The Prodigal Blogger, Part 2...

I know. I've done it again. I really am sorry. 3 months have passed without me writing a word, and while this is of no consequence in my mind, there are a select few of you to whom my writer's block (a.k.a. 'laziness') is unacceptable. I think about it. I really do...and then the phone rings, and then Oprah comes on, and then we get sidetracked while MySpace-stalking people we haven't seen in 5 years, and then I get stuck on ESPN.com reading about football, and...it just doesn't get done. I promise (again), I'll try to do better. Perhaps if more fascinating things happened to me, I'd feel more compelled to regale you all with my stories of adventure. Ahh, well. Someday...

Anyway, nothing terribly new & exciting to report around here. I came back to London last weekend after almost a month and a half of being at home. It was great to be home, although I have to admit that I felt kind of fish-out-of-water-esque. It's just sort of unsettling to have your life split in half, with an ocean in the middle. Plus, while I was doing my best impression of a lazy bum, school was always looming somewhere in the back of my mind, so I couldn't ever just fully 'be' at home. Also, I made the choice to sell my car before I left for school, so on any given day, I was at the mercy of whoever would let me steal theirs. And let me tell you, cabin fever? For someone as antsy as me?? NOT fun. The good thing was, I had nothing terribly pressing to do, so I did a whole lot of nothing. The Food Network and I spent a lot of quality time together, and I am now a court-recognized expert in TNT's entire daytime lineup: 10 am & 11 am - E.R., 12 pm & 1 pm - Judging Amy, 2 pm - Law & Order...and so on. So lazy, yet so lovely. I did try to be minorly productive whilst watching absurd amounts of t.v. though. I folded lots of laundry :)

So I'm back here till late June, catching up with the crew and, in theory, studying (although they call it "revising"?? Crazy Brits...) for our exams, which go from May 31st to June 14th. Somewhere in there, we're hoping to squeeze a couple of field trips (Paris is in the works, I'd be quite happy to see Portugal, and I am DYING to go to Rome), and then I'm home again on June 18th. Summer then commences with:

A) My dissertation - research disguised as hanging out with kids at the Boys & Girls Club across the street from the aquarium and responding to "Hey, White Girl..." Good times.

B) Finding a job - and if just so anyone happens to play golf with the director of the CDC or the powers that be at Emory, could you be a dear and tell them I'll be their best friend if they'll give me a job?? I'll owe you my first-born child. I'm not saying you can have it, but...you can come over and play with it whenever you want.

C) Deciding where I want to live once I find said job - Correction...I WANT to live in one of those ridiculous old houses in Druid Hills, but until I win the lottery or marry a Rockefeller, the likelihood of this happening is slim to none. I'll be trying to decide on a Plan B.

D) Figuring just exactly what it is that I'm supposed to be doing with my life - Translation...Aggghhhhhh!!

Other than that, just lots of playing with the fam (who are coming to visit on Tuesday...yay!!), sun-soaking, wedding going/bridesmaid-ing, road-tripping, and a general killing of time in anticipation of (drumroll...) football season!! And this time I won't be on the wrong side of the globe! Hooray! Now if only we could figure out how not to lose to Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Geez...