I'm on a train from Edinburgh going to London using their (shotty) WiFi. Fun. Roamed around Edinburgh for a bit, but didn't see most things because I woke up late and the sun goes away early and I don't want to be walking around a strange city in the dark by myself. I went to the Museum of Scotland, which is ho-hum. I thing my saturation point of museums hasn't subsided since the Great Museum Saturation of 2005. When Dan got off of work, we went on a ghost tour. It's like any walking tour I have been on--very interesting stories told by over the top, failed actors and actresses. Still very interesting to go down in the vaults I think. Dan wasn't impressed, though I'm sure he was scared at times. Today we went to the Edinburgh Castle and had lunch at The Tower, which was very nice. Never saw anything about William Wallace, but then again I didn't explore the city too much. Now we are on a train back to London! Woot!
I like Edinburgh. It's small, walkable, not overwhelming, full of history--it was good. :)
Some pictures of the trip will be on the slideshow to your right, but all pictures can be found on Facebook.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
I Don't Run
A few weeks ago Dan and I went shopping for new soccer (AKA football) cleats (AKA boots). He was still at work, but suggested I look at some local stores' websites to find out what cleats I would be interested in so I can partake in football Wednesdays. So I click on their women's things, and they offer mostly casual shoes and running shoes. I thought to myself, "Perhaps this website is just shitty and I should do a search." So I type "women football boots" in the search box; it returns "SORRY WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO MATCH ANYTHING TO YOUR SEARCH." WTF?! Certainly they are mistaken. Luckily, they have a football section, which leads you to your choice of football boots--available are men's boots and junior boots. Increasing my frustration and curiousity I decided to find out what available sporting goods were for women. And to my dismay they are as follows: badminton, cycling, dance, golf (which I find hilarious and their selection is, to put it bluntly, crap), field hockey (they say hockey; gay), running, swimming, and tennis. WTF?!
After work, Dan picks me up and we go to the store to look at cleats. In the car, I rant the entire time about how their website doesn't sell women anything. He's not surprised, but tries to console me by saying there might be women's soccer cleats there. We arrive at the store, and almost half of the upstairs is devoted to soccer cleats--men's soccer cleats. Dan tells me to just try some on just in case. So I try on a junior size 4--too small. I try a size 5--too big and wide. They don't have 4.5's. After an hour I am too frustrated and tired to try on any more ill-fitting shoes that I just assist Dan since the staff was useless. In the end Dan bought shoes and I bought nothing in protest of their shitty existence!
I must be coming off as some crazy feminist of sorts, but I am probably far from that. I like it when boys buy me things and open doors and do all that chivalrous jazz (even though my boy doesn't do that, but maybe he'll read this and make more of an effort). And even though I like to compare myself to boys when it comes to athletic competition, I will acknowledge the fact that there is a physical difference between men and women; not necessarily to the point where women can't be better than some men, but just different enough that it warrants boy and girl things. And I cannot emphasize how important shoes are!!!
Mens shoes are obviously way too large and wide. And I'm the classic girl who is tiny enough that I can fit in little boys shoes, and I do own little boy cleats (yay, Nike Sharks!). But when it comes to soccer shoes, boys shoes are just too wide and really you want soccer shoes to fit well or you mangle your foot with blisters and you don't get the touch you are looking for on the field. And I should know a thing or two about shoes. My junior year of high school, my coach basically made us run at least 5 miles for practice (and we practiced Monday through Friday if we didn't have games), and I ran with my New Balances. Towards the end of the season my achilles was swolen like no other, my arches hurt, and I hated running even more. It was my shoes' fault! I now run with Nikes because they support my arch and achilles. So I am super particular about shoes and I want women's soccer shoes!
Now, it's not a question that they aren't available. If you are in the US every brand creates a woman's equivalent if not make an exclusive women's shoe. It's probably good business practice not to keep women's sports gear as women aren't going to be playing these sports in the UK. But it irritates me that it's limiting what women can do, especially what girls do! If a girl goes to the store with her dad who is buying soccer cleats, she won't see stuff tailored for her so she's not going to want to play. She'll probably end up seeing the little dance outfits (though there's nothing wrong with that) and will never spark an initial interest to play soccer or basketball or whatever! And now that I think of it, I don't see girls playing team sports any where! It is absolutely horrendous!
Perhaps this is why the US dominates all women's sports. The US national soccer team is one of the best in the world (unlike the men), our women's softball team dominates too much that the Olympic committee is no longer having softball for 2012, our basketball team is awesome--US women athletes just dominate. And I think it's because we encourage women to do anything they want at a very young age, and retailers and designers are continuing to encourage it by designing products targeted to women and girls. If the UK is thinking of getting competitive in any sport for women, they need to encourage their girls to do the sports rather than having them do passive sports (AKA non-contact).
Uh, this has been angering me for the last couple of weeks! If Dan and I were to have children and live here, you better believe I am going to make sure they can play contact sports. And if they are going to be elitist (which I have experienced playing golf in Cornwall), then we are moving back to the States where girls kicking boys ass is normal! Word!
After work, Dan picks me up and we go to the store to look at cleats. In the car, I rant the entire time about how their website doesn't sell women anything. He's not surprised, but tries to console me by saying there might be women's soccer cleats there. We arrive at the store, and almost half of the upstairs is devoted to soccer cleats--men's soccer cleats. Dan tells me to just try some on just in case. So I try on a junior size 4--too small. I try a size 5--too big and wide. They don't have 4.5's. After an hour I am too frustrated and tired to try on any more ill-fitting shoes that I just assist Dan since the staff was useless. In the end Dan bought shoes and I bought nothing in protest of their shitty existence!
I must be coming off as some crazy feminist of sorts, but I am probably far from that. I like it when boys buy me things and open doors and do all that chivalrous jazz (even though my boy doesn't do that, but maybe he'll read this and make more of an effort). And even though I like to compare myself to boys when it comes to athletic competition, I will acknowledge the fact that there is a physical difference between men and women; not necessarily to the point where women can't be better than some men, but just different enough that it warrants boy and girl things. And I cannot emphasize how important shoes are!!!
Mens shoes are obviously way too large and wide. And I'm the classic girl who is tiny enough that I can fit in little boys shoes, and I do own little boy cleats (yay, Nike Sharks!). But when it comes to soccer shoes, boys shoes are just too wide and really you want soccer shoes to fit well or you mangle your foot with blisters and you don't get the touch you are looking for on the field. And I should know a thing or two about shoes. My junior year of high school, my coach basically made us run at least 5 miles for practice (and we practiced Monday through Friday if we didn't have games), and I ran with my New Balances. Towards the end of the season my achilles was swolen like no other, my arches hurt, and I hated running even more. It was my shoes' fault! I now run with Nikes because they support my arch and achilles. So I am super particular about shoes and I want women's soccer shoes!
Now, it's not a question that they aren't available. If you are in the US every brand creates a woman's equivalent if not make an exclusive women's shoe. It's probably good business practice not to keep women's sports gear as women aren't going to be playing these sports in the UK. But it irritates me that it's limiting what women can do, especially what girls do! If a girl goes to the store with her dad who is buying soccer cleats, she won't see stuff tailored for her so she's not going to want to play. She'll probably end up seeing the little dance outfits (though there's nothing wrong with that) and will never spark an initial interest to play soccer or basketball or whatever! And now that I think of it, I don't see girls playing team sports any where! It is absolutely horrendous!
Perhaps this is why the US dominates all women's sports. The US national soccer team is one of the best in the world (unlike the men), our women's softball team dominates too much that the Olympic committee is no longer having softball for 2012, our basketball team is awesome--US women athletes just dominate. And I think it's because we encourage women to do anything they want at a very young age, and retailers and designers are continuing to encourage it by designing products targeted to women and girls. If the UK is thinking of getting competitive in any sport for women, they need to encourage their girls to do the sports rather than having them do passive sports (AKA non-contact).
Uh, this has been angering me for the last couple of weeks! If Dan and I were to have children and live here, you better believe I am going to make sure they can play contact sports. And if they are going to be elitist (which I have experienced playing golf in Cornwall), then we are moving back to the States where girls kicking boys ass is normal! Word!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Procrastinatin'
So I promised myself that I would not update the blog until I finish my essays, and I have already broken that promise. :( I'll make myself feel better by not really writing about important differences between the UK and the USA (I have a lot of topics to share). Quick update nonetheless.
Ok, now time to get to work. Peace!
- I have essays to write, and I'm absolutely dreading one that has no relevance to my aspirational career goals. Poop.
- Next week Dan and I are going to Scotland for two nights and two days. Dan will be working at the Edinburgh office while I meander about in Edinburgh--overwhelming advice is to just do a pub crawl. Mmm... two days of pub crawling. Probably a bad idea, and will further depress me. I'll probably see another castle too. I should get a book, or borrow a book on what to do in Scotland. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.
- Next week is also the Super Bowl!!! It seems I'll keep up tradition, hosting Eileen's 7th Annual Super Bowl Party here in Enfield (woot!). It's also the daunting task of trying to figure out what to cook--especially daunting since it will mostly be an entire day affair as the Super Bowl is not going to be shown till 11:30pm GMT!!! So not only do I have to cook dinner, but I probably need some nibbley bits. Oh and did I mention that they sometimes don't have the ingredients I am looking for? I am also uncertain as to what theme I should go for, if any. Naturally (once I get these stupid essays out of the way), I'll come up with something fantastic causing you lot back in the States to wish you partook in this year's Super Bowl party! Don't worry, it happens every year. :) I'm open to suggestions/ideas for themes and recipes--leave it in the comments.
Ok, now time to get to work. Peace!
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