With the approach of the election, morale has been low. Our flat has been celebrating as many good things as we can to keep out spirits up:
Sienna got a job! She is the only person in our flat who has been able to find employment so far.
I have a lead on a job! They reviewed my application and want me to send in a writing sample. Fingers crossed.
Pim is 3/4 done with her book! Out of the three of us, she has made the most progress by far. I read the first 20,000 words of her novel and I am so excited to read the rest!
We have officially graduated! Our names were in the paper and everything! Say hello to Anne Dupee, M.A..
It's been nearly a month since my last blog post, so I'll try to summarize what's been going on since then.
We have a mouse. Actually, we're pretty sure we have several mice living in the walls, but we've only seen one. He darts out of the fireplace sometimes, and does not seem inclined to look at any of the traps I've set.
You may remember from my last post that I've been having some trouble with my lower back. I'm happy to announce that I'm all better! I saw a chiropractor named Neil who adjusted my spine and gave me the name of his friend who is a publisher. Neil is now my go-to person when I need anything. He's got connections.
We finally made it to Edinburgh Zoo! Pim has been wanting to go for ages, because they are the only zoo in the UK (we think, don't quote me on that) that has pandas! And Pim loves pandas. Personally, my favorite exhibit was the penguins. Edinburgh Zoo has hundreds of penguins, and they were jumping in and out of the water, sunbathing (as much as anyone can sunbathe here), and waddling around their enclosure. Oh, to be a penguin.
Autumn is in full swing: the leaves have changed colors, and more are falling every day. It's been sunny the past few days, but we've definitely moved from sweater weather to coat and gloves weather. Thanks to daylight savings (and the approach of winter) the sun rises around 7:30am and sets around 4:30pm.
My friend Kat took me to an ice cream place near our alma mater (!) called S Luca. They have the most delicious chocolate and cherry vegan ice cream. We sat on a bench in the Meadows to eat and chat and watch people play with their dogs. It might be getting colder, but I will get back to S Luca yet.
We had a little Halloween party in our flat on Saturday. Because of lockdown restrictions, we aren't allowed to have anyone outside our household in our flat, so it was just the three of us. We dressed up (as a nurse, a 20's Chinese mob boss, and Galadriel), ordered pizza, and watched Twitches. The night also included a photoshoot, a zoom call with some friends, and a dance party. It wasn't the Halloween party we hoped for, but we still had fun!
I'm not sure how much I've mentioned about my future plans, but here they are: our lease is up near the end of January, and my visa expires at the beginning of February. I'm not going to try to extend my visa or get a new one or do a visa run. My plan is to come home. That's the whole plan at the moment - the job I'm hoping to get is remote, so that would give me some wiggle room as I figure out where to go and what to do next.
Here's what I'm doing for now:
- Eating so many grilled cheese sandwiches
- Enjoying our bathtub
- Eating grilled cheese sandwiches while in the bathtub (sad but true)
- Listening to Little Mix (Pim has me and Sienna hooked on them)
- Praying for the U.S. in the wake of the 2020 election
- Looking forward to seeing my family at the coming holidays
- Working on my novel (I have received threats that if I don't have more done by Christmas, I won't get any presents)
Book recommendation: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. This book is brilliantly written and incredibly sad. It's made up of the journal entries of a man named Charlie, who is on the autism spectrum. He's part of an experiment meant to increase intelligence and learning capacity - he's the first human subject, following in the footsteps of their most successful animal subject, a mouse named Algernon. The reader follows Charlie as he learns more and discovers just how complicated the world really is.