Peter Pan

So I have an archnemesis at school. Yeah, you say, who is she? Nope. It's a guy. And not just any guy. It's Peter Pan. And... I've only spoken two sentences to him. Yep. Probably a record for me.

When the internet was young and most people only got online with AOL, a weird little man built himself a website that consisted of pictures of himself dressed as Peter Pan. This kid that hates me looks just like internet Peter Pan guy. Hopefully Mike will do me the favor of finding the website and linking it in the comments section. I can't right now because he (real Peter Pan that hates me) is directly behind me. The key thing to remember when picturing this kid is that he wears a beige knitted sweater every day and has a bowl cut that flips under like the guy from the internet.

Anyway, the first few months I was at the institute, I noticed this guy that bore a striking resemblance to the internet Peter Pan guy. I never saw him working, just flitting about talking to people in the library and the computer lab. Both of these things made me want to kill him, especially since it never seemed like he was in either of these places to do work. He would always be talking about work- completely freaking out is more accurate- but I never once saw him doing anything.

One day Hannah (a girl in my master's program) and I were reading in the little cubicles in the library when Peter Pan fluttered up to me and asked me accusingly "Where are my books??!!" I looked at him like he was crazy and said there weren't any books in the cubicle when I sat down and went back about my reading.

"Have you seen any papers?? Anything that looks like a dissertation????" Frantic, high pitched voice.

At this point the whole library is looking at us. "There was nothing here when I sat down. Maybe the library staff moved it. You should ask them." I went back to reading.

Peter Pan didn't move. He just stood there. Staring. And staring. Finally Hannah turned around and told him that I wasn't lying, that there was nothing at my cubicle when I sat down.

Apparently he didn't believe either of us because ever since then he glares daggers at me whenever we're in the same room. Last semester he got all huffy because I was typing loudly in the computer lab. This semester when I looked up because he came blowing into the computer lab with papers flying and bag dropping, he stopped and stared at me for a good thirty seconds before picking things up.

Now before you start thinking he has a crush on me, let me tell you. This is not a look of love. I know that look. Mainly from my various animal friends, but still.

This is a look of hate. As much hate as a guy in a beige sweater with flipped under hair can muster. Because I stole his papers, dammit. And I'm always in the computer lab typing.

He's always wherever I am. Always talking. Always with the beige sweater. If I didn't know my presence annoyed him so much I'd go to the downstairs computer lab, but eh. This one's better.

He gives us something to talk about, though. After class on Wednesdays most of us go out to lunch and invariably we'll start talking about his recent strange activities. When he's done something particularly noteworthy I'll tell the girls at home about him.

He's sitting behind me right now, talking to people instead of writing his very important essay. He's had two panic attacks in the past 20 minutes because "ALL OF MY WORK IS GONE! I'VE LOST IT ALL!" Some saint of a girl has told him each time, "no, it's right there."

I hope that everyone who comes to visit gets to catch a glimpse of him. As for now, I just want him to shut the hell up so I can continue reading internet crap in peace.

So I woke up to this sound at 6:30 am "Scrape scrapescrape scraaaaaaaaaaape. SCRAPESCRAPESCRAPE!!!" Could it be? Yes. Yes it is. IT SNOWED! And all the busy little worker bees were out scraping off their cars.

I had to be up at 7 anyway, so the half hour early wasn't terrible, and there was snow! Not a lot, just enough to cover the ground and it was that really wet stuff that will be gone by the end of the day, but still.

On the way to the bus stop everyone was in the best mood. It wasn't cold, kids were having snowball fights (they put in a lot of effort to make that snowball- 1/2 inch doesn't get you much) and I think they delayed school.

When I got to campus, most of the people in my 9 am class were all giddy and awake. So we all tittered before class instead of staring off into space and drooling like zombies like we normally do. Amazing what frozen water droplets can do to people...

Usually by now I'm all snowed out. Snow up to my eyeballs! Coming out of my ears! Here it's "Wooo! Something other than rain! Yeah!"

Other news- I've been filling out my application for the MSc program. Why is it that the personal statements (entrance essays) take so long to write but are so sooo short?

Mother Nature is out to make you look like a jerk

So my past two posts have been complaining about the weather. Well, Mother Nature has been reading as well and this weekend was gorgeous. It's sprinkling today, but who cares? The weekend was gorgeous!

It didn't help me write my paper but.. THE SUN! I SAW THE SUN!

I know I promised poetry, but I havent had time to refine it yet. And come on, bad poetry on a blog? No one would ever do such a thing. But, the title is "Ode to the Crouch End Street Sweeper." I think it has potential to put me in the running to be voted the internet's poet laureate. That exists, right?

80 mph winds

Yeah. Nature kicked our ass. I spent the day hiding under the covers listening to the wind roar like a freight train all around our apt. I made the attempt to go outside and was promptly rewarded with a bag of garbage hitting me in the face. I turned around and went back to bed. No one should ever start their day with garbage face. Better to try again tomorrow.

Coming Soon: The Poetry of Crouch End!

Nothing feels like you do..

Remember that song London Rain ("Nothing feeeeeeels like you do" maybe Heather Nova?)? Anyway, what a joke. Unless, of course, the person she was talking about was cold and wet. Today the rain was coming from every direction while walking from the underground to UCL. Any position I put my umbrella, I was still getting rained on. I ended up in class at 9 completely soaked from the knee down, sloshing as I walked.

No one here ever says "Wet enough for you?", though. I'll give them that.

To make matters worse, the sun is now out and it's gorgeous. And I'm still damp from the knee down.

So I made a list

Well I've officially been back for a whole day. Everyone cry, cheer, pop open a can of coors.. whichever you feel is most fitting for this momentous event. Eh, I tried. I'm not even that excited about it. It's not so exciting the second time around.

Let me tell you about my trip here! The flight would have been relatively fine except I was in a bad mood. There really was no reason for it, I think I was just tired. This extended to when I tried to go through immigration and the guy asked to see my student ID.

Jerk Immigration Officer: And where are you studying?

Me: UCL.

JIO: Let me see your student ID.

Me: I didn't bring it with me because I wouldn't need it in the US. Isn't my Visa enough?

JIO: It doesn't show where you're studying. (Proceeds to show me my visa which says "STUDENT" in big letters on it).

Me: I didn't have an ID the first time I came over. And since when is a visa not good enough? The British government gave me the visa and they didn't have a student ID.

JIO: Sometimes different officers ask different things.

Then he let me through. To help with the mental picture, I had my eyebrow raised and was looking at him like he was an idiot the whole time. I think bit is necessary to know. Also, my student ID is a piece of paper lamenated. I can only hope that's acceptably ID here. In which case, I'll make a few dozen up and we can all move to London. You too can enjoy all that it has to offer (Tasteless potatoes and delicious premade sandwiches. That's all. I checked.).

About halfway through my tube ride (subway, underground) these nasty Russian guys got on and started being super loud and annoying. They were in their twenties were so drunk I could smell the booze (it was about 9:30 am). Then the train got held up 3 stations from home and they started farting. I wish I was kidding.

Now when a train gets held up in the station, the doors stay open. The farting was so bad that it stunk up the whole car even with the doors open. I got off and right as I did the doors closed and the train left. It was another 7 minutes until the next train but I think it was the right choice.

Tonight I'm going to have indian food for dinner. I'll make sure to post when I get sick of eating it. I expect it to take about a week.

One more real day..

So it's 1 am Friday morning and I leave for London on Saturday. I haven't updated for 3 weeks since this is a London blog and that would be weird, but I am now.

I haven't made a list of things to pack yet which means I anticipate leaving half of the things I want to take with me at home. Sarah M. brought me a ginormous suitcase that she used when she went to Australia. I'm certain I could fit my mom, all three cats, and all of my clothes and still have room to spare. I may just try it. I'm not sure how the roomates will handle Odin clawing, Boogie peeing, and Mamma yelling all night, but if they all survive the ride in the cargo hold it's totally worth it!

I got my tarot cards read the other night at a bar. Totally normal, right? Who wouldn't believe what the bar tarot card reader tells you... Anyway, she told me lots of fun stuff which Mike and hi friend Vinnie laughed at. They did not take the bar tarot card reader seriously. FOR SHAME.

While I'm going to miss everyone terribly while I'm gone, I'm least looking forward to leaving Kate and Mamma. This has nothing to do with me liking them more than any of the people in my life, just that I can't handle their glares and sulking when I come home. The moral of the story here is, if you want me to feel bad about leaving you, turn your back to me when I come home and sulk for a week.

I had lots of fun these past 3 weeks and will miss you all terribly..