staying here! (maybe) (2005-08-09 - 10:42 a.m.)

I've got some news! (this is not, however, official yet, so treat with a grain of salt).

I get to stay!

My supervisor has just confirmed that they would like to keep me on at work until March. Now obviously my visa expires in mid-January... so they've decided to try and extend it! This is a huge compliment, despite the fact that it's doomed to failure (the British government doesn't just hand out visa extensions to anyone.) I was told that I'm a very reliable employee and they'd like to keep me on. Ha!

However, in the meantime, they're happy to keep me on till December. This is good news as the summer is leaving me broke and also I don't want to leave. It will also get me home for Christmas. Happy!

Most of you would have heard this first-hand if ANYONE EVER CALLED ME BACK! Sorry, little temper tantrum there, but I've been calling everyone I know for the last two weeks and have not heard from anyone but John, who always calls at inopportune times. (And I thought hard about calling Steph, Rem and Stephen, but didn't actually do it, so they're off the hook).

I don't really love my job, but I usually don't hate it and I like my coworkers. And my supervisor has sworn that she will train me to do something more interesting than answer the phones if I stay. Unfortunately it will be things like cash accounts, but hey, it's a step in the right direction.

So this kind of changes things and puts paid to my dreams of travel in Europe this fall. But I haven't signed anything yet, so the decision is still mine. And I have to say, it would put me on a much better financial footing after this spendthrift summer.

Apart from that, I have just lived through the most depressing weekend ever. Okay, possibly not that melodramatic (last December and January were worse) but not very good. I don't know why I get so down and can't shake it. I had no energy to do anything, so I lay around and read for two days and stared at the wall. On the plus side, I finally read Trainspotting, which definitely deserves all the hype that has been heaped on it. Man, what a well-written book. So impressed. And I didn't expect it to be so FUNNY! Yeah, depressing and squalid, but funny and sometimes sweet as well. Everyone should read it. I was also happy that I could understand nearly every word (if only by sounding them out phonetically). The last and only book I read by Irvine Welsh was slightly hard going, as I didn't know the Scots vocabulary and couldn't picture the Scottish accent in my head. Now, however... nae problem at all. I've only seen half the movie (started watching it in my London flat, and then one of my flatmates wanted to change the channel, and of course I never got control of the remote) but now I'd like to watch it properly. The other cool thing about the book is that I could picture the action moving around town, because now I know most of the places in question.

As an aside, the first book I read by Mr Welsh was Ecstasy, a collection of short stories. I read this at age 16 while travelling through Europe, as Melanie Mah had brought a copy. This was possibly not a great idea, as I was a pretty sheltered child. Between that and Europe itself, I certainly got introduced to some new ideas on that trip...

I also read Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction on the weekend. I've been reading Adrian's diary since I was 13 3/4 myself (got the books as a birthday present initially) and never realised how many in-jokes and references I was missing till I moved to Britain. I'm sure I'm still missing quite a few, as I've never been to Leicestershire (lester-sheer!)

Anyway. I did do a few things on the weekend besides mope. I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Friday. I liked it a lot (I think Tim Burton and Roald Dahl are kindred spirits) although I was slightly sceptical about the dentist-father backstory. Still, it looked almost exactly right and I was very impressed with the kids (particularly Augustus Gloop and Violet Beauregarde and her mother). I also brought chocolate to eat at the movie and although I barely had any, by the end I felt like I'd been eating chocolate for two hours straight.

I also went to a play with Jen on Sunday, Guys and Dolls. It was fun, although they had a few technical difficulties. They were all young actors, though, and clearly very into it. They really gave it a lot of energy. The Fringe is a theatre freak's dream.

Last night Brandon and I went to see Tau, the Martial Art of the Drum. Man, was that ever good. Brandon got the tickets and asked if I wanted to come, and I figured it sounded cool. It was! For one thing, it was an hour of half-naked, heavily-muscled, sweaty men beating drums. Certainly can't argue with that. Besides which, it was great music, well-choreographed, and very physical in nature. I really enjoyed it and can 100% recommend it. There's something very tribal and primeval about all that drumming. I thought the same about the Beltane drummers I met on Arran.

I don't have many other shows booked (the cheap ones were this week), but I have a few in mind. Should be an interesting couple of weeks.

My ankle is still bugging me. Brandon has lent me his brace, but it just gives me blisters and I don't know what is worse!

backwards ~ onwards

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Missed anything?
moved! - 2008-05-12
Sunday = time to ramble on - 2008-05-11
apparently I'm doing monthly updates these days. Sorry. - 2008-05-04
watershed - 2008-04-06
end of trip - 2008-03-31

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