spacekadet

One of the nicer things about my job is that I work on the 16th floor facing a window overlooking the City. At least five times a day you can find me staring longingly out the window, enjoying the view, or lamenting the clouds.

Last week I brought my camera to work and took a few shots from my high flying floor in St. Aldgate House and from the Highwalk area just outside. It was a nice way to spend lunch.

Speaking of nice ways to spend lunch, yesterday the soon-to-be head of development took us all out for lunchtime drinks. To give you a quick idea of how things went: we got to the pub at around 1pm, and I never quite made it back to the office.

This outing was fantastic on several levels. I was able to meet people I've never met before and have lighthearted conversation with the people I already knew. I felt like I really hit it off with the boys in development, who seem like a really fun group of people once you get them away from their computers.

At around 3pm I was feeling pretty happy. I remember thinking: "wow, I'm going to go home from work with a smile on my face today!" Then things kind of changed a bit, right around the time two separate individuals handed me a fresh glass of wine. I should have seen this coming when I realized that drinks were in lieu of actual lunch.

So, it's all kind of annoying because it seems to be such a regular pattern in my life: I meet cool people, and suddenly it all turns drunken. I feel a distinct lack of self control in these situations, and so continues the cycle: Monica finds herself in a new social situation - Monica feels nervous about talking to new people - Monica finds herself with a beverage in hand - Nervous Monica drinks quickly - Monica starts feelin' like a rock star - Rock Star Monica gets drunk after drinking too much too quickly - Monica meets loads of new people and laughs the night away - Monica stumbles home - Monica sobers up - Monica realizes she has little recollection of the good time she had the night before - Monica settles into a dull hangover - Monica feels like ass both physically and mentally - Monica feels a deep sense of regret for drinking so much as to not remember half of the night and for feeling like shit as a result.

Like it was all a waste of time.

It's just not worth it.

So, I hope that when I get back to work on Monday that I will a.) still have a job, and 2.) have a few more friends at the office.

Oh, and iii.) a firmer grip on my priorities.

Since I lost Friday night to Work Drinks Gone Wild, Saturday has been all about being good to myself. I took a trip this morning to the local fish monger and gathered supplies for a weekend of yummy dinners. Tim and I expanded our fish cookeriness by baking an entire sea bass! We stuffed it with basil, tomato, and salt (always, loads of salt), and it came out great!

Needless to say, there was no wine happening at dinner tonight.

Tomorrow is Halloween, which I hope to celebrate with London's inline skating community on their 10.5 mile Halloweeeen Rollerstroll.

Posted by monica at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lunar eclipse through backyard telescope in Seattle
Originally uploaded by Katie W.

... the eclipse which, by the way, i unfortunately missed thanks to Early Onset Fatigue brought on by the FTSE Halloween Party at the London Stone Most participants at the party (myself not excluded) quickly developed Raid The Open Bar Syndrome later followed by Maul The Dude In The Vampire Costume With the Sandwich Tray Malady.

But speaking of Halloween, I am sad to be missing Tracey's annual pumpkin-carving party (a tradition I hope she's carrying on in NOLA ... it always warms the cockles to know these things are happening somewhere).

Halloween just isn't the same here - the very word inspires grumpy growls about broken eggs and shattered windows. Kids today!

Posted by monica at 04:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a treat, and right before Halloween!

Provided London's clouds don't hamper the view, the eclipse is set to begin at 1.05am (Thursday morning), with the moon totally eclipsed by 3:30am. The moon will begin to re-emerge from the shadow at 4.44am.

During the phases of the eclipse, the moon will take on a lovely brick-red hue as sunlight is refracted by the Earth's atmosphere!

If you're in the States, it starts at 8:14pm CT (Wednesday evening) reaching totality at 9:23pm. Beautiful timing! So put yer beer down and check it out!

Posted by monica at 06:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taken at the bus stop off of Regent's Canal, somewhere between Southgate Road and New North Road.

Taken at Highbury & Islington Station

Picadilly Circus, London's equivalent to Times Square in NYC. This is the only picture I managed to take at the Spies and Spywatchers Walk before my camera sadly ran out of battery power.

Standing on a Lock at Regents Canal.

Looking down Regents Canal.

Posted by monica at 04:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DSC01375
Originally uploaded by nev.

My daily commute to the City involves one twenty-minute bus ride from Hackney to Moorgate Tube Station. I've been wondering when the time will come that I don't feel the need to stare out the bus window, anticipating my stop, worried that if I look down I might miss it. I've envied the brave souls who are able to bury their head in a newspaper, with an innate ability to pick their head up just in time to see their stop approaching.

Last Thursday it happened. I usually take a book to work with me, intending to lug myself a few pages closer to "culture-hood"� during my lunch break. The truth is, I have a hard enough time getting my couscous salad from the plate to my mouth without dropping it all over my shirt that the thought of manipulating a book at the same time seems far too arduous for my clumsy self.

But last Thursday, I found myself a little bored on the 141, so I pulled out the book. When I looked up, we were passing Finsbury park, just a few stops away from Moorgate!

So this is what routine feels like. It's kind of nice, after months of scattered living.

On the subject of books: I'm a little embarrassed by how few books I read these days. I might read one book a year. (I'm excluding math books, work-related reading, and technical manuals from this list.) By the end of last summer, I only made it through half of Heinrich Harrer's White Spider, a book about the first successful climb of the north face of the Swiss Eiger which I genuinely enjoyed but just couldn't seem to finish. See, I have this problem. When I read, I fall asleep. I can barely make it through a page without dropping the book on my face because I've passed out in the middle of a paragraph.

This may be directly related to my tendency to read in bed.

I'm hoping my routine will get me reading books again. While we were on our Eastern European Getaway, I started reading Iain Banks' Raw Spiritabout his travels to the various whiskey distilleries in Scotland. It's a decent travelogue, and "Banksie" has a very amusing way with words. At the very least I'll have a better idea of what to drink when I visit
Scotland.

Back in London...

Tim and I are mutually amused that we live on a street called BALLS POND ROAD in a borough called HACKNEY. Hackney just doesn't have the nice Britty sound that "Islington"� or "Camden" has. Oh well. Maybe we should name the entry way to our apartment "Otney Mews". And our garden "Shawbury Terrace".. You know, just to give it that English twist.

Our apartment is coming along. Yes yes, someday soon I'll take some photos. Our futon mattress arrived this weekend, making our front room a little more like a lounge and less like a storage site for our suitcases. I think I'm going to really like the place once it's all set up. Right now it's a bit strange. On Saturday, we went on a bit of a shop and finally acquired a trash can. We also found a clothes-drying rack thing, a radio, and 3 wall clocks so we can see what time it is in London, Auckland, and Chicago.

Most depressing purchase of the weekend: the scale cum body-fat percentage calculator.

So I continue my struggles to become Xenafied. It's not the exercise that fails me -- I'm amazingly disciplined when it comes to getting to the gym or out for a run -- it's the times when, oops!, there's a plate of cheese and crackers in front of me! I must eat as much as possible in case I die tomorrow! Yes, of course I'd like a glass of wine! -- no, make that a bottle!

That said, Tim and I made the most delicious pasta sauce last night -- a delightful melange of onion, garlic, olive oil, cherry tomato, salt, and parsley. This paired well with our, a-hem, garlic bread and bottle of Montepulciano.

What can I say? Weekends do only come once a, um, week.

More to come, but first I must earn some bacon.

Posted by monica at 02:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stand clear
Originally uploaded by esteban.

i don't know why, but i'm having a very hard time sleeping lately. and i'm haunted by terrifying dreams! sounds like Tim is having the same problem.



could our new place be haunted?

Posted by monica at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

the reason for my lack of posting is due to some reasonably good news: we've moved into a 'flat'! as such, we are currently dealing with all of the annoying logistical bits that come with getting into a new place. one of these items is getting an interweb connection. and then there's the matter of acquiring a table so i have a place to computerbate from. it takes so long to get anything done around here!

although it needs a bit of TLC, the new place is great. finally, some space of our own!

more to come...

Posted by monica at 03:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

i'm in a good mood - i've joined a gym... again. but this time a proper gym! Fitness First! with nice showers! and a sauna! and personal trainers! and a free backpack/waterbottle/towel with membership!

i admit that it doesn't have the same appeal as the University gym. add a sales team to any organization and suddenly everything seems a bit tainted and evil. my solution to this problem was to hit the gym before any sales staff were in, so I dealt only with the manager, who actually helped me save money by suggesting a student memebership and giving me the rest of this month for free. i'm thrilled. the place is clean and reasonably unpretentious. and cheaper than anything else i've found in london.

wierd: i'm one of those people with a 9 to 5 job and a gym membership.

but back to the whole reason i started typing writing this post: i've turned off comments due to spam. i was starting to get close to 100 spam comments a day. now that i've turned them off, my INBOX is very quiet!

today is the 1 week anniversary of my starting work. tomorrow is the SIX week anniversary of my moving to london. now, how will i celebrate?

Posted by monica at 03:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

it's true. the other night i was talking in my sleep with a british accent. i love it!

this week has been another trial in hoop jumping. in order to secure our apartment, we need reference letters from our banks, landlords, employers, mortgage companies, et cetera, and so forth. none of it's terribly annoying, accept the first one: getting a bank account here is impossible! i need something like a utility to bill with my address on it in order to open an account. of course, i don't have an apartment, so i don't have a utility bill. grrr. bitching and moaning. someday it shall cease.

celebration was in order when tim was able to secure a membership to a video store! we rented Shaun of the Dead, a HI-larious spinoff of Dawn of the Dead type zombie movies.

To put it simply, Shaun of the Dead rocks. It's clever, witty, and even a little scary (that may only apply to pussies like myself). Tim and I are often commenting on the "living dead" of London - creepy people with extreme heroine eyes and perpetual duh faces. This movie played wonderfully on this concept, well accentuated by its perfect soundtrack with songs like "Ghost Town" by the Specials.

Shaun's weapon of choice?

A cricket bat.

Hurray for staying in and watching movies! Hurray for yummy dinners at the North Gate pub! Hurray for Tim getting a job! Hurray for my sister coming in on December 25th! Hurray for my contract expiring on December 31st!

Posted by monica at 04:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

great words from sheri today: "grad school over-prepares you for everything but more grad school."

the working world is frightfully easy compared to school. at my desk today, i experienced panicked thoughts about the time i'm spending not using my brain.

and then i got caught up on e-mail.

i think we've found an apartment. oh to have my own space again. soon... soon....

Getting settled into a new job/apartment/country takes so much time. Some things I hope to get done within the next week:

Get over this weird almost-a-cold thing I have.
Find a new home.
Find a gym located somewhere conveniently between work and said home.
Acquire tea, milk, and a mug for work.
Get a scale.
Shed a pound.
Keep warm.

Posted by monica at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today probably won't go down as one of the better days I've had in London, but it should certainly be memorable.  Today I started my new job!

Before I continue, excuse me while I back dat ass up a bit... October 1st, the anniverary of my departure to the grand UK, came and went with little more than a sneeze.  It was difficult to go too crazy when the orders of the day were jobs jobs jobs. 

The process of finding a job has changed dramatically since my UIUC days.  Gone are the days of checking the local paper with a red marker.  There's so much competition, and all of the jobs seem to be funnelled through an evil web of recruiters (better known as head-hunters to some of my friends in the US).  When it comes to math jobs, they are few and far between.  Back in the day, Mathematicians could easily eke their way into IT, but since the tech boom, there are more computer scientists with ready-to-use programming skills than the companies know what to do with. These days, the math jobs require more than an ability to use to a calculator.  The big financial firms want statisticians and actuaries.  And experience.

Everyone wants experience.

Where does that leave this once pure math junkie on a temporary work permit?

I started off at a temp agency. Still, it took me two and a half weeks to get a one-day stint at the Bank of Ireland where I played receptionist.

Luckily, I was a software tester once upon a time, and the IT biz bit. Today, I started my contract gig as a software tester at FTSE (pronounced "footsie"), the UK's version of the Dow Jones.

They didn't seem ready for my arrival, and I spent most of the day waiting for login information and reading technical documents. I was pretty bored, but I see some potential... the product is kind of interesting, and I'm working alongside the developers who seem genuinely interested in their job. Even better, the dress is pretty casual, and we have internet access beyond the company's intranet.

Goegraphically, I am working in the City of London, just down the street from the Bank. What a proper London work experience!

But I have to say (and I certainly didn't expect this), I'm missing math already. I'm really worried that taking an IT job will hinder my mathematical inertia and pigeon-hole me into a mathless compu-wasteland. I like doing math. I want to learn how to model things and use statistics to measure something meaningful. I hope working at FTSE will get my foot in the door to the room where all of the math-biz jobs are. I want to be a math geek again.

Then I wonder - maybe this is just what I needed: a break from forced math. I certainly lost some of the love in grad school. Will absence truly make the heart grow fonder? Or will it only make the brain atrophy?

Posted by monica at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Good news: I think I found a job. More news when the papers have actually been signed.

Posted by monica at 03:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)