I'm Dreaming of a Tropical Christmas

It's a balmy 85 degrees here in Southern California. Santa's Sleigh may run into technical difficulties.

Furhter reports as events warrant...

Merry Christmas Eve!

I think that I may like Christmas Eve more than Christmas because you get all the anticipation of tomorrow's holiday, while still feeling that you are having a holiday right now. This extends the holiday spirit from 24 hours to 48 and we all know the more holiday the better.

Speaking of holidays, the best thing about mine has been the little things. I have time to curl my hair, go to bad movies, take random trips with the entire family to the neighbors-who-went-on-a-Christmas-cruise to use the massage chair, go out to breakfast with my dear friend, and make stuffing. All this and I still go to bed by 10:00pm.

Life is good. Christmas makes it even better.

The Holiday Spirit

There is nothing that makes it seem more like Christmas than a rousing rendition of "Grandma got Ran Over by a Reindeer".

Public Service Announcement

On behalf of the the internet reading population I would like to say, just because we are reading your blog doesn't mean we want to hear your crappy music. We especially don't want your crappy music downloaded on to our computers. So please, do a service to us all and take those stupid files off of your blog so that we can surf in peace.

Regards,

The Society for the Anihilation of Eprops and other Stupid Internet Conventions.

London!

Following the final days of term, I took a two day trip to London. We toured several of the major sights (many of which I haven't seen), and had a generally great time. Here are some of my favorites!

This is the London skyline at sunset from the base of the London Eye:



This is Tim trying to be as tough as his new friend:



Here are some horses we saw trotting past Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, the Queen nor any of her closest relations were inside the carriage.



It was cold in London, and so here is my smoothie demonstrating its cool new winter gear:



I am back in Oxford for a few days, exploring the unseen parts of the city and recovering from the semester. I can't believe I will be home this week!

The Last Days

Today was the first of the many, many sad good-byes that will happen in the next twenty-four hours. We had our last official meeting today, which served as a time of reflection and fun while we geared up to get packing. I am so sad to see my friends go home.

Here are some sad pictures of our sad selves (we don't look sad, but we are):

This is our scrabble club (we played at a pub every Friday night):



Here is the Oxford Contingent of Dante (long live us!):



And these are my roommates and me freaking out, apparently:

It Is Finished

Last night I printed my very last Oxford essay. I will be walking out the door to turn it in in approximately 8 minutes. This is very weird for me.

Who has a free place to stay in Oxford? Well, that would be me...

Since I know you are all deeply concerned by the potential of me living on the streets of London for lack of funds (a problem I was quite recently whining about), fear not. My excellent friend David has come to my rescue and moved to Finland for three weeks. Lest you think this is unrelated, I will tell you that he has also given me free reign of his apartment here in Oxford for the duration of his foreign travel. And there was much rejoicing.

The moral of the story is: Stay in touch with friends from high school. Even the one's who are quite strange and obscure might come out of the woodwork, give you their european home, and so restore your ability to eat and buy presents.

Reasons

One reason why Xanga is an illegitimate forum for legitimate blogging is eprops. I still don't know exactly what they are or what they were meant to signify, but the word "props" is dumb enough without digitizing it.

One reason I don't want to leave Oxford is because I like riding the Oxford bus. If you had told me that this would be a reason when I got here I wouldn't have believed you, but I really like it. I meet lots of nice people, get to see lots of crazy people (the funny kind, who are usually drink and/or singing), and have all of these pleasant breaks in the day while I wait to be picked up. It will feel like cheating to get back in a car and drive places all by myself, with no other people and no waiting.

One reason I like Christmas is because of the decorations. I think the world would be a better place if we found something to decorate our city streets, shop windows, and living rooms for every month.

One reason it is good that we don't is because it would make Christmas less special.

One reason I want to go home is because I can't wait to see my family and live at home again for a few weeks. It feels as if it has been ages.

One reason why I don't like checking my email on the weekends is because I never get any, and it makes me sad (hint: send me an email).

One reason I am blogging right now: I don't want to write my long essay.

Buying Up Oxford, Because I am an Idiot

Between the elation that set in when I finished my very last tutorial and the denial I am living under about how much work there is left to do, I have been experiencing some erratic behavior on my own part. This being my last week in Oxford, I appear to have decided that I will buy it all and bring it with me. Wycliffe sweatshirt? Of course! A girl's got to show her college pride. New silver ring? A perfect memento of my time here. Presents for the family? Oxford just happens to contain LOTS of things that they would like. Magdalene College? I've been needing one of those, pile it on!

Due to this need to single-handedly increase Oxford's economy, I have spent over 70 pounds in the last TWO DAYS. For those of you not familiar with the pound to dollar exchange rate, this is approximately $8,000, 000. This wouldn't be such a problem if it wasn't for the fact that I had the brilliant idea to stay in England for six days after term. This means I need to use the dollars I earned this summer to pay for food and housing in London. Unfortunately, London requires one to use pounds, and you are now all well aware of what problems this can present for the hard-earned but easily spent American dollar. With that in mind, I am trying to depress myself enough so that I stay in-doors safe in my room where no spending is possible. If this fails, I may be joining England's many homeless and living out of my suitcase with a lovely silver ring as my only conciliation. Maybe I can barter Tim for a bus ticket to the airport.

There is, however, one purchase that I am particularly proud of. Since I cannot end this blog post before I refer to the weather at least once, I would now like to introduce you to my favorite things:



That's right! Fingerless gloves! These babies keep your hands toasty warm while still allowing you to do stuff . It is amazing! They are by far the most practical things I have bought in a while, not to mention they are adorable. They were definitely worth the $3000 dollars they cost after conversion.