Well!

Okay then. I think I'm all set for my little jog around London tomorrow. I went to the barber and am now hair-odynamic. Number is pinned on purple THT tank top/vest/singlet (choose your favorite word for said apparel). Fanny pack (listen to all the Brits giggling about that one) is full of energy gel, power bars, and analgesics. My Champion Chip (geddit?) is attached to my red shoes laces, so I'll have an official time. I'd forgotten that part in Edinburgh last year.

Now if I could just get to sleep.

Might be updating via Twitter from the course, or from the hospital. So keep your eye on the blue box to the right.

Feeling good about the run, but have had a weird cramp in my calf for the past couple days. I think it'll work itself out in the first couple miles, otherwise it's going to be a very long walk.

Thanks to everyone who donated to Terrence Higgins Trust. I'm really pleased to say I've met my fundraising goal, and I know more donations will come in next week. So thank you again ... y'all rock. If you didn't get my last mass email, I did sweeten the pot for donations. Not only do you support THT, but you get entered in a sweepstakes to win a signed (by me, not by all the authors) of Shaggy Blog Stories.

In other news, I'm now a quarter of the way through the TEFL course.

SO. MUCH. WORK.

It's exhausting, but a lot of fun. Still need to finish a lesson plan for Monday. I tried to today but was too jittery about the run.

It's a scripted role play where the kids have to complain. One instance is a waiter/customer and another is a train passenger and rude official. At first I thought, "Wow, so easy and so much fun!" It's acting class!

But the more I analyze it, the trickier it gets. The two scenes end with the exclamations "Well!" and "Oh!" Bad writing, yes, but there's a method to the madness.

Well has about, oh, a thousand meanings. It's an exclamation. It's an adverb. It's a hole in the ground where one gets water. And I've got to be ready to explain each of those, just in case they ask. And there's this one guy who is bound to challenge it. He's fantastic.

Plus, we've got "how am I supposed to know?" vs. "you're not supposed to smoke in here", "I get asthma" vs. "I have asthma", and "surely" vs. "certainly."

Surely I won't get an asthma attack in the heat tomorrow, as I don't normally have asthma. But how am I supposed to run such a long distance in what will certainly be warm temperatures? I'll need a deep well of stamina to do well, won't I?

Surely I've gone mad.

Well, I'll talk to you from the other side of the finish line.

Oh! And about tonight's Dr. Who ... (spoiler after the jump)