Two Entries in One Day, Too Many

After I wrote the entry below, I napped for about 3 hours. It was much needed, because I've had two early lectures in a row now. I was 10 minutes late to one and 20 minutes late to the other thanks to the bus system. Apparently, during rush hour when buses fill up, drivers stop but decide not to open their doors to let in more passengers. And so I waited and waited while time ticked away. It wasn't that bad to be late for the first lectures, although I was sitting in a chair outside the classroom for Political Economy unable to see the board. It was really refreshing to see that Political Economy is based on the contributions of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison though. Thank you, America.

Today was a day of rest post-4PM. But I have had zero human interaction since then and I've gone on a spree of looking for cheap season passes of tv shows to buy on Itunes. Itunes is a glorious thing in the UK, because I can still buy things in US dollars AND I'm spending a gift card. Anyways. I think this is as deep as my homesickness (for DC) goes. I just crave the ability to watch American TV whenever I wish and unfortunately for me, I'm provided with an inadequate web connection for downloading torrents and can't stream in the UK. TV and movies and the internet have been my link to normalcy. I have already watched Something's Gotta Give twice, in 20 minute increments, and Notting Hill one and a half times.

I was hoping to sleep in tomorrow, but I feel compelled to meet my faculty mentor and his office hours, or should I say hour, is 9:30-10:30 on Wednesday. I guess it will force me to start my day early, even though I have no classes or lectures. Traveling to school is definitely an adjustment, but I think it's a good segue into the "real world." See you later.

No Money, Mo' Problems

I think that one can judge the wealth of others by what cereal they're buying. If they're buying that grainy crap or 2-for-1 of something that's clearly not delicious, then they're poor or frugal. If they're buying delicious sweet things, then they're looaddded. I've been trying to save money wherever I can here, whether it's ordering a cheese omelet rather than a ham AND cheese omelet to save 40 pence or opting out of seeing Spamalot with friends. Today, due to starvation of two days, I finally went to the grocery store and continued my streak of frugality.

There are several problems I encountered. One. I picked up a 99 pence bag of frozen peas. Awesome. Wait... I don't have a bowl. Or a fork. Or a knife. Or a spoon. Since realizing this, I've been on the look-out for something that will make do, but I haven't seen anything yet. So... for now, no peas. I did, however, buy cereal even though I don't have a bowl. I did the 2-for-1 thing. Milk. Orange juice. Four microwave dinners. A bundle of bananas and five nectarines. Fourteen pounds, an arm, and a leg.

In another effort to save some money, I sought a grocery store where I could top up (the over-used phrase meaning "to add money to") my Oyster card, which is used for buses and tubes. Then, I thought, I could charge the 20 pounds for the 7-day travel card AND buy some food, and it would make the credit card transaction fee all the more worth while. That was a failure. An utter failure. Also, my phone service, a failure. I regret not getting T-Mobile or something, not because it's cheaper but because for some reason, I can't top up online and am going to have to go to a Carphone Warehouse every time unless I call the Mobile World people and sort this out. Sorting out is what I'm tired of doing. I still have to sort out my health registration stuff, but it was raining today and I couldn't find its road. So I'll have to do that tomorrow.

Eating is terrible when you are counting the pence of each bite. I think that biggest failure of my being an adult, as I'm supposed to be at this point, is eating. This summer, if I was too tired from work or too busy, I just would delay meals until late. And I find that the same thing happens here, except now even worse because each bite is so damn expensive. Anyways, money sucks. Send relief aid to Citibank.

Edit (05/07/08): Once there was a picture of cereals on this post... but then 40 people a day came to this entry because of... no more.