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Written by Vita Drakonia
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Monday, 07 May 2007 12:32 |
Although I have been staying in Southampton for quite a few days I did
not get to explore it properly until yesterday. This is a small but
cute city and surprisingly enough it has quite a few things to offer
We took a stroll through the central city park and this spotted many
Britons playing sports, picnicking and hanging out, as well as this odd
man just sitting on grass, unmoved in his meditating state…
Next was High street. And on High street it was that I met these
remarkable hooligans… The coolest dudes in Britain I say, I high fived
all of them after taking their photo!
Further walk down took me to Bargate. This is an old gateway that was
part of original city fortification structure, so it must be of some historical significance or something ;)
And this is a close up of one of the fearsome lions guarding the gate
I got hungry and decided to grab a bite to eat. I was craving to try
some local fish and chips, so ended up in some sports pub that was full
of local football fans. It was some sort of “cheer for your sport team”
day. I am not very keen on sports, but this family is. A little baby
cheerleader in his own tiny uniform, how precious!
Southampton is a port city. Titanic sailed from the port of Southampton
on 10th of April 1912. Five days later, it sank. And this is a museum
dedicated to this historic event
I came across this anchor in the vicinity and although I am not sure if
it is related to Titanic sailing (most likely not) it is one impressive
anchor nevertheless. I am tremendously fascinated by anchors for some
indefinite reason, so here it is anyway…
Tomorrow I am departing for Winchester, the old capital of England. Am
very excited to see the famous “round table” on which Arthur and his
knights ate tasty chicken and even did so much more... And all of that
olden goodness is coming up very soon!
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Written by Vita Drakonia
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Sunday, 06 May 2007 18:53 |
A lot has happened since my last site update. I left Las Vegas, came
back to New York for a few days to see my family and Muffin and then
hopped on a plane bound for England. My very close friend Jana lives
here and I have decided to give her a visit. This is the NYC metro
train that took me to the JFK airport…
Roughly twelve hours later (eight out of which I have spent sleeping in
a not-so comfortable bed that I have constructed for myself out of 3
economy seats in a Delta jet) I took another train from London Gatwick
airport to get to my final destination of Southampton
On my way there I was impressed by the amount of British greenery I saw
out of the train window, but even more so, I really fell in love with
fields full of wild flowers!
The day of my arrival we had a nice dinner and drank a bit too much.
Numerous bottles of apple cider were consumed and I have
unintentionally learned the fastest way to overcome jet lag. Drink
until you pass out and wake up (sort of) refreshed the next morning,
feeling as if it is actually first light, not some mysterious time of
the day….
On the following day, Jana has organized a few activities for us to do.
So I got out of bed with a bit of nasty sugar booze hangover (those are
the worst) and we headed to Exbury Gardens, which were created by
Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, who personally described himself as ‘a
banker by hobby, a gardener by profession’ ;)
This 200-acre woodland garden is famous for the Rothschild collection
of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias that come in many beautiful
colors. Many locals and visitors alike come here to relax, picnic and
enjoy these surroundings. I tried to do same in my still partially
intoxicated state from past night of fun…
Although I did not get to actually ride the steam train, I did get to
see it in action, with steam and all!
This is a flower of my childhood. I am not quite sure what it is called
in English, but perhaps someone could clue me in later?
If I was five years old all over again I would be quite tempted to do
this little stump dance myself ;)
In one of the ponds there were multiple fishies, but one of them was
unique. Golden fish told me I could have three wishes. Without much
thinking I asked for a macro lens for my Canon 30D and took a rain
check on two others…
This is hands down the most beautiful thing that I saw that day in the
entire garden!
I happen to know certain someone who would be keen on seeing these two
color flowers arranged so close together! So… my sexy hair dresser, if
you are reading this, this virtual bouquet is for you ;)
Our next stop was Hengistbury Head nature reserve, a stunning beach
with pretty sand cliffs…
We walked along the water towards the peaks as I collected some oddly
shaped rocks lying in the sand along the way
Cliffs were made of soft and flexible texture that seemed like sand
compressed under high pressure. I was able to without much effort leave
my mark here using one of the rocks that I have collected!
I could not help myself to not take this photo of a random bent
bicycle. Did someone actually make an effort to ride it down the cliffs
and into the beach rocks?
From atop I admired the view of the sea. My shadow made me look quite
tall…
It was getting late and we drove back home, but had to stop in Tesco
supermarket on the way for some food. Here I felt almost obligated to
take a photo of this energy drink… I can only imagine what one must
feel after consuming a giant bottle of this stuff!
Somehow indirectly relevant, or at least in my mind, and so I would
like to share this entertaining but also sort of distressing British
newspaper clipping with everyone…
And the moral of the story is, please drink your 75p liter of Kick
responsibly. Do not boot fellow men in the nuts. And if someone tries
to pull a quick one on you, do promptly redirect their attention from
your crotch by utilizing a sideways-down pointing British blue arrow. It
really works… I swear it does!
Mates, I am sorry if this method seems preposterous, but few of us less
daring types out there simply cannot afford losing a perfectly well
working testicle… or at least not just yet…
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Two days that seem like one... |
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Written by Vita Drakonia
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Friday, 27 April 2007 17:36 |
Amazingly enough, I have gone quite a few days without visiting Vegas
strip and its casinos, but on Wednesday and Thursday that was all I was
doing. Outcome, $500 more cash in my pocket and a lot of interesting
moments and experiences to go along with that!
It all started with my interest in the free fall drop ride located on
the very top of tallest tower in Vegas, the Stratosphere. Could I handle the excitement?
Well to be quite truthful, the ride was over before it even started. I
did feel like I had to urinate at one point. For $20 I was charged to
ride this garbage, the better portion of the ticket was the admission
to see the city views from the top of the tower itself…
I got to snap both the view of Las Vegas boulevard (the strip) and the
miraculously greened up desert city facing in the other direction.
Sweet baby Jesus! First time in my life I saw a drive through for getting married. If this is not a perversion of marriage then I do not know what is...
On the other side a sleazy strip club. Table dances for 10 bucks… Hmm,
something smells fishy (pun intended) ;)
I headed further on the strip and got stuck at Circus Circus. That is
as far as I made it, for many reasons I will explain below…
First of all, inside this establishment was the largest video game
arcade I have seen here so far. I got to play Dance Dance Revolution
quite a bit and asked to remind myself that when I get back to New York
I should get back to practicing my moves, as they got pretty rusty.
This carousel is the same as in the movie “Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas”? I will have to watch the movie again to determine that ;)
This circus has some pretty outlandish rules hanged in the bathroom,
some of them are just meant to be broken by noisy obnoxious children ;)
I was done with childrens games and decided to play something big…
Well, not really… But, please do notice the crossed arms and unhappy
look on this mans face. That is mainly because his wife was talking on
cell phone while wasting his money. In my experience, slot machines do
not pay. If you want to make money, you must play the tables…
However, any chill looking old geezer like this one, wearing rainbow gay pride suspenders is entitled to a million bucks slot machine jackpot at once ;)
I found a comfy blackjack table with a friendly crowd and robbed them
circus clowns for about $500. That does not include all free Corona’s
with lime I drank, which I lost count of. More chips had to be brought
in to the table at one point. Our dealer Pattie can be seen signing her
life away while Mr. Circus Police officer is watching her back to make
sure my hoodlum ass does not try anything smooth. Tonight I have a show
to go to with my sister and her girlfriend. Another one is lined up for
Sunday, which I am very excited as I have a wonderful date to accompany
me. As far as the rest of the weekend goes, it is all up in the air,
but anything can happen in Vegas. And chances are it probably will ;)
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Written by Vita Drakonia
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Monday, 23 April 2007 17:11 |
Yesterday was a hangover day. Yet, I summoned my energy to do something
productive towards the end of the day and visited Red Rock Canyon,
located just a short 30 minute drive from the fun city of Las Vegas…
I loved the contrast of yellow desert sand and tall colorful mountain rocks...
Two Earth plates collided some long time ago and grey lime stones were
shoved with great power over red sand stones. This created some pretty
good-looking mountains…
And so I sat in the car, listening to Ludacris’s “Splash Waterfall” over and
over, waiting for the sunset and hoping for some sexy pink clouds…
“Make love to me. Oh, oh, oh, what? Fuck me!”
Sunset came around 7:30pm. I snapped the shot I was waiting for. Drove
back and upon arriving home was greeted by a pack of hungry wolves back
at my sister’s crib. Here at this zoo we also have two cats and a lonely fish.
One sexy foxy girl likes me! Things are getting pretty wild in Vegas… ;)
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Written by Vita Drakonia
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Sunday, 22 April 2007 12:18 |
I am a kind of guy who likes to be myself. My wardrobe is that of
comfortable and easy to maintain selection of wear. Good walking boots,
a few pairs of relaxed jeans and pants, multitude of colorful and
comfortable t-shirts and underwear. And a ton of white socks, because
you can never have too many of those…
And the beauty of it is that all of this stuff along with all other
basic human necessities fits into one Adidas travel sports bag. My
laptop, books and my camera all go in my backpack. I have been
traveling light and simple all my life and I doggedly refuse to alter
my comfort habits. So what does a guy like me do when faced with a
demanding fancy dress code of plush Las Vegas casino clubs?
Free Zone located in the Fruit Loop was answer. A club where you can be
yourself… And in many more ways then one ;) For not being much of a Hip
Hopper I danced quite a bit that night. A lot of alcohol was consumed
but most memorable moments were not erased from my mind. A wild and
witty girl named Toni has not only acted as a fruit repellent, but also
made my first night out here exceptionally pleasant and extraordinary!
Las Vegas is a matchless habitat and I have spent a liberal fraction of
my time observing the peculiar creatures that populate this city. This
gentleman above was quite bizarre, but he was no match to a drunken
female midget dressed up as a man and dancing with a tall black guy.
Later that night it was explained to me that girl midget wants to be a
guy herself. I inquired further and was informed that today’s science
has the power to attach fully functional penises to all midgets that
just may desire one. All of this new info was apparently too much for
my fragile brain to handle, as last night I dreamt of my ex getting a
penile implant of her own. The rest of her was fully intact. It was
quite a sight, and I woke up at 7am very puzzled and mystified…
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Written by Vita Drakonia
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Friday, 20 April 2007 14:27 |
I am sitting at the JFK airport, waiting for my Vegas flight. They have
a bar and the bar has a wide selection of Samuel Adams beers on tap.
This certainly makes the wait a little easier for me ;) I think I am
going to go to England when i come back. After all look what I can do
there at Exbury Gardens!
"Learn to become a driver of a Steam Locomotive! Ideal for the first
time driver. The Exbury Footplate Experience ..."
Shit, I mean. Drive my own locomotive!?! I am booking my ticket now.
But not until I order another pint of Sam Adams Summer Brew ;)
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Written by Vita Drakonia
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Thursday, 19 April 2007 20:28 |
I have not written for two weeks. Am I getting lazy? I should not be
getting lazy, because being lazy is terrible. But yet, one fine quality
of being lazy is that at least you are going to look delightful, I mean
just look at Muffin… Isn’t he… well… kind of delightful?
I am leaving for Vegas tomorrow for whole 10 days. My sister Julia
lives there now, which means I will get to have free lodging. That is
good. I will get to stay with her and eat all her cookies and ice cream
I can find. Then I will go gamble, lose all my money and do street
performances for cash. I am going to miss New York; I bet they do not
have pink smog clouds in Vegas…
I will try and make a weekend to visit San Francisco, while I am in the
area. I love that city. It is the second best city in USA, after New
York (of course). This is my opinion, and I am god damn entitled to it.
They have good food and good music and friendly people. And that is
what makes a good city. Pictures and reportage from Vegas coming soon!
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Gone so long... Must... find... myself... |
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Written by Vita Drakonia
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Wednesday, 04 April 2007 21:13 |
I have not updated my blog like forever… and all for a good reason!
After enormous success of my virtual existence has taken me as far as I
can possibly go and then crashed me back to nothingness, and after my
girlfriend has dumped me 3 times in a course of 6 weeks (that must set
some kind of record), I have decided to take up a dangerous and obscure
mission of reclaiming my real life. So I joined a gym, took on morning
jogging, applied for some volunteer positions as counselor at children
schools and summer camps, read multitude of philosophy and psychology
books (Erich Fromm is by far my favorite and I strongly advise “The Art
Of Love” to all of you who may be questioning their life’s purpose) and
even got myself an Irish born psychotherapist named Oscar…
Happiness is a difficult thing to come by, but so far so good… I have
also started a new MMO related web project, which I am very excited
about. Years of just peddling virtual crack can get a little bit
monotonous, even if you are the best peddler around. So my new working
idea in progress should give some refreshing breath to my virtual
career. I am not sure what I am going through right now, but I do feel
as if I have hit some invisible wall in all spheres of my life and I
need to transcend myself to move on. Things are about to get very
interesting and I shall keep all those interested well informed ;)
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