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December 18, 2005 23:29

So I am now seated and situated and whatnot. I have an aisle seat. I was a little nervous at first as I wasnt sure if the layout was 3-4-3 or 3-5-3, but it was the former and I am safely positioned next to the aisle.

And listening to Luna. Yay for Luna. I usually listen to Luna when I do this trip; they make for a nice, relaxing, mellow, way to ease into the night.

I am currently taking a considerable amount of amusement from the Aussie accents. I'm not totally sure why that is, but I am. Maybe it's because it serves as a reminder that I'm 13 hours or so away from home. I dunno. Will write more when we're in the air.

December 18, 2005 22:58

I'm sitting on the floor at the departure gate, listening to The House of Love. I'm in a funny sort of mood, sort of reflective. I'm not sure whether it's the music or the fact that I am 50 minutes away from being on a flight back to New Zealand. But it is an odd sort of feeling.

A couple of things right off the bat: my psoriasis is acting up and Crazy Rebecca crashed on the couch last night. Both are related to alcohol. Heheh. Anyway, today is her birthday (happy birthday, Rebecca). Yesterday was Lea's birthday, and a bunch of us met up at the Local for drinks. I also was somewhat of a social butterfly, jumping around the place saying hi to people. Actually, last night was the first time I had seen Birmingham Gary for quite some time. I believe there were "going overseas" shots with Steve and Patrick. There were a good amount of cute girls at the Local. It's not really somewhere that I consider picking anyone up, but...

Friday night was a lot of fun. The drive home from Charlotte went well and then I spent the afternoon cleaning my apartment and paying bills and billing my client. And then I went to the Local (now that's a surprise). I played darts with Jamie (we lost) and with Tom (we also lost). Colleen gave me hassles for my misbehavior last weekend.

On Saturday I finished my Christmas shopping. I don't know that I'm completely happy with everything that I got, but this sure was an expensive Christmas. I'm quite pleased, and a little shocked, at the gifts I got myself for birthday and Christmas. I'm taking both back to NZ with me; in fact, I'm listening to the House of Love courtesy of one of those presents. I will try to record my trip using the other gift.

My flight leaves in 35 minutes and we haven't started boarding yet. That seems kind of odd. At least, I don't think we've started boarding yet. I could be wrong there. I lie - business class and rows 60 and higher are boarding. I'm in row 40, so I should think about milling around like everyone else.

I guess I'll leave it at that for now and update again when I'm settled in on the plane.

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December 14, 2005 19:14

I shan't dwell on the fact that I hate the cold, but the last three mornings have begun below freezing, and the days have not gotten much above that evil temperature. And overnight Charlotte is expecting ice and freezing rain. Which will be a wakeup for my 7am meeting tomorrow. Ugh.

December 12, 2005 16:12

On Friday night I wandered around dressed as a Jewish shephard, circa 1BCE, and got quite royally drunk. There was the Local, and Friends, and Righteous Room. But that's largely about all I can remember. I have a vague recollection of being dropped home, but I don't recall how/when I got into the car that dropped me home. I have a nagging suspicion of a certainly level of misbehaviour, but if I can't remember, then it didn't happen, right?

Saturday began surprisingly early considering the previous evening's entertainments. I did some reading, then showered, and went to the Brewhouse, where I met up with Tim and Kris. The Liverpool game was not being shown, but instead I watched Newcastle beat Aresenal, 1-0. Liverpool won their game, 2-0, over Middlesborough, to now be seven on the trot without conceding a goal. Sweet. We're now second on the table, ahead of Man U courtesy of goal difference. After the football I returned home and chilled for a while.

As five o'clock rolled around I made my way down to Apres Diem for cocktails with Ashe, Sandi, Duane, and Pete. All very fun, and then Tim and Kris picked me up to take me to dinner at Ruth's Chris' Steakhouse. In attendance for the feast were Lauren and Matt, Eric and Lianne, Jesse, John, Tim and Kris, and me. The meal was a mixed affair. But I did score nicely on the loot. And then it was time to hit the Local, which, for some reason, is really registering with me.

Sunday was a slow day of recovery and then back to Charlotte. Aural entertainment provided by Bailter Space and Doves.

Christmas shopping is a pain in the arse. I've got presents for some people, but not for others. The mall is not helping me out at all. Definitely lacking in ideas, and I need to have everything sorted by Sunday. Very frustrating.

Only did a couple of hours work today. Things are definitely winding down, although I do have meetings all week. It's just that in between meetings I don't seem to have a lot going on. So I'm back at the hotel, having also spent time at the mall. Hrm.

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December 07, 2005 22:48

Goddamit! Winter is here. Yesterday when I woke up, the person on the radio said it was 32 degrees. Thats 0 Celsius. This morning it was 28 degrees. I think you all know how I feel about the cold. So I have not been particularly happy the last couple of days. And it's not going to get any better any time soon. There might be some rain to warm things up a little, but there is a likelihood that it will still be cold enough overnight to be left with black ice on the roads. Sleet is in the forecast as well. It will be a fun drive home on Friday afternoon.

I'm running out of time for doing other than the necessities. I leave for NZ in 11 days, and this weekend will be tied up with craziness. First, Friday night is the second annual Nativity Scene Crawl. And Saturday will start with football at the Brewhouse (Liverpool replay at noon, along with the Arsenal game live); cocktails at Apres Diem at 5pm; birthday dinner at Ruth's Chris' Steakhouse at 8:45pm; and then the Local afterwards to finish off the madness. Then a few hours sleep and back to Charlotte on Sunday for my last week of work for 2005.

Speaking of 2005, now is probably as good as any time for a review/scorecard. Overall, I think it has been a good year. Professionally, it has been excellent - my new business has gotten off to a good start and I've no regrets for leaving my previous job. Things are definitely going well there. Socially, things are good; I've maintained great friendships, made several new friends. It has been hard to keep up with everyone with my travel schedule, but I've caught up with people at various great events during the year. The travel also makes it difficult to even consider entering into any sort of relationship. Healthwise, I seem to be well (pending the results from the bloodwork for my physical) with the exception of my psoriasis. With respect to my psoriasis, it has definitely gotten worse this year, but some new treatment has greatly improved some of it. But not all, so I'm waiting to hear if I can start some new treatment. So, like I said, overall it has been a pretty good year.

What do I have on my plate for next year? Well, we shall see. I'm waiting for some confirmations, but it's looking like next year should be a good one professionally as well. As for the rest, we shall see, but I think that I should have a more normal schedule for at least some of the year.

Poo. Stinky farts. Not sure why. I had Japanese steakhouse for dinner, with a couple of Asahis. Never mind, that was probably TMI for most of you anyway. Okay, bedtimish.

Oh yeah, happy birthday Kevin. Happy yesterbirthday, Pete.

December 05, 2005 22:24

So I don't have tuberculosis. This is not a surprise. But now that this has been medically confirmed, it's just a waiting game to see if my insurance company will let me start on Enbrel. The steroids that I have been on for the last week or so have helped where applied, but my back is just an impossible mission to deal with.

After confirming my negative TB status this morning, I hit the highway to my home away from home. The weather was atrocious, so it was slowish going, but I was able to stop for lunch and get to work by 2pm. So I was able to get a good four hours work in before heading to the hotel.

Sideline TV observation: Charlotte's Fox news anchor, Rebecca Clark is quite a cutie.

Tomorrow I will hit the mall after work to do my Christmas shopping. I also need to buy some sneakers. I also need to consider buying a camera.

December 05, 2005 00:52

It's now a little after, but today (yesterday) was the eighth anniversary of my arrival in the US. The highlight of the day was having Thanksgiving dinner at Lauren's parent's place. Lots of great food and conversation. Way too much food, to tell the truth, but all very very good.

The Falcons lost today, rather disappointingly, but Liverpool won, to take them into third place behinf Chelsea and Man U. Peter Crouch finally scored, which he has deserved for several of the last weeks efforts.

I met a really great girl on Friday night. Unfortunately, my schedule might make getting to know her better a little difficult. We'll see. In any case, I had a great time Saturday night at Liza's birthday, which corresponded with the birthday of Holly Marie Combs, after which I stopped by the Local for a nightcap. As I did again tonight after Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm sleepy, but I want to stay up for Sealab 2021. We'll see if I can make it that long...

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November 30, 2005 22:35

Another night of vivid and action-packed dreams followed by another busy day, with many things accomplished. Very pleasing. And I should have a check when I get back to Atlanta - much needed.

I have plenty of plans for the weekend, which is exciting. I know I probably won't get to everything I want to do, but I should still have lots of fun. And, of course, I'll be getting back to the ATL tomorrow night. Yay!

November 29, 2005 23:02

I've been busy. From falling (read "diving head first") off the wagon last week, to a long couple of days at work this week, it's been a crazy past seven days. The Local was a common locale. Turkey at Tim's for Thanksgiving. Turkey sandwiches at Tim's the day after Thanksgiving. A dehydrated drive to Charlotte where the only things preventing me from falling asleep at the wheel were Trembling Blue Stars, Doves, Manic Street Preachers. It was a longer drive than normal, courtesy of the holiday travellers slowing my ride.

The past two days have been busy and I have been very tired. Last night I entered REM paralysis before my conciousness had completely slipped away - always kinda freaky as sensory neurons are firing in odd ways as dreams kick in. And speaking of dreams, I had so many I was practically exhausted when I awoke in the morning. Dreams including one semi-lucid dream, in which I was able to control much of what was going on, but not for long; another dream in which I was involved, along with a number of friends, in a heist of $100 million dollars from a hotel - extremely vivid.

Charmed is now back to the very early episodes. I didn't see any tonight, but the one I caught last night was from very early on.

My psoriasis is doing a lot better now that I'm back on the turps. I'm also on some steroidal creams, so that might also be an impact. But I must theorize that the four weeks of abstinence may have caused an increase in social stress, due to the fact that the bulk of my social interactions occur in an alcohol-laden environment; the release of that stress would, I suspect, be a good thing. Perhaps this increased stress (that I would not have admitted at the time) was the cause for the increase in new psoriatic inflammations while the existing ugliness stayed static and did not get better.

There was something else I wanted to talk about, but I don't know what it was. I am having a full weekend in Atlanta this coming weekend. Time for sleepy.

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November 22, 2005 18:36

So my plan to spend a few days working from home have not really panned out. Well, the work part, anyway. Still, there's always tomorrow...

Anyway, I did get other things done, key amongst them being a visit to the dentist and a visit to the dermatologist. As for the former, my teeth are in good shape and are now sparkly clean. As for the latter, I have some more powerful topical steroids and the doctor is applying to my insurance company for permission to start using biologics to treat my psoriasis. If the approval comes through, I have to have a TB test, and then I'll go onto a programme of twice-weekly injections. Fun fun. But given how bad my skin has become over the past six months, I'm willing to try just about anything (hell, I just did four weeks of abstinence from alcohol).

Oh yeah - it appears that there may be some routing difficulties for email from New Zealand to addresses at this domain. It seems that some email gets through, but others bounce with the recipient address being resolved to some NZ address. If you try to email me and it bounces, try emailing me at my mindspring account, or leave me a message here.

Distracted by Charmed. I think I will cook up a pork chop and some veggies and then wander up to the Local for a long overdue beer.