Though I try to decide to be good when I'm lonely, oh I can't:

Say, this is the moment all ya'll have been waiting for. Pictures! Many more of them to come when, uh, I take them. Should I ever have a reliable internet connection, they will be better integrated into this blog for your surfing enjoyment. That day is not today. Tough cookies, my darling readers.

I have had too much caffeine today and things are not going terribly well sanity-wise, but this is to be expected (especially when I've had so little reading time). These are things that will change, some day. It is all so beautiful here, anyway. But gloomy; perhaps this is seasonal affection disorder! Perhaps. Or perhaps I am always like this in January? Someone say "San Diego," watch my head turn.

The titles for these past two blog entries have been from a wonderful little song called "Anticlimax" by a girl named Kat Flint. Her forthcoming (you know, officially) album Dirty Birds has been the non-John Darnielle soundtrack to my time on the Continent thus far. I cannot recommend it enough, unless you don't like walking around the city alone being heartbroken, all the time (& if you don't like that, what are you even reading this for? Go, like, have fun or something. Loser.)

I could disappoint you slowly, but surely:

Still no reliable internet. I'm going to have to change this blog's name, aren't I?

Just wanted to check in to tell you two things:

1. If any of you would care to send me a text message, you can do that at this number: 00420 773258392. Please only send one until I know how much it costs for you to do that. Unless you're in Europe (ahem, cough) in which case I think it's super cheap-like.

2. Today I went to the most darling church imaginable in Mala strana (of Jan Neruda's Prague Tales fame). It features all of these little dressed up Baby Jesuses from different eras of Prague's history, and huge tapestries of Biblical scenes. To put it another way, it was the most scrunched together church I've ever been in; all the pews had to be tightened to make room for all the sweet shit they crammed inside. Which actually epitomizes Mala strana quite well. Anyway, when I grow up and get married and pop out babies, I am going to bring them here to Mala strana to grow up, and they will go to that church with me every Sunday and grow up good Catholics and God willing emerge as mostly non-American super hot Czech women. Or, you know, men. I don't know much about Czech men; I don't spend hours on the metro staring at them.

More some day. In the meantime, when you've had a long day at your reference librarian desk/stacks department/city paper gig/law internship/or university terribly scenic or all concrete and R5 posters, and all you want to do is go to the local pub and drink from the juice of the barley, grab your closest friend and say, "Friend, na pivo!" Let's have a beer! Because truly, what the hell else are you going to do with your time left on this Earth?

Say I died in a barrel of wine when I get to the border:

No pictures again. Tomorrow, really.

Now in Prague. I apologized for blogging drunk earlier - I've only had one beer today, so I should be okay! Things are wonderful here. It is a wonderful town. Yes, yes, this is why I came. A few last thoughts on my trip here:

-On the flight from DC to London, there was one of those little screens in the seat for movies n'at, right? Well in addition to that, mine had a function to display a MAP of our travels. Can you even believe that? I couldn't; I was afraid to press it. But of course I did, and there will be a picture when there are pictures.

-Actually, that's all I needed to say in here today. If I was going to complain, I would complain of the street signs here, which are attached to buildings when they exist at all. Frustrating. But otherwise, good times here. I can leave the country now (thanks, EU!) but I will be oh so busy. You know how it is, friends.

but, we've still got light!

Hi from Munich, all. For those of you not in the loop, I had some severe travel issues getting here. These will continue indefinitely, most likely confining me to Cechy for my time there. Which is sort of a bummer, but sort of fine, too. There is no USB drive on this computer, so no pictures yet. Soon, I promise! I have some wonderful ones.

Though this has not been all I'd dreamed of, I adored London, particularly riding the Underground for several hours on end (mostly I just stopped at all the places that appear in songs I like) and the Tate Gallery, though it was fairly exhausting (didn't even finish it!) That I've managed to type so neatly so intoxicated, on such a strange keyboard, & ever so sad should be enough for yinz to know I love you tonight. Perhaps more tomorrow.

See? I got gone, when I got wise:

Some housekeeping:

First (& most importantly) I will be departing for parts unknown tomorrow. If you find this to be a great relief, imagine how I must feel.

Secondly, it has come to my attention that I had left commenting to registered users only, which must be the reason so many of you have decided not to comment on the fascinating topics tackled by this blog thus far. I have fixed this, so feel free to comment anonymously to your hearts' content.

Finally, it has also come to my attention that, incredibly, this blog appears on the Google when one searches for "Prague pictures." This will be fun down the line, but right now I feel a bit guilty there are no Prague pictures here at the moment. Perhaps this wintery Vltava scene will tide you over until I deliver some decidedly less touristy images in a few days:

"He lives in a small country of hope, which is his heart. Like Socrates he fails to understand why travel should be such a challenge to the muscles of the heart, for other people. Around every bend of the road is a city of gold, isn't it?
I am the kind of person who thinks no, probably not. And we walk, side by side, in different countries."

These last days in suburban Pennsylvania, a case study:

Today I built my day around a movie called Winter Passing appearing on basic cable; though I figured this would be the work of some Ingmar Bergman-wannabe "auteur," I was nonetheless interested in watching at least some of it, if only because it starred Zooey Deschanel, which I think is a fine enough reason to watch anything, especially in my present situation. It was even worse than I expected - "OMG, I am a struggling actress in New York City, my life is a shambles. Watch as I sit on this rooftop and moodily contemplate things. Watch as I sleep with random men and inflict physical pain on myself to drown out the veritable wasteland that is my life." OK, that is not an exact quote, but you get the gist. Still highlighted by Zooey in her undies doing coke, "Nude as the News" playing over the opening credits (this film had so much going for it!), and the inexplicable casting of Will Ferrell as the romantic interest. I think once I had a blog where I rated things like this on a numeric scale. Let's give Winter Passing a four! (Insert a pun about "passing" on it at your leisure.)

When I wasn't watching bad TV, I ate too many cookies and spilled coffee, then felt anxious about spilling said coffee. Read from Anne Carson's Plainwater, found a great quote for when I leave Europe, but that I will surely forget by then. Oh, there was some writing in there too.

I know this has nothing to do with Prague, but I swear I'm trying to leave as quickly as I can. Just bear with me, everyone.

I know that we don't think along the same lines:

If you're looking for a birthday present for me (& I know you all are!), this map will be perfect, thanks. Plus it's a steal at 1200 pounds, or at least will be as much a steal as it's going to get. I'm fairly certain I'll be using US currency to line my coat in London.

(& you'd better believe that I'm going to spend basically all of my free time there at this "Map House." I mean, "map house?" Hello? HELLO? zomg, not America!)

Hello all -

Hope you had a charming holiday season. There was a poll on CNN.com a few days ago where 80% of readers voted they were pleased by the prospect of their lives returning to normalcy. There is no such normalcy for my life to return to (as this blog will chart!); my season was distractingly odd but titillating, thanks.

In other news, I will be leaving for merry old England on the evening of January 22nd. I do not know if I will be using the internet during my stay there; as it is me, I suspect I will. Once I reach the Continent proper, though, there will be all sorts of updates in here. More than you can shake a fist at, more than grains of sand on the world's beaches, etc etc

Since this is my blog, that will mostly mean quotes from books. Here's one to hold you over (Annie, from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and something that seems important when dealing with the notion of "travel writing," which I suppose is what this blog will be doing, in a fashion):

"This is our life, these are our lighted seasons, and then we die. In the meantime, in between time, we can see. The scales are fallen from our eyes, the cataracts are cut away, and we can work at making sense of the color-patches we see in an effort to discover where we incontrovertibly are. It's common sense: when you move in, you try to learn the neighborhood."