Jason's Daily Notes

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?!