Soooo...we've been Space Bagging. Well, to be more accurate: Susan has been space bagging with a smidgin of help from me. We have also been running errands.

My poor Baby had a viral infection earlier this week. The Doctor came round and happily my Sweetpea is now feeling much better. I actually prepared her a rice-based meal, which she seemed to enjoy.

My driving seems to be going well. I went out again today and even braved the perils of Bella Terra (it's an outdoor mall-type set up, very pleasant but as with all parking lots not everybody pays attention, especially not on Saturday). Yesterday's drive was more eventful...I went out in the Car with Susan's Mum and we hit the freeway, albeit briefly. Having popped my freeway cherry (we decided that the 405N at rush hour probably wasn't a good place to be at this stage) Susan's Mum suggested we drive right down to the harbour and back. This held a few surprises, namely a newly modified single-lane bridge and a forced detour caused by a closed car park. We then toured the suburbs for a short while before heading home. Susan's Mum said I handled it very well, especially with the number of unexpected occurences we encountered.

This evening I am mainly trying to get to grips with backing up data in the wake of potential April 1st virus pranks. We have purchased a hard-drive for the task. I have always commented on how much I enjoy doing the normal things with Susan - going to the grocery store, pitching in with stuff around the house - I suppose that's just what it's like loving being in another person's company.

Snookie Dog recently got a new doggy bed and has been enjoying it greatly - though I have to admit it's nice when she hops up onto the bed and snuggles down by my feet. She's a groovy beast. We serve her well and do her bidding and in return she gives us much affection and snarls at would-be intruders (woof). She has a rough time with her humans though. Sometimes all she wants is to go and sniff the downstairs den at 3am, but these fools completely misunderstand and take her outside, then spend the next five minutes trying to coax her to pee. Stupid humans!

Well, all is toasty here in HB. In the last couple of weeks we've seen Heidi (Blather's own Queen Bee I) as she is in the area doing stagey-type stuff at a local play. We may well be viewing said production on Friday. We also got to see Susan's best friend...Susan. We went to lunch with her and her Mum to a local Mexican Restaurant called Mario's. I have now discovered that seafood is not the best thing to have at such establishments. Nothing bad about - just kinda...meh. Wee had a nice time though.

My main task in recent weeks though, has been getting used to driving. I went down to the DMV a few weeks ago to take a written exam and get a learner's permit. To my pleasant surprise, I not only passed but was given a temporary full driver's license. This means I can go out and practice in the car whenever I like, all on my own. Susan got me to drive down to the Pacific Coast Highway the other day. It took the best part of an hour, but it was good practice. I think I'm pretty much acclimated to being on the other side of the road. I seem to have this slight habit of drifting slightly to the right, but I've got a handle on that. I have yet to pass into anybody elses lane unintentionally. At least not that I know of. If anybody heard of any 27 car pile-ups in my area over the past week I could be wrong, but I don't think so. I just need to get on freeways now. The roads here are far more straightforward than in the UK cities. I have yet to turn left thinking I'll be heading into the wrong direction, only to find myself dragged off into some one-way system where I end up driving for three hours more than expected, stop to ask for directions, and find myself talking to Mr Tumnus of Narnia.

"Nah mate. This is Narnia. You want the A1 for Islington..."

I just wanted to pass on some Birthday greetings...and I think I've done that.

Seriously, have a good day ad I hope the party went well.

DOH!!! I'm so stupid sometimes!!!!! Having created this quiz, I realised I've actually got one of the answers wrong myself!! I HAVE been in another US State...so if you know how many I've visited, select one less to get it right!


Create your own friendquiz here

I don't do this often (I don't think) but today I'm going to post topically.

I am currently frustrated by this weeks big news event. I am of course referring to the latest terror plot. One question resounds in my head towards these would-be murderers: Just who the hell do they think they are?

I know people of a variety of ethnic backgrounds, religions, non-religions and I am very much an advocate of "live and let live". I don't have anything whatsoever against Islam, indeed my knowledge of that religion is fairly limited. What I do know was learnt in School in PSRE; the same lesson in which I was taught about Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism and every other well-known religion. I don't believe most Muslims have an ingrained hatred for the west. I don't believe that Islam truly commands the terror that this grotesquely visible minority claim to do on its behalf. I also feel sorry for innocent Muslims who will doubtless be taking alot of crap from ignorant people who have adopted a xenophobic 'them and us' stance.

I respect anyone who has a strong faith in their own beliefs.

At the same time I despise anybody who has the ignorance and the arrogance to judge and condemn MY beliefs and MY way of life, simply because it doesn't quite fit with theirs. You have NO RIGHT to force me to believe in your way of life. How dare you pass judgement on me, my friends, my family, on the freedoms that I believe in.

On one hand I am very angry that these people would seek to take any life, let alone life on the scale they planned. On the other hand I can tell them that their plot is already foiled. Not because we can't bring hand-luggage onto a plane, not because the intelligence services are on high alert. It's already foiled because I'll keep using planes. Because I won't stop going about my daily business. Because if you kill me somehow, you do so in vain. Because if you kill me, I assure you I died with your threat dismissed. Because yes, we might all have concerns about the potential threat, we might be a little more wary, a little more vigilant, but the more this happens, the more defiant we will become. The more we will resolve to go about our business regardless of what you might plan or what you might do. Whether we are Christian, Jewish, Islamic or otherwise, there are millions of us who believe in the ethic of freedom: of leaving one another to believe and do as we wish with the one simple provision that our actions do not harm others.

Went to see them at Ipswich yesterday. I had a very good time. They performed brilliantly throughout and played many a classic. All four members had great stage presence and it was nice to see Anthony Kiedis do some drumming. Most positively of all, they seem to have passed the 'wearing nought but a tube sock' phase of their careers. Having said that, if I'd known they didn't do that anymore, I'd have dressed more appropriately...oh the shame...

I am attempting to update but my brain is feeling quite slow at the moment.

Much of the recent past has involved my Dad's new Xbox 360. Basically he wanted to have access to the full functionality of the thing, so rather than just playing games on it, he has been striving to hook it up to the web and have it operate like an all-singing media centre type thing. This somewhat straightforward sounding task has gone down a long and winding path since its initiation and to note it all down would be tedious for me and painstakingly dull for you.

To cut a long story short, via hours of shouting, swearing, thumping with blunt objects, losing all semblance of internet connection through my own PC, purchasing a new router and watching Arsenal fail to lift the European Cup (snigger), we now have a fully-functioning, zippy network, with a fully laden Xbox 360 attached.

Time spent by my father on playing games on the thing: approximately 10 minutes in the space of two weeks.

As for me, I now have a number of IP addresses forcibly carved into my brain.

Also lied to some mormons about not believing in God. I do, though I question what God is. I personally believe there is something/one like that out there. I believe there is right & wrong, good & bad, but that life contains many shades of grey. I believe we serve punishment for wrong doing via feelings of guilt and remorse and are forgiven/judged on that basis. I didn't feel good about my denial. I said it because they were being quite pushy and I responded to this with the first thing that seemed like it would make them go away.

For those who don't know, Harry Ramsdens is a sort of fast-food type franchise. Not JUST a fast food franchise, but one that specialises in the traditional English "thing" of fish and chips. The front of all their restaurants claim "World famous fish and chips"....so liking fish and chips, I was intrigued as to what made this place so special.

Well now I've tried them and I have to say...they are EXACTLY the same as the millions of average fish n' chip shops scattered throughout the British Isles. They just serve you in a Macdonalds/KFC type setting and are more expensive. So that was an anti-climax.

In more positive news, I've discovered I like the smell of freshly photo-copied on paper.

Isn't it odd that Father's Day is the same in the US and UK, but Mother's Day is different?

Scared the crap out of me last year when I logged onto blather one Sunday to find a plethora of Mother's Day greetings...I was going "Shit! No! Surely it hasn't come round again already...it doesn't seem five minutes since the last one...aaaaargh!!"

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous! You drink everyone under the table.

Hmmm...guess I take after my mum then!!

But boisterous and spirited? Boisterous? Moi?

Anyone who has actually met me, feel free to comment...

Still awaiting to hear from potential employers.

I have a very bad heat rash. It's quite a challenge not to scratch, but I'm winning the battle.

Ben returns home from Uni on Saturday for four months of working and earning cash to pay next years rent. It'll be nice having him about again.

The job hunt continues - wrote off to quite a few last week, just waiting to hear back.

Raided my brothers room for CD's to listen to - several of mine were in there I noticed.

Mums birthday went well yesterday...

Yeah, I think thats me up to date...

"I know I shouldn't eat thee but..... *nyum*,*chomp*,*gulp*,*nyum*........... mmmmmmmmmmmm... sacrilitious....."

My Giant Homer Simpson Talking Pez Dispenser

So, I sit on my bed, a wood pigeon whooping in the distance and it's 5:34am.

Since getting back from the UK my sleeping schedule has ofen followed this routine...

1) Go to bed between 1:00 & 3:00 am.
2) Lay with my eyelids peeled back, completely unable to fall asleep.
3) Finally, around 6:00am fall asleep.
4) Lay in an exhausted sleep, waking around 11:30-12:00, eventually getting out of bed around 12:30pm.
5) Repeat...

So it's time to drag out the time-tested process for calibrating my sleep pattern. Worked for shift patterns, worked for holidays, worked for jetlag. The idea is to properly wear myself out by skipping one night of sleep. By doing this, I should be requiring sleep the next day to such a degree that when I reach my desired sleep time, it should simply be a matter of going to bed. I just have to make sure that I rise at the required time, then after about the next night, my body clock is now syncronised wih the required sleep pattern.

Now I hear Seagulls.

Things that happened to me since I last posted:

For a scary moment, I thought I had forgotten to pay my road tax - I had just forgotten to put the disc I bought about a week before sodding off to the US in the windscreen. PHEW! It's all computer-automated now, so fines get issued the day you are overdue, plus they can crush your car. So that's a relief.

Bought a new 'puter.

Tis fantastic - top of the range in specs, very reasonable in price. I think I did rather well. I bought it from Aldi, so haven't yet abandoned all concerns that I may one day awaken to find a smouldering husk where it once stood.

Applied for more jobs - awaiting the results of my endeavours.

Seeing as my Computer has a TV tuner and can record television straight to the hard drive, I'm currently toying with the idea of taping something really dull, like "The Antiques Roadshow" and using it to make a comedy montage set to Sepultura or something.

As it happens I'm also watching Jack Dee. Quite funny. As I seem to be getting exposed to Blackadder of late, I think I'll watch the DVD after this.

I finally set up my own station on Launchcast. For those that don't know what that is (hello to you both), it's a yahoo radio station that you create by selecting a number of artists and genres that you like. It then works out from this info what bands and songs might appeal to you.

It got quite scary.

Within the first few tracks I got "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" by Poison and "I'm The One Who Wants to Be With You" by Mr Big. Two songs I hate with a passion. Then Bonnie Rait....excuse me? I think not.

I've now tweaked it much more (you rate the songs and bands that play so they know how well it fits you) and it seems I have more of an eighties slant to my taste than I realised.

Currently it's playing 'The Babys' - never heard of them, but they seem to be very cheesey rock. I guess that's not TOO far from the truth. :)

I've never missed another human being like I do right now.

Like a shot of caffeine straight to my bloodstream, the waking expectation that she would be there locks me firmly awake. Two hours sleep and I know that's my quota for tonight.

But the road is a long one. Tonights insomnia is just a step along that road. Each tick of the clock is a second closer to seeing her again. I don't know the specifics yet, but I know we will be together again before very long. And every moment is a moment closer to waking every night to find her lying next to me, to curling an arm round her waist and falling back into my happy slumber.

Drove back from Lincoln - the road can be a lonely place.

Had my interview at the Job Centre (plus) in which I had to fill in a form specifying my reasons for coming to the UK!! Apparently this is standard practice for somebody who has been out of the country for the while, but the form was blatantly for immigrants and people who have been gone for years.

I typed up my Curriculum Vitae. I'll take what I can take jobwise, but this time it's gonna be on a "Money for bills and fun, and working hours that end when they end" basis. Don't mind doing overtime to get work done, don't want to be tied to the place like at Perenco, having to the Christmas break because the Staffies get that time off "as policy". Likewise, not laying any permanent roots here...I need to be totally mobile with my options fully open.

This weekend I bought Dinosaur Jrs best of, Del Amitri's best of, Alice in Chains Live and 'Clouds Taste Metallic' by the flaming lips (£4.99).

Got up around 11:30am. Have been a tad moody. Spent my usual eternity in the shower, toasting myself. I miss my baby.

Went through the stack of mail that had accumulated while I was away. Noted a marked decrease in my bank balance, but that in itself is a little deceptive. While other people happily go out spending moderate chunks of their weekly wage over the weekend, I tend to conserve more, so the recent spending has been justified, affordable and to an extent, exactly what it had been saved for in the first place.

Visited the Job Centre...oh, backtrack...my apologies: Jop Centre PLUS. Yes they've rejigged the system again. Just eight weeks ago I applied for JSA and it was the same as it has been for a decade or more - give your details to a clerk in the job centre, they book you an appointment, give you some forms to fill in and you come back for an interview. Not any more. Now they give you a phone number, you sit on hold for ten minutes, somebody comes on, takes your name and National Insurance number, then tells you that he can't organise appointments for the Great Yarmouth office and you will get a call back. All this while sitting on a local rate phone number (10p per minute folks). That was about an hour and a half ago and no call back yet. They stop work in three hours so who knows if they will get back today? And I KNOW this is all so they can just book a time and send me the forms. So this is progress? How annoying.

Positive news redeemed the shitty afternoon I was having when I rang my contract company - it seems that even if my previous employers didn't value four years of hard work, the contract company did. I informed them of the situation with Susan and of my intent to return before long. They enthused about it, understood the need to gather a few more pennies in the meantime and said that things had been picking up lately work-wise. They then told me I had first refusal on anything that came in!! That was one hell of an ego boost.

Looks like I may not even need Job Centre PLUS to call back after all...

Frankly, it's odd. On one hand, it's nice to see the family again, on the other, I miss Susan and California. Mrs S, the Snookster jumping up and down in front of me when I arrive downstairs each morning, wanting me to pick her up. I'd only just dicovered Jack In The Box's "Ultimate Cheese Burger"...tis the juices, melty-in-the-mouth burger that has ever passed these lips.

Went to Lincoln today with my parents to visit Ben. Discovered that he has now had his KOC signed by some Japanese wrestling legend called Misawa or somesuch. Apparently he was over here a few weeks ago. Wrestling presumably.

We looked around shops, had lunch, then it was home time. We had a number of laughs and Ben loved his jeans, hats, mexican wrestling mask and Bob Ross official 'Happy Trees' T-shirt (all purchased stateside of course). But every spare moment I thought about Susan. I miss her loads. The drive home seemed particularly painstaking too for some reason.