Let's see if I can get the song stuck in your head... (mwu-ha-ha)
(I realized that I start most of these posts with an introductory "So,..." and, as I've already long since broken my New Years resolution to cook/bake more (rather than reverting back to student eating ways - [though, to be fair, my fridge is broken and will - knowing James - probably not be fixed until 2012, and I currently have just a "mini-fridge" in the room, which hardly holds anything] ... again, I've confused myself with parenthesis, so just pretend I haven't used any up to this point. I was attempting to lead up to saying that my new New Years resolution would be not to start posts with "So...", but I think I should probably resolve, instead, to actually de-clutter my parenthesizes. And yes, I had to look up the plural of parenthesis.
Ages ago, (by which I mean, probably back in late summer) I received in the mail a mailer from SCS, my old high school, keeping me informed on what the school and its students were up to. I read it for kicks, laughing as I remember myself at that age. (Well, I say "laughing", but remembering high school... eeehh) In that one, however, I saw an article submitted by an alumni of 2003 - hey, that was my graduating year and, lo and behold, I know him! (Not surprising, since we were a class of, what, 40?) Ben talked about how he was headed to London through an international charity organization, and I quickly looked him up on facebook - this morning, since I was finally in his neck of the woods, we met up for coffee and had a lovely catch-up chat.
One of the first questions people would ask before I left (and, to a certain extent, when I arrived) was, "Who do you know over there/here?" - it was both thrilling and terrifying to be moving to an entirely new place without any backbone/crutch of friends coming along/already being there. I've always tended to be rather shy and reserved when thrust into a new situation with total strangers - it was important and very helpful for me to face this one by myself, leaving the familiar behind and flying 5,000 miles away without a safety net.
That said, it was a perfect timing of seeing a familiar face here in London - I got to see family and friends at Christmas, but that was back on their turf. Here on "my" turf, it was great to catch up with an old friend, compare notes of how life has twisted and turned since age 18, etc. The real kicker, though, was the odd thrill of talking to someone with an American accent. :) I'm not going to lie, despite spending almost four months here in the UK, especially down in Bournemouth which is nowhere near as culturally diverse as in London, I still "hear" the various British accents (and they still made me warm and smiley inside) - the only difference is that I now "hear" the American accent in my voice - I still talk the same (apart from an expanded vocabulary), but I don't hear myself as talking "normally", but as talking "American", if that makes sense. So, to come up to London where - it feels - the British accents are in the minority (I went to see Les Mis on Monday, and was surrounded by three rows of American tourists in front of me, and a couple of Americans behind me - as this was still early on in the week, I couldn't help watching and listening to them with a giggle both pre and post show) I can "hear" the accent now, and - seriously guys - we sound so funny. :)
PS Must remember to add - retraction: I have been corrected today that Philip has NOT, in fact, been wardrobe master for 20 years, but has been with the show for that time, and wardrobe master since the show moved to the Queen's Theatre, about five years ago. Also, Kieron contends that he is not, in fact, "adorable". Many apologies. :)
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