Snapshots of Home: Part 1

I see this as a series of photos describing home, in its American-ness, or its Seattle-ness, or its Peterson-ness.

First, a scene that I normally wouldn't consider odd, if I hadn't spent three years in the UK, where you just don't see things like this. This is American-ness:



Second, some Nakelski-ness. This is my new best friend. He likes to hang out in the corner of Amy and Diana's living room, within sight of the TV:


And now for quite a bit of Peterson-ness. After a healthy day of sport (skeeball) at the Family Fun Center, we spent our winnings on candy and toys. What's better than an inflatable sword? An inflatable SNAKE sword! And what's better than an inflatable snake sword? THREE inflatable snake swords in varying colors!!



The Pi(e) Party with a disconcertingly high baby to pie ratio:


And me showing off my cute dress at Jillian's birthday party.

Fun with time zones

If you ever want to turn your brain into a bowl of spaghetti, try figuring out why the time zones in Australia are the way they are. And then try to figure out the difference between Adelaide and Seattle with and without daylight savings. Oh, don't forget that Seattle's daylight savings change is three weeks before Adelaide's. Also, don't forget that spring is occurring in Seattle when fall is starting in Adelaide, so you have to spring forward in Seattle three weeks before you fall back in Adelaide. Isn't that FUN?!?!???

Why are Queensland (yellow) and NSW (blue) an hour apart? And why is SA (green) further in the future than Queensland, if the sun hits Queensland before it hits SA?

All this because I want to know what time to arrive at Starbucks tomorrow for a Skype date with my handsome man, who will arrive "around the same time as last week." Last week, before daylight savings started. Ouch.

Don't even ask me what time it is in London right now, because my head might explode. Leaving bits of my heart on different continents, and now different hemispheres, is starting to get confusing.

It's a rainy day in London town

Thanks, R! You are definitely a better blog-reading friend than I am. I need to catch up on yours! :-s

I did manage to ditch even more of my stuff last week, but it didn't make moving my luggage across London this morning any easier. Ugh! I was getting seriously frustrated going down the sidewalk, cussing in my head and everything. I just wanted my man to come rescue me, but then I had to stop and give myself a talking-to and be like, "Look, no one is going to come help you. This is your own fault. Just suck it up and get to your destination." I've been stressing for the past few days about where to store my suitcases, because I didn't want to burden anyone with them long-term, but I also didn't want to drag them far south to James, then far east to Aparna's, then south again to Izzi and Tim. I was stressing out loud a bit to Holly, and thank the good Lord in heaven she offered to store my suitcases in her office! That means I don't have to move them from house to house each time I change friends' flats; they're on the Piccadilly line so I only have to struggle a tiny bit to get to Heathrow; and I still have a visitor card for the building, so I can pick them up at any time. Phew! So much less hassle!

So yes, Australia. I don't want to be apart from Hugh and I don't see the point in a long-distance relationship. I'm also not keen on settling in Seattle yet (if ever?) I'm officially over the UK, and I'm looking for the next big adventure. So it just makes sense. To me, anyway. Oh, and the weather. I'm tired of rain. Yeah, that's right. I just said that. I'm done with gray skies. But we'll see. It's all contingent on visas and money.

Exciting Friday night ahead of me

Yay, someone still reads my blog even though I haven't posted in months! (Thanks, Joderita)

Today's mission: repack all my belongings, chucking out 10% of what remains.

I moved out of my flat last Sunday and got rid of several garbage bags full of stuff. All my belongings are more or less packed up and either ready to go, or already shipped home. But there's still too much. And somehow, my pile of personal effects has grown since Sunday. I have two large suitcases, a fairly large (and full) carry-on bag, a lap-top bag, a large handbag, and two mostly full reusable shopping bags. I don't particularly relish the thought of carting all of that (or even half of it) around London tomorrow, so tonight will be spent jeujeing and culling everything. Must be ruthless.

Brand New Day

For some reason, I'm feeling a million times better today. Actually, I felt better yesterday after chatting to Hugh on Facebook. Also, I finally submitted all my work for this project I've been working on, and I think I slept better last night as a result. I'm still sleepy, but everything is manageable today.



Corrado, Kasia, and I watched The Hangover Part II last night, and now I have "Time In A Bottle" stuck in my head.



Question of the day: is it creepy to wear my boyfriend's clothes when he's on the other side of the world? It's only his t-shirts. They smell nice...

I'm so ronery

Hugh left on Monday and I am not coping well. I mean, I'm not a wreck, but I didn't expect it to be this hard. I'm being totally pathetic. A poster for the new Muppets film had me choking back tears this morning. An article from Singapore set me off at work ("Hugh's in Singapore airport right now...OH LORD, MY ACHING HEART!")

I know a big part of the problem is that I've been stressed out and haven't been sleeping well for a few weeks now, so I'm sleep-deprived (not to mention it's PMS time). I know that's affecting my coping abilities, but I can't change that anyway.

There are moments where I feel like this is a very grown-up experience, and it's helping me mature. And then there are other moments where I feel more like a thirteen-year-old girl who's first boyfriend has been sent away to summer camp, and she mopes around like her life is over. I'm being dumb. I'm going to move over there in three or four months, and it'll feel like no time has passed at all. In the meantime, it'll get easier, right? Tomorrow will be easier than today.

I'm spending a couple days with Corrado and Kasia, which is good because Corrado is one of my favorite people in the world, and it cheers me up being around them. But I have to say goodbye to them, too, and I feel like I've been missing Hugh too much to really enjoy my last moments with Corrado and Kasia. Sigh.

I know I should be happy, because in less than a week I'll see all my favorite Londoners, and then in two weeks, I'll be HOME!! and will be with my sisters and my family for the first time in too long. I'm really looking forward to soaking them up and basking in their glory for a while.

So yes. I'll be fine, and soon. But until then, I'll just be ronery...yeah, a rittle ronery.

On my mind

Things currently on my mind:

Ivar's fish and chips
Dick's cheeseburgers and fries
Costco kosher hot dogs
Taco Time deep-fried, skinny beef burrito
Palomino waffle chips with melted gorgonzola

Hm, perhaps I should grab some lunch.

The dreaded Essay Questions

I'm filling out an application for an internship in Washington, D.C. this summer, and I feel like I'm applying for college all over again. There are four essay questions I have to answer. This feels like a uniquely American obsession, the Essay Question. To be fair, I had to write a statement to apply for my British master's program, but that was different. They wanted to know why I wanted to do the course and what I expected to gain from it.

These questions are all about the challenges I've overcome in my life.

What unique characteristics and challenges have you encountered which make you an ideal candidate for this program?

It gives the impression that Americans view life as a series of difficulties. Or perhaps more accurately, gives the impression that we're obsessed with how creative and thick-skinned we are and like to talk about it with total strangers. I can't really view my life as a series of challenges, because that wouldn't be fair to people who have overcome very real and profound set-backs to thrive in their careers, but that doesn't make me a worse candidate for the role! It's this distinctly American mentality that, if your life experience hasn't been riddled with misfortune, then it's somehow less valuable.

And then there's this one:

Please provide us with a specific example of a time when you have perceived an unfairness or injustice; what actions did you take and what outcomes did these actions produce?

Who talks like that?? What outcomes did these actions produce? Usually, the only outcome is that everyone thinks you're an asshole for rocking the boat. "Well, this one time, I'd been working for this company for a year and a half, and they wouldn't promote me, and then they promoted this really annoying, inexperienced girl ahead of me, so I acted like a total bitch to her and then left that job. The outcome from my actions was that I got a much better, more relevant, and higher paying job." Hm, maybe not the anecdote for this particular application.

I've clearly been out of America too long.

Bone and mash

I wad proud of my dinner tonight. Ever since having guests here, I've been super lazy again about cooking. I think part of it is also money. If I feel like I can go out and buy whatever ingredients I need, then I'm more likely to be adventurous and make something good. But once again, I managed to spend most of the month's money in the first week of the month. I'm down to £120, which would be fine to last me two more weeks, if it weren't for the fact that I started a list of things to do before I turn 30 (a bit late, but why not?) and on that list is to start Spanish classes, and I got a flier through the post box for classes around the corner. The Spanish class started this week (so I've missed a week), but it costs £60 which I have to pay up front. So yeah, that doesn't leave me with much to last until the 28th.

So my cupboard is looking a bit sparse. I have some leftover potatoes, and some sausages in the freezer, so I made bangers and mash! It's not much to be proud of, cuz it was super easy, but it beats my staple diet of pesto fusilli.

I went to Bill's yesterday to grab some stuff I'd loaned him, and since we decided to be friends, I loaned him Arrested Development and he loaned me his complete volume of the comic Bone. I feel like I've found a lost remnant of my childhood. A few chapters of Bone were printed in Disney Adventure magazine when I was about 11, but then it disappeared just when I got hooked! When our subscription ran out, for ages afterward I would check the back of the magazine whenever we went to the grocery store, but Bone never reappeared. And then there it was, sitting on Bill's bookcase. I haven't put it down since yesterday, except for sleep and work. I even let them send me home three hours early today so I could go home and read it!

So behind

Oh gosh, so much to catch up on, I can't even be bothered.

1. Beginning of July, PhD student sent me 217 articles to read and evaluate by the end of July.
2. Becky and John visited in August, right in the middle of the Edinburgh Festival, the biggest festival(s) of theatre, comedy, film, music, and books in the world. (217 articles still not finished) We had such an amazing time and it was beyond wonderful seeing them. And I finally made it to Hadrian's wall! (so that's my August Visiting the UK box ticked. Still need June and July, though.)
2. A week after Becky and John left, Izzi and Tim came to stay. I was a happy, happy clam. We ate lots of delicious food. I also saw fireworks to mark the end of the International Festival. Watching a fireworks show that is being launched from a castle on the side of a cliff is pretty darn amazing. They had a waterfall! Of fireworks! (217 articles still not finished)
3. At work, I was asked to be shoe specialist instead of till specialist. I've been till specialist for a year and a half, so was kind of miffed and terrified when they told me they were changing my role, but I absolutely love it! I got to organise the whole shoe stockroom! And I get to use a typewriter to write labels for the display shoes! And create a product information binder! And so much more! It totally inspires my inner librarian.
4. First week into September, I finally finished the 217 articles. Phew! Suddenly, I have loads of free time and no clue what to do with it.
5. A week after Izzi and Tim came, Carina arrived in town. She had a conference in St. Andrews (where Wills and Kate went to university) but stayed at mine because she loves me (and I her). We had dinner with Cheryl on Friday night, so it was a proper reunion. It's going to be hard not having any visitors again until December. However will I entertain myself?
6. Yesterday, I broke up with a man who makes me laugh, who likes all the same things I like, who I feel super comfortable with, and who is just generally wonderful...but for whom I just don't feel a spark. I guess I'm holding out for amazing.

So that's my life in a nutshell, at the moment. And now I have TB-related job to apply for.