Norfolk Terrace, Day 17. 19:00. Laundry Day, Creative Walk, and LCR
Whoa. If you ever check the time I write these entries, it generally comes down to midnight (or later, but I just put it at 11 something usually, so it’s still the same day) but today I plan to party at the campus club LCR, so this is rather early.
Reading Waverley is a challenge. The narrative runs episodically so the plot is looser than a standard plot (yeah, I know, a “standard” is a bit BS, but there is a general form of plot) and the hero Edward Waverley is no hero and just like his name, he wavers on everything. Do you ever notice how often you actually want to be a character in a story? For me, it’s so rare that it’s not funny. All these literary novels have gorgeous settings I want to be in, but never main characters that I particularly wish to be with or think I embody. My current leisure novel, part II of Lord of the Rings, is easy enough to enjoy and I admire Gandalf for wisdom, Sam for loyalty, Frodo for guts, Legolas for basically 5/20 (no, even better) eyesight, Gemli for bad-axness (oh! See what I did there?), and so on.
Before going into a brief retrospection on classes today, I want to take a moment and mention that I got up at 9:30 to do laundry today. I proceeded to go the Laundrette on campus (there are only two), met Joe there, managed to do a bit of shopping and withdraw money in the meantime, and the highlight of all this came soon after my laundry was done with the wash. Joe was sitting, watching me as I opened up the door to the dryer directly opposite my washer. Without warning, I forcefully threw my clothes from one to the other. Each clump mostly made it, but stray socks and pants (that is, British for “underwear”) flew to the floor. He definitely busted up laughing a bit as I did this, much to my delight. Then back in my room, I realized that it was “laundry day”, and so as I put my clothes away, I listened to the soundtrack of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, especially “My Freeze Ray” which starts with “Laundry day…”
The lecture on Waverley hit a few insightful points and had a good consistent rhetoric, especially when the speaker explained why reading this novel is crucial to the module since Sir Walter Scott influenced or was the object of opinion by every single person on the reading list, from Jane Austen to Charles Dickens. Fine, fine, I’ll finish the novel soon.
Creative writing class, day 2: After discussing an assigned reading, we were instructed to write observations around us in a notebook—the best part was that the tutor allowed us thirty-five minutes to go anywhere on campus to write. We just had to be back by 6:05. I walked through the emptying drizzle, past the glittering willow tree, into The Hive where students were dancing, downstairs into the Union Pub where students were seated in clumps talking, sipping ciders, or playing billiards (the balls are smaller in the UK than in America, no innuendo there…). We came back, shared a section of our works, and at mine, I discovered mine to be described as internal monologue, a focus on the time of the piece, and related to a bit of an opinion/allegory for society.
Okay, I gotta stop here. A flatmate literally called and apparently my flatmates want to know where I am. I think that’s my cue to go. Off to the Kitchen!!!
Eight hours later…
Steff is the greatest. Gave me loads of advice and mentioned his experience in keeping up his long-term relationship with Jenny while he was abroad for 5 months in India. I was inspired by his account. Then he bought me a drink, generously enough. Between Steff and Dan, I don’t know if I’ve ever met more generous people.
And then there’s the live-in-the-moment Stephen who definitely tried to kiss me tonight but I pulled away once I realized what was happening. Sorry, Stevie, but these lips are for Katya’s only.
Meanwhile there was that party tonight, right. Again I managed to get on people’s shoulders and swing my arms up. Somehow that’s always exhilarating. There was also a stay-on-the-surfboard platform (think riding-a-mechanical-bull type of activity and then replace the bull with a surfboard) which I decided to try my feet at, but I definitely lasted merely the average eight seconds on the board. Dancing with my flatmates is always fun and the LCR is a good venue. The night ended well.
Oh yeah, I remember now that funny word that the British use when they mean a “vest”: waistcoat. And what they call a “tank top”: a vest. So when Marie and Dan wanted me to wear a vest to the LCR tonight, I was utterly confused. The theme was Australia, and the general attire was beach clothing. Yep, in this second week, I brought out my swim trunks and wore them amidst the freezing cold. And I sported a “vest” too.
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