i can't believe it's been three years since i was in london and observed the grieving over princess diana's death. today marks the anniversary. we'd just arrived a week before. i'll never forget my friend lynn coming to my door and telling me the news that sunday morning. it was a somber day.

i went to church at st. paul's cathedral and met my british friend for lunch. we sat in his car and listened to the queen's speech on the radio. my friends and i walked to hyde park and wandered through the crowds of mourners. i witnessed something so surreal. like something you'd see in a movie: people kneeling on the ground praying to make-shift shrines of candles and magazine photos. walked past store windows covered over with photos. bought newspapers detailing her life. we watched over the next couple days as the gathering of flowers became unreal. the smell in the air was so sweet and overwhelming. we walked past the lines of people who waited for days to sign condolences books. woke up early and watched the funeral procession coverage for several hours and cried.

i guess the most interesting (if you could consider it that) thing was being able to see the transformation of emotions and attitudes toward diana, her death, the royals, the paparazzi and the investigations as they occured over three months while we were there.

these pictures were taken around the 1st and 3rd days after diana's death. i never have scanned in the ones that were taken a week or so after -- the images that are so "famous" and memorable -- like the ones of the flowers stretching out so far from the gates of her home.

today i fell in a hole and fell on my hands and knees. my favorite flip-flops broke in the meantime. :) i have a sore knee that's cut up. not fun.

i just realized i haven't found any interesting links lately. not like anyone cares about that other than me. i generally only provide them for my sake. if i just bookmark them, i'll forget about them and end up deleting them.

it's really strange that all my friends are back in school. starting out another year of homework and staying up all night to read and learn. i almost miss the excitement that comes with a new semester. i don't miss having to study though. maybe i just miss buying school supplies. wasn't it the funnest to get that list of supplies necessary in elementary school. i think that was always my favorite part.

in honour of school, i sat on the couch for awhile today looking at old yearbooks. mainly i looked at my freshman year and read the little messages my buddies wrote. then i looked at my brothers' yearbooks from the late 80's and tried to find the girls who didn't have fluffy mall hair, and i thought about how they didn't look trendy then but would have now.

well, i'm here at my parents' house in huntsville, alabama. it took approximately seven hours to load the moving truck saturday and only an hour to unload it on sunday. counted total: 67 (!!) boxes. in addition: two couches, kitchen table, computer desk, bed-side tables, end tables, bookshelves, dresser/chest, entertainment center and lots of misc. odds and ends.

the only mishap: in an effort to transport my 12 fish, i managed to ruin my cell phone. i was diving down a rather steep hill, and my fish were in their container next to me on my console between the front seats. i came to a stop and the fish came flying forward (keep in mind, forward on a hill facing downward really isn't forward as much as it is slanting down). so, water (nasty, fish water) pours out onto my cell phone, into my purse, splashes up onto my computer monitor sitting in the passenger seat and onto my dvd player sitting in the passenger floor board. fortunately, but annoyingly, my cell phone was the only thing damaged.

i'm writing this from a hotel room, in birmingham. i'm dead tired. didn't sleep maybe but a couple hours last night on my couch (since my fish are emitting a peculiar, foul smell from their tank -- i couldn't take lying on my comfy bed in the same room with them). my parents got to my apartment around 930 am. our old neighbor from home who lives here now, ken, and his friend came over, and my brother, steve, showed up too. (damn that was a really bad sentence.) never once did any of us sit down to break, except for lunch, until 630 pm. it's amazing how much junk i had in my apartment -- a 15 foot truck filled so full there's no room for my vaccuum. then my passport suv filled leaving only room for me to drive it home. thank god it's done. i need sleep. a new back and new feet. goodnight.

i'm watching 20/20 right now on abc -- and they are discussing politicians (particularly those of presidential flavour) who might have used marijuana. who really cares? given the right circumstances, haven't you been offered pot? been around it? tried it? known someone who regularly used (or uses) it? i bet you can answer yes to a few of those. right? i can.

sorry, my mind just went off on a rant there for a minute. maybe i've inhaled too many cleaning supply and paint fumes over the past week.

ok. break over. more packing.

i am so annoyed that richard won last night.

"my name is michelle, this is my first time at a S.A. meeting."

"hi michelle."

amy and i say that you can always find a pair of shoes that fit. no matter what. i just packed two boxes of shoes. i packed an additional box solely for the purpose of giving to charity. so that's three boxes. i need help.

now you can be boba fett! |via: zannah|

i just remembered that i had this strange dream last night: i had to be at this meeting and i was late. i hailed a cab and got in just as it started to pour rain. the driver finally got me to my destination after he'd stopped to book a vacation to hawaii. the cab suddenly turned into a golf cart and i was riding on the front of it. then the cabbie started singing a song about my widow's peak. i wonder what it all means.

spending my awake time downloading mp3s so i can compile a cd for my friend, kristina. before that, i was reading christine's journals. she's an incredible writer -- everything she says could have come from my own mouth. i relate to her thoughts so well. she is so gifted, and it all only makes me wish i had really put my heart into my writing classes. but, writing good isn't necesarily learned.

i packed one more box tonight. i haven't packed anything since the weekend. and i'm worried i'm not going to get done by next week. i really don't like it here now. my bare walls are towering over me. it's strangely clausterphobic to me. there's only my framed print of van gogh's starry night and a random tulip garden print on the walls. i left up one dried rose bouquet from jon too. otherwise, it's like a boring stranger's room.

i think this would have to be my worst fear. it makes me cringe just thinking about it.

i want one of these...

a few points as to why i hate my apartment, and why it's a good thing i'm moving out in a week and a half:

-it's taken two years to finally figure out the knobs on their (provided) microwave.

-construction men climb to my third story patio on a saturday morning (730 am) to clean and paint -- unannounced.

-the above mentioned construction men leave their tall ladders on the ground below my patio, just inviting some fool to climb up here and rob me.

-it's annoying to live in the woods and have to listen to birds chirping from sunrise to sunset. constantly.

-my bizarre roommate

-the front entrance "controlled access security gate" that's supposed to go down at dark, is usually still up at midnight.

-the air conditioning never cools my room.

last week, i saw two movies. one on cable and one at the theatre. the cable one: eyes wide shut. that was three hours (or whatever) i'll never get back. the theatre one: chicken run. i loved (loved loved) this movie. it was cute, sad, funny and amazing (from a clay-mation p.o.v.). save the chickens!

on the first day of my multi-cultural psych class in london, my prof passed out the following list.

here's a photo of my friend, scott, during his portion of the torch relay in australia.(he's the one holding the torch.)

word.

tired. going to bed immediately after posting this. found the following list via a random blog. here's the author's page. i can't believe it's been three years since i lived over there...

Some observations about London life:

- The English *love* to watch 'fly-on-the-wall' television programs

- Pepper is the number one ingredient in any meal

- The class system is very important

- some English seem to be pompous, unfriendly snobs

- the Tube is good when it works

- but it is usually held up by a 'security alert' or 'technical fault' at least once a week

- the weather can be a bit like Melbourne four seasons in one day

- Posh Spice and David Beckham dominate the news

- everyone walks *really* fast

- newspapers are about as informative as sticking your head in the sand

- most things except property are cheaper over here than Brissie (when spending pounds, not Aussie dollars)

- they have advertisements for sex services in telephone boxes

- it is a very atmospheric city

- it really does have a 'feel' all it's own

- the crowds are unbelievable

- line up for everything, and push and shove to get anything

- you can buy cold, prepackaged sandwiches anywhere - even the pharmacy

- the radio plays really crappy music - Brit boy bands and ghetto music

august already? geez. well, i'm bummed out b/c sarah and i had planned on going to chicago for the weekend to see one of our all-time favorite bands -- webb wilder. but, that didn't work out. so i'm here in birmingham. in place, i'll be (hopefully) going to see the covergirls on friday -- my newest all-time favorite band.

in completely unrelated fashion -- here's two helpful links passed on to me. since i delete those emails sent to me, via a forwarding craze, these are good to have. check the validity of those pesky email hoaxes:

urban legends via mining co.

internet hoaxes

jon was interviewed a couple weeks ago here. it's like he's a little star in the one sheet world. well, he's one in my world. :)

i've been going through all my cd's and sorting out the ones i don't want. it's no small task, considering i probably have close to 300. the best part is hearing old songs i once couldn't live without and had since forgotten about. who would have thought, just like the book high fidelity talks about, that the albums i have are like a documentation of my life.