Trying to carve out a life for myself here....
Trying to make some couple friends... We had a great visit with Matt and Susan this weekend. There is hope! And I just voicemailed a gal from the small group inviting her and her husband to meet up with us for brunch after church this weekend. They seem great, and we'd love to get to know them better.
Trying to meet some girl friends... I finally located the old pay-as-you-go sim card for my UK cell phone, so that I can retrieve all the names and phone numbers in my contacts list. I randomly met two nice moms here in London this fall (one on a bus, one in a Baby Gap) who asked if I had friends yet and if I wanted to get coffee sometime. Um, YES! Well, I saved both their numbers in my phone right then, but when I switched cell phone contracts, their numbers disappeared. Ack! Anyway I found the old card, and I'm going to get their numbers off and call them in the next 4 days. (why is this so scary!? They asked for your number first, remember?)
Trying to find a gym... Every single place I've researched (including all the ones recommended by our relocation company) won't provide any childcare facilities for Brooks, unless they are just the creme de la creme... ie, more of a social club with a gym in the back, where you drop your kid off before playing bridge or running on the treadmill. Um, that's NOT us! But I desperately need some routine in my life that is not just about laundry, the grocery, and baby care. I so love the feeling of being in shape, and my thought is that this a perfect time to really get back into yoga or working out. As I walk everywhere for my LIFE now, I really want to do something other than walking for my exercise. Hence, the search for a gym...
Trying to recover from losing our camera... WAHHH! I can't believe it, but it has to be true. Somewhere between our flat and the London Aquarium on Wednesday, our digital camera jumped, fell out, or was snagged from the stroller basket and it is gone, gone, gone. I'm just so upset about it... it was a gift from Bonnie and Warren, it was a way to link with family and friends back home, it was way to capture and share all of Brooks's adorable cuteness. I had a bunch of great shots on there too, that are gone forever. I'm just kicking myself. And wondering what we're going to do for a camera now... DARN!
Trying to chose a book... Eric is completely inhaling the Harry Potter series and I'm eager to find another great read to dive into. I feel like there is a ton of great Brit Lit that at some point in my life I should have already read that I haven't... Any suggestions?
Trying to develop a hobby... Specifically I want to take guitar classes or lessons. I keep thinking that if there was one thing I wanted to personally accomplish while we're overseas, it would be learning to play my guitar. I'm taking tiny steps towards playing. Yesterday I got my guitar out of the hall closet, and today I emailed our church about the guitar classes they advertise. I'm hopeful that when we move home, I can at least accompany myself during my private singing... maybe.
Trying NOT to spend every moment on facebook or skype or this blog... I'm learning that if I choose to use all of Brooks's naps doing chores or keeping up with all of my wonderful friends and family back home, I'll never actually figure out what I'm supposed to be doing *here*. So I'm attempting to limit myself somewhat, so that I'm living not just in our wonderful past, but in my right now. In the present. And start actively looking forward to the (short-term) future of our next almost two years...
I'm trying...
8 comments:
Good last paragraph. Way to go! Glad to hear it! But come home for a visit on the 27th....
SC, in response to your request for British literature, I'm suggesting notsomuch a British novellist but rather a British commentator... His pen name is Theodore Dalrymple and he writes essays and editorials (and books) on social, economic and political issues in Britain (and Europe) from a conservative viewpoint with erudition and verbal accuracy... :)
Ooooh British Lit! Reminds me of college. I loved: William Blake (Brooks might like to hear some of his poetry..Tiger, tiger burning bright, in the forest of the night, what immortal hand or eye dare frame they fearful symmetry?), Virgina Woolf, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, Tennyson's poetry especially The Lady of Shalot. I hated James Joyce :) Happy reading.
The last paragraph is key - trying to live in the present. We each have our good days and bad days, and I guess the upside is that so far we've taken turns having bad days. Also, to say that I'm inhaling Harry Potter right now is a bit of an overstatement. It's really more like sipping. Or maybe this is what it's like to "inhale" a book when you're the parent of a toddler...
Neil Gaiman is a Brit and my favorite author. If you like short stories and fantasy I would recommend one of his collections such as Fragile Things.
I like Elizabeth Goudge, but she is out of print here in the states. You might see if the library can get a copy of her stuff. Try (The?) Scent of Water.
Shakespeare?
Chaucer?
Dickens?
Oscar Wilde?
Beowulf in a variety of translations?
I hated Pope and Alexander. Don't read those.
Ooh Ooh. Try GK Chesterton. He is ALWAYS being quoted.
Or maybe books about ships during the 1700-1900s. There is always a good riot and mutany going on before they crash off the coast of Malta or something.
Or how about REALLY CHEESY BAD British romance novels. Okay maybe not that.
OR how about British Women's lit, but not the obvious ones like Jane Austen or the Brontes. Find others.
If you took Liz Mouse's suggestion and do the poetry route (which is an excellent idea! Babies love poetry when you do in a sing songy way and not the normal way)...William Blake and Turner were friends, I think. Check into that. I think they smoked pot or something together. But I THINK that they influenced each other's work. You could sit in front of those crazy Turner ships and read Blake and then go to the mutany biography (can you call it a biography about a ship?) and read that next. It's a theme.
There is always John Keats..."Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness....."
I shouldn't eat so many M&Ms on an empty stomach.....
Hey girl..I only have a minute...e-mail me and let's skype soon! Weekends are probably best because of the time difference. I would love to see that little boy of yours. William loves seeing his counsins on skype...
Shannon
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