COLOURFUL LIKE HERMES

God..everytime my friend Naomi goes on trips she hauls back the most four-dimensional, character-brimming shots. Have a couple of my faves...

[the eldest son gets his head shaved for a funeral ceremony. I hate it when my friends back in T'dad have to go through this. Who wants everyone to know that a loved one died while you're walking down the street? Bless him.]

[dig the guy in the dark sunglasses in the background]

Anyway, the parts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai you don't see are starting to morph into this. This place is thick and spilling over with hidden beauty. Fuck the Burj. Try looking behind that, in the shadow of its impressiveness. I urge you, if you have no obligations and you find yourself in Dubai, take the public buses. ABSOLUTELY don't if you are planning to get somewhere on time, though. But I've experienced the real Dubai just by being stuck on public transportation all. day. long. for this internship. It's been a real eye-opener. So, as much as the hours are long, and the office chair at VIVA can seriously paralyse your bum, and the 2 hour bus journeys that it takes for me to get there, I am very grateful for this experience. I've never seen so much of this place that I live in.

BABY WENT TO AMSTERDAM

ANDREW LEFT! He's off in Amsterdam now, on some relative's boat by day, partying in the unknown underground by night. Jealous with an exaggeratedly capital 'J'. ENJOY, MY PET!
Sneaky cow...

GET CRACKALACKIN'

My friend comes up to me on Facebook and says he loves my blog and knows who Dita is. He actually posted a status about how over the flippin' moon he was about her touring soon in Canada and how SO THERE he will be. Well, hello? Comment much?

IS MUSIC YOUR HOT HOT SEX?

So, my friend started this quarterly magazine called The Dap. Just spreading the love:

WANT TO WRITE FOR 'THE DAP'?

Ok so its easy:

Step 1-Find a band/ album/ single/ live gig you really really liked or hated...

Step 2 -Write up to 200 words at the most all album/ single reviews

500 words for any band profile/ interviews and live gig event

Step 3-Email The Dap at: thedapmagazine@hotmail.co.uk...

If it doesn't get into the magazine , then we will try our best to put it on the website when thats fully up and running.

(I TOTALLY know my first feature)

FICTION FRIDAY: DITA....AGAIN

Dear all who care,

I am sorry I am doing this again, as in featuring a piece by a major celebrity whose pen name is Dita (whom you guys have not even bothered to guess who it may be). But today just never ended. I left the house at some ungodly hour to meet my friend who came in from Trinidad this morning, as I mentioned previously. So I had to help him sort his shit out and then entertain him for a bit. Turns out he likes to wander around and take artistic photos for hours, and I wore EXACTLY the wrong pair of shoes. So now I shall remain crippled in bed for the rest of my Friday night.

But I DID run smack into major british designer Henry (motherfuckin' modest) Holland (yeah, he looked quite regular actually) at Victoria station on his way to Gatwick Airport. Yes, I ogled slightly unnaturally, but it got him to give me his attention for all of 5 seconds! Didn't take a picture. Too busy posing. Sorry. And yes, of course he wore Doc Martens.

FICTION FRIDAY! A letter this time. Look, I swear, I will make this writing corner more worthwhile as time passes (I'm not always THAT sleazy in my writing piece choices). It's just things are a little crazy around here as I'm flat-hunting and moving out of dorms and leaving for home and an internship in Dubai in a week. Yeah. So can I get some slack?

THE TEN THINGS: EXCEPT CUT IN HALF

1. EMAILSSSSS! I get the coolest emails nowadays. Well, not so much from letting agents. But Joe from bookofjoe totally thinks I'm a babe. He's sort of a blogosphere celebrity in my book. (thanks for the feature!). He gave me some blogger tips too:

"Dear Kara,

I'm so flattered about how you view me: for the longest time I've thought of myself as "a legend in my own mind."

Nothing you could do could annoy me: I mean, come on, you're smart + a babe, that's an irresistible combination in my book.

I wouldn't call myself a professional, in that I don't do it for money or anything, but I sure spend far more time and energy on bookofjoe than any other aspect of my life.

I got popular by doing a few simple but not as easy as they might seem things:

1) Posting regularly. Daily, without exception, no excuses. Even if it's only a word or a phrase or a sentence, your audience can be certain there'll always be something fresh on your site. The internet loathes stasis.

2) Being yourself. Kara Martin is a unique combination of experience and attitude: show them to us. The more your essence comes across, the closer the bond, albeit virtual, that extends between you and your audience.

3) Pick a good name for your blog. thelonelylondoner is superb, you're there already.

That's more than enough.

Keep on being Kara, I say.

Yours,

Joe."

Also, The Look magazine is putting on this uber event that I simply must attend. And The Lonely Londoner gets what she wants:

"Hi Kara,

We've reserved a ticket for you, just turn up and give your name to the person on the door.

Thanks,

Tai."

Can you say 'baller'?

2. I won't be a lonely londoner for a few days because....FRIENDS ARE COMING! My honey Andrew from Trinidad and Tobago is coming up on Friday to begin his Eurotrip and we're going to do a little Caribbean damage about the town. We're actually both discussing how to get to the International Students House on messenger as I type this. Also where we're going to get drunk first, naturally. (FUN FACT: He was my high school prom date!...and he's going to absolutely hate me for digging this up)

3. Heinz 'Mac n Cheese' in a can is significantly more horrible than that prom photo.

4. My big floral hold-all from Gap is a lifesaver when you are trying to be eco-friendly and one of the plastic bags you HAD to take because you bought so much bursts on you on the sidewalk. Worthy of my shoulder all summer, no?
5. Because I have to be black at some point (sorry about my pigeon-holing, but I am such an Oreo, you would not believe), I confess, I cannot get enough of Snoop Dogg's semi-new song 'Sensual Seduction/Sexual Eruption(?).' I heard that out clubbing last night and it's amazing the things my body did in response on that dancefloor. The video is also LAUGH OUT LOUD ridonculous. Acutally, I LOVE everything Snoop does. Sometimes he even has better hair than me (CERTAINLY NOT in that video though) , but that's okay. 'Nuff respect'.

I GOT YOUR FACEBOOK MESSAGE

Remember that text I got? Finally figured out who it was...

"Oh shit! Can't believe you put one of my random texts on the web...you total arse!! Miss ya sex bomb xxx"

I GOT YOUR TEXT

"Hey sExy matey! So pissed with alex my little bro!! A tiny bit stoned too!! What a night!! I've got a possible career path too!! So happy!! Hope you're good!! XxxxX alex says - hope ur havin gr8 time, we'll have to have session with you!! Ant's stoned!! I will txt you soon - my number is (x) Alex xx"

Hi back (!!) Those frickin' exclamation marks huh!?
P.S. I've forgotten who you are and have put you under "The Who" in my contacts for the time being.

FOR EUPHEMISM

WOW! I'm really all about my blogger peeps this week. This one's for my friend Euphemism, owner of the mind of a eu-phe-mism blog, who is stressing out about his move to L.A. from San Jose. He's moving there to officially kick off his profession as a director (CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITE SFour Productions! Please?)

So, Euphemism, sucks when you don't own a pick-up truck, don't it? But I suggest when your first movie comes out you invest in one. Hope this cheers you up a little bit and hope you know I would ship my dad's SUV over there with me in it to help you if I had the money.

I ENVY THIS WOMAN'S LIFE

[photo credit: Newsday]

I love it when bloggers are making it and getting the postivie attention they deserve. It paves the way for us down here. Congrats to my friend Vera Sweeney (who technically IS my friend because she added me on Facebook), owner of I'm Not Obsessed, the popular celebrity culture blog, for her exposure recently in Newsday and getting featured on CBS two days ago. After all this time reading her blog, I never knew what she looked like. She's gorgeous..and she's a mom! It's good to see someone hot in the news these days, who isn't a celebrity in a scandal, or a regular hot person in a scandal. Positive news. I like. Here's her interview with CBS . OOH! She's even hired some employees. PICK ME! PICK ME!...except I don't write about celebrities.

THANKS VERA! I feel more powerful about my blog now. I think it has a chance of getting some higher recognition. And hey, if it doesn't, it was fun writing the hell out of it anyway and I get a kick out of reading my old stuff and going 'I wrote that?!'

BLOGGERLY LOVE

I say this all the time, but it's never enough for me. I really get excited about comments and Guerreira lurrves me and I lurrve her. Not only does she have an engrossing blog, but an amazing heart as well. She always cheers me up with her comments, as do my other readers with their comments, of course (thank you, thank you, to you all, for your kind words. Millefois Merci!).

I was feeling really down the other day, as you all would've known if you have been following my posts. I wrote one on how my blog had seemed to slowly lose its thrill/gusto/interest-factor. But Guerreira left me a really uplifting comment today in response to it, which I think is great because it can apply to all of you, be you a blogger, or a closet journal writer in the safety of your room:

"hey, don't give up...the beauty of blogs is the mix of great posts and random weird stuff, which reflects life, me thinks... "

THANK YOU HONEY! HAVE AN INTERNET HUG. ALL OF YOU, INTERNET GROUP HUG!

P.S. I like her even more now because she says 'me thinks'.

I KNOW COOL PEOPLE!

SO, my friend Trisha in L.A. who I lived with for a while, is now a writer for LA Splash and just sent me her coverage article on Nicky Hilton's Fall 2008 line for 'Nicholai', where bondage meets equestrian. Isn't that awesome? (The Trisha bit AND the trend bit lol). I'm posting the article because I am oh so proud of herrr, and because aspects of Nicky's line aren't half bad. I mean, it isn't in the slightest ground-breaking stuff but I would LOVE to be able to pull off latex leggings (you have to be skinny in an almost dead way to pull that off) and I love the equestrian chic trend; riding boots, riding hats, whips...

Reminds me of my horseback riding days back in Trinidad. I used to ride a cute white mare called Starsky. One day, I realised she was all fat, and they said she was severely pregnant and I needed to choose another horse for a while. So I chose one called Pumpkin, who was also white, and very freckly; also very mischievous. Kinda like Lindsay Lohan, huh?

ANYWAY, I SPY RANDOM TANGENTS! HERE ARE SOME OF NICHOLAI'S SPRING OUTFITS (because Trisha's article already shows you some Fall pictures)

I definitely prefer the Fall line but yellow is nice.

THE GOINGS-ON

I was happy sleeping just now until my mind hovered over my blog for a split second and I just HAD to get up and write something because it's TUESDAY(!) already and I haven't posted anything since SATURDAY! Face it. Sometimes The Lonely Londoner can actually have things to do other than post fashion pictures taken in her white hot bathroom. And this week is going to be a crazy one.

1. I haven't posted much over the weekend because I have been undergoing the long, gruelling process of getting rid of my extensions the cheap way; doing it myself. I'm gonna get arthritis from all the unbraiding. Sometimes thick hair isn't such a blessing. Just know that. I have an Amazonian jungle on my head as we speak which needs to take itself down to The Ginger Group (my stylists) and get itself STRAIGHTENED out. Here's a shot of me just before starting but just after cutting off the excess. I look like a little Jamaican Rastafarian kid.

2. CONVERSATIONS VIA EMAIL WITH MY LECTURER:
I'm swooning and falling over to die. Hanif Kureishi has been featured in the April issue of Vogue!Sorry, you're the only one I know who would understand lol.
Kara.

Ah, chile, you DO make me laugh.You HAVE read the rest of his stuff, right??If not, do so immediately.

Leone

I finished Midnight All Day in one day the other day and am thinking I'll finish Love in a Blue Time tonight. So good. I have a crush on him.

Kara

good taste!

Leone

YA SO, I am lovin' the fuck out of what I see in April UK Vogue; save for the Victoria Beckham cover. It IS packed to capacity with superb fashion and for the first time in Vogue Issues this year, I actually want and will wear everything in there. But I'll get to the fashion another time. I gotta post the essentials and stop because the spacing and paragraphing on blogger is severely ticking me off and I can't stay too much longr on here. Anyways, YES! Hanif Kureishi whose name stands repetitive on my blog, as he is my current favourite author, is featured in it. He is so much older and not what I expected, compared to the pictures on his novels, which is understandable, but his portrait in the magazine looks as if he is just about to hoist himself from his chair and give someone a beatdown. His face isn't very reassuring. But I still love him. Here. Have some stuff I just found about him thanks to Vogue:

a) Every Friday morning he meets at a cafe near the Portobello Road with director Stephen Frears for a chat. (which is basically important, because, my life as a stalker starts now...)

b) He wrote the screenplay for Venus, that british movie with Peter O'Toole that came out last year about a pair of veteran actors whose lives get turned upside down after meeting a brash teenager. However, if you were to ask Hanif what it was about he would say, "It's about two old bastards and a slag."

c) He lives in Hammersmith and has a mice problem.

d) He left his wife Tracey Scoffield for another woman, whom he was having an affair with, Monique Proudlove, and has sons from them with the most adorable names! Yes, I just said he's a bastard but get over it. His short stories are usually about affairs and split marriages and other bastards, but maybe he just really wasn't happy, and love does not cease to exist after one love fails, right? At least he still acknowledges that he has three kids. Okay, back to the names: Kier, Sachin and Carlo.

e) He's actually lived the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll life. I figured, because it is a lifestyle so commonly portrayed in his books. "I used to love taking drugs and having lots of sex with lots of different people, but now I realise that this isn't the best solution (LOL). We need a system of prohibition and law to make transgression pleasurable and to stop one disappearing down a plughole of one's inner soul."

f) This now 54 year old writer has managed to seduce me to BITS through his writing. There. I said it. What is it with me and old people lately?

3. I AM OFFICIALLY SEEING BJORK IN APRIL! SO sorry to hear about that whole debacle on China, really am. NOT! BUT she's coming to Hammersmith, and I'm there (after having a quick peep around the neighbourhood for Mr. Kureishi). Remember I was busy last weekend trying to find tickets for me and my cousin Becks the Barmaid for her 20th Birthday, which was March 2nd, and failed. Well, when we all sat down to dinner at the Simply Indian Restaurant (so good, so tiny), the sister of one of our friends, who joined us later, with her boyfriend, was offering up two tickets to Bjork because she had a conference in San Francisco clashing with it and her boyfriend didn't want to go with anyone else (AWW). And they actually didn't take the piss and sold it to us for 45 each. The tickets online now are over the top, at 100 or more. We needed one more ticket for a friend after that but she managed to find one on Ebay for 70. I wouldn't have paid that but glad she's the spending type and is coming along, because this is going to be beyond spectacular. ................................................................SHIT! WHAT do you wear to a concert like that? P.S. Download 'Innocence (Simian Mobile Disco Twelve Inch Remix)

4. It only occurred to me that from May I will be stationed in the Middle East, and then the Caribbean and my blog is called The Lonely Londoner. That's okay, right? I'm from different places but the main focus has been life in London thusfar and how I have been coping, as an international student. I am only thinking of this now because my daddy, the pilot, just sent me my eticket to go home for Spring Break! Yay! I decided to go home for the break because I was not able to find a job and London has just not been treating me dearly as of late. Well, shit happens...at the same time. I got emailed the ticket last night and this morning I received this email from a super trendy club in Shoreditch.

Hi,
Please call (number removed) – leave a message – to arrange an interview/chat.
Thanks
John
GM East Village

YUP, I applied for part time barwork there, and out of all the bar jobs I applied for TWO WEEKS AGO(WHY YOU GOTTA GET BACK TO ME NOW, HUH?!) I wanted this one the most. So anyway, live and let die. I am getting on that plane come Sunday and not looking back. What's so funny is that I ALWAYS wanna go home so badly, but end up having such a shit time with my dysfunctional family that after a week out there I am demanding to get an earlier flight back, or somewhere else. For Christmas, I left on the 27th and went to San Francisco. And the Christmas the year before that, I actually passed on going travelling back home with the fam to Trinidad to be back in London by myself. Well, not by myself actually. I realised I had fallen in love with an exchange student who was going back home in January lol. THEY DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT! But, it was worth it, going back home. Said exchange student and I got together shortly after he left and spent 9 happy months together, and still talk, and still visit and plan on trying it all over again someday, and he's my bestest friend EVER! *beams with blushes*

5. I'm thinking of putting the Japanese Phrase of the Day and the Item of the Day posts separate in the right column of my blog. What do you think? I keep forgetting to post them daily...UGH! I'M A BUSY WOMAN, DAMNIT! *sigh* Okay, I'll go get on it right now.

"A ROYAL VISIT"

My friends back home are so funny. Apparently, Prince Charles is visiting Trinidad and Tobago. Maybe they miss governing it, I don't know. One of my friends made a Facebook album called "A ROYAL VISIT" and I got this email from a dear one, Maria:

I MET THE PRINCE! (along with this picture)

I bet they don't even know why he's there. Well, I don't. I wish he would leave...I think. :s

MY WEEKEND PT. 2

Bare with me people; it's been a weird one. I mean a weird time for me at the mo. I'm pretty busy now that the week has started and seeing as it's already Tuesday here and my weekend was spent in a puddle of tears, I decided that even though a blog is for dwelling on things, I think the best thing for me to do is not dwell too much on how bad of a time it was. I must remain positive about the here and now.

I can't say it was ALL bad though. I mean apart from breaking my shopping ban to buy a heavily discounted GHD hair straightener, not kissing and making up with my best friend from a raging religion-fuelled row(which is so taboo. NEVER TALK ABOUT RELIGION AND POLITICS WITH PEOPLE!), and crying once again into the wee hours of Monday morning on Skype with my ex, I had a great Sunday. My favouritest Londoner cousin Barmaid Becks turned 20 on Sunday and we had such a super and cultured day. I missed the Tate Modern Man Ray exhibition part of the day because I woke up late and was busy searching for Bjork tickets for us; which are now at £100! But after that we met up and went to Riverside Studios in Hammersmith for a Hamlet play.

Oh but this was like no other Hamlet play, my friend. It's a group of over 100 actors who take turns putting on this VERY VERY improv performance. I mean, the audience had to bring our own weird and interesting props, some of us had to play some of the roles, we were even ushered off to watch each scene in a new setting unknown to the actors, and Hamlet wore an awesome neon David Bowie t-shirt, skinny jeans and white Chucks. It was the coolest experience and it is very underground, so they gave every one a letter in the end to tell us more about them. It starts like this:

"Thanks for all your involvement in tonight's performance of Hamlet.

The success of each night is entirely down to you the audience members.

The production hopes to continue moving around each week, to as many varied and interesting places that we can find to perform in."

"Due to the nature of the show, we often don't know where we will be performing next. In addition, we have no money, and don't spend any money on advertising."

"We love the fact that since its first performances in September 2007, we have secretly performed to enthuasiastic audiences, who have kept their ear to the ground and have found out where and when we are performing."

So, I grabbed some of their uber cool badges, stickers and wallet cards at the door to spread the word. I think you'd like it. Also, you gotta promise to add their group 'The Factory' to your Facebook groups. I'm doing so right now. I especially liked that the crowd was so involved and had to supply the props. I walked with a particularly large push point pen which they eventually grabbed from me and used as a sword or something, not sure. Barmaid Becks' bottle of Heinz ketchup was of course used for the blood (Ophelia smeared it all over the stage and her face, and slapped some on people's wrists in the crowd. UGH!). Some of the cooler props I saw when they told us to raise them over our heads before each act for the actors to come around and choose were:

A Ghostbuster's ghost catcher pack (what were they called?)

A head of lettuce (which was shredded on stage)

A large carton of skimmed milk (which was poured on someone as poison)

Various goblin masks, and

Two large packaged cookies baked into the shape of breasts complete with M&M nipples

Convinced you have to see it yet? I love how they ended the letter as well, because it's true!:

"We'll hopefully see you again at another show, which will be entirely different!"

ACT 1 was in a cold dank tunnel just outside the theatre. We lined the walls while they performed runway style.I didn't get very many good pictures but I like this one because it looks like my friend Fi(pink scarf) is in that scene in Garden State where everything is moving lightning speed fast around a motionless Zach Braff.ACT 2: Inside studio 2 of the theatre.My friend Charlie's prop; a parrot he claims is from the Welsh rainforests; watching on.

My prop, the large pen and the awesome Hamlet stickers I got, one of which is now on my laptop :)

I haven't done a post since Friday, have I?: WEEKEND PT. 1

The Japanese word of the Day is 'Natsu'. That means summer. I am currently saying goodbye to dreams of a South American 'natsu' because it seems I will be as skint as a Charles Dickens character; okay I was going for Huck Finn then realised the very wealthy Scrooge was one too. Fuck it. Yesterday, I applied for a paparazzo job, a freelance journalist job and a counter staff job at a Chinese/Japanese restaurant. For me, anything goes, especially when you find out you've been working somewhere for three weeks in return for nothing but free yoga. Yuh know, I know the whole point of blogging is to 'get into it' but I am SO NOT ready to get into that situation yet. I am fuming.

This weekend was just ridiculous.

I had my friends over for a small but LOUD, pizza-chips-coke-wine-Bob Marley night on Friday and it was the most fun night I have had in ages; except for the bit where 'Waiting in Vain' came on on my 6th glass of wine and I was dangling reminiscently from my chair mouthing the lyrics and being a soggy-faced emo about life. But the mood was easily recovered by my male friend 'poppin' it' in front of my face, which looked more like him jiggling his entire back and hurting himself.

We talked a lot.

Even though I've been one to experiment, being a teenager and all, I told everyone of my fears(for lack of a better word 'cuz I'm not really scared. 'Que sera sera') that I might be bisexual, and my friend Andi made me realise the scariest thing. My ex and I broke up a little while ago (actually, it was November, but he's been having his way with me and I was dumped again around my 19th birthday in January). He's asian. My latest crush, although possessing THE GREATEST shoulder tattoo and THE SEXIEST FITTEST olive-skinned yoga body known to man, is asian...and a woman. So I guess that would be 'THE SEXIEST FITTEST olive-skinned yoga body known to woman'. I guess. Fuck it².

I've had an asian fetish ever since I was like 10 or something, but after my ex broke up with me, there has been no fetish, period, for anyone or anything. I walk past the Takeshi Kaneshiro's of London without the slightest glance, am numb to the honking horns, the 'how ya doin' princess?', the cat calls of every kind, and make sure not to look anyone in the face more than once at clubs for fear that they should think they need to come over and introduce themselves. But all I did was go to work at the yoga studio, and BAM! There is this stupid asian chick busy NOT SWEATING OR GROANING like the rest of us, and bending over backwards in front of my reflection in the mirrored wall at the front of the class. And then sneaking up near my elbow, naked in the changing rooms, to grab her towel. I mean, WHO THE HELL DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?!

Andi says I either want to be limber, cute, tiny, tattooed, artistic her, or I am just acting out towards my feelings of the break-up. But ANYWAY! It all works out in the end. Because I'm quitting my UNPAID yoga studio job and last week I overheard her say something...in an American accent, about not being around the studio for a while and wanting to temporarily suspend her membership. So, there's really no need for me to show up there anymore twice a week to pay one whole pound for water and spray stinky sweaty mats if there won't be any hot asian girls or any MONEY INVOLVED! Good.

The Ex and I have a really complicated relationship; and we want to be together so bad but it's just not happening right now; me being a London-based undergraduate, majoring in Creative Writing, minoring in crazy self-deprecating existences, and him being an aspiring Screenwriter/Director in L.A with nothing to lose. He thinks he's doing me a favour by letting me sort my crazy shit out on my own before we start dating again. And yet, we talk everyday for roughly 5 hours about his screenplays, and stupid people and love and sex and marriage, all the while secretly trying to figure out whether the other person has moved on yet by the tone of their voice on Skype. And no, neither one has. Andi says to solve this, I shouldn't talk to him for two weeks and expect him to make up his mind fully about what he wants with us, in black and white, in yes and no, because he keeps saying things like 'I thought about getting back together with you the other day...'.

So....I did. I went ahead and initiated that difficult task, and I was told... 'no'. At least not until I up and suddently decide to start living in L.A., then 'yes, by all means, do come fuck me, do be my girl, do try your hardest to get that Chinese food counter staff job to save the money to fly here, do be at my beck and call. Love you! *mwah*'

I am at my wit's end about how I am supposed to feel. Everyone's going to tell me to get as far away as I can from him so he doesn't ruin me further. But has anyone ever stopped to think about what the situation would be like for them? Has anyone ever had to deal with such an intricately designed 'so-not-even-close-but-meant-to-be' relationship? I can't believe he said that.

I'm making this a Part 1 to my weekend. Don't worry, that's the end of the sappy love/relationships part of it and you won't have to hear of that for a while, hopefully. But for now, I'm all written out. At least I managed to shove a new Japanese word in there!

SHEPHERD'S BUSH ADVENTURE

So, if it wasn't for my most amazing London friend Sherel calling me around noon saying she had problems and needed to talk to someone, I would not have gotten out of bed at all and had a 3 hour majorly productive writing session that harboured some raw and exciting bits of prose, and even some poetry, which I tend not to tamper with.

I sat in Starbucks waiting for her naturally fashionably late ass to show, with my Venti (I upsized expecting to be there ages, good call) Iced White Caffe Mocha, with which I customized by chucking the usual white chocolate syrup and replacing it with half cinnamon and half vanilla syrup. Yes, I know, it is genius. The word of the blogger. Thanks be to Kara.

I think I wrote about 6 A4 page sides of my notebook, which included planning out my next short story for my portfolio, a few Beat Generation-esque poems about love, descriptions of the people around me, and luckily there are a vast number of weird people lurking in Shepherd's Bush, and just general thoughts. I also decided that one of my interests is crab migrations on Christmas Island; ever since I was a little girl. I know. Leave me be. I've always wanted to go there and since I can't organize that anytime soon, I have decided to write a short story on it. Okay, you think I'm weird. Check it out for yourself.

I bet you're thinking, "Don't fricking tell us about your stories, show us!" My lecturers always say that, "SHOW, DON'T TELL!" Trust me, as time passes, and when they are finished being re-drafted and edited many times, I will let them go, release my babies, let them grow up in your minds. I promise.

For now, you can just have a look at my suicidal memory in my last post. And thank you, lovely Guerreira for commenting on my piece. It really made an already great day extra better, and who would've thought more joy could come to a day minutes to midnight?

After listening to the inspirational words of wisdom that my friend Sherel had to say about not giving up on being a writer and killing myself, we went to Chop Chop, where a plate the size of a hubcab of good Chinese food costs roughly £3. Go there. Nuff said. Then, we decided to catch a movie at the Vue. And we met a man.

"Sherel, what should we see? Jumper was shit, and sorry but I've seen Cloverfield, Sweeney Todd, Juno and Be Kind Rewind already."
"Well, hahahaha oh look! They finally brought out that movie with the ugly girl running from a car in underwear, 'All the Boys Love Mandy Lane."
"Well, do you wanna see that?"
"NO! Can I please spend my money wisely for once?"
"Well, I heard No Country for Old Men is wicked. It won best picture. Oh sorry, we're blocking this man."
"No Country is definitely a must-see girls, unless you're looking for a chick flick. No Country's a drama."
"I thought it was a thriller."
"Well, yes, both." Sherel gets scared. "It's not a spilling guts type of movie, it's pretty fucking weird...and brilliant. It's like a 'what the fuck' movie, yuh know?"

Well, yes, it is a 'what the fuck' movie, and What the fuck. It was brilliant. I didn't realise how hot Josh Brolin can be when he's not in a funny movie like Grindhouse. Apparently he wasn't even the one casted for the movie. It was his 67 yr old father actor James Brolin, but Josh showed up by mistake (HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? HOW EMBARASSING!) Maybe I'm creepy for thinking I could have hot people sex with him, but Sherel liked him too, and we are pretty bipolar when it comes to guys. I mean, I helped her pick out a huge purple fake diamond 'bling' ear stud for her boyf today. Here are some other 'off' guys that I find attractive.

Anyway, unusually hot guys aside, this guy we met ('Call me Anthony, or Doctor Voice') was old+british+unattractive=not my type, but I REALLY liked him, in a 'I want to have awesome conversations with you' type of way. We talked to him for about 20 more minutes, well I did, not Sherel. She listened to us go on about movies and screenplays and movie scores (he writes movie scores and is actually quite famous) and how we secretly LOVED Cloverfield but didn't want anyone to know that (I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!) and he was impressed with my movie knowledge and I was just so excited with HIM! Has anyone ever felt like that about someone? Like you just HAD to be friends with that person? I suppose it is sort of like Juno befriending Jennifer Garner's husband in the movie, or the relationship in Lost in Translation, minus the 'Ohmygod, I love you' bits in both. I was really sad that he just turned around and left the theatre after talking to us, and wanted him to join us. Is that weird? Sherel had to listen to me talk about him over tea for 30 minutes. Anyway, be sure to see his movie 'Prison Ship' when it comes out. I don't know anything about it or if it's any good but he claims people are calling it the Die Hard 5. Okay that probably doesn't make you want to watch it so I'll scope it out for you guys and report back.

ITEM OF THE DAY

'Friends' is one of my highest ranking labels on this blog so far. And I hope you know I don't mean that pathetic little American show that had everyone transfixed at one point; except me.

It's just really invaluable to have a true friendship, even if it's just in the singular. And I don't mean the friend that is willing to blow all her money (which is actually her parents') on cocktails for you in one night, then hold your hair up as you let it rip over the toilet after the boozing. Those are acquaintances. As The Lonely Londoner, I can seriously say it's been tough making 'friends'. I mean, the one major friend I made out here became my love interest, then my overseas boyfriend (he was an exchange student), then my ex. Yes, we are still exceptionally close, but...what about a friend in London?

I think I realised I can barely count any on one hand. Maybe that's why I've been ditching the house parties before midnight, passing on the 'take shots every time someone says the word'fuck' kinda thing, and delving deep into my work, befriending Angela Chase on My So Called Life, and most of all, blogging. I don't think it makes me pathetic, I think it just makes modern 'people-meeting' pathetic.

The last episode of MSCL that I watched, ep. 10, was where Rayanne decided to throw a huge birthday bash with the money her runaway father had sent her. She, of course, as troubled as she already is, got majorly boozed and smashed off of a bad mix of alcohol and ecstasy. By the time her mother came home to shut everything down and yell at her, then stomp off again, she was on the verge of passing out. Rickie is the epitome of care and dedication by friend; plus he wears an amazing band captain jacket. I completely broke down watching him protect this girl. It wasn't only episode 10, but all the ones that preceded it. Rickie is my ultimate friend. If I run out of eyeliner, I'm set. He'd be waiting in front of the girls' bathroom mirror for me, teasing his curled hair and telling me how beautiful I was, with or without the liner. So watching him shudder with tears as he slapped his best friend's pallid face, really got to me. He says this one great line, talking to Angela's mom in the hospital (she came to the rescue): "Has there ever been someone....? Did you ever try to protect someone..SO MUCH..that it, like...hurt?"*starts crying*

Okay okay, I am way too melodramatic about this show. But like they all say, you really had to have seen it. My point is, value your real friends and really be there for them. I won't call any names, but no matter how much I've stuck it out for this one person, they keep failing me. I've been asking people for help about it. She completely disregarded our plans this weekend..twice! And still hasn't made an effort to talk about it. I'm just...this close, yuh know? *sigh* That is why, the IOTD is a real friend.

10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT TODAY

1. HAPPY Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transexual month! Here's a pic of two of my lovely hunnies for ya! (warning to homophobes) 2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!!! My uber eclectic hunny and wayfarers companion. Hope you have a great day 3.I finally bought the complete series of My So Called Life! Majorly anxious to watch it later. 4. Got my Starbucks fix because I thought I deserved a reward for staying on the treadmill for an hour today. Did 6.57 miles. YAY!

5. I'm okay with not attending Cave Man/Cave Woman BOP party on campus because I am going to Liquid with my girlie!

6. I found a Banksy-esque attempt on a wall on campus today. Check it out!

7. I created an awesome outfit today while being hyper and jumping up and down to Jacques LuCont's "What You Waitin' For?" remix.

8. I'm in love with the eco-friendly re-usable box of Andrex moistened tissue!9.After all the years of watching it on VHS and muttering the entire script to my friend's annoyance, I finally got 10 Things I Hate About You on DVD; in homage to Heath Ledger.

10. I also bought IT by Stephen King on DVD, after a painful choosing battle between that and Labyrinth. It's my first childhood horror experience.