Tag: January 2023

January 2023 Part Five (Jan 24-Jan27)

January 24 – New and Old things, New and Old Friends…

We got up late on Tuesday morning, but that was okay, we were already sorted for theatre for the evening – but more on that in a minute. Needing sustenance, Lin suggested a place called “Today Bread” for our morning’s brunch (yes, we’d gotten up that late!). To be fair, this wasn’t generally my kind of place. This is the kind of place where everything is produced on the premises and it felt a bit “hipsterish” for me upon entering, but hey, I’ll give anything a shot (remember my “capacity to enjoy absolutely everything”).

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January 2023 Part Four (Jan 21-Jan 23)

January 21 – Once more unto the Breach

Weirdly, in past times, this is where my trip would start. I would arrive in London for a week of theatre and museums and being able to understand what I overhear on public transport and in coffee shops. This time, I had two weeks of travel behind me so I felt like I was at a slight disadvantage energy-wise.

Lin, however, was not to be deterred!

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January 2023 Part Three (Jan 16-Jan 18)

January 16 – Magic!

To be perfectly honest, today was one of the big highlights of the trip, something I had been looking forward to with much anticipation. Today was the day Troy was coming to get me and we were going to Disneyland!

We’d discussed this over the past few months, me explaining I really wanted to see Star Wars and Avengers stuff and anything else would be a bonus. He agreed. We decided on getting a 1-day, park hopper pass (the two things were in different parks) and then we figured that the 17th of January, the day after the MLK holiday, would be ideal (and also, the least expensive) day to go.

Of course, once we knew the dates, I contacted a few friends to see if there was anything else we could do. For example, Troy had never been to the Magic Castle, so I called my friend Michael, who’s a member, and asked if he was free to join us. He was. So we made plans.

And now the day was finally here!

Continue reading “January 2023 Part Three (Jan 16-Jan 18)” →

January 2023 Part Two (Jan 10-Jan 15)

January 10 – It all disappears… like Vegas in the rain…

Tuesday morning I woke up early and started making myself breakfast before I ventured outside. Good thing, too, since the alarm was on and even though the folks had left me a note with the code on it, I didn’t see it (and even if I had, I had no idea how to use the alarm system. So, thankfully, mom got up, helped me find the various things I needed to finish making my eggs and coffee and then showed me how to turn off the alarm so I could venture out back to get started with what was my main purpose for this trip.

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January 2023 Part One (Jan 6-Jan 9)

For the start of this story, we need to step into the “way back machine” all the way to 2010. Back then, due to circumstances, I had been applying for jobs in Europe. One of the gigs I applied to was teaching English to kids in Hungary. I got the job and the deal was I had a one-year contract with a mutually agreed upon possibility of a 1 year extension.

So in the late summer of 2010, I packed up most of my worldly belongings, shoved them into a storage shed (originally a pay as you go deal and then in my folks’ backyard) and headed off into parts unknown.

Continue reading “January 2023 Part One (Jan 6-Jan 9)” →