In LONDON! We spent the last week in a little beach community called Torquay - it was beautiful. We walked on the beach almost every day, all bundled up, of course, because it's FREEZING cold. We visited the town (Plymouth, actually) where the ships left for America (and landed at Plymouth Rock...ah, it all starts to make sense now).

The two most interesting/exciting/scary things that we encountered were
1) DRIVING in the UK. It was quite the thing driving in a Ford Galaxy People Mover (aka mini-van) after having been up for 24 hours and still feeling partially deaf after the 10 hour flight to Heathrow. We managed to get down the coast and got a lot better at driving on the way back - we even figured out roundabouts.
2) JANUARY SALES - otherwise known as Christmas Sales, since it's not yet January...ahh tell that to my credit card. I've had fun shopping at Marks & Spencer, Debenham's, Derry's and, soon, Harrod's. I'm hoping that the sales will mean I can afford more than a notepad (what I bought last time) in Harrods.

So, now, we're in the big city and reliant on the tube - hoping that there won't be a strike as anticipated tomorrow (New Year's Eve!!).

We're going to explore our neighborhood (near Hyde Park) and get out a bit (despite the rain) today...so glad that we don't have to get behind the wheel again!

I'll have funnier stories when I've got my wits about me again, but for now, just breathe a great big sigh of relief that Ms. Sarah does not have to drive on the left-hand side of the road anymore!

Happy (Almost) New Year!

p.s. thank HEAVENS for this Internet Cafe - I've been away from the computer for just over a week, and my fingers were starting to itch from lack of typing, haha. Okay, now I've let y'all know I'm alive, so I can get back to shopp...I mean visiting important historical landmarks.

As I have been one my entire life, I am quite comfortable with the concept of only children. It's not odd to me that a child has a decent relationship with her parents.

This does seem odd, however, to other people.

When asked who's going on vacation with me, I respond, "Oh, my parents."

I get a variety of odd looks which only continue when I finally say, "I'm only child."

If I said, "I'm going on vacation with my parents and my brother," would that seem less weird? Is it the vacation with the 'rents or the fact that there are no siblings that throws people for a loop?

I know of many "grown" children who still travel (and/or live) with their parents, and it doesn't matter to me whether those children (well into their twenties) have siblings or not.

Perhaps, to the outside world (and by "outside," I mean those people who are not part of my regular social circle), the weirdness of it all is a combination of the two things:
1) I get along with my parents and travel with them
2) I have no siblings

Even in "modern" California, it's still odd for some folks to process that not everyone grows up with siblings, and in an increasingly "me" oriented world, it's even harder to believe that someone actually gets along with her parents.

Oh well, I've never claimed to be normal!

My boss, as she opens her little package of Christmas goodies from me, "Oooh, a pencil from the Library of Congress..." pause "Now, did this actually come from the Library of Congress?"

Me, "Yes, it did."

My boss, "So, you've been to the mothership!"

Proving once again that librarians are a breed unto themselves (and that's SO cool).

Since I'm going on vacation NEXT WEEK, I'm in a wandering state of mind. I found this travel blog on "Blogs of Note" and thought it was fascinating. I would LOVE to do something like that, although, in my own Sarah-ized version, of course.

So, here's the hippie fantasy to go along with the husband named Bodhie and the kids named Willow and Skye, or more, the part of the fantasy that comes before the kids:

Get married and live a wonderful (but frugal) life in the Bay Area for a year or so, then take what we've saved from living so frugally and travel for a year...Europe, various states in the US (including, but not limited to Hawaii, NYC, Maine, Oregon...oh and the City of Boston...I'd like to visit that area again with a husband).

Yeah, so isn't that a nice little fantasy?

Somehow, I think that my Quarter Life Crisis has evolved into frequent wander-lust, and I'm okay with that.

Amazing. I survived the Fall semester (not without my fair share of complaining, of course). Four classes, full time work and time for some extracurricular activities (library school newsletter, anyone?) and honest to goodness, actual fun. That's pretty darn cool.

Thanks to everyone who had to hear about my school projects, read my papers, feel "squeezed" into my ridiculously packed schedule or otherwise suffer through my scholastic pursuits along with me.

Now, we can all breathe a great big sigh of relief.

I have two (yes, count them, TWO) classes left in my master's program, and I will take them both in the Spring. Having a mere two classes will seem like cheating, but I'm not complaining.

Okay...no more school talk until January (ahhhhhh....my first school break since LAST January!) ... Onto more interesting topics of conversation

The other day, I realized that I am starting to get used to the idea of maybe, eventually, perhaps someday pursuing a relationship again. After realizing how much work they are (sheesh!), I know approximately how much energy I'll need to have for the next relationship. I'm on my way to being willing to devote that kind of energy to someone who did not:
a) raise me,
b) live with me in college,
c) put up with me in high school, or
d) does not come with a furry coat, tail and bundles of adorable puppy/kitten energy

For now, though, I'm still on hiatus.

Here's the big tip-off that I'm still on hiatus: I don't have the energy to carry on a flirty conversation.

A co-worker really wanted me to meet her two sons. In the first thirty seconds of meeting...okay, the first ten seconds of meeting, it was clear that one was probably more of a match than the other. This potential match talked to me for about two minutes, then sort of blended back into the crowd and proceeded to stare at me for the rest of the evening. Right before he left for the evening (two hours after our two minute sort-of conversation), he looked me right in the eyes, shook my hand and said, "It was really nice to meet you."

In another life (or before this summer), I might have made an effort to make conversation, regardless of my level of attraction to this guy. Saturday, though, I just didn't have it in me. If dude didn't move forward and make even light hearted party banter, I wasn't going to put forth any effort, either. Yeah, he might be shy. Yes, he "might just not be that into me," or whatever. In any case, I had no energy for carrying a conversation with a stranger...so I spent the evening talking to my fellow library geeks and had a great time.

I think that my favorite thing about that particular evening was the variety of comments along the following lines:
"Well, don't you clean up nice."
"I didn't even recognize you and had to come over here and see who you were."
"You look like an old time movie star."
"Well, don't you look nice."

I think it was the makeup...

Party grrls 

George and Ryan plot...something... 

A classic pose. 

Ahhh...sitting... 

Enjoying (or waiting for) dinner. 

Thank you all for the BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Despite getting lost (hey, despite being a bit freaked out, I did enjoy my little tour of the city...it did me good, but boy was I happy to find that restaurant with all of you wonderful people waiting inside!), the whole evening was just fantastic!

I so enjoyed talking and laughing at dinner, boogying to some nice, ghetto music, chillin' on the pleather couch in the "VIP" lounge and, finally, munching on some twisty fries at Mel's at 2 in the morning. I don't think the night could have been more perfect, and I hope that everyone had as marvelous a time as I did!

Seasons of looooooooovvvvveee!

How many ways do you measure a year?

Okay, so I know that Rent is about more than catchy tunes, but I'm fresh from the theater, and I've just got the music playing over and over in my head, and that's a good thing.

p.s. check out virtual me over there to the right...I think that next I should make the super-hero version of me. What do you think?