March 23, 2003

Kingston Breakfast Run Brian, Abigail, Leo, Sunni and I ran the Kingston breakfast run today along with 2295 others. We did the 16 mile course, 2 laps of a loop course that took us along the Thames and past Hampton Court Palace.The weather was absolutely splendid; proper summer weather for England. This freak occurrance of sunshine on race days has me baffled. Based on last year, I predicted rain right up until the London Triathlon in August. I got an email from Ai yesterday. She's finishing her master's degree in American drama and will start work on her PhD in April. When I read her messages I can hardly believe English isn't her first language. Must be due to that brilliant English teacher she had back in '94. It was Japan week, as Masa flew to Seattle for a few days to visit my dad. And apparently that's where all the rain was. Not the best for touring the city, but he did get to see the cherry blossoms in the Quad.

March 16, 2003

DJ Space Friday night was a Tri London social at The Old Queen's Head on Essex Road. Point of interest: while looking for an image of this public house on the web, I found it listed in the 'paranormal database'. But the only abnormal thing about the evening was the music that I provided, much of which could have come off a KJET play list. There were four of us 30-something Americans in attendance and we were in heaven. The other 46 party-goers didn't seem to recognize any of the tunes but seemed rather ambivalent about it anyway as they discussed recent 10k times and upcoming trips to Club La Santa. I had full intentions of dancing for several hours, but it didn't happen. The venue, while very comfortable and spacious, just wasn't conducive to dancing. Had the lights been a bit dimmer and the tables pushed a bit to one side I would have braved a couple of moves. My living room will have to host my grooving urges for the next little while. At your request, I'll send you my 5 CD play list.

I Want You To Want Me Cheap Trick rocked the Royal Albert Hall Thursday night and I was there! Rick Neilsen wore a glittery silver suit and played a variety of guitars, including a checkered 5 neck guitar. They played most all the songs I was yearning to hear, including "She's Tight" (sorry Mom). They didn't play that one at the Seattle show I saw about 6 years ago. I imagine they heard how disappointed I was and made sure it was on the set list for this tour.

March 06, 2003

I just got an email from my friend Chris. I had a MAJOR crush on Chris in high school. We met in social studies class. He was quite a brainiac and sat next to me and Mark. Mark was always trying to copy off Chris' tests or get him to fill in his homework at the last minute. Chris is taking a position with NATO (even more of a brainiac now). I can only imagine the tremendous pressure he's under with the world in its current state. I can confidently say that the world stands a chance with people like Chris in office.

City Jog Tonight Claudia and I went jogging down through China Town, then down to the River Thames. We crossed over the Hungerford foot bridge and had a spectacular view of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben all lit up in the dark. The London Eye was towering overhead. We ran to the Tate Modern Museum where we intended to view this phenomenal exhibit in the hallway, but the museum was closed. We decided we'd do the run again next Friday when the museum is open late. We crossed the Millennium Bridge over to St. Paul's Cathedral with another view of London buildings lit up at night, ran up Holborn to Chancery Lane, Gray's Inn Road to King's Cross, Pentonville Road to the Angel then down Upper Street. It's so fun running with enjoyable company! Thanks Claudia.

March 01, 2003

It's Saturday. I'm in SQL class. It's lunch break. Databases are very useful and very boring. I wish I were in a graphic design class. Time to look for a course.