Sam, I Am, I Like Green Eggs & Ham, And to Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street

I went to the National Dr. Seuss Museum today...Good ol' Springfield Massachusetts, U.S.A. is the birthplace of Dr. Seuss (Children's author of The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas etc), so I moseyed on down to the Museum and the Springfield Quadrangle today to check out the exhibits and sculptures which have only been around since June 1 this year. The sculptures of Dr. Seuss characters are pretty damn cool and kids couldn't help climb all over them despite the signs reading, "Please don't climb on the sculptures" and though the actual exhibits all fit in one (not particularly huge) room, there is a ton of information and cool bits and pieces packed in there. I took lots of notes and pictures, so expect something fairly informative and hopefully interesting coming to a butterfly blog near you soon...I remember in elementary school we had to go down to Springfield's Mulberry Street and write down what we saw (real or imagined) on the same street Dr. Seuss wrote about. Who knew that 20-odd years later I'd be taking notes on Dr. Seuss's life!

I was struck today by how funny perspective is when you're growing up, and how much it changes. When driving home past my old elementary school today, I remember when I was a kid, I actually thought the school was so far away...it is literally like a 10 minute walk, if you're taking your time. But when you're short and small and have little legs and you need a crossing guard to get you across that first street, I guess it seems like a big deal. The monkey bars/jungle gym and slide are still there...they used to tower over me...how many chicken fights did I take part in (and win!) on those monkey bars? And standing next to them now, I'd feel like a giant. The school is surrounded by what used to be 'mountains'...my dad and I went sledding down those 'mountains' in the snow and ice and literally smashed into the school once...ooops, but now those mountains are just small hills. The school used to seem like this gigantic fortress, and looking at it now, I feel like a kid staring into the windows of a dollhouse. When I was a kid, I never thought about the possibility of outgrowing my world.

Okay, you guys can stop gagging now, I will stop with the nostalgia. ;-)

I've got a nice family get-together/pool party to look forward to tomorrow. My poor family. Between my 'hundreds' of pics of Paris and Barcelona and my Aunt's 'thousands' of pics of Disneyworld, they're never going to want to look at photos again. ;-)

Dictators, Sitcom Stars, Oh My

I got sent this link today. Too funny. It's called "Guess the Dictator or Television Sit-Com Character." You just pick someone in your head, answer some questions and they'll take a wild guess. I've done about 7 people and they're right every time! Yeah, so I haven't gotten much work done, in case you couldn't tell. ;-)

Pulling a Sickie

Warning: This is a very gross entry!

I have this amazing ability to get sick when I'm on holiday. So the day after I get back from Europe I wake up at the ass crack of dawn, feeling surprisingly good. What jetlag? I have some cereal at 8am, then am starving and can only wait till 10.30am for lunch. I start to feel extremely lethargic and hop in the shower. I start to feel nauseous. Not good. So after having a very productive morning of doing all my holiday laundry, and trying to impress my parents by doing their laundry too, I spend the remainder of the day laying down on my parents' new lazy boy chair, trying not to move. I was intending on doing some work work, for work, but rubbing my tummy became an all consuming task. Pathetic. I spent all afternoon willing myself to feel better as I was supposed to go out to dinner with my parents and my grandfather, and I was thinking of making myself go, and just sipping soda and not eating, but thank goodness I didn't. The retching began right around when we would have been arriving at the restaurant and continued for the next 6 hours. I couldn't even keep a couple sips of coke/ginger ale down. Nasty!

Then began the classic mother-daughter debate. My mum, being a very concerned mum, was worried that I didn't have any fluids in me and kept trying to get me to drink something, but I knew that whatever I had to drink would not be staying in my body for very long, so why bother? I thought my stomach just needed to be completely empty so that there was absolutely NOTHING that could prompt any more retching...I wanted to try to fall asleep. So I dozed off and woke up at 3am, 4am, 5am, finally got out of bed at 5am....wanted some tylenol to cure my achiness (equivalent of panadol) but was afraid it wouldn't stay down.

Anyhoo, I think the worst is over...I might actually try some toast in a few hours - woo-hoo! Though I did just suffer some lovely humiliation. I'm sitting here in the kitchen, typing on the 'puter and my next door neighbour comes over to the window and says, "Oh, hi, Lori! Are you home for good this time?" I say I'm only home for a few weeks, and that I'm heading back to Oz at the end of July. She looks at me hard and says, "So, you're happy there?" And I said that I am definitely still enjoying Sydney. And she says, "Well, that's what matters then. As long as you're happy." Yup. She had come over to turn off our sprinklers. I was trying not to laugh at her gaping, her utterly shocked expression. In short, this is the worst condition she has ever seen me in. I look like death. Pale and nasty, I'm talking NO LIPSTICK here people (note, that's how you know I'm really sick, when I can't even put the tube to my mouth!) and my hair is one big dreadlock/knot at the moment. WHY did she have to come over right then? It's 8am!!! She's probably going to go home and tell her husband, "Gee, I don't think Australia is agreeing with Lori, she's looks like total crap!"

Apologies for writing about puking instead of my Lori National Lampoon's European Holiday, but I had to get my humiliating neighbour story out of the way....

Bonjour, Springfield! Hola, Springfield!

Back in the States now. I got up this morning at 7.30am. Got home around 11.30pm last night. Took the train from Barcelona to Paris on Monday for 9 or so hours, then yesterday I took the train from Paris to London at 7am, got to London and found my way around the tube, easy as pie....well, easy except for my damn big backpack which only got heavier as time went on. I highly recommend the Heathrow Express. It's pricey (12 pounds), but dammit it's worth it if your back is crying and you're tired and sweaty and just want to get to the airport. It's only a 15-20 minutes ride to the terminals from Paddington Station. So I only had to go from Waterloo to Baker Street and then change lines to get to Paddington, and then get to the Heathrow Express line. Not bad at all. I would like to blame my jet-lag for just writing that really boring paragraph...(Inner dialogue: Lori, who the hell cares what trains you took yesterday?)

Ah well, I thought I was going to get off easy with this jet-lag thing, but all of a sudden I'm really sleepy now....I might go back for a nap. I'm trying to stay up though...have lots of work emails to catch up on, heaps of laundry to do....I want to burn all my clothes from Europe...it's that lingering stench of smokey nightclubs, must stamp it out!

I was hoping to put up some Paris/Barcelona pics, but my computer has officially 100% died (I think), so will probably have to get it fixed before I can do anything with it. I'm currently trying to check my webmail at 28.8 bps.....patience, patience. :-) I might do a load of laundry in between reading each message. I have about 45 digital pics coming...and about 8 rolls of regular film to develop. I went nuts.

Oh, and as soon as I get access to a scanner, I have some cute family pics to put up. I have a nice one of me, Kelsey, Jessie, and Sean Thomas, and this hilarious pic of me and my Polish grandmother, Babci (the one that I take after physically and through my lipstick fetish!). I made her stand with her hand on her hip like me, and we look like little bookends.

I have lots to write about in regards to my brief European adventures, but my eyes are closing as I type this...

HUGE thanks to Rachel and Anthony for their wonderful hospitality and generosity and yummy home cooked meals in Paris!

Hugs to Javier, David, and Douglas in Barcelona - I am so jealous you are still there!

Kristen, can you email me your phone number to my butterflynet@ekno.com account? My noggin one takes a thousand years to load up!

As Kristen would say, SMOOCHES, everyone!

Family, I'll be seeing you all (I hope) this weekend!

p.s. Big shout-out to Javaboy for a) Doing that Melbourne Thang (I adore Melbourne, so the Melbourne thang really is a cool thing to do!) and b) for giving everyone the lowdown on my overseas travels...hehe :-)

Adios, Barcelona!

Desgraciadamente, anoche es mi última noche in Barcelona. Unfortunately, tonight is my last night in Barcelona. I´m very disappointed to leave here. Had a blast on my last day including swimming and sunning myself (under many many applications of SPF 30 suncreen, mind you) at this incredible beach town called Sitge, which is 30 minutes out of Barcelona. Then I went back into the city to catch a bus to Montjuic and had a super cable car ride, giving me a lovely panoramic view of Barcelona from the sky. I´ve seen Barcelona from nearly every angle now....from the highest point in Barcelona, Tibidabo, to the other side of the city @ Montjuic. I caught some amazing cacti gardens and was down at the Port once again, but from the other side. I´m off to the hostel now, to shower as I´m awfully disgusting....dinner, maybe some dancing....and then I´m off on a train to Paris tomorrow morning. I leave for London on Tuesday morning, and arrive in New York Tuesday arvo and in Springfield Tuesday night.....it´s been an amazing time. Can´t wait to write about it all properly when I get back!

Me Encanta Barcelona
I heart Barcelona. I am definitely coming back here one day. Let´s see....on Wednesday I toured all around Barcelona and ended up meeting these lovely Irish boys. I went out with them that night and had a great time...I was in fine form on the dance floor @ this club and by the time I started the dancing going by strutting out to the middle of the dance floor myself and getting my groove on, I´d nearly forgotten the humiliating incident I´d had earlier at the pub when I ended up having to use the men´s room and this guy accidentally walked in on my stall only to catch with me with pants and undies down around my knees. Ooops! I don´t know who was more embarassed. The Irish guys had a good laugh when I told them what happened though.

Thursday I toured more all around Barcelona. I´ve seen some amazing things, which I will write about fully when I get back to the States --not enough time now as we will be going to have dinner soon. Javier and David arrived on Thursday night and we´ve been staying out dancing till 4-5am. Apparently I am just as popular with gay men in Barcelona as I am in Sydney. We´ve gone to a lot of clubs and all the gay men have come up to me to compliment my dancing and to dance with me and give me kisses on the cheek. I´ve been kissed by some guy every day that I´ve been here so far....hahahahha!

Oh, and I must remember to write about this random freak who tried to ask me out on the sidewalk - quite the crazy character. He was original, to say the least!

Having a blast here even though I ended up spending 4 hours at the train station one day trying to get my return ticket to Paris. All the trains have been full so I have to catch a different train back to Paris. It doesn´t affect my train to London or flight to New York, but I won´t have time to do sight-seeing in Paris on Monday as I arrive at 5.30pm instead of 8am. ;(

Rachel, if you´re reading this, I arrive on Monday at 5.30pm from Gare Lyon, but I will ring you guys tomorrow.

Mum, thanks for those airport directions for NYC!

Kristen, love the blog! You are hilarious! Cannot wait to see you! I get back to the States on Tuesday night, so I´ll be talking to you soon!

See all you Springfieldiens-Bostonians soon!