Friday Five!

Ewww on the "chesty" infection thing.  I've also got lung issues, and am kind of dreading catching much of anything.  I go out for a walk in the cold and those bits that still do work don't work as well, so I come back from a half-mile walk on level ground feeling like I've just done a marathon. I'm hearing about some "Australian" flu and now some other kind of flu that seems to be targeting children in the UK as well. Whoopie, how thrilling to hear (not).   Now avoiding contact with humans as much as possible until the weather warms up! 

Yeah, I've seen your mentions of lung issues.  I don't think I've said anything, but I can totally identify.  Mine is complicated by the fact that I also have asthma, so on top of not having a lot of lung capacity, sometimes I struggle to use what I do have.  I spent most of my early childhood with recurring pneumonia.  And an overnight stay in Albuquerque in early 2011 very nearly did me in. (HAPE is no joke!  It took about a month for me to feel fully recovered.  Now I research my travel to make sure I won't find myself staying at higher elevations for too long, and I limit long flights... hence, no visits home since I moved here 5 years ago.)

Yeah, I've seen your mentions of lung issues.  I don't think I've said anything, but I can totally identify.  Mine is complicated by the fact that I also have asthma, so on top of not having a lot of lung capacity, sometimes I struggle to use what I do have.  I spent most of my early childhood with recurring pneumonia.  And an overnight stay in Albuquerque in early 2011 very nearly did me in. (HAPE is no joke!  It took about a month for me to feel fully recovered.  Now I research my travel to make sure I won't find myself staying at higher elevations for too long, and I limit long flights... hence, no visits home since I moved here 5 years ago.)

That sounds awful. But would be a really good reason to justify sailing over? 

That sounds awful. But would be a really good reason to justify sailing over? 

I have actually considered that.  It'd be a holiday and transportation in one.  Pricey, though.  Plus, I'd want my husband to go with me, since I'd be gone for so long (and it would be really boring on the ship for so long by myself!).... that's about a month's holiday, half of it spent on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and the other half spent visiting my family.  He'd love that!  (*eyeroll*)

Feeling plucky, so here's a Friday Five.

1. Today is 62 days until ILR and 90 days until I am eligible to apply for citizenship. Spent 81 minutes on the phone (75 on hold) to make my NCS appointment for 12 April, but I'm all booked. Suppose it's time to shift from the usual super-organised mode to hyper-organised warp-mode.

2. I'm 1.5 months into a 6-month contract and I actually really like it??? This was ... unexpected. It was just supposed to be an opportunity to make absolute bank and open options for next steps (always on the hustle, me), and I'm half-considering converting to perm at the end of it.

3. Submitted my application to an MSc programme that I probably won't get into, because neither of my degrees is related to what I want to study, but hey. Also, we're still contemplating moving to Europe after I naturalise, because Brexit is gobsmackingly dumb, so I don't even know where we'll be in a year. Whatever. All bridges will be crossed when we arrive at them.

4. Mr Seahorse still on the mend from having actual flu, and we're both working from home today, and Jimbo will be happy to hear that our chosen background noise is Star Trek Discovery. So far, so very enjoyable.

5. Might just read like three books this weekend and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist.

They've tied the last episode into my favourite star trek series Enterprise!  Good choice, tell Mr sea horse to get well soon

1. Today is 62 days until ILR and 90 days until I am eligible to apply for citizenship. Spent 81 minutes on the phone (75 on hold) to make my NCS appointment for 12 April, but I'm all booked. Suppose it's time to shift from the usual super-organised mode to hyper-organised warp-mode.

Oooh!  Congrats on your imminent ILR/citizenship!  You are about 9 weeks ahead of me.

They've tied the last episode into my favourite star trek series Enterprise!  Good choice, tell Mr sea horse to get well soon

Very excited to see where it's going.

Have told him to either get well or give up the ghost, because I've grown bored this flu nonsense.

Oooh!  Congrats on your imminent ILR/citizenship!  You are about 9 weeks ahead of me.

Thank you! Honestly, it all feels very anticlimactic -- secure status will be a massive relief but, without freedom of movement, hardly worth the paper it'll be printed on. Keep trying to remind myself that we're young enough, have zero attachments, highly skilled (and very much in demand in our industries), and will have options.

How are you feeling as your time, as it were, draws nearer?

Thank you! Honestly, it all feels very anticlimactic -- secure status will be a massive relief but, without freedom of movement, hardly worth the paper it'll be printed on. Keep trying to remind myself that we're young enough, have zero attachments, highly skilled (and very much in demand in our industries), and will have options.

How are you feeling as your time, as it were, draws nearer?

While I regret the reduced "value" of the British passport with regard to the EU and freedom of movement, in all honesty, my husband and I were unlikely to take advantage of that, anyway.  We bought a house here, and we plan to stay here.  So the free movement thing doesn't bother me, except in a theoretical sense.

On the other hand, every day I feel more and more lucky that I left the US and started this journey when I did, and knowing that my UK stay will be assured soon makes me so very relieved.  I may no longer have the 'promise' of the EU for my playground, but I am not in the US, and soon I won't have to worry about being made to go back.

I have to say, I’m kind of sad at the talk of British citizenship not being worth anything without the UK being in the EU and the grumbling about the prospect of getting a new blue passport (in other conversations).
I’m proud of my British citizenship and value it dearly. 

On the other hand, every day I feel more and more lucky that I left the US and started this journey when I did, and knowing that my UK stay will be assured soon makes me so very relieved.  I may no longer have the 'promise' of the EU for my playground, but I am not in the US, and soon I won't have to worry about being made to go back.

Feeling you 100% on that. Possibly the biggest relief of them all!

I have to say, I’m kind of sad at the talk of British citizenship not being worth anything without the UK being in the EU and the grumbling about the prospect of getting a new blue passport (in other conversations).
I’m proud of my British citizenship and value it dearly. 

Citizenship is a social construct that I deeply disagree with on a fundamental level, and is not, for me, something to take any pride in but, rather, a product of a system within which I have to work, because that is literally the only option. 

Citizenship is a social construct that I deeply disagree with on a fundamental level, and is not, for me, something to take any pride in but, rather, a product of a system within which I have to work, because that is literally the only option.

 Feeling that way, I’m curious as to why you would want to collect another?

I’m not being facetious, it’s just that I’ve never heard that opinion before from anyone so just genuinely curious. 

I have to say, I’m kind of sad at the talk of British citizenship not being worth anything without the UK being in the EU and the grumbling about the prospect of getting a new blue passport (in other conversations).
I’m proud of my British citizenship and value it dearly. 

Please do not get that impression.  I am very proud to now be British.  I am disappointed in Brexit, just as I'm disappointed in Trump.  Both were silly votes but the countries behind the votes are still very very good.  And I'm proud to be a citizen of both. 

Well, for the fourth time in three months, I got a big fat rejection.  THIS SUCKS.

Ugh, please pray that something lands soon.  I am 100% okay with taking a contract.  I just need something soon.  I love my baby.... but mama needs to work.  My sanity depends on it!