...I'll make no excuse for my blogger's negligence... although I do have valid excuses... if ever an excuse could be valid... but I digress.

Kasey Musgrave has come and gone and I have yet to write about it. We showed up to the bus station 30 minutes after she had arrived and when we took her back the night of her bus back to London we showed up as the bus was pulling out and had to flag the driver down and we then waved goodbye as he drove off before the door was even shut behind her. We need to work on our promptness or else miss a bus or two. (the former is much cheaper than the latter option)

While Kasey was here we picnicked in the park, took her to the best ice-cream shop in town, showed her what life in Oxford is like (on a lazy weekend) and most importantly took her Christ Church to see where Harry Potter was filmed. (Her biggest request) Luckily she was satisfied with our slow pace, and staying in her hotel room by herself at night... we've only been here two weeks and the lack of alone time is no new annoyance. In fact I'm pretty sure she REALLY enjoyed being alone in her hotel... I'm led to believe there was some singing involved ;) (one misses the opportunity to sing out loud, especially in the shower, when living with 40 people)

admittance of sins

I haven't figured out why we're crouching in this picture.


Is there ever anything to talk about but food?
The biggest thing that happened to Casey and I yesterday, well it of course involves food. In fact now that I think about it, everything I intend to talk about on this blog in some way or another involves food. I guess that's just how it is.

We caved. We had to, we were worn out and had to do something easy... We had a Whopper meal on Corn Market street.

I know, we're "those girls" as Casey calls it. We just haven't conquered grocery shopping yet. (we're 2-0 so far) It was a very spiritual experience though... and now that we've had fast food we won't have to indulge again for a long time. Not to mention Casey perked right up. I seriously doubt we're the first to partake... I just won't believe that. I know one of those guys in our group has snuck to McDonalds already.


how could she not be happy?


laughing at ourselves for enjoying this so much.



indulgence.

Kasey Musgrave arrived safely today, and we haven't shown her a great time so far. It's been bland I'm sure but tomorrow we're going to hit it hard... so we say.
Unfortunately there's something I've yet to admit... I believe I have already hurt myself. Well I am hurt, I take no credit. Walking back from the market on Wednesday I was hit with sudden and intense pain in my left knee. I'm positive it's because my chiropractor won't just fix me. It comes and goes and now I'm pretty certain it's popping out of place.

I've given in and decided to go to the doctor. I hope you're all happy. (i'm fine.)




casey and kasey enjoying...food.

mmm..that looks great.

great news. I got the song up.

http://www.myspace.com/caseyrogersband

that is the link and you don't have to have a myspace profile to listen.
Later I will probably go ahead and put our band photos on the site and edit the band info.

see? you thought I was joking. Its a real band.

(please keep in mind we recorded in a kitchen... (we almost did it in a bathroom for the acoustics) and we layed down the instruments on one track and Kara came back over... not bad for a pathetic circumstance eh?)


by the way, the name Casey Rogers Band, which is our name now, has a long story behind it... but it's a story for later)

A tuesday, a Wednesday.

I am not positive, but I think Casey might be hypoglycemic.
Haha, silly me. That is a joke because I know she is.

Its really not funny, because its not serious enough to be fatal but rather a nuisance because it is not a matter of death, but of temperament. It's slightly irrelevant because we haven't had to deal with any dangerously low sugar levels or "angry Casey" (she's been so jovial, my sweet girl) but I'm impressed and sort of shocked because even for me, minutes have turned to hours and days to weeks (and so on) and time inches by when you're hungry and have nothing to eat... and we haven't had much to eat.
It really is a by-product of my desire to save money meant for food so that I can spend it on plane ticket to far-away lands or exotic fabrics. (there's also the fact that I have about a cubic inch of space in the overcrowded fridge for my personal grocery.)

But really, I can't cook. I really have no desire to anyways. In truth, its less because of the typical American dependancy on fast food, or laziness, as it is because of my apathy towards the subject and the fact that I'd rather eat bread and cheese for a week straight than boil some water to fix a bowl of, what most definitely would be, mediocre (if not "hardly bearable") pasta. Not to mention my mere presence has been known to burn whatever happens to be in the oven or turn bland whatever is on the stove.
Unfortunately it is catching up to me and is manifested in spells of daydreams about even the most meager serving of chicken or chocolate. (its meat and sugars that are missing from my carbohydrate saturated diet.)
Its not been only once I've caught myself, or been caught by others, in a rather pathetic looking gaze and realize I'd slipped, once again, into an obsessive dream of anything but bread.

So, frugality can be expensive--dually noted.



Tomorrow Casey and I will be baby-sitting our new little friends, which is not only acceptable, but good. This is because, dear friend Kasey Musgrave will arrive in Oxford on friday morning, which means we will not be making an excursion this weekend... and I'm not sure that we won't be the only ones. Many people are leaving tomorrow for Wales, it's sad really. It forced me to serious introspection about how much I really love Kasey, because I do love Prince William.
This is of course, a joke. Though I am sad that I won't get to make the trip, I guess I'd say I'm excited to see Musgrave.
So, not only has our date tomorrow night been our saving grace when having to force Holland down to her bed while dramatically crying " but I wanna stay here and get some lovin with yooooou!!"
That's when I say, "How about thursday I'll come to your house and get some lovin with you."

I don't really know why they've taken to us as much as they have. I have always liked children, and enjoy holding and cooing over babies, but I've grown out of playing dance-monkey and overly enthusiastic baby voices to win the hearts of children.
In fact I have, in no way, catered to these girls, and they still love us. Thats not to say I don't enjoy their company... and I do allow free reign on our closet and jewelry box... which could be contradictory to the previous statements saying I haven't catered and they might have something to do with why they find their way up here daily. (perhaps they don't love me but my clothes)
Casey has admittedly said that she has no children in her life and may not know what to do with this... and to be honest sometimes watching her is funny, not because she is awkward or cold by any means to either of the girls, and loves them as much as I have come to, but the astonishment of their sudden, and flattering sentiments towards us can be seen in her raised eyebrows as they storm and bounce around the room and into Casey's personal space. (the kindergarten equivalent of "her bubble.") Not to mention going from no children to two blonde fireballs could be a system shocker.





I can't deny infatuation though, the pull of their love is strong.

Our band recorded our first cut of the demo of our first song to send in to Battle of the Bands. It's one Kara had in the works before the band was materialized. I am going to at some point either make a link or upload the song somehow. Because I know you all want to hear how naturally talented I am at the tambourine... be proud people.

be proud.

First day of classes.blah

(at the moment I can't get any pictures on my blog. Hopefully I will come back and add some later.)

Classes are sort of important...but the most important event to note of (now 3 days ago) is that I am in a band. One of my oldest life goals is being fufilled- to play the tambourine in a band.
We don't have a name yet, but I figure its like a good tattoo, you don't look for it because it's looking for you and at the right time the two shall meet and bring joy to all the world. (I would like to go ahead and mention to that perfect name that I know is looking so hard for us, that we only have a few days so if you could search a little more frantically that would be splendid.)
I do know, however, that we are classifying ourselves a band in the "swamp rock" genre... (regardless of the fact that we are way too dynamic to be classified with a single genre. I mean come on, we have a tambourine.) Kara will be the Lead guitarist and vocals, Zac will be guitarist and vocals, and I will be... and this is not a joke... tambourine, could possibly be considered backup vocals and interpretive sway dancer.

... and you know what? I better not hear any talk of my vitality to the band... I am a serious asset. OK? Casey was considered the "dead-weight" of the band until we had the idea of band photos today... so I'm doing better than her. (sorry Casey, I have to put you down to build myself up.) So band photos are tomorrow we have some great ideas, I won't share until we really get it going but I feel like its going to be a real success.

We're entering a "Battle of the bands" at St. Aldates Church in Oxford. We fully expect to win and we will be receiving 300 GBP.-Zach is buying a rugby jersey and a real Oxfordian College Suit (embroidered crest and all) with his cut of the earnings, and so far Kara will be buying a futbol jersey, long sleeve... and I haven't made up my mind for certain but I think I will probably be attending a futbol match of an undetermined team or a trip to Morocco.
Anyways, this still isn't a joke and we expect to be taken seriously, even while we remain nameless. In fact I'm about to have to put my blogging on hold to attend closed band practice. (Immediate members only tonight.)



The only other really exciting thing from today was my "ninja death fall," that would have certainly led to imminent death had the huge man, and now HERO, Zach (band member) had not been there like a deeply rooted (and huge) tree to straight up CATCH me in his huge arms just before I began to plummet from 10 feet above the ground. (10 feet because i was standing on stairs above the ground that sloped downwards to the basement level but that was AFTER I slipped flew a few extra feet into the air, whiffed the side of Andy Perkins' face with my foot and THEN began my descent.)

I can act it out sometime if you're interested. It's really just a shame that no one caught it on camera because not only is it a good story but it really was as exciting and as potentially fatal as it sounds. I'd like to give repeated thanks to Zach for being huge and for his cat-like reflexes that led him to stick his arms out when I squeezed the fire out of his arm (because I was looking death in the face)... and a thanks to Andy Perkins who gave nary a flinch when I ninja-kicked an inch from his face... He only thought that he was done getting kicked in the face by girls falling and flailing from the sky after he was done with crash-crew our senior year. I gave him many an elbow to the face during cheerleading. thanks boys for doing what you do.

galavanting and fashion shows.

I was just going to put up some pictures of the past few days since we've been here.

Mostly we've just wandered around through the middle part of town. We've done some grocery shopping and we went in a book store or two and this morning we had our first coffee shop experience. Casey plans to make it a once a week habit, only because we found out this coffee shop had free ice water. Apparently thats going to keep her going.
I won't lie, I bought a few things at the store we found called Primark. It's like a hyped up European version of Wal-mart clothing. If the clothes in there are low end, then I'm going to be walking around looking like an English Wal-mart... cause that stuff is CHEAP... and it is cheap so i didn't spend much. (had to get it out of my system and I needed a wallet to use instead of my mondo-travel wallet.)








Last night we spent some time with one of the professor's family. I was interrogated on my way up the stairs by Prof. Wiggin's 3 year old, Holland. So after I made them ask permisson, Holland and her 6 year old big sister Kennedy joined me and Casey. They really loved our home-made window seat and mimicking my comments about how "that is just SO CUTE." to each picture I snapped of them. After Holland found Casey's jewelry I was promptly told that Holland really thought I needed to show her a dress to wear. So I dressed them up, which meant we had to have a fashion show. We're scheduled for a tea party later this week. I'm really looking forward to it. I do love tea and scones... and crazy three year olds.

Love Charlie's world tour.

Love charlie and the Gadabouts is my band.

I don't really have a band. For some reason when I got my blog I had a discussion with Casey and decided that if I had a band, which I don't, I would name it that. (for multiple reasons, i guess if you're curious you can ask.) So that's the name of my blog.

After I got on the bus in Abilene my day and days after went much better than the few days before and up until we left. So if you were worried about me you can feel better. I'll admit I was a bit of a tyrant trying to get ready (If you think I'm being melodramatic ask my family or just anyone within a 5 mile radius of me.) I apologize.

I really did think that I made the wrong decision about going to Oxford and had almost decided that I should just throw my hands up, get off the bus and promise to pay my parents back for the wasted money with the jobs I was going to get during my new free time this semester. However, besides the small scare right at the first when I was the only one on the bus without a paper ticket in my hand and I was told I was supposed to have gotten my tickets from the agent in the mail, everything went smooth and I was reassured about my plans. (turned out they were E-tickets. silly me)

By the time we had made it to Baird one of the guys on the bus had already pulled out a bottle of sparkling apple cider and was passing out cups to the entire back half of the bus. By the time we made it to Putnam, he had managed to cover himself, the guy next to him, and the floor with sticky cider and we were all hurting from laughter but we did all have something to drink.

There were no problems at the airport, and even Casey made it smoothly (well... at DFW anyways) with no problems but her fear of airport staff. Casey was also pretty worried because she had the middle seat and I had the isle, and she repeatedly mentioned that she hoped it wasn't some weirdo. Well it wasn't. But it was a woman named Nanette who is now our best friend, and first good connection. Let's just say that we got about an hour of sleep that flight and the first 4 and a half hours were pretty much booked... and I know all about Nanette. But it's OK because we now have a two-page guide to Dublin, good connections, and a photography job when we get back.

Seemed like all I've talked about is Casey's fears but this one is necessary to note and she just feels insecure about airports (felt insecure, her fears were all conquered.) By the time we got our breakfast boxes Casey was already starting to panic about what we were supposed to say at Customs... and i wasn't really worried about it but I will admit they did a terrible job at orientation when it came to what we were actually supposed to say. They gave us a few ideas about what not to say and what we might, could, maybe, possibly, want to probably say, but very little about what would actually keep us from getting arrested. I wasn't worried about it mostly because I knew that we weren't doing anything wrong, and what's the worst that could happen? Interrogation? Being sent home? Most of which I believed wouldn't happen, and the others I'm too stubborn to care.
But Casey, Casey was worried. So we get in line and wait and I go first, even though we wouldn't end up in the same line, I went first to make her feel better. It's my turn and I get up to the desk hand him my passport and landing card, which I made sure Casey had open and in the proper order, had to answer more questions than they prepped for and had to pull out the letter they said we wouldn't need but I made it through... just in time to turn around and see Casey being pointed into the holding cell. At which point, being the terrible friend I am, I laughed hysterically, and between gasps of breathed tried to explain to the confused people in my group why that was so funny to me. I waited for at least ten minutes trying not to let Casey see me laugh every time I looked over. Nanette was angry, I wasn't sure she wasn't going to go get her out herself, and possibly take out the Customs officer who put her there. (and she is the type of lady who could, #1, and get away with it #2, See, really good connection.) I finally ended up going to get our luggage while Adrian Dennington waited for her... and it was still at least another 15 minutes. After she came down I was proud to see that she was no longer scared, but ticked off. Thats more like it. I really enjoyed seeing it, and hearing about how he demeaned her (and what we were doing), and the things she called him. Casey is becoming a cultured individual. We did agree that it was probably best that it was her not me who got detained, and that she's a better person because of it.
After the airport the bus ride to Oxford and everything else went smoothly.

I will say I've caught myself WAY too many times taking pictures of things because I know my mom will want to see. I'm supposed to be a college student. Anyways, things are going well. It took me long enough to get this post done that my next one will probably be about today, but I probably won't get it done till Sunday. I feel like thats just going to be how it works.

Now, on to those pictures for mother.



CoCo is not very happy with me for leaving.



Adrian and Daley waiting in DFW



Casey and Nanette



picture from the backseat of the bus in London



The bus ride to Oxford



overcast



Casey enjoying our new view (we got the best room in either house.)



this is what we see



whooohoo our rooom!



a view of the window again



front view of 10 Canterbury Rd Oxford, England.