For the first time in London...

I did not spend a single pound today!! I know, it's amazing.  I woke up in time for breakfast today.   Yep that's number two so far.  I had a wonderful meal of cereal and some beans on toast.  For those of you who are not privy to the magic that is beans on toast.  Go get some Heinz beans.  Not baked beans or ranch beans, Heinz beans.  Then toast up some white bread and go to town.  It is so good I can't even tell you.  If you don't think so...well...I guess you just don't matter.  Then I made myself a peanut butter sandwich with the supplies that I recently purchased from the local market (Tesco).  I had a bag of chips during the break of my long class which I also purchased at Tesco a week or so ago.  And I have just now returned from dinner where I had pork roast and roasted potatoes.  Surpriseingly the pork roast was pretty good and not in need of salt because the gravy was actually quite flavorful.  However, if I do need salt ever again I have some because..

MY PARENTS SENT ME A PACKAGE!! I just got it today and in good old Mama Johnson fashion is  was fully of healthy snacks.  Win!  It also included a few film related LA Times articles which I thoroughly enjoyed however, the ultimate prize of this package was the In and Out salt packages and the Taco Bell sauce!  Of which I have included a wonderful picture which I think perfectly sums up my happiness at this finding.  I literally could have almost cried when I saw that salt.  Not becasue the food here is in desperate need but because it is so completely and honestly, California Salt!  Life is good.

 Thanks Mama and Papa!

yeah yeah it's backwards you get the idea.

On another note, for those of you interested in my course work, my presentation went really well today.  I am really enjoying my travel writing class although it is by far my hardest class that I have.  The cute british professor doesn't hurt but the material is mostly great.  I don't have a specific lesson to tell you about from today but we do keep journals about our responses to the readings we do.  So because I've gotten myself in the habit of providing some kind of academic purpose to each blog entry, which I feel oddly obligated to continue, I will end with this journal entry that I wrote.  It is inspired by the writing style of Rebecca Solnit, who is considered the authority on the history of walking.  This is called..."Walking In Hollywood" Hope you like it.

Walking down this pavement which at one point seemed stained and abused has taken on a new meaning.  Every step brings to focus a story, a life , a dream, a passion.  They are not just names on the sidewalk but visible, tangible memories for people the world around to experience.  To the passing tourist this place satisfies a superficial purpose.  To see the stars, to step in the shoes of the greats, to gaze at those famous white letters up on the hillside.  However, to eyes who know these buildings and to feet who know these streets, the history cannot be masked by the commercial façade that blinds the passersby.  This city was once the epicenter of glamour.  Little girls, not unlike myself, dreamed of futures as shiny as the lights that defined them.  When did this city lose its magic?  When did this street become a mockery of a once great time?  All around are the skeletons of a world before.  Indicators of the greats that have come before me.  The run down Roosevelt Hotel, once seen as a beacon of success and position now sits overshadowed by the newer creations who seem to turn a cheek to the historical importance of such a building.  I can see in this area now two worlds.  This is where I learned the meaning of home, but I am blessed to still learn new lessons from this city everyday.  I have traveled far away and yet always stayed exactly where I am meant to be: in the city that raised me.  It has grown around me and thus has made me grow with it.  I am not sad that the old has gone or that the new has arrived, but simply content to take from both the tools needed to move forward.