So rarely do I ever go back and reflect on posts from my past, but today is different. I am able to bookend this post from a year ago with today's. What a nice bit of symmetry.

A friend and I attended the Guardian's Thames Whale Exhibition. It was a small set up with some photos and a video. While it did lack a lot of insightfulness (why did the whale swim up the Thames? what does this say about the future of whales in the wild? what can we do to prevent this? why did the whale have such a massive impact on us and why did Londoner's take to her so dearly? why on earth is a newspaper sponsoring this?) it did have the unique distinction of having the animal's actual bones. I never did realize quite how huge she was, well over six meters. These pictures (as with my original ones) don't do her any justice:









It's now be shipped off to the Natural History Museum, probably to be filed away and eventually forgotten. Goodbye, Beachy. I'll always remember you as one of my bizarre London experiences.

I'm just going to nip this in the bud right now:

Dear American Friends Sending Me Emails Asking...

Will you go pick me up a BMW motorbike?

No. I've got a lot of things on my to-do list this week; getting deported isn't one of them.

Love and Kisses,
Mo

I suppose I should weigh in on this whole David Beckham move to L.A. Galaxy. Honestly, I was so unsurprised by the announcement my first reaction was, "Who? Oh, right, for some reason they decided to make the soccer league team names the stupidest ever!"

I never really got the fuss about Beckham. Since my whole time in the UK he seems like a modestly decent player at best. If he was that great at one point I imagine he's past his prime; if so then this is a great move for him. I'd like to make ₤1,000 an hour when I'm semi-retired or whatever it is. I imagine he's going there to play in an easy league, make a boatload of cash, trot Posh around Hollywood, and set up his football camps.

I certainly hope he isn't going there with the specific goal of changing American's minds about soccer, because he'll fail. We just don't like it; we're just not interested; we're just not amused or enthralled or excited. Yes, we are the only country in the whole damn world, we know, but we don't care anyway. I certainly didn't like it when I lived there. We feel the same about soccer as we do about hockey (except hockey has the added bonus of seriously bloody fights): it's boring. American's live by score inflation. Just look at baseball over the past hundred years and see how scores have risen. We'll tolerate tampered balls and steroid oozing players for a little more action, hell yes!

I enjoy soccer now. The environment here is much more exciting. To be in a pub for a great match is one of my truly favorite experiences since moving here. Sure, I miss 35 degree afternoons and cold beer at Camden Yards. But at the same time I certainly look forward to attending my first football match. I bet it's awesome.

However, my point is, Mr. Beckham, while I like football/soccer, I'm not a typical American because a) I voluntarily left America and b) I'm so multicultural now I've even taken a shine to cricket. I'm not your target audience. And I think you're going to be hard up for an audience of any kind over there.

P.S. What I'm most curious about is people reaction to his voice the first time they hear it!!!! It's hilarious!! Doesn't match the exterior AT ALL!

I'm just back from America (lovely time) and quite confused about something: it seems to me that Celebrity Big Brother is a massive misnomer. Seriously, look at this list of "celebrities":

Jermaine Jackson
Danielle Lloyd
Ken Russell
Jo O'Meara
Leo Sayer
Shilpa Shetty
Carole Malone
Donny Tourette
Ian "H" Watkins
Cleo Rocos
Dirk Benedict

Right, I recognize one by the name (related to someone really famous) and one by face (yes, they showed S Club 7 TV programs in the States when I was younger, although I never really figured out why) and that's it. I guess I should recognize one for being on a very popular 80s American TV show, but I honestly didn't watch that enough to recognize him, maybe I was a little young at the time.

Other than that, zip. According to the Official Big Brother Website one's a Playmate (only one?), one's a Bollywood star, and one is apparently "famous" for boinking Peaches Geldof. Honestly, I'm not even 100% sure who she is, and if that's his claim to fame this is just sad. I know that our definition of celebrity has expanded considerably in the past 5 years, but this a lot is lamer than my lamest expectations. I'm quite relieved I won't have to waste time watching it!