Yup, I'm home from my little UK tour. And, in accordance with tradition, FA was down for the whole day that I returned from a trip. It always is when I come back from trips. ^^;
(Not to take shots at the admins, mind you. Being an ex-administrator for an old website, I know how difficult it is to keep things up and running as well as they do. They don't deserve all the flak they take, ya know, they're out there working hard to make sure we furries have a place to post our art when the rest of the internet shuns us without a second thought. Be grateful.)

A-anywho, I'm now officially completely convinced that the USA isn't for me. Yeah, I'm a pretty well traveled little bugger, I've been over most of the world. Especially over the other places I'm interested in, now. Australia, the UK, and even Canada all suit me much better than the US ever has. And yes, I know people keep telling me "stay out of the UK, Reed. It's so expensive and there's a lot of political strife right now", but, then again, the US isn't really made of gold like some of those people seem to think... Short version of the rant, the whole world is in political and economic strife right now. Don't see why I shouldn't wade out that strife in a country I like more than this one... <<;

I need to stop talking politics, I swear it's gonna lose me every friend I've got... All three or so of 'em... <<;

Anyway, if you couldn't tell, the trip went well. Bought m'self a few trinkets to remember the good times by (including, following tradition, a dragon statue to add to the collection, and a little dog figurine wearing all old-style pilot garb... Course I had to get that as soon as I saw it. :3 ). I do have some bad news, though. No pictures. Yeah, I didn't have a camera for half of the trip, and I discovered only far too late that the disposable camera that I bought half-way through had a huge gash across the lens. Nothing would come out well at all if I developed it, so I'm not even wasting my cashmoneys. I did try to record little bits of monuments and such in a few second-long clips on my camcorder, but my band buddies messed up every shot. And I do mean -every- shot. ¬..¬;
Who knew five seconds was ample time to give someone to notice you're doing something and mess it up...? <<;
So... yeah.
I may be able to mooch off of some other people's pictures... maybe my sister's? We'll see, I suppose.

Also, the trip reminded me just why every other country hates we Americans. We're annoying, we're inconsiderate, we're pompous, we're dumb... I mean, don't get me wrong, there are always exceptions to the rule, such as myself, so no one take offense to that just yet, I may not be referring to you if you're an exception too. But most of the people in the band with maybe two or three other exceptions fit that description. I'll now go onto a few anecdotes about this re-revelation:

At one point in the trip, we had homestays with English families for a couple of nights, about four band members to a home. So these are people who are kind enough to welcome us into our homes and feed us and give us a place to sleep, right? Well, as it turns out, at least two of the guys in the band saw it fit to... well... fap off in some of our host's beds over night and with roommates sleeping in beds just a few feet away. <<; Yeah... What's worse is that I know it's true because one of 'em was in my homestay group (at least I had my own room, though)... He likes to try to sounds smart too, so after his roommate caught him he tried to defend himself by saying "It's not weird, 90% of people do it."
...Yeah, but not in near stranger's beds you deranged, little moron! I mean... Urg...! I feel like the blanket we got them as a thank you present for their hospitality is more like and apology-slash-replacement for the blanket he ruined, now!

One kid also had to get sent home, because, despite countless warnings from the directors, he bought whiskey... and tried to shoplift. And the director and school admin themselves caught him. So they sent him home early at his parents' expense. And now he's facing expulsion. And his excuse was "I only wanted it for the bottle"...
But he's another utter moron. I mean, a real, grade-A jackass-slash-idiot. So he really deserves what he gets in my opinion. ¬..¬

And finally, I saw another group of Americans while up there pestering one of the British guards that you hear about that aren't supposed to move so you can (in theory) pester them all you want as long as you don't actually touch them. Anyway, no one ever tells you that if they're supposed to patrol a bit, they will do so whether you're in their way or not. It was pretty funny, really. The guy that was bugging him got completely trampled by the guard, then told that he shouldn't have stood in his path when he went to whine to the guard's officer. X3

By the way, the air is so much cleaner in the UK... Well, I can't really describe it, but if you go down there, you'll notice the difference right away.
...Well, it's cleaner than Warwick, NJ's air, anywho... <<;

And the food...! Oh God, I'm drooling just thinking about it again! It's amazing, the food there tastes like... Well... food. Which is really a great change of pace when you finally get tired of this gross, "How big can we make our profit margin?" crap they try to cram down your throat where I live.
Speaking of which, how can someone go to a foreign land and, instead of trying local food or anything like that, head straight for the nearest MacDonald's?! That's just not right! Most of 'em wouldn't even try the haggis. Or a meat pie for that matter. How can one not like a nice chicken pot pie, I ask you? It just doesn't make sense! Heck, it's madness!
(Madness? THIS IS BAND TRIP!)
(... Sorry, couldn't 'elp myself... ^^; )

Anyway, all is well... Except for my journal box. I dumped it, sorry. I am not going through some 107 journals, most of which are out-dated anyway... ^^;;

So... I'll try to get some of my doodles and stuff up soon.
Later. ^^;

-Reed