Newish friends! New book club! These are wonderful things that I need to do more of.

I am sat in the (very extremely nice) United club and trying not to eat or drink too much before my flight, where they will also be plying me with fine food and drink. (I’m having the cod.) Flight leaves at 9 PM so I’m hopeful I will actually manage to get some sleep (and I have a very mild gummy in my pocket to help that along).

Land at 11 head to my hotel, and figure out what to do from there. The Turner Prize finalists are on display at the Tate so that is a must, and right near the hotel. Or i may venture further out, depending.

Monday I’m on my own and then Tuesday it’s a full swing of meetings until Friday noon. My two presentations are Thursday so I’ll have time to prepare.

My boss wants to go to the Tate so i could do that with her Saturday. I honestly prefer some museums on my own but we’ll see.

It’s very nice to be off on an adventure!

What are everyone else’s plans for the weekend?

Today I tried on new running shoes at the nice store (Super Jock 'N Jill on Greenlake, for the localistas) and found a pair I liked, but I was looking for a dark color, which they didn't have in my size, so they're special ordering. Which is part of why they're such a nice store--they had me try on five different shoes in four different brands, go out and run back and forth on the sidewalk in them, and then sort of gently nudged me to think in terms of most comfortable shoe in the color I wanted even if I had to wait a week or so for it. Then I did altar guild setup and dropped off food bank donations at church. Tomorrow is the church's annual meeting, which means that as of ~noon my three-year term on the vestry will be over AT LAST.

Oh, and I'm going to do some writing and also look at how well I did on my personal goals in January and make plans for February. (Since my main New Year's resolution was to be better at restarting things whenever life derails me and I stop writing/running/etc.)

Yay, adventures! Japan is ending (well, for David, not for Matilda), and London is beginning -- y'all are doing a good job providing continuous vicarious travel thrills -- keep it up!

I'm deeply enjoying all the vicarious travel!

MICWINTW (Most Interesting Co-worker in the World) told me he is re-reading (because of course) Cymbeline on the flight over.

Challenge accepted. Downloading from the Folger now.

I went physically car shopping today. Before I left for the first test drive, the sales person I had been texting with called to say someone just bought it. that was the first Prius. I had time before the next one to find another one to test drive on Monday. then I got the the second place to test drive a Prius, but someone else was test driving it. So I had to wait to see if they were taking it or not. And they did. my 3rd appointment was to test a 2011 Subaru Impreza, my second choice car. I was able to drive it and bought it. I just wanted it to be over. Now, I have to figure out getting my rental back before Thursday

I just felt that if I passed on it to test drive another Prius on Monday, and have both of them disappear on me. Frankly, I didn't want to stress about it.

It's red, has a Moon Roof, heated front seats, AWD, heated mirrors. So, I'm good. no backup camera, but good visibility from all mirrors.

And I don't' have to worry about shifting gears anymore! That was making driving so stressful! I didn't realize how bad my anxiety had been until I drove around for an afternoon in my Auto transmission rental car.

It was a one owner car, well maintained, so I went for it.

thanks for all the support!

heated seats are the BEST.

Congrats, quester! Very exciting.

Seriously y’all, this guy has W A I T tattooed at the base of his fingers (palm-side). It stands for Why Am I Talking? and he had it done at nineteen when he realized he would learn so much more about the world if he listened rather than talked.

I’ve known him for years and never seen a sign that it was anything less than genuine. (Though he can talk at me all he wants.)

I’m so excited for you quester! And yeah, heated seats are a revelation.