April was full of showers - Hello May

A month has come and gone since my last post and I'd be lying if I said I feel genuinely sad or sorry about it. What I do feel sad about is the fact that I haven't blogged because I haven't had time. My life is pretty non-stop. All of my creative projects have come to a halt; maybe summer will be more fruitful? I'm grading today, and next week is the most downtime I've had all semester since my students will be compiling their work for a final portfolio. Then it will be back to grading around this time next weekend. I am just shocked exam week is so near. Where did this semester even go? Working two jobs is exhausting, but you never realize how quickly that time seems to fly.

Current non-work related news: I am finally reading the Harry Potter series. I can't believe the first book is twelve years old, or that there are still three movies to be released. I really missed out when I was younger. I would have been eleven or twelve when this whole thing started, but I guess I thought I was too cool if I ever heard them mentioned before the movies. I saw the first movie my freshman year of college. I lived with 4 or 5 really "cool" dudes (at least they considered themselves to be) and they loved this DVD. It was weird (for lack of articulation today - I'm tired, be kind). I was sucked in too, but couldn't really put my finger on why. The movie was already three years old and I was just an old enough that I wasn't really the intended audience.

Something about getting to start over, to having a secret world to be incredible in, even if you aren't incredible day-to-day with your family or school, must be the huge appeal here.

Speaking of incredible: 3 and 1/2 weeks until I leave for the U.K. I must give the due amount of praise to my travel guru (the other Lauren) for teaching me about TripAdvisor.com. If you've yet to use it I am recommending it to you now, so there's no excuse for not knowing. It consists of forums to ask trip related questions, and hotel/hostel reviews from people who've stayed there. These reviews are anywhere from 1-5 stars, with descriptions of the good, bad or ugly, and members upload photos from their stays at the place, sometimes of the gorgeous views, lobbies or beds, and sometimes of the dirty bathroom, broken windows and... well, the ugly I mentioned before. I think the real testament to this site is that you can see over time if a place has become rundown, or if they've made a change in the last few months since the comments are listed chronologically. This one place we booked in Piccadilly Circus has been having an issue really recently with people leaving with rashes or bug bites - needless to say, we canceled our reservations and found a new/better/slightly more expensive place. It's good to have that sort of reassurance. I'll pay more to avoid bedbugs and I'm glad people took the time to make those comments. You'd think a site like this would only be hotel bashing (as if only the disgruntled leave comment cards) but people are quick to praise too, if they believe it's worth it. I think when I get back I'll leave comments on all of the places we stay. It's only fair considering how much the site has helped me.

I also have a new fondness for travel books and guides. This mysterious system of recommendation and ranking is very readable and interesting, but how do they claim such-and-such is THE thing worth seeing, when there always seems to be so much? I'll just have to see when I get each place if I think Frommer's or those "Unofficial Guides" were right.

Wish me luck surviving these weeks until.