As an adult now I've decided to take charge of my life. I've applied to grad school yet again as well as to numerous menial jobs. I've decided to forgo the retail jobs because I a) have no retail experience whatsoever and b) would much rather put my degrees to some kind of use. So while I scour the internet looking for a writing job I've also decided to actively blog from now on. At least once a week for now. ALSO I have begun to work on a novel that I am very excited about. As of now I have two chapters completed and an almost completed character sketch. Characters are tricky, you see. You never know what they want. I'm still waiting for them to tell me. This new work, as well as more completed old work, will be posted on here as soon as I figure out how to watermark the pages (so that in the off chance that anyone would ever end up on here my work can't be stolen.)
Now, about London...
18 March 2013
The day I left for London was just as gloomy as I expected my week to be: dark, rainy, depressing. Perfect. I was nervous to leave my family behind and get on a plane with strangers. Mostly I was afraid that I would be stuck next to a creep for the 9 hour flight. My parents and nephew drove me to the terminal a little bit early. My mom (ever the over-achiever) befriended the flight attendant who vowed to take care of me for the duration of the flight. My parents drove me around the drop-off loop for half an hour until leaving me to my demise. I got out, we said our good-byes, and I was off to a better place. The escalator to the terminals stretched on for miles. The wait for my 7pm flight felt like forever. I sat with my knee bouncing (a habit I detest) and stared nervously out the window at the plane. Fortunately I boarded quickly only to find that a man had already taken my seat. "Oh, did you want to sit here?" he asked.
"Well yeah, that's my seat..." I brandished my boarding pass and shifted nervously.
The man grumbled and moved. Damn STRAIGHT you're going to move, that's MY window seat.
The flight was nice, I had great in flight movies like Silver Linings Playbook (which I highly recommend). The attendant stuck to her word and kept an eye on me for the duration of the flight, even remembering that I was a vegetarian and bringing me veg-friendly meals. The food was good, the entertainment was good, the service was excellent, and yet I didn't sleep a wink. We arrived in London at 6am local time and I was wide awake. Border patrol took the piss out of me (asking where I was staying, for how long, what was the phone number and address that I clearly didn't know) and I spent twenty minutes waiting at the wrong baggage claim but it didn't faze me. I was here, and I was about to be reunited with my best friend. I walked out to the terminal, bag dragging behind me, and waited. Time crept by as I walked up and down the terminal looking for her to no avail. Sarah was not there and I had no way to contact her. I had no phone service, no local currency and no phone number to reach her at. I panicked. I ran to the bathroom for a quick meltdown and sat in the waiting area to think myself out of this conundrum. She had to show up eventually, and if she didn't I'm sure I could find a way to make an international call to my parents. I stood up and did one last trek down the terminal to find Sarah. Halfway down, in a sea of strangers, she stood staring at her phone in frustration. Salvation.
We spent the day sightseeing after dropping my bag at her flat. I arrived with a bit of a cold but I wasn't going to let that get me down. I saw so many things on this trip that I must admit, I don't recall the order of events (sightseeing wise) that first day. I do know that I got to take a picture with the TARDIS, try a crunchy bar, walk across Abbey Road and visit platform 9 3/4. It was a dream come true! After a pint over dinner at Wetherspoons I passed out early that night. In fact, I slept straight through for 18 hours, a personal record.
The next day I woke up feeling a little bit under the weather and stayed in while Sarah had class. I wrote in my journal for film class, played way too much Candy Crush Saga, listened to music. It was boring. But the fun was just beginning, for the following day I would develop further problems.
TO BE CONTINUED