What do you think has been the greatest invention in technology in the last 350 years? Is it the electricity? The car? The telephone? The internet? What do you think will be the greatest innovation in technology in the next 350 years? On Monday, the team went to a talk on the Futures of Technology with Sir Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the WWW), Stephen Fry (writer, broadcaster), Prof Dame Wendy Hall, Dr Jim Haseloff (biologist from University of Cambridge), and Bill Thompson (technology critic and commentator on digital culture). How do you think the world of social networking (facebook and twitter) have molded our society? Have we forgone a sense of privacy for a sense of connection? Have we hit a stage of information overload...are we too connected? Something to ponder if you are bored...
...you're not how much money you've got in the bank. You're not your job. You're not your family, and you're not who you tell yourself.... You're not your name.... You're not your problems.... You're not your age.... You are not your hopes. ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 18
The question then is...who are you? How do we define ourselves? Should be try to define ourselves, or should we "stop trying to control everything and just let go?" Letting go is often the hardest thing to do; to loose all hope and embrace the freedom that comes from the oblivion. Forget what you know, what you think you know about life, friendships, and relationships. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake as a different person? (are you confused? Suggest you watch Fight Club and you will know what I am paraphrasing).
On Friday, Big E and KV came to London Bridge Hospital to pick me up from a day procedure to get my stomach stapled (note: if you think that is the truth you clearly do not know how much of a foody i am). It was a beautiful day in London, so to taken advantage of it we decided to do a picnic in Clapham Common. We raided the local Sainsbury and then strolled over to the park. The weather was absolutely divine. We could have gone back to the flat, but the idea of staying in when the weather was so good just did not seem right. We spent the evening relaxing, eating and laughing in the park. We the sun set and as the weather cooled off, we headed back to the flat for a mini-Glee marathon. KV was staying the night, so we continued our Glee marathon after Big E left. In all it was the perfect Friday evening. Just what the doctor's ordered - - good friends, good food and good TV!
On Saturday after a lazy wake up and coffee from Ista, KV and I headed up to Angel. She introduced me to a new market. Behind her flat there is a wonderful street market with the most delicious burgers. Here is a tip: the guy grills the meat patty. Then slices the patty in two halves, in the middle in stuffs it with shredded cheese and then reassembles. It was absolutely delicious. A little bit too much grease and meat for me, but nonetheless DELICIOUS! I highly recommend you trying this out the next time you have a BBQ. Don't be boring and put the slice of cheese on the top of the patty to melt. Cook it within the patty itself. That is how all the cool kids eat their burgers! To burn off the burgers, we went to the local neighborhood playground and played for a bit. We waiting until the kids were gone so we didn't look strange (or rather we waited until there were not witnesses of us reliving our childhoods). I remember when I lived back home, I would go to the Rosendale Elementary playground when I was in a mood. There was just something about being there that I enjoyed. I am sad that they tore it down and are replacing it. Good for the kids as I am rather jealous of the new playground, but sad as both Mom and Dad played a role in building that playground.
Once we were finished playing in Angel, we headed to Trafalgar Square to meet up with my friends from the running club for an afternoon of celebration, live music (nothing like hearing defying gravity fill the air of Trafalgar Square), laughing, and dancing in the sunshine. London is known for its festivals and parties. Granted most of them involve some level of fancy dress (costume) which I don't quite understand, but if you want a celebration...London will show you a tip or two. Actually to be fair, I think this is an overall UK thing. If there is one thing that London is good at, it is throwing a party. The Olympics are surely to be a festival that everyone is bound to never forget. I cannot wait. I wish the 2012 summer games would just hurry up and come.
What is one event that London (and the UK) is not keen to celebrate!? Independence Day! Unlike last year when we all gathered at Silas' for 4th of July celebrations, this year we were left to fend for ourselves. Rather than going all out, the girls decided to do a low-key celebration. Nowhere close to the camp-out picnics by the river to watch the Macy's Fireworks, we went for brunch at the Grafton in Clapham Old Town followed by a preview viewing of Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I know it is not fireworks, but seeing the battle between werewolves and vampires was a close second. Like most 13 year olds, I have been addicted to everything vampire related: the Twlight books and movies, True Blood, Vampire Diaries. The third book of the saga, Eclipse, was definitely the best book and certainly the most action packed movie! Unlike the last couple of movies that I have seen in the cinema I did not fall asleep (nor did I want to) once!
Well, hope you all had a lovely 4th of July!
xx
T
1 comment:
My friend Kate taught me that cheese in the burger trick a while back. Very tasty.
Over here, I celebrated July 4th by going to see Eclipse, too. And that is why we were meant to be, T.
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