titles are hard

Church this morning. Uneventful, except that Father Martin announced that the chaplaincy is planning to go to a cathedral for mass during Holy Week if enough people are interested. I signed up for info. I could stand to go to a church where there is music : ) plus, cathedrals are pretty. The one we will be hopefully going to is in Brentwood, which is a little more than halfway to London from Colchester. Probably about an hour drive. I hope it works out.

After church I did some more class reading, which is ridiculous because I'm about two weeks ahead in my reading, which means I don't have much left to read. Then I touched up the essay that's due Thursday, so any work I need to have finished is finished. I was looking at the prompts for the myth paper, and they all suck a lot. I was hoping there would be a question about Kubla Khan, because I could get 4000 out of a line-by-line analysis of that poem, plus there's a lot of material out there about it. Alas, no prompts about Kubla Khan. Depending on how class goes this week, I may ask if I can make up my own prompt.

Archery tonight was good. It was a pretty small group, and we went out to Top Bar after for amusing conversations about strange UK customs that British people think are prevalent all over the world. No, not all restaurants are carpeted elsewhere in the world...

Anyway, now I am here, completely without any work to do. How shall I waste my time tonight....

Fun productivity? I... I don't understand...

So, the cough syrup I bought doesn't work, and it tastes really gross - like black licorice flavored menthol. Ew. The only thing that really stops the coughing for a while is hot tea, so I've been drinking a lot.

Anyway, this afternoon was Mass. The bishop was visiting, and he has a much nicer voice and less serious personality than the normal priest. The bishop used to be the priest here at the University chaplaincy, which I thought was pretty cool, and because he was visiting, they brought out the good music - there were two flautists, a cellist, a violinist, a pianist, and two guitars. And possibly some bongoes. I don't know why they don't do that every Sunday... Anyway, they fed us afterwards too, so that was nice : )

When I got back, I worked on my paper a bit more, and I'm fairly pleased with it - only, I'm 500 words short and not sure what else to say. I'll have another look once I've been away from it for a while.

Archery tonight was more crowded than last night, but that just leaves more time for socializing. Bashar and Chris were both absent, so I talked with Pete. Afterwards, I joined a bunch of the group who were going to Top Bar. It was really nice - nothing at all like the bar atmosphere I'm used to. It was actually a good place to sit and talk. I started off mostly talking to Pete, but ended up giving the whole table a mini lecture on Peircian color theory (thanks mr. chris!!) It ended up being a lot of fun, so I think this will become an every weekend thing.

Anyway, I'm back in the dorm for the night since I've got classes in the morning - time to relax with some webcomicry : )

Ah, late

Well this post is a bit late... technically this is February 4th. But oh well, I am still awake.

Started the day off with church, only Father Martin was called suddenly away to Ireland to attend upon his dying uncle. Before he left, he consecrated the hosts and left them for the congregation, so we had a "Eucharistic Service" instead. Sister something (I can't remember her name... but she is basically the altar and rosary society hereabouts) asked me to read the Gospel, which was awesome because I've always wanted to read the Gospel (seriously, the Gospel readings are generally much more interesting than the first and second readings). The service was considerably shorter than Mass. And there was a cellist who played beautifully.

I stopped at the campus shop after mass, hoping to find some fruit based candy to aid my essay writing, but alas, I was unsuccessful (ie, no jellybeans). I bought bananas instead. Probably better than fruit candy.

I went back to the dorm for lunch. The kitchen was a mess. Actually, it's still a mess. The cleaning crew doesn't come in on weekends, so the Heathens just leave everything for two days. The floors, counters, sinks, and dishes are encrusted with old food. The garbage is overflowing (anyone could take it out... I did not because it smells suspicious and looks moist and at this point removing it with anything but the utmost caution would probably do more harm than good). I couldn't wash a dish if I used one because the sinks are so full, and the dishes in them are too disgusting for me to want to touch to move them. I threw together a quick sandwich and ate it in my room.

Then I sat down to work on my essay. This one is really not coming together as easily as the last one. It's still not finished. I will do that Tuesday. I worked on the essay until it was time for archery.

Chris went with me, and we're both thinking of joining. There were a lot of people at this session, so there was a lot of standing around waiting for your turn. But the company was good. I met Mohammed from Pakistan and a Syrian whose name I cannot now recall.

The bows the club uses are definitely heavier and longer than what I'm used to, but I shot well enough with them. I hit the target every time, though only two bull's eyes. After the session I came back fully intending to finish my essay, but glancing at the lecture program for tomorrow, realized I was supposed to read Mrs Dalloway.

So I did that.

All in one sitting.

So basically, I'm awesome.

And now I'm going to bed. Good night.

i can't think of a title today.

All right. The day started out with church. The priest's voice gives me the creeps. You don't expect such a low voice out of someone so little. Plus I think he deliberately pitches it that way, because I talked to him outside of Mass last week and it was a normal voice. I guess Mass is really a solemn occasion hereabouts. I mean, duh, solemnity, but what about the celebration bit? Ah well. No lunch today after church, so I guess it's not a weekly thing. That is ok. I bought turkey at ze Tesco. yum.

So, I went and ate lunch. Then the plan was to settle in and do some reading, but I decided I'd rather take a walk. So I did. I walked down towards the Tesco and sort of wandered all around it. It's not really a very pretty part of town. It's run-down and rather industrial. So I walked back. It was a pretty long walk, but it helped me get my thoughts organized. When I got back, I packed up my computer and went over to the library to do some writing.

I decided to go up to the fifth floor because of that amazing view. I got a lot of writing done, and I really like the spot - in the back corner, quiet, with the books that no one ever checks out. The only problem is there is a distinct lack of outlets on that floor. There are lots on the second floor, but not on the fifth for some reason. But I wasn't writing long enough for my battery to die, so that's ok.

I watched the sun set from my corner. It was really really pretty. The whole lake turned pink, with little white spots where the seagulls were floating. Then I went back to the dorm because it was getting dark.

Dinner was another turkey sandwich. Now I am writing again. I've almost finished correcting the whole first-person/third-person issue, which will be a relief.

Tomorrow: myth and modernity. a good pairing : P

Today I got to go to church. I'm very grateful to have found a place that has Mass on campus every Sunday. The Mass isn't exactly St Tom's... it's not even Bosco, really, but it's church. It's a very small congregation. They do a lot though. They have seminars and talks and things. And trips to London Theatres. In December, the went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Sadly, I was too late to sign up for this semester's theatre trip, and Father Martin said he did not think there would be another one while I'm here. I'm kinda sad about that. How often do you get the chance to go into London and see a show with other people?

After Mass, we had lunch. Really. I think this is an every Sunday thing... they bring out sandwiches and chips and cupcakes and everyone has lunch. It was really nice, especially since I didn't know what I was going to do for lunch anyway.

Oh, and I can see Central Stores from the chapel window... I get my package tomorrow!

Next was laundry. It took forever. The machines are really tiny and it costs 2 pounds a load, plus 60p for drying. The machines only take exact change and certain denominations of coins, though, so I was forced to go out and purchase a muffin with a ten pound note in order to get some coins. Rats.

While there are many machines - about twenty washers and twenty driers - people tend to leave their clothes in forever. And many of the machines were broken. Laundry is not going to be something I look forward to doing.

I did my reading for Monday and then read for fun. The End.

Also, if my entries are going to be this uneventful, I may switch to updating once a week instead of every day.