New Friends

There are two cat's that live in the house: Winston and Sofie. They are not on friendly terms with one another. Sofie is a bit territorial. She came to sit with me one day while I was reading on the sofa. But only because I was in her spot and she wanted me to move. She'll purr if I pet her, but she doesn't approach for scratching and is content to be left alone.

Then there is Winston. I've been here for less than two weeks and he already seems to think we are best friends. He has to sit on my lap whenever he can, and just like Pennywhistle and Maltie, he has to follow me from room to room. Even if that includes opening the bathroom door while I'm taking a shower.

Sometimes I sleep with my window open. My room is small, and with a well working radiator and a very thick comforter, I overheat while I'm asleep. One night I shut Winston out of my room only to wake up with him curled on top of my legs. The little Romeo just came right in through the window!

Sometimes he makes me miss my little fluffies than if there was no cat here at all, but it is fun to have him around. And it's always a million times easier to make friends with a pet than a human.

The British Invasion

People ask me why I chose to do grad school in the UK. I have a long list of practical reasons, but the real answer probably is a shoulder shrug and saying "why not?" But honestly, living in the UK had never been high on my destination list. With my first father, we moved quite a lot around the U.S. and my second father worked in exotic and mysterious places like Cameroon, Nigeria, and Brazil. Usually my fantasy places were warm and tropical. I don't even know when the UK came on my radar as even existing.

Like most people, music has a way of anchoring memories in my mind. The earliest memories I have include my mother singing the Beatles songs as we traveled. (moved.) (other early musical memories included a hefty dose of John Denver, my first father singing Hank Williams songs as we acted out the lyrics and learning Rhinestone Cowboy. To this day I can still sing it line for line.)

The songs that capture living in Longview, TX are Cold As Ice and Hot Blooded by Foreigner and Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. Baker Street meant MY street. It meant Chef Boy Ardee pizza kits, ravioli and spaghetti-o's, riding our bikes full speed down a steep hill, the smell of autumn leaves decaying in swimming pools. (maybe the only time that decay has a fond smell...)

Most of my early music years were introduced to me by my older sister. This trend continued well into my late teens. When I was about thirteen the new introduction was Duran Duran. I was now old enough to understand the sex appeal of musicians and I fell madly in love with every member of the group. I became an official member of their fan club and I had to rearrange all my cute cat/dog/horse posters to make way for Simon, John, Roger and Nick. (Just didn't fall so much for Andy.) Following my affair with Duran Duran came Roger Daltry and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Powell).

Duran Duran aside, when I am in the mood for something other than classical or jazz, these are still the artist I listen to today. And speaking of jazz, several years ago came along Jamie Cullum of which I now own three of his cd's.

Also when I was about 12 or 13 I started reading James Herriott; All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and All Things Wise and Wonderful. These were wonderful stories of a big animal veterinarian and his escapades with his clients, animal and human, in the rolling country-side. Living on a sheep farm in the rolling hills of the Ozark mountains, the difference in the stories culture to my own seemed more about antiquity and generational changes than the fact they were set in a different country.

It probably wasn't until popularity of Kenneth Brannagh and Hugh Grant that I really became aware of the UK as a place. In the past fifteen years I've probably watched about every British art house movie available in the U.S. - The Secret of Roan Innish, Cold Comfort Farm, Waking Ned Divine, Billy Elliot, Dear Frankie, and the list goes on. But I still never thought, "Gee, I'd really like to live in the U.K." From all of these movies it seemed like a sad and heart breaking place with ghost stories that get woven into your soul but not something you'd go seeking after.

So it wasn't until I started my MBA, which is through the Univ of Wales, that I considered it. But once the thought entered my head, about a week into my first course, the idea never left. It became the most practical, sensible and comforting thought I had had in a long time. And so almost two, very quick years later, I am here.

Oddly enough, just a few weeks before I moved, Gerry Rafferty passed away. All these years and I never had any idea that he was British and that Baker Street was named after a London Street. No, the song still means Longview, Texas to me.

School

I've been made fun of a few times already this past week for saying "school". As in, "I am here for graduate school." or "School starts the 1st of Feb." Little children go to school. I go to university. I'd have to revisit my grammar books to diagram that sentence but I want to say "I go to THE university". Not "I go to university" like "I go to work". Saying "football" for soccer seems like an easier transition for my mouth to make so now I use the word "studies" or "class" when I tell people why I am here.

Which reminds me, when I first arrived in Cheltenham, my flatmate had sent a taxi to collect me at the bus depot. While he was arranging my luggage in the back of the car I was reading the digital directions which gave a description of who he was picking up and where to take me and said "help the lady wiv her luggage..." Had some My Fair Lady scenes flash through my head when I read that.

So speaking of school, here is the photo part of today's blog - There are four campuses for the Univ of Gloucestershire. I'll be attending two of them. The first photo's are Francis Close Hall. This is where the majority of the MRes (Master of Research) classes are held. This is also where the school and community choir rehearses. I love this campus, but it's not really in the best side of town.

There is a beautiful chapel on the grounds that I didn't capture yet. More photo's to come I'm sure.




Below is The Park Campus. Aptly named I think. It has the business school so the business part of my research will happen there. The entire campus sits on a tear drop shape of land, the buildings in the smaller part and the winding trails and duck pond of the park on the fat round bottom. The Park is in the very nice part of town. The building you see in the left photo is one of the halls of residence.



I think it's so beautiful here and it's only January. I can't wait until spring. I've been taking notes of all the parks and nooks and paths that I want to revisit once the flowers are out.

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, But Came Down A Mountain

I don't know if you've ever heard of that movie. Hugh Grant at the height of Hugh Grant. The only thing I remember about it was how much I wanted it to be over. Not really one I recommend, but the title popped into my head this afternoon when I went for a walk.

When I go out on walks I like to have a destination. Once I've locked the destination into my internal GPS I like to observe and think along the way. And take winding paths that come along the way. Cheltenham is small town. Sitting in my bedroom and looking out the window across the town center, I can see the country side. Today's destination was to first locate where my next Monday meeting is held and then to see how far across town I can go.

In a seven mile round trip I made it to the base of Leckhampton Hill. And when I say base, I mean, I actually followed a little public foot path and walked about the country side before coming back down to the town.

These first two photo's are of a house with a real honest-to-goodness thatched roof. This house was not sitting out in the country, but along a row of modern houses. The second photo is the gate to the open pasture. The little yellow sign says "Public Access". And yes, it was extremely muddy.





















The next two photo's are me standing in the pasture. To the North is the town of Cheltenham. (I told you it's not very big.) and to the South is a large house. I know, it's not very clear, but trust me it's bordering on castle'ish.




This next photo made me laugh! School was just getting out and parents and their little grade schoolers were walking home. This dog was sitting in the window in what appears to be eager anticipation at someone coming home. Usually one would see a cat sitting in a window in such a pose. Plus, the dog is clearly a few sizes too big for that window sill!



In other news I will tell you that at midnight last night I learned that American pancakes are not the same as British pancakes.

Military Time

When moving to another country you're prepared to adjust to driving patterns, language barriers and currency conversions, but it's the small things that stick out to you. Small things that will soon become normal, but for now pop out in my mind anytime I go for a walk.

First, I have yet to see anyone, walking or driving, talking on their cell phone. Or mobile as I should call it. Even though Cheltenham is a small town, it's not the sticks. People do have cell phones. They just don't seem to be on it 27/7. I don't even hear my flat mates glued to their phones.

Second, people don't seem as thirsty here as in America. In the US there are drinking fountains everywhere, plus everyone walks around with a water bottle, taking swigs every four or five steps. Like soldiers packing canteens out in the desert. I haven't seen anyone drinking from a water bottle, I don't see eco-friendly canisters for sale here (that are all the rage in the US), and there isn't even a water fountain at the church. Perhaps people here hydrate by absorbing the mist that is constantly in the air.

And the time. Everything is in military time. I'm fine up till 2, because I can easily add 2 to 12 to get 14. But somewhere around 17, 18 and 19 I just realize that it's after 3:00 p.m. but before 10:00 p.m. 10 is easy because I used to process payroll for an evening shift that ended at 22:00, or 10:00 p.m. Also, it's only 2 hours before midnight. I'm sure within a few months my mind will automatically know what time it is without these crazy calculations.


For those only interested in looking at photo's, below is something I found down a little ally way off one of the main shopping streets. It's five mosaic murals that tell a story of a parade elephant that escaped to eat peanuts. I'm not sure the story has any historical context to Cheltenham, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Getting Lost

In this first week, before school starts and I get an established routine, before I go to bed at night I make a list of things to do so that I feel I'm being productive during the day. I had three task today - walk past the campus, get a phone and a hair dryer. (I didn't say these were world changing task...)

Before setting out I wrote down directions so that I could accomplish my goals in a circular route. I am usually very good with directions and map reading but with no visible sun and crazier streets than Boston I have no idea where to find North and South, Left and Right. The nice thing though is that Cheltenham is so small that I can't get lost, even if I can't find my exact destination.

After having asked for directions to campus I followed a narrow winding residential road. The two pictures below is the little street. I bet I will never walk down that street again. I have no idea where it is, or how I really got there.




















A little way down I came across St. Gregory's Catholic church. I thought perhaps it's spires were going to be my campus but I was wrong. (by several blocks according to my map.) The picture on the left is the front door. The photo on the right was a small alley way next to the church. It reminded me of all the British movies I've watch through the years.



Just a few blocks away is St. Mary or St. Mark's church. I'm not sure which as it seems the map has it declared as both. I love all the moss on the roof.


















The winding path finally brought me to town center where I had been yesterday. The area was packed with people. Yesterday there were people walking around. More than what you'd see walking around in Salt Lake, but today it was like walking down Broadway in New York early on a Saturday evening. Very busy.

I saw a man walking his two little terriers and I just had to ask him if I could take their photo's. I'm sure he's thinking "strange American. dogs aren't on the tourism sight seeing list." but terriers and English Sheep dogs are my most favorite dogs. (in fact, if you crossed Pennywhistle with a sheep you'd get something that resembles the terrier on the left.)

So cute! Even if the white one didn't want it's photo taken.

Jocu

When I was little I wanted a pet dog. Anytime I would ask for one my dad would say "We have dogs."

We didn't have pet dogs. We had hunting dogs. That lived outside. And would go off in the woods days on end. I wanted a cute little dog that would live inside with me and be my best friend. I domesticated every other animal on the farm. I had a pet duck that I would carry around tucked up under my arm. I had my pet sheep Spider. We had a pet raccoon for a little while. And always tons of feral cats that I would tame.

One Wednesday evening, as everyone was gathering for Seminary and other church meetings, my friends the Blau's brought a pile of puppies to give away. They were plump, fluffy little black and white creatures. I feel instantly in love.

On this same fateful day, my mother just happened to purchase a small pure-bred toy poodle. My dad had said no to the mutts, but when my mother drove into the church parking lot with a paid-for dog, how could they reasonably say no to a free one?

I picked out the fluffiest little one of the bunch and named him Jocu. Yes, a reworking of Cujo. They looked like little miniature black&white St. Bernards. I loved Jocu so much.

When I moved out on my own, at the age of 16, I thought I was mature enough to take on the world. When I look back on my journal entries for that time, the most thing I talked about was missing Jocu who had to stay behind.

This morning I woke up to an empty house. Last night I found a new home for Maltie and Pennywhistle. I know the new family will love them just as much as I, and for the cats they'll be happy with who ever loves, feeds and snuggles with them. But it is quiet here and I expect to see them at every turn. It was strange to turn open the shades and not have to pull them up so the cats can look out the window. And to brush my teeth without them sticking their head into the running water.

They have been loving and faithful companions through three very lonely and difficult years. I will miss them very much. I may be getting gray hair and a few wrinkles, but I haven't really changed much since I was sixteen years old.

Rachel Green

I love movies and T.V. shows. And I love celebrity gossip sites. Not that I think it gives me much insight to celebrities, but does give me insight to board posters.

Every time a new Jennifer Aniston movie comes out, the posters go crazy with "when is Jennifer Aniston going to stop playing Rachel Green?" Here's the thing, if you watch more than four different performances by any given actor, you're going to find they have the same expression of sorrow, joy, love, surprise, etc. They touch their face, move their hair, and walk fairly similar in every role. Jennifer Aniston, like most, is a movie version of her own mannerisms playing out a role.

Yes, there are some actors who do manage to drastically alter themselves into the new role. Christian Bale comes to mind. But even then, sometimes when I'm watching one of his performances I'm thinking more about how Christian Bale became that character, more than following that character through the story. Oddly enough, I could completely believe him as Bruce Wayne but no one really talks much about his role as Batman.

We enjoy performances by certain actors because we like them. Some seem like ourselves, or a version of us we'd like to be. Some seem like people we'd be friends with if they were co-workers or school mates. Acting, like any other job, goes to the person who is well liked, not necessarily the one best qualified for the job. No one is going to purposely choose to spend time, whether a fifty hour work week, or a two hour movie, with someone we don't like.

Is every Jennifer Aniston role Rachel Green? I think they all have Jennifer Aniston in common, not Rachel Green. When I finish watching one of her movies I generally feel happy. (Marlow and Me excluded.) And if I come away happy, after trying to escape the doldrums of my real life, then Jennifer Aniston did her job.

2010 in review

Welcome to the new year. I am a resolution setter, but mostly I just like making plans. Before going forward with the new year, lets review how I did on Year One of the new Five Year plan that I set forth last December:

1) Get a job -

Check. I actually got an awesome job. When I moved here it was to focus on completing my MBA and prepping for grad school. I wasn't too particular about what kind of job and would have been happy serving tables. I definitely didn't want a high stress, time intensive job.

As fate would have it, I landed a job as an Analyst with Community Action Partnership of Utah. I had been trying to get on to similar non-profits for the past five or six years in Boston and D.C. It wasn't even on my radar for the short term relocation back to SLC. But there it just kind of landed in my lap. It wasn't everything that I dreamed it to be, but it also was better and more eye-opening than expected.

2) Complete and publish mystery novel

Nope. But it's not dead either. Work and MBA studies took up a bit more brain power than I had anticipated. But I've been plugging away at it and hope to be ready to start the second draft by the end of January. (I anticipate needing at least three drafts before ready to publish.)

3) Begin MBA dissertation

Check. I actually really hoped to have a completed first draft done before the end of the year, but applying for a doctorate program happened earlier in the five year plan than I had set out. Oct and Nov were consumed with research proposals and then the MBA trip to Zurich. However, I have a pretty solid structure for the dissertation. And almost most of my literature review completed, which is a solid chunk so I'm pretty pleased with the rate of this goal.

4) Marry Richard Armitage

Okay, well, since he doesn't know I exist this one is a bit more difficult to have any control over. And through the year I've decided that if he's unwilling, or unable, to help me complete my five year plan, then I'll settle for Gerard Butler.

5) Join Community Band

Fail. There aren't as many community bands/orchestras here as there are in the East. I did go listen to one that I thought about joining, but opening for fourth rate trumpet players aren't really a dime a dozen. The Univ of Gloucestershire does have a community orchestra and choir. I've already contacted the conductor about openings and it might be a possibility. However, since packing space is at a premium, and my trumpet isn't really that great, I think I may join the choir and then if I stay on to do my PhD at the school I'll look at perhaps upgrading trumpets and joining the orchestra.

So I have a mixed bag of success and failure for the past year. To be honest I haven't thought too much about my exact goals for 2011, but maybe because overarching themes from 2010 are playing out, but I do like to put down a formal check list so:

1: Finish MBA dissertation by March

2: Finish Master of Research dissertation by December

3: Finish the damn novel!

4: Begin PhD program (Dec 2011)

5: One half-marathon (I don't know the running/racing atmosphere in England so I'm not sure how feasible this one is.)

6: Go on a date. And kiss. If Armitage or Butler are not available I will settle for a normal mortal man.

Well, it looks like a short list, but boy I've got a lot of work to do! 2011 already seems like a blur. But I'm really looking forward to it. I have a year of very defined parameters which allows my brain to relax. I only have to focus on the doing, not the planning. And the planning part of my brain could probably do with a little bit of a break.