Well, the day has come. It's my last night here in the US. I leave tomorrow at 7am for London. I still don't have a place to live, but I'm sure I'll manage to find a decent place within a few days.

The one thing I'm worried about is my luggage. Since I'm moving and not just going for a visit, I have to take both, summer and winter clothing. Clothing is expensive in London, and I don't want to have to buy a whole new wardrobe come this fall, so I'm forced to take my stuff with me.

The problem is that the airlines only allow you one checked bag for international flights and allow a weight of only 50lbs. I laid everything out that I wanted to take on my living room floor yesterday and it literally covered the entire living room. I was originally planning on taking two large suitcases and just paying the 25 dollars extra for the second one, but after packing the first one I realized that there was no way in hell I can manage to fit my shit into just two suitcases. A third piece of luggage costs 100 dollars, but that amounts to much less money than if you were to ship 50lbs over to London through any of the mail services. So I guess, I'm going to be taking at least 3 huge suitcases and one smaller carry on suitcase with me. The real problem is what do I do once I arrive. I don't know how I'll get from one place to another with just me and 4 bags. Normally, when we would go on vacation, we would just travel with one carry on bag each and would take the train from the airport to the city, but there is no way that I'll be able to pack myself on a train with so much shit. And even if I could, how would I get from the train station to the hotel. How can I even get from the platform to the outside of the subway station without leaving one of the bags behind while I carry the others. So I guess I'll be forced to take a cab. Hopefully, they'll take 4 bags. That will be so horribly expensive, I just know it. At least 70 pounds (which is about 100 dollars). And I'll have to do the same thing again, once I find an apartment and want to get my shit from the hotel to there. It's little shit like that that people don't think of, that causes so much stress.

The good news is that one of the recruiting agents I was in contact with back in December contacted me today. He originally told me that it will be very difficult to get me hired if I cannot physically in London, as employers will want to meet with me directly. He asked when I could come down for an interview and that is when I decided that come May I would take an extended trip the UK. There was no way that I could afford individual trips to Europe for single interviews. (Later I decided that if I'm going to find a job, then it makes no sense for me to go for a few months, but rather that I should just move, because the whole idea is to become employed and not come back until I am, so once I got a job I'd have to stay anyway)

So I told him that I was going to visit the UK sometime in May and that I would contact him then. That was the end of our communication. Well, I hadn't gotten around to doing that yet, but when I checked my email today, I found an email from him asking if I had made my plans to come to London yet. He remembered me. This is a good sign. It means that I'm marketable and that he didn't just throw my resume to the side and forgot about me.

Faben will be staying here for the time being. There is an immigration issue that I have to get straightened out. I am a European Union citizen, hence I can come and go and work in any European Union country without any visas or documents, (other than a passport), but the countries that joined the union in 2004 have different immigration policies when it comes to family than the original EU members. Basically, a person cannot invite their non EU citizen family members until they've worked in the UK for at least 12 months. I know that this applies to spouses, parents and siblings, but I'm not totally sure about dependents. But if that is the case, Faben won't be able to join me until next year. And by that time, she'll have only one year of high school left, so she may not even want to leave until she's done with school. I am however in the process of establishing her Polish citizenship, so maybe she'll be able to come much sooner.

Thank god for Skype and webcams. At least I'll be able to see her everyday.

I think my mom is more sad than she'd like to admit. She was the one that egged me on to hurry my ass up and go to Europe because she wants to move as well but wants me to settle first so that she'll have a place to stay. She cannot stand living with my step father any longer and has been planning her escape for quite a while. Friday she surprised me with a girls day out. She took me to get a facial, manicure and pedicure and then out to lunch. This is a big deal for my mom, because she NEVER does nice shit like that. As much as she talks shit about me mooching off of her, I know she likes having me around. I keep the house animated and it will be much too quiet and sad once I'm gone.


It still hasn't hit me as to how crazy this is. But as you all know and anyone else that knows me knows that I always wanted to go back to Europe. I was never happy living here. Not happy with the political system, with the welfare system, education system, health care (or lack there of) and basically with the over all American culture, and I really could not justify my views while remaining living here. I had to follow through on that whole "if you don't like it, then leave" shit every conservative and patriot threw at me. It's not as easy as it sounds. To move to another country. First and foremost you need a visa and to get a working visa for a European country is next to impossible these days. They go on a point system, and back in the day if you had a BA, and some experience that would be enough to get a visa, but they raised the amount of points needed now, and basically if you don't have a masters degree, you're not getting a visa. Thank god I didn't have to go through all of that. You also need a shit load of money. Most people don't have that much saved or can't manage to save enough and still pay bills. Thankfully things worked out for me in that regard. Plus, if you're a single parent like me, you need a support system to help you because it's basically impossible to do it on your own.

I literally know no one in England and have no one to help me out, but whatever, I'll deal with it. It would be nice to know someone with a car. What if I want to buy somekind of small piece of furniture or a shit load of kitchen shit for my house? Do I have to take a taxi everytime I do that? I can't carry huge ass boxes all by myself from the store to the subway and to my apt. And I can't even rent a car, which I thought of initially, (wit would be less expensive and i could so all my shopping in one day) because I don't know how to drive on the other side of the street!

My best friend recently moved to Italy, so at least I'll be able to see her more often than if I were living here. Flights from London to Italy can be purchased for as little as 30 pounds!

I'm sorry I didn't get to see you guys before I left. It just was so hectic. But I promise to keep everyone updated on my adventures from abroad and will be sure to come back and visit as often as possible.

I love you guys,

Cheerio!

hmm...i'm on a roll today. second post of the day.

i'm confused about this. i'm not sure how i feel about wooden technology. somehow i don't find it surprising that this should come out of russia.


watches---used to be coveted by russian tsars, now they are worth $20,000.




modern computer mouse.




















just for the record, this is the first mouse ever created back in 1964. Douglas Engelbart





modern cell phone. ---well..it's not so modern anymore since smartphones came on the market, but still...










and computers.....reminds me of the steampunk versions that are floating out there.
























don't forget about my other post below.

i must say, they're pretty crafty. my fave is the godfather tribute.

















if youre interested in seeing a few more not so interesting ones, go here:

i'm leaving on May 19th for london. we have to plan something before i go, k?

They're eating a freshly killed deer or elk. That little girls lips are not that red from lipstick, they're covered in blood.