"Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am, And wild to hold, though I seem tame."

Someday the world will stop messing around with all the other poets, and acknowledge that Sir Thomas Wyatt reigns above them all in a cloud from which he throws the garlands of mind to us lesser mortals.

The title of this post comes from my 2nd favorite of his, with other such wonderful lines like "I am of them that furthest come behind." and "Fainting I follow." and "in a net I seek to hold the wind." Such pretty pretty words. I do love them.

Stephen Fry once made the comment that poetry is the language of strength, and so few people (I feel) understand that. Like any art, if you hate poetry it is because you haven't found the right kind yet.
So here is another Wyatt, my personal favorite poet. (I found the translation out of Middle English because I love and care about all 3 of my faithful readers...)
 Help me to seek for I lost it there,
   And if that ye have found it, ye that be here,
   And seek to convey it secretly,
   Handle it soft, and treat it tenderly :
   Or else it will plain and then appear ;
But rather restore it mannerly,
   Since that I do ask it thus honestly ;
   For to leese it, it sitteth me too near;
                                   Help me to seek.
Alas and is there no remedy ?
   But have I thus lost it wilfully ?
   I wis it was a thing all too dear
   To be bestowed, and wist not where :
   It was mine heart, I pray you heartily
                                   Help me to seek.

My useless skillz

Here is some random stuff: I know completely useless and random facts. And I have a ridiculously large knowledge of men's haberdashery. Seriously. I know all this random stuff about stitching on suits, the lay of the buttons, patterns of fabric, appropriate ties for occasions, the differences between italian and english and american suits, what kind of material lays nicest against certain body types, and how choose the right cloth for any occasion.
BUT WHAT THE HECK IS THIS KNOWLEDGE FOR? Honestly.
I'll tell you what this knowledge is for. It's so that I can totally geek out over this totally awesome blog I found that I freaking love so much cause it knows so so so so so so so much more than me and I love learning about pointless things.
I hope I marry someone who is going to need to wear a lot of fancy suits.

3 piece suits make me melt. Every time.

Take Courage

There are these two signs I see everyday, one coming in, one going out of London. They are so inspiring, and I love seeing them everyday. The one above is the one I see as I leave. It's wonderful because immediately after the sign, I go into a tunnel, and the tunnel takes me from cityscapes to country side. That sign is like my portal to Narnia.


This one though, is my favorite. It is the sign I see as I go to work, and its background is the dome of St. Paul's cathedral, the Tower Bridge, and an old Norman Church. I'll try to snap a picture on my in someday, but for now, you'll have to have the ground level version. Isn't it lovely?
And doesn't perfectly capture the ideals of London circa WWII?

Another I like....

5 favorite things:
Movie: Shawshank Redemption
Song: Some Mistakes by Brad Paisley
Book: The Count of Monte Cristo
Food: Anything SPICY
Season: Summer

4 smells I enjoy:
Oranges
Old books
Fresh cut grass
Onions as they are being sautee`d.

3 places I want to go:
Bali
Istanbul
Taj Mahal

2 favorite holidays:
Thanksgiving
4th of July

1 person I'd marry on the spot:
mmmm...The man I won't name.
Or Zachary Levi. Tall, dark, and handsome. And Republican. score. I know that's 2, but sometimes you need a back-up plan, ok?

Cynthia = Rapunzel

These are my floating laterns. I really want to go this year.

Oxford

Saturday the 19th dawned bright and early for me. It began with a 2.5 hour train ride from Tunbridge Wells, through London Charing Cross to London Paddington, and then onwards to Oxford. I slept pretty much the whole way. And since it was dark 75% of the time, I feel just fine about that.
Don't let the prestigious history and gothic architecture fool you about Oxford - it is definitely a college town. And also very touristy, surprisingly so for February.

Arriving at the crack of dawn as I did, I got to see the town in the best way possible - with no one else around. Oxford is rather small and easily walkable. Everything you want to see you can walk to in about 20 minutes, no matter where you start out. I started out at Christ's Church - more commonly known as the Great Hall for the Harry Potter movies. It definitely lived up to it's name. Walking in and around that ancient place was fun, as was watching the Oxford boys row (or punt) on the Thames.
Then across the street to visit Alice's Shop - an adorable store dedicated to Alice in Wonderland, as those stories were composed in Oxford. It was surreal and made me very nostalgic for Disneyland. And also tea, strangely enough.
Next on the list was Bodleian Library - 3rd largest library in the world! OH YEAH. It just smelled wonderfully of old books, and time and dust, and intelligence. I was so happy. And also, right next to the library is the History of Science Museum.... um, can we say COOLEST THING EVER?!? Especially since they were having a display on early Persian Astronomy, which you might think is incredibly specific exhibit, but it's still amazing. Trust me. Oh, and they happened to display the Einstein Oxford Chalkboard. Which is kind of famous.

But the funniest thing in that whole museum was the old wooden spiral staircase that creaks loudly as you walk up it, and the sign that says, "pleae tread lightly on this old staircase." It's the little things, really, that make life funny.
Next to Ashmolean Museum, which has your standard museum stuff.... Honestly I was still on a Persian Astronomy high. But there was a Stradivarius Violin which had some interesting carvings on the back of the Garden of Eden. And another one, which is considered the most valuable and it is nicknamed The Messiah, for reasons I still don't understand. Ironically, the instrument is in mint condition, for having been made in the early 1700s, and it hasn't ever been played. Which seems like the antithesis of a musical instrument's existence, but who am I to say?

From Oxford I went to visit Blenheim Palace - the place where Kenneth Branagh filmed his Hamlet. It was even better than I thought it would be! But it was freezing cold, and that made me sad.
The grounds of Blenheim are MASSIVE. Probably at least twice the size of BYU campus. And they are lovely, with lots of little areas of happiness, and a secret garden, and a water fall, and an arboretum, and an Italian garden and lots of other really lovely things. The palace is amazing and ornate. It is the place Winston Churchill grew up, so it's bound to be fabulous, right?
Blenheim is really an experience I don't think I can describe. Sorry. Pictures do some justice, but old, stately, ornate homes just need to be seen. I don't know how marketing people do it.

After I came back from Blenheim it was time to head home - unfortunately I had a short trip, but then I got to talk to Calista. And of all the things I did last weekend, talking to Calista was definitely the best. 18 months is way too long, I don't care what they say.

Brought to you by Congress Spending

This post comes inspired by Kylie.

Things I cannot get over:

1. The Economy/The Electoral College/ Stock Market/ Politics.
At best I sort-of half understand all these. I have tried so hard. Really, really hard. But I don't get it. Any of them. Every side presents their case with at least some truth, but without me knowing EVERYTHING it's hard to find who is telling the most truth and therefore pick a side. Can't I just go look through a telescope for a while? No, because congress ran out of money. It's one big circuitous ANNOYING fight in my head.

2. Sports love
To illustrate the extent of my lack of understanding, I cannot even write a paragraph about how much I don't understand. Pretty extensive, huh?

3. People who get uncomfortably close.
To be fair, I have done this for comedic effect, but I know some people who just get all up in your face. And that "I'm terribly near-sighted" excuse just won't work here. If I can freaking feel you breath, you are too close.

4. How trees grow.
Yup, I didn't pay attention in 2nd grade. I could probably solve this with a quick trip to Wikipedia, but I like that trees are still mysterious to me. That way I can keep pretending faeries live in them and build up the tree to accomodate their ever increasing population.

5. Why melted cheese and fried chicken skin are so dang good.
Seriously, it could probably solve US-Middle East relations, but no one ever thinks to bring along some KFC do they? That's really why they get mad around the discussion table. They're hungry but they have to eat fancy food, carefully selected to impress the visitor, not solve problems. Come on, world leaders, think!


You didn't know that the first thanksgiving was actually a successful peace treaty due to my 11 secret herbs and spices.