insider

i'm tuned to london and listening to the BBC's live coverage of the 2005 election. labour have won their historic 3rd term and the name margaret thatcher is being bounced around. i love hearing the classic BBC combination of accents and no-nonsense interview tactics. it was also extremely entertaining to hear the results being announced in different constituents, which involved some very posh voices using words like "hereby" and "monster raving loony party" in the same sentence. suddenly i would like to be back in london, in a pub somewhere. still, i do have a new chair, which is making life in michigan so much sweeter. that and the fact that the sun is back. finally. i'm still writing away on chapter 4, which is a massive 7 pages long. this probably means i won't be handing it in tomorrow as originally planned, but i have high hopes of finishing it next week.

last night kf & i drove into detroit to see the dress rehearsal of a new opera, margaret garner, at the detroit opera house. it was a beautiful evening, and despite my general misgivings about driving through downtown detroit, it turned out to be a real adventure. the opera was beautiful, but more on this later. right now i have to get to bed as i'm off to my first ever mass tomorrow morning.

posted by Joanna Ruth @ 4:56 AM

this past week has been so full that - as it turns out - i've hardly had time to assess my feelings about turning 29. in actual fact it doesn't seem too bad so far. lots of things have changed this week however, and with the summer stretched ahead of me it seems that there are plenty of adventures to be had. lots to learn at the very least. i'm excited at the prospect of growing new friendships, renewing old ones both here at back home, and finally having the time to focus fully on my writing. this week i hope to hand in a draft of my final chapter. it's been a grace-filled process.

on another note entirely, i have inherited 2 plants from a german friend of a friend. i'm going to practice my german on them.

the lovely miss jh has been at the seaside today, walking along the beach and eating fish & chips. i miss the girl, but it is wonderful to come home to long and detailed phone messages in which she sounds so happy. can't wait to see her back in london town this summer.

listening to: over the rhine.

posted by Joanna Ruth @ 3:06 AM