| Monday 28th June 2004 15:21MDT | → 0 Comments |
Coming to you care of the machines in the Madison Public Library. It’s 9.21am.
I felt worse than ever on the flight - didn’t eat anything, which was really annoying as they had upgraded me (without saying so - I didn’t find out until I boarded) to Club World which has the better food! Fortunately on arrival I recovered in about a day but I was sooo ill. Maybe it was my fault for not taking any travel sickness products. I’ll have to get some for the flight back.
So far it’s been quiet. Bf is doing well and showed me his work in the garden bit. Very impressive. We’ve been to the supermarket and I got annoyed at bf for giving the taxi driver a $7 tip! He won’t be doing that again in a hurry.
Otherwise this morning was early and bizarre. Bf goes to Al-Anon meetings about three times a week and had informed me that, seeing as he (apparently) talks about me so much in the meetings, the group wanted to meet me in an ‘open session’ and he agreed. One problem was that he presented this to me as a fait-accompli and suffice to say I was not impressed, mainly because it took some time to recover from the horror of his drink problem and I really didn’t want it all coming back again.
However, I finally agreed and attended. It was an education. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming and although I was clawing the table on arrival, I’d calmed down by the end. It certainly wasn’t what I expected - it was almost like any casual meet of friends and there was laughing and joking (amongst the more serious conversation). Each time someone spoke they said they were glad I came. So much for my preconceptions - it was one of those examples of simple but powerful individual courage. I’m glad I went too.
Tomorrow we’re off to Chicago for two days and the weather is holding - no sign of tornados as yet.
| Friday 25th June 2004 19:14MDT | → 1 Comments |
Work is over (I left at 4pm) and I’m home packing. I bought special plastic bag from Lakeland Ltd. used for vacuum sealing items like duvets and such. Have a look at my vacuum sealed clothes - it doesn’t look much but there are several t-shirts, pairs of trousers, shirts, jumpers, underwear, socks and a towel in there. It’s incredible (and rock solid). I just hope it doesn’t make the clothes crease excessively.
There were tornados near Madison yesterday. Bf (and neighbours) had to spend an hour or so in their apartment building underground garage, which doubles as a storm shelter. However, he’s assured me it’s be fine weather during my stay.
BTW There won’t be many entries while I’m there as bf doesn’t have internet access and we plan to do a lot of travelling. Quite possibly there won’t be any at all!
| Wednesday 23rd June 2004 22:47MDT | → 1 Comments |
Went out for dinner with the ever-wonderful Denise. Apparently I’d agreed this last Friday and completely forgotten. My memory is so bad - the problem is not that I have to write things down but I can never remember to look at the list of things to remember! The latest trick is to email them to myself.
U.S. Withdraws Resolution On ICC Immunity. I was so glad when I read this - finally the other countries and the UN (especially Kofi Annan) have the backbone to stand up for justice and to stop breaking the UN’s own charter to appease what is nothing more than a ‘bully’. Obviously, the pictures of Abu Ghraib emphasised that this US administration’s double standards on human rights couldn’t be allowed to continue.
I think bf got the message over me stressing out when he doesn’t email me. Now I’m getting messages almost every day. I sent him a picture of my mother’s garden and he thought it looked very ‘Zen’. I have to admit that never dawned on me - I must tell her 
A useful site I came across today: EUABC - A dictionary terms used in the EU.
| Tuesday 22nd June 2004 20:00MDT | → 0 Comments |
I’ve added some more pictures of my mother’s garden and her dog and a few other random features of the environment that appealed to me.
A former colleage emailed me. Apparently his new company couldn’t quite afford to give everyone a pay rise but as a bonus handed out free 20Gb iPods! I’m definitely working at the wrong place.
Bf wants to buy a kitten while I’m there. It’s to keep his existing cat (Annie) company while he’s here for three months in November, as he feels the daily visit by his neighbours won’t be enough. In other words, he wants to avoid Annie going crazy and tearing to shreds his expensive furniture.
| Monday 21st June 2004 10:17MDT | → 0 Comments |
This editorial in The Guardian saves me having to state my feelings here over the final version of the EU Constitution and how the public is totally ignorant of even basic facts (as they are regarding the EU as a whole). Fortunately it now looks like Blair is finally making the case, though there is a little warning at the bottom of that editorial:
If this campaign merely becomes one in which Mr Blair tries to persuade a doubtful nation why he is right and they are wrong, then an Iraq-style political disaster beckons.
Now I’m taking my mother shopping to buy her a birthday present. She’s already had over a week to think of something.
| Sunday 20th June 2004 12:47MDT | → 1 Comments |
The weekend so far has been uneventful but somewhat relaxing (as my mother lives in a little village with nothing but houses and fields surrounding). Maybe I just need to get out of my immediate environment to be able to de-stress, seeing as I always still seem to feel ‘hyper’ in the evenings after coming home from work. With any luck, a trip to Madison will do me the world of good so long as there are no bf-related hassles.
However, he emailed me to say he had been stung by ‘yellow jackets’ (wasps) and gone into anaphylactic (sp?) shock and spent a couple of days in hospital. Now they’ve given him some sort of anti-allergenic ‘pen’, though I don’t know if this is for future incidents or to help him recover from this one. Either way, at the end of the mail he says “don’t worry” which is a larf. I’d worry a lot less if he made more of an effort to stay out of harm.
| Saturday 19th June 2004 2:20MDT | → 0 Comments |
Not long back from Valentina’s birthday party. It fun and cozy affair with a comfortable mix of people (43% were Brazilian, 43% were queer and 66% of those who were Brazilian were queer). Valentina’s car has been broken into the night before but fortunately that didn’t get her down.
Have a look at some pictures, courtesy of my improved picture gallery. Images that were previously there will be restored just as soon as I reload them into my image database. This may not happen for some days as I’m travelling to see my mother tomorrow and staying until Monday evening. It’s her birthday and we’ll be going shopping over the weekend for a present (so long as my aunt, who is currently staying with her, doesn’t turn it into a tedious event).
| Wednesday 16th June 2004 19:41MDT | → 1 Comments |
Bf went quiet again. In reality he hadn’t emailed for a week but that always stresses me out. Now he has and apparently he’s injured his foot so I guess he had to go to hospital. However, he says he’s fine now so I can get a decent night’s sleep again. I even wrote a letter, which is now redundant.
Signed up (and accepted) for Y157: Understanding Society at the Open University now they’re registering. I’m looking forward to it.
Yesterday afternoon a car caught fire on the A3. From the building I work in we had a good view and I took a picture with a SonyEricsson P800, which came out pretty well. One advantage of working for a telecomms company is all the neat phones you get to play with. We stood there for ages hoping it would explode but it didn’t and the firecrew doused it successfully. The smell of burning oil and rubber was overpowering - and we were indoors with windows closed!
| Monday 14th June 2004 19:03MDT | → 1 Comments |
So the European election results are in and two themes are apparent: the eurosceptic mood increased and in general people voted based on national issues rather than European ones. Then again, on the latter point, they did exactly the same for the local elections. Is it arrogant to suggest that people are too stupid to appreciate democracy? Vote according to pet prejudices rather than issues affecting that particular legislative body then wonder why they don’t listen to you? Maybe because you’re not worth listening to. Especially if you didn’t bother to vote.
Some good news in that the make up of the Parliament is not greatly dissimilar to before. Those who can be considered eurosceptic only make up 2.5% of the seats.
BTW I usually have a Jabber IM client running while I’m at work and sometimes when at home. If you feel inclined, send me something inspiring at rlongstaff@jabber.org and I might even respond.
| Sunday 13th June 2004 15:18MDT | → 0 Comments |
As the weather has been gorgeous today, I had lunch in the Castle grounds again. There were a few people there and not too many noisy children. Afterwards I took a leisurely, scenic route home and took a number of pictures with my shiny new camera (which really is shiny).
This is the immediate view from where I was seated on the grass. Then I wandered through Castle Arch, along Quarry Street, past St Mary’s Church and along by the river. I walked up Chantry View Road, observing some interesting house names, and up onto Pewley Down and down again before arriving home at around 2.30pm.
A friend of mine who lives in Riyadh with his family is leaving post-haste, given the recent events. I’m surprised he stayed as long as he did.
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