the parentland a-calling

This news isn't as exciting as I thought it would be because the exclusivity has worn off.

Earlier this week, Overstock.com announced its vacations program to the public, which previously was only available to Overstock.com employees. I don't even know if the deals are good, but one in particular caught my attention.

Recently I learned that my heritage is not nearly as Danish as I thought. Just about all of me originates from the British Isles (although I maintain that I'm quarter Mexican because my grandmother was born there (to white Mormon colony settlers no less (I don't think she actually ever knew Spanish))).

Perhaps as a result of this, I've had an insatiable calling toward going back to the Motherland -- or is it Fatherland? I'm not sure because I'm pretty sure Germany is the Fatherland, but yet Russia is the Motherland. They never taught us country gender identification in school.

This may also explain why my Netflix queue has suddenly swelled with British "programmes." The IT Crowd, Fawlty Towers, Skins, etc. I've even gotten pretty addicted to Downton Abbey. Have you ever heard of this show? It's ridiculous. So British. It's a show that takes place in a mansion in like 1912 and there's all the manners and protocol with the ruling family and then there's the intrigue and humanity seen behind the scenes with the large assortment of servants. Class system on display! There are remnants of the Victorian age, but also the dread of progress throwing a spanner into everything. I laughed out loud when I read that the keywords Netflix actually uses when describing this show are actually "cerebral" and "understated." I finally realize that wearing my emotions in an "understated" way may be based on my British heritage (it's certainly explained my method of NEVER telling someone how I feel about them). It's dreamily, delightfully British. It's so British that I'm sure several people in England tuned in and after five minutes actually said: "Blimey! This is too British for me!"

I may be the only person I know who feels that the revolution thing that happened in the 1770s wasn't really that great of an idea.

Anyway, the really staggering thing is that even though I watch lots of British TV shows and strictly listen to British music and also enjoy tailored white wigs, I've strangely never ever been to the United Kingdom. I have the option of five nights there for about 200 bucks in August. No doubt, my agoraphobia will kick in and I'll chicken out (or realize I'm out of money again). If you'd like to convince me to go -- go ahead. Also if you'd like to come along -- convince me of that too. It may be fun although you may not want to do the same things I do (hanging out at Basildon looking for fixtures from Depeche Mode music videos or trekking all the way up to Manchester to sneak into Factory Records). At least the shopping will be good.