God, it really has been a long time:

I'm sorry. Shit's been happening. I finally got a start date for the job and it's soon. Like Nov 15 soon. So I've got to find an apartment, acquire some furniture, and figure out how I'm going to get everything up there by next week. That's kind of scary.

I'm flying up tomorrow to look for an apartment. I have two places to look at so far and am hoping to add one more. I really need one of these to work out; otherwise I'm kind of screwed.

Since almost everything I own will fit in my car, I just wanted to FedEx a few boxes up. It would be the cheapest and easiest way to get everything up. But when I looked at my relocation info, I learned that the only ways of moving stuff that they will reimburse for are GBL, renting a U-Haul, and hiring private movers. So private movers are not going to want to move my four boxes and God know I can't drive a U-haul. So I'm afraid it might have to be GBL, where basically someone from the army comes out and picks up your stuff and maybe like a decade later you get it. I called to ask if FedEx was an option and was told that she'd never heard of anyone doing that but she couldn't seen why it wouldn't be OK. I imagine most people have furniture and stuff. Anyway, she's going to get back to me.

Otherwise, I worked about two weeks for one company, had two days off, and am now working for another company doing data entry. It's supposed to end by Friday, but I'm thinking it'll be earlier. I think I only have 2-2.5 days of stuff left. I hope it ends earlier, I hate it and it's not really worth the money. I just feel bad quitting, since I said I'd finish the job and they are accomodating me by giving me Monday off. Stupid responsibility. I haven't told the temp agency that I'm leaving yet, but I will let them know next week. Now that I don't want another job, it should be OK. They've been awesome, which is the other reason I feel bad quitting this terrible job. So I guess I'm stuck at it till I finish.

Not much else going on here. D-- is in NY, but will be back on Thursday, so hopefully I'll see him before I go. Should see A-- and J-- and maybe K-- too. My brother and sister should be over too since it's my brother's birthday on Nov 11. And then that's it. There aren't too many people here that I care about, really. Funny how that happens. It was hard to leave in high school: hard to leave A and J and M and N and D and T and, God a dozen more people. Now, T's in London, N and D are in NY, M's just out of jail, A's in small town GA, and I completely lost touch with J. He might be in jail by now too. T&J are insufferable together, TC is in Cali and unlikely to ever come back, C has a baby. You don't realise how fully you cannot go back, when you graduate from high school. But this is real good-bye. No more coming home for a month at Christmas and at least a few weeks in the summer. It's strange, but mostly in a good way. I won't miss it much.

Yeah, I'm back. Got back late Wednesday night. Woke up early Thursday morning and learned that I had an assignment starting at 10:30. So I've been working the past two days and will apparently be working Monday morning (though I won't be confident about that until I actually show up there). The girl I'm replacing got e. coli. I feel really bad for her because that? sucks.

Things are good here. Convinced SBC that they are morons today, so I'm getting a new and (more) correct bill. They seem to like me on the job. Discovered that things are looking up for the real job (no, still no start date. But my HR person thinks it should be soon, and she hasn't said that before). D-- and S-- are doing better, which is good because I'm depressed enough without having to talk to other depressed people too (oh, yeah, and they're happier about their lives. That's good too).

Ireland and London were really fantastic and were just what I needed. I will write more, but I'm sick of staring at a computer screen right now.

Quickly, though-- I spent five days with T-- (and the afore-mentioned 10 flatmates, who were mostly really cool) in London and basically walked around and went to a bunch of free museums. Then T-- and I went to Dingle, in County Kerry, in the southwest of Ireland. This is one of the most remote parts of Ireland, and basically everyone there is bilingual. I got to realise how bad my Gaeilge is, but it was neat. Then the bus ride to Cork and another few hours to say goodbye to London for the foreseeable future (though I'm thinking of doing the west of Ireland from Dingle to Derry next fall. Anyone want to come with?). Made my connection coming back, surprising the hell out of my mother.

Back in London:

Not much time left in the internet cafe. Ireland was really great, so more on that later.

I'm not supposed to be back in London yet, you say? That's an interesting story. See I was supposed to fly out of Dublin into Gatwick tomorrow morning and from there go directly back to the States. However, there is a baggage handlers' strike at Gatwick, so RyanAir (yeah. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Shut up) told me I couldn't check anything to Gatwick. Since I had a backpack that was too big (and a bit too heavy) to fit in the overhead bins, I was going to be sort of S.O.L. So I found an Aer Lingus flight from Cork to Heathrow this afternoon.

It wasn't super-fabulously convenient (Mmm, 07:15 bus. Mmm, three hours in Cork airport--which has three gates, two shops, a bar, and three cafes. Trust me, I explored it thoroughly) but it was pretty cheap and I could take advantage of the free place to stay in London. So I'm back at the flat; me and six Aussies, an Icelander, an Irishwoman, a S.A. and one other American. Fabulous.

Yep, still here:

Nothing too exciting is happening. Been just sort of walking. I miss being able to walk around the city.

British Museum today. I love me some British Museum.

I would have a lot more time to do stuff if I could drag my lazy ass out of bed before 11:30. I'm still jet-lagged. Honestly.

In London:

Just a quick note to let you guys know that I am in London and that I found T--'s flat well enough. I am also clean, which is a definite relief. And after walking around Bayswater and taking the bus down Oxford Street, I have decided that for me sight is the sense linked strongest to memory.

I survived my own personal Amazing Race through the Dallas airport. Unfortunately the Atlanta to Dallas flight was late. This was the flight of the 40 minute connection. I had about 25 minutes, so I ran. And they made the final boarding call as I was on the jetway.

Don't expect to hear too much from me over the next few days. I'll try to update when I can, but I probably won't have a lot of time in the internet cafe. Especially not at 6 Euro an hour like it's supposed to cost in Ireland.

Film or digital:

So I'm trying to decide whether I should take my film camera or my digital one with me. With the fim camera, I'll have pictures that actually look good. With the digital one, I'll have pictures that can easily be put on the internet and that will be free for me to view.

Has anyone used a Kodak picture CD thing? What kind of quality do you get? How much is it?