rule britannia

I succeeded in getting up at 4:30am to watch Queen Elizabeth's funeral. Of course, this means I didn't succeed in doing much of anything else today. The first part of the funeral at Westminster Abbey, including the processions before and after, lasted a couple of hours, and then I took a nap before the second part of the ceremony at Windsor. It was all pretty moving, from the precision and pageantry that went into the whole day (and the ten days leading up to it), to the human grief behind the formalities.

I've lost some interest in the royals the last few years - partially because I haven't been writing romances, and so haven't been doing any research into British history, and partially because it's increasingly clear that the family is determined to continue repeating generational traumas and self-inflicted wounds that have been going on since George I showed up from Hanover in the early 1700s after (allegedly) murdering his wife's lover, (actually) imprisoning his wife for the rest of her life, and becoming estranged from his son, who would be George II. Whether they're Hanovers, Saxe-Coburg-Gothas, or Windsors, they've had a nearly unbroken chain of animosity, infidelity, and bad family decisions going back over three hundred years.

I suppose that drama makes for good tv / clickbait, and also I clearly know too much about it. But it will be interesting to see where the monarchy goes from here. Queen Elizabeth managed to stay above the fray of all of that, and her father was a hero during WWII, so it's been 80+ years since the monarch him/herself was a scandal. She managed to overcome all the messes with her children and grandchildren - but I don't know if Charles will be so lucky. And unfortunately for Charles, he's inheriting when he's 70+ years old and everyone has had seventy years to form an opinion about him; this is very different from Elizabeth inheriting at 25, and then being so silent in so many ways that the nation could project its idea of the monarchy upon her.

So...I'm less interested in the monarchy now, but I still watched the funeral, and I'm still glad I did. It's the end of an era, and it was interesting to see it live rather than catching the soundbites later.

After that, I took a couple of naps, ate some leftover chili, did some house tasks, etc. I also talked to Alyssa, who was in good form. And I got takeout pizza for dinner, since I don't have many groceries, which is a situation I shall rectify tomorrow.

And now, I need to catch up on the sleep I missed last night - goodnight!

buddy of last resort

I’m typing this on my iPad because my laptop is in Iowa, so this will be brief. I had a decent day, mostly because it appears that the injury I hadn’t told you about isn’t actually serious. On Tuesday, at the airport, I started to run to catch an Uber, felt something pop in my leg, and was sure I had torn a tendon or something. So I spent the last seventy-two hours alternating between my bed and my chaise like a Victorian lady, albeit a Victorian lady with easy access to ice. I also panic ordered a compression sleeve and a fancy ice pack at 5am Wednesday for same day delivery, which helped. Thanks to constant application of ice, compression, elevation, and ibuprofen, I was in much better shape by today - I can basically walk on it and it doesn’t hurt at all when I’m sitting/standing, but I’m still being careful since I don’t want to strain it more. And I went to the doctor today and they confirmed that I didn’t tear anything and just told me to keep doing what I’m doing, so that’s all a relief.

Needless to say this has put a damper on my week - but I also can’t help but think that it was just my body insisting on a couple of days of couch / tv / early bedtime after all the stress of the last few weeks. It’s been kind of nice, all in all, to sit on my couch and order takeout and watch Top Chef. [speaking of Top Chef, I watched the second episode of the new season tonight, and it seems like this might be one of the most impressive and competitive seasons yet. I wonder how much of that is because so many amazing chefs had to shut down their restaurants last year and so were more willing / available to shoot a tv show in the pandemic?]

So, today was mostly consumed by working, taking care of myself, eating sushi for dinner, and watching Top Chef. You would think that I would have spent more time reading coverage of Prince Philip’s death, but I’m so tired of bad news that when I saw it this morning, I just kind of thought “that makes sense, too bad” and went on with my day. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how the stories play out over the next few days, since the brits are currently banned from having more than thirty people at a funeral and just his kids / grandkids get it up to twenty without adding great-grandkids, other relatives, etc.

That said, pretty much anything in the world is more important right now than this funeral, and I should probably rest, so it’s time to sign off. Goodnight!

let's get it started in here

Well, I am certainly awake later than I had planned. Today was pretty productive, from what I remember - I made some oatmeal for the week, journaled, showered, etc. and then talked to Veronica for an hour, which was very much overdue. She was a delight, as usual, and I feel v. grateful to have writer friends who know exactly what a struggle the writing can be sometimes.

Then I spent the afternoon taking care of tings around the house, including another attempt at the harissa-rubbed pork shoulder that I made last weekend. Last weekend's effort was a disaster that was so bad that I threw out four pounds of pork, which is really just a total tragedy. But I was determined to try again. So, I made the rub and put the pork in the oven around one. Then I messed around, did some laundry, and did a couple of hours of day job work to make tomorrow just a little more bearable.

Eventually, the pork was at the right temperature (part of what I didn't like of the original recipe was that she gave a time for cooking it, not a temperature to cook it to, which is really not a good idea when it comes to big chunks of pork). So I let it rest and did some more work, and then cranked up the oven heat, threw some beans in with the pork, and finished it off. The end result was much better than last week - it was actually good, and while I think I could still perfect the technique, I was happy with how it turned out.

Then, as supper ended, I poured a glass of wine....and accidentally watched the Oprah/Harry/Meghan interview twice. I say accidentally because I very much intended to watch it once tonight (I had set a recording and also told myself that if I finished work I could watch it undistracted). But then Adit texted about a live watch as a family, and they were an hour behind me (two hours, actually, since the timezone is an hour back but then the broadcast schedule is even later). So I finished my watch and immediately hopped onto a zoom to watch with Adit / Chandlord / Riturani.

I had a lot of thoughts, but I'm too tired to recap here - basically it's just a sad situation and it's kind of shocking that the royal family (esp Charles) doesn't seem to have learned any lessons in the past forty years. Not so shocking that the palace is full of racist, hidebound courtiers - but shocking that the family didn't do more to figure this situation out. Anyway, it was v. interesting to watch, and it was entertaining to watch it a second time with the family (I did my nails while watching the second time, so at least I have something to show for it).

After the interview was over, we debriefed (and Priyanka joined)...and now it's after midnight here and I desperately need to sleep. Goodnight!

ave maria

Today was a high holiday in my calendar, since it was the long-awaited wedding of Prince Harry (who somehow did not choose me, weird) and Meghan Markle. However, I did not get up to watch it live - I hate mornings, as you all know. Instead, I slept in, then spent most of the day trying to organize my office - it's the only messy room in the house, and I need to get it straightened up so I can focus better.

But after taking care of house stuff, doing five loads of laundry, changing the sheets on my bed, buying groceries, etc., etc. I finally decided I had done enough, and so I spent the last five hours watching the BBC wedding coverage that I'd recorded this morning. It was a super chill way to spend the evening, and a casual outside observer might have found it a wee bit creepy (I turned off the lights, lit all the candles in my fireplace, and drank a half-bottle of champagne)...but don't judge.

Anyway, the wedding was gorgeous, and I loved the vibe - as someone who is obsessed with every era of the monarchy from William the Conquerer on, it's v. interesting, and perhaps awe-inspiring, to feel like I just witnessed the start of an entirely new chapter and an incredible bit of evolution from what the monarchy has been to what it could be. It was fresh and modern in a way that previous royal weddings weren't - but that's the flexibility that a spare has, especially a spare who is getting married after the queen has lived through ninety years of scandals and sorrows caused by prioritizing state duty over love.

sssanyway. I could wax on about this for hours, but I would be better served by going to bed - goodnight!

we sweat for a nickel and dime, turn it into an empire

Another lovely day in Colorado, and I'm already trying to ignore the fact that I'll have to pack up and leave soon. I slept a little later than planned, but I still got up in time to eat breakfast and pack a lunch and do similarly vital things before going to the coworking place. Katie was there today, but I successfully did some actual work without letting her distract me (or, more honestly, without letting me use her as an excuse to be distracted). However, we did take a break to walk down the street for coffee, and we also ate our lunches together, so that was all delightful.

But I had to leave a little after three, which was earlier than usual - I had happy hour plans north of Denver (closer to Boulder) with Chris and Natasha. They are a blast from the past - Chris and I were in India together, and Natasha and I worked really closely together when I worked for the big boss, since she was the big boss's admin. I also went to their wedding way back in the day, but they moved to Boulder five years ago, so we haven't had a chance to get together since then.

Sadly, Chris ended up with a last minute meeting that conflicted with our 4pm meetup, but Natasha and I grabbed a drink and snack before going back to their place. She picked up their boys (aged 5, 3, and 8mo) on the way, and we spent some quality time catching up while feeding the kids. It was great to see them - I really liked Chris and Natasha when we spent more time together, and I predict that I'll see them more often if (when) I (eventually) move out here (hedging much?).

But I left their place around seven so that they could engage in bathtime, and I drove back to Denver, made a late supper since my snack wasn't doing it (more eggs and hash browns, yum), and then watched the last two episodes of The Crown. I thought they were brilliant, all in all - I think they did a great job of capturing what must be such a lonely life and position, and how it would blight all one's relationships, as one character said in the last episode. And John Lithgow's Churchill was great. I recommend!

Now, though, I should sleep so that I can get even more work done tomorrow - goodnight!

god save the queen

I had a great day, all in all, although a lot of it involved bingeing. I binged on social media this morning, and I binged on four episodes of 'The Crown' tonight (and I binged on hash browns with the eggs I made for dinner because I was feeling lazy and in need of some potatoes).

But I also got some good work in - I wrote for four hours at Platform T this afternoon, which was great. I also walked there and back - it was cooler today, since it seemed to be threatening rain all day, and so the walk wasn't the apocalyptic endeavor it would have been yesterday.

And now, although this is boring, I must sleep - goodnight!

you don't know how lucky you are boys

Too tired to blog - I got approximately four hours of sleep last night, and then got up at 5:30am to go on a hike with Aunt B. We went to a state park near her place, and it took a bit of time to jockey ourselves into position (we left my car at one end and took her car to the other), but the hike itself was great. It was three miles, not too difficult, and no rattlesnakes in sight despite copious warnings. The advantage of getting there so early is that we didn't boil to death in the heat of the rocks, so getting up was worth it (although I really didn't think it was worth it when my alarm went off).

Then I stopped at Starbucks on the way back to the house, and then I made avocado toast to satisfy my hipster cravings. Eventually I showered and Aunt B and I went to the outlet mall nearby - turns out they have a Lucy store, which is my favorite brand of workout/athleisure gear, so I got a pair of capris, a tank, and a sweatshirt and was rendered very happy for as long as the 'I just bought something' endorphins remained in my bloodstream.

When we got back to the house, I alternated between watching 'The Crown', working, napping, and journaling until it was time for dinner - a v. delish pork chop courtesy of Uncle B (it was a bona fide Iowa Chop, since they brought them with them from Iowa) and some twice-baked potatoes and salad courtesy of Aunt B. I read for a little bit after dinner, and then hung out in the kitchen and talked to Becky until it was time to go to bed.

And now, that's exactly what I'm going to do...goodnight!

don't put your blame on me

I had a delightfully productive day despite feeling like I was overheating for almost all of it. I woke up this morning after sleeping surprisingly poorly last night (or not surprisingly, since I'd had way too much wine). Then I drove into Denver - I had a date with Katie to work at her coworking place, and this was a great decision, because I was extremely productive. Of course, I need to be similarly productive for the rest of time, but I'll take today as a good start.

We had a break for lunch (I grabbed a v. tasty burger from the place across the street), and then I worked the rest of the afternoon (with another break for me to go to Tattered Cover to pick up a book). I parted ways with her around five and drove back to Castle Rock, where I had supper with Aunt B and Uncle B - Aunt B made some awesome fish tacos, which I'm going to have to replicate as soon as I have a home again. Then we watched the first two episodes of 'The Crown', which I've been meaning to watch forever, and it became clear that I know waaaaay too much about the royal family.

And now I need to sleep - we're apparently going on a hike tomorrow, which requires waking up super early to avoid getting heatstroke. Goodnight!

god save the queen

Today got off to a v. inauspicious start - the fire alarm went off at 7:30am, right as I was waking up and debating going back to sleep and skipping the community breakfast. So I stumbled downstairs, and it was a false alarm (probably someone else's shower), but since I was already up and Michelle saw me up, I decided I should probably go to breakfast.

This was a mistake. I should have gotten more sleep instead. I probably should never have kids, since I can't seem to function on less than eight (seven at the least) hours of sleep for more than one night a week. But I showered and made it downstairs by 8:15 to meet for breakfast. It seems that most people made better decisions than I did, since it was only Michelle and this guy Edgar (don't learn his name, he's leaving tomorrow). We went to Bluebird, which I've been to a couple of times before, and it was actually lowkey and lovely, but my energy was already flagging by nine a.m.

But I'd taken my laptop with me, so I abandoned them and stopped at a cute coffeeshop called Wanted Man that I'd been wanting to try. The coffee was good and I got a juice as well - I had a horrific headache for most of the day, and I was hoping the juice would help. It didn't, but I got some writing done, so that was good.

Then I came back here and worked more of the afternoon, when I wasn't nursing my headache or eating lunch. And at four p.m. I took a twenty-minute nap, which I probably should have done at ten a.m. since it went a long way toward restoring me.

Then I threw on real clothes and went to today's exciting adventure - a semi-private tour of Buckingham Palace. I've never been since the palace is usually only open during the summer when the queen is at Balmoral, and I saw this ticket by chance a month ago and bought it. I'm so glad that I did - the tour was only thirty people, and we were guided around for an hour and a half and shown all kinds of wonderful stuff. I'm obviously a suuuuuuuper dork about all of it, both the historical stuff (the guy who collected much of the stuff in the most impressive rooms was George IV, who was better known as the Prince Regent while George III was too mad to rule, and the Regency period is named after him) and the modern stuff (when we stepped into the music room, I immediately knew it was where a bunch of royals had been baptized, because I am crazy).

Anyway, I loved every second of it - picturing both the balls and soirees of Victoria's day and the pomp and ceremony of the present, and all the history in and around the building and its contents. The tour ended with a glass of champagne, which encouraged me to buy a mug in the giftshop (it's no Starbucks mug, but I'll be drinking tea out of it for a long time anyway). No photos were allowed in the palace, so you'll just have to trust me that it was super cool.

When I was done, I took a few pictures outside as the sun was setting, and then I came back to Roam, ordered some thai food (I was starving, so I ate it all), and hung out briefly with some people who were getting ready to go out to the pubs. I, however, am taking the virtuous path and going to bed right now so that I can get lots of glorious sleep before doing lots of glorious work tomorrow. Goodnight!

london bridge is falling down

Today was great, except for the fact that I got up too late to get much done in the early morning hours. However, I did get a lot of great stuff done despite that. I wrote for several hours in the late morning/early afternoon, and then I left the house to go to a museum. I'm glad that I prebooked the ticket - I wouldn't have gone today if I hadn't, but it turned out that today was totally gorgeous - the warmest day we've had since I got here, with enough sunshine to start replenishing all the vitamin deficiencies that have caused some surly moods.

My destination was the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which is quite far from here (six miles is an eternity). I decided to take the Thames Clipper there - the ferry down the Thames is about as fast as any other option and faaaaaar more scenic, although it only runs every twenty minutes and so may not be as efficient if you mistime it. But I timed it perfectly, and it was a gorgeous day to take a boat down the Thames, even if I had a few moments where I feared seasickness. But it was #worthit for sure, since I saw all sorts of London landmarks while enjoying the sun.

When I got to the Maritime Museum, I went straight to the special exhibition on Emma Hamilton, who was the infamous mistress of Admiral Nelson. You of course allllll know who Admiral Nelson is - he was the hero of the British Navy (although he became much more of a hero after his death, since it's easier to deify people who die tragically and are no longer able to insult you in real life). He'd lost an arm and an eye in previous naval battles over his long career, and spent many years thwarting Napoleon - he fought the Battle of the Nile against Napoleon way back in 1798, where he destroyed most of Napoleon's hopes of becoming a new Alexander the Great and conquering Egypt before going on to conquer India (I read a lot about this in 'Napoleon in Egypt' several years ago, which I'm sure I waxed lyrically about at the time).

But the exhibit wasn't about Nelson - it was all about Emma, a poor working-class girl who rose to the height of celebrity and infamy in the late 1700s. She became the mistress of Sir William Hamilton, the British ambassador to Naples, after his nephew (the guy she was previously sleeping with) sent her to stay with Hamilton without telling her that he intended for her to become his uncle's mistress instead. Gross. She was furious, of course - but there wasn't much to be done about it, since she was already in Naples when she figured it out.

Whatever happened next, she did seem to eventually fall into genuine love with Hamilton (not the same Hamilton who got shot by Burr, obvi), and they finally married many years later, which was *not done* back then. But she was on her way to respectability...and then she fell for Nelson when he came through Naples. Sir William seemed to be okay with this, as the three of them traveled together to get back to London in ~1802, and she split her time between the men going forward.

But things don't work out well for mistresses. Sir William died, and left her money but not enough for her lifestyle...and then Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar, cementing his place in British history and leaving her out to dry. She was barred from attending his funeral, and the British government gave all sorts of honors/money to his estranged wife (whom he hadn't seen in eight years) while giving Emma nothing. She lived for a few more years, increasingly desperate, before dying in poverty in France.

So...now you know. You're welcome.

The exhibit was really cool, but I was pretty angry throughout - she was a very intelligent woman (she was fluent in French and Italian within a year of reaching Naples) who had the misfortune of being born poor in a time when women had very few rights, and she suffered all the consequences of the Nelson affair while he became the hero of his age. Ugh.

Anyway, to wrap this up, I then did a speed tour through a couple of other sections of the museum (which I've seen before), then left when they closed at five. At that point I was starving, so I went to a nearby restaurant and had a steak and a glass of wine while writing in my journal and contemplating the things I'd seen. Then I took trains and tubes back to my neighborhood, and when I got here I did some solid writing for a couple of hours (when not talking to [censored]).

And now I need to sleep so that I can repeat these feats of writing and cultural exploration tomorrow - goodnight!

champagne wishes and caviar dreams

My body is rebelling against all the food and champagne I forced into it today, and the especially cruel double whammy of making it walk for hours in between food/champagne stops. But today was a lovely day in London town. I woke up in time to shower before writing for half an hour in the early morning hours (where 'early' equals '9am'), which was v. necessary. Then I walked over to South Kensington to meet Jen so that I could show her my favorite haunts.

We started with brunch at Muriel's - the wait wasn't bad, and my halloumi and poached eggs (the same dish I had earlier this week) was perfect. Then we ended up going to the V&A Museum quite by accident, where Jen got a v. oddly specific tour from me (and by that I mean that whenever we saw something I knew something about, I told her about it - this mostly means anything between 1790 and 1820). We saw some highly enjoyable fashion stuff, and some delightful furnishings/gold/decorative stuff, and then ended up trapped in an odd assortment of rooms related to theatrical productions that had a lot of creepy costumes and many blocked exits. #donotlike

So we left the museum and stopped by Roam so that Jen could see where I live (verdict: she liked it but we're both glad Google is paying for a hotel for her). Then we wandered up and down Kings Road for a couple of hours, doing some desultory shopping - of course, she's the one who wanted to shop and I'm the one who ended up buying boots. That's the story of my life, so #noregrets.

Then we took the tube one stop to Victoria, and we decided we were both too exhausted to walk for another hour, so I took one for the team and had a glass of champagne (real champagne! veuve clicquot!) so that we could sit at a bar for an hour. We then proceeded to the main event: high tea at the Goring Hotel.

The Goring Hotel, as I'm sure all of you know, is where the Duchess of Cambridge (née Kate Middleton) and her family stayed in the days leading up to her wedding back in 2011 (what, you didn't all know that?). It was also a favorite hangout of the Queen Mother, and the current queen still goes there on occasion. More importantly, I'd read that they have one of the best gluten-free high teas in London. So when I found out Jen was coming, I promptly made a reservation - and I have to say that it was spectacular.

My gluten-free tea was just as impressive as hers, which is a rare feat. We had four finger sandwiches - my favorites were the curried chicken salad and the salmon, but the cheese sandwich and the roast beef were lovely too. There were two scones apiece, and they were perfect - both on their own and as a vehicle for delivering as much devonshire cream and jam into my mouth as possible. And the desserts on top were too much - I didn't actually finish mine, since there were five apiece, but the macaroon was great and I adored the chocolate/coffee cake.

We also had two glasses of champagne there (real champagne again), so I was feeling very full and mildly tipsy by the end. We were both basically falling asleep at this point, which made for a low-energy goodbye - but I'll see Jen again this week, either for something impromptu or for the dinner we've reserved for Friday night.

I then came home, took a nap, messed around online because I'm too tired to think, and now need to sleep for real - goodnight!

i'm smiling, she's living, she's golden

I'm sleepy and I inadvertently had more wine than I intended, and while that all ended hours ago, I think I'm going to drink a bunch more water and go to bed. Today was good, though. I spent the morning messing around, cleaning my room, and writing, as most of my mornings are usually spent. Then, in the afternoon I went to the Sir John Soane Museum for a class on making 'jasperware' jewelry.

The Soane Museum is one of my favorite museums in London - it was founded by Sir John Soane, who was a famous architect and major art/antiquities collector. His sole surviving son was a wastrel who disappointed him one too many times, so Soane got an Act of Parliament passed to disinherit his son and leave the house and all its contents to the nation, with the intent that it would be preserved in perpetuity as a museum. This probably sucked for the son, but is great for all of us, since it's an amazing example of an early 1800s townhouse (and v. much more interesting than most of them would have been anyway, since he was an architect and put in lots of clever skylights, mirrors, etc. to brighten things up, and also managed to get the massive stone sarcophagus of Pharaoh Seti I into his basement by knocking out a wall).

sssanyway. The workshop was in the basement, and there were five of us, along with the two women who worked for the Soane who were leading it. We mixed up plaster and poured them into our first molds, and while those were drying we got a short private(ish) tour of the upstairs. Today was the last day of an exhibit of Robert Adam's documents - he was the most important architect in England in the generation before Soane, and his neoclassical designs had an enormous influence on British design. I really should have gone to see this exhibit separately and spent more time in it, but it's okay that I didn't - the tour was enough to get the highlights. And I got to see bits of the museum that aren't open to the public - namely the place where Soane buried his dog and turned it into something that looked like an abbey ruin so that it would feel like the house was built on top of ruins. Ha.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon painting our creations, with a break to have prosecco. I had more prosecco then I realized, I think, and I drank my last bit quickly since we were out of time...and it hit me when I was sipping a glass of wine at a pub down the street, which was poor timing. But I had a great dinner of short ribs at the Star Tavern (which was started in the 1500s, although the building has been rebuilt). And then I came back here, passed out briefly, woke up, wrote in my journal, and then considered working but instead watched the season finale of last year's Top Chef - I'd watched the entire season while packing my apartment back in December, but with the holidays and everything I never finished it.

And now I need to sleep - I have no plans tomorrow and need to get some serious work done, and sleep will help toward that noble goal. Goodnight!

offer me that deathless death

I was falling asleep moments ago, so I need to get this posted and go to bed. Today was a pretty good day for a Monday (which somehow still resonates even though I haven't had a day job that required distinguishing between weekdays and weekends in a long time). I got up, ate some cereal, worked, ate some eggs for lunch, worked some more, took a quick nap, went down the street to get a coffee to wake myself up, and worked some more.

But at 4:30ish I stopped and took the tube to the King's Cross/St Pancras area, which is home to the British Library. First, I bought a dress (Jen is coming to visit in a couple of weeks and we've booked a couple of fancy ladies' engagements, and I suddenly panicked that maybe I should have something nicer than what I've been traveling with for the last two months). Then I went to a pub called Somerstown Coffee House - it's super comfy inside, but the real draw was that I discovered, quite by accident, that they have gluten free fish and chips. Since I love fish and chips and can't usually have them anymore, I went for that, and they were delightful.

Then I went to the British Library - the real reason I went to that part of town was because I'd bought a ticket to a talk about mesmerism (hypnotism) called 'Science vs. Superstition in the Victorian Era'. I'm idly begin to look for an idea for my next series, and it might have something to do with science, so even though 1837 is a little past my time, I thought this would be interesting. And it was interesting - I'm glad I went, even if part of me was thinking about my massive to-do list rather than the equally important long-term work of learning new things...

Then I took the tube home and strolled through the darkened streets around Sloane Square while falling even more in love with London than I already was. And now I'm desperate for sleep, so I'm going to indulge - goodnight!

through the storm we reach the shore

Today was rather delightful, although it started with a hangover and ended with a rainstorm. I woke up later than intended, after spending an ill-advised hour at four a.m. reading twitter (please take my phone away from me), and then I showered and tidied up before venturing out of my room. My first task was to make tea, and while I was making tea I met some new Aussie guy who just showed up - he's something of a tech bro and seems to be investing in startups, but also makes money via airbnb, and he wants to write an ebook. This all sounds vomit-worthy, but he was more interesting than that bio made it sound, and he's here for a month, so I'm sure our paths will cross again.

Then I went upstairs and ate some nasi goreng (breakfast/lunch/dinner of Roam champions) and messed around online. I also had a long, delightful conversation with Tamara, who's also a writer...but I cut it short to have a video call with Adit (no one calls him the cat). We were talking about this book idea, and so we came up with some actions and next steps, which I'm pretty excited about.

But I couldn't work on it this afternoon - I needed to work, rather desperately, on my historical instead. So I packed up my stuff and went to Lazy Cats, taking a risk since it had been very rainy/windy earlier and looked like it might be rainy/windy again. In fact, it was so relatively cool/windy that I wore jeans today for the first time since arriving in Bali, which was a fun departure from my strange tropical wardrobe.

Lazy Cats was great for my productivity, and I would have happily stayed there even longer, but there were drinks planned tonight for Mandy, whom I haven't mentioned here before and will likely never mention here again since she's leaving tomorrow morning. I'd be totally happy if our paths crossed again, but one never knows. So I walked to No Mas, which is a second-floor bar with a cool vibe (and the dreaded live music, which is always too loud, although these guys were pretty good despite the volume). A whole bunch of people showed up, and it was all v. relaxed and desultory....

But the music was loud, as I said, and I was on the verge of going home (in fact, I had just settled my bill), when Clayton and this British guy he'd met on a volcano this morning at three a.m. and I decided to go get another drink (and food for me, since I hadn't eaten dinner). This slowly morphed into almost everyone from the original gathering ending up across the street at Art Cafe, which was much, much quieter. I had a glass of red wine and a tasty chicken sandwich, and I got into a super deep conversation about US and British politics with Alex, Sanj, Tamara, and volcano guy (whose name is Tom).

Alex and Sanj left abruptly to take Sanj to a late-night clinic before she died of diarrhea issues, but the rest of us stayed until eleven and continued to enjoy ourselves. I also got Tom's info, since he grew up in Devon (which is where my latest series is set) and said he'd send me some recs of places to go/things to explore while I'm in London, which would be lovely. And then we all parted ways - Tom (volcano guy) went off to wherever he's staying, and six of us grabbed a taxi. Just as we were piling into the taxi, it started to drizzle - and just as we got back to the hotel, the downpour started and we all risked getting soaked running from the car to the door. Rather fitting way to end the day, since I'd avoided getting wet all day and was feeling too smug about it.

And now I need to sleep - I need to be productive in the morning, since Clayton's birthday + going-away drinks are tomorrow (there are going-away drinks alllll the time in a situation like this) and I've convinced him to do them at the Four Seasons since I'm a fancy bitch and want to check that place out. Goodnight!

see our love turn to rust

I didn't do nearly enough laboring on Labor Day, which is pretty much all you need to know. However, I feel that I should record the rest of the day's events for posterity. I woke up, lazed about in bed like a total wench, and finally showered and ate a snack while mulling over the next scene in my book...so, really, that's like every morning.

Eventually, though, I had to leave the apartment and venture into the million-degree heat to meet up with Katrina, Chandlord and Priyanka. We had a v. ladylike excursion to Crown and Crumpet, which is a tea place in Japantown, conveniently located only five blocks or so from my apartment. Despite its proximity and the fact that it's everything I adore, I had never been there before, so I'm glad that Katrina organized the activity for us.

The place was super cute and v. much an attempt at being British (although I'm not sure the Brits use quite so much pink), which is a bit odd given that everything else around it/above it/below it is v. Japanese. But they had the traditional multi-tiered tea services and the individual pots of tea for each person, which I always love. Even better, they have a v. good gluten-free tea service, with gf bread for the sandwiches, gf scones, and other gluten free delicacies. So Katrina and I each had the gluten free service, and Vidya and Priyanka each got veg stuff, and we succeeded in meeting all of our dietary restrictions with minimal eyerolling from the waitstaff.

But despite the heat being a little too much for tea, we had a great time - it was a nice place to catch up, which was key since I hadn't seen Katrina in ages, and the food was v. filling. So we hung out there for a couple of hours, and it was a nice way to end the long weekend (not that things like 'weekends' matter all that much to me anymore).

After tea, I came home and took a nap and lazed about directly in front of the fan, since it was all I had energy for. I also called my parents; I usually call on Sundays, but [censored] had stopped that from happening yesterday, and I didn't really have much to discuss since I just saw them on Wednesday. Still, it was good to talk to them despite the lack of any substantive updates. I perhaps should have gone out tonight, but instead I indulged my inner hermit (not that my inner hermit is all that secretive about her existence, since everyone knows of my hermit side), ate whatever I could scrounge up in my fridge, drank iced coffee to keep myself going, and alternated between writing / journalling / coloring (yes, coloring, more on that another time perhaps) / procrastinating / bemoaning the heat.

So that was a nice, quiet evening, and I'm feeling good about the week ahead (if I can buckle down on Rafe and Octavia, which I think I can). The only thing I'm not feeling good about is the vaguely scratchy feeling in my throat and the vague press of a headache behind my eyeballs, which I hope stays vague/nonexistent and doesn't turn into a summer cold to remind me that I'm turning 34 and will soon be old and decrepit. So I'm going to sleep and hope the stave off whatever might be brewing...goodnight!

hunting for witches

Writing was a fail today, but I am reminded that I had planned to be nicer to myself about not working on weekends (although I'm not sure if that counts since I haven't ramped up to working full days during the week). I had meant to get up early and write before brunch, but I got up too early (5:40am, after six hours of sleep), and so dozed off and on for another couple of hours. That left me a little too lethargic, though - I should have just gotten up. When I finally got out of bed, I stared at the manuscript for just a little bit, but then I ate a snack, showered, etc. instead of facing the page.

But I made it to brunch with Shedletsky and Tina at Hong Kong Flower Lounge - we hadn't been there in ages, and it was good to have dim sum even if I can now only eat a small fraction of all my old favorites. This turned out to make it super cheap, though, since we didn't overorder; I think the total for the three of us was less than $30, which is crazy cheap for San Francisco (and especially crazy cheap given how many shrimp died to fuel our gluttony). They recently went to Italy and France, which sounded delightful, and so we exchanged notes on their Tuscan adventures vs. my spinster honeymoon, as well as discussing online marketing, ridiculous life updates, etc.

After we parted ways, I came home and took the shortest post-dim sum nap I've probably ever taken (combo of not overordering + not eating gluten makes these dim sum excursions far less challenging for my body than they used to be). Then I went a little too far down one of my fear spirals (an expected part of the transition from corporate slave to independent creative type, but even though it's expected, it's not easy to get out of once within it).

But I rallied and went to the gym, where I did a pretty heavy kettlebell workout (I'm up to swinging 24kg, so I guess that's a yay?), and so between the workout itself and the fact that I walked to the gym and back, I had almost two hours to clear my head and tire myself out, which was a good thing. Then I came home, showered again, took care of some tings, and ended up meeting Priyanka for a girls' night out at Lers Ros. And by 'girls' night out' I mean we ate curry and talked about shopping + the latest pics of Prince George; Adit is out of town, so we were able to indulge in girl talk to our hearts' content.

But all good things, even good things related to Parisian shopping (she and Adit were in Iceland/Paris for the last two weeks), must come to an end. So Priyanka dropped me off (with a v. brief stop to see the place, since she hadn't been over since I moved in), and then I spent some quality time buying plane tickets for my NYC trip next month. And now I must go to bed - I really really am going to get up early and write tomorrow. Goodnight!

every heart is a package tangled up in knots someone else tied

Hello, Dublin! I haven't been here since 2010, during the epic trip I took from Koolwal's wedding -> several days stranded in DC by the Icelandic volcano -> London -> Paris (where I seemed to have some form of whooping cough) -> Dublin. So far I haven't noticed many changes, but that could be because the cabbie smelled more like a pig farm than anything I've smelled since a pig farm, which made for a rather awful ride. Or maybe I'm the one who smells, since I still seem to smell it, but that could be because I'm tired and hallucinating. Or it's possible I'm getting sick - everything feels vaguely fuzzy, which doesn't bode well...

...but today was a good day despite it. I got nineish hours of sleep, did an hour of work for the day job, showered, had breakfast (a worse choice than yesterday - scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, since I was trying to be healthier than french toast, but the salmon was too oily for my tastes; hopefully it's not food poisoning that's making me feel woozy), and packed everything so I could check out by noon. Then I spent a delightful, wonderful, awesome three hours at the V&A Museum - I adore that place more than possibly any other museum in the world, since they have a lot of cool information about how furnishings, textiles, ceramics, etc. are made, all of which is v. inspiring to my writing. So I took a ton of pictures, read a ton of placards, bought an awesome necklace to commemorate my trip, and had a quick lunch in their cafe to keep myself from fainting. All in all, it was great!

Then I went back to the hotel, had a quick pot of tea and a bit of chocolate while scribbling in my journal, and then took a taxi to the airport. The taxi was supposed to obviate the need to walk a lot since I wasn't feeling well (otherwise I would have taken the substantially cheaper Underground, but that would have involved walking two blocks + carrying my suitcase up and down a bunch of stairs). And the taxi driver was nice - but then he dropped me off at Terminal 5, and I didn't realize it until I was already inside. This was annoying, since I needed to be in Terminal 2 (and had told him that twice). So I ended up on the Underground after all, since that was the best way between terminals. Ha.

But I was still early enough that when I checked in, they bumped me to a flight that left an hour earlier. That was all entirely uneventful, and I didn't get threatened with deportation in Ireland, so that was a plus. I got to my hotel without incident (and after having burned out my sense of smell), checked in, and discovered that it's more quaint than any hotel I've ever stayed in (well, maybe not, but considering I feel that way after staying in a castle last week, you can guess that it's pretty fucking quaint). I grabbed dinner in the restaurant downstairs, which was one of my old favorites when I lived here, but they appear to have remodeled and it doesn't feel the same (although it may perhaps be better).

And now I should sleep - I have to go to the office in the morning and try to remember how to be a contributing, functioning member of the team after what was essentially a ten-day non-working junket of fun and regret. Goodnight!

somewhere along the way my bitterness turned to anger

It feels a little lame to go to bed at 10:30pm on a Saturday in a foreign city, but since my main goals are to write and recover from a weeklong bender, this is exactly what I need to do. Today was lovely, though - I got nine hours of sleep, lazed around for a bit, showered, and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (which is way nicer than most hotel restaurants - it's apparently a destination in its own right). I had their gluten-free french toast with bacon and banana, and it was totally scrumptious. I also wrote in my journal for a bit while I lingered over my tea, until the breakfast crowd turned into the brunch crowd and some obnoxiously loud men turned up, at which point I was done.

Then I adjourned to the tea room and worked on zee book for a couple of hours. But then I realized that I should probably go out and walk/explore since I'm in London and not SF, and so I went to Tower Hill to see the poppies that they're installing for the WWI memorial. They're putting in ~880k ceramic poppies in honor of all the Commonwealth casualties in WWI, and it was really gorgeous (although there were too many people there). Then I took the Underground part of the way back, got out at Westminster, looked briefly at the outside of Westminster Palace + Westminster Abbey, and then continued my peregrinations. I walked through St. James's Park, strolled past Buckingham Palace, walked to Hyde Park Corner and admired the Marble Arch, and then walked through Kensington to my hotel. It was all very civilized and lovely, and I'm feeling somewhat inspired (I think).

When I got here, I dumped my stuff and promptly grabbed a very early supper since I was starving - there's an Italian place down the street that does a great gluten-free pasta, which I enjoyed while working on the back cover copy for Thorington. Then I took a twenty-minute nap, put on something cute, and ventured back out to Piccadilly to meet up with Jess (a girl from work) and her friend for a drink at Bob Bob Ricard. It's a super posh, swanky restaurant/bar, where the cocktails are like $30 each (which is expensive even for my outrageous tastes), but the decor was awesome and it was great to see Jess in a non-work environment. After, I came back here, contemplated writing, and realized that I'd rather sleep and get up early tomorrow to write (or get up late tomorrow after sleeping for another nine hours, which sounds amazing). Goodnight!

everything you touch surely dies

My first full day in London was gorgeous - well, gorgeous if you're a hermit who likes Regency-type activities like walking and writing. I got almost ten hours of sleep last night, which was v. v. necessary, and awoke feeling refreshed and in a much better mood than the one I was in when I left Germany (I would spit here, but you wouldn't see it and I would have to clean it up, and besides, I'm not good at spitting). Then I took a v. nice shower and abandoned my posh hotel to wander around London for awhile.

My first stop was breakfast(ish) at Le Pain Quotidien, which appears to be London's version of SF's La Boulange, but with table service. My eggs and prosciutto were delicious, my coffee slightly less so, but it was a good place to write in my journal for an hour and try to meditate my way out of my own head and back into Thorington's (is that creepy to say?). Then I walked for approximately two and a half hours straight without any real goal in mind other than to wander around and get inspired. I strolled through Hyde Park, walked along the Serpentine and cursed the geese, delighted in seeing random British things like overblown gold-encrusted fountains and unexpected horsemen, and ended up in Mayfair. There I wandered with even less direction, admiring the very lovely doors on the ultraposh townhouses. I also did some window shopping at some of the most ridiculous fashion stores around - the only one I was tempted to go into was Marc by Marc Jacobs, which begins to look like a bargain basement compared to Louboutin, Celine, Jenny Packham, and the like, but I spared my wallet and stayed outside looking in like an urchin.

After that, I returned to my hotel in South Kensington, ready to stop walking and start writing. But first I took a nap. And then I went downstairs and had afternoon tea while starting my reread of Thorington - afternoon tea is a much healthier endeavor when one is avoiding gluten and so can only have the grilled chicken + salad. But the tea was great and the room was gorgeous (with the exception of the toddler who screamed most of the time I was there with relatively little effort made by his parents to tame him). And between that + working in my room most of the evening, I'm almost done with my readthrough. It was slower going than it should have been because I kept letting myself get distracted by technology, but c'est la vie.

And now I'm going to sleep even though I'd wanted to finish the read-through tonight - I'd rather keep resting up so I can survive the next push. All in all I'm really happy with where the story is, though - I need to make some tweaks, but nothing major, and I have high hopes that I'm very close to done (with the exception of a final scene that I still haven't written, ugh). Goodnight!

the worst part of a good day is the one thing you don't say

I have arrived in London, which I would be more excited about if there wasn't a large part of me that really just wanted to go home today. Not that I really want to go home - if I was just hanging out in London for the next few days, that would probably still be great. But I have to do some day job work, and I need to work on the book, and I have to go to Dublin Sunday night to continue my work activities, so that's all kind of weighing on me. Add that I slept really badly last night and woke up this morning feeling like all the hangovers I didn't have this week hit me all at once, and that all of my travel companions are gone and I suddenly have to do everything myself (an unusual thing to regret, since I'm used to doing things myself), and today was just kind of miserable.

It didn't help that Frankfurt continued to be a bitch to me - my omelette was good at first but then made me feel sick to my stomach, I had to walk like ten thousand miles to deliver something to someone at the book fair, and then I got to the airport, sat in a miserable haze with a latte, went through security, and discovered that my flight was delayed for two-ish hours because of weather in London. Stupid. I was way too exhausted to do anything meaningful during that time, which is kind of embarrassing - I basically just stared off into space.

But I slept on the plane, which was v. restorative, and so I arrived in a slightly better mood. Then I got through immigration, dragged my bag for miles to the Heathrow Express train station, took the train to Paddington, and got a taxi to bring me the rest of the way to my (v. posh) hotel. But there was a bus accident that seriously snarled traffic, so I walked the last two blocks in pouring rain, which made me feel v. not posh upon arrival.

However, the hotel immediately and immeasurably made everything better - my room is gorgeous, I was able to get a great steak from room service within fifteen minutes of calling for it (although I forgot to wash my hands before eating and after going through customs/bag claim/train/taxi/etc., which means I'll probably get twenty different kinds of diseases), my bed is super comfy, and the room includes all the tea I can make (with milk in the fridge!). It's also very close to everything I care about Regency-wise - Hyde Park, the Serpentine, Kensington, Mayfair, the V&A Museum, etc.

So I'm going to go to bed now, sleep as long as I can, and then hopefully spend the morning walking around and getting inspired, and maybe the afternoon reading Thorington straight through while drinking tea in the super posh library area of the hotel. Hopefully the week off I've had from writing will be helpful and not harmful. Goodnight!