I just found a karate club and a jitsu club at King's! It's funny, both clubs have lots of practice times, and then they both say they go out for drinks afterwards! I'm happy though, what fun!

Ms. Okine just emailed me back (good thing, it usually takes her a few days.)

Dear Monica

You should receive enrolment form and details during August.

Best wishes

Ruth

Yikes!! August! I do have a plane ticket to purchase here! An apartment complex to give notice to! A job to quit! A car to sell! What if I have to be there in September? That's really not much time! I don't know about this, I think I may be too high maintenance for this country!

Finished FAFSA today, hurrah! So glad to be done, but definitely worried big time about money. They say I'll probably have to pay about $14k!! That's all I got!! I was hoping to save the mutual funds and stocks for when I was done with school and unemployed for real (although I've already decided I want to go to Australia, and hopefully find a post-doc to support me.) I don't know! I had a long talk with Dad this weekend, and he told me he'd help out when I needed, which was really nice to hear. I mean, I'd like to think I can do this on my own (am turning 27 next week)but that helps ease the stress that's been mounting. Like a gym membership. There's one on campus right? You think it would be for students? Noooo, it's not, and it's definitely like 350 quid a year. That's about $600!!! I pay $360 a year for my gym now, and I make a butt load of money! This city will break me I fear. Dad said he'd help with stuff like that. Which is like the exact opposite view from what my mom is taking. We'll see huh?

Also emailed the administrator that told me I was accepted and helped me with my housing application. Um, I haven't heard anything from you, Ruth Okine! Any idea when I should show up?? This is so not like American schools, they usually send you a huge welcome pack right off the bat. Here? Nada! Maybe I'm not enrolled anymore? Oh, that would be horrifying! But I talked to a really awesome girl who lives here now and went to King's in the 90s and she said they kind of wait for the previous semester to finish before they deal with the next. Which sounds a little odd, but that's one of the cultural difference I have to look forward to....

Housing is all taken care of by the way, should hear something mid Julyish..... God, these people move slow!!

Started the actual FAFSA today (fafsa.ed.gov) I definitely recommend doing the whole PIN/electronic sig deal; not only is it way faster, but you can also save as you go along, which I had to do tonight, as I got so hungry that the numbers started running together. Forgot to eat! Still not hungry, like normal hungry, but then when my body starts to shut down from lack of glucose I know it's noshing time.

Watched Apocalypse Now. Whoa. Never seen it before. Beautiful vision and amazing acting and serious war issues and all that.... But it also gave me the itch. I want to go to far off places like that. Imagine the heat, humidity, palms, smells, people, food, taste of the air.... I don't think a person is meant to live in one place their whole life. I want to go so badly now, even if it is only England, at least it's far off from here. I mean, didn't we descend from a nomadic people? Aren't we all nomads at heart? I feel that way. I can't spend all my days in Maryland, not when I know there are far more exotic locals on this Earth. Okay, time for bed. Time for beautiful Cambodian dreams, eating sticky rice and doing Tai Chi in the shade, making love in a bungalow with a straw roof.... At least I hope I get that, and not Martin Sheen in war paint coming after me with a machete!

Sike! I'm not working on anything that trendy, cool, or significant! I have decided I'd like to work with cells though, which is completely different from anything I've ever done in my five years of professional pharmaceutical experience, and more towards what I worked on when I got my masters. Basically I'd like to find new ways to get drugs into cells, which means one day I'll find new ways to get drugs into you! So I think I'm branching out.

I'm studying like a sonofabitch. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on, I'm trying to hunt down every paper that my future advisors wrote, Dr. Ben Forbes and Dr. Marc Brown. I also started keeping a journal of my studies and ideas. It keeps track of what I've done so far in my own words. KCL recommends that grad students do that. Hey, you never know when you might have an original idea that you can patent, and you might have to prove how and when you came up with it. I hope that's the case for me! I still haven't picked exactly what I want to do. I wonder if the college has a problem with that?!?

It's hard to tell someone I'm leaving when I don't want to tell them. Really hard. And it's really hard to not tell someone when I'm dying to tell them, like my bosses at work. It's such a huge secret to keep, either way I guess. And I know the hard part hasn't even begun yet (saying goodbye, packing up my life, realizing what is actually happening) but this part makes me second guess my decision. Why? And do I get any credit for being brave and telling the truth? No! So bogus.

Today certainly is. My project at work got cancelled, and while I'm sad that I didn't get to see it through to humans I also am clear minded to recognize the fact that it needed to die. At least I got to write batch records and order supplies, so that was good rehearsal for real life, real job. One day. The pharmaceutical industry, I tell ya, it's a strange one.

So today is designated to FAFSA, or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Can you believe I'm not done yet? I think I should be able to submit this week though. It's not too bad, but a word of advice boys and girls, save all your tax info from the year you get your first summer job until the year you die, because you never know. I never thought in a million years I'd go to grad school...... again...... I'll admit the only thing I'm not thrilled about is going into debt, but hopefully it will be for this year only, and then it's on to grants. Need to get the USA to refund me all the money I've given them over the years. I deserve it! Anyway, it was good today, I finished all the worksheets in a half hour, and based on the drug conviction worksheet I'm eligible! Hurray! (Hey, you never know....) Funny, but if you sell drugs and never get caught you can apply for all the money you want. Strange country.

I also added some links in the side bar, stuff about London and also some blog pages. My sister, and my karate instructor, Jami, who's too adorable for words. I don't know how else to describe his personality, but adorable seems to fit best. It was weird to write HTML code, I haven't done that since college! That makes me sound old, but I did graduate four years ago, so I guess I'm getting up there. Is four years a long time? Perhaps, you can get a whole degree in four years. But it only takes nine months to make a whole person from two cells. Depends on how you look at it. Time is subjective I suppose.

I've stopped eating all of a sudden. Just not hungry anymore. Usually when that happens, something bad is quick to follow. I know it's a stupid omen, but that's just the pattern I've noticed. Or maybe I'm just getting really nervous about The Move? I don't know.....

It's her birthday today! She's turning 18, and you know how she wants to spend her birthday? At the DMV, registering to vote!! She's so awesome.

TV sucks, but it's nice to have on when you live alone I think. Mine's always on, in the background, usually muted. It gives the illusion of people in the apt. I get scared. I see a scary movie, no matter how dumb and I can't sleep. I saw Blair Witch, I thought there were witches outside. I saw Fellowship, I thought there were Orcs in the closet. I saw Signs, I thought there were aliens under the bed. I saw Dawn of the Dead and I thought there were zombies climbing up to my balcony. I would actually have conversations with myself! And not like, "Monica, there's no such thing as zombies." It was more like, "Monica, that's impossible, zombies can't climb walls, or else they would have gotten into the mall. It's only when they tried to leave the mall that they got eaten. So if you stay on the 8th floor you'll be safe. They can't climb up to the balcony. They're braindead!" That's how scared I get!

Halloween! 

celebrate Halloween in England? Oh, I do hope so, if not my heart will break! It is the best holliday of them all!

I forgot, when I was walking back to my car from this Indian joint, there were three cops cars who pulled over this one woman in a Benz. She was so obviously drunk and there's one big cop talking to her. I'm walking by and overhear this exchange despite the fact they sent rookie cop to make sure I didn't stray too close.

Drunk Woman: Well... *sways*
Big Cop: Ma'am, now I'm getting serious.
DW: You know what, you're a cocksucker (whispers the last word, but we all know how well drunks whisper)
BC: Keep that up, I don't want to have to cuff you.
DW: That's too bad... (lets it build) because you're... a... COCKSUCKER!
BC: (whips out his cuffs)

I was cracking up! She was priceless. I so wish I'd been with someone so I could have shared it!

What the hell I'm doing. I'm officially moving to King's College in London in three and a half months. I'm doing all this work, studying and filling out forms and research and FAFSA and all this noise, totally prepared to go. And I'm getting really excited, like really fucking excited where I can't sit still and I want to shout it to the world, and then tonight I go ahead and email this guy that I think is interesting. I promised myself I wouldn't do stuff this dumb anymore. I mean, nothings going to happen, he's merely interesting and I'm so bored. I miss Akash, it's like he's gone forever, and the time difference doesn't help. So hard to lose you best bud, I didn't actually think it'd be this bad. Am doing ok, but having him gone frees me in this peculiar way. It's nice to know he's missing me too. So what did I do by sending that email? Opened a can of worms probably, am such a bad girl. This blog stuff is weird, I am still getting used to it....

I can not wait to get started. The forms are getting mundane, the papers are starting to run together.... Enough friends have left D.C. at this point that I'm stuck with nothing to do but sit here with four months on my hands!