Jason's Daily Notes

I was completely exhausted after work yesterday. I came home and just wanted to lay down. I found that Mike had bought and decorated a full Christmas tree.I brought my laptop home for the first time in 3 nights. I called home, since my flight was in 2 days! Uncle was decorating the Christmas tree. (And we had gotten a Christmas tree at work during the day too - what is up with Christmas trees today?!) I felt compelled to continue answering refund requests for work. What's wrong with me?! Mike cooked spaghetti carbonara. I had a little bit before going to bed around 10:30. I was asleep around 11, so not as early as I had hoped.

Work didn't have much going on. Simone came in late bc he had a morning meeting. Tom left early for a weekend in the countryside. We had pizzas for lunch. Simone left early to fly to Italy. I checked in to my flight and got a window seat on the upper deck!

I was the dj for the office, playing Muse, Marianas Trench, and DJ Earworm to pump us up for the weekend.

Left the office at 4:30. Yes!

Waking up today was even harder. It's the 4th night in a row that I didn't get adequate sleep.

At work, we focused on preparing a Christmas email to our leads.

During my lunch break I went to the bank, in Bayswater. I got a chicken shawarma on my way back to the office.

I no longer feel safe and secure. I feel cold and alone. 25 is a difficult year. I'm growing, but now that I'm done with my masters degree I don't have anything to look forward to. No external goals, only what I want to do myself. It's scary, actually terrifying, but its freedom.

After getting home last night after 23:30, I wasn't well-rested when I woke up at 7. I did have some interesting dreams, though now I can't remember more than that my colleague Dennis was in them 😕

It's Jenn and Ray's birthday! Yay!

Surprisingly, I was productive at work today. I made lots of calls, and I didn't hesitate like I usually do before calling. I have to learn to spend less time hesitating/worrying before getting into potentially nervewracking situations. It's better to just jump into them.

My coworker Jas was not feeling well; after trying to nap during lunch, she told us that she was vomiting and was going home. I hope that it doesn't spread around the office :X

I had more turkey for lunch, sitting by myself in the office, even though Simone and Den urged me to grab lunch with them. I sat in on a meeting to discuss our company's app. It looks like we're having a hard time agreeing on what niche the app is actually targeting. I also chatted with Chris the Canadian and Leslie.

I did my best to wrap up work by 6 - I didn't fail that badly: I left at 18:10, but I forgot my scarf and gloves, so I went back for them. I've decided to just leave my laptop and bag at work when I have evening plans. Tonight's plan? Winter Wonderland!

I invited some people online. (I also tagged all my Dutch people in the post stuffdutchpeoplelike.com, which is so true!)

Looking forward to mulled wine tonight!

Waking up was difficult as usual; my body was tired from last night's ice skating. I did fall on my knees, after all.

Work is the same. Some excitement (especially since our Black Friday campaign seems to have worked well).

I often find myself thinking about what I want to do, and how I can break into the tech industry. Should I learn SEO? Social Media? Online marketing in general? I don't want to do it just because it's what's hot and trendy right now. I want to do it because it's a long-term investment in my future. I still want to launch my travel startup; I think the travel industry will be for me long-term. But to complement that, I will need to gain useful skills. Which brings me back to my thoughts: Learn SEO? Programming? Mobile apps? Anyway, at least now I'm gaining some useful business development skills. I just want to know/be able to do more and I want it now. I want to strike before the market opportunities go away or change. It's intimidating, honestly! What if my ideas are taken by someone else? Will I be able to think of great/innovative ideas in the future?

I guess I'm just at the age where I'm aware of my limits, cognitively. There are so many more things to learn than I will ever be able to. I have always thought I could know everything. And I still want to be able to know and do everything. But that just isn't feasible - I have to learn to let go of this mindset. (Also, I have to stop being jealous of people's success. It makes no sense for me to be jealous when someone gets a PhD if I don't want to get a PhD myself.)

At work, I went down to print out a document in colour - twice (so inefficient!). Lunch was more leftover turkey. There's a leak in the ceiling of the office. We have a bowl to collect the dripping water. It was raining on and off all day - so I stayed in the office all day!

In the evening, I went to watch The Master with my coworkers.

As one can imagine, it was hard to wake up in the morning. There was a heavy rainstorm overnight, but I slept soundly through it, and it had lightened up by 8am. I made it to work by 09:15 and got straight into it.

Since Ecehan is out for the week, I have to cover her contacts. There were a few promising sales calls, but nothing materialized just yet. I emailed Zenia, who l assurance that I could get the visa, as long as my employer is willing to pay the fees (which I am not sure that they are).

I messaged my LA friends; looks like there's an after-hours party on the 2nd. It sounds awesome and very cool but I doubt I can manage it with my jet lag! Also looking forward to a family Vegas trip to see Shania Twain and Ang's birthday celebration on the 8th.

I stayed at work until nearly 7pm, which almost made me late to meet Mile and Kayleen for ice skating. Luckily, taking the bus to Notting Hill Gate and the tube from there wasn't long. I grabbed a vegetable pasty at Liverpool Street and waited for maybe 10 minutes, making small chat with the girl working at the counter.

There were only 2 other people skating, so we essentially had the whole rink to ourselves. It was quiet, but I think we enjoyed nonetheless. I fell 1.5 times. It sprinkled a bit, but there was no downpour as had been forecasted. We returned home and went straight to bed; i was truly exhausted.

Having slept on the air mattress, I didn't feel sore as I normally do. I woke up, and it was around 9:30 - not as late as I thought (and I would have wanted to sleep longer). So I stayed in my room and was slow to get up. By the time I went down to make myself a cuppa, Mike had already left to meet his dad and stepmom at St. Paul's.

Demi made a surprise visit; I told him about my lightbulb issue. I fixed myself a plate of thanksgiving leftovers. I browsed online, looking for a reason to go out. Kayleen went out for a walk. Around 2pm I decided to go out myself, playing a little "bus roulette." I ended up going to Battersea, where I had never been before. At Vauxhall, there was a guy wearing the exact same coat as me. I took the 344 bus and walked around Battersea Park, which is spacious and really reminded me of Hyde Park. There's a lake, and several gardens, and the Peace Pagoda, which stands noticeably on the bank of the Thames.

The weather was chilly, but it was dry to begin with. Clouds were moving in from the west, and the forecast called for heavy rain later in the evening (flooding rains have been affecting western and southern England for the past week). I had my Herbalife bag with me, with a water bottle and umbrella just in case.

I walked across Chelsea Bridge and along the riverbank to Vauxhall Bridge, where I crossed again and continued north (hopping for 2 stops on the bus). Night was arriving quickly, and I was soon by the London Eye. There, I met Mike and his dad and stepmom. I texted him, asking where he was. He said they were in front of Giraffe (a restaurant). I looked to my right, and there was Giraffe. I was there too! I texted him back - "wait, I'm here too!" and within a few seconds he spotted me with a shout "J"! What a coincidence (and it's just like last week, when I happened to get off the tube right where Mike, Amy, and Alex were getting on). Small world, and I guess Mike and I have some sort of psychic connection.

We walked through the Christmas market, which was nice, and I was really tempted to get some Glühwein, but no one else was drinking so I decided against it. MIke and co were going to Ask Italia for dinner/pizza, while I went home. I tried to take the 159, but it was so full that the bus driver shut the doors on people trying to board. So I walked, on, all the way to the Imperial War Museum, where I caught a less-crowded 59 bus home. I watched 3 episodes of Game of Thrones and carved up the remaining meat from the turkey (there will be plenty of turkey leftovers to be had tomorrow!).

Mike returned but seemed more interested in watching The X Factor than hanging out. Understandable.

Today was the day I made a big Thanksgiving feast for a group of friends.

I woke up around 9:30, did a little blogging/email checking, and then spent most of the day preparing the meal. I began by rolling out the shortcrust and baking two pumpkin pies. Mike was up around 11 and, after making some breakfast (two leftover muffins), he helped me make the mashed potatoes.

At 2 I left to visit the rental house, run by two guys, Ben and Nic, where my mom and uncle will be staying. They were nice, and the ground floor flat is also very nice (and has a garden!). It was raining continuously all day. I then headd to Brixton to deposit cash into my bank account, but the bank was closed. So I picked up a few final things from Poundland and returned to the house. Mike had prepared the mashed potatoes beautifully and taken the pumpkin pies out of the oven.

I started to prepare the turkey, cutting up lots of onions. I put it in the oven around 4 (so that it should be done after 2 and a half hours - 6:30). I relaxed for a bit, but Mike soon had to leave to meet his dad and stepmom at 5. They were going to have a nice dinner at Le Mercury in Islington.

Tessa was the first guest to arrive, around 6pm. I still was cooking (gravy, stuffing, cranberry, etc) as she arrived. She helped me stir the gravy. I got a phone call from Ludo, saying that he was free and had nothing to do for a few hours, so I enthusiastically invited him to come over! He soon arrived with Amanda. Mel and Kayleen came down and were hanging out with us. It was around 7 when I got all the food out and tabled. It was great; I carved the turkey, and we all ate from paper plates and drank from red cups.

Fernanda arrived late; she had 7 flat viewings that day, but they seemed promising! Anyway, she joined us just as we were having pumpkin pie for dessert (after 2 helpings each of food). We then continued drinking and played the "celebrity head" game for a round. It was fun (I was Sponge Bob).

Everyone left by 10pm-ish. Fern, Mike, and I lay in his bed and took turns massaging each other; it was fun and honestly felt great! Mel and Kayleen were there too.

Fernanda was flying to Madrid from Heathrow in the morning, so she stayed over the night. I pumped up the air mattress, so she didn't sleep in Mike's room. I slept on the air mattress, which was very comfortable. I didn't hear her leave at 5:30am.

I didn't go to sleep until midnight. I woke up around 6:15, peed, and didn't really go back to bed. I had several dreams that all dealt in some way with departing - like traveling through an airport or moving to a new place (I had one that flashed me back to my flight to North Carolina from London). I finished the stuffing that I had made last night and got ready for work.

IT'S SWAG'S LAST DAY IN LONDON :( We were WhatsApp-ing him the whole way to the airport. Amanda was free, so she accompanied him to Heathrow. The songs of the day were "With a Little Help from My Friends," "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," and "Praise You."

Work wasn't bad. I am getting the hang of processing refunds and am slowly learning to communicate better with my colleagues. I have a habit of witholding information, probably because I don't want to annoy people (or because I don't want them to know as much as me?! I have some very selfish/bad tendencies sometimes). But I'm learning to admit when I don't know something and to ask for help more humbly.

Anyway, I wrapped up the work week summarizing what I accomplished in my 3rd week. Sadly, it wasn't as much as the last week. But I ended the week (again) with some good news: My first payment for one of my sales came through! I finished my beer and left for home at 5:35pm (early for once)!

I caught the Overground to Euston (the first time I caught it). Fern texted me; she was also on her way home and hungry. So, we decided to meet at Mornington Crescent and have dinner. We grabbed Thai food at a place with a good Yelp rating. We ended up sitting and talking for maybe 2 hours, just catching up and helping each other out. She has almost the exact the same problems/struggles (visa, family, housing, work) that I have. We have no one else that we can talk to. But it wasn't all serious; we still had fun. I don't know why I was pushing her away. I just don't know how to handle my own emotions and how to get close to people. I've never really been close to anyone I guess... but that's another, deep, thought that I won't go into now.

We parted ways and I got back to Brixton, where the police had closed the road for what looked like an investigation, so there were no buses running, so I walked home. I wrapped up some emails (including booking a flat on Airbnb for my mom and uncle), and just relaxed in my room.

Mike arrived home, having had a nice dinner with his dad and stepmom who arrived during the day. He came up and joined me. We just lay on my bed, and then Kayleen and Mel joined. We ended up hanging out, chatting, listening to Christmas music, playing "MFK" and Never Have I Ever. I was embarrassed to not know what a pallet was. I brought up the leftover pumpkin pie, which was delicious. Mike decided to cover my entire face with whipped cream, which was hilarious (even though my mouth was full so I couldn't really laugh).

Uh ah oh, it's Thanksgiving. If you don't know the song, here you go. I'm sorry, and you're welcome :) Anyway, I got up early as usual. Now, I leave my things downstairs so that I don't make a lot of noise to wake Mike up. He seemed genuinely annoyed with me yesterday morning, and I don't want us to drift apart like so many of my former flatmates and I have. I decided not to bring the leftover pumpkin pie to work. I just couldn't be bothered to pack it up and carry it on the tube. For lunch, I joined Jas and Ece at Sainsbury's, where I got a couple pieces of chicken, a cheap mashed potato dish, and two festive sausage rolls. We were locked out of the office, so we had to wait to eat. I went to the corner off license and bought some Red Bull (I read yesterday that it has fewer negative health effects than I thought, and it may speed my metabolism, which I need). Work was busy as usual, but luckily all the American companies were closed. I spent a good amount of the day processing refunds (which is a more daunting task than I thought; and I can't just be nice to everyone and give them a refund. I gotta be tough!). I had the idea of coming home and making a mini-thanksgiving dinner for everyone, but I got back to Brixton later than usual. I went straight to Tesco (since I'm now wearing my backpack instead of the Herbalife bag I can carry more). I bought the turkey (which I later named Courtney Love) and some other ingredients. How exciting! I just made some stuffing to eat. I called home to wish my mom and uncle a happy Thanksgiving. They bought their flight tickets, so they'll be in/around London until January 11! What am I to do with them for that long?! Mike was at the pub quiz with his coworkers. He wanted me to join, but I didn't want to pay £15 to go there. It seemed like fun. But whatever. I want to spend more time hanging out with Mike, because we have so much fun, but again, you can spend too much time with someone (at least I think so) which dulls the specialness of your time together. But it's Thanksgiving! And I'm really thankful to have so many great people in my life :)

It's the day before Thanksgiving! Unfortunately it isn't really celebrated around here. But I did decide to make a practice pumpkin pie tonight. So at lunch, I bought some pie crusts, whipped cream and condensed milk. There was also rainstorm today, as Jas, Ecehan, and I walked back from Sainsburys. The rain cleared up by the evening, leaving behind a beautiful sunset.

Jas invited me to try Flock, an app that automatically collects geotagged photos from you and your friends and organizes them into an album, making it easy to share pictures from a n even where many people were taking pictures. Cool!

I got back home and proceeded to make the pumpkin pie. Dinner itself consisted of pieces of pita bread and cheese (and hummous). I actually made 2 pies, and they were both delicious! Mel really like it, so I let her have several pieces. Mike was in his room watching a movie (Meeting Evil, starring Samuel L Jackson and Luke Wilson).

I have been having my usual mixed emotions, happy that I'm living the life in London, sad that it's only temporary and all my friends will soon be leaving. But I haven't been as "emotional" as I was even a few months ago. I think I'm learning to be more adult and considerate of others.

Slept well; I woke up feeling healthier, but still not 100%, so I took one more pill in the morning.

I rushed to work. Got there at 9:15. Blah. Jas and I kept the atmosphere light, playing music and Whatsapping each other.

I still haven't decided what to do with the important personal information I discovered in Germany.

I called home; it's good. They're about to book the flight to come to London.

Ice skating in the evening. But the rink was closed! ABORT ABORT!

Mike had a kiev for dinner; I just had a makeshift dinner of chicken tikka pasties.

It was Swag's last full day in London (he'd be in Essex for the week then flying to India on Friday). We went to Brick Lane. I made croissants for the Dutch but they were gone sightseeing. Mike and I waited at Aldgate East for Swag, then Amanda. Mike continued waiting there for Amy and Alex. Fernanda was at the food court.

I bought a pair of gloves. Fern helped me when I took a mismatched pair. People were hungry - Swag and Amanda went to the ghetto restaurant while Fern and I got Lithuanian food. Mike and co were saving seats for us; they left to explore (typical Mike!). We then got some chai and smoothies and went to the playground. Fun times as always. It started getting dark.

Th Dutchies left. Sandy arrived; we met him near Liverpool street. He got a falafel. We parted ways at Spitalfields market, and Amanda and I then got Amol's phone unlocked! Booyah!

We had the goodbye dinner for Swag at Pizza Express on Euston Road. The gang was there, including Asia and Alec. Mike joined later around dessert time. Bittersweet goodbyes.

I woke up early to get ready for work as usual. Amy and Alex were gone by the time I woke up at 7. I still was recovering from my illness, so I took a painkiller to help me.

Work wasn't bad. Jas and I kept joking. I continued to struggle to process returns.

I got home, had some food (Mike made was tired, and simply slept. Not much excitement.

[This is my third time typing up this post. For some reason, my mobile app is losing the post when I try to save/publish it!]

I woke up with a fever. Not good. Amy and Alex were visiting, and they were energetic in the morning. I made some ginger tea, which I sipped on all morning, and Amy helped by giving me a painkiller.

My only plan for the day was to meet Swag and Fernanda for lunch in Wembley. It was Swag's last weekend in London, so I was definitely going to spend time with him. He was late to wake up, however, so I decided to run some errands, going to the bank to deposit my cash and then going to Tesco (which was very crowded, as one would expect on a Saturday).

I was scheduled to meet Swag and Fern around 2:30; I told them that I would be late. But I didn't realize how delayed they would be. Because they had to carry all of Fern's and Swag's stuff from the warehouse, and because there was a 30-minute delay on the Overground, it wasn't til 3:58 that they arrived at Wembley (with Sandy in tow). By this point, we were all starving, but Swag had to drop off his bags at the courier, which I helped him with (and they spoke Hindi to me!). Sandy and Fernanda waited for us at Cafe Gana, a Sri Lankan restaurant. There, we ordered an array of food (Fern stuck to non-spicy Indian-Chinese-style noodles). Sandy and I each ordered a bowl of very spicy soup, which we raced against each other to finish (I won!).

Before parting ways, we decided to go to Monarch in Camden that night. I accompanied Fernanda to Euston (she had a lot of stuff in plastic bags to carry).

I got home, rested for a few minutes, then rushed off to Victoria to meet my friend Claire, who was in London for a few days. We caught up over a beer at the Shakespeare, then we had to leave by 8:15 since she had to meet her friend for dinner (we took the same tube). I went to Embankment, where I met Mike, Amy, and Alex having dinner at All Bar One. We then grabbed a bottle of wine at Gordon's Wine Bar, before the couple went home and Mike and I headed to Camden. (The Northern Line wasn't running, so we took a replacement bus from Euston.)

Swag, Fern, and Sandy were already at Monarch. The music was kind of slow (movie soundtracks) at first, but it picked up (or maybe we just got drunker) and shifted from soundtracks to just 80s hits (which I didn't mind). Asia and Amanda came a little later; Asia was upset that I didn't text her about my arriving 1.5 hours later than I promised. But she ended up quite tipsy as well.

On the dance floor, I saw Alex S pointing and waving at me! What were the chances?! He was there with Laura and B and Callum and a few other friends. How cool! Amanda and Fernanda left before closing time. The last songs played were "I've Had the Time of My Life" and "With a Little Help from My Friends" - both songs that have a special meaning for me now, since I'm cherishing every memory in London so much :)

Is this app even working?!

Work as usual. I was introduced to the busy world of handling customer refunds. At the end of the day, I made my first sale! The last call of the day is always a good one!

Then, I got home to meet Mike's sister Amy and her boyfriend Alex. They are really fun and energetic. Just like Mike!

I also found that my LSE results had come online. I was nervous to check, but I did, and they were good! That means yes, I GOT A MASTERS DEGREE! Awesome! I posted it on Facebook and got more likes than any other status :)

The four of us all went out to Maria's good bye drinks in Shoreditch at Ninetyeigjt bar/lounge. It was a cool place! And sad to say bye!

Work was work as usual.

After work, I joined Swag for a wine tasting by London Bridge. In our usual style, we were both late (he was coming from Essex and I got roped into one final sales call). First, i stopped to scarf down a kebab. The wine tasting was nice; even though we didn't know much. We just tried as many as we could. I like Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc.

The mix of all the wine only really hit me after I left around 9pm. Mike helped me measure my head and soon I passed out completely.

Last night I got home from work at 6:55pm; it took exactly 1 hour, which included walking from the office to Kensal Green station. Mike and I made a dinner of fish sticks and pasta, with sides of frozen veggies and fries. Apparently I annoyed him with my early morning phone calls 😬.

I went to Martin's leaving party in Brockley by myself since Mike didn't want to travel so far. I was a little confused about which train to take from London Bridge, but I figured it out and it was very quick! The get-together was in the basement of a big house filled with chill, alternative/artsy/hippie types. Martina's friend was Tom; there was also Simon who was older and smoked from a pipe, Sinead who was pretty chill in an I-don't-give-a-shit way, Rebecca playing the accordion, and Craig (?) who jammed on the sax and had a snarky comeback for everything. They played some music as we chilled. Martin then gave an extended "speech" listing his favorite moments in the house. I barely met them, but even I was getting sentimental!

I returned home around 11:30, chatted with Mike briefly, and got to bed. I had to wake up at 7am again to make more phone calls to Asia. I took a small nap before forcing myself out if the house by 9:25. Mel told me about her date with Chris last night. I multitasks in the shower; it felt good in a productive way.

I got an email from Germany showing that they have received some results. Oh. My. God!!! What am I going to do? I want to just let this sink in. What a crazy, heart-fluttering feeling!

It was around 10:30 when I arrived at work.

I was rudely awoken by my 6:58am alarm. I stumbled downstairs, made some tea (which I had with Pop Tarts since I left my groceries at work!), and began to make sales calls to NZ, Australia, Japan and China. Mike left early - he had a breakfast seminar to attend at 8am. Kayleen was feeling really sick, and she was not hoing to work, so Mel bought her some stuff from the store.

It was around 09:20 when I left the house. The tube was not as crowded at that hour; I arrived at work at 10:15. It was Ecehan's birthday. I bought a box of Indian sweets from Sainsbury's; it was also Diwali! Tom got a cake for everyone to celebrate Ecehan's birthday. Our office is so small, but we're a gezelig bunch who don't mind sharing 😊

I forgot the charger for my laptop at home. D'oh! Why am I so forgetful?! I worry that it gives a bad impression to my colleagues. Anyway, I shared the cable with Tom. He then asked me one of the best questions I had been asked in a while: "What is required for a company to sponsor work visas?" 😃 I am giddy with excitement just thinking about the implications of it!

I was sugar crashing in the afternoon, so I went for a cigarette break without the cigarette 😉. There's a nice path along the canal to walk along. It reminds me of my daily walks around Century City!

I followed up with Thomas, the German investigator. He followed up with his leads, and apparently he has delivered some results for me (I'm waiting until I get home to open the email)!

Tonight is Martin's last night in London. They are having a bonfire; I'm excited to go!

It was a relaxing weekend. I made a point not to make any plans. After some indecision, Mike, Kayleen and I had dinner at MEATmarket in Covent Garden. It was a really good burger. I was trying not to be negative. We took the 59 back home from the LSE bus stop. I lay down, put on an episode of Game of Thrones, but fell asleep halfway through it.

I woke up at 7am, not too tired. I got ready and was soon off to work at 08:05. I arrived at 09:10. It was my first 8-hour day. I was busy following up with sales calls and leads all day. For lunch, Jaspreet drove us to a chip shop near Notting Hill. I got a large kebab. It was showering rain. We stopped by Sainsbury's. We ate in office 207 so as not to make the main office smell bad. I danced Gangnam Style, which did not please Noelle. She doesn't like free hugs either; why are we even talking to each other?!

I got bad news from Amazon. I didn't expect anything, so it isn't weighing me down so much.

More work; I spoke with a guy in Virginia for nearly half an hour. I was at the office until 6:20pm. I grabbed a frosted bun as I left. I forgot my bag of groceries at the office. D'oh!

It's remembrance day. This means 2 minutes of silence at 11am. I was just laying in bed, slowly waking up, at that time, so it was easy for me to remain silent :)

I was lazy all day. I downloaded some new games on my iPhone (including Road Trip and Simpsons Tapped Out), atched an episode of Game of Thrones, and Mike bothered me to come with him to the aquarium. Frankly I wasn't interested. I was supposed to do some laundry, but Mel kept the washing machine occupied all afternoon.

Mike and Kayleen ended up going to the Aquarium themselves, meeting Ludo there. Annika was too busy to join. I tried to coordinate a trip to go ice skating with Asia and Amanda, but it was too expensive and just wouldn't work.

Swag came by in the early evening to pick up the last of his luggage. It's getting close to his final day in the UK. How sad!

I joined them to get some dinner. I got on the wrong bus (I thought the 3 would go there directly, but no, I needed the 159). They were waiting for me at the bus stop! We were indecisive about what to eat (Kayleen doesn't like fish; we had already had Thai food), so we wandered around for a while before getting burgers at Covent Garden at Meat Market. The burger was great (a little salty), and the vibe was just like an American burger joint/diner! I really enjoyed it, even though it was somewhat pricey.

Back home, and we slept. The work week demands that we wake up early.

Well last night ended up weirdly. Mike and I went to Maria's for Yohanna's surprise party. I brought the air mattress. We arrived just at 9:45, so I thought we might be late. Swag was there. Maria's parents, her brother, and his girlfriend were also there. I saw a couple familiar faces from the picnic I went to a couple months ago: Anna (from South Africa?!) and Julia (from Latvia). We had some drinks, and waited. We met Tessa, a girl from Taiwan who would be moving in to the house when Maria leaves in 9 days (?!). I can't believe Maria's about to leave for South Africa.

It was close to 11pm when Yohanna arrived with Peter. We were all quiet in the kitchen and burst into a rowdy "Happy Birthday" when she opened the door. The look on her face was priceless! I love surprising people!

About an hour later I get a call from Amanda's phone - it was Asia. Apparently Amanda was very drunk and she had no idea where to take her, so she said that she would come to me. Ok, no problem. I went out to meet them half an hour later. Amanda was loud and stumbling but funny (and didn't seem to be in any danger or anything). I took them to the party because Asia really had to pee. But suddenly, Amanda (after continuing to be loud) knocked over the shelf (twice) and Peter suddenly became very inhospitable and insisted that we leave the party! Somewhat understandable, but still, wtf?! I made sure to use the toilet one last time before leaving.

We took a couple night buses back to Brixton. Asia insisted that they stay at our place. Mike was only like 10 minutes behind us on a different night bus. Amanda suddenly left, to meet a guy friend who had called her back (we had accidentally given him a missed call). Asia slept over, starting in my bed and then switching into Mike's bed (so that she would win a bet)!

I was up by 11:30, and I played a bit of Jetpack Joyride (the game that Mike had been addicted to). I cooked eggs for Asia and Mike, and I woke them up around 12:30. We ended up sitting in the dining room for several hours, playing guitar and card games while nursing our hangovers (although, thanks to the magic Tesco powder, I didn't have much of one. Finally, around 3pm, we headed out (first stopping by the corner pharmacy to top up our gas card. I went to ask around for a place to unlock Amol's iPhone; Brixton didn't provide such a place.

We took the tube to London Bridge, Asia continued onwards to Camden. Craving a pumpkin pie, I bought a hot chocolate from Starbucks. Mike got a haircut. We walked around some more, before deciding to go to Brick Lane to check out more phone unlocking stores. I was about to get on the tube, when Mike suggested we walk a little further, and just then, there was a store that unlocked phones! (How is Mike so intuitively smart?!) There, I spoke with the guy and he said he could unlock the iPhone remotely; he just had to check that the it would work on this network. Mike bought some of his special perfume "one million."

Mike took me to dinner at The Miller, a pub near London Bridge. Getting there was pretty funny; we were so tired and comfortable sitting on the District Line train that we forgot to get up at our stop (Monument)! So we had to go one stop further (Mansion House) and double back. I was really tired at this point. But dinner was good - spicy noodles, yum.

Tired, we headed back, taking the tube from Borough since we had just missed the 133 bus. We were feeling lucky, so we decided to buy lottery tickets at a shop near Kennington Church, except that my ticket wasn't recognized by the machine. So I "won" £1. (Could be worse.) I got home, laid down, and before I knew it, I was asleep at 8pm.

I woke up around midnight, saw that Mike was still downstairs watching Tokyo Drift, and I spent some time on the computer, uploading photos and downloading apps for my phone. I also made lazy cheese on toast and a quesadilla. I returned to sleep around 4:30am.

I awoke at 7:30 am, showered, and made a cup of tea. My phone rang at 08:16 sharp and I began my telephone interview with Jon from Amazon. It went alright; I don't feel that I'll move forward, though. I did not come across as passionate about the job opportunity, and Jon did not seem enthusiastic to talk to me at all. He was persistent in asking me certain questions, so I think I wasn't answering the questions to his satisfaction.

I said bye to Charly, who was still waking up, Mel, who had just gotten out of the shower, and Mike, who had just woken up. I went to work slightly later than usual, anticipating staying late because of a 4:00 conference call.

I got to work, and Simone asked to speak with me. He basically told me that I was doing so well that they wanted to shift my hours to full-time starting on Monday. It was great to hear, although I will be sadly losing a couple hours of free time each day. Also at work, I learned that they celebrate pizza day every Friday! Jaspreet ordered 6 pizzas for the office. Awesome! We then went to Sainsbury's and I got some chocolates (cookies and cream Lindt - yum!). I got a box for Yohanna as a gift. It was Madhu's last day - he's leaving for India to start a school there with a friend of his. He's also going skydiving on Sunday. How cool! Too bad I only got to know him now.

I was chasing down sales leads all afternoon, and making phone calls (and making a list of all calls I made during the week). I was at work until 5 pm, an hour later than I had planned.

Charly and Mike were waiting for me at home. It sucks that it takes so long to get to and from work each day! But so far I don't mind (probably because I haven't been working full time; I'm sure I'll be less tolerant of the commute by the end of next week).

I got a message from Rico (one of my exchange mates at Duke), who is in London for the week. He leaves tomorrow, so I need to meet him tonight; the thing is that I also have to go to Maria's tonight for the surprise party (and I need to bring an air mattress with me too)! I will have to coordinate both somehow.

The heater in my room wasn't working. So I woke to the room being very chilly. Soon I realized that the radiator itself was turned down; I turned it up and it worked! I felt bad for Charly though. He was bundled up so tightly I could tell that he was chilly.

I went to work at 9am. No stress; I read the newspaper the whole way and Vibered with Brian too. I walked from Kensal Green. Work was enjoyable; I was following up sales leads most of the day. Tom, Simone, Dennis, Ecehan and I all went to Sainsbury's together to buy lunch. (I had the salad bar yet again. I need to eat healthy during lunch; I was snacking on carrots all morning too!) As we finished our lunch, I sat in on the 3 partners brainstorming ideas for their mobile app. I have them some useful feedback; it felt great! THAT is what I wanted to do!

It looks like my trip to Belgium will be canceled (due to everyone else canceling and my time being suddenly limited by my work).

I decided to go to Tesco right after work. I had Charly join me at Brixton and we walked over together. There were severe delays on the Victoria lin. Charly and I bought some ingredients, and we made fajitas for dinner (after first eating the leftovers from last night's potato/mince curry). I strongly disagreed with how Mike and Charly assembled their fajitas (putting sour cream first). We also watched a couple episodes of Fast and Loose (our new favourite show) before I left to prep for my phone interview.

I wasn't too enthusiastic about the position, especially after seeing how much of it was numbers/analytics driven instead of being creative/interactive. I think I then made up my mind not to give 100% in the interview. (Stupid me!) I tried to sleep early; I ended up hanging out in Mike's room until midnight. I helped Mel make a ringtone of the Gaslight Anthem.

When I woke up today, the first thing I did was open my laptop to find the news that President Obama had been reelected. I let a smug smile come across my face as I got ready for work. Today, I didn't have to go to work until 10am, and so I was less stressed in the morning. I was also the last one in the flat to leave for work. I woke Charly up as I left.

Work was good; I'm getting along with my coworkers Ecehan and Jaspreet., but should I be more pushy? Of course. We got lunch from Sainsbury's together. Jaspreet is apparently a Us citizen, but she has a green card too?

I set up my email address with Tep, and then I spent the afternoon making sales calls. It was not very successful, but I think I planted the seeds of a few relationships that may be fruitful eventually.

I left work at 16:15, and on the 316 bus there was a mentally challenged young man who was squealing. It reminded me to focus not on what I don't have, but on what I do have in my life. I am lucky. And life is awesome in a crazy way. What a journey we're all on!

And speaking of journeys, I'm now on the tube - the Bakerloo line to be precise - to stop by the library at Borough to return my Cornwall guide book before going home. (Writing blog posts on the tube make the journey go by so quickly! It's great.) Mike told me that he feels weak and wants to eat potatoes, so I'll prepare something nice for dinner tonight. Or at least try.

It was Election Day.
My second day working at TEP. Charly was still staying over. I was up and out the door by 7:55am. I took the bus to Brixton and caught the tube from there. I just made the transfer to the Bakerloo line, which luckily took me to Kensal Green. There, since I had a couple minutes, I sorted out my Oyster card (I was overcharged on Monday, because a power failure at Brixton prevented me from tapping out). I also bought a monthly travelcard for £115. Damn.

Work was good. My coworkers/bosses were busy meeting in the morning so I didn't have much to do. I spent most of the day working with Ecehan, the other intern who is also from LSE. I also befriended the other side of the office, Jaspreet, Dran, Noelle, Raj, and George, who are really cool. They tried to help me with my phone unlock. (Amol had unlocked it in India and I needed to check it.)

The afternoon was spent making sales calls, none of which were successful, but it was pretty fun nonetheless. I think I should be more assertive, because I can feel myself holding back already, and I shouldn't be afraid of being wrong or making mistakes.

I left work around 4:15 and returned straight home. Charly was there to let me in. He had stayed in the flat all day.

The plan for the night was to go to LSE to watch the election results. Mike bought chicken and made pesto dinner for us. What a great guy. I was really tired so I took a little nap. Mike had to wake me up, and I was groggy. I stayed tired and grumpy the whole night, which I think ruined things for everyone else. It was nearly 10 before we left. Mike, Charly and I were there first. Swag arrived soon after, but he was pretty lost since he had no Internet. It was crowded and I just wanted to go home.

We ditched LSE and went to Walkabout, which was about to close anyway. I thought that the night was a total loss, and I really wasn't feeling social, so I just left. This made me feel worse. I think I'm almost sabotaging my friendships :(

I got home around midnight, opened a beer and watched some of the early results coming in. Charly and Mike soon arrived too; they had gotten a drink at Walkabout.

We stayed up until 1:30. No real results had come in yet, so I just went to bed.

New Month!
I got a job. Internship :)

Halloween!

I went with Swag to Fernanda's place in Hackney Wick. It's big, and there are a lot of beds (it is a former hostel).

Then, back home. Mike and I were tired, and not in much of a mood to go out for the night. Swag, Sandy, and Fernanda soon arrived. Mike and I got our energy up and we all went out to Coronet, by Elephant & Castle.

It was cold.

Drinks weren't that cheap. But Swag and I drank plenty, double vodka colas. The student crowd was fun, but somehow I felt myself holding back. I guess I wasn't feeling the music, or the vibe in general. There was some foam, but I didn't get good pics on my phone. Swag was dancing with lots of ladies, somewhat desperately but hilariously.

It was raining hard when we left, not that late - around 1am. My turtle shell had completely fallen apart, but Mike's was intact.

It's Swag's birthday. He and I went to Tesco to buy some supplies for the
Hurricane Sandy has swept through the US East Coast, devastating New York City in particular.
I had an interview! With a startup. It went well. I met Fernanda on my way home, so that we could buy a gift for Swag. Mike also helped out. It was chaotic and rushed, but we pulled through somehow.
We had some people over for dinner - Swag and I ordered Indian food for everyone. Sandy came over, and so did Maria. We ended up playing drinking games down in the living room (including Mao). We didn't go out at all to Mother.

I went to Tesco. With the time change, nighttime now comes at 5pm. It started to rain. Swag came over, to stay for 2 nights. We cooked curry for dinner. Mike and I watched two more episodes of Game of Thrones before I fell asleep.

Friday, 26 October
Mike stayed at work for an hour or so to finish making the turtle shells for our costumes.
Ludo came over, and the three of us put on our costumes. A bit of drinking, and then we went out to KOKO in Camden. It was fun.

People on the tube were really excited to see us, including a child who took a picture with the tree of us. "Where's Donatello?"

Asia met us there. Raphael ended up with two girls's numbers :) including an Australian named Stacy.

Totally smashed, I ran to the bus stop. On the night bus, I kind of got into a fight with the bus driver. Haha XD. It was like 4:30am.

Saturday, 27 October
I wasn't that hung over. I was just tired, having woken up around 9am. I took a little nap around 12:00. Then, Mike and I then went to meet Swag and Fernanda for lunch at a Brazilian restaurant near Bethnal Green. It was amazing! The food was great, all you can eat meat!
We parted ways, so Fernanda could get her costume ready. Swag, Mike, and I took a bus to Tottenham Court Road and walked to Trafalgar Square, where there was an NFL "tailgate" even going on. We just wanted the free food from Mike's coupon. But we got there at 4:59pm, and the stall closed at 5:00pm, so we didn't get the hot wings as promised! Ugh!
Disappointed, we returned home to get ready for the night out.
Sandy and Ludo came over, and soon we were all dressed up as the ninja turtles. Kayleen and Mel took some pictures of us (but they didn't go out with us).

We showed up to the pub crawl starting at Verve Bar. We got there around 9, too late to join the first group headed to the next bar. It was crowded, hundreds of people joining. Fernanda showed up, and so did Amanda and Asia. Then, there was Bernadet and Lilly. We danced, piling all our jackets on top of each other (it was really cold! Close to freezing.), and then we headed with the group over to Zoo Bar. There was a free shot of sambuca (yuck), and we just danced with each other in a circle. There was a female pirate who looked a lot like Bridget, haha!

Then, over to Rumba near Piccadilly Circus. There was a long queue, and we had to wait for like 20 minutes in the cold to get in. It sucked. The organizers kept pushing us against the wall. Inside, the place was pretty boring. Raphael, however, did manage to score a groupie, a Canadian named Robyn! Go for it!

After that the night kind of died. We split off in different directions, Asia and Amanda joined Fernanda at a warehouse party in Hackney; I went on a quest for alcohol (failed) with Bernadet, and we considered having a small get together at her place in Battersea. Swag and Sandy went home. The remainder of us went to Burger King, where Lilly and Bernadet ate, and there was a disgusting guy who was passed out and vomiting all over himself and the floor. Horrible, an ambulance was finally called.

Zoo Bar wouldn't let us back in without paying, so we just went home. There was a crazy drunk loud girl on the night bus who was very friendly with everyone sitting upstairs. Entertaining but uncomfortable too.


Sunday, 28 October
Not really hungover! Great. I declared it Speculoos day, and we had lots of the delicious cookie butter for brunch!

We went to the Diwali festival in the evening. It was crowded. I ran into Ankit. Then we went to Sandy's, to watch a movie (or the NFL game), but his housemates were using it. So we just sat in his room playing on our phones. It was really boring and useless. Mike and I then went home and watched some X Factor with Mel.