Apr 25

Today I worked all day with Nisa and Chris (Raindance guy). Just doing the usual work.

I had plans for the night, but then the other person cancelled, so I went home and Al asked me if I wanted to watch a movie with them, Happy go lucky. I said sure, so we went to the local theatre, it was £6 with a student discount. It was a decent movie, I liked some parts of it, and the fact that it was more human like, and less like a recreation or play of a story. But the main character annoyed me a little and some of it was unrealistic. But it wasn't bad.

Apr 26

I went to Green park and Hyde park today. Its right outside of Buckingham palace. It was nice, I walked for a few hours and took some photos. The flowers here look so nice always. As soon as they start to wilt they take them out and plant new ones. So they always are perfect and blooming.

Apr 27

Today I went to Covent Garden and shopped around in the market. I walked around that area for a while and there was a lot of neat hand made stuff. I ended up walking to the Photographers Gallery, I didn't really like the exhibition they had this time. Then I went to China Town and to the National Gallery for about an hour or so. It was so close that I thought I would stop by it, I cant take that place for granted. The National Gallery is my favorite establishment in London.

Apr 28, 29, 30, May 1, 2

This week I worked everyday and took two truck loads of stuff to a storage container about an hour an a half away from Diorama. Moving a big charity is really a lot of work.

May 3

Today I went to the Walthamstow and Ridley Road markets. They had tons of knock off bags and glasses, and watches, etc. Plus they had a bunch of cheap produce, and I bought a lot. These are the best markets I've been to for that sort of thing.

May 4

Today I went to the Camden Markets and walked around for a while. It was interesting, and much more was open this time. I went once and it happened to be the day after the fires there, so most of it was closed down. It was all basically open today except what burned. There were tons of little food places and hand made jewelry and bags and gifts, etc. It's a good place to go on the weekends, but crowded though.

Later I went over to the Serpentine Gallery inside Hyde Park after Camden. The featured artist was Maria Lassnig. I really liked her work, it was sort of a surreal/abstract/minimalist style with thick heavy brushstrokes and pastels and bright colors. She is still working now, and almost 90, everything exhibited was done from 2001 to 2007. I tried to look her up on the internet and surprisingly found little to no information on this amazing lady, but I guess being under recognized is just one of those things about being a female artist. Anyway it was a great exhibition.

May 5

Today I decided to go to Kew Gardens for my birthday. It took me about 2 and a half hours to actually get in the park because it is so far away and the line to get in was so long. It was really nice though, I went through just one part of it but spent three or four hours in there. It is a very well taken care of park, it costs 13 pounds to get in, so they really spend a lot of money on maintenance. I went into several greenhouses with tropical and fragile plants. I have never seen a lot of them. There were orchids in one of the rooms, and it was a really great display. There was also a water lily house, and it had these gigantic lily pads and also there were blue lotuses. It was the most perfect day too. It was the warmest day since I have been here, and the forecast had been for rain so not many people were there. I saw a big iguana in on of the greenhouses wandering around. The gardens were just beautiful, and I took lots of photos. It was an extraordinary place, and I am glad that I got to go.

Afterwards I went to Nisa's house. She surprised me this morning and said that she made reservations at a restaurant but wouldn't tell me anything about it. When I got to Nisa's CR was there helping her organize, so she went with us as well. Even when we got in the car she wouldn't tell us where we were going. She said, well just be prepared, it is a kind of rough place and the waiters treat you badly, but it's a fun experience. But when we got there, it was a nice bar and restaurant called LMNT in Hackney. Half of the tables were up in the air near the ceiling and you have to climb up ladders to get to them. The interior had all Egyptian décor with a big sphinx and stained glass and lots of gold. It was a really fun place and we had a great dinner!

May 6

Today was my last day at Diorama and I am a little relieved and also sad. Sometimes that place is a disorganized madhouse, and isn't what I would call my dream job. But I must admit that I came at the worst time for Diorama, and for about a month or more I was just doing physical moving, which is so tiring. But working there was more than worth it, and I definitely did learn by working there. I love living in this city and working a less than perfect job to be here is a trade I am willing to make for sure. So even though it is a good change to move on from Diorama I wish I did not have to leave at all because I truly am happy here and love London's culture. The only thing that I miss about Oklahoma are my friends and family, but other than that I could leave Oklahoma and America for that matter for the majority of my life. I like those places, but somehow, I just feel so much more satisfied here. But I had a good run in London and I did everything that I originally said that I wanted to do. I am more than grateful that I was able to be here for so long. London is only one great place on Earth, there is so much more to see, and hopefully I will be able to travel and move from place to place and see as much of the world that I can in this short life.

"Look to this day, for it is life.
In its brief course lie all the realities and truths of existence,
the joy of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty...
Today well lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore, to this day"

- Ancient Sanskrit Proverb