Live from Camden

Yesterday evening I took the underground to the Russells Square (?) to meet up with Gareth, my first couchsurfing friend. I walked up 127 stairs from under the earth and was out of breath by the time we shook hands. Instantly we were talking, laughing, and sharing our life experiences. We walked to a London university and went in to the student union's cafe. The Brits geniusly serve beer on campus at discounted rates. I drank a light beer that Gareth reccommended. He's now on the wagon and he drank iced tea.

He lives with his parents in a two-story town house(ish) area of North London. We arrived to his place last night at about 10:15pm with fish&chips in hand. As far as I can remember, that was my first fish&chips experience. I hope its not my last. In an attempt to show how hard core I am, I ate all of the fish. Albeit slowly and with several breaks, I ate the fried piece of cod that was about the size of my fore arm. Gareth and I stayed up late talking and playing music.

We woke up at about 8:30am and prepared to head into the Camden area to go to a Landmark session. Landmark is an awesome program that gets people together to discover their potential and to live the life they want. There are several different ways that one can experience a Landmark course, I reccommend looking them up. As Gareth's guest in the session, I listened to the stories of people who were going through the program and the changes it had made to their lives. It was a positive experience for everyone. Perhaps I will join a group later in life when I am in one place for a longer amount of time. They are all over the world.

After eating lunch with Gareth and the other Landmarkers, I walked down the road a bit to the Camden market. It was crammed with people, food, jewelry, and gothpunk kids smoking cigarrettes. I walked around for a while, but was too tired to be right there in the madness. I walked to a small patch of grass and laid down for a while. I must have dozed off for a few minutes there...it felt nice. When I awoke, I sat up all crunched over and hazy. Gathering strength, I embarked on a mission to find coffee or beer or an internet point.

Here I am at the internet point. Perhaps I will go back to the market to find one of the other two...or both! Or perhaps I will enjoy walking slowly into the sunlight of the afternoon. People watching is sure to provide endless entertainment and I may head up to a park for some prime sightings.

The weather is still warm and beautiful and I'm feeling great. Gareth gets out of class at about 10pm and I'll meet him right around here at a place called the Camden Eye. Meeting Gareth is a blessing. What a wonderful world.

Love. Love. Love.