I’m finally getting around to posting photos from before I left London. I haven’t had time to edit most of them due to life chaos, but oh well.
Christmas In London
Christmas 2012 was a new kind of Christmas. My mom traveled to London and we spent a week here doing touristy things. It was very different, but a lot of fun. Sadly the only photos I have at the moment are from my phone. I took a lot with her camera, but then forgot my SD card reader and couldn’t get the photos on to my computer! Ah well. Hopefully my iPhone pics will suffice for now.
December
How? Seriously, how is it December already?
There’s a lot of really positive things coming up, but being my anxiety ridden, lacking in confidence self, I’m finding it difficult to be happy about these things. I want to be thrilled, but there’s this voice in my head screaming a million reasons why I shouldn’t or can’t do things. It’s getting rather frustrating, to be honest.
3 Month Anniversary
Today is exactly 3 months since I arrived in London.
They always say the first few months in a place are always the hardest. And the past 3 months have definitely had their ups and downs! I feel terrible for you guys reading this- All I do is whine! I can promise you that it hasn’t been all bad. Really!
On The Mend
Well, so to speak!
I’m feeling much better. While life hasn’t actually changed all that much, I’m feeling a bit more positive at the moment. Which is definitely something!
New Years is 7 short weeks away, and I’ve decided to make the most out of what is left of 2012. I have an interview for another temp job later this week, which *fingers crossed* will go well. And I’m spending Friday in central London with a friend to do some shopping and exploring.
At the end of the month Orla is coming to London, which I’m very excited about. I haven’t seen her since February, so it will be wonderful to see her! The next week Aideen, who I also haven’t seen since February, is coming to town. She’s spent the last 6 months or so on a rather epic backpacking trek around the world, and I could not be more excited to hear about her adventures in person!
The week following that I’m headed to Belfast for a few days. Orla has been raving about their Christmas markets for years, and I’m finally going to go and see some in person. I think getting out of town for a few days will do me a world of good, too. Plus, the flights were only £15. Can’t beat that!
That will bring me in to mid-December, and less than two weeks until my mom arrives to spend the holidays here. She’s never been out of North America, and I’m so excited for her to come and see London. We’ve booked a hotel right in the city centre, and have lots of fun things planned. It should be really nice time! Plus, I miss her. A lot!
Come the new year, I don’t know. If I get this temp job, it will be a 3 month contract, so hopefully I’ll have that to keep me busy. I also really need to find an internship. Yikes.
Anyways. That’s what the remainder of my year is looking like!
Also, it’s still autumn and gorgeous here. I’ve been taking the dog at the house I’m lodging at out for walks and am loving the ever changing colours of the city.
The Seatbelt Sign Is Now Turned Off
I think this blog is long overdue. As some of you may know I had an… eventful week. For everyone who sent me messages and texts and emails, thank you. And to those same people, I’m also very sorry! There’s a good chance I didn’t reply to you and I feel awful, but it’s been a tad hellish and I’ve fallen horribly behind on everything…
To catch everyone up on my week:
Sunday – Okay. Went to work. It was really busy, but good. I met a lot of nice people and got to people watch and explore a bit, so it was overall an okay kind of day.
Monday – Slightly less okay. I was homesick. I was off work that day, and it was uneventful, but I think left me with too much time to think!
Tuesday – Day.From.Hell. I mean, seriously. The day that wouldn’t end. I woke up in the morning and was feeling a bit off, and a bit panicked. Nothing too unusual about that. By the time I got showered and dressed and out the door I was at a moderate level of panic. And by the time I got the bus I was starting to lose it. I was on my way to work and just kept trying to breathe through it. It was working, for awhile. I sat on the tube for half an hour with my eyes closed just trying to stay calm. And then I stepped out at South Kensington and in to the museum and was surround by thousands of people. Still holding it in though! Not well, but enough! I got to the employee area and my manager, who I have now learned is an expert at detecting panic attacks, immediately approached me to see if I was okay. Very quickly I was not.
First Aid is called, and I’m sent home. So, after taking an hour of so to get myself together I get back on the train. Only, it turns out I hadn’t actually calmed down all that much. The panic attack hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m on the Picaddilly line, unable to breathe, surrounded my people, my face gets hot, and the bleeding from the face starts. Heavy and everywhere. The rest is a bit of blur. I collapsed, was pulled of the train, and taken away from the platform. There were a lot of TFL employees, still blood flowing everywhere, and then paramedics, an ambulance, and a hospital.
Not the best day. And to top it all off, when I was discharged from the hospital, I had no idea where I was or how to get home. Plus, when I got on a bus I was deducted almost all of my Oyster credit for not touching out when the paramedics came and got me from the station. Awesome!
So, 4 buses and a train later, I made it home. At which point I decided I wanted nothing more than to go home home.
Wednesday – At the insistence of a friend I decided to go in to Mind UK. Well, attempted to. I got on the bus, only to have it stop halfway there, declare it was now out of service, kick us all off, and drive away. Not having enough credit to catch another bus there, and who-knows-how-many-more back, I went home. There was also some parental drama that I won’t get in to. But, it wasn’t fun either.
Thursday – I took a mental health day. Watched about a million episodes of Community and went for a nice, long, leisurely walk, and took a lot of pictures. I decided to give London another shot and not head home quite yet.
Friday – I moved. Again?! Yes, yes, I know. I’ve moved out of Sally’s house for the second time, but this new arrangement seems much more ideal than the previous one. The room is bigger, the rent is cheaper, and I’m about 5 steps away from Sally and Karen.
Saturday – Today was nice. Karen and I moved some furniture, which was quite the adventure! I did some unpacking, met a lot of the people around the neighbourhood, had a lovely dinner with Sally and Michelle, and joined in on some Guy Fawkes Day celebrations.
And tomorrow, I’m back to work! The job is great when I’m not having a panic-ridden day. It’s busy, the day goes by fast, and there’s lot of interesting people. It’s a fantastic place to people-watch. I tend to get there early, so there’s always some time to sit and listen.
Anyway. It’s late, and I’m tired. I decided to write because I couldn’t get to sleep with all the fireworks going off, but they seem to have stopped. Fingers crossed!
Autumn
“…these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane.” -Robert Frost
TGIF
Not really. I just couldn’t think of a proper blog title!
It’s been a busy couple weeks ’round these parts! I started a(nother) new job. This one is far more interesting and exciting that the others though. I’m working at the Natural History Museum! It’s an incredible building, inside and out- Cathedral ceilings, towers, a 4 story escalator that ascends in to a planet. The museum houses 70 million or so artifacts in it’s massive collection. The job itself is nothing fancy- Typical guest services/retail stuff, but it’s not a call centre, which means it’s the first job to exceed my minimum expectations in London thus far!
It’s temporary work at the moment, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can stay. I’ll have to wait and see!
What else?
Sally and I have started a new endeavor of anxiety blogging. Well, kind of. We’ve decided to start doing projects to help with our anxieties. Both to lessen them, and work through some of them. The idea is still in the works! This week, having found ourselves without Internet for 4 days, we decided to start crafting in the evenings. On the first night we made bracelets, and on the second, pastel drawings. The creations themselves were nothing to write home about, but we had fun!
There’s not much else new. My big excitement of today was finding Pantene curl conditioner in the pound shop. It’s not sold in the UK, so I bought 4 bottles. Whoo!
Minuet
Warning: Fangirl post ahead. Proceed with caution…
If you know me if any capacity greater than “her“, you’re probably aware of my ever-so-slight infatuation with Idina Menzel. If you don’t know who she is, she’s worth a Google. But, to save you a bit of time, I’ll go over the basics: Broadway superstar, Tony award winner, phenomenal singer, actress, and overall awesome live performer.
In spring 2004 while on a high school trip to New York we went to see a little show called Wicked. Believe it or not, it was still a relatively little show at the time! This was during it’s original Broadway run, before the Tony’s, the tours, the media frenzy, and the general insanity that was/is the Wicked hype truly took hold. I’d not heard of the show before that trip. In fact, I recall us even debating showing up for it because the Harry Potter cast was going to be down the street at Radio City at the same time. Thank goodness we went!
We sat in the back row of the top balcony, and I had forgotten my glasses back in Canada. Figures! So, I started watching a blurry performance of a show I knew nothing about. And then this green/blue figure appeared on the stage and started singing The Wizard and I, and I was hypnotized! As the show went on I was completely entranced by this woman’s voice, and was so gutted when the show was over.
When I arrived home from the trip I immediately got my hands on the album and started learning a bit about the cast. I will admit, I didn’t get overly obsessed immediately for some strange reason. But during my first year of university it really started to stick! I started getting my hands on Idina’s music (theatre, albums, live show recordings, anything that was out there), and by my second year I was slightly crazed. That was the year she opened London’s West End production of Wicked and I even found myself trying to figure out a way to get there to see it! I didn’t, of course, but lived vicariously through friends I’d met in her fandom who went. It was a fun year.
Like all obsessions, it faded a bit after that year. But, I still completely adored her! And, as it happens, she was signed by Warner Brother records, released an album, and did her first tour. And there was even a date in Toronto. So, my mom got us tickets, and I finally saw Idina in concert on November 7th, 2008. And it was awesome! At this time I didn’t know much about stage-dooring, and being with my mom she insisted we get out as quickly as possible. But, that was okay. The concert was a lot of fun, and I was happy to have just been there.
This first tour had a strict no photography rule, so I sadly only got a few terrible shots on my phone, like this:
Having heard so many recordings of her previous live shows (Zipper, Ars Nova, etc) I knew what to expect going in. She forgets her own lyrics, swears like a sailor, and changes her stories. A lot. Her performance style is fabulous, lively, and fun. It’s what makes seeing her shows such a treat.
Another few years passed, and my love for Idina remained. I saw her films, watched her shows, and continued to listen to her music. And, what luck, in 2011 she went on tour again! This time with a symphony behind her. I could not contain my excitement! Idina has a powerhouse voice, and putting a full symphony behind her was so very fitting.
On September 17, 2011 I drove solo to downtown Buffalo to see her perform with the Buffalo Phil Harmonic. It was an absolutely phenomenal performance that blew her previous concert out of the water. She was as funny and charming as ever, and this time had the accompaniment to support the sheer diversity of her performance.
The lighting in this venue was poor, so I wasn’t able to get good pictures. But, they beat the previous shows’, so that was a win. And to top it off, I got to meet Idina in all of her glory after the show! She didn’t take photos, as she was feeling under the weather, but she still went through the block long queue to sign for everyone waiting.
Oh, and I finally got this bad boy signed!
And, believe it or not, my luck only increased when they announced that PBS would be filming a live performance in Toronto, where I just happened to be living for grad school! What?! So, I a friend and I immediately grabbed some side balcony seats and squeed with excitement.
And come to the week of the performance, I get a Groupon offer for $20 rear view seats. Now, they were filming the concert over 2 nights, and we’d gotten tickets for the second. And paid way more than $20… So, I decided day-of to just splurge and get the ticket for the first performance. And I’m so glad I did. Turns out they seats were fantastic! The acoustics were slightly off, being behind, but knowing I was seeing it the next night, I didn’t worry too much about it. So, on November 17th and 18th 2012 I watched the filming of Barefoot At The Symphony (watch it all, it’s hilarious):
Seriously, who else but Idina Menzel could get a Julliard trained symphony, conducted by the incomparable Marvin Hamlisch, to perform a Glee version of Lady Gaga? They also cut out the numerous (and I mean numerous!) cursing fits for the DVD version posted. Heh.
On the second night Catherine and I waited for hours and hours at the stage door, and were able to meet and get a photo with Idina!
I wanted something a little different signed, so I had a photo from the night before developed, which she signed.
This past summer it was announced that she would be doing a UK tour starting in October. And, I just so happened to be moving to London in August! I couldn’t not get a ticket. But, I resisted my inner fangirl and only got a ticket to one show. On October 14th, 2012 I went to see a matinee performance at the London Apollo Theatre. I got second row seats, the best I’d had before, brought along my trusty Canon, and enjoyed the wonder that was another Idina concert. And this time, managed to get some photos I’m quite proud of!
Sigh. I don’t know when/if I’ll get the chance to see Idina perform again, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m more than happy with the experiences I’ve had! But, if there’s a date I can easily get to, I certainly wouldn’t pass it up… ; )
(And a note: I got to see Kristin Chenoweth when she came to Toronto this past summer and got the Playbill pictured above signed by her as well! Mission accomplished!)
Alright. Fangirling over. We now return to our regularly scheduled programme.
Catch Up!
I haven’t been posting on here much lately. It’s been a combination of my own laziness, as well as there not being much of anything worth posting about.
I left my last job after deciding it was weighing too heavily on my sanity. No, seriously. I was having panic attacks in the bathroom on my breaks. It was not a healthy place for me to be!
I also decided to leave the house I was lodging in. There were a lot of issues and I was starting to feel very uncomfortable there. Sally and her mum insisted I come back to stay with them until I find something new. And, what luck! Their neighbour has just decided to rent out a spare bedroom, and for 100 quid less a month than I was paying, with a room twice the size.
I also found a new job today with a company who sound really great to work for. The work itself is not ideal (7 years of uni got me a job answering phones), but it will do for now. I really just need to have some kind of income from a job that doesn’t make me hate my life!
It took longer than I would have liked, but things are slowly coming together. Now I just need to get my ass in gear and find an internship!
That might be best left until the new year though. We’ll see how it goes.
I’m thinking of heading back to North America for about a month or so in the new year. The job I got is contract until mid-January. Sally and I might have some cool opportunities in LA in Febryary, and I was hoping to go home for a visit around that time too. I’m thinking a week home, a week in LA, a week in Washington DC (tentative, depending on whether something goes through), and another week at home before heading back to London. My friends Amy and Tasha have been talking about visiting London at the end of February, so the timing might work out well for us all to come back together and me play tour guide for a week before getting back in to real life.
I hate that I can’t afford to travel here yet. It’s so cheap, unless you have no money whatsoever! I am thinking of doing a weekend in Belfast in November or December as I haven’t seen Orla since February. Again, we’ll see!
Aside from that life has been relatively uneventful. Sally had surgery a couple weeks ago so I’ve spent a lot of time just hanging out around the house with her. We got The Office Thank You Project up and running recently, which has been kind of exciting. I managed to put the website together myself, which caused me days of frustration, but turned out well in the end!
Oh, I also caved and got an iPhone again. Going from 3 years with one, to suddently having a terrible Samsung basic phone was just too difficult a feat for me!
I think that’s just about everything I’ve been up to! I’m well, London is well, and I finally got around to buying a jacket!
Sloane Square | Being Alive 