at 1k

still writing. one thousand words in, i'm convinced that the only way this can go is downhill. i'm still excited about the topic, even though some of the reading is particularly difficult (like the native american women and children who were slaughtered so that a doctor could study their skulls). hopefully i'll have some interesting things to say when i finish, right now all i can report on is the number of hours i've spent reading/researching/writing at home or at trof (thank goodness for nearby coffee shops and baristas that give me free cups of tea).

new decade and some snow

this is going to be quite short (i hope) because i'm exhausted. fortunately i have a reason to be exhausted, otherwise i'd just think i was old. we were out until 6 in the morning last night, just playing in the snow. M found an amazing garden (a proper english garden, but covered in snow), it was the most beautiful thing i've seen since wales. S and i played hide&seek, i drew in the snow with a stick, and just generally ruined the pristine snow like an eight-year old might. S said it inspired him (to write) and i agreed that it inspired me (to destroy the snow formations). D, M, and F worked on a giant snowball, it ended up being over 6 ft tall and impossible to move. they stayed longer than S and i, and apparently got stopped by a policeman-- not to impede their forming of the snowball, but so that the policeman could get a picture on his phone! i've realized that people go a bit nuts when it snows here, which is great because they do what i always want to do when it snows: brits act like children in snow, and i love it.

NYE was a lot of fun and went off without a hitch. N and i cleaned, decorated, and generally did everything. the boys helped a bit, but mostly by dancing around the kitchen partially naked. there were lots of people that showed up, about 3 times as many as we estimated. it was still fine, N and i had gotten a lot of food & drinks. my friend from IU came up from exeter to visit, so it was a really nice couple days with him. i also got to spend NYE with all my closest friends here and that's never a bad thing.

between NYE and last night, nothing much happened. new years' day was spent entirely lazing around the house. i went to ikea to pick up things for the house (shoe rack, sheets, mirror, and etc) and have spent a lot of time with my housemates and N. this week i'll be starting my big essay, this one focusing on the NMAI, foucault, and display of power in museums. that's the only thing that will be happening for the next couple weeks, so expect some very dull entries coming up. on the other hand, life in this house is never dull. in any case, i'm heading to bed (and not sledding with D and F).