In the spirit of actually keeping in touch with all of the people I love and miss, here is a brief update of my life since I left Boston:

-Interview w/ GreenIdeas went really well.  They need me and they know it.  Now they just have to officially make me an offer and hire me (next week...hopefully)

-Still have a sore throat, but it's getting better.  I'm supposed to go the to Doctor today, but I think I'm going to skip it in favor of cleaning my room.

-Have started a massive cleanout of my room.  It's nearly as therapeutic as  throwing away half of the stuff I'd accumulated at MIT.  I still had stuff from elementary school!!  Like, a see journal.  I'm such a packrat.....new life goal on top of making the national team in rowing and being the hot professor = limit stuff accumulation. 

-I rowed last night!  Yay!  It looks like most of the people who row around here could be my parents or grandparents, but that's ok!  I went out in a double with Norris, who is in his late 50's or early 60's, and we were faster than the master's women's coxed 8+...it was funny.  Norris and I both had a good time.  Plus, the club coach went to Exeter and Dartmouth and really understands rowing.  He's going to help me find a good pair partner for the summer.  Really nice guy.

Right.  Back to room cleaning...I need to get everything in place before my boxes get here and I have to put that shit away too.  Blech.

litbg

And more. As usual.

 

I begin with a funny story that just happened this evening at the bike shop.  I left work early to pick up my bike and rushed in at 5:55.  The place closed at 6:00.  A full explanation of why I was there can be found at the end of this entry.  Which is a long way away.  Sorry.

 

Me: Hi!  I’m here to pick up my bike!

 

Guy: Hi!  Do you have a ticket? (who had made the appointment for me a week and half ago.  We’d chatted for a while about cycling and Arizona.  He’s in his late 30s or early 40s, graying a little, but very friendly looking and fit.  What you’d expect from a bike ship guy…not the miserable excuses for bike shop workers that work at Evans Cycles.  Ugh.)

 

Me: yeah…[begins to look in bag]…somewhere…

 

Guy: Oh wait!  You’re the girl with the racer!  I just barely recognized you!

 

Me: Yeah, I look different when I’m not sweating…(He’d only seen me in my smelly sticky post ride state, not in work clothes)

 

Guy: And with clothes on…Oh! I mean! Well…erm…it’s a Cannondale, right? (for those of you who missed the innuendo, reread the last two lines.  I missed it too until…now.)

 

Me: hahhaha…no, a Schwinn.  Ahem. 

 

Guy:  And your surname (which is English for ‘last name’]?

 

Me: Johnson.

 

Later in the conversation, he offered to go on my ride with this weekend and had to take my phone number to call me if I didn’t show up to pay my bill tomorrow.  That was awkward too.  Poor guy.

 

I’ll also say right now that due to the expense incurred getting my wheel and derailleur fixed, as well as the logistics and probable expense of finding a wetsuit, tent, and train ticket, I’ve been forced to delay the start of my triathlon career until a later date.  Hopefully not too far off.  I need to find one that doesn’t require a wetsuit, though.

 

Moving on to a summary of last week:

 

I was productive at work!  Huzzah!  Not that I haven’t been productive for the first 5 weeks of my internship, but last week, I finally managed to free myself of extraneous projects and buckle down and figure out how to organize a tremendous amount of data into a usable, query-able, database.  I defeated excel.  Well…mostly…Friday went a bot sour when I inserted a MsgBox  line in the wrong part of a loop that went through the entire 60,000+ rows of my spreadsheet.  To stop the infernal beeping I turned off my computer and went for a run.

 

Continuing the summary, I moved in with Val Wong last Tuesday night after work.  Everything went smoothly.  I left my bike at work, and had everything packed (or ready to be packed in the large duffel she brought with her), left work by 6, and was settled by 8:30.  Pushing my way onto the tube with the ginormous bike box was made easier by the fact that this time it was devoid of my bike.  Ahhh.  That night, a couple of Val’s friends from MIT (her year, in Phi Sig) came and stayed over and had dinner with us. 

 

It was then that I realized just how nerdy we, referring to us MIT kids, are.  We talked about science-y and engineering-y things for the entire meal, when we weren’t talking about traveling or international development or politics.  Wow.  Plus, it was the first conversation that I’d had in American (as opposed to English) since coming across the pond.  Well, there was the night out with Kim, which was also interesting, but I’m not sure that yelling across the table in noisy bars/restaurants counts as a real conversation.  And those were mostly finance people, who have a language all their own (i.e. they talk about really, really expensive things all the time…rather than drought in Africa over couscous and salad.)

 

I never said this would be a breif summary.  Sorry, Samantha.

 

Wednesday night Val and I went to a concert of Bach cello solos in a medieval church near St. Paul’s.  I honestly forget the performer and the exact pieces.  All in all, it was pretty incredible.  The guy played just a little too fast for my taste, so at some of the more complicated and faster passages he got the creaky string noise that for less experienced players sounds more like fingernails on a chalkboard than a bow on strings.  But, for the professional cellist, makes just makes the music sound hard and everyone there feel inadequate for not being able to even fathom playing that fast.  Well, I win.  He should have just played slower.  Overall, really good sound, but…gahh…slow the hell down! 

 

Right.  The real reason that I liked the concert was that the venue (said medieval church) was so interesting.  It was arranged as a long corridor with two sets of pews on either side facing in towards the middle in the long direction.  The preist, or cellist, as the case may be, sits at the head of the dinner table, for lack of a better description, such that to see him you have to crane your neck 90 degrees to the left or right.  At intermission, I wandered around and read the markers on the floor for everyone who had been buried in the church.  One was a hair seller (wigs, presumably), another, a lifelong member of the church who probably gave lots of money but had nothing else incredible engraved on his tomb except that his infant nephew was buried with him.  There was a strange mix of the incredibly old structure itself including the altar and several tombs and memorials and some newer, almost too modern, artwork.  There was one picture that was almost abstract in its construction and a statue that couldn’t have been any more than 20 or 30 years old of a skinny guy holding a deflated guy’s body (like a hot air balloon with no hot air.  Or a comdom the morning after)…perhaps the deflated dude was Jesus, minus soul?  Not sure.  Strange nonetheless.  And if so I’m going to hell because I just compared Jesus to a condom.  Which not only implies premarital sex, but also birth control.  And I think it was a Catholic church.  Teehee.

 

Right.  I digress. Moving on, amid listening to the music and studying the building, I discovered that the columns supporting the upper windows letting light into the hall had 4 different ornamentations (think geometric leave-ish shapes at the top and bottom).  For some reason the combination of these columns, the windows, Bach cello solos, and may be even deflated Jesus dude (hell, even abstract Jesus dude can have some credit, if that’s what he was) inspired a gown design, the final version of which has yet to be sketched, but which was completed in my head during the third piece.  Wow, I feel so artsy and cultured!  I think I should quit this engineering shit and sew full time.  Unless it means I have to listen to a guy trying to hard to play the cello too fast all the time.

 

And now, what you’ve all been waiting for…my weekend!

 

It all started Friday afternoon.  I should first say that on Wednesday, I accidentally booked a ticket for a Thursday-Saturday trip, rather than a Friday-Sunday trip.  Never give out your credit card number before you’ve had at least one cup of tea.  I haggled with the Indian One Railway rep on the phone for about 40 minutes over lunch, and after asking for his manager was allowed to change my booking.  Phew.  But, I rather than using my credit card at a quick ticket machine, I would have to present a booking number.  This was apparently not made completely clear to me by the heavily accented Indian guy who nearly pissed himself when I asked for his manager.  In fact, he said I could use the credit card so long as I had the booking number as well.  Dumbass.  This played a key role on Friday afternoon.

 

After perhaps irresponsibly decided to do a quick tempo run around Regent’s park (5 miles), I left the Newman Street office for Liverpool Street train station at 6:20.  My train was to depart at 7:00.  I had never been to Liverpool Street Station before.  Much less tried to bike there through the morass of one way streets and double-decker buses that is Central London.  So, I wrote the booking number on my arm with red pen, tossed my debit and credit card (couldn’t remember which one had ended up working to book the ticket…there’s been something weird going on due to my US billing address) in the pocket of my day-glow yellow cycling vest so that they would be handy for the machine when I showed up and hopped on the ‘ol bike.  By some stroke of good fortune I made it to Liverpool Street Station after only stopping once to check the A to Z(ed) (which is English for ‘map’) which had been hanging out of my mouth for the entire time. 

 

I arrived at the station at 6:49.  I proceeded to the quick ticket machine, and after queuing (English for ‘waiting in line’) for 2 minutes, I discovered that neither card was working.  FRUSTRATION!!! So I queued up again to talk to a real person. All he needed was the booking number.  He gave me my tickets.  It was now 6:55.  Somewhere between whipping my cards out at the machine, trying to get the ticket guy to take them, and sprinting to my train (and then sprinting to the far end of the platform where the bike carriage was), my credit and debit cards disappeared.  Perhaps they fell out…perhaps I was pick-pocketed.  I called Mom from the train and had her cancel the credit card, then called to cancel the debit.  I am now cardless except for the MITFCU debit.  However, there is no money in the checking account and the online banking system won’t let me log on to make a transfer.  FRUSTRATION!!!  Basically, my solution is to pack a lot of cash.  Which sucks because the British have an odd fixation on (really heavy) coin money.  There is no paper denomination less than 5 pounds.  And all of their coins weight at least a pound.  I’m exaggerating, but perhaps changing the name to ‘ounces’ or ‘grams’ would help the situation. 

 

So, I got into Diss (which is in East Anglia) where I was collected by my great aunt and uncle, Margaret (Meg) and Tom.  And their golden retriever, Poppy.  After being fed a salmon salad and summer pudding with ice cream (I think Aunt Meg’s sole purpose for hosting me was to make me gain 10 pounds by feeding me dessert after every meal.  I didn’t argue too vehemently), I tucked myself into bed.  Saturday morning I went on a 40ish mile tour from Ellough (near Beccles) to Southwold, Dunwich, and around Holton (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1140315) and back.  It was incredible.  I saw some great signage too.  There was one that said “Watch for Elderly People” complete with illustration of a man and woman (wife?) stick figures hunched over with a cane.  Apparently 70% of the community of the seaside town of Southwold is retired.  On my way back, I passed a church with a large graveyard.  There was a road sign literally right by the entrance to the graveyard that said “Passing Place.”  Teehee.  A passing place is literally a place on a narrow road where on car is supposed to wait for another to pass.  This one was by a graveyard.  Ina any case, it was the longest bike ride I’ve been on for way too long.  I wanted to keep going, but I had to be back for lunch by 1.

 

My mom’s cousin, Nick, and his (second) wife, Jane came for lunch.  I hadn’t ever met Jane or seen Nick for 6 years.  Nick’s son from his first marriage, David, was there most of the day doing lawn work.  Nice kid.  Looks remarkably like me and my (first) cousin Jamie.  Everyone was interested in what my family was up to and what kind of dogs we all had and what I was going to do with my boyfriend-less life.  Other than the fact that we were all doing well stateside, the biggest news I brought was of Evan’s (that’s my older brother, for those reading this that need enlightening) girlfriend of 2 years, Shawna. 

 

Saturday night Aunt Meg, Uncle Tommy, and I went to the poshest place in Beccles, and one of only two sit-down restaurants in the town (3 of you count the pizza place).  It was Italian and was surprisingly good.  The venue used to be a cinema…it seemed…out of place, but was interesting and yummy.  Afterwards I got the tour of the area from Tom’s range rover.  Apparently there was a big air force base during the second world war.  I saw the runway and some hangars.

 

Sunday morning it was raining, so I didn’t get out for my run until 10ish or so when the rain let up.  I did about 7 on mostly flat ground, and actually saw 2 other runners in boondocks, England.  The sun was out again by the time I finished.  Another second cousin, Kirsty, and her husband and daughter (Mario and Holly) came over for lunch, which was steak, chicken, and sausage from the “Barby” as well as green beans, potatoes, and broccoli.  I had chicken.  It was the most meat I’ve had in…well… a long time.  I hoovered my veggies and ate about half the chicken wings that Aunt Meg had generously apportioned onto my plate.  After lunch, Mario, Holly and I went for a walk with the dogs, and then it was time to go to the train station. 

 

About 1/8^th of a mile out, we noticed that the range rover (which could easily hold three adults, a dog, and my bike) had a flat front tire.  We turned around, shoved my bike and bag into the back of Aunt Meg’s smallish car, said a hurried goodbye to Meg and Poppy, and then burned rubber all the way to the train station.  I literally had to sprint to the platform again, and I managed to let my notebook (with important info like bank accounts and whatnot) fall out into the back of the car.  Better there than the train, I suppose…it should arrive back in London in the mail soon. 

 

Halfway back from Liverpool Street, I realized that my breaks were jerky.  This should not happen on a bike.  In fact, the problem was not my breaks, but rather my rear wheel.  It was bent.  A lot.  It was a bit dangerous, but I did make it back to Val’s place…barely.  Luckily, I had scheduled maintenance for my derailleur today, and they took care of new rear wheel (and tyre, which is English for ‘tire’) too.  Nice guys.  HSBC wouldn’t let me withdraw the cash to pay for the whole thing, so I paid 2/3^rd and told them I’d come back first thing in the morning after my morning ride with Val.  I wouldn’t have let me do it, but apparently I look trustworthy.  And I was a girl with a fast bike.  I’m damn trustworthy (which is English for ‘sexy’).  See story at top of post.

 

Okie doke, I’m off to bed so I can get up and run in the perfect English training weather. I think that my life is often better than fiction, or at least it has it’s moments.  And they seem to be many.  And I like it that way.

They play a key role, you’ll see.

 

(Note: the first verson of this journal entry was created as a word document while sitting at the Starbucks at Hampstead Heath.  I feel like such a chronic American, but there aren’t any local places and I might end up using the internet here to actually post this online.  AND I’m drinking lots of water (and coffee) and all Starbucks, except for the ones on Victoria Street, have a loo.  ‘Tis key.  By the way, I just had to add the word ‘loo’ to Word’s dictionary.  I’m getting too used to typing in English.  I should also note that I’ve started keeping a more detailed training log in an excel document but that’s yet to be transferred to my personal computer.  Playing with that makes me look more productive at work than, say, composing personal emails or browsing the Tour de France website.  That was a long note.  Eat THAT, Samantha.)

 

Running, swimming, and cycling will no longer be summarized in this journal (see above Note) but they will probably be mentioned in passing several times, seeing as my life basically revolves around said activities.  I know this because Anna Morys admonished me for it last night.  She stopped through London and spent the day with me, Val, and the Tour de France yesterday (Saturday) and I was thinking about meeting her for an early breakfast before she heads back to Davos via Paris, but decided against it because I wanted to do a long run in the morning.  Does that make me a bad friend?  May be.  But honestly I’m an addict and there’s not a whole lot I want to do about it.  It would have been wicked early anyways, and I HATE the tube.

 

So, the week started out slowly.  I had big plans for last weekend (related to running and cycling) but they fell through because I got REALLY sick again.  I don’t think it was food poisoning because I didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary…or anything ordinary that had spoiled…as far as I know, but somehow I managed to recover from my cold only to come down hard with a stomach flu that kept me mostly out of commission until Wednesday.  Yuck.  Vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation were all involved, and there was not much food that stayed down until Tuesday.  I ended up having to take Monday off of work and spent the day being miserable.  I was sick of my room, so I managed to drag myself to a coffee shop just off of Green Park where I got a miniscule amount of work done and basically was, as I said, miserable.

 

I was so sick that I almost decided not to go to Wimbledon on Tuesday with Val.  But, instead, in true Gwen form, I hopped on my bike after running 4 miles (slowly…to get…ahem…things…moving…) and cycled the 12 miles out to Wimbledon Park Station to meet up with Val and Vanessa (her sister.)  Even though it was rainy and my stomach hated me for moving, it was an INCREDIBLE experience.  We had tickets in the corner opposite the referee about 30 feet from Centre Court.  Holy Shit.  We saw Mauresmo go down to Vaidisova before the Roddick/Matthieu match got through just short of two sets (haltingly due to rain).  Sadly, the Williams/Sharapova match was moved from centre court to court 3.  From my tiptoes I saw Venus play the one game they got in before that match was completely rained out.  I called Grandma from centre court earlier in the day when it was still sunny.  She was almost as excited as me.  It was soooooo coooool.

 

Val and company ended up leaving a bit earlier than me after the first big thunderstorm.  This was ok because I spent about 2 hours talking the Sean, a Royal Marine who was working the Wimbledon security detail and was bored.  In any case, when they called play for the day, Sean gave me his number and said to call him if I wanted to come back in.  Nice guy, that Sean.  I think he might have found me attractive.  He called the next day to see if I’d like to go for a drink afterwards.  I figured, sure, if it got me into Wimbledon, I’d buy the guy a beer at the end of the day.  We exchanged a few other (cautiously, on my part) flirtatious texts throughout the week…I feel a bit guilty about this.  Not that Sean’s not attractive or nice or funny, but basically I just wanted to see more tennis, preferable a final.  For free. 

 

So, I was supposed to be at Centre Court again today, but he texted at the last minute to say that the ticket he thought he could get me had fallen through, but if I could somehow get a ground ticket, he’d get me into Centre Court for the men’s final.  I decided to run 13 miles this morning instead.  If I even had a chance of getting a ticket, it cost some obscene amount of money.  And this way I can avoid awkward drinks with a Royal Marine (who’s 5’6” at most) and instead take care of errands and got to bed so I can run in the morning.  (Again, and example of how I plan my social life around athletic activities.)  Sorry, Sean…better luck next time.

 

In other news, as I mentioned earlier, the TOUR DE FRANCE started in London this Weekend!!!! AND I WAS THERE!!!! For the prologue (time trial) yesterday!!!  It was a bit surreal, kind of like Wimbledon.  I was seriously floating.  I spent the night at Val’s Friday night (we had some very nice spanakopita and a carrot salad) so that we could get a ride in at Richmond Park in the AM, before tubing it into central London for the tour and general putzing.  We met up with Anna Morys for lunch at this amazing (and amazingly reasonably priced) Lebanese place near Harrod’s and then walked back towards the Covent Garden area via the Tour route.  Anna got some great pictures, and we even got within 50 feet or so of the starting line!  I was jumping up and down.  It was really exciting.  In fact, I’m still excited about it…it’s making me have to pee (or may be that’s the coffee) I’m so excited.  Wheeeeeeeee!!!!  I can’t wait until Anna sends out those pics J.  Whew.  Excitement.

 

And this morning I went for a 13(ish) mile run.  I went to Regent’s park via the canal, around it, and back.  I’m moving in with Val Tuesday, and it was one of those runs I couldn’t leave this part of London without doing.  I’m a bit sad to be leaving my close proximity to the pond at Hampstead Heath, but I’ll probably make more use of the closer proximity to the pool near Val’s.  My triathlon is only 2 weeks away and I haven’t been in the water for nearly that long because I was sick.  This is a problem.  I also need to get my hands on a tent and a wetsuit.  Also a problem….but manageable.

 

Well, now nature is really calling.  And I’m running out of battery.  So I’m going.  For now.  I suppose I should insert a perfunctory apology for the length of this entry, but there’s been a lot going on.  Next time I should leave off bodily functions.  And I haven’t even talked about work!  So there.  A Bientôt!

New system:  X=5 miles biking into or out of Central London for work.  Rest of biking mileage will be noted separately.


Last Week:

Already Posted:
[Monday: 8 fast miles from work, twice around Regent's Park. X
Tuesday: 10 miles in AM along canal towards Hyde.  Missed turn to regents.  90ish minutes soccer...including some time spent in goal.XX]

Wednesday: 7.2 + 0.8 = 8 with serpies.  These people really need to get pace down.  I went with the 8 minute group and we ended up somewhere around 7:20.  grrr.... I fought back and lead a slower group.  American rebel.  XX
Thursday: 4 in AM, also did pushups and dips (='UB'...finally) XX + 0.8 (got lost getting home from opera)
Friday: 8 in PM.  Was going to to 11, but my right IT band got really tight really suddenly at a good turnaround point (i.e. right before I started my 3rd loop around regents.  Weird.) XX
Saturday: 0.  Knee/IT still sore.  Oh well...walk all over the place with Christina.
Sunday: 0. Knee/IT still tender, but not too bad...decide to play it safe.  Again, walk all over with Christina (And Ashley and Manpreet!!)

Total: 38 Miles running, 45.8 miles biking, 0 swimming (oops. fix that.), 1xAbs, 1xUB.

This Week:

Monday: 11.2 in AM along canal past Regent's Park to Camden Lock.  Was going faster than I thought.... 40 min swimming in PM.  COLD. X + 10 (got lost getting to Heath to swim)
Tuesday: 10.3 in AM along Grand Union Canal away from central London...more industrial out there but the running surface is hard-packed dirt.  8 in PM + Abs.  Whew. XX
Wednesday: Woke up sick.  Went to drugstore for sudafed instead of running.  Poo.  Went home from work at 4:00 and to bed, but shouldn't have gone in at all.  (Too sick to run, too sick to work, right?)
Thursday:  I hope I feel well enough to run this afternoon..may be 8 or so?

Wow, I love running.

I've been busy, as usual, this past week + a few days.

First, I should say that I'm home from work today with a cold.  I went in yesterday when I probably shouldn't have and I still feel pretty gross.  So, as per by boss's request, I'm staying home until I feel "well."  I love British people.  Which is why I finally have time to update this damn journal.  I almost forgot the mileage I did last Thursday!  Disaster!  May be I should start writing these things down the old fashioned way so that I don't forget by the time I commit (kind of) permanently to my electronic journal.  That would be good.

Right, so, fun(ny) things that have happened nice the last entry....Val and I went to see La Clemenza DeTito last Thursday and it was...ok.  She took a nap during the first act and I couldn't quite stay awake through the second.  All of the female voices were great, especially the two ale roles (the younger men) sung by altos.  But, the lead male was an unmitigated disaster.  It's not that he was out of tune or anything...he just wasn't all that operatic.  He was stiff...and lifeless...it was kind of pathetic.  He looked more like a puppet than a person...like his joints would each only move in one direction as if he were made of wooden sticks or something.  And his voice sounded like that too.  (Sorry Samantha, I'll try to think of a more poetic way to describe it later.)  Oh wait!  That's it!  Watching him and listening to him was like being forced to listen to the recitation of a bad poem by a boring English teacher.  Like the one in Wiseman's High School reciting "Casey at the Bat."  You should watch that film if you haven't yet.  It's ingenious.  As always, though, Val and I had a good time catching up on the happenings of the week and critiquing the opera.  I can't wait to move in with her.

A side note about me, Val, work, email, and productivity:  Val and I send each other something like 10 emails a day, give or take.  Occasionally about legitimate things like, "where are we meeting tonight?" or "what are your plans for this weekend?" or "how am I going to get my stuff to your place in July?".  However, most of our email consist of things like, "my boss is wearing green shoes today," or "there goes clicky shoe guy again!  Those leather shoes must be built to click like that on purpose so everyone notices how expensive his shoes are. I swear that NONE of my heals click like that!" (<-- that one was from me, by the way.  I'm still trying to figure out what make clicky shoe guy...well...click.  Literally and figuratively.).  Other emails have included, "I HATE EXCEL," or "let's just hit our computers," or "I hate men.  These are the reasons why," or various other complaints.  Basically, I would much more productive without Val's distractions, but it's so much fun!  And, because we're both using our work email, it even looks official...unlike the website for the British Triathlon Association which my boss found me looking at the other day (although I'd legitimately only just gone to the page and had no intention of keeping it open for longer than 2 minutes.  Really.) 

I'm generally moderately productive at work.  My project is a nightmare of information that needs organizing that is pretty much overwhelming, and I keep getting other "side" projects thrown at me as well.  Gahh!  These side projects end up taking up entire days-weeks of my time!  I'm going to end up working a little this weekend.  Partially because I won't be working today or next Tuesday (today = out sick, Tuesday = WIMBLEDON!!!), and partially because I've spent my whole week doing extraneous tasks to help other people meet their deadlines, and I have one of my own next Wednesday.  Hrm.  I need to make a good impression.  I've actually been closing down email at work from time to time so that Val doesn't distract me, which helps a little, but I'm still having trouble focusing and I'm not sure why.  Which in itself is frustrating.

Moving on to more exciting things, this weekend with Christina (and Kim and Ash and Manpreet) was increadible!  Saturday I picked up Christina, got her checked into the hostel, and then we hit Borough Market (big, yummy food market by London Bridge.  I had falafel for lunch and all sorts of free cheese, brownie, banana cake, cookies, smoothies, etc.  yum.) went for a walk around the Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge, and met up with Kim Chao and her friend (Simon?) at a pub.  It was the first time I'd really had a chance to talk to Kim, and she's great!  We spent much of the conversation trying to explain the concept of a sorority to Kim's friend, but that was basically a lost cause.  As it is with most people who aren't American or don't grow up with the concept...or even trying to explain MIT sororities to those who are American and have grown up with the concept.  Then, Christina and I went to Tate Modern for the afternoon.  They had a GREAT exhibit (that Lyndsay would have loved) about modern megacities (London, Cairo, LA, Mexico City, Hong Kong, and more that I forget in my Sudafed-induced stupor).  I was really impressed with how they presented the lives of the urban poor and how planning has been used (and been successful or unsuccessful) to ameliorate transport and other problems associated with extraordinarily high population densities.  And how and why the cities have grown to their current size and form.  It was incredible.  We also saw some of the other galleries, and I came away with a distinct "I could have done that" impression from most of it.  Kind of like poetry.

Saturday night we went out with Kim and her gang.  First, we went to one of the oldest pubs in London (by the Embankment tube stop...gahh I wish I could remember the name...will Google later.)  It's a wine bar now.  We had red wine (by that, I personally had about a glass and a half...I' learning to drink slowly...) while we waited for it to stop raining so that we could go across the river (to the south bank) to a tapas restaurant called Las Iguanas.  Kim had been there earlier in the day and they hadn't let her put her name in, so we ended up (for more drinks) at a Japanese place called Ping Pong, which I thought was cute.  I had water and tried some of Christina's Strawberry and Leche martini.  It was ok.  Tapas was fun and interesting, but quite possibly the worst Mexican food I've ever tasted!  I know, I know, I shouldn't be such a snob, but the stuff was bland.  The best dish was the "fritos," which where "chips" (which is English for French Fries).  That's not even MEXICAN, DAMMIT!!!!  On the bright side Kim put the whole not on the corporate expense account. 

The highlight of the evening, aside from the company which was an odd mix of Kim's English and American friends, with the Americans all being employed in the banking industry and earning significantly more than the English people who had far more homely jobs for the government and such, was Kim's tale about signing up for and taking a "Strippercise" class while she was still working for Wachovia in Charlotte, NC.  Apparently, but the second class, which was taught at a strip club by a real, live stripper, they had everyone with their shirts off and were learning how to light their nipples on fire.  Apparently, if a stripper can say, get a client to buy an expensive cigar on his birthday by lighting it on fire with her nipples, so this is an important skill if one is going to be a stripper.  Apparently, with a wooden match, you split the non-match end and lick it.  This should stick to an...erect...nipple,  also, because the match is now wet, it will burn out before it burns your nipple.  I think I'll take Kim's word for it.

Sunday we went on a whirlwind tour of London.  Our first stop, after walking through Hyde Park,  was the Natural History Museum, where Ashley surprised Christina.  It was great!  It made both of them, and especially Christina, really happy...giddy even.  Cute.  Then, after we'd had our fill or sex (the exhibit, not the real thing...actually it was about how the human body works, but was basically high school sex ed), stuffed animals, skeletons, rocks, and volcanoes, we moved on to Harrods, where I got a dark chocolate truffle and we took pictures.  From there we went through the Green Park and St. James' Park to Buckingham Palace, then we went through the Horse Guards Palace, say 10 Downing Street (where the prime minister lives) and the houses of parliament, saw Westminster Abbey.  From there, we split up.  Ash and Manpreet had tickets to the London Eye.  Christina and I walked through Trafalgar Square through Soho to Oxford Street.  Then we walked back down to Covent Garden where Christina took me out for some really yummy pub food.  On the way home, we stopped through Little Venice for Hot Chocolate.  All in all a successful weekend.  Christina was trying to deal with boy problems the whole weekend, so I felt a little guilty about being completely useless for advice in that area, but I did my best and let her use my phone to call him. 

Monday and Tuesday were uneventful, other than some great running and swimming, until I got sick.  Work is work.  I still like going and love the people, but the excitement of new projects has started to wear off a little.  I was supposed to go to a Snow Patrol concert with Val last night, but didn't because I was really sick.  I went to bed at something like 5:30 and didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning, when I decided not to go into work because I still felt sick and my boss told me to stay home, as I mentioned above.  I also kind of wanted to avoid a meeting with an annoying guy who doesn't know when to shut up.  Also, my medicine is starting to kick in and my snot is turning from deep yellow to clear....(finally, thanks to the cold medicine provided by the really sweet australian girl, Lynette, who lives a bunk above me.  I'm going to miss her when she goes.).  I'll probably eat something, read for a little, and then may be go for a walk and test out this newfound wellness.  ooo! ooo! may be I'll even go for a run!!!  That would be nice.

Hope everyone reading has enjoyed the most recent chapter in my life in London...hopefully it's  moderately coherent...writing when sick/on drugs is not always the best idea.  Love you all!

Welcome to real entry number 2:

First, running....

End of Last week:

[already posted
Mon: AM: 11 miles around Hyde park and back.  PM: 4 miles (with Zane) + 45 minutes of backyard soccer
Tues: AM: 4 miles.  PM: 60 min swimming at Ladies Pool.]

Wed: 7.2(+0.5) with Serpentine Club = 7.7
Thursday: 10.5 long run from work around three parks plus another half of Hyde.  Kind of hot.
Friday: 4 miles before work, walking around Cambridge :)
Saturday: 0.  Day off to watch the Bumps with Ash and Manpreet
Sunday: 11.5 along the River Cam.  Sooooooo nice.  Gave Ash and Manpreet time to get it on.

TOTAL: 48.7 miles running, 60 min swimming, 50(ish) miles biking, [45 min soccer]

This Week:

Monday: 8 fast miles from work, twice around Regent's Park.
Tuesday: 10 miles in AM along canal towards Hyde.  Missed turn to regents.  90ish minutes soccer...including some time spent in goal.

Goal: more sit-ups, push-ups, etc.

Now, the juicy stuff:

Aside from running going ridiculously well and feeling absolutely amazing on the bike, in the pool, and on the road, life in general is going great. 

Val and I had a hot date out to the national portrait gallery to see an exhibit that had just ended.  So instead we putzed around for a while looking at the winners of the annual competition (for contemporary artists), some of which was significantly better than the rest.  Then, we went to this great Japanese restaurant where the service sucks but they cook your...I forget what they're called, but some cross between and omlette and a pancake.  mmmm. We split one with mushrooms and cheese and one with spinach and cheese.  They were great with chili sauce.

I left for Cambride to spend the weekend with Ashley and Manpreet.  Friday night we went out for Indian food.  I was a little weirded out when one of Manpreet's friends' girlfriend's was pregnant!  And apparently she wasn't the only one!  Weird...that's what the pill is for?  Or at least try a condom?  I dunno.  English society is much more open to overtly sexual media images, discussion (i.e. the first  Friday I was here we were out at the pub after work and someone implied as a joke that Byron, my boss from last summer, and I were sleeping together last summer!  Everyone thought it was hilarious!  I thought it was...well...awkward...but I laughed anyways.  When in Rome/London, right?)

But I digress.  The key point is that Manpreet's friends are HILARIOUS.  I don't think they got the best impression of me, seeing as I tend to sit back and observe human interaction when I don't know the actors that well... BUT they got along really, really well with Ashley, little miss outgoing, which is the important thing, right?  It was like they'd known her as long as Manpreet.  I also got to know Manpreet a little bit better.  He has something snide to say about almost anything...in a good way, though.  He's hilarious.  It's amazing how much more you learn about someone when you see them in their natural environment.

Back to the plot. on Saturday we slept in and then spent the day eating fruit and bread and cheese at a pub called the Plough along the River Cam to watch the Bumps.  Andi Greb's Peterhouse boat won the W2 division!!! It was great!  The bumps themselves were great because the River Cam is too narrow to have a real regatta, so instead they start the boats in a seeded order and in order to overtake, or "bump" someone, you have to, literally, BUMP them, and once that happens both boats pull to the side.  As in touch your boat to theirs...there's a lot of strategy involved.  It's contact rowing!  They do this over the course of 3 (i think?) days, reseeding after every race to determine the winner.  So, so cool.  I love England.

Saturday night after dinner at a pub, we had Mojitos with Katy and Mirat, and then went to a "Bop" at Sydney Sussex college.  The theme was a beach party so Ash and I went as a lovely bunch of coconuts by cutting out pictures of coconuts and taping them to ourselves.  Ash had a slightly better costume because she has boobs.  The bop is basically a frat party minus the slutty BU/Wellesley girls and significantly more fun/less gross dancing.  And EVERYONE was drunk.  Everyone.  English people drink WAY (WAAYYYY) too much for their own good.  I went home early to get sleep so I could run.

In the morning I woke up at 8 to run and, in spite of getting slightly lost by trying to follow a bike path instead of the river, I had a great run.  For most of the length there was dirt, especially along the tow path on the river, which I finally found out how to get onto (across the river) after 4 miles.  I had to stop to...ahem...relieve myself twice, but there was hardly any place to go with enough cover and without stinging nettle.  I got back to Manpreets room (where I had been sleeping on the floor which smelled gross because the skylight had been left open, letting water in which the fermented in the carpet...but again I digress) where I expected to be alone because Ash and Manpreet were supposedly meeting friends on Jesus Green for champagne breakfast, which I was to catch up to later.  Instead, I almost walked in on them.  I know this because drunk Ashley apologized for it later by saying "I don't think we were having sex anymore when you got home."  45 minutes later we all made our way to Jesus Green together.  Breakfast was nice, and consisted of letting strawberries soak in sparkling white wine (cheap champagne) then eating them.  Really good.

We spent the rest of the day punting (a punt is a boat like a gondola but broader where people relax and drink....or in my case sit crammed awkwardly with one of Manpreet's friends and get seasick.  Really, really seasick).  I should note that we got onto the punt after drinking and buying more alcohol, by the way.  It was Suicide Sunday, so everyone's goal but mine was to be plastered.  I just didn't feel like it... I dunno...I'm just not cut out for the drinking habits of this country.  Breakfast was fine, but I knew I'd feel like shit if I had anything else and I just didn't want to feel like shit.

Other notes on Cambridge:  There are two Colleges that are really cool: Jesus College and Christ College.  HAHAHAH!!!!  During sporting events people say things like "What the hell is Jesus doing?!" and "Gosh, Christ really fucked up this time!"  HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!  It's GREAT! 

So, then I got back to the hostel Sunday at 10 or so.  And ran Monday night and Tuesday morning.  And I played football (which is English for Soccer) with the guys from work this afternoon.  I wish I had my real boots (which is English for cleats) but I still did ok.  It's obvious I haven't played competitively for a few years...fun though.  I think I'll keep up with it this summer.  I really miss playing....

Tomorrow I'll run with the Serpies again and Thursday night Val and I are either going to the symphony or the opera.  I can't remember which.  (Whichever we're not doing, we're going the following Thursday.)  This weekend, Christina Royce is going to come stay with me (same hostel) and hang out!  Ashley will also be here, and so will Kim Chao.  Val will be in Paris with the boy, which is too bad, mais c'est la vie.  His name is francois, by the way.  He's really French.

Ok, I need to go to bed.  Badly.  I'm tired....I know there's more and hopefully I'll have more time to write, but between, work, running, and relaxing/being social....well...you know how it is.  Hasta later.

Ok, here goes:

Running first:

Last Week:
Sat: 8 miles, still stiff from marathon attempt
Sun: Mountain biking with colleagues at Bracknell Wood.  AWESOME. 
Mon: 7 miles, slightly better
Tues: Swimming. 40 minutes.  Ladies pond at Hampstead Heath
Wed: 7.2 FAST (7:15 min pace) with Serpentine club.  Learned lesson about pace group
Thurs: 7 miles around tower bridge from work and back accross Waterloo.  Thought of Sarah.
Fri: Day off.  Could not finish beer bought for me by Sal.  Oops.
Sat: Bike ride and shopping with Val AWESOME.  Will go back to Richmond Park
Sun: More bike riding but no running.  Slighly strained left hamstring.

TOTAL: 29.2 miles running, 40 min swimming, 56 + 15ish biking. (Work + weekend riding)

This Week:
Mon: AM: 11 miles around Hyde park and back.  PM: 4 miles (with Zane) + 45 minutes of backyard soccer
Tues: AM: 4 miles.  PM: 60 min swimming at Ladies Pool.


Ok, now life.

Had to pay for the bike bc I was 2 pounds overweight due to gear packed with it.  Shucks.  Getting to the Hostel was going well until I had to switch tube lines and the strap on the bike bag broke.  It wasn't a big deal until I had to go up some stairs...which sucked anyway because I was still pretty sore from the marathon attempt, but luckily there was a good Samaritan to assist.  I then had to lug the bike all over to cash my travellers checks before I checked in, only to discover that the place (the bank, as opposed to the post office as suggested by the "helpful" person on the phone at the hostel) was only about 30 feet from where I came up from the tube.  Ugh.  I made sure to request that the person from the hostel sho picked me up drive the jeep.  Everything fit perfectly and the rest of the day, including putting my bike back together, went seamlessly.  So far, I've lived with a gay italian, a straight italian, a french guy and a french girl, a gay american, (who are all interesting and cool...the hostel has a min 3 week stay so there are a lot of yong professionals looking for jobs and housing, as well as serious tourists and travelers.  the facility is AMAZING, and not just for the price.  There's no sktchiness at all so far.)  Bust back to the point, my other roommate is a ridiculously hot 29 year old Australian named Zane who is a nutritonist, has literally traveled the world except for north africa and the middle east and has competed in more than one Ironman triathlon.  Yummy.  He's really funny and my best frWend here so far...sadly he's almost 30.  Although he could easily pass for 25.  Hrm.  At least I have a friend and a training buddy...who thinks I'm funny when I'm drunk and thinks that my belching/farting is hilarious....not sure of those are good things, but friends certainly are.

Work is going really well.  The first two days I was doing research on alternative technologies for cooling and recycling in Abu Dhabi, UAE.  Taht was really cool.  Then I got shifted to energy and carbon benchmarking for a new development in the financial district of Almaty, Kazakhstan which was also pretty darned cool...AND I got to impress everyone with my prowess at Excel.  Teehee.  My main independent project for the summer is going to be creating a robust tool that will eliminate the complicated work I had to do for the carbon demand that will also estimate utility loads at the masterplanning level.  It wil be a lot of work, but pretty interesting....it's been started already but the citations and the programming itself is a HUGE mess (despite what the senior engineer seems to think, and I tried to explain to him... but hey, it's his baby.  It needs some life support and/or an extreme makeover and/or TLC but that's what I'm for, right?)

Also, everyone I work with is hilarious, interesting, athletic, or otherwise worth knowing.  I love it!  They're all so passionate about all of the things they do, and I think they like me too!  Despite my crass American accent!  Importantly, they all play soccer (football), hockey, handball, or fo yoga or love art and food or run or cycle or something that they want me to do with them!  Wahoo!

In other news I've been hanging out with Val Wong.  She'd GREAT!  And we're surprisingly similar in our view on life and accident prone-ness.  hen she went to pee behind a tree after our bike ride, she sat on a nettle!  hahahaha! I laughed becuase that's what I would have done, but apparently it's the type of thing that she does regularly as well.  I love AXO.  Speaking of which, Val and I are going to visit Holly in Paris at the end of July and Christina Royce is going to stay at the same hostel as me at the end of June!  Ashley is here now and I might go to Cambridge to visit her and Manpreet this weekend, if she gets in touch with me in time.  SOOO excited.  I have the best friends ever.

I've also joined a local running club for the summer: the Serpentine Running Cub.  They also have a triathlon wing, but thus far I've only run with them once, although I'm planning on going for 7 or so again tomorrow.  Last Wednesday I ended up running with an English socialist (his sister is named Georgia because she was born just after the civil rights marches down there) and an American financial manager from Texas who voted for Bush twice.  I have to explain global warming.  And evolution.  Both guys were at least twice my age.  One was amused.  The other was not.  I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Alright...I think I should go to bed.  I was a zombie at work today from staying up way too late last night.  I really need to be productive today if I have any chance of cleaning up the mess they've assigned to me this summer.  I'm also sober enough not to get the spins...who knew that store brand cider had nearly an 8% alcohol content?  And that one non-resealable bottle was slightly more than a liter.  Hiccup.  Ahh, well, after all my physical activity for the last few days I think I earned it.  mmmmmmm.  On th bright side I was tipsy (not drunk, Samantha.  You're still ahead) enough to show Zane the background picture of the body paint from the volleyball tournament and tell him all about myself.  More than he probably wanted to know, but hey...

Right.  Vitamins, Ibuprofen, and bed.

Happy now, Samantha?

So....Samantha wants to know what's going on in my life.  I figured a few other poeple might be interested as well.  I also need an efficient way of keeping a training log...so here goes.

Ok...not really...yet.  I'm at work (in London) and need to actually work.  Keep holding your breath, Sam.  MUAHAHAHAhahahahhahHAAAA

And what are exploding snakes?