day forty-two: who said that I can't do punk?

marci once teased me about going goth several months ago (you don't think I could pull off the velvet/pale face/black hair look mavis?), but here it is...I've gone punk. okay not really, as I already know of one person who will push that label to the utmost, but, in the grounding of my kingsley roots, I'm such a bad ass now. what has brought about this change, you ask? well, I have two words for you: blue hair.

now, I may be taking this a bit over the edge, but I've always wanted to have blue streaks in my hair. perhaps it was the many hours of dance rehearsals and overwhelming costumes and makeup. perhaps it was because I was a drama queen in my kingsley life. perhaps I never rebelled and this is a bit of that seeping out. whatever it is, blue hair has been the thing for me. and now, it is my thing.

as a congratulatory gift for the marathon, em & kate bought the dye for me. after a nice dinner at wagamama, we went to em's flat and, with careful application by e and strand selection by kate, several of my curls are now blue. *awesome.*

okay, so we watched bridget jones while the dye set and drank apple fanta. so maybe I'm not so 'punk.' but come on people, baby steps, at the very least. will try and get a photo posted so you can all enjoy the semipermanent results. who knows...maybe I'll go blue from now until the old lady stage.

loves to all.

and happy halloween! (please people, do it up right, as I'm in the land where the giant pumpkin never rises.)

day thirty-eight: dublin marathon...done and done.

take that dublin. jennifer petersen, 4:55:26.

yes, the numbers may be high, but it was my goal to get under five hours, so yippee!, I'm happy with this marathon. I don't know that I would have reached that goal without my running partner (chris, a 'frank shorter' runner from the d.c. aids marathon program), as the last four miles were TOUGH. if I began cataloging all of my past and present aches, pains, and discomforts, well, then I would be whining. and while I can be really, really, really good at that, I'm not going to do it...this was a great experience overall and has convinced me that I can focus more and do a few more marathons. I'm still think paris in april...jenny lee, are you in???

as I'm wicked tired (slept four hours last night, spent several hours traveling back to london, just finished three hours of class) I will make no sense if I try to explain the experience. in short: dublin is great, though small in the city sense of its being. (good for some, bad for others, I suppose.) the irish were super friendly and it was nice to take a break from london for a few days. very relaxing (aside from the marathon) and met some wonderful fellow runners along the way. all in all, a great holiday. and now, I'm off for a great big sleep.

thanks for the support friends. a more formal thank you will be sent within the week.

loves to people far and wide.

day thirty-three: dublin bound

just wanted to send a note before I fly off to dublin tomorrow...getting excited about the marathon, though am still having a bit of those pre-race butterflies. am hoping that all goes well friday (when I'm the lone soul there, staying in a hostel) and that my fellow chicago & dc aids marathoners are super fun and cool. marathon starts at 9:00am on monday, so be thinking of me in your dreams folks. eeek! will keep you all posted on the big run!

love to all.

day thirty: one month peeps!

that's right chicago folk (as you all were the last to see me on the continent, aside from those canadians in toronto), I left the u-s-of-a one month ago. crazy, no? in some respects it definitely feels like I've been here for a month, as I've had so much to do in these last four weeks: finding a place to live, opening a bank account (in progress), getting my loans (still in progress), buying a mobile, starting classes, et cetera et cetera. but the process of living here, learning more (both academically and otherwise), making friends, familiarizing myself with different parts of the city, that will continue...this first month has just been intense. in all of those other respects, it's hard to believe that it's ONLY been a month. I do hope that when I get back to the states that you all will still want to associate with me and that you'll still like me. (not that I doubt you all, but people change, that's all I'm saying.)

now, after digesting all of that, let's move on to the more mundane: I did absolutely no work this weekend (reading 10 pages of bataille doesn't count as I didn't finish the assigned chapter and I had no idea that nietzche so heavily influnced his writing, so it still must be (re)processed), spent some time hanging out with a random assortment of canadiens and americans (who were either bankers or students/alums of lse), made a *kickass* chocolate cake from scratch with em for kate's birthday, had an off day on sunday, and had dinner & cake with the birthday girl and select people from her dorm. no cleaning, no grocerying, no new markets explored, but I guess it is okay to have some down time every once and awhile. had a marvelous run this afternoon (it was actually sunshiney in london!!!) and am trying to mentally pump myself up for the marathon. wowzers...how am I going to feel a week from now? hopefully, not much, with a couple of guinesses in my belly. hey, something to take the edge off all of that pounding on my body...and it is ireland, after all.

so that's that. as I think about the last month, I can't imagine what these next months might bring, but hopefully it tests me as much as possible. what's life without a good challenge knocking on your door? hope that everyone is well, bundled up, and making some fun plans for their halloween. (and jct, that means no dressing up as a premature housewife, like we did during our first year of living together.) please, represent people, as I'm going to do my darndest to make some sort of american halloween happen on this bloody island. (and you know that that means pink wig is going to make its debut...watch out londres!)

love to all.

day twenty-six: there's not a dry place in the country

rain rain go away. seriously. okay, I have to admit, the rain has not been all that bad. but the fact that rain somehow found it's way through the third-floor of my flat to begin drip dropping on my nightstand early this morning is beyond me. a full glass was filled in four hours...not all that bad, but honestly, I'm baffled by how it even got there in the first place.

so, with that said, the latest here...I've been reading an awful lot (obviously), have had the occassion to chat with some friends in the states (ps I have a good tip on pins for ringing me in london), which has been awesome *hint, hint*, and spent part of yesterday at the tate modern. as emily and I weren't really feeling up for more than one section of the museum, we decided to bail for some reading and 'return at a later time.' what a luxury of living in london. also, I am doing a trial run as a server in this smallish restaurant just adjacent to the chemist that I live above. I'm a bit nervous, as I don't really know what to expect, but, if the job works out, would be super pumped to have some small income coming in during this year. (wouldn't it be amazing if I didn't run up a major credit card debt while I was here??? keep your fingers crossed.)

plans for the weekend have yet to really be formed, aside from some tentative party plans, concrete phone dates (jennie tyma, where are you?) and birthday-cake baking and eating for kate's 26th. may possibly go to a war protest organized by the europe socialist forum, but that has yet to be determined.

so peeps, that's that. thank you greatly for those who have been in individual contact. it's nice to know that distance doesn't totally kill off all interaction, even if it can only be via email and phone. loves.

day twenty-three: duchamps and other effects of cultural theory on my brain

yes people, it seems as if I am getting in it...school, theory, whatever it is that I'm doing here. as I've been doing as much extra reading as I can fit in, these arguments are running into my everyday interactions. seriously, it's kind of weird to start analyzing bits of your friends' conversations with something you just read by spivak or some theory on the depiction of reality that you spoke about in class. fear not folks...I don't think I'll be that person who can not articulate one damn word without theorizing every bit around them, but it's seeping in a bit. you've been warned.

in non-theoretical news: I had a nice conversation with tara, my irish flatmate, last night and learned that it is not in fact uncommon to not see the other two flatmates all that often. not that I was taking this lack of interhome interaction to heart (well, not too harshly, at least), but it was nice to hear that it wasn't a me being the new girl sort of thing. also, the chicago marathon was ran yesterday (yay aids marathoners!). I hope that you chicago folk were able to go out and cheer on the runners. it's crazy to believe that last year I was doing the exact same thing. it also made me realize, on some level, that just because I've left my chicago life behind, it doesn't mean that chicago has stopped functioning. (how is that so? ;) ) thinking of the marathon yesterday also made me more consciously aware that I am running dublin in two weeks...whoa! I have booked my flight and, aside from one minor detail, am set to go. after several hours of reading, I'm homeward bound to do a couple of hours of running and think about all that has happened since my last marathon.

I hope that this finds you all well. I'm doing my best to represent kingsley/vassar/chicago in london...loves.

day eighteen: my contact information in one fell swope.

for those who may be somewhat confused at my new contact information, here's a handy dandy guide to it all.

j. petersen
26a clapham road
oval
london
sw9 0jg
united kingdom

home 011 44 207 793 8782
mobile 011 44 786 330 8352

now use it people!

day eighteen: procrastination petersen to the rescue!

when we last left our heroine, she was spending hours upon hours in the library, reading postmodern theorist one after other. now that we've returned to her she is doing everything in her all immense power to do nothing of the sort...she's folding paper cranes, listening to movie soundtracks, helping people move, doing laundry (which was a great feat in itself), having coffee with friends, and texting people to go to ikea. yes folks, fear not...procratinating petersen has jumped in at the nick of time and saved this poor girl from doing any actual work. perhaps the procrastinator will be overcome with guilt, but fear not, this will last for a couple mroe hours at the very least.

sorry for the third person account...I needed some way to make this procratinating bit a bit more exciting. all is well here aside from the fact that when I sit down to actually look at my books, I'm uninspired. perhaps this is part of going to a college that is primarily about the fine arts: inspiration. but soon, fear and guilt will get me back to the reading habit. fear not.

day sixteen: oy, nevermind.

I'm going back to reading and forfeiting my life as a blog writer for now. these computers are out for me!

day sixteen: rainy and chilly and not a skein of yarn to save my life

argh...this entire post was just erased by an evil university library. trust me though, it was wicked funny. I'll relay details once I'm on a more reliable computer. just use your imaginations. (we all need to exercise our creative side more often, don't we???)

loves to all. and happy belated birthday to raven...the big 13!

day sixteen: rainy and chilly and not a skein of yarn to save my life

people, let me advise you of one thing that I have (quickly) learned while in london: autumn = me-fun skirts-strappy shoes+sensible shoes that still pinch+jeans+sweater+sweater coat+scarf. yes, it seems the death of everything that I knew of summer has finally, finally set in for me. even last week I was trying to deny this unfair fate, walking about in flip flops and wearing cute skirts. no more peeps...the rain is fairly frequent, though not obnoxiously heavy, which means that it is not yet time for the galoshes, and the wind is brr cold. if only the leaves would turn...then I might be a bit happier with the onset/onslaught of autumn.

as is typical with autumn (at least for the vast majority of my life), I'm spending most of my time in the library. this, however, is interspersed with time at my flat...yay! the place is yet a home to me, as those things were not allowed to be packed in my bags over here, but I'm doing my best to make it so. mind you, my bed is polyesteriffic (the cheapest bedding that I could find) and I'm dead set on folding 97 origami cranes to display about my room and serve as brights spots of color. (three have already been given away, hence the odd number.) I'm dead set on getting some sort of knitting when not reading...however, london doesn't seem to know what yarn is. at least, decent yarn at the very least. my friend kate and I went all of the way out to zone four (way out there) to the only craft store that we could track down via the internet. their sad, pathetic selection forces me to turn to ebay. who would have thought that yarn would have been so sparse in this city?

anyway, that's the latest on things here. a chilly, sometimes wet, disgruntled knitter/grad student. but otherwise, things are good. and now, back to the reading...

loves to all.

ps happy 13th birthday to raven!