I GOT KEVIN SPACEY'S AUTOGRAPH!!!

Well, I sucessfully completed two presentations today before collapsing on my bed for a solid three hours this afternoon. I'm sick. Not majorly, but enough that I didn't feel that it was a good idea to go with the group on a 2.5 hour walking tour of London this afternoon. Thankfully, the kind and magnanimous professors-at-large agreed, and tonight I'm feeling somewhat better.

So, as the title says, I GOT KEVIN SPACEY'S AUTOGRAPH!!!!!!!!!!!!! (13 exclamation points Lauren.) He was performing in A Moon for the Misbegotten, which was stunningly good, the most compelling play I've seen since we've been in England. And not became of Kevin Spacey. He did an excellent job of course, but the standout performance was from an actress named Eve (insert last name here) as Josie, the rough-n-ready farmgirl daughter of Phil Hogan (played by Colm Meaney), and unacknowledged love of Jim Tyrone (Kevin Spacey). Really, I didn't look at my watch a single time, and that's a first. Oh, and I also got Colm Meaney's autograph, best known to me as Chief O'Brien on Star Trek: The Next Generation. But that's probably just me. At any rate, this makes my first piece of authentic signed-in-person celebrity memorabilia! Whoohoo!

In other news, Monday night we saw Tom and Viv, otherwise known as The Excessively Depressing Play that Put the Entire Group in a Foul Mood. It's about the relationship between the poet T.S. Eliot and his wife, and between them and her family. As explanation: Tom puts Viv away in a sanitorium because she's gone completely crazy. It's later implied in the play (I don't know if this is true of the real woman also) that her insanity was caused by a hormonal imbalance that ended at menopause, which is particularly sad. The play caused a lot of controversy in group discussion because of the debate over whether Tom was wrong to put Viv away and whether his motives for doing so were entirely self-centered. Very interesting though.

Trying to think if there's anything else interesting going on...

And I'm coming up with nothing. So on that note, I'm retreating to my room again. I think I'll have some Frosties (Frosted Flakes, and also the only American food I've found here that actually tastes like it does at home).

Can you believe this trip isn't even halfway over??? (But don't worry, it will be Friday :)

Cheers!