Late Nights, Pub Crawls, and New Friends

29 September 2008

I managed to shake off my homesickness for the time being early yesterday morning, around three or four in the morning. It's remarkable how much of a difference it can make when you're busy--I dabbled on a short essay discussing the ongoing campaign between Senators McCain and Obama that I may one day publish on this site, read another one hundred pages in Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club, and composed a rough outline for my Humanities 309 paper. All before I finally turned off my lights, crawled under my covers, and fell asleep at three or four in the morning. Insomina's something of a mixed bag.

I didn't wake till a little after eleven in the morning and talked with James Watson-Krips on Skype for a short while--he and Mike are going to Qingdao, which once was a possession of Germany on the coast of Shandong--before going to baseball practice. I hadn't originally intended to join the team, partially because I thought that I wouldn't have time sufficient for it. I was wrong. And I understand now that if I am to survive this year and successfully ward off my "Black Dog," I need to keep busy, busy, busy. And what's more, it's not as though I will have any hopes of playing organized sports in the future. In any event, it was delightful, even if I'm incredibly sore and covered from purple-and-brown lesions this afternoon from batting practice.

Afterwards, I did my laundry, showered, hurriedly ate a plate of delicious Chicken Tikka Masala, and then headed off with Lauren Deitz, Leah, Shannyn, and Jen to the UEA LitSoc's Fancy Dress Pub Crawl. My apparel didn't exactly conform to either the British or the American definition of "fancy dress." (Whereas we tend to associate "fancy dress" with suit and tie--or a comely blouse and skirt in the case of the ladies--, here it is used in regards to Holloween costumes.) I was dressed in black sneakers, blue jeans, a white Oxford shirt, and light gray sweater. Shannyn was dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, and Leah was Jack Kerouac. When they asked me who I was supposed to be, I tried to be funny and said: "I am Me. I am the main character in The Story of My Live, which even now is being written." Yeah. I am lame. Totally.

The Pub Crawl was really enjoyable. Shannyn and I polished off the last of the 10-pound note that Meg gave me last semester. I bought a pint of Kronenberg, my first since my twenty-first birthday party; Shannyn went for a pint of Strongbow mixed with purple currant syrup, which, when she let me try a small sip of it, I though was actually better than ordinary Strongbow. I also met a few people in LitSoc whom I'd be interested in getting to know a little more, including its president Max Gordon, who is, as horrifying as this will sound, a blonde-haired doppleganger of Chris Eiswerth; LitSoc's vice president, a girl named Hannah; and a fresher named Susie Showers who was dressed as "The Mad Hatter" from Alice in Wonderland. However, I must confess that I spent most of my time talking with Shannyn, Leah, and Lauren.

Around ten-thirty, LitSoc began to move on to their third pub of the evening. I wasn't particularly in the mood to join them since for reasons of economy and health, I'm trying to cutback on my alcohol intake, so I rode the bus back to campus with Leah and Lauren. We had a really great conversation, and I have really welcomed the opportunity which these past few weeks has afforded me to get to know them--as well as Zack, Dwight, Emma, Meghan Blickman, Rob, and others--better. When I arrived back at the flat, I prepared a cup of tea, munched on a plum that I purchased from Morrison's on Sunday, and then talked with the folks. I diddled on the computer for a while before finally going to bed around two o' clock in the morning. Mercifully, the day's exertions helped me to achieve a deep and blissful sleep. Thank God.