So, the last seven days have been all hustle and bustle. Although the MFA residency doesn’t start until January 3rd, I will be traveling to London early to enjoy some much-needed relaxation time. We have, in fact, already secured our tickets to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, the Tower of London, the New Year’s Eve fireworks and made other tentative plans as well (such as nerding out in front of the Sherlock staple Speedy’s and consuming a full English breakfast).
Preparations are underway for not only the vacation portion of the trip but the learning portion as well. My materials are submitted. All required readings have been digested, including Feed, Anatomy of a Disappearance, The Maples Stories, Bartelby the Scrivener, The Fall River Axe Murders and the various iterations of Bluebeard required for our generative workshop. Hopefully there won’t be too many last-minute curveballs by the professors. I see some lectures on the schedule with no assigned readings posted as of yet.
As part of my preparations for travel, I went and had LASIK surgery. I have worn glasses since sixteen. Who knows how long I needed them before the age of sixteen, but when I went to take the eye test to get my driver’s license, the nice lady at the DMV issued me a license but told me to get my eyes checked. Here I am, 21 years later, finally sick of my glasses. Contacts are too much of a pain, especially with astigmatism, and glasses get crummy, slip around and have to be replaced every couple of years due to scratches, etc. Although I had been thinking idly about getting LASIK for a long time, on a whim, about 6 weeks ago, I made an appointment for a consultation with a local ophthalmologist. Fast forward to Friday, December 12, and, bam, after 10 minutes under a couple of different lasers, I now have 20/15 vision. I definitely still have some halos and glowy bits to my vision that I hope will dissipate over the next month or two. The procedure really was amazingly fast. The recovery has been relatively easy as well, apart from the copious kinds of eyedrops administered on an ongoing basis, including antibiotics, steroids, lubricants and the optional Restasis (which my insurance mercifully covered at a reasonable price). After a long day of staring at my computer screens at the office with my heater blaring, my eyes are definitely tired, so I’ve been making serious with the eyedrops and trying to keep my eyes lubricated.
I suppose I chose to have LASIK now because I finally wanted a trip where my glasses weren’t impeding my photography. I’m very much looking forward to being able to take photographs with no glasses to worry about. Also, I will be able to wear sunglasses (to the extent such accessories are necessary in overcast London) and generally avoid the bother of having glasses on or about me at all times. I will have to make sure to pack my eyedrops though! Tomorrow is the last day of antibiotics and steroids, but I have to keep using the lubricants and Restasis for at least a month.
The final phase of my preparations has centered on trying to get as much work as I can wrapped up before I go MIA. I have a number of active transactions at the moment, but the timing is looking like hopefully none of them will be screaming during the first full week in January. I’m sure I will return jet-lagged with partners banging on my door to get moving on ancillary documents, finalizing diligence and turning additional drafts of purchase agreements. Until then, however, I’m going to cross my fingers that things will mostly stay quiet between the 5th and the 9th of January. I will also have to prepare for my presentation while I am in London data privacy in M&A transactions. I have to tailor this particular presentation to the EU directive and other privacy matters specific to the EU.
Well, there you have it. The list is a little (try a lot) intimidating, but I will somehow get through it before I leave… and dang, haven’t finished my holiday shopping either!
Photograph: Inside the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida, 2009. This represents my inner fear about how freakin’ cold it’s going to be in England (especially coming from Florida)!
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