No Pain, No Gain

What a past two days! I have dubbed Wednesday my ultra-British day and Thursday was completely jam-packed. Before I begin, I have to report on a piece of disconcerting news: According to a recent study of distraction performed on 1,100 office workers in the UK, people who frequently juggle email or SMS with work suffer a 10-point IQ drop -- the equivalent of missing a whole night's sleep -- and more than 2X the IQ drop caused by marijuana. Oh crap. I am a compulsive email checker. I'm of the school who will refresh my page after just refreshing it because in that split-second someone could have hit send and an unread email may be waiting in my box. I feel completely lost when I don't check it. According to this study, I am making myself stupider. I might as well buy a lava-lamp, put on Dark Side of the Moon and become a stoner. So back to my life. Wednesday I was haunted by the knowledge that I had an interview the next day with the leader of the Respect party as well as with Ann Phillips at LSE. I worked furiously to catch up and I quit working at 7 pm to meet Dan to watch England's qualifying game against Estonia. We normally go to this Italian deli, but unfortunately for us, Italy was playing. We found a nearby pub that was appropriately working class. We had a blast! I ate fish and chips; Dan had a lamb burger. We sat enthralled as England delivered a beating to Estonia (for this game I dropped my normal rule of thumb: root for the country with the lower GDP unless Brazil or France is playing). The pub was completely full and there was a feeling of camaraderie. Afterwards, Dan and I caught Big Brother on Channel 4. We were curious given the fervor surrounding each episode. I was quickly hooked, but that is no surprise as I am scarily modal in my television preferences. I was afraid, however, that Dan was terribly bored. No! When I asked him if he wanted me to change the channel, he said, "No! I want to see what happens with Emily and Ziggy." He is a keeper. Yesterday was the interview. I was so nervous about it that I awoke at 5:15 am. I managed to make myself fall back asleep and got up at 7. I picked up my dry-cleaning, re-read my questions, and printed out directions to the office. Dan stopped by with my tape-recorder and we headed to the office. The office was in East London and after taking the tube we were to catch a bus. East London is not the best part of London, but I was surprised by how NOT poor it looked. Of course, this is from someone who flies out of Detroit. We ended up walking to the office, which is right by Brick Lane. The interview was all right, but I am painfully aware that my original hypothesis, developed from the American case, may not apply here. Now an important disclaimer is that I was wearing my brand new Ferragamo flats. They were very cute but were already beginning to pinch my feet. Dan and I then walked back to the station. We got in a quarrel over where to get lunch and I was alone for the meal. I then prepared for the interview with Ann Phillips. By this time, my left foot was killing me. I was limping back to my office and once inside the building I took off my shoe. Oh sweet relief! When it was time to head to LSE, I could not get my foot back in the shoe! I somehow managed to get there, but my foot was bleeding and I could barely walk. The meeting went well, but I talked too much. Typical. She did give me good contacts and was very lovely. Dan and I made up, bought a Glamour magazine with a free pair of flip-flops to calm my ailing feet. We then bought proper shoes at the nearest store, visited the British museum, and had wine and olives at the museum until 8:30. Lovely. We then ate at a famous South Indian restaurant. Toby Maguire has even eaten there! It definitely lived up to the hype. We then made it home in time to catch, wait for it, Big Brother! Ah, perfect. What a crazy and hectic day. Today will be much more low-key.