A not-food post.

So it was cool outside today.  Is it cool in my flat, though?  Negative.

I am keenly aware of just how much heat my laptop gives off because of this flat in the summer.  It’s almost encouraging me to just turn it off.

Almost.

Not quite.

 

I received my copy of Veganomicon in the mail today.  I was really excited about it until I started looking through the recipes and realizing just how much time they each seem to take to prepare.  That and the fact that they feed, like, eight people and dividing American recipes by four is really fucking difficult.  I’m beginning to appreciate the metric system here in the UK a little at this point.  Also, a lot of the recipes call for quintessentially American products, like liquid smoke.  I finally got my hands on some vital wheat gluten and now I have to find some liquid smoke?  Give me a break.

But I’m still pretty stoked about Veganomicon, I’m not going to lie.  Maybe I’ll make some baked goods from it.  Surely I’ll have enough ingredients in the cupboards for that. 

 

I had a dissertation meeting with Clare this afternoon and have come off of it with renewed dissertation vigour.  She was genuinely excited about my project after reading my critical evaluation, which is a great thing, and she essentially gave me permission to ignore criticism for the time being and devote my time and effort solely to translating and musing on the Junius 11 Genesis.  This is a good thing.  I really need to focus more on it, but there was that researcher in me that didn’t want to give up her secondary sources.  Even when there are no secondary sources to be found on my dissertation topic.  So, starting tomorrow, it’s translate, translate, translate. 

I need to find a good workplace.  Somewhere that has wifi, is comfortable, doesn’t mind me being there all day and preferably has some refreshments for purchase.

Yes.

These pregnant pauses are starting to feel quite laboured.

I think I might just call it a day on paper writing.  It’s weird, really.  I had two 5000-word papers to write at the end of the term, and I had an idea that I loved and really got behind before the term ended, having done all the research and written up lengthy notes and outlines.  And then I started to get worried that I had no idea what I would write my second paper about.  I spend at least two weeks reading, researching, following leads, getting frustrated, starting over.  And then I just started writing the damn paper, and it all came so easily and I was done in three days.  And that wasn’t even three days of intensive paper writing.  And now I have embarked on the REAL paper.  My earlier pet project.  And it’s coming out on paper (er, in Word) in such a laboured manner.  Every word I type is pregnant.  [That pun was accidental.  My puns are always accidental.  I must just be like a super subconscious genius.  I'm going to use it as the blog title.  Yeah, that one up there.]

Gah.

Really, I’m quite close to reaching the 5000-word limit, but I don’t really feel I’ve given the argument justice, which probably means I have a lot of revision ahead of me.  I have five days left, so I’m not worried about it, but I’d certainly like it to just be done with and out of the way.  Or, rather, I’d like to have a little bit of time off before returning to it for proofreading and revision.

But for now, I am done.  Until tomorrow.

I went to meet up with Molly to get lunch at The Place Below, a vegetarian cafe in the crypt of St Mary Le Bow’s church.  I’ve wanted to try it out for a while now, and the one time I went was back around September of last year with Red.  Since I make him eat vegetarian every day, I felt sort of bad making him eat vegetarian on his lunch break, so we opted to go somewhere else.  The food was tasty, and the atmosphere was cool, but it was sort of overpriced.  I mean, I know it’s in the City Mile and everything, but it’s vegetarian food!  Vegetarian lunch food shouldn’t be £8 a plate.  

Meh, three stars.

In other news, I purchased plane tickets to Orlando, New York and back between May 12th and May 24th.  And I’ve booked a cheap (by NYC standards) hotel in the Upper (lower) West Side.  We got a ‘Not for Tourists’ guidebook for the city and are starting to make some plans.  It is starting to feel like I’m going on a real holiday!

We still have to make an itinerary for Florida to send to friends and family.  I will try to firm things up with the husbatron shortly.

Friends

I’m lying in bed right now.  I seem to do a lot of writing in bed.  I just ate three chocolates and finished off the kimchi stew I made earlier for dinner before going out to meet some Yelpers at Bar Chocolate in Soho.

 

I officially hate Easter, by the way.  After Monday, we had no fewer than six chocolate eggs and numerous other chocolate truffles and treats.  That is obscene.  We are only two people.  How can we accumulate that much chocolate on a day that we’re supposed to be reflecting on how some dude died a horrific death by Roman crucifixion.  I tell you what, no chocolate and fluffy bunnies were involved in that one.  Not that I usually care about such things.  But, you know, Jesus is always trying to get me down, man.

 

In this case, it’s by chocolate death.

 

But, yeah, so Bar Chocolate probably wasn’t the best social outing venue to choose after everyone in the UK has gorged themselves on chocolate over the Easter weekend, but, you know, hindsight.  I got some wine because I couldn’t face any more chocolate, and the Malbec was good, I guess.  

 

Linzi, Lizzie and Laura were there.  A small Yelp event, for sure.  But I’m quite liking all these Yelp events going on.  I’m starting to really enjoy and appreciate London a lot more now that I actually have a social life and some burgeoning relationships with people.  Nothing against my husband, of course.  It’s just that I miss having friends, and this last year has been a bit brutal when it comes to that sort of thing.  

 

My dad and my grandparents have tried calling me in the last couple days, but I’ve been in full-on paper-writing mode that I simply cannot stop in the middle of my day to have a 45 minute conversation with them.  If they are reading this – dad and Grandmommy and Bobba, I am sorry.  I will try to remember to call you back soon.

 

But, yeah.  One term paper down, one to go.  It occurs to me that I ended up doing A LOT of research for the paper I just finished, with over 20 bibliographic entries for it, and I didn’t do nearly as much research for the one I have left to write despite being more confident in my thesis statement for it when the writing process began.  I think I might have to hit the library tomorrow.  Lame.

 

I think I’ll eat some chocolate.

 

Damn Jesus.

I’m reclining in bed currently, just having finished my Oatibix with banana, almonds, and raisins with two cups of coffee.

 

I’ve been trawling Yelp and generally ignoring the rest of the internetz.  I think Yelp has started to make my mornings less and less productive, as I’m less and less inclined to get out of bed and start doing things.  You know, like working on graduate school stuff.  

 

It slightly distresses me that I’ve been doing research for about a week now without any clear idea as to what my thesis statement will be on one of my papers.  I have an appointment to discuss my papers with Sarah on Friday.  I’m not so much looking forward to that one.  In part because every conversation I have with Sarah is stilted and awkward.  In part because I feel so dreadfully underprepared on Wednesday.  Perhaps I should get out of bed and start researching like a good student would.  Yeah.

 

Also, I still don’t have my passport and visa.  Red was reading something online about people who’ve been sans passport and visa for upward to 15 weeks with no word on where it is or when they will get it back.  I came to find he did this research online after finding relatively cheap airfare to Japan.  Ha, yeah.  We’re not going to Japan.  We’re not even going back to America.  I am stuck in this country with no way to work or leave.  It’s really a shit process this visa application, I have to say.

 

Well, I suppose I should get up and get moving.  Do the good-student thing.

 

I went to yoga yesterday after henna dying my hair the day before, and once I got the sweating going, all I could sense was the damp muck smell of the henna.  Ew.  I’m going to wash my hair.  Now.  

 

And then, to the library.  But which one??  Oh, decisions.