1120ish if everything goes smoothly packing all the luggage I tink. I'm going to take the Picadilly Line on the Tube to the airport. The last ride on the tube. Sigh. Be still my heart. = Sniff, sniff. = American Airlines holds my future in their capable hands then. I'll depart from London at 4:30ish and arrive in New York at approximately 7:30. With that... I end my London edition of my we-journal. God save the Queen!

01-14-2004 06:34 pm
- posted by garyploski @ 1/14/2004 06:34:00 PM 0 comments

01/09/04

Jerry Springer the Opera: Rated OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY JUST DID THAT! Want to see the KKK tap dance? No? How about someone sing "Mama gimme smack on the asshole!" No still? Well, you will hear "This is my Jerry Springer Moment!" because I can't see how this play won't be brought to the US. It's all about the 15 minutes of fame baby and we've seen plenty of people clammer over one another just to get it. This thing will definitely piss off the church so be ready!

01/10/04

Cambridge: Smaller than London and nice place to school I'm thinking. There were at least, i think, 4 universities in and around the area I walked. And WOW were the campuses beautiful! I wondered where I would be or what I would be like had I even considered going to school in the UK for my Uni days. Hmmmmm... I'll never know, but it is an idea to offer up to others when they're thinking about it.

01/11/04

North Hampton Shire: YO! I saw a VILLAGE! A village where there used to be only ONE telephone booth for EVERYONE! SO FRIGGIN COOL!

01-12-2004 09:59 am
- posted by garyploski @ 1/12/2004 09:59:00 AM 0 comments

Yesterday's chat was quite... long and robust tangenting onto a topic covering all the plays we've seen so far - diversity of the audience or rather, lack there of. Someone mentioned that she was hoping for something different here in the UK vs the US and expected to see something different. Once realized that things were similar if not identical she became very frustrated and stated that she felt like skipping out on any other plays because it upset her so.

This took the fun 'play talk' and put things closer to home. On a positive note I think it got people to realize that it starts with number 1. It's great to see such passion on topics like this. Honestly, I hope for more of this kind of conversation in the morning. It just takes that one person to start it off. = ) Fingers crossed.

01-09-2004 09:40 am
- posted by garyploski @ 1/09/2004 09:40:00 AM 0 comments

01/07/04

A Woman of No Importance: Certain things are constant as was discussed after watching this play. Men and women will always find a way to analyze each other while sometimes hitting the mark... and other times missing the target altogether. The Play was well staged and nicely acted. For the first time since I arrived I heard someone hold fast to the American accent that was required of a role. And she was hot, but beside that point the play was a bit long for me in certain points. Discussions went on more than needed (in my opinion) causing me to zone out. = Alas. On the whole it was an entertaining play which I'm happy to have seen.

01/08/04

After Miss Julie: All of you Friends fans out there might be jealous of me because I saw Emily on stage. Ross's Emily. = P Quite a play discussing the class system in the UK after WWII with some impressive acting and a beautiful set. Personally I'm finding that I like the one act plays more than the two act plays. The only exception to this rule so far is Mourning. I guess it feels as though any of these plays could be trimmed down a bit to a shorter two act or a long one act. After seeing this play I feel as though I need to read it. There were some wonderfully flushed out ideas that I can't remember now, but I know I liked what I heard. It made me think as well as reel from the actions taking place. This is hovering in the middle of my likes/dislike.

The Secret Rapture: Oddly enough probably the weakest script I've seen performed on this trip yet the only one to have stirred an emotional reaction from me. Emotional as in heart felt. That should probably be noted or it'd appear that I'm COMPLETELY without emotion as other plays have brought me to smile gleefully and stare in awe or disbelief. Anyhow, I felt as though this could be on par with Les Liasons Dangereues on my scale of like/dislike. Scene changes were smooth with a side sliding stage. The music I felt was effective at first but slipped off toward the end... possibly because of the flow of the play/script. I'm not exactly sure. Happily I haven't seen a play that bored me to tears or upset me so that I feel I've wasted my time. = ) Smiles.

Tonight is Jerry Springer and then I'm off to see Matt in Cambridge! Rock!

01-09-2004 09:15 am
- posted by garyploski @ 1/09/2004 09:15:00 AM 0 comments

01/07/04

TADA! I slept some I did! Well, after visiting Sir John Soane's Museum. BT... YOU need to see this place. Why? It's the home you've described to me many many MANY times before. Dude, seriously, you need to see this place. I was amazed at the varied collections of Greek sculptures, to paintings, to other historical memorabilia. Yimminy!

After that I slept for about 2 hours because I was wasted. Tonight is another show - A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde - and another visit to... well I don't know yet. I do know I'm happily sitting in an Internet cafe that's only 1 pound/hour which kicks ass compared to every other Internet cafe I've visited. W3rd. I'm off to explore. Hope the snow isn't weighing to heavily on any of ya. chichichi-a

01-07-2004 12:12 pm
- posted by garyploski @ 1/07/2004 12:12:00 PM 0 comments

01/06/04

Mourning Becomes Electra: Well, I finally saw it. The play that totally surprised me because of the length (>4 hours) is over. The mini presentation of the play of >4 hours is done. The presentation... sucked. Everything I wanted to say wasn't said. Why? I don't know, maybe I felt rushed since we had only 10 minutes or so because we were going to meet someone at the British Academy of Dramatic Arts (BADA). That someone's name is Fiona Shaw. You'd know her from the Harry Potter movies where she played Aunt Petunia.

It was a blast to listen to her. She had no reservations about her ideas of the NY theater which I greatly appreciated. To summarize what she said: They keep doing blah plays so everyone is becoming blah like in their abilities. --- Yea... so that pretty much sums it up according to what I've heard from the regular theater folk in NY. Sad, sad, sad, but true, true, true.

Back to Mourning, As I said I wasn't pleased with the presentation and felt as though I let the class down a bit, but happily at 10:30 PM everyone had smiles on their faces as the show was awesome. Some claimed it to have been the best theater they've EVER seen while others were plain and simply happy with the experience. Me? Well, I enjoyed the show, but some of the actors pulled me out to often with their varied accents and choices. Accents? Yes, accents. Bostonian, Southern, an occassional British or Irish accent would slip in where it wasn't supposed to be. The set though... not one person in the theater could complain about the set. It was THE most amazing set I have ever seen.

To ATTEMPT a visual for you it opened with the exterior of the Mannon home with a heavy angle to the set. From downstage right to up stage left was the end of the porch and from down stage left to upstage left was the entrance to the house. When shifted the interior would end up exactly opposite of the exterior. Shifted? Yes, the walls slid in and out from off stage left. THEN! OMG then! The porch cover which was decorated with a tattered American Flag slide down, literally DOWN (on the Y axis) to create the upper level of a boat docked in a harbor. At least I think it's the Y axis = ) The lower deck was directly below the now lowered American flag. UGH! I'm not doing this justice. It was INCREDIBLE. The audience applauded the scene change it was that cool looking!

Oh... and where was I sitting for all of this? FRONT ROW seat 11! HAHA! The early morning rise had paid off so that 16 of us were able to see the show from the the front ROW! HAHAHAHA! THAT was a first for me and it was worth every 'waking' moment waiting for it in line from 7:30 AM until 10:00 AM that morning.

From there we all went home and pretty much collapsed as it was late and we were ALL beat.

Just remembered something... I went to the London Zoo after the Fiona Shaw's chat and I saw... about six... cute... freaky... Ring Tailed LEMURS!!! So there! Yes... I took pix. = )


01-07-2004 12:05 pm
- posted by garyploski @ 1/07/2004 12:05:00 PM 0 comments

First things first --- easyInternet Cafe SUCKS I just wrote at least a page or two and because my INTERNET time expired the PC REBOOTED! FUCIN rediculousness. That's the stupidest option to incorporate into a station... kill the access sure, but reboot the PC!? WTF! Ugh... sigh. So, retyping I'll try to redo what I did not 5 minutes ago.

Flight here: A stupid kid kept kicking the back of my chair. Kid iritating. Me found a way to sleep. Wanted to hit kid with mother holding him. Mom inconsiderate. Me was pissed. Me wanted to go Hulk on her and him because this was mean. Hulk stayed in. Me not let Hulk out. Hulk not SMASH.

01/03/04

Betrayal: A man, his wife, and his best friend. Seems simple enough right? Riiiiight. Well if you find out at the beginning of the play that the best friend and the wife have been involved in more ways than lunch friends... well, you'll be hooked. The tension held within many pauses during the play may make you want to yell out to them to 'just say it already!' You'll go on a ride back into their pasts but not in the way you're going to expect. = ) See it, you'll be happy you did.

The Pillow Man: OH MY GOD MODE! This play kicked the every lovin blue eyed things ass! Holy chocolate cows batman! If you get a chance to SEE or READ this play as soon as you can. It's not for the sqeemish mind you. Two, possibly three children are killed in seriously brutal ways that may make you want to walk out. I know this because two people walked out about 15 minutes into the play. Of course, because my seat was on the side, I moved to one of the seats at the first available moment. = ) Heeheh. I HAD to get closer to the stage for the second act. It was so good! I'd like to see it again but I have a serious worry about the set and the acting. Both really were HOLY MAMAMIA WHERE'D YOU GET THAT SCARF WOW! Th'eriouth'ly yo.

01/04/04

Philp and Anri's place in Bristol. I'll have to write this later because easyInternet Cafe SUCKS and lost what I wrote before. God damnnit. Ugh... Lemme try the brief version JIC I forgot: Philip called at 9 AM, I took the train from Paddington Station to Bristol (2 hours), had lunch, saw various parts of Bristol with the both of them, froze while walking around, had hot cocoa in a coffee shop that closed at 6 PM (WTF? - Dunno,WTF!), took the train back to Paddington then the tube back home. End Game. Game, Set, match.(More later? Ah I have no bloody clue) Bullocks!

01/05/04

Went to Westminster Abby and found out that CHARLES DARWIN is buried there! HA! Kick ass indeed yea yea! Darwin... ha! It was a day with Bob and Erik in and around the lil ol town of London where we found that the weather was SURPRISINGLY cloudy and rainy. Who'da thunk huh. = )

01-05-2004 01:28 pm
- posted by garyploski @ 1/05/2004 01:28:00 PM 0 comments

I CAN READ EVERYTHING!!!!!! It's amazing! I. Can. Read. Everything! I'm not able to understand everyone depending on certain accents and all... but I CAN read EVERYTHING! It's so cool! I can walk into a store and ask for help... and then... understand the answer! Hahah!

So today I went to a few places but not one important one - the grocery store. It closed at 10pm. Ugh. Anyhow... I DID go to the National Theater and went on a tour which I throughly enjoyed. After that I grabbed a bit to eat (read a slice of pizza) where I had to hand a gentleman a casino like chip (green with 1/4 on it) before I could get my slice of pizza. Then, when I asked for some parmessan(SP!) they brought out a tub! HAHA!

From there... hehehehe, I went to... the.... curious yet? To the... this was so cool... THE GLOBE! Damn straight! Ol' Billy boys stomping ground! I sooooooooo wished that we could at LEAST stand on the stage despite the fact that there was no audience. As if I would really care!? What a feeling it was though. OH YEA! I was in THE (THE!) GLOBE! Giddy I be.

Okay so dinner was at Starbucks and it consisted of a muffin and a hot cocoa... so what. I got to see LES LIASONS DANGEREUSES at the Playhouse Theatre. All in all... it was okay. Slow in parts and a little overly dramatic too often. If you know the play you'll understand. OH! Programs are purchased here in the UK - there is no PLAYBILL. BUT! The program has historical info about the play, the theater, and the playwrite. Very cool.

Alright I'm at Kinko's and this is expensive so if you want to call me... keep thinking about that. = O I'll get the number and post it in the next day or two. Heh. Sorry bout that mate. Off I go to find some food for the AM and yes, for this eve. I need a lil bite. Cheers peeps.

01-02-2004 06:31 pm
- posted by garyploski @ 1/02/2004 06:31:00 PM 0 comments