Plans changed a bit and I ended up seeing Billy Childish by myself last Friday night. And I'm glad I finally did as he put on a great show. Kinda hard to describe, but great. :o)

I had another driving lesson for a couple of hours on Saturday morning. It went... okay. I guess. It left me really strung out and anxious though. My instructor has a habit of making me feel like that. Most of the rest of the day is kind of a blur until the evening when Allie and I watched 'The Virgin Suicides'. I enjoyed it very much, but I'm still not sure what to make of it.

We went to Sutton on Sunday with Nat and Bill to have a birthday picnic for Katie. It was threatening rain, though, so we ended up just having our picnic in her and David's living room and watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics. The food was yummy. The Olympics were frightening. Especially the handover from Beijing to London for the 2012 Olympics. London's show looked like something that was put together by somebody's mom for a school show. Not very promising, really. I also finally finished reading Neil Gaiman's 'Fragile Things' on Sunday which was, typically, very good.

Allie and I went to Barnes in (south London) on Monday to have a little look around as it wasn't raining. Most of the shops were closed as it was a bank holiday, but it was still a nice walk anyway and it was good to see that part of the Thames. I also managed to pick up a couple of CDs in a charity shop, too, which pleased me. :o)

Tuesday. I had another two hour driving lesson. My instructor took a bow though and stepped out and I started with a different guy in a different car which actually pleased me. The instructor I've been with was a nice guy, but entirely unreliable about keeping the lessons we had scheduled and not particularly good in his instruction or organisation. The new guy was much better, had an easier handling car and - most importantly - had a more relaxed method of instruction that just let me get on with driving. I really wish I'd been working with him all along.

After the lesson on Tuesday Allie and I got out of the house by going up to the mall at Brent Park before coming back home and having a quiet evening and a lovely salmon salad for dinner and watching 'The Emperor's New Groove' to help me relax.

And today was the test. Sadly, I didn't pass it. I'm not at all pleased about that as I failed on what are pretty much technicalities and my actual driving was very good according to the marks on the exam paper. To be honest, I actually did better than I thought I was going to given that I've had to pretty much retrain to be able to handle London's insane traffic, ever-so-narrow roads and a few road rules that don't make much logical sense. I don't plan to give it another try until sometime in the new year and I'm pretty confident I'll be able to pass next time without too much trouble. Now I just have to figure out what to do about getting around in Ohio next month. That was the real reason I was trying to get the test done this month so I'm pretty pissed that I'm not going to have my license.

Lastly, I've just watched Hillary Clinton's speech from the Democratic national convention and thought it was really strong and positive. I'm still not at all sure about the Obama/Biden ticket as their platform still seems too wishy-washy and feel good to me, but I'm also not one of those people that says if I can't have Hillary then I'll vote McCain. That just doesn't make sense as the alternative of McCain, at least to me, really is unthinkable. So I do believe I'll be voting Obama/Biden. As Hillary put it, 'No way. No how. No McCain'. :o)

Oh, Barak. What are you thinking? Joe Biden? I mean... Really? Are you trying to hand another term to the Republicans?

Allie and I stayed in on Tuesday night and did a whole lot of nothing I can remember. I do know that I ended the evening sitting in bed with a glass of wine listening to Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan's 'Sunday at Devil Dirt' though. A colleague had been given a promo copy of it and gave it to me when I said I'd really enjoyed their first album together. This album was really good as well, but somehow not as good as the first in a way that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it'll grow on me though. :o)

On Wednesday we went with Bill and Elara to see 'Wall-E'. In short, Johnny 5 (left behind to clean up a ruined Earth) falls in love with an iPod (sent to Earth to find plant life) before setting off to call the human race back home. This was possibly one of the cutest things I've ever seen and among Pixar's best. The short that ran along with it was genius, too. :o)

On Thursday Elara went back home. I also drove a bit. And Allie and I had a lovely seafood risotto (I do love those) and watched 'Britain from Above' which was really interesting. Then we cracked open a bottle of Moët & Chandon that she'd been given for her birthday to celebrate her handing in her notice at work. She's finally got things sorted out and will be starting her new job after our holiday. :o)

Tonight we're planning to have grilled halloumi for dinner (finger crossed it comes out okay as we've never made it) and are going to see Billy Childish play at the Dirty Water Club. We've been wanting to see him for ages, but the club is only usually open on Fridays when I'm volunteering so we've not managed it before. Now, with Open House on its summer hiatus, is our chance. I'm really looking forward to it.

This weekend is a bank holiday weekend so I'll have three days off and I honestly need the rest. Saturday, I think, is going to be a bit quiet. Sunday we're going to a birthday picnic for Katie. And Monday, if previous experience is anything to go by, it will rain. It always rains on bank holiday Mondays. :o)

Also, I would just like to note that I've recently discovered the LiveJournal client Semagic and am posting this through that just to see how it goes. It's all been pretty neat so far. :o)

Elara's been staying with us since last Wednesday which means we've been a bit busier than normal. Not that that's a bad thing as it's been really good having her back in town.

So what have we been up to? Well... Last Thursday night was curry night at Wetherspoon's. We've not been for one of those in ages so the three of us met up with Bill and Katie for a nice meal. I do love curry. :o)

On Friday night I had a driving lesson. It was my first in weeks so I let myself get unnecessarily stressed about it. Mostly we just ended up running around in circles so I could get used to turning corners in second gear and not riding the clutch as I'm prone to do. It's really frustrating trying to break out of a decade of habit, but I think I'm getting there. I'm still not counting on passing the test next week though.

After driving, Allie and I took the lazy route for dinner and picked up some Chinese and a bottle of wine and we all generally had a relaxing evening watching 'Scrubs'.

Saturday morning started with another driving lesson. This time it was a double lesson and we went up to Barnet where I'll be taking the test. The area was really pretty and didn't seem too bad for driving. But, then, it was early on a Saturday morning. What traffic will be like on a Wednesday afternoon I can only guess.

I was pretty tired and strung out after my lesson, but after a snack I headed off with Allie and Elara to Islington to see where Allie will be working when she starts her new job and explore the new Islington Museum which is located in the same building. Then we headed off to Angel to have a wonder around before heading home.

In the evening Bill and Nat came over. We supplied pizza for dinner. They brought wine. We watched 'Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'. All was very chilled out.

On Sunday there was shopping in Camden. Nat, Allie and Elara mostly looked around at clothes and I went off for a haircut and to explore some records shops in which I ultimately bought nothing. Then, as the market was closing down, we met Bill at the Devonshire Arms (recently renamed 'The Hobgoblin') for a drink. :o)

I also borrowed a couple of Dresden Dolls CDs from Nat on Sunday which I've been enjoying very much. I've been interested in their stuff for a while since hearing a track on one of the satellite radio stations we had back home, but I've only now heard one of the albums in full. Very good stuff.

We've also watched an episode of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' recently featuring actress Patsy Kensit. I'm not the woman's biggest fan, but it was interesting to watch the show trace her roots from 1950s East End crime and back through gradually more respectable ancestors. In a way you could see where and how the family descended into poverty and got stuck until it turned to crime.

This week... There'll be more driving. And we're planning to see 'Wall-E' at our little local cinema. And Elara will be heading back to Scotland the day after.

It's important to learn not to turn across multiple lanes of traffic without paying attention to your surroundings for a number of reasons:

1) It's just a dumb thing to do

2) You might hurt somebody

3) You might do the above to somebody's car

Fortunately, Heather's pretty much okay after this little smash-up yesterday. She seems more annoyed than hurt. The guy who hit her is okay, too.

My poor car, on the other hand, is dead.

I just had a really good weekend...

It kicked off on Friday when I ended up staying out a bit later than planned at my colleague's leaving do. I was planning to just stop in for one beer, but when I got there I found they didn't have a very good selection of beers so I went for their two-for-one cocktails instead. Something called an El Gaucho with Cuervo Gold, raspberries, pomegranate juice and mint in it. And I wound up staying out for about 3 1/2 hours just chatting. Good fun.

Saturday was the Great British Beer Festival at Earl's Court. Bill couldn't make it, but I still met up with Chris and some of his family/friends around 1pm. The festival was huge and full of interesting beers from all over the UK and a few from abroad. The way it worked was that you bought a returnable pint glass when you entered (I kept mine) and then walked around the convention centre trying ales from different places and, if you weren't careful, getting steadily pissed. I wasn't all that careful.

I think I tried about nine different beers on Saturday, mostly in 1/2 and 1/3 pint measures. I particularly liked the nutty 'Ruby Mild', a really summery ale called 'Lightyear' that we referred to as the Star Trek beer, and Leeds' 'Midnight Bell' which was very dark and roasted. Also notable was an American beer called 'Alligator Ale' that I had just for the hell of it.

We also took part in the pub quiz at the festival, but didn't win anything. I was pleased that I actually knew several of the answers though. I really wasn't expecting to as pub quizzes can ask some pretty obscure questions about British things that you wouldn't know unless you've lived here for years and/or you have a mind like a sponge. I'm not much good at UK versions of Trivial Pursuit for the same reason.

After the festival we all went to a pub near Embankment where we met up with Allie and some more of Chris' family/friends. Then it was on to the New Diamond for a Chinese meal. I do love the New Diamond. The food's always great and the set menu starts with crispy duck. Mmm... Duck. :o)

Finally, to top the day off, Allie gave me a surprise when we got home. She'd been out during the day and had made a special trip to Waterstone's to get a copy of 'What's Your Story?', the collection of short stories written on postcards by a number of authors, members of the public and Waterstone's staff. I've not read many of the cards yet, but I have read the JK Rowling and Neil Gaiman stories. Both were very good and I recommend getting a copy of the book if you can as the proceeds are going to some very good charities. And many thanks to Allie for going out to get a copy for me! It was a wonderful surprise. :oD

Sunday was a bit quieter, but still a great day. Bill came over for a couple of hours in the early afternoon and then, after he'd gone, Allie and I went out to pick blackberries at the Brent Reservoir. We got a little damp at one point and had to shelter under a tree, but soon enough the rain cleared up and we ended up picking wet berries in gloriously golden afternoon sunshine. It was lovely. We managed to get three tubs of them before we set off. I only wish the rain had decided to stay away a bit longer as we got caught up in another downpour on the way back home. :o)

Sunday evening was nice and relaxing and brought with it a steamed trout dinner, some short documentaries on the women's suffrage movements in the US and the UK and a hot bath. A wonderful ending to a weekend that was nearly perfect.

Last night wasn't too bad, either. After a trip to the east end for a dentists' appointment for Allie we came home to make a delicious corn and potato chowder and settled down to watch Bill Bryson on Panorama talking about the litter problem in Britain. Afterward we watched a couple episodes of 'Scrubs' and ate our way through one of the tubs of blackberries we picked. My hands are still resentful about it the berries due to the number of scratches they're covered in, but my taste buds were more than happy. And the best part is that we still have two more tubs... :oD

Well now...

This week has been entertaining and not at all too busy. I've enjoyed it, really. And now that I'm back on my medication I'm wanting to sleep a lot less than I have the past couple of weeks which just helps me enjoy things all the more.

Tuesday night was 'The Dark Knight'. And I really enjoyed it and think it's one of the best Batman films ever made. It probably would have benefited from being a bit shorter, but that didn't really hurt it in my opinion. What did hurt it was the sound in my local cinema. I noticed that the sound was really muddled when I saw 'Indy IV' there. I'd already seen that film once, however, so already knew what the dialogue was. With 'The Dark Knight' I would guess that I probably missed about 1/5 of what was being said. I'm planning to see 'Wall-E' soon and if the sound is that bad again I'll probably give up on that cinema. Which is a shame as it's an independent and it's just a five minute walk away.

Speaking of Indiana Jones... It's good to know that George Lucas hasn't completely lost the plot. In a recent interview he commented that if they do a fifth Indy film it will still be all about... well... Indy. That's a good thing in my book. I'm honestly not sure if I want to see another one though. The fourth film was the 'one last ride' that I've been wanting for so many years and seemed to wrap the story up nicely. Still, if they did make another I'd be first in line to see it. Especially if it went back to a rougher, less comic tone. :oD

Dinner was good on Wednesday night. But then Pizza Express always is.

And last night. Last night Allie was out. I spent part of the evening backing up files from our hard drive to the new portable hard drive that I picked up from the post office yesterday. I figured it was finally time to get one and make sure our files are safe as our computer is doing some weird shit lately and having random 'serious errors' that I can't seem to diagnose. It's going on three years old so I guess that's to be expected, but I still don't like it. If I have my way we'll get another three years out of that machine whether it likes it or not. I'm sure that won't come without a bit of poking and prodding though. :o)

The other part of last night was spent drinking beer, eating chips and watching multiple episodes of 'Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World' which I borrowed from Bill some time ago. Some of the interviews are more than a little bit like parody, but it's fascinating to watch and I'm going to have to look up a few of the phenomena to see if there's been anything more discovered about them in the 30 years since the series was made.

This evening I'm going out briefly to a colleague's leaving do and after that I'm not entirely sure. Maybe just resting up for the beer festival tomorrow. I'm expecting it will be a lot of fun, but I'm probably going to need my energy. Particularly if it's as much fun as it looks in this CNN video.

Lastly, thank you to Starbucks Coffee in West Hampstead. I know it's just a cynical marketing ploy to increase their flagging business, but they've had someone out on the sidewalk offering samples of their cocoas and smoothies over the past couple of weeks. I doubt I'll ever actually buy one, but it's been a nice pick-me-up anyway. Especially the chocolate banana smoothies. Mmm! :o)

I wish I had this kind of time and talent...


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Someone's making toast in the kitchen. And I can hear the faint sound of an air conditioner running. The smell and the noise are really taking me back to when I used to go to day care in the summer so many years ago. I'm not sure if I'm pleased by this or not...

I've always found it funny how dreams can be influenced by external stimuli. This morning provided a good example. Allie and I have been sleeping without our duvet for the past week or so because of the humidity here. It's gotten colder over the past couple of nights though, and last night I woke up a few times due to being cold. However, it wasn't until I was having a dream about being in a tent standing next to a stove in the middle of a storm and having a full body shiver that I woke up and realised that I needed to grab a blanket. The odd thing was that in the dream I could actually feel the cold and the heat from the stove. Strange how the subconcious interprets things. And I'm sure it can probably be quite telling. Like the time back home when I heard a gunshot and dreamt I was caught up in (yet another) nuclear explosion...

It's largely been a quiet week around here which has been just fine by me as I've been pretty tired and it's been incredibly hot and stuffy.

One of the highlights, however, was getting this month's copy of Mojo in the post. They're doing a two month special on the Beatles' 'White Album' with the first half written up this month and the second half in September. As it's my favourite of the Beatles albums I'm really pleased to see the coverage, but I'm less than thrilled with the CD of 'White Album' covers that came with the mag. Some of them are truly awful and just go to show how good the original material was in the first place. Maybe next month's CD, which will be covers of the second half of the album, will be better. I'm not counting on it though. :o)

It's also worth noting that Mojo also featured a review of Tom Waits' show in Mobile, Alabama, earlier in his current tour. Funnily enough they were using the same ringmaster and Frankenstein references I used and seemed to enjoy the show just as much.

Let's see... Um... I finally got around to finishing 'Fables: Sons of Empire' yesterday. It seemed like it was largely filler compared with some of the other books, but I still enjoyed it. Now I just have to pick up the next couple of books. I might wait until I get to the States for that though as it'll be cheaper. :o)

And Allie and I watched 'Batman Begins' last night which we both enjoyed. I'd seen it in Scottown a couple of years ago, but as we'll be going to see 'The Dark Knight' this week I thought it would be worth it to pick up a copy to watch over.

We've been eating well over the past couple of days, too. Last night's dinner was home made pizzas with ham, mushroom and goat's cheese, plus roast courgettes. This morning we had tomatoes, sausage and fried mushrooms with some nice bread. And, cooking at the moment, are honey salmon, sweet potatoes with goat's cheese, courgettes and sweet corn. Yum! :o)

The coming week is looking much busier than last week with the aforementioned 'Dark Knight' on Tuesday, a dinner at Pizza Express on Wednesday and the CAMRA Great British Beer festival on Saturday. All of which I'm really looking forward to. If the heat will only let up it should be a great week... :o)

I got back to the hostel kinda late Friday night and was more than ready for bed. And after a short chat with some of the other people in my room, two of whom had been to the show as well, to bed I went.

Saturday morning was bright and sunny and, apart from stifling heat, just right for a day of walking around. So I had some breakfast and around 10am I hit the road. My wandering took me under the Eiffel Tower, across the Seine and up the riverbank where I annoyed some gypsies who were trying to scam tourists. Then it was back across the river to the wonderful Shakespeare & Co bookshop and on to Notre Dame.

The idea when going to Notre Dame was to sit in front of the building and read for a while. When I got there, however, I noticed that it was actually open and that the queue was moving very quickly so I went in. The cathedral is... beautiful. Very grand and very Catholic. I had a look around for a few minutes and then a priest announced that it was the feast day of Sts. Joachim and Anne, traditionally considered the grandparents of Jesus, and invited us to say a prayer for our grandparents and attend mass. I stayed for the prayer but slipped out of the service after about 15 minutes as it was in French and I didn't understand a word. Sadly, this was not enough time to catch sight of the famous bell ringer. :o)

After leaving Notre Dame I continued my walk along the riverbank for some way. I was looking for the Paris Plage, an artificial beach set up along the Seine for a couple of months in the summer. I eventually decided to turn back when I couldn't find it and checked the riverbanks on the far side of Notre Dame where the river splits. Yup. There it was. Deck chairs, live music, ice cream and glorious sunshine. I spent a lovely hour or so at the plage sitting on the riverbank reading Neil Gaiman short stories, eating lemon ice cream and just enjoying the weather.

When I was ready to leave the riverside, I set off in search of a book that Allie and I had seen last summer but didn't buy. It's called 'Retour à Paris' and features photos from Paris 100 years ago next to photos taken in the same place as it looks today. It proved very difficult to find, however, as I couldn't actually find any large bookstores. I got to explore quite a few streets in the couple hours that I was looking though and found a nice brie baguette for lunch. In the end the book did actually turn up in a Virgin Megastore. I would have preferred a little independent shop, but what can you do?

I also bought a copy of Jean Michel Jarre's 'Oxygène' album in Virgin. I'd been wanting to pick it up for a while and I seem to now have a tradition of buying French electronica on visits to Paris. Last summer it was Air's 'Pocket Symphony'. Both albums are very good by the way... :o)

After leaving Virgin I headed for my train by way of the supermarket to pick up some cheese, pate, and a few other foody items for a French feast when I got home. I also picked up some of the delicious gummy Smurfs that I seem to have become a little addicted to and can't seem to find here.

And that's about it for my Paris adventure. The train back was fine, the feast was excellent and it was really good to see Allie when I got in. I just wish she could have come with me. And I wish that I'd remembered sunblock. That would have been good, too. :o)

Sunday was a bit of a quiet day. I actually don't remember a lot about it until the evening when Allie's friend Simon came for a visit and we went to Wetherspoon's for dinner. I do know that I was exhausted all day, though...

And Monday. Monday was a great day, too. I was actually feeling fairly bouncy at work and after work I met up with Allie for a picnic in a park in Maida Vale. Then we went to the Tricyle Theatre in Kilburn to take in a show. The play was 'Moonlight & Magnolias' and we'd read some good reviews of it, but it was much funnier than I was expecting. The story was a satire about the Hollywood system and was based on events around the writing of the script for 'Gone With the Wind'. I really enjoyed it but, as usual when I go to the theatre, it made me really miss being on stage myself. Still, I think I'll have to keep an eye on the Tricycle to see what else they put on. It was a really nice, intimate venue and seemed a little out of place in grotty Kilburn. It definitely needs the support of the community. :o)

Lastly, I would just like to mention a couple of things that happened at the theatre. Firstly, I stopped and said hello to an elderly man in an OSU shirt. Apparently he'd been an assistant dean at one point and said he'd had a number of people approach him randomly when they've seen his OSU shirt or hat. We Buckeyes get everywhere it would seem. And, secondly, just after I said hello to him another person said hello to me and asked if it was a Tom Waits shirt I was wearing. It was, of course. I'd seen a number of people wearing them in Paris on Saturday, but I never expected it would be recognised in London. Especially not by someone who had been to the same show as me. How very cool. :o)

Anyway... :o)

I set off nice and early for my train down to Paris on Friday and the trip all went off without a hitch. My rudimentary French saw me through just fine and I checked into my hostel and found the theatre, Le Grand Rex, without incident.

I arrived at the theatre around 5pm and picked up my ticket and then found the queue and started what was meant to be a shortish wait until 6pm when the doors opened. The wait ended up being a lot longer than that, though, with the queue building up to an extraordinary length. Fortunately, however, I only had a few dozen people ahead of me and the wait wasn't so bad as everyone was in a really good mood. I ended up chatting quite a bit with a DJ who had come up from Seville for the show and hopefully he'll send me a couple of pictures he took of the marquee.

The doors finally opened at 7.30 and there was a bit of a rush for seats as the upper balcony area that I was queuing for was general admission. I ended up sitting roughly centre stage and had a great view; not that there was a bad seat in the place. I think the venue may have been doing something weird about letting people in, though, as the show was supposed to start at 8.00 and people were still flooding in and being shown to their seats at 8.30. On the plus side, that gave me plenty of time to grab a beer and look around. The theatre itself was really quite interesting with an art deco design and a ceiling painted like the night sky and wired up with electrical 'stars'.

By 9.00 when the show finally started I was starting to feel a bit irritated since I'd been there for four hours already. Every bit of the irritation dropped away the minute Waits hit the stage though. He came out looking a bit like Frankenstein's monster both in dress and posture, tipped his hat and immediately launched into his set with a foot-stomping version of 'Lucinda' that sent up clouds of dust and gold glitter all around him. Amongst the many highlights of the show were:

- A piano set of four songs that were just Tom at a baby grand accompanied by a double bass
- 'Tom Traubert's Blues' as part of the piano set
- A sing-along version of 'Innocent When You Dream'
- Tom's usual comic patter between (and sometimes during) songs
- A wonderfully rearranged version of 'Hold On'
- Tom's donning of a glitterball hat that reflected all over the audience when he moved
- A shower of glitter dropping from the rafters on to Tom at the end of 'Make It Rain'
- Tom's sons Casey and Sullivan touring as part of the band
- The enthusiastic standing ovation at the end of the show

The set list has been changing pretty much every night on the 'Glitter and Doom' tour. The set list that night, his second and final show in Paris on this tour, was:

Lucinda/Ain't Going Down To The Well
Rain Dogs
Falling Down
The Other Side Of The World
Lucky Day
God's Away On Business
Hold On
Eyeball Kid
Jesus Gonna Be Here
You Can Never Hold Back Spring
Johnsburg, Illinois
Tom Traubert's Blues
Innocent When You Dream
Lie to Me
Hoist That Rag
Heigh Ho
Bottom Of The World
Hang Down Your Head
Poor Edward
Black Market Baby
Dirt In The Ground
Make It Rain

Encore:
Way Down In The Hole
Jockey Full of Bourbon
Anywhere I Lay My Head

After the show there was a great buzz in the audience and I was feeling stunned as I made my way downstairs to the merchandise stall. There I bought a t-shirt with a piece of 'splatter on asphalt' art that Tom did on the front of it before sleepily, and happily, making my way back to my hostel.

I can honestly say that that was one of the best shows I've ever been to and one that I'm not going to be forgetting anytime soon. I hope it's not my last time seeing him live, but if it is then it's certainly left one hell of an impression. Thank you once again to Mum who paid for most of it as an early 30th birthday present. :o)

Finally, I'd just like to share the video below that someone has put up on YouTube. It's the slightly altered version of 'Jockey Full of Bourbon' that was played in the encore. The person filming was quite a bit closer to the stage than I was, but it gives a pretty good idea of what the show was like...


More on the rest of the trip later... :oD

I'll be posting more at a later date, but I just wanted to say that I'm back from Paris safely and it... he... Wow.  Tom Waits is a master showman and it was worth every penny spent getting down there just to be able to see him. :o)

So... Tomorrow I'll be setting off for Paris to see Tom Waits.  And it's about time.  I'm really excited about this, but a little nervous as well since I'll be going on my own and don't speak more than a few phrases of French.  I'm sure it'll be fine though.
 
This is really a big event for me and it's had me thinking.  A few years ago if I had been asked to draw up a short list of things that I would really like to see or do then high up on the list would have been: See Tom Waits live; meet Neil Gaiman; see a reunited Genesis perform; see Indiana Jones IV.
 
And, I'm happy to say, that after tomorrow I'll have managed all of them since I moved to London.  Even the ones that I didn't think would ever be possible like the last two.  So I'm happy.  Now I have to come up with some news ones.  And I suppose they would probably involve travel.  I've wanted to visit Japan for a long time now so I figure that has to be up there somewhere.  And I would really like to get to South America and climb a pyramid.  Both of those, I imagine, are going to be some time off though. :o)
 
Anyway... On to Paris!  And, of course, I'll report back on the show once I return to London. :oD

I went to a conference about online communications a couple of weeks ago and ended up having a chat about computer forums that made me think back over all the various methods of e-communications I've used over the years.

***Read no further if you want to avoid a bunch of geeky stuff that's probably of no interest to anyone but me***

I suppose I started out by using dial-up email systems like Juno and local bulletin boards like Stargate BBS and The Cove BBS when I was living in Huntington in the mid-90s. It's weird to think back on those boards now with their FidoNet email systems, their ASCII art and games like Legend of the Red Dragonwhen things have advanced so far. Around that time I was also using Sierra Online's 'Sierra Network' (TSN), which later became the 'ImagiNation Network' (INN). INN allowed me to make friends with and play online games against opponents all over the country which provided endless fun until they started added an hourly surcharge to their dial-up service that made it far too expensive.

It was after INN became too expensive and I had seen how interesting things like Internet Relay Chat (IRC) were that we decided to get the net. Our first ISP was a little company called Newwave.net that's been gone for a number of years now. Newwave not only provided internet access, but also storage space for subscribers to create their own web pages. Of course, I had to try it out and this resulted in my very first webpage. Newwave also provided my first access to the Usenet and I frequented quite a few newsgroups centred on a variety of different subjects ranging from Douglas Adams to Genesis.

I also started using a lot of chat programs at that time, regularly signing in to ICQ, AIM and MSN in fairly equal measure. My favourite for a long time, though, was ICQ and I made a number of friends by just randomly chatting to people.

In late 1998 I moved to Lancaster University in England for a year and was cut off from what, to me, was normality. However, I soon found that the university had its own BBS, known as LUBBS, and I started to use it regularly to meet other people around the campus. One of those people, fortunately, was Allie who I would marry five years later. It was also at Lancaster that I set up my first webmail account back when Hotmail was just starting out and I'm pleased to say that I've kept that account spam free and am still using it as my primary account to this day. :o)

When I came back from Lancaster things pretty much reverted to the way they had been before I left, with the small exception that I was at Ohio State and had broadband which sped everything up. And I had a new webpage on which I kept what can only be thought of as the precursor to this blog (see About Me) from early 2000 to late 2001.

Things have moved on at a very fast pace since. I've used a number of internet forums in the meantime and I've kept using MSN to a degree as I have our webcam hooked up to it and I'm a long way from home, but... For the largest part most of what I've just talked about it is in the past. These days if I'm not using Facebook (or MySpace to a lesser extent) to communicate I'll be posting on this blog or using good old email.

And even though I've backed away from online communications a little, I'm still really interested to see what's to come. Google recently introduced Lively which looks interesting. It's a bit like Second Life in that it's a social environment where you communicate with others via 3-D avatars, but unlike SL it's completely browser based and completely free. That represents real potential in my mind, especially as it's being developed by Google. They still have some pretty major bugs to work out, but it would be really interesting if - with time and effort - the Web went in the sort of direction that Tad Williams' 'Otherland' books were pointing with people regularly interacting and shopping in 3-D environments as a matter of course. And I can see Google having the clout to take it that way, picking up where Microsoft seems to have left off with real software innovation. :oD

Right. I guess I'll wrap this up now.... But not without leaving you with a link to a couple of slideshows from the conference that started this all off; both with pictures of me. The first one has us holding up signs saying what we think is important in getting people to engage with you online. And the second is an overview of the day with at least one less than flattering photo of me. :oD

We had a good, relaxing night last night watching a short documentary about Pancho Villa and having a delicious seafood pasta dish for dinner.

Bedding was also changed. Have I ever mentioned how much I like going to bed on new bedding just after a hot shower? It's heavenly. I also read an M.R. James short story called 'Mr Humprheys and His Inheritance' in bed which I found deeply creepy and have to admit made me feel a bit stupid as I'm not sure I completely grasped it all. I hope that's just because I was tired... :o)

Lastly, I just want to comment on the new 'Watchmen' trailer that's come out. I'm really pleased with it as it does look like they're keeping things in line with the source material. It's hard to tell from the trailer exactly what they've done with the story so there's still room for it to go horribly wrong, but so far so good!

The film on Saturday night was 'The Cannonball Run' in the end. I'd seen the film before, but had forgotten exactly how bad it was. Still, it's very much in the so-bad-its-good vein so we had a good time.

I woke up exhausted on Sunday so decided to skip church and stay in to read instead. I got through the end of Ephesians (which would have been covered that morning) and randomly read the first six chapters I Samuel. I mention this mostly because after a typical barren-woman-gives-birth start to the book it moved on to turn into the Many Adventures of the Ark of the Covenant. I'd never read this before and I was interested to see where George Lucas and company had done their research on the powers of the Ark, which brought plagues to the Philistines who captured it and killed seventy Israelites when they opened it up to have a look inside. I couldn't help hearing Indy yelling,'Shut your eyes, Marion. Don't look at it, no matter what happens!'. Definitely not what I was expecting when I sat down to read. One thing that the film did get wrong, however, was stating that an army carrying the ark before it would be invincible. Try telling that to the Israelites who tested the theory and lost 40,000 men. Oops.

I stayed exhausted pretty much all day, but between my naps and Allie's re-potting plants we did manage to go out to Brent Reservoir to pick blackberries. The blackberries weren't quite ready yet which was a little disappointing, but it was a fun trip out anyway. We're going to try to go back in a couple of weeks when the berries are a little sweeter.

In the evening we had dinner and watched 'Last Kiss' which I really wish we hadn't done as it made me feel like I needed a strong drink afterward.

So went the weekend...

Another busyish week. And I've been really tired so I've been letting the blogging and email slide, despite good intentions to the contrary.

Last Saturday started out well. I had a driving lesson and was told I was showing a marked improvement from the previous lesson. I think that's largely due to the fact that it wasn't the first lesson and it wasn't raining. I've even almost managed to master driving using the handbrake. I had another lesson this morning, too, and things still seem to be improving even if I'm not at all sure I'll be able to pass the test.

In the evening we met up with Bill and Nat and went to a live recording for a radio show called A Series of Psychotic Episodes. The recordings were done at the BBC's recently renovated headquarters at Broadcasting House which was much nicer than the place we've been to see recordings before. The show itself, though, wasn't that nice. We had to stand and wait a long, long time before the recording began. And when it finally did start the poor girl who wrote and starred in it was a little too self-conscious and nervous and well... it just wasn't that funny. It had some interesting ideas, but the execution of some of them was painful. Not good for a comedy show. We actually decided to leave in the intermission between the two shows they were doing that night and went to have a nice pub dinner as we were all hungry anyway.

Sunday, I barely remember. I know Allie and I watched 'The Lives of Others' which was a very good and thought provoking look at the surveillance society in East Berlin in the early 80s. And that's just about all I can recall about the day.

Tuesday... Hmm... I think read most of 'Fables: Wolves' which I enjoyed very much.

And not much else has happened this week. Last night we we made a trip to Homebase to buy some plant food and a new doorknob and watched the very funny 'Biloxi Blues'. And today I had my driving lesson and picked up a parcel from the post office before going the library at Queen's Park for a really interesting talk on gardens in fiction. Tonight it's off to Bill's for dinner and probably a movie. It's an exciting life... :oD

Had a quiet night last night.

Allie and I were planning to watch the season finale of 'Heroes' until we realised it had actually been on the week before and we'd forgotten all about it. I tried to find it online after realising, but the BBC only had a short summary clip of the episode and NBC doesn't allow people to watch their playback episodes from outside the country. Oh, well. We ended up watching the better part of 'Lilo & Stitch' before bed instead which was entertaining enough.

I've not been in the greatest mood today. This is partly because I registered to take my driving test this morning and found out that the mid-August dates available earlier in the week have all gone and now the earliest I can take the test is August 27th. That wouldn't be a problem if it didn't take up to three weeks from passing your test to get your license here. That's going to be cutting things very finely if I'm going to get my license before coming to the States. Argh.

Tonight is the last night of Open House before we break for the summer. Frankly, I'm looking forward to having my Friday nights back for a while. It's not that I don't enjoy doing the work, but it does put a bit of a damper on the social life. Maybe now I can catch a few gigs at the Dirty Water Club.

Anyway...

Last we weekend was good over all...

Saturday morning was spent sleeping and then the afternoon was spent wandering around the Sloane Square area, visiting a grocery store called Partridges that's good for American imports and wandering around in a food market located in the small plaza outside it.

In the evening Bill and Nat came over and we watched the season finale of 'Dr. Who'. Following that we had 4th of July food - hot dogs, barbecue ribs and a number of other trimmings - before settling down to watch a patriotic episode of 'Animaniacs' and a number of America Rock segments from 'Schoolhouse Rock'. Also, as there was a little time left, we watched the classic Looney Tunes short, 'What's Opera, Doc?' as Bill had referred to it the week before.

Sunday was mostly a quiet day in. I called home for a lengthy chat and Allie and I rounded the day off by watching some more of 'Scarlett'.

I had a driving lesson on Monday evening. And it would seem that I have work to do. The government here is very prescriptive about a lot of things, and apparently the way you shift a manual transmission is one of them. So I basically have a month to retrain myself to do it their way if I want to pass my test. That doesn't fill me with hope as I've been driving a manual for years and some of the things I'm being asked to do are completely contrary to the way I was taught to drive. Still, my instructor seems to think I'll be able to manage it. I have another lesson on Saturday morning so I guess I'll see if anything sunk in then.

On Tuesday I had a bit of a crash in my energy levels and ended up going home halfway through the day for a rest. I'm pleased to say that after spending the afternoon and a good part of the evening lying down I'm feeling much better today. This leads me to think it was something POTS related rather than a virus which is something of a relief. While I was resting I managed to watch Disney's 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' which we as pleasantly dark as I remembered, and Allie and I finished watching 'Scarlett'. I enjoyed 'Scarlett' in the same sort of way that you enjoy a Danielle Steel mini-series; i.e. it's a wonderfully soapy guilty pleasure that can't be taken seriously. Maybe if it hadn't been the follow-up to something as grand as 'Gone With the Wind' I might have higher regard for it. :o)

And last night was a bit of a quiet night in with some nice food and wine that we picked up from M&S and a viewing of 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' to remind ourselves what had happened in that one before we watch the sequel,'Biloxi Blues'.

In other news...

Something's been wrong with my streaming audio access at work over the past few days which has resulted in my taking in a few CD since my MP3 player pretty much bit the dust some time ago. Problem is, my computer's CD drive doesn't work either which means I have to rip things through a co-worker's machine and copy it to myself via our network. As I don't want to do too much of that I've been getting to know a few CDs that I otherwise hadn't listened to that much really really well. It's made me think of how things were a long time ago when I only *had* a small handful of CDs and records to listen to and how I got to know many of them backward and forward. To this day I could probably still sing every word of Paul Simon's 'Graceland' if pressed.

Anyway, it's had me thinking that I really should sit down more often and just have a good, intense listen to some albums. Kinda like I did when I bought a bottle of wine and sat down to listen through Tom Waits' 'Orphans' in its entirety for the first time a while back. So... Does anyone have any suggestions for albums that can bear up well under that kind of listening? I can probably find some lurking in my collection, but recommendations are always nice. :o)

So I saw Ben and Liz off to the airport. That was... Two weeks ago now, I guess.

The day after, Saturday, was a bit quiet. Allie and I went to the library where I picked up several 50p CDs in their sale and, on the way back, couldn't resist going to peek at the slightly strange spectacle of the Mayor of Brent performing an opening ceremony for a new Caribbean restaurant. Then, in the evening, Bill came over to watch 'Escape from New York', which I enjoyed very much. And we went for a walk to West Hampstead just to get a little exercise and enjoy the nice weather.

On Sunday Bill came round again and we went to Gladstone Park for their annual 'Gladstonebury Festival'. At the park we had a yummy picnic of French cheese, bread, salami and strawberries and the afternoon was really nice apart from a wind that was threatening to blow us all away. In the evening Allie and I started watching the made-for-TV film, 'Scarlett'. It's not 'Gone With the Wind', but I've enjoyed what we've seen of it so far. :o)

Much of the rest of the week that followed kinda vanished. The highlights were going to see the 'Sex and the City' film (loved it!) watching 'Ratatouille' (loved it, too!) and studying endlessly for my driver's theory test that was coming up the following Monday.

The whole of the next weekend was quiet apart from Bill coming over on Saturday night to watch the excellent '12 Angry Men' and dealing with a minor kitchen emergency. Must learn not to stub my toe so hard that it turns black and purple when running to the kitchen. Argh.

This past Monday was my theory test. I was plenty nervous about it and not at all confident, but it was just fine in the end. I got 50/50 on the multiple choice part of the test and 64/75 on the hazard perception part that requires you to watch video clips and click a button when you see a potential road hazard. Now I just have to get myself booked in for some actual hands-on driving lessons and with a little luck I can have my license by the time I go back to the States in September. Otherwise I'll be needing a chauffeur. *fingers crossed*

After the test Allie and I spent the evening relaxing, watching Glastonbury footage on the BBC and eating the large pizza and garlic bread I bought to celebrate passing. It wasn't good for the low GI diet we're on at the moment, but I really didn't care. I'm just relieved that I passed and think it was cause to celebrate. :o)

The rest of this week's been a bit of a non-event, really. And we spent last night having some lovely, home-made ham and goat's cheese pizzas and watching 'Atonement', which I think is possibly the most depressing film ever made. It's very good and very pretty, but not exactly life affirming.

Tonight... Meh. I just don't know. More cleaning? I know there are hamburgers in the works for dinner. And... I can't say what else. I don't think that's a bad thing though. :o)

Wow. Okay. So it's been a couple of weeks since I caught this thing up. Mostly this has been because I've been insanely busy. I think I'm just going to give a brief day-by-day update and see how long it gets. :o)

The last time I wrote I think Allie was just about to go home to Blackburn for the weekend. I spent that Saturday cleaning like a maniac because Chris was coming to stay on Sunday night and I was spending the week off work with my old OSU friends Ben and Liz starting Monday.

Sunday was spent doing more cleaning and, in the afternoon, having a nice long video chat with Da for Father's Day. In the evening Chris showed up with a ticket for me to see Gong with him at the Kentish Town Forum. The only rule was that I had to love the show (and maybe buy him a pint). And I did both. I can safely say that that show was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen on stage and I loved every minute of it. I think the real highlight of the night was the lead singer emerging from backstage in a white pixie costume decorated with CDs. And that should give you an idea of what things were like throughout... Thanks again, Chris! :oD

Monday morning was manic. I spent it putting finishing touches on the flat and then went to pick up Allie from Euston station. I took her home. Then I went to London Bridge station to pick up Ben and Liz. I showed up just in time (whew!) and it was really great to see them again. They were just as laid back as ever and we spent the evening talking, eating fish and chips (which they seem to have developed an addiction to) and doing a bit of beer shopping.

Tuesday was my first real day of playing tour guide. We started with Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and, of course, Big Ben. We followed on from there with walks across St James' Park and Green Park taking in Buckingham Palace along the way. Then, after a stop at the original Hard Rock Cafe and a tour of its strange and wonderful vault, we headed off to Russell Square and picked up lunch. From there it was on to Great Ormond Street Hospital to see their Peter Pan statue, a rest at a pub with a couple pints of Waggle Dance and on to Camden. At Camden we met Allie and Bill, had dinner at the Ice Wharf and stopped by Quinn's to try a couple of their German/Belgian import beers.


Wednesday morning was sad. That was the morning that I took Meg to the vet to have her put down. She was still trying to eat, drink and generally be a hamster, but she had started struggling to move and had become really bloated. So we decided to let her go with a bit of dignity. Allie had the day off work, but had an appointment that morning so I took Meg myself. She didn't like the journey too much, but thankfully it was all over pretty quick once I actually got her to the vet's office. It wasn't much fun taking her empty carrying case home with me though.


After I got back from the vet we had a nice lunch - salad and cheese and bread - that Allie had picked up before heading off to Warwick Avenue for a canal boat ride to Camden. After arriving in Camden we shopped for a while and then went to Chinatown for dinner at a restaurant Allie and I like called the New Diamond. After dinner we wandered around Chinatown for a bit before going to Covent Garden so Ben and Liz could see Drury Lane Theatre. Then it was on to the South Bank for a nice long walk to Westminster taking in the sights of the riverbank by night. We got in kinda late, that night but Ben and I still sat up for quite a while catching up at the kitchen table which reminded me a lot of university.


Thursday morning started off a bit like the night before left off in reminding me of university. Ben and I sat in the kitchen playing guitar. I don't have any musical friends here in London that's something I've really missed. I think we mostly hung around the house that morning and then, in the afternoon, went down to the Globe to see the new production of 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'. I loved it. To be honest I think it's probably the best thing I've ever seen at the Globe, and that's saying something as I've seen some really good productions. Ben and Liz seemed really taken by it, too, but whether that was the show or the atmosphere in a theatre like the Globe, I'm not sure. After the show, we headed for Whitechapel to see a few of the places where Jack the Ripper dumped his victims. We never quite made it though, as stopped to sit outside a pub and have a pint that turned into a couple. It was great watching the world go by and just chatting, but not so nice that the pub had a pile of dog mess in front of the bar that I didn't notice until I stepped in it. Still, I got a free half out of it due to the proprietor's embarrassment. :o)

We got home (following a surreal conversation on the Tube with a couple of girls who noticed our American accents) to find Allie waiting and ready to make risotto for dinner. I fear it may have been a bit complicated to make it with people who had had a few drinks, but Allie corralled us admirably and the risotto was a great success.

Friday morning went surprisingly smoothly. Allie and I always end up in a huge rush when we pack up and go anywhere, but Ben and Liz were really laid back about it and we had plenty of time to make it to London Bridge with a stop for a traditional fried breakfast on the way down. I was really sad to see them go as it was great to see them and was probably the best week I've had in a while. Still, it was nice to come back to a nice quiet flat and just rest. I've been missing rest lately. :o)

Okay... I think that's enough for now. I'll have to catch up last week and the past couple of weekends later. :o)

Not that it'll come to anything, but well done to Dennis Kucinich for introducing articles of impeachment against George W. Bush. It's good to know that there are other people in Ohio that would like to see him go early, too. :o)