Update

I know I haven’t posted in quite a while.  Partially that has been leftover blah-ness from the funk detailed in my last posting.  More of the silence can be attributed to starting a new job, putting together a Thanksgiving dinner for about twenty people, the occasional work on grad school applications (not as much as I should do, I know), and getting geared up for the frenzy of Christmas, with decorations and visits and parties and concerts.

I’m doing better, funk-wise.  I’m actively working on it, which is something.  There’s still a lot to overcome, some of which I’m not sure is a question of “overcoming,” but just getting used to - being an expat, for instance.  (You’d think I’d have gotten used to that by now, wouldn’t you?)

On the upside, the Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra has finished the concert that I disliked (Benjamin Britten’s War Reqiuem) and is about to give one that I LOVE the music for (Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mussorgsky).  I have a job - at a shoe store, but hey, it’s money, and they’re being really understanding about Christmas hours.  And Mom and Graham are coming to visit!  Huzzah!  They arrive a week on Thursday.  A and I will head down to London the night before, where I’ve gotten us tickets to go see the Royal Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker.”  (I’m really, really looking forward to it - “The Nutcracker” was a much-loved childhood tradition for me.)  Then we pick Mom and Graham up at Heathrow Thursday morning.  We’ll have a couple of days in London; we’re staying at a hotel on Portobello Road (“Street where the riches of ages are stowed…”), and we’ll just enjoy the hustle-bustle of London.  On Saturday, we leave London and drive straight to Birmingham, to meet up with some friends and go to a matinee performance of the pantomime “Robin Hood,” starring dear ol’ Captain Jack.  Christmas is at our house, but we’ll head down to Somerset and A’s mum’s place for Boxing Day.  Then Mom and Graham go back to the States on the 30th.  Unfortunately, I do have to work over the Christmas period, but given that I’m only working 16 hours per week, it’s not critical.

We decorated our tree last night, and have put up some other decorations.  The house still needs top-to-bottom cleaning, but that will get done.  I’m keeping up with applying for other jobs, and will be sending in at least three, probably four grad school applications shortly.  Just have to write the personal statements.  (I hate writing personal statements, so I procrastinate.)  Even if I don’t get in this year, well, I’ll apply again next year, hopefully with more experience under my belt.  ::shrug::

Other than all that, I’ve been reading a lot.  Last week I plowed through the four books that are out in a series by Naomi Novik, the first book of which is titled “Temeraire.”  Dragons and the Napoleonic Wars.  Not High Literature, but fun nonetheless.  Now I’m reading “The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters,” and after I finish this, it’ll be time for “The Grapes of Wrath.”  I read “Ivanhoe” before the Novik series and liked it very much.  And, just as a note, in early November 2007 I started keeping track of the books I read and when I finished them.  In a year, I read 72 books.  Some were re-reads - LOTR, “Pride and Prejudice,” etc.  But I also managed to read a lot of new ones, and it’s neat to be able to see all the different subjects!