London Calling. Errr, Again.

Tomorrow I'll be on a flight to London, this time to spend a good week (almost) there before heading north-ish to Telford. I'll be kicking around from the 3rd on to the 9th or so. Any suggestions for places to check out are greatly appreciated. I love this city, and plan to see as much as I can in the six or so days I'll have. And if you're a London-area blogger and are interesting in chatting over a pint, that too might be possible (though one evening is already spoken for at this point).

Ta!

-D

Back to Familiar Ground

It looks like I'll be going back to California, rather than immigrating to England like I had planned. It's been a torturous decision for me, literally the toughest of my life. And when I think about it, I'm pretty thankful that this is in fact the toughest decision I've ever faced.

I was in London last week, interviewing. I missed seeing, for drinks, someone whose writing I greatly admire. Alas, I could tell that given the situation it wouldn't have mattered if I could have contacted her weeks in advance, as her prior plans were set well in advance. I did have a date, though, that went well. It's a shame that I won't be going back, as we hit it off so well.

But, that's the way the cookie crumbles, for now at least. Back to the bay, and back to that dating scene. I feel very different, now, though. I feel like I've missed the bay area so much since leaving, that I have an appreciation for it now that I lacked before. I feel like I have it within me to be more purposeful and self-assured. Before, I felt like I would someday return to Colorado, so I didn't try very hard at relationships out there. Now, having been in Colorado for a few months, I know this isn't going to be the place I retire to. Maybe my future home is someplace I haven't been yet, or maybe I'll just comfortably settle in California. I don't know, and right now I'm not worried about it. For now, I just have to plan my return (within the parameters of when the new company wants me to start my job).

(Posted from Mesa, Arizona, aprés turkey. Two Thursdays ago, I was in Mt. View, CA. Last Thursday, I was in London, England. Tonight, Mesa, AZ. Travel can be fun, but this much in so short a span of time sucks the asses of sweaty pack mules.)

-D

Still Not in London

Things have been almost funny-enough to rate as an evening comedy. Except people would get bored halfway into the first show and start flipping channels.

I have my work permit. I have my residency visa. What I do not have, however, is a job. Due to cuts in funding from their clients, the company I was to work for had to rescind their offer. I'm in full-on job search mode now, and have had some very promising interviews.

I got to Denver on May 10 of this year. At the time, I expected to be in London by mid-June at the latest. It is now October 10 (well, 11th to be pedantic). The person who gave me the spare room to stay in has been patient beyond belief. She's an ex-SO, and yes we've given in to the occassional urge to fool around. I think I even mentioned this before, not sure. Its a shallow substitute for actually being out and meeting someone to have a relationship with, but it beats the five-finger revue.

And that' s another thing. I've shied away from trying to date, except one attempt at placing an ad on the "Casual Encounters" section of the local Craigslist (and we all know what that leads to). After all, I'm not going to be here much longer. A few weeks at best. I've been telling myself that for over FIVE MONTHS now. It's not realistic to try and indulge in commercial sex, for several reasons; I don't have much income (and I need what I have), I don't have my own place for outcalls, and most of all the spam-to-real-ad ratio on the local "Erotic Services" CL section is abysmal. I've actually considered trying to write a 'bot of sorts, to read the ads off of the RSS feed and flag the ones that have obvious tells of spam. I would hope that CL already has something like that, but you couldn't guess it from the Denver ERS section.

I just want to be in London. I'm tired of whacking off because I don't know if I will be around long-enough to justify trying to date. At least when I find myself whacking off (excuse me, I mean "wanking") in London, it'll be because I haven't found a date, not because it isn't feasible to look. And if London completely falls through, I'll head back to the bay area. One of the really promising interviews was a bay area company. Of course, I've given up the apartment that was priced way below market, so I'm not looking forward to trying to find housing. But while I used to wistfully think of Denver, I realize now that I'd been in Silicon Valley long enough for that to become home. So if I don't get to go to Europe, I'm going to go home.

And have all the sex I can.

-D

Time Flies Like an Arrow

(...and fruit flies like a banana.)

If I waited until tomorrow to post this, it would be exactly 5 months since my last post. This is not hardly what I had in mind when I started doing this.

So, where do I begin with the excuses and apologies? The circumstances are that my foot required not one but two surgeries; the second one delayed my move from California back to Colorado (Denver); problems with paperwork have meant that I'm still in the U.S., and not in London like I was expecting. But the truth of the matter is that I've been riding emotional ups and downs, and just haven't had anything to write about, let alone the emotional motivation to write.

I was in Kansas City, MO, this past weekend. Alas, I was there for a convention geared towards a very male-dominated hobby, so I wasn't able to add Missouri to my list of "states I've had sex in". (Somewhere, there's a site that lets you tick off the ones you have copulated in, and creates a map of it. But I can't find the link with any amount of Google-fu.) During that time, the person behind one of my favorite blogs was outed in relation to the book she wrote. I was very saddened for her when I heard; it's not just in America that silly throw-back attitudes towards sex make life unnecessarily difficult for women. I hope this smooths out for her without her being subjected to waves of crazies. The author of the newspaper story (not deserving of a link) didn't need to reveal her real name. But when has that ever stopped someone?

So, the late-breaking news is that my work permit for the UK has finally been approved, despite the delays caused by my making mistakes in my initial applications, and my prospective employer having problems when they decided to sponsor me instead. Optimistically, I could be in London by the end of the month, though I think this time next month is more likely.

And none the sooner...

D

This Blog(ger) Will Soon Be Moving

In a curious twist, following on my lay-off of last month, it looks like my next permanent job will not be in the bay area of California. Oh, I'll be here for at least another month or so, as I take care of a contract with a NYC firm and some local contract work. But somwhere around mid-April or so, I'll be leaving.

Leaving California, leaving the U.S.

Unless something goes completely awry (such as, say, failing to be granted a work permit), I will be joining a company in London, England. This is at once exciting and a little scary. Maybe a little more scary than exciting, I don't know.

D