the wanderings and musings of a traveling scholar.: a wee break before work....

so, it's nine o'clock and i am at last sitting down to dinner. work seems to be somewhere on the horizon at last. today was a full day for me. for the third day in a row, i roused myself from the indolent stupour i seem to have settled into over the past two or three weeks and went for a walk. headed down cornmarket, which turns into st giles and then at last into woodstock road. initially i went on satuday in search of a yoga spot i found online... it's about a half hour away, which seems a little far for yoga, but it's a good stretch for my legs, particularly since i am used to devoting a couple of hours a week to walking. so, i tried the route again yesterday and actually ventured down banbury road (runs parallel to woodstock), just because it was so beautiful and picturesque with the cottage-like brick homes and all the pretty trees... and, of course, "just one more block" turned into another, and another, and another... which was lovely yesterday, as the sun was shining and out and bright and totally getting into my eyes, as i have forsaken sunglasses like all the other oxonians have... but today, unfortunately, i had just turned around (after walking 45 minutes outside of city centre, where i live) and the rain began. poured, actually. got quite wet. but the music on the ipod was so good that it really didn't matter. so, i got back at last, completely soaking wet and the like, and promptly changed clothes to go... birthday shopping! my nails have finally been done (got them done yesterday. now they're all dramatic and inky black), and so today i went to debenham's (think bloomingdales) and browsed around for 2 hours. tried on zillions of clothes, it seems, but there were still left overs from the big 70% off sale, and they're moving in all the new stock, so i got some good deals: a cute white, cap sleeved shirt --- 6.90 down from 25, super-cute wide leg black trousers, 10 down from 45, and a pretty black tank-thing, 5 down from 30.... oh, and a pair of footless turqouise tights (??? i don't even know. they were on sale) for 1.50. yeah.... all in all, a very good day. then i rushed home to eat, and then tried to do a bit of work before breaking for tea and then going to colloquium... and then it was a quick minute to switch stuff, grab an umbrella, use the potty and run down to st hugh's for salsa class, which was awesome, though i did dance with this one guy who was so tall and broad-shouldered that i was literally staring at chest no matter how hard i tried to crane my neck upwards (i was sans 4 inch heels, so that made a big difference).... but it was enjoyable, even if i did make a zillion mistakes. whoops. but it's only my second class... and yeah. which brings us to now. got home, showered, made dinner (tomato soup and a pseudo-grilled cheese. nothing like ed used to make. sigh....), and here i am.

ah, but i do have to share about wine class! so, tom (who goes to CMRS too) and i went over together saturday evening, sort of like, what are we going to possibly do for three hours? boy, were we surprised... there are about 2 dozen in the class, and as soon as we were all seated and the like, we started off with a bit of perrier jouet champagne (2 thumbs way, way up), and then went into the first round of wine, which were 3 chardonnays. we were given 1) a chart in which we could make notes on each wine, the nose, palate, and appearance of each; 2) a wee bit of a cheat sheet which breaks down different categories for appearance, nose, palate, etc; and 3) a really handy circular chart with the different categories of smell/flavour (fruity; nutty; earthy; and so on), further broken down into different types of things. so, fruity is broken down into blackcurrent, raspberry, strawberry, and so forth. really, really handy when sticking your nose into the wine glass, inhaling, and trying to figure out what the heck is in there. anyway, we went through the chardonnays. the first was a super cheap one that wasn't too horrible; the second a mid-price (6-12 quid) australian; the third an "old-world" french chablis (around 12 quid or so), which led to a discussion of "new world" vs "old world" wines. "new world" wines are fuller, both in body and taste, and are good as stand-alone wines, as they can possibly overpower the food. the 'old world' wines have a tendency to be a bit more "austere," as our instructor put it, but pair quite nicely with a dish. ah, and a word on our instructor, ed fitzgerald, who was president of the wine society back when he was a student at oxford, and has gone on to judge at international wine festivals. really awesome guy; funny, laid-back, informative, really knows his stuff. anyway, after that, it was on to the reds: the first was an absolutely horrible cheap cab. sav.; the second another example of australian made wine -- very full-bodied, etc.; the third was an amazing 10 yr old bordeaux, which, however, was nothing when compared to the final drink of the night, which was a 1981 claret -- fully matured, at the peak of its life-span, and absolutely fantastic. anyway, i have one more class left this coming saturday, and then i think for the final 3 weeks of term, i'll do the Bacchus tastings as well. there's a nice Australian shiraz night coming up that i'm really excited for.... and yeah. all in all, i think that's my life for the moment. i am counting down with eager anticipation for my birthday, and i can hardly wait. i think we're all going to go out for dinner or something... we shall see...