spinning yarn

i think there is something wrong with my foot. when i was walking all over prague i pulled a muscle/tendon/something in the arch of my right foot, and it still hasn't gone away. some times it feels tighter or more sore than others, but i have to subtly limp on it during my brisk walk and it just must look so weird, and i can't take a break from walking long enough for it go away because walking is how i travel through all but the electronic parts of my existence. :/

i finally got my new glasses today. when i was picking them up two days ago the woman adjusting them to my lopsided ears actually snapped them apart like a cracker or something. and these are supposed to be designer frames...needless to say i was glad to get a pair that didn't have some kind of inherent structural weakness in them. they are quite stylish, incidentally, though sort of strong. hopefully i will get used to them?

so the cook at my restaurant iain said the weirdest thing the other day to my boss cameron who is the restaurant manager (26-yr-old scottish guy who plays football and computer games incessantly) about me. here was the conversation:
"that girl isn't american! she is scottish but just lived in america for awhile," iain says declaratively.
"...what are you talking about?"
"i know those people! she's not american...where is she from?"
"virginia."
"rubbish! she's not from virginia."
"why do you think all of this?!"
"she's too dour...she's not american."
"well if she is anything, it's definitely american." cameron walks away weirded out. the end.

what a weird thing to accuse someone of! why would i lie about being american? i mean, i know i'm not especially american, at least not in the easily recognizable obnoxious sorts of ways, and that i am more interested in just who i am as a person than who i am as an american...but seriously i thought this was quite funny/odd. i've barely had a conversation with this man besides asking him to send up some more bread or whatever on the dumbwaiter that goes between the kitchen and restaurant, it should noted, and also he is the most curmudgeonly man i've ever met in such a comic way - well i am the only one who thinks it's funny, so perhaps that's because as aforementioned i've never really had a conversation with him.
but dour, eh...do you guys think i'm dour, honestly now? i guess it's complimentary that he could accuse me of scottishness rather than americanness, the latter of which as a label often has a negative connotation, but i'm not sure how much i should be celebrating my apparent sternness.

though i was quite busy with weekend shifts at work and whatnot, i had a really nice time with my visitor jay. he's 24 and currently getting a master's degree in music engineering (a sort of inarticulate term i just came up with, but i don't know what its proper name is) in limerick, ireland, but has also had a real live lucrative computer programming job in the real world, and is also in a real live rock band that has toured with other rock bands i've actually heard of. conversation was mature in a refreshingly fast and natural way, and ranged through many topics. it was nice to meet someone new and just be able to talk substantively, for that in fact to be the expectation. we went on a cheesy graveyard tour that is advertised to be famous in edinburgh - it was just about the least scary thing ever, and i happen to be one of the world's biggest scaredy cats, but the guide was really entertaining and great, and i continued to learn interesting histories/stories about my home. generally we just walked everywhere and saw lots of strange things, including a random amnesty international protest parading the streets of edinburgh and the permanently enigmatic scottish parliament again. our trip was punctuated by a fascinatingly funny time in this bar called the brass monkey (lots of things are called that it seems) that has a room that is basically one giant red carpeted wall-to-wall mattress, and the walls are covered with huge and exciting movie posters with beautiful/interesting classic faces on them - such as audrey hepburn, taxi-driver-heartthrob-era deniro, the great the shining jackieboy face, and on and on. let me tell you, this clientele in this room was endlessly strange - everyone seemed somehow to be a confused caricature of various decades or stereotypes; for example these three dorky british guys with shaggy hair next to us were actually discussing in great detail their top 5 favorite riffs. who does that? maybe top 5 dance songs, rap songs, driving songs, whatever, but i mean there was discussion in minute detail about these moments in songs that were demonstrated through voicetar and fake fingerings and the like. whooooboy.

anyway now i am trying to make christmas plans - and copenhagen is unbelieeeevably expensive so i don't know if i should do it. i am going to make some smaller trips too, including one to see john and rufus wainwright (with full band glory eiiiieee) down in norwich. and i have so many papers to write and exams to take! not to mention the emails! ach, life, it is too much! i am at the end of the yarn.

love-