Super-late photos: Sir Paul

This is the fourth activity I referenced after my London trip.

Sir Paul McCartney. Fifth-row seats.

The man can play a show. An entire section of seating was set aside for his friends and family (it was the last stop on his tour, and the only one in England). Two-and-a-half-hours-plus with no breaks. So much heart.

As excited as I was to see the legend in the flesh, I was more excited for my mom. She is to The Beatles as I am to games. She knows every factoid, every detail, every ounce of their personal history. She spent her youth following them from the great Internet-less distance of rural Oklahoma. She never saw a Beatles concert, but I was going to make damn sure she saw the closest possible thing during her lifetime.

And she did. That box got a big, fat check mark put in it. For her and for me.

As miserable as the rest of the trip was (Mom + jetlag + British food = not fun), she was beaming for a solid 48 hours (before she caught swine flu on the way home and became more miserable). "We saw Pauuuuuul," she'd coo. During those 48 hours, miserable British food, or having to ride the Tube, or the weather became non-factors. We did what we went there to do, and it felt great to do it.

Indeed, we did it. We saw Pauuuuuul.

Photographic evidence of London

My Christmas was spent - lucky me - with only one relative, in the wonderful locale that is London. Unfortunately, however, Mom and international travel are still trying to get along, so in our week-long stay we managed to complete 4 activities. Four.

Of those, three are pictured here: the British Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, and shopping on Bond Street.

The fourth, which made the entire trip worthwhile, will come in another post.

A short conversation with an IR/PS class

Blake: Hey PMP, I really don't give a damn about you.
PMP: Oh yeah? B-. Bam. How you like me now, muh'fucka?
Blake: Hmm, two standard deviations down.. bottom 2.5%. Wow.
PMP: Yeah, the Chinese exchange students did better than you. 
Blake: That might be because I read and write serious business English, unlike you and all your made-up words. 
PMP: Yeah, but, uh... you really suck!
Blake: Take care, PMP. It's been real.

*As an endnote to this dialogue, I am very happy with the results of all my other classes. Also, Chinese exchange students, I love you.

And with that, I'm off to London! Drop me a line (preferably with your address via email) if you'd like a postcard.

Home sweet home

To home I come! I've gotten a couple of emails asking about my travel schedule for the holiday season, so here it is:

Dec. 12-18: Texas. Arlington, with a short trip to visit my brother.
Dec. 19-26: London! I wanted to travel somewhere, didn't want to leave Mom at home alone, and we've wanted to do a destination Christmas for a while [since that doesn't involve trees, ornaments, lights and consumerism]. So we're taking Mom on the Beatles pilgrimage she's always wanted. It'll be cold, yes, but just think of seeing Abbey Road! Totally worth the travel, the bad food, and the inevitable jetlag.
Dec. 26-Jan. 2: Texas. Arlington again, with a short trip to Austin to celebrate the new year.

Will you be around? I'd love to see you! Whether it's an old-school gaming/debate/cars talk at Starbucks or a one-on-one dinner, or just maaaaybe a night out in Dallas, you can count me in.

Back to Japan!

I'm going to Japan once more! I'm taking my dear friend Adam along for the ride, and he's been studying Japanese really hard, so let's show him a good time, eh?

Details:
April 9-12: Tokyo
April 12-13: Shimane (one night only! Staying in Kawamoto)
April 13-15: Tokyo, with possible stops along the San-Yo Shinkansen on the 13th (for those of you in Kyoto, for example..)

I'm going to bring my American cell, so my mail address is
blakeellison@gmail.com

and my phone number will be American. We'll have a rental keitai on hand in case we need an actual phone number.

Your good friend and mine Jason Smith will also be joining us for parts of the trip. We're hoping to have a big UT get together on April the 10th, so be ready to party!

This note is going on Facebook as well, so the Japanese version follows. Readers of my blog, you can skip this. :)

日本語

すぐ日本にまいりま〜す! 親友の友達のアダムさんと二人で行くし、彼はせっかく日本語を勉強してるからちょっと練習させたらお世話になる。:)

僕たちは4月の9日に着いて、12日まで東京を回っていく。10日はみんなのオースティンの人とパーティーしたいと思います! 因みに、みんなさんのいい友達のジェイソンさんも来るからぜひ来てください!

12日の上、12・13日は島根県にちょっと訪問。残念ながら、川本町しか行けない。13日に東京に帰って来て、15日まで東京で遊ぶつもり。

僕は自分のアイフォンを持って来るから、メアッドは昔のじゃなくて、新しいのはblakeellison@gmail.com。アメリカの番号から電話があったら、私です! 別の携帯をレンタルするから日本の電話番号もあるんでしょう。

それで、また会いましょう!