Questions...

So the deal is, I asked my sis three questions. She reciprocated and now I answer them here. If you'd like, you can ask three questions in the comments and I'll answer them on this blog. Then I'll ask you three and you have to answer them somewhere (if you have a blog, on your blog. If not, then...I guess in the comments?). So here goes:

Besides the monetary benefits, was it worth it to go and get your Masters in something so far removed from your major in college? Was it the right choice?

Yes, yes, yes. I think part of the problem of being an adult and having to pay your own bills (boooo) is trying to find a job that you actually like. Or, put differently, finding busy work that you don't mind doing...and I managed to hit it with this stuff. I took an educated guess that since I spent so much time on my computer that I might as well marry it...maybe I should be an IT person. And once in school again, I figured out which part of IS fit me...it was a big gamble and it paid off (and I think the chances of it going the other way were pretty high).

Part of why I love my job so much right now is the atmosphere here. I laugh out loud, hard, probably at least 5 times a day and usually more around 15-20. And while that is a function of the atmosphere and people of this place, not the actual work...it is also something that could never exist in an insurance company (no offense Pooj). I will probably never have a stuffy job again. And I may never have to dress business casual again (hooray). And I think all of that fits me. I think my "people" fit somewhere in the large pool of nerdy IT people...

What's your favorite place in London?

My first instinct was Budgen's. My grocery store. Which is sort of hilarious and shows you just how much I like food. But I think it's more like...London was home and when you live somewhere the small places are most frequented: your favorite restaurants (Pret!), your grocery store, your public transportation hub (Mile End Underground stop!). And those little things are what I remember most. But, the place I would HAVE to visit if I was in London is Tate Modern. I love that place. I can even walk through it in my head...and if you know my memory, you know that means it's a place I value (and have been to a million times). My favorite ever piece of art was there...in one sentence: An large wall piece made out of plastic rectangles connected with tubes, full of sand colored as the flags of a whole bunch of countries that had, at one time, been used as an anthill.

What trends do you secretly wish you were taking part in right now? What trends are you glad to keep away from you with a ten-foot pole?

I love hats...and I wish that I could wear some of the cuter trendy hats without feeling like a tool. But I would. I'd feel like people would look at me and think, "Britney Spears wannabe?". Or "Hipster." I don't want to be a hipster.

That may be the only trend that I like. I don't mind that the shirts are a bit longer now. Cuts down on the riding up over my sloped belly.

As for trends that I hate:
Leggings are HIDEOUS.
Formal shorts are just plain stupid.

Girl last night who was wearing leggings under formal shorts with hooker heels: utter disaster.

I am the most boring...

Today I managed what I had heretofore thought impossible: I recreated my favorite London meal almost entirely successfully. While I lived in London, I ate three meals on serious rotation:

1. Microwave quesadillas
2. Baguette with garlic butter and BabyBel cheese
3. Pret-A-Manger BLT sandwich

Obviously number 1 is easily recreatable. And number 3, sadly is not (at least not yet - Pret has spread to New York. Chicago soon?). Number two has been crazy hard to recreate. Garlic butter does not exist in the same way in the US (it's either garlic cheese or garlic & herb butter. I don't want the herbs). And BabyBels in the US are not the same. They are strangely spongey and soft here. And that's weird. But despite that, I had a similar meal tonight - but instead of garlic butter, I used garlicy hummus. And I just dealt with the spongey cheese. And I had sourdough instead of a baguette. And it was delicious.

I also joined the gym today. And I could have started working out today. But I didn't. I'm having iPod problems. And I need to break the chains of laziness.

And I needed to come home and apply for the job I currently have. But instead of being an intern I'll be a real employee. News to come on that front hopefully...

It's also good that I came home, because there's a little seepage/water coming from somewhere...and my floor buckled (taking a floor buckle picture is deceptively hard):


Yeah. Another apartment catastrophe. There's not even that much water on the floor...it must all be under that parquet...

Anglophilia...

Besides being immersed in Harry Potter (which has me thinking in English terms like, "too right, too right", brilliant or bogies), watching Dateline with Wills and Harry has been delightful.

They are delicious (both - and from magazines I thought I was far fonder of Harry...but after watching the interview I sort of love them equally). Anglophilia rears its head...its always lurking...

What's a Budgen?...

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays...any excuse to get together with family and eat delicious food is fine by me. Plus, this is one of my favorite times of year (weather-wise). So I hope your Thanksgiving is full of food and love.

I think for the rest of my life, I will always think of London during November. And especially on Thanksgiving. The first (and so far only) Thanksgiving I've spent without any family I was living abroad (in London) for a semester. I had 3 of my close friends visiting (one from her abroad program in Cork, Ireland and two from the US) and we decided to make a real meal. Surprisingly it all ended up being quite delicious (I still remember our mashed potatoes with fondness).

We had spent our day wandering around London and so, rather than actually cook a Turkey (which are hard to come by at your local Budgen's grocery store/convenience store) we bought a roast chicken. Canned gravy. Canned cranberry. Fresh mashed potatoes and homemade stuffing. And drinking all throughout the preparation. My English flatmates (3 actual, 6 in reality counting significant others) cleared out and my American flatmates (2) were not around. So the four of us just laughed and talked and had a real, thankful Thanksgiving.

To J, A and L (two of whom will probably never read this), we'll always have Thanksgiving in 20B Maynard....