What an incredible day I have had, truly! To begin, I cleverly slept in my clothes last night, so as to just roll out of bed and hurry to class (I had gotten to bed about 4:00am the night before). I had an early final at school at 9:00, giving me an hour to get there, having more or less woken up at 8:00. When I got to school, I was surprisingly early, so I printed out my papers and retrieved my grade sheet for my architecture course, where I found I had earned an A- for the term, which was pleasing to see. I then ran up, to take my final, answering three questions as I was supposed to for it. It took me an hour and a half to do this, and I am hoping now that I did okay on it. The topics I wrote about, was use of celebrity in ads, product placement, and the value of humour in advertising. Following this, I went downstairs checked my email, in case Thomas had written to say when he was coming, and after seeing no reply from him, I left and went home. Once home, I again checked my email, for more general purposes when I found a message to my surprise and delight, that my final examination, of my London Classical Music Scene, my time at Syracuse University, my college career in general and my education as a whole... this final examination, was cancelled due to my professor having taken too sick to attend and administer the test. It was strange but then it truly hit me that I am no longer a student, or at least no longer a student who goes to class, takes tests or is a real student anymore. I almost felt cheated to have the effect of knowing I was reaching the end of my formal education all at once.
Shortly after reading this, Thomas called me, saying he would be leaving for London at about 13:30. But he sounded doubtful that we would be able to meet up, when I informed him about the final being cancelled. We agreed to meet up at platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross, finally a useful purpose for that spot. At any rate, after that, I took a slight nap, being very knackered, and then got ready. I left a little later than I planned, but not much. I went to Ladbroke Grove and of course the Hammersmith line took a while to show up. Once it did I was on my way and soon at King’s Cross, I walked in my normal brisk style toward 9 3/4 and then found Thomas meet me, noticing me by my lovely red hat, on the way there. We went back to my place, he being the first visitor I’ve personally had there, how sad is that? When we were there, Jessa was cooking some very potently smelling garlic thing. So we went out and I showed Thomas some of Portobello Road and we ended up going to Subway, where Thomas was kind enough to buy me a sandwich, and then we went to Tesco and got some sodas. Following that we returned to my flat to eat, where Jessa was by now watching Lord of the Rings. We sat and watched some with her, talking quite a bit, but we really could not avoid this as there was nowhere else to go. Anyway, after a while I went and checked that a CD I ordered came, so I came back up, burned that and talked more to Thomas. After that finished, we went back to Paddington, and I bade Thomas fare well, for life in the New World.
After this, I went back home, got a little done on the internet and at 18:30 left for my evening’s performance of a Christmas Carol. This was an excellent show, and all done by one man, Patrick Stewart. He then and there displayed to me such great versatility as I never knew he had, though I always thought of him as an excellent actor. I was so happy to watch this, and he truly elicited an emotional response from me, and I think I can safely say the rest of the audience. He was funny, tragic, and everything in between, but most of all he was brilliant, I would go again if I could possibly get tickets before I leave it was that good. He was playing at the Albery theatre and I was just so happy to see him in my lifetime. I used to be a huge Star Trek fan, and especially of the Next Generation, so I was excited as it reminded me of what was perhaps an awkward part of my adolescence, but it awakened a great passion in me for respect out of the man all the same. The strange thing is, I truly have loved Patrick Stewart far more for all of his other roles that I have known him to be in, far more than as Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek. I found his adaptation of A Christmas Carol to be inspiring beyond belief and I in many ways wish it could have lasted longer as he was thoroughly entertaining the entire time. I guess I’ve gone on long enough about this, but I was just so mesmerised as I expected to be, but though my expectations were high, they were certainly never disappointed. One other little note, for my future reference, is that whenever he spoke, I had his voice burned in my head so well, that it was completely familiar and exactly the same, this is something I noticed very much, and I was just so happy to be in the presence of this truly gifted actor.
Following the play, I came home and when I arrived I talked to Jessa a while, who was sitting still in the living room, in fact wrapping up the second film of Lord of the Rings. We talked for a while, when she went out and I got a bit of stuff done further on the internet, and later that night she came home and we ended up talking with one another until 4:00 in the morning. After that, I brushed my teeth and went to bed.