i just saw an amazing program about a UK charity, riders for health, that trains african village doctors to ride and maintain motorcycles donated by the charity. this means that neither patients or doctors will have to rely only upon a 20-mile walk or the ambulances which are often in disrepair. wow. very ingenious. they're even developing a stretcher-cum-sidecar to transport immobile patients to hospitals!

is it too early to start planning my one-year anniversary present to K? it's not until late feb, and the present i'm thinking about getting him won't be available until early april....anyway, advice?

Eminem in drug bust...

wow, i just sad an ad for 'uno extreme,' which is, like, uno the card game, but instead of dealing the cards yourself, this cannon-contraption shoots the cards out at you and shit. like, wow. i want one.

also on TV: a barbie karaoke machine that plays britney spears songs. my world is crumbling. too much blonde.

anyway. yep....posted my application for a work permit. skipped my greek class for the third week in a row. i am a bad bad girl. but i've been trying to accomplish a lot lately and yesterday was the first day i felt like i was getting anywhere.

here track and field is called "athletics." so it makes it confusing when a question on a quiz show can be, "what type of sport team is the thames valley harriers?" and the choices are a) athletics b) football c) tennis and d) cricket...and the right answer is a, athletics, which i assume to be a category encompassing the other three choices. god, i'm boring, aren't i? but there are so many little things for me to learn here.

columbo's best friend hugo (i hate pseudonyms so much) was in town last night. big huggable lovable lump from the west country. i like him. nice guy. last night at the pub was quite fun and i enjoyed it all the more for drinking half as much as usual. moderation is my watchword now. :)

it's a sunday and K is gone. and eastenders isn't even on till after 3pm...boo-hoo, poor me. hrm. and i used up all my self-entertainment materials yesterday. i guess i'll have to find something worthwhile to do. hmmmm. or just go back to bed...

K is being published somewhere really important now. i'm very proud of him.

around these parts, i seem to attract admirers i don't really need. much different than the preceding 22 years of not being able to find many, anywhere i went. but i have to be careful. columbo is becoming more and more cow-eyed around me. and two other guys are just...well, actually, they're kind of bastards. so. no danger to my relationship...but i know how i get, and i will feel guilty and bad for things that are not my fault. so i need to just not see any of these people until they forget about me.

not to mention someone else i love is being stalked by a crazy old lady. grrrr. people! keep your minds clear!

i'm a hypocrite for saying that.

guy fawkes' night was lovely. bonfire, fireworks, jacket potatoes with vegetarian chili, sitting around smoking and drinking sangria. good time.

airing out the flat today. it's cold but at least it smells fresh. and it's almost sunny today...rare.

halfway listening to the lord mayor's parade on TV; straightening up the flat; working on another website; answering some of the enormous email backlog.

things are still so very uncertain, all of the time. i am better, i feel better, but situations are not better. well....one can't have everything.

ways in which my life is madness:

* went to brussels by myself. saw things. ate godawfulamazing waffles. and cuban food. and drank beer. and saw magritte, delvaux, and [meet] james ensor, [belgium's famous painter]. ohhhhh, and rubens. yum.

* got stuck in brussels for an extra day because of windstorms knocking down electrical lines. (i was travelling by eurostar.) met up with two blokes who work for MTV europe. minibar. one liked me. nothing (much) happened but i still feel like a slut. very drunk; phone calls i don't remember.

* zoloft.

* greek class full of 50- and 70-yr olds.

* just threw up all the belgian ale i brought home.

* am however still smoking the cigarattes i brought home from germany, where i was, yesterday, for six hours.

* K has gone off to london, yes it is past midnight, to be with his ex, who is ill. i cannot fault him for that.

* umm...madness in general. is it me or is the UK just more full of drama? can pix answer that?