i saw this really incredibly hilarious play last night, The Madness of George Dubya. it was a spoof on the iraqi war and began with a hyper-retarded dubya, clad in superman PJs and clinging to a teddy bear, waking from a nightmare which helps him realizes that he needs to embark on a war on "tourism." aided by his pals "colin, dick and donald duck," he dreams that "weapons of mass distraction" exist in "iraqistan," which is run by the evil "saddama bin laden." he's very concerned about things like the "coyote treaty" and what's happening in "guacamole bay," but can't get a grip on his presidency because of the bullying by his aides. add to the mix a bumbling tony blair, two crossdressing soldiers, one nuclear bomb, some very funny songs and you get laughs aplenty. it was a truly special show. i hope it comes to the states soon, because i'd like to see it again.

today at work i spoke with two MPs, that's right, two bonafide members of britain's parliament, which is tantamount to speaking with u.s. senators. one was head of britain's foreign affairs committee and could speak on all these important international things. i'm not usually one to become impressed by surface stuff like status and titles, but i'll admit that it was neat to interview these people on their level. i was a bit nervous, which i'm sure was reflected in my stuttering through the questions i had prepared. on the whole, i made no major blunders, except when i idiotically referred to tony blair's "prime ministership." at the time, i had been frantically searching for the british equivalent of "presidency" and that's what my nervous head produced. the exceedingly polite MP gently reminded me that it's known here as a "premiership" and the interview continued unscathed. i also interviewed the nice cambridge professor i mentioned before and he was without question the greatest interview one could ask for. he took every question i asked and ran with it, giving me more information than i had bargained for. he was beyond helpful, offering me new insights i had never even considered. he even said i could call him back for clarification before i had the chance to ask. as them brits would say, it was "simply brilliant!" so research on my first story is going quite well. i hope to have the whole thing done by early next week, though bossman al is going out of town and won't be able to give it a proper edit.

on sunday night, i had an indian dinner with a very dear friend whom i hadn't seen in close to four years. it was exceptionally lovely to meet again and stroll down memory lane together. it was like meeting a best friend or an old lover, one of those people who has a special key that can only be used in conjunction with your own to unlock parts of your past and parts of yourself that are reserved only for them. we parted reluctantly and promised that another four years wouldn't pass before we met again.

the rain returned to london with a vengeance today. the sun hasn't made a single appearance and there's a renewed chill in the air. i'm off to brussels this weekend for a class trip.