Shayne's Day #23: The one with the million dollar question

Last night, I fell asleep with a smile on my face! It was such a perfect day (cue Legally Blonde theme song) and I felt so content knowing that I am right where I am supposed to be (for right now:). Everyday here is a new adventure with new lessons, new experiences, new places, new faces, new friends, and new challenges...and I just love it. I love not being able to predict what will happen in a day. I love that every plan I make just becomes a lesson about rolling with the punches. And I love the people watching!

Today I got up and went on run #2. Have you realized that #2 is always harder than #1 - HA - I just realized what I wrote, almost deleted it, and decided it was too funny to erase. All play on words aside, RUN #2 is always more challenging than RUN #1. The first time you go, you can fool your body into thinking it will be fun. The second time around, your body knows what it's in for and won't let you sneak one past it. So, I cued up the ipod (new fav. run song right now: 'Sing' by the Glee cast) and set off. About halfway through the run, I almost quit, but then I heard Rachel and Finn sing the words 'keep running' and decided to press on. It was like they were raising their voices for me alone so I embraced the moment and plowed forward. We will see how #3 goes tomorrow.

I got home, recovered, and ran some errands. I am on the hunt for door stops. It's funny - I have found a button store, a sock store, and an antique teddy bear store - but, where do you go to buy a door stop? I absolutely love strolling through the speciality stores and small boutiques, but, I am still trying to figure out what to do when you actually need something.

After the errands I hopped on the tube and went to the Tower of London to meet up with Kevin and Dani. It was so gratifying. I was going to meet them at a random pub in the middle of the city and I found it...without getting lost! Granted - I looked it up on the internet, wrote down directions, brought a map, and wrote down the pub's phone number - just in case. We strolled along the wharf (getting across the London Bridge was, for sure, the biggest challenge). We got underneath it really easily, but getting back on top was pretty tricky (WOW - with the word choice today!). We walked by the Bourough Market grounds, an old cathedral, the Anchor Pub, and ended up at the Tate Museum. The Zingale's got to see some of our favorite pieces including the Rothko purple room and red stair case installation. It was so fun to share such a special place with such special friends.

Kevin and Dani hopped on at Southwark station to go to Phantom of the Opera and I met the Jakes and Permeet (another EY guy) at the Windmill on The Cut. We stayed there a little too late and, by the time we left, no one was serving dinner. We ended up having our first Doner Kebab from the little place down the street - amazing. We ate our kebab back at home while watching the English version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Here is something to chew on: Who did the British fight in the war of 1812? a) Germany b) Italy c) South Africa or d) USA. This, mind you, is the question that the contestants (yes, they play in pairs) on the show finally missed and got booted off. The correct answer, the USA, was eliminated when the pair agreed that the US wasn't even around yet. Ah - hello - 1776 ring a bell? Just think, if it had been you, you might have won a million quid!

Lesson Learned: There is a window in Piccadilly Circus where you can buy discount theater tickets - SCORE!