Today is national Chilaquiles day (aka- talk like Cesar day) so.....join in....CHILAQUILES!! I hope you enjoyed 'talk like Peter Jones day'...don't know about you but mine was pretty uneventful. (Sometimes, when I think about what other people must think of us when they read about the things we do and say to each other, I think they must worry for our mental stability...conversely, they may just be jealous that they don't have as many 'in-jokes' as we do. We're pretty unique in that regard!! To all readers who aren't Jess! We are sane, honest!)
Well, so much has happened since we last blogged (the royal 'we' of course because the last 2 blog posts have been done by me), I hardly know where to begin. OOoh, I found something out about one of our nicknames. I'm afraid it's pretty sad news. I was talking to Ieuan about our nicknames and he asked what some of them were (because, as you know, anything pretty much goes) so I reeled off a few. "Humphrey, Humphers, Monroe, Montgom, Shamu, Snafu..." "WHAT?!" "Humphrey, Humph..." "No, the last one." "Oh, Sanfu." "Why on earth do you call each other Snafu?" "Well...I don't really know. It's a gilmore girls thing, I think." "Do you even know what SNAFU means?" "Not a clue." "Oh...It's a military term. It stands for Situation Normal All Fouled Up (only the 'Fouled' is a replacement)."...............*awkward silence*........ What on earth was I supposed to say to that?? All this time, we have been swearing at each other! Who knew?!
So, I'm 21. Did you know? I must say, Snafs (oops....there I go again!) it feels different. I am a fully grown adult. I think I've pretty much felt like a 'beginning woman' for at least 8 years now. I bet you will feel older when your birthday comes around. You see, you've been older than me for a long time now and your age is only just starting to catch up!!
Let me tell you a little about my dissertation meeting the other week. Now, I have known Patrick (my suoervisor) for about 1.5 years now and, because of my research, I have spent quite a bit of time in his company, have invited him to church several times, have argued with him many times and have helped him out with things many times. This means, I know him quite well. I could instantly tell, on this morning, that he was quite quiet. It took me abot 20 seconds more to realise that he was in an absolutely stinkingly foul mood. Oh dear. Considering it was first thing in the morning, I knew one of the things that had probably put him in that mood was my dissertation. I could feel emotion welling up but I stopped it. It might be alright. Then I made a fatal rookie mistake. Probably rule no.11 in Gibbs' book. I asked, sincerely, why he didn't seem very happy. I know. A very Rachel thing to do. I should never have asked. "WELL, To be honest, this hasn't put me in a very good mood...." And so it began. I felt a little like I did when Mr Randall told me I had got an E for my Maths mock at GCSE. With what he was saying, I had 3 options.
1- Cry. He was tearing apart something I had put my heart in. Tears would have been a legit response.
2-Yell. He was tearing apart something I had put my heart in. Yelling would have been a legin response.
3- Smile and take it. He was tearing apart something I had put my heart into- he just wants to help me make it better. He probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed too.
Despite my self and my desire to whip out a crazy combo of both 1 and 2, I went wth 3. Standard. I felt a little like Kathleen Kelly when she's brandishing the carving knife at the part and cannot think of anything to say. Why can I never say anything?? =)
It ended up being okay. The fact that I had taken it all like a trojan meant that, at the end of it, he felt pretty bad and thanked me for being nice. He said "Had I sent you out of this office in tears, I would have been distraught so thank you for taking it so well". That made me feel better but oh boy! I have some serious work to do on this baby! I'm still ahead of the game though... Gotta get my, get my, head in the game.....
You know how I work in bullet points? Well, the my long-standing method was tested yesterday. I was with two of my friends and we were planning a presentation for next wednesday. I was surprised by how long it was taking. By the third hour, I was feeling pretty bored of the process. The three of us have too much fun together and we talk too much and I think we were over complicating things. Laura writes a lot of notes. DETAILED notes and she was writing everything down that we were saying. I began to question why it is I don't take notes like that. Then I decided it was because I have a simple mind. Laura and Simon are more....careful in their note taking. I like basic notes because that allows me to expand on it myself. Just FYI, I have no idea which is better, all I am saying is that I do not think my brain could handle changing its note taking method now. It would tip it over the edge. Just saying.
Before I sign off, I would like to tell you about a Jason Bourne moment I had on Monday. So, my train back from Ieuan's house was delayed by 85 minutes meaning that I got back much later than planned. I was on the Virgin Pendelino service to Edinburgh Waverley and we pulled in at Lancaster. My big rucksack was in a luggage area at the back of my carriage towards the doors. I walked over to get my back out but the queue to get out was long and so I would have to wait until we actually stopped at Lancaster and people got off before I could get my bag. But that was okay because I had put it at the top of the pile. As people alighted the train, I wriggled my way through to the luggage bit. No bag. I say no bag...there was a bag but it was under 3 suitcases. People were still coming past me and so I couldn't step into the aisle to get my bag out until EVERYONE had got off the train. But I was still on it and I was not going stay on it. Noooo Wayyy. I heard the bleeping of the doors. They were about to close. With an almighty "NOOOO!" I yanked my bag out, let the suitcases tumble, I leaped over them, ran through the carriage to the door and, with an almighty jump, landed on the platform, just as the whistle blew for the train to leave. It was epic. Wish you'd seen it.
Anyway, McSass, I best be off.
I hope you are feeling better soon! Remember I love you loads. I can't wait to see you next week!
All my love,
McShams. X
