I had just left the school gym (you’ll be happy to know that Travis), and I was leaning against the wall of one of the buildings on the LSE campus. While I was looking at some e-mails on my phone a guy in a sweater and beanie rode by on his bike and grabbed my phone right out of my hands. I threw my backpack and jacket on the ground and started chasing him but he was already down the street and turned a corner before I had gone a few feet. At that point I felt like laying down in the middle of the street and crying. The actual phone isn’t that big of a deal, I’m out $300, but it’s just money. At least I wasn’t hurt. More than anything though I was shocked that somebody would have the brazen audacity to just grab it out of my hands. I was stupefied. And really, really angry. I kept looking for him as I dejectedly walked home, but obviously he’s gone, and I’m never going to see that phone again. So, to all of my friends and colleagues at school, let this serve as a cautionary tale. If you’re walking around London be very aware of your surroundings, and especially your belongings. Also, to everyone who reads this blog, obviously I won’t be answering any calls or text messages, so please e-mail me if you need to get a hold of me.

And now the good news. I just called Geico and saved 15% on my car insurance. Actually I didn’t, but I have had some good times in the past two weeks, in spite of this little setback.

On Thursday, my class on Taiwan had a field trip to an authentic Taiwanese restaurant in honor of the Chinese New Year. We ate some great food and had a great time getting to know each other a little better. We had many different dishes that the owner prepared for us (in Chinese you say 一张桌子的菜， which means a table full of food). The lady on the left is my teacher, Professor Shih.

My favorite was a little Taiwanese hamburger. Normally they have beef in them, but the chef made me a special one with tofu instead of meat. It has crushed peanuts, caramelized onions, and cilantro, mmmmmmm, so good.

That’s what’s been going on in my life the last few weeks. It’s been pretty busy because I’m taking five classes this semester, and there’s a lot of reading that comes along with that. At least it dulls the loneliness a little. I miss my wife, much more than the last time we separated because when I came out in the fall everything was new and exciting, and I was living in a new city with new people. Now it’s more routine and my wife is on the other side of the world, but time will go pretty fast and before I know it I’ll be flying home for Easter break. So, until the next post, I hope all is well with you and yours.

Our first stop after breakfast was St. Mark’s Square where we bought a bag of potato chips and played with the pigeons.

The cathedral in the square is really beautiful, but the animals are much more fun.

Riding in a Gondola is something that I’ve wanted to do ever since I visited Venice the first time ten years ago, so Terissa and I made it a priority. It’s an amazing experience because the streets of Venice are water, and the intersections are bridges, so as we rode through the city we went under many of these footbridges and got a unique perspective on the city.

We also went out into the Grand Canal with the motorboats and taxis.

There are no cars allowed in Venice, so the city is made up of canals and small walking streets.

This is a small cafe right next to our hotel with great pizza!

And this is the main footbridge next to the train station. One interesting thing about the foot bridges in Venice is that since they are so steep, they consist of steps with a small platform at the top, which is different from most bridges we have because they are level.

When we arrived in Pisa on the train from Venice we rented some bikes from our hotel to tour the city.

The receptionist recommended a quaint little restaurant called Aphrodite down the street from our hotel, on the way to the leaning tower. It’s interesting to eat in a place with one chef (the owner) and one server.

The leaning tower of Pisa is next to a cathedral, in a beautiful square surrounded by grass.

And here is another view from the back.

After the tower we rode to the train station to buy our tickets to Rome, and rode home. The downtown area of Pisa is surrounded by a city wall, and we rode next to it for most of the ride back to the hotel.

Almost home…

You can see a drainage ditch on both sides of the road, where I presume there are fish, because on our way home we saw someone fishing in these miniature bodies of water, although I don’t know that I would eat anything I caught here.

We arrived in Rome on December 31st, and as soon as we dropped off our luggage, found somewhere nice to eat.

Our hotel was in a great location, just a ten minute walk from the Coliseum, where the biggest concert in the city was located for New Years Eve.

The area around the Coliseum was packed, it was like being at Times Square in NY.

In Rome they started the countdown at 75, and when it got to 1 everybody cheered, and kissed, and sprayed champagne everywhere.

The next day we went to Trevi Fountain

And visited the Coliseum

The floor of the Coliseum has eroded over time so you can see underneath where the gladiators and prisoners were kept.

To round our time in Rome we visited the Vatican Museum, but we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel, so you’ll have to be satisfied with me and a row of busts.

After the museum we went to St. Peters Basilica.

Finally, a picture from the balcony of our hotel room the morning we left.

That was our adventure through Europe. Terissa will be heading home tomorrow, and I’ll be starting school again next week. I wish a happy new year to everyone and look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Us in our seats on the train on the way up to Paris, armed with snacks for comfort on the 5-hour ride.

The day after we arrived in Paris was Christmas. This year we didn’t want to buy each other presents because we’re really trying to minimize our luggage on this trip, so I took Terissa to Disneyland Paris for her Christmas present. This is us right after the Indiana Jones ride.

Here is Terissa in one of the towers in Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

One of the more iconic sights in Disneyland.

Now, I know that we’re thousands of miles away from Mexico, but when I order a taco salad I expect something reasonably edible, especially at the prices Disneyland charges – not carrots, green beans, corn and cactus. An extreme disappointment to say the least.

We saw some props from Armageddon -

and took a picture in front of the Christmas tree.

Around closing we made our way to the subway to head home and saw these three guys. I guess Disneyland takes its security very seriously.

The next day we spent walking through Paris, and had a chance to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral.

I also found a little restaurant that I had completely forgotten about the last time I was in Europe. Maoz is a vegetarian fast food joint that has a build your own falafel bar. Super tasty!

That night we went to the Eiffel Tower and had dinner for my birthday.

I tried Foie Gras for the first time, not my favorite, but the rest of the dinner was excellent.

Then we went on a night cruise of the Seine River, and learned a little more of the history of Paris and some of the other notable sights.

Our last day in Paris was Tuesday, and we went to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. Unfortunately, like a big dummy I didn’t check to see when the museum was open, and once we got there we learned that the only day the Louvre is closed is Tuesday. So we settled for some pictures of the pyramid, and may take the train from London to Paris this summer to visit the museum on a day when it’s open.

That was our time in Paris. We hope you are all well and enjoyed your Christmases, and we wish you a safe and happy New Year.

We woke up bright and early the first morning because there was a construction team that started drilling right outside our window at 7 a.m. In spite of that, one of our favorite things about this hotel was that for the first time on the trip we had internet service, so we felt connected to the world again.

La Sagrada Familia is a Catholic church in Barcelona, designed by Antoni Gaudi, that has been under construction since 1882. The outside of the church has a very eerie quality.

And we thought it was interesting that the side still under construction looks more like a corporate office building than a Catholic church.

We also walked down La Rambla, the main drag in Barcelona.

In the airport, waiting for our flight to France, this little guy was really cute. He had his own purse (to be carried in) but he really didn’t like people. A little boy came up to try and pet him and he went nuts.

And this is a view of the resort from our balcony in the middle of the day. One of the best things about the resort was that there was virtually no one there. We only saw two other people that weren’t staff the entire first day. It felt like we were staying at the Overlook Hotel from the Shining, all the lights were on, the food was on the tables, the music was playing, and we had the whole place to ourselves. The obvious upside was that there wasn’t a creepy Jack Nicholson-ish character running around with an axe.

It was a little too cold to swim in the pool, and especially the ocean, but fortunately they had an indoor pool that Terissa could swim laps in, a gym that I could use, and a sauna that we both enjoyed.

When we first arrived I had reserved a room with a mountain view (which was basically a view of the parking lot) but in spite of this we loved the resort so much that we re-arranged our trip to stay an extra two days. When I went to tell the reception we wanted to stay longer, I also mentioned we were on our honeymoon and the receptionist upgraded us to an ocean view room and at a cheaper price than what we paid for the first room.

On the second day we took a stroll down a long flight of stairs to see the coastline…

And enjoyed a long walk on the beach at sunset.

This is us on the way back up, taking a break…

We were really sorry to leave southern Portugal because we knew the rest of the trip would be a lot colder than Albufeira, but were excited about visiting Lisbon and seeing what the city has to offer. It’s about a four hour bus ride but it didn’t seem like long between talking and watching movies on my computer.

Personally I was really surprised at how much I liked Lisbon. It’s a fairly small city and the downtown area is very walkable. This is me in front of a fountain and a statue of either the Greek god Neptune or King Triton from the Little Mermaid, I couldn’t tell.

As we were making our way downtown we stopped to take a picture of an amazing  theater that actually has trees in the entry way. If you look close you can see them.

Finally, down next to the water at the bottom of the main drag through Lisbon is an Arc of Triumph and statue of King Jose I to welcome home the sailors as they came into port. The statue isn’t entirely visible, but you can thank our impromptu photographer for that. One of the things that Terissa found fascinating in Lisbon was that statues like this could be found all over the city, and she really loved the Medieval architecture and how different it was from anything else in the states.

In order to get a unique view of the city we also took a double decker bus tour. It was really fun because neither of us have done a tour like this, and they had headphones with english audio explaining the history of each site we passed. To cap off the day we walked through the central park on the way back to the hotel, and got ready for our flight to Barcelona the next day.

We did however have an early Christmas dinner at my host counselor’s home. Dick and June prepared a great vegetarian meal for us, in the traditional British fashion. We had baked beets, carrots, onions, and brussel sprouts, with a baked loaf, sparkling cider and traditional home-made mince pies with custard for desert. It was great for the Nathans to finally meet Terissa and to spend the evening with them celebrating the holidays, since we’ll be on our own in Paris for Christmas.

It was fun taking Terissa on a tour of my campus and the surrounding areas where I spend most of my time. I showed her the library where I study, the gym where I exercise, and we even ate at the Hare Krishna stand where they give away free vegetarian meals. She had a great time putting places to all of the descriptions I’ve been giving her these past 12 weeks.

We also went to see the Lion King at the Lyceum Theater in the West End, just two blocks from my campus, in commemoration of our engagement last winter in January. It was a great show and before seeing it our biggest question was whether or not Simba and Mufasa would have British accents…and they did. Seeing the show, hearing the music, and walking through the city streets in cold weather recalled fond memories of us last January in New York.

Last year, Wednesday January 19, when I picked up Terissa from work in Orange I told her I was taking her out to dinner. What she didn’t know was that morning after I dropped her off I went home and packed two bags for us to fly to New York that night. I also got the three envelopes I had prepared. At dinner I gave her the first envelope, our flight itinerary – LAX to NY and back in two days. This is us on the plane.

When we got to New York on Thursday morning, we only had 24 hours before our flight back to LA, so fortunately I had booked a room 1/2 a block from Time Square so we could spend the day there.

That afternoon I gave Terissa the second envelope that had two tickets to the Lion King on Broadway, at the Minskoff Theater.

During the intermission we were standing in the lobby by the windows overlooking Time Square, and by this time Terissa knew what was coming, just not when. Right before we went back in to see the second half of the show I gave her the third envelope with two tickets of admission to the Empire State Building, and then she knew (but was kind enough to let the evening play out the way I had planned it, and acted just as surprised as if she didn’t know anything).

After the show we took a cab to our final destination, arrived around 11:30 p.m., and at the top…

To round out our short trip we stopped by Grand Central Station to see if there were any penguins planning an escape, but they were already back at the zoo by the time we got there.

That was our trip to the big apple. I know this post was supposed to be about London, but we didn’t get any pictures in London because Terissa kept forgetting the camera, however, we’ve learned our lesson and now take it everywhere. The next post from Portugal will be out tomorrow because we have internet for the first time on our vacation, and have some catching up to do.

Re made a delicious turkey, and all of the scholars brought their favorite thanksgiving dish.

As I was thinking about what to bring, I felt very uninspired by the “usual” dishes, so I brought something I love all year round, macaroni and cheese. I couldn’t find any Kraft in London, so I bought a block of mild cheddar and some shells, and Re helped me put together a little cheese sauce and the dish turned out great.

During the meal one of the scholars suggested that we go around the table and tell everyone what we’re thankful for, and I thought I would share my feelings with you all as well. There are two things that I’m incredibly thankful for, and they are also the reasons why I am able to study abroad in London this year. The first is Rotary. As I mentioned at the meal on Saturday, Rotary has not only been incredibly generous in awarding my fellow scholars and I the funds to do Master’s study abroad, they have also been enormously helpful in all aspects of integrating into life in London. During every encounter with Rotarians while in the UK I have been shown motherly concern and genuine care, and I know that if I ever needed anything or had any problems while studying here there are many people I could turn to for help, and that makes such an enormous difference to a student living in a foreign country. For this reason I am extremely grateful to Rotary and all of the Rotarians I’ve met so far.

My other thank you goes out to my wonderful, beautiful wife, without whom I would also not be able to study abroad in London. First of all, it was her idea that she stay and work while I studied. I wasn’t even considering that possibility at first, because I don’t want to live in a different country than my best friend, and I think the jury may be out still about the rest of the school year. Nevertheless, I’m so grateful that I’m married to a woman who can see the big picture and is willing to sacrifice her personal desires for the good of our family. Part of the reason she committed to staying in California was so that we wouldn’t have to go into debt with student loans, as the Rotary Scholarship only covers the tuition and not living expenses. It’s been hard for both of us. We’ve survived though, and even thrived. Being apart has shown us how important it is to communicate and really make our relationship a priority. We talk every single day, usually while Terissa is driving to work, on her lunchbreak, and occasionally when she gets off work and is driving home. On her days off we spend a few hours on Skype, I remember one Sunday we were online for 6 hours. On paper it might sound like a long time, but when we’re talking the time goes by so quickly that by the time the library is closing at midnight and they’re kicking me out, we still have to rush to finish saying all the things we wanted to say. I’m also thankful to her because of how supportive she’s been through this whole process. It can be a little discouraging looking for a job right now, and she’s always there to remind me on those days I feel down that no matter what happens we have each other, which is what is most important. I love you baby.

The day after we met for Thanksgiving dinner I went with Dick and June Nathan to help the Northwick Park club with a fundraiser they were doing at a local grocery store. We were collecting spare change from people for some of the projects that Rotary sponsors. Here I am with my santa hat, reflector vest and red bucket with some of the other members of our club.

Finally, the scholars had an end-of-the-semester authentic English dinner at the rotary headquarters in York Gate. They got us all fish and chips and the scholars had one last chance to hang out before we all leave for Christmas vacation. I was under the impression it would be a quasi-talent show, but there were only two of us that signed up. It was a nice little performance though. Pierre (a French dude) played the violin, and it was amazing. The whole time he was playing I just kept thinking to myself that I should have gone first.

When it was my turn I played the song I wrote for Terissa for our wedding, and everyone really liked it. Here is a video of the performance:

After my song Pierre and I played a little improv at his suggestion. It turned out really well I think. We did our own rendition of “Oh Danny Boy”.

That’s it for this post. I’m excited because my wife will be coming out in just a few short days (3 to be exact – and I am sooooo excited), and the posts will get very interesting over the next few weeks. I have a whirlwind trip through Europe planned for us, and we’ll keep you posted on each country we visit. The next post will be from both of us touring through the wonderful city of London.

As I mentioned, the food was great, and for desert we had some honey flavored popsicles. This is a picture of me (probably texting my wife) with June Nathan my host counselor seated in front of me, and was taken during the dance.

Mo Enus, one of the members of my sponsoring Rotary Club in London invited me as his guest to another fundraiser, this time for the Mayoress of Harrow on November 19. We arrived a little late, and left a little early, so there was just enough time for us to sit down and enjoy some excellent food, and great company.

This is Mo and I at the Ball, with the Motown Band in the background. We’re holding the raffel tickets he bought, even though we didn’t stay for the raffle.

Now, to money. On Monday in my Anthropology of Economy class we discussed money, currencies in particular. One of the case studies my professor used was the situation in Zimbabwe a few years ago, when the national currency completely collapsed after super-hyper inflation that pushed the value of the currency to literally nothing. At it’s peak of inflation, this 100,000,000,000,000 note was worth about $30.

My professor went on to talk about currency defaults, and this led into a discussion of microcurrencies. A microcurrency is a special money that is created and used to reinvest back into the community through local businesses. There is a city in Massachusetts where local businesses accept, and the banks will sell you, a currency called BerkShares

and a district in London that uses currency with the same idea, called the Brixton Pound

Their reasoning is that usually only 10-12 percent of large chain store profits go back into the local community, the rest is used to pay shareholders, reinvest in the company, or for other corporate needs. A microcurrency makes sure that 100 percent of profits are kept in the community to support smaller boutique stores and local industry.

Although I am diametrically opposed to the idea of a somewhat elite, local currency like BerkShares or Brixton Pounds, it’s an interesting idea and I’ll give the creators/supporters an A for creativity. However, I consider myself more than just someone from the city of Redlands, or California, or even a US citizen, i.e. I view myself as a member of the global community. I believe that a leveling of international borders and moves toward global meritocracy would go considerably further in promoting world peace, equality, and the eradication of poverty than the ethnocentric development of a local micro-currency, which is basically laziness and stagnant anti-creativity shrouded in “Buy Local” and “Reclaim Democracy!” propaganda, which isn’t any better than the whole “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Like this guy, who would rather picket to demand he get something he didn’t work for, than actually get a job and work for it.

This is me in a few years, after I’ve worked for everything I want.

There is an underlying philosophical problem in America, Europe, and anywhere else where life comes too easy for people. They start focusing on what they don’t have instead of what they do. It’s an epidemic of entitlement that is stifling the protestant ethic and entrepreneurial creativity modern capitalist countries were founded on. People nowadays believe that because they are “American” or “British” they shouldn’t be exposed to the same hardships as the rest of the world. The question I ask is: What makes them more deserving of unearned wealth than anyone else? Is the only determining factor of whether you will have opportunities in life the random place that you are born?

When I was in India I was absolutely shocked by the abject poverty that much of the population lives in, but what made an even deeper impression was a discussion I had with a professor at a university in Varanasi. During our discussion he was explaining the Hindu idea of equality, that all mankind is equal, no matter who they are or where they come from because why should one person who by random chance is born in Europe or the United States be considered differently from a person with the “bad luck” of being born in a country that doesn’t offer the same opportunities. This is why I believe that everything should be based on individual merit, not nationality, and why I will be the first to outsource my business needs to a country where it can be produced more efficiently.

This is us in India in front of a wall painted by the children in the school. (I know, this picture is a little out there)

I believe that if open competition is allowed to operate on every level, there will obviously be a small general decline in the standard of living for westernized countries, but that should inspire creativity and entrepreneurial ambition again, and ultimately the people who work and create will be the people who are successful, whether they are American, Mexican, Indian, British, Brazilian, Chinese, or Korean.

Thoughts?

This morning I went to a Bagel Brunch hosted by two of the Rotarians from my host club Northwick Park. Sydney and Lucille put on a great luncheon, making crepes and omelette’s from scratch. Here is Sydney making my second chocolate crepe (these crepes are on par with those in Brussels)

I also attended the London Rotary District Conference in Eastbourne a few weeks ago. At the conference they brought all the scholars up on stage to present us to the Rotarians in London, in hopes that it would spark their interest in inviting us to their clubs to speak. As part of the scholarship, the scholars have to present at 8-10 meetings throughout the year, so this was a great opportunity to book some speaking engagements. Pictured here are all the London District Rotary Club Presidents:

A few days ago I attended a fund raiser for the Conservative Party in London to promote a new regional candidate. Mo Enus, one of the members of my host Rotary club, invited me as one of his guests. Along with my host counselors, Mo has been especially generous with his time and has made a huge effort to include me in things that he thinks I may be interested in. This is us at the dinner

We ate some great Indian food and listened to a great speech from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who I got to meet before the evening started

I’ve also joined a few societies on campus in order to make some new friends and expand my experience here at the LSE. The China Development Society, the Hedge Fund Society, and the Finance Society have all received my dues and have subsequently added me (hopefully) to the rosters of their respective clubs. The societies are great because they send out announcements of job fairs, internships fairs, lectures, and various academic competitions to all the members. I just walked by a booth today that was for the Asian Career Society and picked up a flyer for some workshops they’re hosting for a CV/resume review, mock interviews, etc.

I started Business Chinese classes last week and it’s challenging to be studying Mandarin again in an academic setting. It’s been almost two years since I was formally studying Chinese, and although I’ve done my best to maintain my language ability it inevitable deteriorates over time. For this reason I’m excited, albeit with mild reserve, to be in class again – I already have a report due on Wednesday and a presentation in two weeks. But I’m happy to report that my Chinese is getting better, and by the end of the school year my language ability should be in the neighborhood of HSK 5 (the Chinese language exam). Here is a copy of my homework from week 1

And finally, to all those whiners who keep harassing my wife (Travis and Chris…jk), my life is seriously not exciting enough right now to blog every week. If something significant happens, trust, you will be the first to know. However, it looks like a blog should go out every two or three weeks from now on, and if you are feeling neglected or left out of the information loop, just shoot me an e-mail and I would be happy to update you on my class schedule, or where I ate lunch yesterday :-)

But seriously though, I appreciate all the concern, and especially those of you who have taken the initiative to keep in touch with Terissa and be there for her if she needs anything. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Also, if you remember I mentioned last week that I attended the welcome party for Rotary Scholars in York Gate, at the Rotary of London District Headquarters. When I was there I had a chance to talk to some of the other scholars, and oddly enough there are two other Americans that are studying in London, one whose wife is already here, and another whose wife is coming out in about a month. We’re all around the same age and have a few years of work experience. So, even though I miss my wife terribly and wish she was coming out here to live with me for the rest of the year like these other lucky guys, I’m encouraged by the good people I’ve met so far. So with that said, I’d like to give you a little more detail on my typical day.

Usually I wake up around 6:00 when Terissa calls (my bed is the one on the left with no sheets or pillow cases)

and then because I don’t have wireless internet in my room I go down to the cafeteria and skype with her. It’s a great way for me to start the day, talking to my wife for a few hours. After that I go back up to my room and cook some oatmeal and read some of my homework while I eat.

Around 10:00 I head to school to work out at the LSE gym, which is not nearly as nice or as big as the 24 Hour Fitness in Redlands (you can appreciate this Travis), but it gets the job done.

After the gym I go to one of the main areas on campus because there’s a guy from the local Hare Krishna Temple that rides up everyday on his bike with free, hot vegetarian food for anyone that wants a plate. It’s usually rice with some kind of curry concoction with potatoes or chickpeas and it tastes great, especially on a cold day. Personally, I think that fact that it’s free makes it taste even better.

Then I go to whatever classes I have that day, usually in the Old Building. The anthropology Department is on the 6th floor, so I have my core class China in Comparative Perspective here.

After class (in the neighborhood of 16:00) I’m off to the library where I study until it’s time to go home. The library is where I spend most of my time because it has the most reliable wireless network, and it has a great atmosphere for studying. For those who don’t have laptops, or need to print out some papers, there is a nice big computer lab

and it even has bean bags laying around if you want to sit somewhere more comfortable or take a little nap.

During Michaelmas (Fall) Term, the library is open til midnight, but during Lent (Spring) and Summer term it’s open 24 hours a day, and you can bet I’ll be using those beanbags then. I told Terissa that I would move out of my dorm after Christmas and just live in the library during Lent and Summer term if I thought I could get away with it. I cold take showers at the gym and just sleep in one of the study rooms, or on a beanbag. The only problem I foresaw was there would be nowhere for me to store my clothes, books, food and guitar.

The only thing I don’t like about the library is the staircase. It’s ridiculously inefficient. Instead of normal straight vertical steps, it’s this giant spiral that takes three times as long to walk around than normal stairs. I guess the architects wanted something unique.

At 19:00 I start the trek home because the dormitory I stay in has a cafeteria that stops serving at 19:45, and it takes me about 30 minutes to walk to school/home, so I get back at night in time to get some dinner before they close. This is a typical sight walking down London streets (I though you would appreciate this mom)

Tonight for dinner I had a protein shake and sweet & sour chicken from the cafeteria

I actually only eat at the dorm cafeteria about three nights a week because there is usually a meeting I have to attend on random nights, on Tuesday and Thursday I have Chinese class so I don’t make it back in time, and on every other Wednesday I go to the Rotary meeting in Northwick Park. They meet at a pub called “The Beefeater” just down the street from my host counselors Dick & June Nathan.

As a scholar I’m expected to do a presentation at different Rotary Clubs about my home Rotary Club in Redlands, what I’m doing in London, future plans, etc. So when I present at Northwick Park I’ll dedicate a whole blog to their club, my presentation, and the fantastic time we have at the meetings.

Before I go to bed I give Terissa a call if she’s not working, otherwise I write her an e-mail about my day and tell her how much I miss her, study a little more and try to be in bed by midnight.