another one of these farewell messages

Woot, España!! Epic adventure begins very soon.

Yes, I realize that Mallorca is rather touristy and not exactly "real" Spain, but whatev. I'm just excited to go to the beach and see the sun again! I'll do continental Spain soon, I swear.

I'm catching an early flight on Sunday, so I'm staying in London overnight tomorrow. Which means I have to say goodbye to you all tonight. I will be back next Friday, although I won't be able to post again right away because I'm meeting the parental units / little bro when they fly into London later that day.

I love Easter hols!

song of the week: romulus

[Being posted early because of looming vacation.] This week's song is "Romulus" by Sufjan Stevens. From his debut album Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State, "Romulus" is a heartwrenchingly beautiful song about children growing up with an absent mother.

The simple child-like lyrics and Steven's quiet voice perfectly capture the confusion, sadness, and pain of unrequited motherly affection, and when he plucks at the strings of his banjo it's like he's plucking at your heartstrings. The child of the story struggles with feelings of awkwardness and embarrassment when talking to a mother that he barely knows, while at the same time he desperately wants her to stay in his life. In the last stanza, his feelings of shame towards himself are transferred to the mother, when he sees that her neglectful attitude is not just towards her children, but to her father as well after he died. "She didn't seem to care / She smoked in her room and colored her hair / I was ashamed" is such a simple lyric, but it is absolutely perfectly written.

I had a completely happy childhood and I feel like I shouldn't be able to relate to this song very well, but I can understand exactly what the narrator is going through. Sufjan Stevens has this incredible ability to make you feel exactly what he wants you to feel, and "Romulus" gives me chills when I listen to it.

i don't blog like a girl

According to the Gender Genie, I have a male writing style. I tried it four times with different random blog entries, and only one of them came back female. And it's not because I write about sports, because they didn't even highlight those words. Apparently I just sound manly.

It's okay though, because apparently all of the women columnists at The Guardian are also manly. I think their system might be a little flawed.

shiny new feature: song of the week

For a while I had a scrolling Last.fm widget showing what I had been playing most recently in the "What I'm Listening To" section on the right hand side of my blog, but I've decided to implement a song of the week feature instead. (And yes, I did totally steal this idea from choccobear.)

For my very first SOTW installment, I am going with "Coat Check Girl" by The Rinse.

Self-described as:

Brazen pop. Cheeky Baroque. Rude Love. The Rinse are a tug-of-war between London and Brooklyn, dance and rock, brains and loins. But you’ll forget to worry about just what their deal is the minute you join them on the dance floor.

The Rinse were formed in Brooklyn by Will Bates (London), James Rickman (Santa Cruz, CA), Ryan Gruss (Des Moines, IA), and Megan Thomas (Salt Lake City, UT). They have now evolved into Fall On Your Sword and have a much more techno/house feel, but I prefer their original stuff. "Coat Check Girl"'s poppy bass beat and keyboard dings make for irresistible toe-tappingly dancey goodness. Funky as a mudslide, indeed.

[If you like this song, check out "Rollerskating" and "Twisted" too.]

watch this space

New sweet football blog soon to be arriving on the scene. Name and URL to be announced...when we decide what they will be.

Bojan can't contain his excitement.


Dirk and Xabi can't wait either.


And Nando is overjoyed. I think.

So yeah, it'll be awesome. Keep your eyes peeled.

asinine proverb

I'm feeling very childish tonight. I've been playing with an online anagram generator all evening and giggling at the funny things it spits out.

First of all, my full name can be rearranged into Zealous Hair Radius. Surprisingly, a pretty apt description of my coiffure in the morning.

For those of you who have read Harry Potter, you know that Lord Voldemort got his evil dictator name from an anagram of his given name. Just for kicks, I plugged "Tom Marvolo Riddle" into the generator, and realized that there are so many better things he could have come up with than I Am Lord Voldemort! For example:

Armored Vomit Doll
Volatile Dorm Dorm
Lord Ovoid Trammel
Immoral Veldt Odor
Immortal Odd Lover
Dread Milvolt Moor
Mortal Doom Drivel
Marmot Devil Drool
A Troll Mom Overdid
Overlord Mami Dolt
etc. etc.

These next few are for the bears:
Iker Casillas = Ace Air Skills
Sergio Ramos = Roams Orgies; Orgasm Osier; Roars Egoism
Gonzalo Higuain = Laughing in a Zoo
Bojan Krkic = A Brink Jock
Vedran Corluka = Clear Vodka Run; Cola Rave Drunk
Yoann Gourcuff = A Con Runoff Guy
Vicente Rodriguez = Recognized Virtue; Oviduct Energizer (hee!)
Manchester United = A Stench Unmerited; A Cemented Shit Run

Clearly I have too much time on my hands now that I'm done with all of my coursework for the term.


[P.S. A cookie to whoever can unscramble the anagram in the title!]

well...that was quick

Illinois got knocked out of the tournament in the first round by Western Kentucky. Boo, they suck. And they have a stupid mascot.

What is that thing anyways?



VCU also lost to UCLA and Radford got slaughtered by UNC. So now who am I supposed to root for?

the night hull froze over*

Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
We're going to Wembley
Que sera sera!
Best. Night. Ever.

Hokay, so it wasn't exactly the most brilliant game I've ever seen. But it was my first Arsenal match--hell, it was my first football match--and it was an FA Cup quarterfinal AND WE WON after going a goal down in the first half...yeah, that all adds up to a fucking amazing time.

First off, let me say that live matches = fantastic. I don't see how anyone could make the "soccer is boring" argument after going to a professional game. I totally didn't think the whole short sleeved shirt thing through very well, so I was a little chilly during the match. But I didn't really notice it when the ball was in play because I was too engrossed in the action.

The other team's attack is so much more nerve wracking live too; every time Hull were at our end we were on the edge of our seats screaming "GET RID OF IT!" And by "we" I mean me, the guy sitting next to me, and his son, who looked to be about five or six. Baby's First Football Match or something, it was cute. The dad spent half the game explaining things to him, like "Number 23 is Arshavin, he's the best player on the field" or "Arsenal just made two substitutions. Niklas Bendtner came in for Song, although God knows why..."

Quick rundown of what I saw: Defense was very lethargic early on but picked up and did pretty well after Hull's early goal; Arshavin and Vela had a few lovely little exchanges; Walcott doesn't seem to like running down the middle of the pitch but also couldn't seem to get his crosses right as he had some surprisingly poor passes; Song had some unsurprisingly poor passes; Gibbs made a few great tackles; and Bendtner missed a shot or three. Most notably, he scuffed an easy chance where the goalkeeper wasn't even in sight. Credit to Hull's defense on that play though, they did well to clear the ball off the line. Overall, we should stop passing once in a while and actually attempt to shoot the ball. Novel idea, I know.

First glimpse of the stadium

View from my seat

The boys warming up

Gunnersaurus sighting!

Right before kickoff

New kid being awesome

Lull in the action

Arsenal attack that amounted to...zilch

I met two guys from Leicester walking back to the tube station after the match, who were very curious as to how a Yank came to be an Arsenal fan. They were also really excited when I told them I was from DC, and then they wanted to talk politics with me. And then on the train I sang "we've only come to see Eboue" with two other guys. Football is a great icebreaker; I haven't talked to this many random strangers in one day since like recruitment.

I come home to hear that apparently Cesc spit at Hull's assistant manager...? He claims he didn't (although what are you going to do, say "Actually yes, I did. Got a problem with that?"), but in that statement he also claimed he has never spit on anyone on the pitch before.

Um, Cesc? I think you may be forgetting this little encounter. And yeah, I know spitting is gross and the opposite of classy and all that, but I hate Ballack and might possibly spit on him too were I given the chance. (Ditto the whole throwing pizza at SAF thing, if that's true.) So more power to you. But I do hope this new spit-cident didn't actually happen.

Phil Brown also claimed that the only reason Hull's keeper was booked for time wasting was because the ref succumbed to pressure from the crowd and Wenger's complaints. All I have to say is, if he wasn't time wasting, then he is the slowest human being alive. But only when Hull were up a goal, of course. As soon as they started losing, every time he got the ball it was back in play immediately.

Curious...

I dunno, Brown's whole post match spiel sounded a little bitter. He was blaming everyone but his own team. But whatever, sour grapes. We won, we won, nah nah nah nah nah nah! And wow, I'm childish.


*Yeah, I know the Hull/hell pun has been beaten into the ground already. But leave me alone, it's one am and I can't think of anything wittier. Plus it was really cold at the game, so nerr.

beware the ides of march...madness

Today was Selection Sunday for the 2009 NCAA basketball tournament, and here's how it panned out:
Of course, no VT. Our season was kind of a failure. So I'm an Illinois fan for the duration of the tournament...or at least for however long they stay in the tournament. First game on Thursday!

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Oskee wow-wow!

stuff i wish i could do, part two

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

I want to be artistic.

the fall will probably kill you!

Movies I need to buy:

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

I'm not really a fan of westerns, because most of the ones I've seen have bored me. (I've been told many times that I need to watch The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and I'm sure I will one of these days, but I'm not really in a hurry to.) But this movie is fantastic. It's sad at times, hilarious at others, and has some of the best one-liners in movie history. "Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?" is a common phrase in my household. And the whole language barrier issue when they go to Bolivia is just classic comedy, because it's so easy to relate to...you know, except for the whole bank-robbing thing. Really, you can't go wrong with a Paul Newman/Robert Redford movie.

Amélie, a.k.a. Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

I watched this again after I went to Montmartre. I'd forgotten how much I like it. It's quirky, fun, and just makes me smile.

And keeping with the French theme...

Les Choristes

Like the French version of Dead Poets Society, with music. Jean-Baptiste Maunier's voice is absolutely stunning. I want to kidnap him and make him sing to me all day.

Singin' in the Rain

I'm not entirely sure how I don't own this movie. It's one of my favorite movies ever, and definitely my favorite musical. In an interview Debbie Reynolds said that Gene Kelly made them practice the dances until their feet bled. You know what, Debbie? It was worth it.

Notorious

My favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie. It's got love, mystery, Nazis, and Ingrid Bergman's kickass wardrobe. And the wine cellar scene is one of the most suspensful scenes in cinematic history.

The Godfather

Who doesn't love a little mob drama? Al Pacino is awesome. Although the first time I tried to watch this movie, I couldn't finish it because it was too sad when his Italian wife died. I still don't like that part. But still, it should be a part of everyone's movie collection.

There are tons of other movies that I don't own but should, but I clearly can't fit them all here. My film collection isn't very big.

i've got the travel bug

Right now, the tentative April plan goes as such:

Week 1: 5 day vaca in Mallorca! Nice hotel for a relatively cheap price, music festival, beaches (I can finally break out the bathing suits I bought!), the whole deal. Just found out about this today and I so want to go.

Week 2: Back to the UK for family visit. My mom wants to do a few day trips around the south of England: Bath, Stonehenge, Cambridge, etc. which will be nice, because I want to go to all of those places and this way I don't have to pay for it! Yay fam.

Week 2/3ish: Begin the 10 day tour of Italy (Milan, Rome, Venice, and Florence if we can fit it), France (Nice, Marseille), and back into Spain (Barcelona, Valencia). This will be hectic as all hell and we probably won't get to all of these cities. But we're having such a hard time cutting down, because we want to go everywhere! Must figure out eurail sitch soon.

Week 4: Back to uni to study for exams.

After I get back from the break all I have left are four essay exams, but I still have a month and a half before I go back home, so I'm hoping to do more single trips around this time. I should get my exam schedule next week, which means I can start thinking about that soon. Still want to do the central Europe thing, i.e. Vienna, Prague, Zagreb. Oh, and Berlin! Gah, traveling is tough stuff.

ohmygodohmygodohmygod

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod!

/incoherent

song covers

I found myself in the middle of a discussion about the pros and cons of song covers a few weeks ago. Some people don't like covers as a general rule, because the remake usually doesn't live up to the original, but I tend to enjoy them (as long as they're well done). I do think they should sound different from the original song, because what's the point of remaking a song if you're just trying to make it sound like it did before, but not as good? Anyways, here are a few that I like:

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want - Muse (original by The Smiths)


Just - Mark Ronson & Alex Greenwald (original by Radiohead)


Across the Universe - Rufus Wainwright (original by The Beatles)



I Fought the Law - The Clash (original by Sonny Curtis and the Crickets, but I couldn't find it on youtube.) Not really sure what's up with the beach pictures in the video, but whatev.


I Found A Reason - Cat Power (original by The Velvet Underground, but again I couldn't find it on youtube. Original versh is much longer and a little more upbeat.)


Working Class Hero - Exit Clov (original by John Lennon)
This one I can't find anywhere online, and the stupid iTunes file on my computer is locked and won't let me convert it to any other file type. But trust me, it's a good cover.

Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (original by Leonard Cohen)
This one I actually like better than the original. No matter how many times I listen to it, Buckley's voice never ever fails to give me chills.


A few covers that never should have been made: Madonna's version of American Pie, Limp Bizkit's Behind Blue Eyes, and the Orgy version of Blue Monday (I know a lot of people like this one, but I just can't get into it, it's far too angry for me).

parisian skies

Everyone always says they want to go to Paris, and for some reason I've always thought of it as a rather cliché thing. Of course I was excited to see the city, but I thought of the trip more as something I should do, simply because of the hype.

I don't know what was wrong with me. I love Paris.

Seriously, love.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, due to the fact that I forgot to charge my camera battery before I left and it died halfway through jour deux. And there aren't any with me in them...at least not until the ones from Brigid's camera show up on the book of face.

Jour un: We got off the train at about 1ish, then took a coach tour of the city. Briefly saw most of the typical sights, then got checked into our hotel by 4. We were all starving by this point, as most of us hadn't eaten since early in the morning, but no one really seemed to be moving, so I ventured out on my own. I got my map out, walked to the Metro station, hopped a train, and wandered around Saint-Germain-des-Prés for a while. I ended up having an early dinner at the Cafe les Deux Magots, the place where Jean-Paul Sartre used to break his fast every morning, sometimes staying to write for hours, but occasionally stopping to chat with another writer by the name of Hemingway. I felt super important and literary and philosophical. And I was able to order a meal in French!

Jour deux: Woke up early to get to the Louvre around opening time.

I only went to the Denon wing and didn't stay there too long, but I did see the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Mona Lisa, and this awesome statue of Psyche and Cupid by Antonio Canova:

[Side note: Speaking of victory, pictures from the "V for Victory" Nike campaign are all over the Paris Metro. Claude Makalele, Hatem Ben Arfa, and two French (I assume) guys that I didn't recognize.]

Then I museum-hopped to the Musée d'Orsay for the Monets, the Sisleys, the Renoirs, the Van Goghs, and of course my favorite Degas painting:


After I had my fill of paintings and sculptures, I bought a sandwich and had lunch in the Jardin de Luxembourg and sat people-watching for a bit.

In the afternoon I walked down the Champs-Elysées, was overwhelmed by the amount of people in Sephora, and saw the Arc de Triomphe up close for the first time. I didn't go up to the top, but I heard the stairs are pretty brutal. Two of my friends did it twice in one day, because the first time it was raining and they wanted to get the good view after it stopped!

Jour trois: I made up for not going up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe by climbing all the way up to the Notre Dame belltower on Sunday morning. No pictures of that yet but the view was UH-mazing. It rained all morning, which spoiled the mood a little bit, but not too much. I had delicious french onion soup for lunch and everything was fine. (I can't think of many better feelings than sitting inside on a rainy day with a hot bowl of soup.) It stopped raining soon after and the sun came out again, so I decided to crash my friends' walking tour of Montmartre. There were enough people that the tour guide didn't notice, and I'm really glad I did!

At the foot of the hill is a little place called the Moulin Rouge:
We saw where Amélie Poulin worked (as well as the little market where a few scenes from the movie were shot):We stopped at the Metro Abbesses station for a few minutes, and I had two random French guys come up and start talking to me. The first was flirting with me because he thought I was Irish, and the second was a crazy homeless dude who was yelling about how beautiful Paris was. It was quite the experience. Near the station is the "I love you" wall, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like (it has "I love you" written in every language on Earth):
We saw where Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso, and Modigliani used to live, and the cafés and other buildings they hung around/painted.

Since Montmartre is a massive hill, it's got a great view of the city from the top:Again, there were many more photo ops, but due to my forgetfulness I am relying on others to send me their pictures. I might post a second picture entry later. After the tour was over, we walked around the top of the hill for a while, sat on the steps of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, and did some souvenir shopping. Then I bought a baguette and one last crêpe, and headed back to the train station.

So in summary, the city is amazing, the architecture is gorgeous, and so are the people. I swear, it seemed like every other boy I passed on the street was stunningly attractive. And everyone was so friendly and they all had fantastic style. London is still my soulmate city, but I think Paris has become my bit on the side. And don't judge me for cheating; I'm a travel whore and I know it.

The only bad thing about this weekend is that I missed this.


Ah well, I guess sacrifices must be made to the travel gods. Or maybe Arsenal just do better when I don't watch them, who knows.

i don't know what to title this: blog challenge nine

THE RULES:
You have to choose one footballer to do each of the following activities with.
You can't choose the same person for more than two answers.
You have to explain your reasons behind each answer.
Bonus lolz for being specific with certain questions!

Who would you choose to...

1) Go backpacking across Europe with?
Roque Santa Cruz. I think I heard somewhere that he could speak lots of languages, so that would probably come in handy. And if people still couldn't understand us, they'd be nice to us anyways because he's too pretty to say no to.

2) Teach you their language?
Eduardo da Silva. Bonus because I get to learn both Croatian and Portuguese!

3) Go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with?
I tried to think of a witty answer for this one but came up short. I can't seem to come up with any smart (sounding) footballers other than Niko Kranjcar. At least with him on my team we'll be set on the questions about the economic situation in Nigeria!

4) Bake a chocolate carrot cake with?
Xabi Alonso. Then I'd force him to eat it Miss Trunchbull style, because that boy is too skinny.

5) Get drunk and sing karaoke with?
Pepe Reina. No explanation other than this necessary:


6) Go on an extreme sports holiday with?
Kun. I don't know why, but he seems the type to like rock climbing and white-water rafting and all that. And by the way, that would be such a fun vacation.

7) Raise money for underprivileged kids with?
Iker Casillas. Remember those pictures of him with the Peruvian children?

8) Marry and have lots of sex and babies with?
Cesc Fabregas. Starting to sound like a broken record with this one...

9) Play an embarrassingly tabloid-worthy prank on?
Benny Feilhaber. And I'd recruit Sacha Kljestan to help. They'd both find it hilarious.

10) Have a short but wholly satisfying sordid affair with?
Yoann Gourcuff. He seems to have an aversion to wearing clothes, so it probably wouldn't be that difficult to convince him.

11) Go to a fancy dress event with?
Others have already said it, but you really can't do better than Fernando Torres in the fancy dress category.

12) Have a drunken hook up that you may regret with?
Vicente Rodriguez. But I'd only regret it because Gina would kill me afterwords.

13) Go ballroom dancing with?
Roque. No idea if he can dance, but he's the perfect partnering height for me in my ballroom heels.

14) Pull off an Ocean's Eleven style heist with?
Thierry Henry. He looks fab in a suit, plus he's great at being sneaky.


15) Go on a secret mission with?
Cesc. We'd get walkie-talkies and wear all black and hide behind doors and stuff. It would be fun.

sarah, sartre, what's the difference?

Excerpt from my travel journal (actual trip recap to come later):

Paris, 6 March 2009

Friday night in Paris - sitting in Les Deux Magots with a glass of red Bordeaux and a notebook. I'm feeling inspired and philosophical...and like maybe I should go buy a beret.

Yesterday I had a meeting with my Biological Psychology professor to discuss my essay on the mind-body relationship that's due next Thursday. Ever since I learned there was a debate about the relationship, I've known my stance--I firmly believe that what we define as the mind, consciousness, or even the "soul" is a mere product or extension of the physical brain. I don't believe in some higher intangible element of our being that lives on after the body's death.

And not to offend anyone, but I think the main reason people do believe in an eternal soul is that they're scared of dying, of ceasing to exist. Religion began because a) people needed explanations as to how the world worked, and b) people wanted to believe that they would live forever, in some way or another. Now religion has become a tradition--in certain cases (but not all of course), a narrow-minded, bigoted, and prejudiced tradition--and even though science is answering all of these previous unknowns, people don't want to give up their God and their idea of Heaven because they're scared to death of, well, death. Truth be told, I'm scared of death too. Which is why I'm living it up in Paris while I can, I guess!

But back to the mind-body thing for a bit. There are some recent research developments that give evidence to support my claim. They are also totally mind-blowing and slightly disturbing. And super cool, if you're a nerd like me. So basically, fMRI scan technology has advanced to the point where it can quite accurately read people's intentions; effectively, a simple form of "mind reading". One form of experiment is as follows: they stick people in the machine then have them do simple mathematical equations without telling the researcher whether they are adding or subtracting--and based on the machine's readings, the experimenter can then predict what the final number will be. Of course, they can't read thoughts, and the data isn't instantaneous because it still has to be analyzed after it's collected, but the main point is that the most recent tests have shown that the neurons in the brain can start firing almost full seconds before a person is consciously aware of a decision they are going to make.

If this is an accurate depiction of how the mind works, it brings up a pretty scary prospect: free will, as we understand it, doesn't actually exist. We think our conscious mind is deciding something, but if our neurons have made the decision long before we are aware of it, then is it really us doing the deciding? Can we even be held responsible for our decisions? I don't think the excuse "my brain made me do it" would fly in most cases, but it's an interesting thing to think about. Some people say the human brain is incapable of understanding itself. Maybe that's true, because this stuff is blowing my mind...or my brain...or whatever. This type of technology also brings up a whole host of ethical issues, but that's for my Conceptual Issues paper, not my Biopsych paper, so I don't have to think about that until next week.

Well, that was a long and pointless ramble. Maybe there's something in the French air that makes people want to harp on about God and philosophy. Me and Descartes, just like two peas in a pod...

France has made me weird.

Weird, indeed. I just thought I should share.

à bientôt, mes amis!

Demain, j'irai à Paris le matin! Pour les prochains jours, mon expression préférée sera: "Uh, je ne comprends pas...répétez-vous, s'il vous plaît?"

Clairement, mon Français est un peu...um...rusty? (Babel fish m'indique qu'il est "rouillé".) Désolée.

J'espère que je peux employer l'expression "Est-ce que tu as une baguette dans ta poche, ou es-tu rien que heureuse de me voir?" au moins une fois en mon voyage. (Ma meilleure amie Emily l'a écrit sur mon mur de Facebook...)

[English interlude] I'm not leaving until tomorrow morning, but I will be staying overnight in London tonight in order to catch an early train to the city de l'amour. [/English]

Alors, c'est au revoir pour maintenant! Bisoux!

i'm such a boy

From Lion in Oil, via Kickette: the majority of men would rather see women wearing their favorite football team's shirt in bed than lingerie.

"So while today was the great unveiling of the priorities for men, it was also a sad one for women. Once again the evidence points to men preferring sports over women. Surely the backlash is about to begin."

Hmm...not quite.

1) Football shirts are so much more comfortable than lingerie. I actually do wear an oversized footie shirt to bed.

2) What does it say about me that I see the man's point of view in this situation? I'm certainly guilty of finding guys more attractive if I see that they're wearing an Arsenal jersey, so it's not surprising to me that guys would find the reverse true.

Sports and sex = the perfect combination? I mean, what else do you really need in life?


...like I said, I'm such a guy. I really need to go do that spa day ASAP, before I start spitting and scratching my crotch and drooling over flashy sports cars.

winning? what's that?

Check us out! We won one! I feel like I maybe shouldn't be so excited about beating West Brom, but under the circumstances (i.e. us sucking epically for the past several league games) I think a little celebration is called for.
It's too late for me to type up a legit recap of the game, because I have class at 9am tomorrow so I need to go to bed. But here are the important bits:

1) Bendtner scored two goals! Who'da thunk it?
2) King Kolo scored the other. He also set up the third goal, Bendtner's second.

3) Arshavin is really really short.

P.S. All of the dancing goal celebrations made me miss this bizness:

tickled pynk

There's this new(ish) salon in London called PYNK, and they're trying to get their name out by going around to London uni campuses and giving out awesome deals.

So today my friend Allie and I were cornered after class and given this whole spiel about how awesome they are, and call me gullible, but I totally fell for their marketing scheme. It seems worth it though! Here's what I got:

Two vouchers (which cost £60 overall--it was a two-for-one deal) for a 50% off haircut including a professional style consultation, as well as any coloring, highlighting, or this new high-gloss treatment (that will make my hair super shiny for about a month) that I might want. So I get all that for £35.

With these vouchers we also get a free spa day complete with champagne, facial, manicure, hair styling, makeup, and a "magazine style photoshoot" which is a little cheesy, but hey, after the free champagne it might be fun! I have to put a £50 deposit on that one when I book the appointment but I get it back as long as we show up.

We ALSO get a "VIP party service" ticket with free guest list entry to about 20 different London clubs.

So basically, I get a £600 value full spa day plus random extra cool stuff for...£65. I freaking love London.

time wasting on a sunday night

Stolen from ONTD_football:

A) 3 players you like who play for rival teams:
1. Fernando Torres
2. Roque Santa Cruz
3. Pepe Reina

B) A player from a rival team that you would unfunfunfff:
Vedran Corluka

C) The player who got you into football:
Brian McBride

D) 2 players you dislike for club but like for country:
1. Luka Modric
2. Um, Edwin van der Sar? I don’t even really like him for country, but I like the Dutch team overall.

E) A player who you used to like but not anymore:
Niklas Bendtner

F) A relatively unknown player who you are a fan of:
Moritz Volz

G) A player who has grown on you:
Denilson

H) A player you love who has left your club:
Thierry Henry

I) A player you could not stand who has left your club:
Ashley Cole

J) 3 players who you liked for their talent before you considered their looks:
1. Cesc Fabregas (Um, mullet. Enough said.)
2. Thierry Henry
3. Carlos Bocanegra

K) The one player you would 1000000000% put out for:
Cesc Fabregas

L) A player you like who plays in a league you don't follow:
Yoann Gourcuff

M) 3 players who you don't understand the appeal of:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. David Beckham
3. Nemanja Vidic

N) A player you like but is disliked by most:
Emmanuel Adebayor

O) The player who you will love unconditionally no matter what:
Cesc Fabregas

Now take the first names you answered for questions A, L, J and play a game of F/M/K!
Fuck: Gourcuff
Marry: Fabregas
Kill: Torres (sorry Nando!)