You don't know Jack.....

.....yet.

Meet my nephew-to-be, John Michael "Jack" Demma III. He is scheduled to make his debut at the beginning of March.

He's my first nephew, so as you might imagine, I'm very excited. :D

I have made my mark on Oxford, Part III

A friend sent me a message on Facebook today:

So...I'm looking for images of "cocktails in Oxford" for a Facebook event and look who I find...

Once again, I realize that I have truly made my mark on Oxford.

Weekend (or, well, Life) Update

So a lot has changed since I last posted.  For those of you who have been following along since the beginning, I wanted to keep you updated on what I'm doing now.

• I'm taking a one-term extension (I may add a second) and am finishing in January.  That means I'll submit the thesis in January and have a viva (oral exam) in late March-early April, and if all goes well, I'll be done.  If I take a second extension, add 2-3 months to the above dates.
• I'm finishing the thesis from home.  I don't have any more scholarships, can't afford to take out any more loans, and am too distracted being a Junior Dean to keep making the trip across the pond.  Also, I've been in England for five years.  I'm ready to be home.
• I'm also applying for jobs.  I've had a couple of interviews and have been flat-out rejected, but a few are looking promising at the moment.  I'm not applying for professor/VAP positions, by the way - I'm trying for jobs that combine all of my experience, and I think I've found a few where I'd be a good fit.
• My parents got me a PT Cruiser as a welcome home present!  My old car was falling apart and was not far away from being eligible for antique plates, so my parents wanted me to have a vehicle that would get me safely to the library, job interviews, etc. 
• I miss the Oxford crowd terribly, but it's amazing to be home.  Plus, everyone is finishing up and moving on, so I'm more likely to run into people in Washington, DC than in Oxford now.

This blog isn't done yet - you'll keep hearing from me until I'm Dr. Kaitlin. :) So stay tuned!

xxx

On serendipitous meetings and coming full circle

This month, I had two very interesting encounters - one with someone I hadn't seen in twelve years, and one with someone I knew via the Internet but never met in real life.  Both encounters happened when I least expected it.

When I was 18, I went to Spain as part of a high school exchange.  We spent two weeks in Madrid in April, and they came and spent two weeks in the US in September.  (Because I was a senior and graduated that June, I arranged it so my student still ended up coming to my house - they let me because my sister was still at the high school.)  It was my first trip abroad and my first time on a plane.

Virginia and I kept in touch on and off for the next few years, but after a while it dropped off.  When I went to Spain in 2008 I really wanted to get back in touch, but all I had was her phone number and address from 10 years ago.  What if she didn't live there any more?  And if she did, would I really want to just call up after seven years of radio silence, or even worse, just show up at the door unannounced?

I got back in touch with Virginia and her sister (as well as some of the other people from the exchange) earlier this year via Facebook.  After a few exchanges I discovered she was coming to England for an English course in Brighton.  We knew we had to get together at some point, because it would be silly for us to be in the same small country and not see each other.  But our scheduled kept not working out - with the snow in January, the volcano in April, me being on duty and her having classes, we just kept missing each other.  Brighton is not exactly close enough for a quick trip - you have to really plan for it.

One night, I got a text from Virginia saying that she was coming to Oxford with a group of friends the next day.  I couldn't believe it - after 12 years, we were going to see each other in less than 12 hours.  She came to Oxford the next day and got the whirlwind tour, and we got to pick up where we left off in 1998.  She's going to stick around in the UK for a while, so I hope we'll get a chance to see each other again before I go home for good (hopefully, next time her sister and/or her parents will be there!).

Today I had another interesting encounter, along similar lines.  Those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning might remember that back when I started in Oxford, I participated in a little project called Spoil-a-Blogger.  (I'd link to it, but it's no longer online.)  It was like a Secret Santa for bloggers:  for three months, each person sent a surprise package once a month to someone and received a surprise package once a month from someone else.  I sent packages to Catraggedy, and Lori-Lyn sent packages to me.  (There was a complicated system of pseudonyms and fake email addresses so you wouldn't know who was sending you stuff until the end.)

At the end of the project, I found out that Lori-Lyn actually had a longtime connection to Oxford - her mother studied here and always loved it here.  I knew that her mom traveled here once in a while, and just recently found out that both of them were going to be in the UK this month, including being in Oxford late June/early July.  Once I finished moving rooms next week, I had planned to get in touch.

Well, guess who I ran into at M&S today?

I was in the grocery section when I spotted her.  I must have been staring, because she looked at me and we realized we were thinking the same thing.  (We've never met in person until today, so I wasn't completely sure that I wasn't just imagining things.)  I walked up to her, we exchanged a confused "You're not...???" and hugged, and we got to have a quick chat.  Once I move rooms next week and they get settled into their ChCh accommodation, we'll get together again.

It's so interesting to see how things come together by chance, after many years, and all thanks to the Internet.  It's also interesting to see how things come full circle:  the Spoil-a-Blogger project was a memorable part of the beginning of my time in Oxford, and here we are meeting up at the end of my time in Oxford.

Long overdue

I'm getting bad about updating again, and I apologize for that.  But I have been doing interesting things this year:

Like turning 30.

And hosting my dad in Oxford, when he was stuck here due to a volcano in Iceland.

And seeing Prince Charles.

And Flashmobbing.

And Garden Partying, Bopping, Pubbing and High Tabling.

As much as I say I'm ready to be done, there are certain things about Oxford that continue to be amazing to me, even after five years here.