I need some fine wine, and you, you need to be nicer.

Things have just been absolutely crazy busy, and I just don't know when they'll settle down. I feel like everything is piling up school wise, as much as I try and stay on top of it. This term is flying by, and I'm already having to think of the end of it when I hardly feel like I've even settled into its routine! It's really sad that I feel like time is just zipping by when I've finally started to really enjoy London.

I have managed some time for fun, however. Friday, I wrote an essay. Saturday, Claire and I saw Munich. It was ok. A bit, um, banging us over the head with a large metal bat at the end. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Camden Town markets, which was a mistake on a Saturday. Unless, of course, you enjoy dodging thousands of beleathered teenagers who's parents all probably think they're at the library.

Sunday, I tried to write a Management Briefing Report, and failed miserably. Monday, I went shopping on Oxford Street, and bought some new clothes in anticipation of warmer weather. I then spent the rest of the day agonizing over the MBR that I just cannot seem to grasp. I'm going to have to try and finish it this weekend, but it's causing me a lot of stress. It completely ruined last weekend for me, and probably will this one too.

Tuesday, I took a little break, wandered around and had coffee on Oxford Street, which helped me get my mind off of the impending doom I've been feeling for awhile. I walked back to the Senate House Library afterwards for my Manuscript Studies class. It cheered me up, because even though the sun was shining, these giant snowflakes began slowly floating down from the sky. It looked like falling cherry blossoms. It was beautiful.

We began learning paleography in class, which involves intepreting medieval shorthand and reading Latin. It is beyond difficult, especially when you're like me and don't actually know any Latin. A "q" can be quod, quam, que, or quia based on where a squiggly line is positioned around it. I don't even know what quod, quam, que or quia mean. But I can't tell you how smart I feel now that I not only know what "In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram" means, but I can also read it in about six different kinds of early handwriting. My teacher, who seems to have taken a liking to me based solely on the fact that I worked at the Newberry, asked me what I was doing for my dissertation. I told her I had no idea, but that I have two things in this course that have really piqued my interest: rare books and manuscripts, and digitization. She said, simply, "Combine them." Interestingly enough, earlier in the day while browsing in the library for books that might inspire me for a dissertation topic, I stumbled across an article about digitizing Special Collections by none other than Charles T. Cullen, the recently retired President and Librarian of the Newberry Library. At the time, I thought that was funny, and so I read it. It's laden with references to Thomas Jefferson, which my Newberry pals shall appreciate. (Also, during Ms. Studies class, our reading list has a book by Paul S. on it, which caused me to audibly gasp and share a meaningful look of horror with Chad).

Anyways, the point of the story is, that these things have been focusing my brain and I've been beginning to come up with an idea for my dissertation. I don't know if any of this will work out, but I'm going to try. I want to actually do something for my dissertation, rather than just research and write. I think that's not giving my summer enough structure and I will go mad hatter. Nostell Priory Ed had mentioned how people have catalogued in one of their libraries for a summer and wrote about that. I can't tell if that or doing nothing would make me go more crazy. But what if I can swing volunteering on a digitization project? Maybe they'll let me write about that? I'm going to have to investigate this more. But my Ms. teacher very eagerly said that our last class is on digitization, and someone from the British Library will be a guest speaker and I should talk to him. If I can bounce this idea off my program director and see what I need to do, and try and talk to this British Library fella with backing from my Ms. Studies teacher, this could actually happen. Lauren + British Library + digitizing Special Collections = Woot.

Back to my week's events. Tuesday night was Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday as Danielle preferred to call it. I met Claire after class, and she and I went back to my flat where Danielle and her friend Gena who is visiting from Michigan were hard at work making pancakes from an American box of Bisquick! Very exciting.

I kicked off Birthday Month by seeing Claire last night for dinner. It was Yuppie night out for the pair of us. We went to Wagamama in Camden, which is a very tasty noodle restaurant that Yuppies go to. It was very good, and we spent a half hour enjoying dinner, and another 45 minutes waiting for a check. After remembering why I don't go out to eat very much in this city, we went across the street to a very pretty bar called Lush and ordered two cocktails which combined cost us twice as much as our dinner. After remembering why I hardly go get drinks anywhere except the student union bar, and never ever order cocktails, I headed home.

Today I had lectures. We had an extra session about writing a CV and finding a job, which was incredibly pointless. I really don't know why I keep dragging myself to these things, except that they make it sound very crucial and important. They always ask if I'm a member of CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, or the British equivalent of the American Library Association), and I always say "No," and then they always get very cross at me until they discover I'm American and essentially tell me to bugger off as they'll never hire me over here anyways. This lady was exceptionally dull as she lectured us all on how to fill out application forms like we were kindergartners, and then made us pass around a cold, wet leaf of lettuce to demonstrate that clammy hands during an interview is bad news. No, really?! At least she provided wine. And I had two glasses. And it made it all better in the end.

Afterwards, Danielle, her friend Gena, Robyn, Paul and I went to St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square and had high tea in the crypt. It was fantastic! £5 bought us tea and an extraordinary amount of sweets. I will definitely be dragging my visitors there.

No blog entry would be complete without ranting about the ineptitude of someone at my college, so here's a brief one. Yesterday, they finally caught on that I had not yet paid for this term's housing. Despite never bothering me to invoice me so that I could pay, they sent me a threatening letter about late fees and evictions, much like all the threatening letters they sent me last term after it took three months for them to take my money out of one column and put it into another one. They really are something here. They consistently fail to do things, and it doesn't matter if I check up on them or not, I am at fault. It's doubly annoying because I don't really even have the money to pay the housing fees because the school was taking forever to approve my loan. I'm a victim in all this! Anyways, I am just too tired to try and deal, so I apologized (and didn't mean it! I'm so British!), and paid it with money I don't have. So that's done.

In other news, the weather is dreadfully cold. I've spent most of the winter relishing the mildness, but now that Spring is on my mind, it has been consistently cold and snowing every day. Nothing sticks, and it's irritating. For a fortnight, I keep checking the weather which predicts a few more days of temperatures in the 30s, but upper 40s and 50s right around the corner. This milder weather keeps getting pushed back and its very depressing. I want Spring! It is far too cold and midwest like outdoors, and I'm quite grumpy about it.

Much to do this weekend, and many plans for birthday fun!