Whew! That was a close one.
When I came to the UK last fall I had all these lists in my head of places I wanted to go and things I wanted to see. I had a whole year in front of me, so none of it seemed very urgent. But then stuff happened. Assignments started coming due. I got into the student mode. I dated another poor student for seven months and wanted to spend the weekends with him rather than roaming foreign cities by myself. Now that I'm single and footloose, I'm working full-time on a dissertation and staving off The Panic.
BUT. I just booked my tickets for Prague. Now . . . I am at peace with myself.
That was the big one. There are so many other places that I thought I would get to and now I realize it's just not going to happen. Like Paris. Paris seems to be down the drain this time. And Scotland. And Greece. I won't lose any sleep over it (well, except for maybe a tiny bit over Paris because I really do love that beautiful palce)--there's always next time, right? But Prague, now, that would have been a sleep-loser, because it has been at the top of my to-see list now for years and years. I don't care that it will be in August and that it will be crammed full of tourists. It's going to be wonderful and I will be there. I'm going August 21-24, and I'm already looking at this three-day itinerary for ideas. The hotel is 5 minutes away from the Old Square. I'm going with a delightful red-haired friend, only I still need to think of a good code name for her.
I'm too sleepy at the moment to be properly ecstatic or to think of code names, because I've been conducting and transcribing dissertation interviews all day, including the interview with the famous Open Access guru yesterday who told me that my questions sucked and that my dissertation focuses on absolutely the wrong things (because I'm not focused on the things that he cares about). That was special. I found out later that he says that to everyone, so now I don't feel so much like a slapped puppy.
When I booked the tickets the website pulled up a form for me to enter in my name with a prefix. I'm used to the prefix options being things like Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, and maybe Dr.
Here, though, I got these:
- Mr
- Mrs
- Ms
- Miss
- Master
- Dr
- Prof
- Sir
- Lord
- Lady
- Reverend
- Sister
- Honourable
What's that about? I was really tempted to put "Lady" in front of my name just to see if it actually makes any difference, but I don't know if that's some kind of offense over here.
I'm Steph, a librarian and mom of 3 (not sure how that happened). Let's chat books, food, Sumptuous Literary Adaptations, poop, knitting and maybe some crazy Mormon Feminism.
12 comments:
I vote lady or Prof. They both sound rather distinguished!
How about 'Reverend'.....that adds some spice.
Also, I didn't get a chance to comment on the last blog--but amen sister. I have one stamp on my passport. I guess I've been too busy educating myself. How selfish of me!!
Oh, it really would be sad if you didn't make it to Paris--it's just a couple of hours away by plane! You could totally make a weekend out of it. How funny that I was just talking about Prague with my friend not fifteen minutes ago! According to her, "Prague is the new Paris." So maybe missing Paris won't be so bad after all.
Careful - the last I heard, the punishment for unauthorised use of the title "Lady" was 10 years in the Tower of London.
Pragues great. I've been three times when we've gone to visit my Brother who lives out there. You'll really enjoy it !
Yea for you! I rather like the sound of MASTER. It doesn't have to be a boy now, does it?
Go with 'Master'. I think that would be appropriate. Show those Praguans who's boss...
I'm changing my vote. I vote Sister. Then you could pretend like you were a nun escaped from a convent or something. How cool would that be?
I also vote for "Master." And I think that's what you should call yourself when you get home, too, on account of you'll have a master's degree.
Yay, Prague! I remember how much you wanted to go there!
You know, if you made the trip by train (and took a few extra days), you could ride through Paris . . . and Germany and Austria too! Of course, that would take forever and you'd travel a little out of your way, but wouldn't it be worth it to see Paris (mmm, croissants) and Salzburg (you could twirl on the hill and sing) and Vienna? Actually, I've heard that Vienna and Prague are sister cities, so maybe if you see Prague you don't need to see Vienna. But having lived there for a year, I highly recommend it!
Sigh...I'm so jealous. And happy for you.
Honourable? do the ticket people really want to accomadate to person's with inflated ego's?That's my vote for you.(no offense of ego.)
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