Work, Play, Travel

20 Oct --

Went to work and compiled email lists so marketing can send "Will you sell this book?" emails.  Luckily, I don't have to be the one writing those emails, I just make lists of the souls who have to read them.  Surprisingly time consuming, email finding.  I had to go to all these individual websites to track down contact emails that are harder to find than you realize.  As a work break, I wrote a flash fiction about Internet surfing.  As me about it in two weeks.

Got home and made a burger and fries for dinner.  Delicious delicious delicious.  Except they make their patties with onions over here.  Mlegh.

Read an article and a half for my essay.  Took notes on them and now I'll have to compile a list of how these ideas fit with my own.  I'll be writing about opposition and conflict and how it relates to the narrative of a film.  Simply put, conflict creates narrative, but now I have to write six more pages detailing HOW and what structuralists might make of it.  I have a feeling I'm going to get to ramble!  Yay academic tangents.

Talked to David on Skype.  I showed off my new sonic screwdriver toy and the decorative pictures upon my wall.  Then he showed me up by showing his bedroom walls, which are covered with pictures that he took.  More covered than mine are.  You win, David.  I also told him to have Jessica come online because we haven't talked in a long time.  He texted her, she said she'll be online around 5:30p WI Time.  I can do that.  It's my late night anyway.

Between David and Jessica, I talked with Smoky a little bit.  He told me funny stories of the guys he used to live with and we had a generally good time like we always do.  We parted when Jessica called.

Jess and I talked until about 3am my time.  Which was nice.  My computer kept wanting to shut down because it had just installed a couple important updates.  So I just shut it down when the conversation ended.  The majority of our conversation was about the story she's thinking about writing for NaNoWriMo.  Once again, she had two different directions the story could go.  I convinced her about one way because that idea seemed the more stable of the two.  The other just felt like a passing fad in my opinion.  Besides, the first idea involved souls kept in crystal form, less stereotypical characters, and something resembling the Yakuza of Japan.  Interesting?  Yeah.  Sorry for telling the world about this, Jessica.  But I really told them nothing about it, if you take a closer look.  Mwahaha.

Woke up this morning a LOT earlier than I thought because I had lack of travel plans on the brain.  I still had to research how much it'll cost to get to Brussels and get bus tickets for Edinburgh.  As of now, Becky and I are going to take an overnight bus there and an overnight bus back.  Arrive Friday morning, spend Friday night and Saturday night in Edinburgh, and leave Sunday evening to arrive in London Monday morning.  Here's to sleeping on public transport.  Don't worry, I hear this lack of sleep thing is normal. 

Becky and I agreed to take a haunted tour of the castle.  This is a given because 1). it's a haunted tour and 2). it's Halloween.  It's just plain stupid not to.  Seriously.

Anyway, it's about 115 quid a person to FLY to Brussels, but it's only 60 quid by train.  Just sent Oscar a message about that to see what he thinks.  Hopefully, he'll come by within the next five hours.

I've been thinking (which isn't always a good thing).  More specifically, I've been thinking about my lack of travel plans.  I got a good look at Becky's calendar, and she's literally going somewhere new every weekend.  Smoky pointed out that she might have the money to do that too.  While that is a good point, I still can't help but look at my travel plans, still not fully planned out, and not as diverse as the places she's going.  It brings me back to what my Mom told me earlier in my trip that I've always done things different than others -- I've always done things MY way because that's the only way I know how to do things.  My way makes sense to me.  But I still feel like I'm not taking the opportunities to go see more of Europe now that I'm over here.  I guess I could always come back, but Smoky thought he would go back to Europe too.  But I'm different, aren't I, because I had said I would study abroad and now I am.  I had said I wanted to be a writer and now I consider myself to be one (and I actually do write).  And I've traveled without my family before.  Just this past year, I went to Chicago with Sarah and Ann Arbor with Jessica to meet David.  I've been to Florida, through Appalachia, St. Louis, and New York.  So I guess traveling and the opportunities to travel, no matter how sparse and sporadic, are always going to be in my life.  And I'm going to keep taking them because I like to travel.  I like to see new places and meet new people and grow closer with the people I'm traveling with.

I have this wonderful opportunity to travel Europe, and I wanted to see a lot more of it than I am seeing, but you know what?  It's just too gosh darn big!  At least too big to fit into my schedule.  So that small town in France, yeah you little village not on the map, I'll see you in ten years!  You got that?  And you Prague?  I'll get to you eventually.  Just watch me.

Thanks for listening to all that.  A part of me wants to be concerned I'm not traveling as much as Becky, but there's another part that says "So what?  Then explore more of London.  It's so huge, you haven't even been to Camden yet!"  Well, I haven't.  And there are plenty of museums to visit.  And I still have to get to Buckingham Palace (what's wrong with me?? Why haven't I done that yet?). 

So thanks again for listening to myself accept what I'm doing here. 

Today will be a work day.  Wish me luck on my essay writing ~