Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I had this great post in my head, about how all these things were changing and I was going to announce them all at once. But alas, my extensive planning has been intercepted and changed once again by a far greater and better plan (I just don't know any of the details yet). I was holding out on this post until I had final word that I was indeed moving out of campus housing into a flat. However, today was the day the flat would be held for me and I still haven't gotten a straight answer from my housing office if I could be released from my accommodation contract. So, instead of getting a "yes" or a "no" from God, I received a "not yet." I am a bit disappointed, for this flat would have been a good fit for me and promote a more structured living environment (more on that later), but God decided to turn this into a lesson on patience and trust in a greater plan I just don't know about yet. I'd be up for a couple of hints though.....God? No? Ok.


So, onto the next changes.... Sad news or random news first? Let's go with sad, shall we?


After a lot of thought, reflection, and prayer, Bevis and I decided to no longer pursue a relationship. Well, to be honest, I decided, but he listened and respected my reasons and in the end, agreed. The process of returning back to London after holiday in Italy, and saying goodbye to very dear friends made me realize that my true home is Seattle, and the probability of me staying in London after September plummeted significantly. Realizing that my time here was short, it gave me a new perspective which questioned the wisdom of investing in a relationship (especially a relationship where faith was not shared). It was one of those -"this is going so well, that it is better to end it now before it gets harder to end" things. And the Tower Bridge Starbucks will be forever deemed "the break-up Starbucks," and I figured if I had to ruin a coffee shop, it might was well be Starbucks. Things ended on good terms, amidst the sadness, I feel a lot of peace about it. So, single once again (and I'm saving a lot of money on my phone bill).


The random news, but a significant change, is my abandonment of contact lenses. Weird announcement, I know, but it's big for me, and it's my blog, so there. My glasses got lost after a weekend trip in November, and after procrastination extreme, got a new pair that arrived the day before Darbee and I jetted of to Italy. Intending to save packing space, I did not bring my contacts along, and quite enjoyed the extra few minutes getting ready and going to bed usually spent sticking my finger in my eye. My first morning back in London, I awoke with eyes so swollen, I couldn't have put an eyelash in my eye, let alone a contact. So to review: falling out of the habit + minimizing primping time for the sake of writing overwhelming papers + laziness + channeling academic vibes = Lynn is a glasses girl. I feel a bit more European, and I like the look. Here are a few pictures so you can feel the vibe along with me:


I would say the biggest changes for me this new term are internal. After a lot of prayer and reflection about whether moving into a flat would really help things, I had to honestly evaluate what I felt was "wrong" with my current living situation. The two things that were quite easy to identify was (1) the kitchen and (2) living "on campus." For those of you who might not be as up to date on my last few years, I have been struggling with maintaining a healthy and complete relationship with food. Making space for eating well is a big challenge, and sharing a kitchen with six other girls (with varying cleanliness standards) and having limited storage space has really impacted how often I cook and have food available. The second challenge, is having my entire world being restricted to a two block radius. My room is my sleeping, studying, living, and eating space. I found it very hard to create blocks of study time, my room being too distracting and the library being too close to create intentionality (of going and staying). Living in a flat, with a greater amount of control in the kitchen, and being a half hour walk away from campus would address these challenges a bit more, by forcing me to create more structure. However, as I was in the limbo of waiting to hear from housing, I realized there were intentional changes I could make in my current living space. I am proud to say (with the help of Real Simple) I cooked two meals last week (planning ahead in scheduling time and grocery shopping) and today with some friends from church I officially made Salsa Bean Soup an international favorite. I've realized the more I create a "life" not defined by my academics, the more eager I am to spend intentional time as an academic. God has blessed me with some great girlfriends from church, and they have opened their flat to me. I go to coffee shops in the morning to study, and the library in the afternoon. I have also scheduled time for "thinking" and "prepping" for my upcoming essays, so they are actually worked on before the end of term. So, even though big picture I think moving to a flat would be a beneficial thing, I've been able to make some changes in my daily schedule that have given me more space to make healthy choices.
So, to review, I'm wearing glasses and am very hopeful about this term. Coming up will be stories and pictures of Italy. Ciao!

IT SNOWED OVERNIGHT!

I know all of you from Seattle will respond "...and what else is new?" but this is my first snow of the season! and probably my last. Snow rarely comes to London, and it doesn't really ever stick. I slept in too late to see any of the snow fall, but there was a lovely dusting on rooftops and hedges this morning. And I finally pulled out my sweaters, because it is a long cold walk to the library, let me tell you. And I was finally motivated to drag my chair out of my room and down the stairs so I could reach the high stairwell window that has been open all term that makes the hallway freezing and squeeks really obnoxiously on windy days. Because: cold outside + open window = cold inside. And just like Seattle, the city of London has grinded to a halt. Most of the tube lines have severe delays, the line closest to my flat has been shut down completely. Buses are late, trains delayed and shut down, traffic is horrendous. Ahhhhh... just like home.

I've got a Golden Ticket!

Well, it's not a ticket, nor is it gold. What it is though, is something truly more fantastic than an entry to a dumb-old chocolate factory (I take it back Mr. Wonka, you can invite me over anytime!). It is a receipt acknowledging that I have turned in my LAST ASSESSMENT ESSAY of fall term (and just nine days late). And there was great rejoicing. Yay. January 2007 will forever remain etched in history as the month my life was reduced to 5,000 word increments, 3-fold. You will soon be returned to your regular scheduled-blogging.

Lessons Learned this Week:

~ procrastination is bad, but procrastination with viruses and bacteria throwing a kegger in the back of your throat is just plain painful
~ not only am i capable of doing academic work for 10-15 hours a day, for four days straight, i actually kinda liked it. but, i bet i would like 8 hours a day, five days a week, over the course of eleven weeks even better!
~ the library is a fantastic place to study! much better than my smelly old desk with a pesky internet connection.
~ i prefer the caffine buzz of black tea, second is coca-cola buzz, and third is coffee buzz.
~ curly fries with ketchup and black pepper is a better midnight study-snack thank melted B&J cookie dough ice cream
~ a lot of water not only flushes away germies and keeps you healthier, it also works in mandatory "study breaks" every 30 minutes.
~ some of my flatmates stay up into the wee hours of the morning doing who knows what, but it involves going up and down the stairs, a lot
~ the person I share a common wall with in the apartment wall listens to/watches what sounds like the beginning of Shaft at 11:48 every night
~ my laptop is much smarter than i gave him credit for. he quickly learned that the word "libaray" was not a fun place to go, even when said in a cheerful voice. soon, when I mentioned to my flatmates it was time to go back to the "L-I-B-A-R-A-Y" he would hide under the desk and refuse to go into my messenger bag. I finally learned to carry treats with me, by leaving a trail of small USB flash drives into my bag, if I'm quick enough, I velcro the little punk in there before he knows what hit him.
~ there is a consipracy going on with my solitaire game (probably in collusion with my laptop who gets sulky when I trick him into the library) because I NEVER win a game when I'm procrastinating, which, lets face it, is the only time one plays solitare on your computer.

signs you procrastinated too much during fall term and are now paying dearly for it:

~ you "reward" yourself for hitting word count benchmarks with study breaks such as showering and washing dishes.
~ on the way between the library and home, you start obsessing if you have been using contractions, which will affect your word count.
~ you waggle your fingers when you are speaking to other people.
~ people ask you how your day is going and you reply with the number of words you have left (4,000, thanks for asking!)
~ you tell people you care about to avoid interacting with you the day before the big due date.
~ the only reason you have time to post on yoru blog is because you drank coffee at midnight and at 2:00 AM are still too wired to go to bed, even though your brain has turned to mush.

oops, no posts

so sorry friends, but trip to Italy+ fog cancelled flight + strep throat + three 5,000 word essays due friday = Lynn has no time for posting. Even now, I'm on borrowed time. Stay tuned this weekend, where my fingers will gladly be typing fun tales of Italian adventures rather than how W. E. B. Du Bois used the role of the city in his interpretation of white racism in the 19th century. Meh. I would really appreciate some prayer, not only for my health and my essays, but I am in the depths of such homesickness (probably because if I was home, I wouldn't have to write these essays), I really need some comfort. Happy New Year!