A Giantly Stuft Update

Okay then bloggy. Its been a minute since I was truly able to come back and deal with you like I should, but then again I have my moments when I try and deal everyday with this, and then I forget or lack the energy to really come and document like I should. The important thing is that I continue to come back and say what matters so I will.

With that, lets see. Whats happened since August 2nd? hmmm....well for one thing, Im longer in London (oh and by the way if I dont have any apostrophes in this blog its because Im using the new netbook I got from ebay and the key is way far away.) Anyway, yes I left London on August 4th and returned back to the land I understand. At least a little more than I do the UK, but Im not going to lie. I do kinda miss London but I miss individual parts of London most. I miss Trafalgar Square and the amazing art museum there, and I miss all the hot guys walking around every five seconds. Most of all I miss my friend Chimba. She was so cool and so nice, so Ill have to see what I can do about getting her over here as fast I can cause I need more Chim in my life.

Anyway got back after a terrible flight home (I think I had some kind of throat infection that was killing me on the plane; Literally I had to chew four and five aspirin over an eight hour flight just to swallow) but got home and headed over to Matts, which is technically where Ive been staying since I got here. I had made plans to head to DC and I bought my train tickets and everything, even went as far to get Mom and them to buy my Praxis ticket and a test book and I was studying for the test and everything preparing to come up and do what I needed to do for this interview, and that was until....Michael.

So Im hanging out with Shon and we head over to the $1.50 theatre to check out a bunch of movies I never got to see, and we saw the new Karate Kid, which was really good (Jayden got his ass BEAT but then he came back hard.) And were getting ready to leave when Shon sees Moms car in the parking lot, so we head back inside and find them in "Letters to Juliet." So we watched it and afterward, were out in the parking lot talking as usual, and this guy comes up with a really nice Scion SUV with a disabled license plate on the back and Dad tells me to head over and talk to him about schools that might be disabled accessible.

Well this person was Michael. And that was the start of something truly truly epic. Im talking and he gives me a card and tells me to call in and talk to his co worker Sierra about some information they can work out. And so the next day I do that, and were talking and I tell her a little about myself and what Ive been doing and she tells me that shell help. Then she calls back and tells me that she knows that a woman down the hall is looking for an assistant and that she put my name out there and to send a resume to her. So I did.

I get called for an interview the following week and I go in to meet Cynthia at the Statewide Independent Living Center, and were talking and she tells me that not only am I perfect for the job, she wants to hire me over the other 144 applicants she has. So after a long deliberation and trying to figure out what would happen if I didnt go to DC, I accepted her proposal and started to plan out when I could start. But then it changes again.

The SAME WEEK I get another phone call from this lady Rene, who is in charge of the Independent Living Center in Raleigh and also is the Executive Director of Alliance of Disability Advocates, and she wants to meet with me to talk about work as well. Now Im thinking this is the other half of the part time work that Cynthia is supplying me with as her job is only 20 hours. But going in, Im talking with Rene on that Friday, and she tells me that she took my resume from Cynthia and that she wants to hire me full time as a Disability Youth Advocate. SCORE! So needless to say, I took her offer, and as of this past Wednesday the 7th, I became an official employee with a full time job in a nonprofit disability agency.


Work is...actually pretty cool. There is so much going on and this office is like at the beginning of its life, which is cool because it means theyre going to be doing things for a few years. And lets see Ive been there technically four days and Ive already started working on the website, and Ive created a few logos for the YLF (Youth Leadership Forum) and for NCSILC (Cynthia). So yeah thats cool. Tomorrow is going to be hella long. I have a full day of work to do in conjunction with a YLF meeting in the evening from 6-9, so the good news at least is that Ill have three hours of flex time this week to use when I want, so I can leave at 2 if I choose on Friday.

On a quick note, Im still doing the apartment searching thing (its funny how I got a job faster than a house) and its become interesting because my credit is just as fucked as I assumed it would be, and thats making it harder. The good news is that over time, with the amount of money Im making (which is pretty much the same as I was in DC, slightly less but here its worth a lot), I can pay off pretty much all of that stuff in a year. So this time next year, I plan to have a totally clean record which would be great.

We were looking at this place over in North Raleigh called Ashton Pines but everyone was warning us off of it because gang activity and whatnot but the way I see it, it couldnt be worse than Temple Hills. Then again, I told myself I didnt want to live in a place like that anymore.





Then we went and got into this place Westgrove Towers behind the Blue Ridg''''''e theatre. After getting in, I get a call last week from the manager that we were not approved because of: you guessed it, my fucking credit. Well this is after weve already gone through the headache of getting Shon off the lease in this place, and weve told Matt and Big Jon that were leaving in two weeks without actually having a place to live...so yeah.

But then just yesterday were heading back from being out all morning visiting apartment complexes, and the last place we go to turns out to be one of the best. Im really REALLY hoping that we can get in here because its gorgeous. Hardwood floors, floor to ceiling windows a huge Master bedroom with a half bathroom, poolhouse and all that, I want this place, and Im thinking that we might be able to pull this off. God I hope so.

A Crazy Spiral Up/Down the Back Passage.

Oh let's see. There's a lot to cover but I would like to take this moment to simply say this is--in case the layout and commentary noted therein demonstrated enough--a blog. Let's see the definition of it shall we?

- A blog (short for weblog) is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs are defined by their format: a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order.Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog. Topics sometimes include brief philosophical musings, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and links to other sites the author favors, especially those that support a point being made on a post.

And I am a particular fan of that first sentence. If could have a public disclaimer attached it would also read something along the lines of: "the thoughts/rants/comments contained thereof are not neccessarily the properties of...etc...blah blah blah" but you get the point.

There are many MANY things I could say about this, but out of sheer respect and admiration for the way I met and interacted with a fellow author, I will stop.

Now then. With THAT out of the way.

This is the last day. The last and final day of this craziness. I will be glad to be out of this nonsense as soon as that plane can take me in a certain direction. In the last few weeks I have finally finished Skin Deep and the accompanying paper with it, and been to Chelsea Westminister hospital about four times where some strange doctor decided he wanted to view the innermost secret part of me and slid a camera into the area that has been come to be known as the "back passage." What a STUPID name. But yet it's like UK doctors don't trust themselves to say "anus" as if I'm not grown enough to handle that word. I felt like I was 11 the whole time I was talking to them. Hello people! My TV stays on Discovery Health channel. I know some of the lingo here. But anyway.

He was twirling and twisting that damn thing like it was a pixie stick and I felt it moving around my innards as he searched and scoped. Ultimately there was nothing to find (thank God) and I went next door and got a round of STD testing out of the way as I was there. Upon returning home, I discover Andrew wants to make his last and final visit this way so I agree to it.

PAUSE.

I would like to go back a day or two and just state I also spoke with a psychic a few days ago after hearing it from Chimba and she convinced me that it would interesting for me to do so. I will post her responses to me in a separate post. It was strangely enjoyable. But I don't think I'll be doing it again.

Anyway. Andrew arrived and the night started off well enough. But I noticed that he didn't look well. He looked really tired and thinner than usual (which for him is pretty thin) having been out every night the past week for various adventures. Anyway, we then got into an argument about youth crime statistics in the UK versus the US after I made a comment about how it appears that the UK has a large portion of crime committed by people under 18. And then it turned into a discussion on the evils of Fair Trade and subsidizing farmers.....yeesh. Not exactly the romantic total confession I'd been aiming for. That night was just a hot, hot mess.

I don't want to rehash details but let's say I didn't get anything out of it, and ended up doing something I shouldn't have to no avail. He fell asleep and I forced myself to fall asleep and he was gone and out in the morning and I couldn't have cared an extra iota. Strange from the change back earlier this year. But ehhh you win some. You lose some.

I had my meeting with the school's department heads or really just some talking floating heads that serve as other people's secretaries here about the situations in Roehampton. They soaked up all my information and just politely gave me that "we'll work on it" deal, which was totally fucking pointless but ehh. If the next student that comes along decides to sue to high hell for discriminatory and unlawful practice, I can only hope someone calls my phone so I can get a piece of that pie.

I've been slowly packing everything away in here getting ready to leave tomorrow and by tonight it will all be gone. I'm going to have dinner with Chim and Fiona and I will try and go to the museum today but we'll see. I may have too much to do. Tomorrow the truck comes and I'm on my way out. So then. Till the next time when we're back on American soil!!!!

The End of the Money?!

So....today was possibly the last time I'll be working for what I hope isn't a long time, as it was my final Taster Day with Tony McLeod, (who incidentally said he was going to 'powder his nose' to take a break. GAY BOOTZ!) and it was nice and easy. I'll be a little sad, I must admit. I was getting quite used to the idea of teaching a random group of kids about the wonderfulness that is Creative Writing and it was a good run. Taught me many things about myself, the most important being: that I can actually teach and I'm pretty damn good at it!

But that is not the post of this blog.

No.

I'm writing because twice today I was told to email the head of Roehampton University, which I know now must be divine providence. Obviously in the blog, I've been trying to chronicle the craziness that has been this school since I've been coming here last September. All the disappointment, the frustration, the denial, many of it the fault of the university, came to a head when I was told to tell them about it. By them, I'm referring to the Pro Vice-Chancellor and his second in command. Apparently a lot of what Roehampton has done they don't want me to expose because it will seem as really quite bad for the school, as well as it should be. So now I have to think about how I will craft this letter to talk about all the ridiculousness that this university has put me through, while simultaneously possibly asking for a job in the disability office to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future for other students.

THAT will be interesting....no?