Well, after I got over my sickness, I developed a toothache. This caused some panic, as I had to figure out the American dental universe, but Candace, a kind soul in my course who is also on the Georgetown University health insurance plan, told me that the insurance plan gives me access to Dental Basix (their spelling, not mine of course…)—it’s not dental cover, but a student discount toward all dental appointments with a handful of DC dentists. Had an appointment (shamefully, it was my first dental appointment in several years) and received high praise for the state of my teeth from the dentist. It wasn’t a toothache but a canker sore on my gums, which came from being run down the week before when I was sick. Now, in time for thanksgiving, it is all clear.

In the mean time, I feel like, after a few weeks spent in a groggy state, I’ve woken up. John Ashbery a few weeks ago was charming. Honestly, I just wanted to hug him. But I didn’t want to get too close in case I gave him whatever virus I had. I was afraid I would be responsible for killing a great poet, and obviously that would not sit well in my conscience.

Trapeze has been blissful. Sunday morning we did trapeze, aerial hoop and some tissu. I somehow have never warmed to tissu, but aerial hoop is increasingly a revelation. There’s something about the hoop that seems to come quite naturally to me: I find it easy to get my balance, and I love the transition between faster and slower spinning as my body shape changes. Besides all that, it was just so good to hang upside down, to do front support balances and falls into catches… all those trapeze-type things that make me suddenly speak in a different language. I’m aiming to get some more private classes to work on my problem areas (stroke correction, so to speak) and see if I can start developing some kind of act, for fun. There’s no-one local that teaches cloudswing unfortunately… although I may speak to the lovely ladies at Arachne and see if they ever do swinging trapeze. I’d like a little momentum… it’s thrilling. I’m also hoping in the coming weeks to do some indoor climbing in Alexandria. I need some verticality to get me more active than I was in my first couple of months here!

I’ve been watching some television shows online, as I don’t have a television here. After watching something on the (American) abc website, I noticed an ad for the complete series of “My So-Called Life.” They’ve just released a deluxe DVD. This sent me into a tailspin, and I immediately ordered it from Amazon. When I mentioned this to friends Allison, Michelle and Robyn, I discovered they were all as obsessed with the show as I was (we’ve been quoting it to each other for weeks) so we spent Saturday night having a MSCL marathon. In proper teen style we had pizza, icecream, oreos and cheap wine (in my case, swigging from the bottle added to the style of the event). To continue our nerdiness we formed the “Frozen Embryos fan club.” Robyn’s looking into getting t-shirts made. These photos were taken with my co-embyro fans.

Tomorrow morning (oh so early) Lisa-my-Lisa and I are heading to Tennessee. My first Thanksgiving. I don’t know exactly what to expect. I’ve been warned several times that I’m heading for the real south. And that my tendency towards sass could get me into trouble. I hope to internalise the sass. Hope.

Anyway, Lisa and I are meeting at the Metro Center at 8am, and catching a train to either Pentagon City or Crystal City (I can’t remember which) where we pick up the car. (I got in “trouble” with Blair, who’s trying to teach me to speak “American” when I mentioned we were “hiring” a car. They don’t hire cars, apparently—they “rent” them.) From there is should be 9 or so hours driving (with a stop or two at some roadside diner… !) and before we get to Dayton, Tennessee, which is meant to be nearish to Chattanooga.

We’re heading back on Friday morning, so it’s really only a flying visit to Tennessee—there is so much work to get done, as ever. In a month all our final projects are due, and we’re getting started on them. I feel out of practice at writing to deadlines. I think I’ll spend at least part of this weekend in the library here. “In the DQ” as Allison and I now call our study nook—a silent row of tables overlooking 37th street, just near the “Dickens Quarterly” in the periodicals section. I’ve done a lot of good study there in the past week or two. I’ve got two long essays and a complete course sequence to write before I fly home on 20 December, so there’s certainly no rest in the foreseeable future. When it’s not stressful, it’s exhilarating!

So, I’m sick today. My first time sick since I’ve been here, and I’m feeling pretty sorry for myself—sore throat, on top of sore muscles. (Yes, I finally found a trapeze class. Yes, I now know how soft I’ve become. No more of that!)

I’m giving a presentation in Dickens this week—so I’m trying to get some reading done before that. We’re on to “Our Mutual Friend,” which means we’re getting close to the end of all the class work. I’m in a group for this presentation with Allison and Maureen, which is a really lovely working group. We’ve got a meeting lined up for tomorrow to figure out exactly what we’re doing. We hope. In the mean time… reading, thinking, making notes, and…

Going to see John Ashbery read at the Folger Shakespeare library tonight. Now, with my head feeling the way it does, it’s actually just about the last thing I want to do (leaving the house is very low in my priorities right now) but I must go—I can’t miss it. And it IS exciting—it’s over ten years ago that I first read his work. It feels a little unreal. When I can feel anything at all. Mostly, I can just feel my head spinning.