An American in Leeds

Today I popped my castle cherry. My friends Pete and Lisa took me to Knaresborough Castle. Knaresborough Castle was built around 1100. It was ordered to be dismantled in 1648, after the English Civil War. The River Nidd runs through Knaresborough. The whole town feels Medieveal, with houses crammed together at strange angles, and narrow, winding streets. The White Rose of Yorkshire. This is House of York territory here. Where did that second e go? Sadness.

An inexplicable use of ellipses, which has nothing to do with the rest of this post. I've recently launched myself into the dating pool here in Leeds. It's turned into more of a social observation experiment, instead of actually dating. This seems to be one of those instances where social cues are waaaay different between the US and England. When I first arrived in Leeds, the only men that would flirt with me were the taken ones. This really confused me because, in my experience, men typically only flirt when they have intentions. If they don't have intentions, they usually make it clear that it is just in fun. The intention of the flirting I encountered wasn't clear, and therefore I was wicked confused as to what was going on. This phenomenon I encountered is what Kate Fox calls "courtesy flirting" in her book Watching the English . It's apparently done out of politeness, but can be "confusing for Americans, who mistake it for the real thing". ...

Long time, no see. March was a bit of a nutty month, between a trip to the States for Lunacon, spraining my knee, the potential of being evicted, having the flu, and going to a conference for work. No trip home is complete without beer and waffles at the Abbey. Going home was good for my mental health. It was so nice to reconnect with people, and remind myself that, despite living 3200 miles away, they are still my friends. I had been feeling recently that I had given up so much to move to England. This trip reminded me that in reality, I have gained so much. Distance does make the heart grow fonder. Carl wants malt liquor! Inside joke! How I've missed you. Lunacon was fun as well. Geeks galore! I was on several panels, including three science ones: Health in Space, Alien Biology, and The Year in Science. The Year in Science was my shining moment, when I spouted off about viruses. Because viruses are cool. Sometimes at the beginning of the month, I sprained my knee. Probably doing ...

To celebrate finishing the Project of Doom (tm) at work, I baked a cake: Chocolate stout cake with chocolate whisky ganache. Recipes adapted from Smitten Kitchen . Needless to say, it went over well in the office.

When I moved into my new apartment, I kept getting mail for the previous tenant. Let's call her Jane. It was inevitable, I suppose, especially since it costs some obscene amount of money to have your mail forwarded to a new address here. I didn't really pay much attention to most of the mail. I opened an electric bill because it was addressed to "Occupier", since I was the occupier. It wasn't for me, though- it was for the three months previous. I looked more closely at the bill, and saw that it hadn't been paid in 6 months. This happened with a few more bills, including the television license (which I paid for the week I moved in, I heard about those TV Licensing people!). I didn't pay much attention, since they didn't apply to me. There were also a few letters from a prisoner in California mixed in. Meanwhile, for the first two weeks I lived in my new apartment, gentleman callers (wow, I sound like my mother) rang my doorbell at 3am looking for Jane....

I have a massive project at work that I need to finish at the moment, hence the complete lack of posting. I've got stuff coming though, I promise. Here's a picture, just for giggles:

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. -Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States I watched the inauguration live on the internet (Thank you, Al Gore, for inventing the internet. ;-) ) on Tuesday. The above quote is when I started to tear up. I thought for the first time that maybe, just maybe, there was some hope for my country. Yes, pretty much everything is a mess. Eight years of idiocy, from many people, have taken their toll. But, I hope that with determination and hard work, it can be improved. I love my country. It was my home for nearly 30 years, and I'm sure will be again. I'm not a "my country is right no matter what!" American. I think that it is the duty of citizenship to question and challeng...