Blog Fail.

Holy crap has it really been almost a YEAR since I blogged? Total blog fail.

I'm not even sure if anyone reads this (or ever did) so its always just been here when I get to it. Today I'm getting to it.

Keith and I took a totally amazing cruise vacation and made the Eastern Mediterranean our bitch. We stayed in Rome about 4 days before embarking on our cruise. We went to:

Rome, Italy

Naples, Italy

Capri, Italy

Sorrento, Italy

Pompei, Italy

Athens, Greece

Rhodes, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Ephesis, Turkey

Alexandria, Egypt

Cairo, Egypt

Giza, Egypt

Taormina, Sicily

All that in 16 days! It was insane. I have a lot to talk about our adventures - but one big post just won't sum it up. Well technically I guess it could sum it up, but I wouldn't be doing those places any favours.

The weight loss is going horribly - but that's because I haven't been to the gym in forever.

The past 6 months or so (at least) around here has been so insanely crazy I just don't know where to even begin.

It started with the prospect of Keith deploying, then our whole cruise was like a countdown to deployment because he was supposed to leave 8 days after we got back. THEN they said "You aren't deploying" and now I worry that he'll come home from work one day and say "Welp honey I'm deploying". Its just an emotional rollercoaster.

So what now? Well I'm trying to get un-depressed at the moment. I'm not sure what's really caused it. Maybe the snap back to reality after a super awesome vacation ... or the fact that I feel horrible after spending 5 months mentally and emotionally preparing myself for another deployment only for it NOT to happen - but I am kinda depressed. I'm hoping that after this week of doing almost nothing that next week I can make myself so busy that I don't even have time to think.

Oh Blog, How I've Neglected You

As anyone can see I have severely neglected my blog. Why? I'm not entirely sure. Well a couple reasons, really.

I was planning a trip to Germany - which is done and over.

And the weather here in England has been so nice that I haven't been indoors a whole lot.

I know, neither are really good excuses - but I'm back on the Blog-train so let's get this thing rollin'!


Keith and I spent 6 glorious days in Germany at the Edelweiss resort which was ah-may-zing!! Due to me being neurotic we flew instead of driving. For me its just nice knowing I don't have to worry about getting from point A to point B. I really enjoy just sitting back and not worrying for a change.

I don't want to go all picture crazy, so here's a link to the flikr set that Keith uploaded: Germany Picture Set. Bare in mind that is only a small piece of the 500 pictures we took - but since we have a free flikr account we're limited in what we can upload every month ... so more pictures will be uploaded in May.

A Wicked Weekend

Keith and I had a completely AWESOME Saturday. I don't regret my decision to only do wedding videos during the week. If I were still doing them on a whim there's no way we would have had such a lovely weekend!

We started our Saturday by waking up (of course!) and made the hour drive to Redbridge (suburb of London) to catch the Central tube to St. Paul's.

St. Paul's Cathedral

We walked the few blocks from there across the Millennium Bridge

Millennium Bridge

Once across the bridge we were directly in front of the Tate Gallery of Modern Art.

Tate Gallery of Modern Art

This is where we met with Harold Frickner who had invited Keith and I to give the lecture at Solent University in Southampton. We both really think highly of Harold - and I particularly enjoy our intellectually charged conversations. It isn't often that you can discuss art (in its many mediums), society, and Second Life all to a receptive person and still get great feedback without it feeling like propoganda!

We all met on the 6th floor in the Members Only cafe where they have the biggest croissants I've ever seen in my life! The three of us sat and had croissants and cappuccino while just taking in the view before we walked the few blocks to Borough Market which we're told is probably the most trendy market in London. We weren't there for trend so much as to just enjoy the market.

Market Days are unfamiliar to us. There's really no such thing in America. Markets are purely medieval which would explain why since there was no Medieval period in the United States. And markets are something that Keith and I really enjoy. The closest thing we have in the US would be what most here call a 'jumble sale'.

After we had taken a trip through the Borough Market we hopped in Harold's car as he gave us a driving tour of London. We even drove past the Ten Bells - and we must MUST round up Tree and her man to take a Ripper tour one day soon! Its one of the many things which are mandatory on a trip to London.


Harold drove us to the theater where we had tickets to see Wicked - and let me tell you ... its been far too many years since I've seen a play/musical/opera! I almost cried when the curtain came up. A bit of it was sadness of "That could have been me" - the other part was just sheer glee. I'll have to explain the "Coulda Been Me" syndrome another time.

Apollo Victoria Theater

During intermission I didn't even want to get up. I sat there hoping that if enough people stayed in their seats that the director would decide to start the next act early ... but of course this was all just a fantasy played out in my head.

The play was spectacular and I would recommend it to anyone with children who are old enough to understand it (8 and up). It really gave a good positive message that I think young girls SHOULD hear on a daily basis but probably don't. Let's not mention the fact that it was also really funny!

We then had dinner at the MOST posh Pizza Hut I have EVER seen. This place served WINE!!!! On top of that .. they served like .... gormet desserts! I was over the moon at how swank the place was! I absolutely LOVED it! It was something that felt familiar but was all together different. It just goes to show you how different cultures are. In America -- you'd NEVER find a pizza joint like that.

At any rate - I told Keith that we mustttt see more plays and musicals because back "home" I would have to drive 5 hours (estimated) just to see a musical ... and here its so much more convenient. Oh and London's transportation system is so so so good. They really make it easy to get about - which makes me feel less intimidated. We had a LOVELY weekend and I hope to have another soon!

Our Lecture at Solent University

Somehow we didn't kill each other in the car on the way to Solent University in Southampton, and made the three hour drive. The traffic made me antsy because folks on motorcycles here will weave through traffic at high speeds and it just makes me nervous!

The Jurys Inn that we stayed at was great! Even though I'll admit to having too much to drink, I'm always more outspoken due to letting the wine speak for me - everything was sooo much better than expected. Harold Frickner and I had a long chat about Second Life and its potential uses and how machinima on the platform can be so much more than avatars dancing.

At one point I thought I had an ear infection, but it turns out I have a wisdom tooth coming in which made my inner ear and jaw sore :( Anyway!

About 20 people came to our lecture - and though that seems like a small number there were only about 150 who registered for the event and there were 4 other lectures going on at the same time. I even pushed it so far as to do most of my end of the lecture in PowerPoint, which I hadn't messed with in forever.

It was painfully obvious that we aren't used to public speaking, but I think that our video content end of the lecture is what really captured peoples' attentions. We had a lot of interesting questions, and I was quite surprised to hear that some schools are already incorporating Second Life into their curriculum! I think my mention of SL being open source so that the school can host its own 'private' version of SL really piqued their interest.

Keith and I are hoping to continue giving 'lectures' to show the impact of machinima and how not only virtual worlds, but the open artistic freedom of platforms like Second Life can put a whole new spin on not just education - but the art of film making itself.

There are pictures somewhere - but we've misplaced the flash drive so I can't transfer the pictures onto my PC as of yet.

Earlier today I sat here at the PC and just said "WOW". Three years ago when Keith and I teamed up for our first machinima video, I never would have thought it would have taken us down the path we've been on. No we aren't making a sick amount of cash - but for the past two years we have been able to apply the money we DO make from our videos to things that have made our videos better.

Not only did I never expect for the two of us to be taken seriously, but I never expected anyone else to hold any kind of interest in what we do beyond just laughing at the funny videos we make. It really has been a very awesome experience that has taken me by complete suprise.

No, we haven't been offered any contracts - but we are able to still do what we love without having to worry about anyone dictating it. Machinima has become so mainstream that no one really bats an eye when we try to explain what we do as a hobby. I remember trying to explain everything to my family once upon a time, and I'm still not sure they get it - but at least someone does.

I gave my mom links to videos we've done, and though I really get the impression that she wasn't impressed - I think she at least now understands what it is.

At any rate - I was pleased with our lecture regardless of our lack of experience - and I hope that all virtual worlds (not just Second Life) have finally gotten cast in a light which goes beyond just scantily clad women and cheating spouses.

Flickr is too thorough!

Alright so for those interested I uploaded a few more pics to Flickr. I had fun with that whole 'map' thing for a while but now it wants you to zoom in more to drop the pics ... ugh I can't remember streets we took the pics on - is just the town not good enough for you, flickr?!

Anyway - so I put up our London pics (some of them) and a few others from Norwich that I forgot to post last time. Keith is STILL editing that footage and its a gorgeous day out. Kinda didn't want to be in the house today since we were inside yesterday but what can ya do?

Nothing else to really update with other than a song of the day ...
Can't Stop Moving by Sonny Jim --- this song makes me feel all happy inside.

Flickr

Oh. I forgot that I added that picture slide show badge thingy over there like I said I would the other day. I think there are London pics that I haven't uploaded yet ...

Every month I take pictures off to add new ones (it would be stupid for Keith and I both to pay for premium accounts) so huzzah!

BTW - these are all IRL pictures of Bebop and I so if you aren't interested in our RLs then don't look at it. We aren't naked or anything like that ... but it is us being our goofy selves out in random public places that we go to.

Weekend Trip and other Things

So for the first time in a couple weeks Keith and I decided to take a weekend trip. We don't stay gone all weekend, but we take a full day and go do stuff. Saturday we spent the entire day in London just wandering aimlessly and stopping of anywhere for a pint. We didn't want to be tourists, but we did just want to be somewhere unfamiliar in order to just relax. Unfortunately it was a VERY nice day out so the tourists were in full force. Maybe I'm weird - but hearing so many languages at once gives me a headache :(

So the entire river front was crawling with tourists, and we did the tourist thing of taking a boat down the river and back. And it was really relaxing! Of course it was crowded with tourists taking pictures of every single thing possible and yelling things which I assumed to be "No turn that way! Can't you smile?!" etc.

I got myself a bit of a sunburn (I'm very fair skinned. I blame by Irish ginger-haired parents) which is a bit achy today. It was worth it though. It actually didn't rain in London! We of course took along an umbrella anyway - but we didn't need it! We took the tube from Redbridge to St Paul after it took us about fifteen minutes to find the damn car park there at Redbridge :( We found it, though!

We haven't yet taken the pictures off the digital camera, but I remembered that we both have Flikr accounts, and I have yet to really share our pictures from both Chicago and all over England. I've been in the process of putting together a DvD for my family to mail to them so they can see our pictures also, but with all the weddings I've been doing in SL I haven't really had the time to sit down and work on it. Soon though, I hope. I've only got 4 weddings to do this month so far so I'll find time in the next couple weeks I'd say.

So yeah I'm going to add both mine and Keith's Flikr Tikr (haha I'm clever) to the side over there somewhere ------------------------------------------------------------------------>

Song of the Day

Falling by Emmy Rossum (she reminds me of Imogen Heap which is GOOD!)

SLACKER

I know I've been slacking in the blog department, but its been a busy few days on top of me just being in pain :( Not to mention I have two wisdom teeth left which will probably get pulled in the coming weeks/months - but I also have some tiny cavaties due to my other wisdom teeth that are going to be getting filled and such.

As most everyone knows I am living in England. For the most part things are the same here - but I will list the big differences

• No Ice

• BROWN gravy only

• No air conditioners

• No mirror in the bathroom

• No plug ins in the bathroom

• 'Fortnight' is still used

• Radiators for heat

• Driving on the left side

• Road signs are luminous

• Most the radio stations are geared to 'younger' listeners (I mean teens)

• Cuts of clothes are more simple here

• Things you've seen celebs wear - they were that every day here (those lil ballet slipper things with flowy tops and leggings is big here right now)

• The Thai and Indian food is better in England than it is in Thailand I betcha

• When you order a meal - you get a BIG full plate

• Its expensive to eat out (3x as much as the states)

• Kids wear uniforms to school

• No bikes on the sidewalk unless a sign says you can

• Dye your hair whatever color you want - the Brits won't make a fuss (I've not gotten fired places because of my wacky haircolor before in the States)

• Beer is a social drink to be enjoyed in the presence of anyone and everyone (Bars are 21+ in the states and if they serve food its probably just put in a microwave -- the only CLOSE equivelant to pubs in the states would be resturants that have a wine menu)

• The inside of a washer is about the size of a 5 gallon bucket. Don't let your laundry pile up! It goes under the counter like a dishwasher in the states would - but it smaller than a dishwasher.

• 2 litres are rare - everything is 1 litre and milk doesn't come in gallons.

• There are no stop signs. Everything is a "Give Way" which means rolling 'stops' are what they WANT you to do here. No tickets for not stopping yippie!

• Mirrors on your car come with a button that pulls them in. Your mirrors WILL get hit on a village street if you're parked and a lorrie comes by. Do everyone a favor and move your mirrors in.

• Same Language - Different Dialect (which I will list later)

• The "Organic" isle in the store is massive. HUGE on organics here

• LOTS of vegetarians here. Vegetarian alternative to ANYTHING at EVERY eatery I've been to.

• Every room in the house has a door. This is to save on heating, of course.

• A "Beer Garden" is NOT where beer is grown - its a patio, more or less.

• Before you decide to take a bath - be sure you've heated some water first. Hot Water Heaters don't run continuously here (they can if you leave it on but that would get expensive)

• No one runs around half naked in the summer. It isn't hot enough for that here (THANK YOUUU Mother Nature!)

Alright so those were the major differences that came off the top of my head. And now its time for a small vocabulary lesson! The first word will be the USA word - the second will be the Brit word for it. So format will be USA - Brit. Ready?


Cell Phone - Mobile (pronouced Mow-bile)

Semi Truck - Lorrie

Stove - Cooker

Sun Room - Conservatory (pronounced Con-serv-try)

Fries - Chips

Chips - Crisps

Cookie - Biscuit

Biscuit - Scone

Road - Carriageway

Two Lane Divided Highway (Highway) - Dual Carriageway

Interstate (3 or more lanes) - Motorway

Trunk (car) - Boot

Windshield (vehicle) - Windscreen

Buck (money slang for dollar) - Quid (Money slang for pound)

Wine Cooler - Alcopop

Truck Stop - Services

tired - knackered

Cops - The Fuzz or just Fuzz (haven't heard it said very much)

Drunk - pissed

Kiss - Snog (which I haven't heard since the Spice Girls were cool)


And right now those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head - there are sooo many though. I mostly put up on the ones that Keith had a LOT of trouble with. I love confusing him about biscuits and scones

Me-Now pretend we're in a pub and you want a cookie for your tea .. what do you ask for?

Keith - A biscuit!

Me - Right! Now you want a biscuit with your bangers - what do you ask for?

Keith - What's a banger?

Me - A sausage.

Keith - Oh. I want a biscuit?

Me - Is that what you ask for?

Keith - No I ask for a scone.

Me - Good! Now you've got a biscuit and a scone, but you want another cuppa aand ...

Keith -Wait Jen .. if a cookie is a biscuit and a banger is a sausage what's a biscuit?

Me - A biscuit is a scone.

Keith - Right. Well what exactly is a scone?

Me - Its a biscuit.

Keith - But I thought a biscuit was a cookie?

Me - It is.

Keith - Oh god I'll never fit in!

SONG OF THE DAY!

In Keeping with my Brit fueled post I will put up a song that I've only ever heard here in England - and BBC Radio 1 has done a fine job of gettin it stuck in my head. DAMN YOU BBC RADIO 1!


Away From Here by The Enemy

Thursday May 25th - Thursday May 31st

Well we made it in one piece - but not without a story or two. Yeah yeah, I know. I can never get from point a to point B without something happening. Its fine by me for the most part because if it weren't for those stories my life would be pretty damn boring.

One of the tiniest jets ever took us from Oklahoma City to Chicago. It was cute though - and on take off it was like being in a little race car. Keith and I were kinda bummed when we got the print out for our tickets because our seats were rows and rows apart ... but they assigned new seats when we got to the airport. It was really cool watching everything disappear underneath us though.

Airport food is crap. Sheer crap. I will never eat another cinnamon roll as long as I live thanks to the Cinnibon place in the airport in Oklahoma City. O'Hare in Chicago had slightly better food - but since we'd been up at 3am .. and it was only like 9am they were all still serving breakfast. We didn't want breakfast :( We were ready for lunch. So we grabbed a couple sandwiches and a couple drinks which came to like $30 USD! Yeah major suckage.

From Chicago to Heathrow I slept mostly. I was awake off and on but not for long. They gave us crappy food on the plane, but I ate it anyway cuz hey - free food, right? It was pretty crowded on the jet to Heathrow. The seats were uncomfortable, and I didn't figure out that you could maneuver the head rest around until we were only about an hour from landing.

Alright so we landed at Heathrow airport around 10:30pm. The guy who was supposed to meet us at the airport couldn't make it so we had to call a courier. This doesn't sound like a big deal .. but it costed us 160 pounds to get here :( And yesterday 2.04USD = 1 Pound so yeah it was anything BUT cheap.

I had no idea what jet lag was, but I was fully aware that I was known to get carsick when I'd ride in the car with my family on long trips. Its roughly an hour from Heathrow to Mildenhall. We were on the M1 when I felt a little queasy. I figured it was just because I was tired from all the travel. About 30 minutes later I suddenly felt REALLY sick and told Keith. Before he could say "Want me to tell him to pull over" I started to throw up.

I covered my mouth with my hands but knew that wouldn't be near enough to save the interior of the driver's brand new Volkswagen. So I lifted the bottom of my shirt, made a pouch, and continued vomiting into the shirt. It only took him a moment or so before he quickly pulled over and I jumped out of the vehicle and continued to blow chunks. Keith started rummaging through the suitcases and found me a new shirt. I tore off my other one and put on the clean
one right there on the motorway without even a glance. The driver told me to sit up front because it would keep me from feeling quite so sick .. and I did.

The full wrath of my spew hadn't hit me until we got home. There was vomit all inside my bra .. it was just horrid. I apologized over and over again to the driver but he assured me that everything was fine. I was most proud of myself for not getting a drop inside his car. It was all over me instead. I'm still embarrassed about it - but what can ya do?

Things are really hectic and probably will stay that way for quite a few weeks while we try to get a car, house, and while Keith gets settled in with new co workers and whatnot. So far it hasn't been so bad though. Holy crap the pigeons in England are HUGE! They're freaks of nature and that's no joke. They are really eating high on the hog I tell ya. And there are bunnies everywhere .. which I giggle about.

So we arrived in the UK at 4am Friday - and Saturday we hopped over to Cambridge for the beer festival. We thought the best way to dive into the beer over here was in this forum. This was our first major encounter with English culture. People think that just because most everyone in the UK speaks English that they have the same culture, customs etc as Americans and that's just not true. Keith and I knew this before we came - but there were a few surprises right off the bat.

We were at the beer festival for quite a few hours, and we were so astounded by how many small children were there. We didn't mind, of course because we saw it as a good thing that parents spend so much time with their kids. In the states if adults are going out - they call a sitter. Anyway - there was a whole section dedicated to entertaining children. We were there with a couple guys in Keith's squadron, and since they have been in country for more than 5 years they were giving us pointers.

Pub is short for public place. There are kids in pubs. Its just like going to a Chili's in the states. Yeah they serve alcohol, but that isn't always all. The drinking age is 18 here - and drinking is a very social thing. Cambridge is a very liberal town - and most towns in the UK for the most part are far more laid back than most places in the states. No one cares here if you're American. There are so many tourists here from so many countries and everyone overall is just soooo nice! I for one, totally wasn't expecting that much hospitality right out of the gate. I never expected strangers to strike up conversations while bellied up to the bar waiting on a pint (or half pint in my case after a couple). My family had all told me how shy UKers were, but then again I'm sure they hadn't taken into consideration the places we'd be.

There does seem to be a lot of smokers, but the laws are so different here. You can't just smoke wherever you want. There are designated areas nearly everywhere so it isn't as if you have to walk through a cloud of smoke to get from point A to point B. In the states (at least in Oklahoma and Missouri) you can pretty much smoke anywhere you want - but not inside some places. Most restaurants have smoking and non-smoking sections. Not here. Nearly everywhere is non smoking - and usually you have to be like 15 feet away from buildings to smoke. Keith and I were both VERY happy about how environmentally conscious the UK is. There are all these colored barrels for different rubbish (glass, cardboard, paper, garden trash, and kitchen trash) and go out on different days. Its just second nature to recycle here - and we totally love that.

Everyone here has said "Do not just stay near the base and definitely don't just spend your time in Britain." And we haven't planned to. We do plan to first explore the UK before we head to France, Germany, Italy etc. Just like Saturday we're going to Leed's Castle .. in a couple weeks we're going to Salisbury and Stonehenge ... we plan to do a lot of traveling while we're here. We're going to stop worrying so much about money and just kick back and enjoy this
opportunity to completely submerge ourselves in history, culture, and customs.

Though we've only been in the UK for a week - we both already love it. It already seems this four years is going to fly by. Tomorrow we're off to find a house and get a car. Cheers!

PS - There are no air conditioners! Why? You don't NEED them here!