Pics from London! take 2

This is a pic heavy post, and if you know my other google email addy you can see the full album at the picasa site for that name (sorry, not sharing all my private life with the web). Here are a few pics of slug pride in London (a gift from a former student and knitter), my London flat in all its glory, and 2 shots of my commute through Regency Park - speaking of which, I have to get my butt in gear and get to the Library. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

argh!

I am an idiot. I disobeyed the second rule of upgrading your operating system: make sure your vital programs are compatible and usable in the new OS (the first rule being to back up your data). My beloved Bento will not open. I can upgrade for $49 (may be eligible for a $20 rebate), but there's another $30 or 50 down the tube. Which of course isn't a problem because the freaking money fairy come by nightly to shove $100 bills up my ass.

Doh doh doh doh.

In other news I negotiated my studio to £220 from £240/week. I had the option to move into a smaller (!) place for £210/week - but there is no way I could have shared the smaller space with another person. Literally, my backpacking mattress did not fit on the floor between the single and the wall. I would have had to sleep part in the kitchen and part under the bed when my mom stays with me, and as Kungfu mentioned to me, the twin beds in the UK are smaller than in the US, no way L and I would have fit (we're ok on an xl twin here, or at least we were in college). I took a few pics and will post the grand tour when I get home.

Tonight: my first knitting circle at a pub!

Love at First Sight

Oh man, L is going to have a hard time dragging me out of this city. I'm going to hold back and wait for the first rains before I declare London my favorite city/soulmate, but it's definitely lust at first sight. I spent most of today getting my geographic bearings. I did a 3.5-4 mi neighborhood run in the morning. I traveled north into Hampstead (cute and on the posh end of things) before getting into Hampstead Heath (local large park - more like hiking trails then US style park). Then I hopped home for a shower and my local map. My ipod nike+ sensor wasn't working so I decided to use that as an excuse to cruise on down to the Apple Store in Oxford Circle, and to use the journey to Oxford circle as an excuse to see what the city walking is like. I traveled down through Regency Park (love it! definitely going back), and through Picadilly Circle and into Oxford Circle. After getting the sensor swapped (still doesn't work, going to try updating OS) I figured I'd keep wandering. That took me to St. James Park, Covent Garden, through SoHo, up to the British Museum, then to the British Library (my archive). At that point I could have hopped onto the tube but decided to take the opportunity to walk my potential commute in the day light and see if it was skeezy. It's a little skeezy, not as nice as the trip through Regency Park, but will be just fine during the day. It's also through Camden which is a pretty cool area to which I will happily head with Luke, but probably not my mother. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to walk to the Library in the am and then walk home in the daylight or take the tube (before 4 or after 7is off peak hours. All in all, the walk was about 9 miles long and I'm good and tired.

So far everyone has been really nice and polite - much more so and much more (seemingly?) genuine than in the States. Tons of people have their dogs and walk them in the park off leash, and many Londoners run on their lunch breaks. I like both the city and park running around here and as long as it's not too soggy, should have no problem getting my mileage in. I still have street-crossing anxiety, but I suppose that will fade. I'm also already drinking way more tea and start craving it in the afternoon (straight, dark, no cream nor sugar). I adore my fast boiling kettle. Although I haven't made coffee with it, it makes tea in a snap and will certainly get water for my French Press ready faster than a conventional drip coffee maker.

So far so good, although I did run out of camera batteries 2 miles into my trip. Photos next time.

In London

I'm here. I made it safe and sound (as did my luggage), and I'm settling in. The tube is everything you want it to be and more. I got from Heathrow to my apt easily. Most impressive was the number of people who offered and actually helped me with my luggage. I've hauled baggage all up and down NYC w/o garnering a second look from anyone. My flat is tiny - about the length of 3-4 full sized beds, and the entire width of 1.5 full sized beds. But it has a kitchenette, good storage, and a beautiful view. I'm unpacked and settling in and will post pics when I'm more nested. The neighborhood is lovely and there are plenty of nice shops in walking distance. I'm all stocked up with food (mainly vegetarian until I see how good my little fridge is). Food is less expensive than it is in SC and the produce is actually good and cheap. Yay! Kelly wins!

Tomorrow I'm going to do a tour on my feet, get my UK cell, and figure out how to get to the British Library. I'll take some pics and post when I'm back.

In the mean time, L and I had some fun with Henna and Indigo and I'm now married to a red head! I didn't mix the indigo well enough to produce dark brown, but the color almost matches his beard. Either way, I love it (and miss him).

Pre-departure thoughts

I leave in less than 24 hours for London - Yippie (feelin' a little pre-departure cracked out). Some here are some final thoughts from the states:

1. To the students of our statewide university system - fight the power! keep it up! Although you may want to think of occupying something other than a Graduate only lounge (I'm hoping its only base camp). Also, if I could have run over all of the aimlessly wandering undergrads who crossed my car's path not on pedestrian walkways but out of freakin' no where I could have easily reduced this year's incoming class by 40%. Seriously kids, look before you wander into the street.

2. To the Grad students of our university: Cheers! Another school term starts, another dept lunch, another year in which we keep up the grad tradition of swiping wine after the meal and get toasty in the Bunker.

3. I learned something important about how to support people traveling/moving/researching in far away places. They will say things like "I'm scared and nervous and anxious" and people will say things like "don't worry, it'll be fine. You are so prepared!" and they will reply "yes I'm prepared but I'm still moving far far away and I'm a basket case even though I shouldn't be", and then the well-meaning person says "don't worry, you'll be fine!" which translates in the travelers head into "dumbass, why are you freaking out?". Repeat cycle. In the future I will avoid the dreaded "you'll be fine" in favor of "it's totally understandable that you have flipped your shit, you're moving to a different freakin' country! Even though you are prepared it's normal to be nervous/scared/anxious." That being said I had a lot of good support from my posse here, and more people invite me to dinner than my calendar could handle. For everyone who reads: I'll see you in Dec and thanks for your love.

4. I'm 30! I like 30.

5. I have the most adorable family ever.


6. Here I go:

Fun with SJC's free wifi

I'm waiting in SJC for my dad and his wife to arrive. I have some extra time so I'm taking advantage of the airport's free wifi. I should be reading one of the two books I brought and need to get through before I depart for London -but why read when you can craft/chat on line with people/take pictures of yourself/dick around on the internet. So here is a snapshot of me in the karma tank I finished holding up my latest fiber/thread project: embroidered coffee towels.

The patterns are from Sublime Stitching and I'm almost done. I have the same "true love" coffee cup in opposite corners, and stars in the remaining corners. I couldn't figure out how to not reverse the lettering, it isn't actually backwards in real life. I <3 metal towels with flying V guitars are next on the list.

Last week was one of "those" weeks: setting up the external harddrive my mac erased all of L's music and videos, the cat ran outside 2 times, and my car broke down. I'm taking it as a sign of something (not quite the apocalypse, maybe a small plague or flood? some other sign of if-I-believed-in-a-Divine-Power wrath?). But on the plus side: the cat came back, I signed up for AAA and got the car towed, and summer's finally here in SC.

Teaching moments/Learning moments

Teaching:
For those in Higher Ed, but especially those of us in CA who will be teaching over the next year, Prof. Catherine M. Cole from UC Berkeley has written this brilliant letter to her students about the CA economic crisis and disinvestment in the UC. I'm not teaching this Fall but I will be TAing in the winter and spring and intend to distribute it widely.

Learning:
Our cat is Einstein. Ok, maybe not Einstein, maybe just food obsessed, but smart none the less. To curb her whining to her humans for food we've decided to invest in an automatic/timed feeder. Hopefully rather than whining at us every time we walk in the kitchen she'll just whine at the machine. We tried the Le Bistro pet feeder based on good reviews from my sister. After 10 minutes of attacking the thig, she figured out how to get her paws up the chute and to dispense food at her will. Needless to day it's back to Petsmart with the feeder and a heads up for other cat owners tempted to try this: it's probably great for a dog or an uninterested cat, but a cat obsessed with food and with more than 4 brain cells will figure it out pretty quick.

Getting Hectic:
Next week my dad and his wife will be in town and the Sept slew of birthday madness continues. I have to move out of my comfortable summer digs and back into the Bunker. I also have to let go of the library books I've been clutching and have begun mental packing. Getting to London is going to be a big slow down after I survive the next 3 weeks.

Good Things and future plans

I hit three high points in the last few days:
-I ran a 10K, with people, averaging 10 min/ mi pace, and I talked and I didn't cramp once. It was intended to be a 3 mi warm up for a friend's wife to prepare for their relay race this fall, and he ended up getting us to 6.1 mi. In addition to not cramping definitely could have run it faster. I was tired by the end but I think it was in part b/c I hadn't eaten anything and ran out of fuel.

-I did my 3.2 mile speed run in 29 min (averages out to 9 minute miles), my fastest time since I started running.

-I am almost done with 2 knit garments - The Karma Tank and FAvorite Cardigan from Custom Knits. All if have to do is attach the buttons to the cardigan (and buy a seventh one b/c I'm one short) and attach the back straps for the Karma Tank. I should have the straps attached on Thursday w/ the help of my trusty crafting partner, Beetlegirl, and maybe even finish the buttons by then too.

So what does all this mean? A few things:
-Finishing these projects finishes my summer knitting goals and with the exception of car knitting, I will not work on a big project at home until I'm on my way to the UK.* I still have the scarf for L to finish and I've started an embroidery project to keep me busy, but no more big projects until I'm at the airport. This is in part to take a small knitting break and in part a gift to L - who is very respectful of my knitting and my knitting space and time, but as other knitting SO's have said: knitting isn't exactly sexy. Less time with my yarn means more time with him. (It also means that I'll have several projects to choose from and keep me busy in the UK - my first vest, a pull over, a third go for the yarn that was the Rogue Cardi, socks if we ever get the wool died, and maybe a scarf).

-I've decided to run a 1/2 marathon in Spring 2010. I'm not sure which one yet because not all of the dates have been announced, but it's my goal for my 30th year. I don't think I have a marathon in me (yeah, all marathon runners say that), but I do have a 1/2 marathon and want the experience of setting a goal, working towards it, and finishing it. The diss is like that to some degree, but the 1/2 marathon is more attainable w/in the past year.

I'm turning 30 in less than 2 weeks (yay!) and leaving for the UK in 25 days. Expect some personal reflection and 30 things to do in my 30th year (including the 1/2 marathon and blog more often).

*This loophole is so that I can knit on my drive up to and back from Sonoma over my bday weekend, and at my mom's when I visit in mid-Sept.