august 24rd, 2023 HUGE POST - super sorry xx also #nobetawedielikemen
blog post #13
hi lovelies! long time no post, huh? well, i'm back to my witty and irreverent self, so don't worry. let us do a run-down of my time in England! I was asked to perform at graduation at Oxford - i say graduating with a lot of looseness, as it was only a summer course. originally, i think they wanted me to play piano, but if any of you know me then you know that my piano skills leave many things to be desired. so i ended up befriending this German boy who was just an incredible pianist. maybe one of the best piano players i've ever heard. he was truly very good. he heard me singing and asked if he could play and i could sing. i said i could, because why lie? i'm a decent singer. we ended up practicing back to black by amy winehouse as best we could with only a few days before the ceremony.
the stress of performing came with numerous reasons, and waking up in a bed not my own surely added to that. let the speculations run wild. anyway, i wore a lovely black dress, my new miu miu heels, and i did my jazziest rendition of back to black. watching the recordings, i'm pretty satisfied. could always be better but i got a lot of compliments after i sang, so my public liked it. (i'm being intentionally annoying about this to deflect from my low self-confidence in my vocal ability. i personally am convinced i sounded truly awful.) after the ceremony, we ate in the great hall. i got minorly harassed by a guy from Israel who had been pestering me the entire two weeks. his ears took up 50% of his body mass. is that mean? a little bit but it's true. then, to seriously cap it off, he started banging his spoon on his glass, leapt up ONTO the TABLE of BALLIOL'S DINING HALL and did an IMPROMPTU SPEECH. it was so fucking humiliating for everyone who watched it, and he wouldn't stop talking about it and how scary it was. i couldn't help but fantasize about the dean ripping him apart limb from limb as penance. what a freak.
after this, we went to the after party being hosted. the party was mandatory, and from 8 pm to fucking 10:30 pm. though my posts and my general demeanor is that of jovial delight and raucous play, no one wants to be locked at a party with no choice of leaving. it gets worse. it was about 500 kids packed into one dance party of insanely loud music - ALL of it was british rap - and drinks were not free. i also nearly had something very terrible happen at the hands of several norwegian probable white supremacists. managed to dodge the situation but it's still a gigantic "what if" i can't really shake.
on a different note, one far more complex and strange, is that of thomas chatterton - the elected code name for the person i am speaking of. i don't want to disclose too much on my very public website, but mr chatterton and i have grown awfully close. and chatterton will not leave my mind. if curious, i suggest you all google the painting of thomas chatterton. i don't recall who painted it or when, but it was the romantic era if that helps at all - it doesn't.
so i spent a day in brighton, very very fun. i went on a few rollercoasters on that old pier there, and explored around. i also went onto a haunted house ride where all the scary creatures had english accents and kinda ruined the fear factor LOL. the next day, we made it to london. we stayed at the clermont, and it was absolutely fucking breathtakingly gorgeous. i had my own room too, which added to the delight. the first day we were in london, we spent 5 hours in the tower of london. i made it a personal goal to try and see every room i could, but this was an awful decision by room 130. too much history. the very next day, we did westminster abbey. that was something else. i didn't care much for the religious part, nor all the hundreds of monarchs, but POETS' CORNER. OH MY GOD. i started breaking down at the plaques for all the brontes, byron, tennyson, james, browning, shelley, and even keats. i genuinely was crying, you guys.
then we take a drastic turn: my dad had a terrifying medical emergency and spent the night in the hospital. i thought i would be alone the next day because it was seeming like a surgery-type deal. but low and behond, the morning came around and he was up and ready for the fucking london underground tour.
i went for tea at the dorchester, in my dress titled "dorchester suite." perfect moment. some old italian man called me princess, so i think i basically won everything ever? after tea, it was time for the mousetrap because i am an agatha christie fanatic. the show was INCREDIBLE, genuinely so incredible. i gobbled up every single moment. don't worry, i won't say anything else for fear of spoiling.
in my last day of london, i woke up very early and put on my most modest dress and got ready to accompany thomas chatterton to the Tate Britain, which was just wonderful. i don't know very much about art, but he does, so i learned so much listening to him explain the paintings and their importance, and who painted them. i saw ophelia, one of my favorite paintings, and also madame x, another personal favorite. not to mention THE thomas chatteron. then we shopped around in waterstones, got lunch, and that is all i am liberty to disclose.
the day before i flew out, i visited my aunt. i've only met her once when i was really little, so it was positively delightful to see her again. she has two very young kittens - frankie and rhubarb - and i fell hopelessly in love with them. they kept snuggling me and i was positively ecstatic at all the kitten attention.
i arrived back here a bit ago, and i didn't even get jet lag. been working hard on college applications, and i'm terrified for the return to high school - even though it's my senior year.
lots of love,
tequila xx