I once won a prize for writing, you know.

So, I'm 36 today. Bah. The start of the slippery slide down towards 40. Doesn't seem that long ago that I was stressing about turning 30! Still, I think I've just about managed to keep my looks, what I had of them... just nosing around my computer at some old pics... below is a pic of me in 1997 when I was 25. I actually think I look BETTER now. So much for the ravages of age!

According to Wikipedia, I share my birthday with, among others, Ken Livingstone, Jello Biafra, Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks, Venus Williams and Connie Fisher (of "Who Can Solve A Problem Like Maria?" fame). It's also the day that Iceland seceded from Danish control, the day that the Watergate scandal broke, Sir Francis Drake claimed California for England, and OJ Simpson was arrested. So there's worse days to share an anniversary with.

Ah well. Happy birthday to me.

I used to have a recurring dream about a house. So, in many ways, this place has indeed become my "dream" home. Now, dreams rarely come from nowhere, which leads me to believe I've seen this place at some point in my life, either in person, possibly as a very small child, or on TV or something.

It's not really a "house", per se... more like a very large studio flat. It's pretty much just one big room, with three levels and a sunken, fully upholstered seating area, and very large windows along one wall. In the dream, it was also decorated in a wonderfully tacky 70's fashion, all flock wallpaper, gold fittings, a chandelier and formica panelling.

I figure, whenever I find this place, wherever it may be, that will be this elusive "home". But I'll be getting rid of the wood panelling.

Phee is the ultimate LOLcat.... here she is rockin' the Battlecat look.

Clicky....

iMac 24" + 4GB RAM = teh awesome.

My employers have just given my work Mac an upgrade in order that they might extract just a bit of additional productivity from me. I must say, that was $80 well spent - I've never used such a fast computer!

I'm sitting here with Photoshop (open with a huge PSD file), Dreamweaver, two VMWare virtual machines (Windows and Ubuntu), two Firefox windows full of tabs, Adium, Entourage and several other small programs open, and it's still flying.

Time to get my MacBook upgraded too, methinks.

Firstly, at the behest of my amazing wife, I have decided to start cross-posting everything I post on my other blog to LJ... apparently it'll help me socialise over here! Never really gave myself the chance to get to grips with LJ properly, so bear with me... 

There's been a big, dark cloud hanging over my head for weeks now, mostly concerned with the whole experience of being here in the US. To date, for the most part, it hasn't been fun. We have no money. We have, in the grand scheme of things, pretty crappy jobs, and we are living a one-room existence with the possibility of progression looking decidedly distant.

But, I don't know what happened, but today, for some reason, it all seems to have lifted.

I want to take the bit between my teeth and go for it. I want to do stuff I enjoy, earn the salary I'm worth, have the time to enjoy it and be able to live the lifestyle I was aspiring to before we moved back here. It's possible. This country is so vast that these opportunities must exist somewhere, and I intend to find them. It might mean looking a little further afield than New Jersey, but, the way I look at it, I've come this far, so there's no harm in going a little bit further.

There are jobs here that offer 20 days' paid holiday, that do offer good health insurance, and that do offer progressive, European-style work environments. And, guess what... I intend to get one.

Wish me luck.

We spent this afternoon in one of my favourite places - Oxted.

It's quaint in a way only sleepy Surrey towns can be, it has a single-screen cinema that still has usherettes with torches and ice cream, it has a music shop run by bass players, it has lots and lots of nice shops, it has a Wetherspoon's and a Pizza Express, and is one of the most comfortable places to be that I know. Shame it's a bit out of the way for us.

In other news, I'm doing pretty well on this job hunting thing, now we're back in the UK. I've had three interviews, and it looks like I'll be going three-for-three... already had two job offers, and I'll probably get a third after my quick jaunt over to Paris on Thursday (at someone else's expense!). We've also secured a flat here in Croydon, so life is rather good right now.

Mustn't grumble, for once. Oh, and I'll do my best to cross-post my blogs to here from now on... for anything you might have missed, you can check out my proper blog at www.unfeasibility.info.

Still got to shift ALL of this lot before March 15th...

TV, Sanyo 28", older but still good - $50
VCR, Sony multi-region, plays PAL, NTSC, etc, all the features - $80
Microwave, good condition - $30
Ikea 2-seater sofa and chair, slightly cat-clawed but perfectly useable - $50
Ikea shelves, beech wood look, good condition - $30 for both
Ikea corner unit with 2 shelves - $15
Ikea bedside tables - 2 for $30
Ikea TV unit with drawer underneath, beech effect - $20
Computer desk, steel with glass top, pull-out keyboard shelf, looks great - $30
Dining table, extendable, with 4 chairs, oak wood - $40
DVD Player, Sony, with remote, good condition - $50
DVD Player, Cyberhome, converted to multi-region - $20
Sherwood stereo amp/receiver, 75 watts, $40
Acoustic guitar, no-name brand, but playable with good sound - $40
Hoover vacuum cleaner, cyclonic, good condition - $40
Sony 5-disc CD player, good condition - $40
HP Deskjet 5740 printer, good condition- $30
Toaster - cheapo but works well - $5
Kettle - again, cheapo but working - $5
Two mountain bikes, his and hers, both for $50
Lamps, various, from $5

... and various other small items too.

Well, with the impending move back to the UK, we have a bunch of stuff for sale:

Hartke 410XL and 210XL bass cabs, great condition, fantastic sound (not the cheapie Transporter cabs) - $500 the pair
TV, Sony 28" Wega, flat screen (not LCD), perfect condition - $180
TV, Sanyo 28", older but still good - $50
VCR, Sony multi-region, plays PAL, NTSC, etc, all the features - $80
Microwave, good condition - $30
George Foreman grill, top of the range with removeable plates - $20
Ikea 2-seater sofa and chair, slightly cat-clawed but perfectly useable - $50
Ikea shelves, beech wood look, good condition - $30 for both
Ikea corner unit with 2 shelves - $15
Ikea bedside tables - 2 for $30
Computer desk, steel with glass top, pull-out keyboard shelf, looks great - $50
Dining table, extendable, with 4 chairs - $40
DVD Player, Sony, region 1 with remote, good condition - $50
Sherwood stereo amp/receiver, 75 watts, $40
Acoustic guitar, no-name brand, but playable with good sound - $40
Hoover vacuum cleaner, cyclonic, good condition - $40
Sony 5-CD player, good condition - $40
HP Deskjet 5740 printer, good condition- $30
Toaster - cheapo but works well - $5
Kettle - again, cheapo but working - $5

Well, with the impending move back to the UK, we have a bunch of stuff for sale:

Hartke 410XL and 210XL bass cabs, great condition, fantastic sound (not the cheapie Transporter cabs) - $500 the pair
TV, Sony 28" Wega, flat screen (not LCD), perfect condition - $180
TV, Sanyo 28", older but still good - $50
VCR, Sony multi-region, plays PAL, NTSC, etc, all the features - $80
Microwave, good condition - $30
George Foreman grill, top of the range with removeable plates - $20
Ikea 2-seater sofa and chair, slightly cat-clawed but perfectly useable - $50
Ikea shelves, beech wood look, good condition - $30 for both
Ikea corner unit with 2 shelves - $15
Ikea bedside tables - 2 for $30
Dining table, extendable, with 4 chairs - $40
DVD Player, Sony, region 1 with remote, good condition - $50
Sherwood stereo amp/receiver, 75 watts, $40
Acoustic guitar, no-name brand, but playable with good sound - $40
Hoover vacuum cleaner, cyclonic, good condition - $40
Sony 5-CD player, good condition - $40
HP Deskjet 5740 printer, good condition- $30
Toaster - cheapo but works well - $5
Kettle - again, cheapo but working - $5

I'm not convinced this job are going to be giving me the amount of work I was originally promised (the workflow is steady, but they seem to take an age to get anything done, and I feel completely out of the loop, since I'm working from home), so as a precautionary measure, I've been looking for other jobs, as well as making plans for other means of income via self-employment. And I have an interview tomorrow for another position in Somerville. It's not quite as well-paid as this position I'm in now (not bad though, $3750 a month), but it seems more regular, and it'll mean going out to work, which is a good thing... it's hard to get into a working mindset when working from home and having cats jump all over you all day! So wish me luck!

Off to see the folks-in-law tonight to play an acoustic 5MD set with Glen!