Delayed Posting (my secret shame) As Well As More Shenanigans and Good Times

Hello friends,

So it's totally the end of March, but let's pretend it's still February for about half of this entry. Yeah? Yeah.

February was a crazy month. I had lots of school stuff going on. RiPPLE was in it’s final phases and I was also running around and having fun, as usual.

First things first, I went on this fantastic walking tour of Soho, including famous recording studios and pubs that authors like Hunter S. Thompson and Martin Amos got drunk in on a regular basis. It was definitely a lot of fun. Something that will most definitely be repeated in the near future (and it was!). I only got one photo and that was because my nerdy ridiculousness knows no bounds.

After the walk, half of the group went to see this.

Arthur Smith Does Leonard Cohen

The other half of us made our way to the Royal Opera House to hang out with the tourists at the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts). 

We came pretty late so I was way too short to see what was in front of me. But I was like ten feet away from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. And and and and I pulled out my phone so I could really see over the 4 or so people in front of me. I caught sight of (drumroooooooooooll please) Prince William who drove himself to the awards like a boss. The picture is blurry. But Yeah.

There was also an interesting moment on the walk back to Waterloo. 

We were walking across the Waterloo Bridge, enjoying music and the fantastic sights that are Central London and we saw this pile of skateboards. Way too great not to take a photo of. "Make Tea Not War"

Oh, yeah! Got sick. Got better. Then I got Strep. Was essentially out of commission for almost all of February zonked out on paracetamol and a 7-day regimen of antibiotics. It was horrible. I woke up feeling so out of it that I walked the mile and a half to the hospital. Maybe two hours I spent there. Got checked out twice, got my super cheap prescription for like 8 pound 50 (forty pills! for 8.50) and was out of there by 11:30AM. It was glorious. Thank you, NHS. 

The courses this term were really odd. Structure and Style was interesting because we had the chance to work in different genres (play, drama, and short story). Definitely had fun switching things around and making the most of the course. Andrea Stuart was a fantastic tutor. I definitely will be picking up her book.

Special Study was a bit all over the place. We had two tutors, Barry Keefe that specialized in screenwriting and Winsome Pinnock that focuses on playwriting. That course didn’t really “start” start until halfway through, when Winsome came to take it over. I wasn’t really happy with it, but the course director assured me there was nothing more that they could’ve done. It got better towards the end, which was fantastic and all of us started to produce some really good stuff. The only drawback was that we got into the groove right at the end of the term, which sucks. But, Winsome is allowing us to send her one more draft because she knows how weird the term has been for us. SCORE. We’ll talk about what I’m writing for that course later.

Jigsaws are going great! I have tons of  them done now. Below you’ll see pictures of my magical mounted babies. Doctor Who is the only one that isn't 1,000 pieces.

Movies! I’ve seen some great films in the last two months. Frozen was genius. I may be obsessed with it and the covers that have been made of Let it Go. But let’s be honest, the best parts of Frozen are For the First Time in Forever (Reprise) and, of course, Fixer Upper/In Summer (you can’t make me choose between them!) Not only is it in my top three Disney movies, it is one that is breaking the Princess movie mold bit by bit. High five Disney!

The Lego movie. Great star studded cast and full of plenty of adult jokes. It was pretty good, could’ve been more engaging, but entertaining enough for the kids in the audience. Morgan Freeman was probably the stand out. He was hilarious.

The Wolf of Wall Street. Sooooooo much more funny than you’ve heard. Trust me. It’s full of sex, boobies, profanity, and drugs. The story is outlandish and immensely hilarious. The perfect black comedy that captured how insane people got on Wall Street in the 80’s. Even though it was 3 hours long, I wouldn’t have cut a thing. It was perfection. Scorsese and DiCaprio at the top of their game.  There is an argument that it celebrates the debauchery of this dude who took advantage of all these people, but it’s an adaptation of his memoir. Guys like Belfort think they’re God’s gift to everything. Scorsese showed everyone how much of a dick he was.

Her. AMAZING. Definitely my favorite of the year so far. Top notch scifi. The visual effects were stunning and screenplay itself was gold. Pure freaking gold. Definitely something I’d recommend seeing, especially with the soundtrack and the amazing acting. Her makes me happy. For sure.

The Grand Budapest Hotel. Definitely really really fucking clever. I really enjoyed the fantastic way that they painted the worlds that they were switching between. Also, the way he gave the "60’s” a very novelistic feel, narrating the entire story that wasn’t dialogue, genius. Great Black comedy moments. Ralph Fiennes has great comedic timing and the large cast was very controlled and not overwhelming at all.

And now, we’re going to discuss some things you don’t know. Oh yeah. Elevators here talk to you. They tell you what they’re doing as they do it. It’s really interesting. When speaking to Brits about non-talking elevators most seem skeptical and unwilling to get into them.

Also, land law here is COMPLETELY different. Talking with a few Brits I’ve discovered that you don’t own the land your house is on. It belongs to The Queen and you give her taxes because she’s allowing you to live on it. That is crazy!

Speaking of crazy, in May I’m going on a mini-Holiday to Scotland! I’m so freaking excited. May the Fourth Be With You in Edinburgh and Glasgow. I am counting down the days like a little kid. It’s going to be AMAZING.

I also took place in the KU Awards flash mob. It was a blast. I got to wear a cool hate and tie and pretend to flash and shit in people’s faces. Good times were had by all.

In the beginning of March (halfway through, halfway through!) there was MAYHEM at the Kingston Writing School. Mayhem, I say! The newest Writer in Residence, Hanif Kureishi, was quoted in this article.. He was quoted saying this during his talk at The Independent’s Literary Festival in Bath. 

"creative writing courses as a “waste of time”, saying that the vast majority of students taking them – including many of his own pupils – are “talentless”. Kureishi teaches how to write novels, screenplays and plays at London’s Kingston University, which awarded him a professorship in October." 

People freaked out, got offended, and got over it fairly quickly. Of course, there were plenty of people who spoke out against him and his not very well thought out thoughts. But the call was still there to have him be accountable for his actions. The reaction from KU was as passive as passive could be. He’s still getting paid. Still a jerk. And he’s now added coward to his résumé. He scheduled a Q&A with students and backed out mere hours before he was supposed to show up. Guess the water was a little too hot for him. Wuss.

Speaking of controversy, have I told you what exactly happens on a Tier 4 visa yet? So, the agreement the uni makes with the UKBA (UK Border Agency) is that they will monitor all of us Tier 4’s and insure that we are doing what we came for. For lack of a better metaphor (or to be my usually sassy ass self) the uni is our parole officer. They work for the UKBA and if we misstep in any way, they report us and our visas get yanked right from our pretty little hands.

Each month we have to go one of two places and get our IDs scanned and our identities confirmed by a person as proof that we’re coming to campus. It’s super inconvenient, especially since the dates coincide with important due dates for class stuff, but I guess it could be worse. We could be branded cattle or we could wear monitoring devices that they use to track our every movement (or witchcraft).

The reason I bring this up is because the UKBA in the last five years have become crazy strict. Granted there have been acts of terror that motivated some changes in policy, but they still make us feel a bit like criminals so my flatmate used her frustration and channeled it into a video presentation for the Museum of London. She took our whole flat around London and had us introduce ourselves and explain why we’re here. The goal: to make us seem just like everyone else and to ask if we’re welcome here. It was a lot of fun to do. Plus I got to hang at Hatchard’s the oldest book store in London. Oh yeah.

I went to the Awards and Achievements show for the MA program where a select few got to read their works. It was really really nice to hear all of this work I hadn’t gotten a chance to hear before. Everyone on the MA is talented and I’m glad that I’ve fit in so well with everyone. It was a great night out, for sure.

Record Store Day was also something that I took a few hours to partake in. Tom from Editors was performing at Banquet Records and it was great. His voice is like velvet. Here, take a look.

Five Guys opened up in Kingston. Spent 13 pounds. Worth it.

The term is now over, by the way.  Yay!

Got my dissertation supervisor as well! Mark Barrowcliffe. He does fantasy and comedy. I’m super stoked. I saw him read a snippet from Son of Morning (out soon under his new pseudonym) and I am so glad that he’s right up my alley, genre-wise. He seems really nice so hopefully we get along well.

Went on another educational walk on Sunday, Fitzbury and Bloomsbury. Four and a half miles of squares that all look the same and sordid history involving names we all know and love. Virginia Woolfe, and her moving orgies, lived in tons of different squares. We saw the local pubs that a lot of late, great, authors tended to drink at.

For me, the highlight was the philosopher Jeremy Bantham asked that his body be preserved and stuck in a wooden chest. His Auto-Icon, or burial chamber (whatever you want to call it) is sitting in the hallway of the University of London. There is a table next to it. This girl was studying. Next to Bantham preserved corpse. EWW. So many fucking ewws. The Auto-Icon is present at yearly meetings, but the corpse is missing it’s head. Something went wrong in the process of preserving his body and they replaced it with a wax head. As the kids would say, “#that shit’s cray.” It wasn't open when I was there, thank God. EWWWWWWW.

Onto the more mundane, the weather was fantastic for about two week this month. It was 60 degrees, the highest was 66 and it was glorious. Everyone was outside enjoying it, it was the best! Then Spring Equinox came and it was all rain and gloomy 40’s again. Thanks, mother nature! It’s appreciated.

What I’m currently working on:

Well, there’s tons of stuff. But the main thing is my musical! I’m doing a romance/comedy about two bloggers that are dueling online, one is sort of a feminist and the other teaches other men how to seduce women.  It’s going to be hilarious and it will probably be original songs with a few popular ones mixed in? I’m trying to focus on dialogue for now since that’s the most important.

I’m also working on a short play about grief for Style and Structure. I’m also planning on a spoken word piece and flash fiction so that should be fun fun times. These aren’t due until the end of May so I’m totally good for now.

The novel will be coming along soon, I just need to get back into the mode of it again. That will be happening soon for sure. I will be getting back into Andriana’s head once again and it will be glorious.

I also applied for the MFA program so that I can continue to evolve my writing and style. I’m super excited about it, but we’ll see if I’m accepted. I think my application is strong enough, but only time will tell.

Well, I think that’s it. 2,000+ words later and you’re still here. Sorry about the gap between, I’m lamer than a lame lame person. But, I still am keeping you up to date!!! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in April. I really will this time since I’m going to be doing term papers and/or Netflixing the whole month. I’ll force myself to update.

Ciao!