York Retrospective

Well, I've been home for nearly three weeks, and I haven't accomplished much other than taking a million Instagram photos of cats. We got kittens! (Can hug every cat?) Adjusting to being home is hard, partly because coming back to where everything is the same as it ever was makes it feel as...

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Home Again

I'm HOME! I have lots of thoughts and feelings (if nothing that counts as actual news), but it's overwhelming enough being back home without also trying to put all these thoughts and feelings into proper words. The weather is nice and my family is nice and my cat is nice, and I'm going to spend some...

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Some Nice Things

It's my 100th post! So I guess I shouldn't just whine about my reasons for being grumpy, including how the best sleep I got all of Thursday night was between 7 and 10am, after lying awake half the night. So I'm going to skip all that and find nice things. Like the fact that my excellent friend...

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But to Me it is Not Scary, 'Cos I Stay Away From Dairy

My flight was rescheduled for Sunday. I know that "Oh no, I'm stuck in New York!" is a first world problem on a par with the Butter Crisis, but right now I would just like to go home. Sandy would like you to know that you ain't going nowhere. Still, things are starting to get up and running again...

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The Only Latter Day That Matters is Tomorrow

Hurricanes, right? I'm currently fairly trapped in my hostel (having paid a fortune to get here by cab), but I am warm and dry and have electricity and water and chocolate milk. Priorities. But I managed to have some tourist adventures before Superstorm Sandy graced us with her presence, starting...

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I Actually Do Want to Be a Part of It

So I was moderately successful in my plan to start adventuring in earnest. I started off Thursday morning with a trip to the Empire State Building - from the bottom, because all my money is currently going on having things to eat and a place to sleep. It's OK, I can see it from here...

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Ali and the Giant Apple

I am in a big apple! (Source) No, wait, the Big Apple. Which is for the best, because the last time I bought an apple, it cost me $1.19, so now I'm wary of fruit. CouchSurfing has seriously let me down for this leg of my trip. I say that because I like to externalise blame, but I guess maybe I...

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Problems in the LADO Interview: Abstract

I got my dissertation results yesterday morning. Having had more than one sleepless 5am and having spent far too much time staring at my inbox waiting for results, they finally arrived. My heart nearly stopped waiting for the page to load. And again waiting for the next page to load. (Why were there...

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Battery Low

My battery is low. I thought that my relatively solitary first few days in Chicago would have been enough to recharge me, but apparently not. I spent Saturday so tired and irrationally grumpy that it wasn't at all conducive to adventuring, and I had to turn down another invitation to an event for...

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Frozen in the Windy City

The train ride to Chicago was 7 hours long, and I spent most of it either asleep or trying to be, having taken my travel sickness pills, but I definitely heard a woman at one stage asking the person beside her if she knew Jesus. Which made me a. glad I wasn't the person beside her, and b. wonder what...

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I am an Awesome Adventurer

On Monday, Vicky and I took our adventure feet to Swope Park for a poorly-signposted forest adventure. To the Hollow Fox trail! Oh, Fox Hollow? I guess that's cool too. Sure, we'll just go... this way? Obligatory hero pose....

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Art, Science, & the Cowboy CEO

Art! Most of you will know that I'm not good at it and it confuses me. But sometimes it's fun and Look Like This Guy ensues! To be fair, pretty much everything is a good excuse for Look Like This Guy to ensue, but this time it ensued at the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum. I see some art already! I...

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I'm Glad We're Not in Kansas Any More

I would really like a Blogger app that isn't terrible. But that is not the point of this post. The point of this post is adventures! Well, sort of. First off, Google adventures! It's slightly more fun than it sounds, although spending time Googling things is fun too. But deciding to give the outside...

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If You're Going to San Francisco, Be Sure to Wear a Jacket

San Francisco! It's so big and gay and colourful! And it has houses with bay windows, so now I want to live there. Except that I'm scared of earthquakes and tsunamis. I don't know if they have tsunamis. But my nightmares lump them all into one category. Maybe I'll stay safely in the middle of my...

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California Dreaming

I had to apologise to Portland on my last day there for being so grumpy at it the day before. I walked to Paradox Cafe in the relatively early morning, and I saw cats and squirrels and adorable little overgrown gardens, and I had to admit that it was quite nice after all. Or at least, before the trendy...

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I Will Not Blog There, Sam I Am

Dear the internet I bought a Google tablet, which is very exciting, and I assumed that it would be perfect for blogging while travelling. I would blog on a train! I would blog in the rain! I would blog on a boat! I would blog with a goat! But quite apart from the fact that I'm so bad at typing on...

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Day of the Experimental Roses

I went to the laundromat and the machine texted me when my laundry was done. It texted me. We really do live in the future. To my disappointment, I just had to wait for the dryer in the normal way. With my clothes clean and my day off to a slow start yesterday, I decided to have lunch before going...

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The Dream of the '90s is Alive in Portland

Portland! Where the dream of the '90s is alive (or so the song says - all I really remember from the '90s is Saturday morning KTV and Princess Diana's death). I really should start asking hipsters if I can photograph their beards so I can start a collection. To be fair, I think I saw more bearded...

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More Vegetables, Less Scurvy

There's nothing like travelling to make my already temperamental back and neck seize up. Maybe if I travelled like a grown up instead of carrying a backpack and sleeping on tiny sofas it would be better, but I do like this way of travelling. Maybe one day I'll stay in hotels and have a suitcase, but...

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Sore Feet and Dinosaur Feet

Yesterday I went back to Fremont to visit the Sunday Market and track down the elusive dinosaurs. I was determined not to spend too much money, but hopefully find something cool to wear to the concert, because I hadn't packed anything weird and interesting, not having planned to see Amanda Palmer...

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Come Here and Let Me Love You

Seattle, I am in you! My adventures in Seattle started just about as soon as I got off the bus, looking like the easiest mark in the world, with my backpack and too much hand luggage and a notebook in my hand from which I was trying to understand the directions I'd written down from Google Maps. It's...

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