The Visa Comes Through

The best news we’ve had in ages came through last night: Mark called us to say his visa has been approved. He should be flying back to Chicago in about ten days.

I am delighted for him. We obviously don’t want to see him go *, but after 15 months of being cast drift from Rob, his house, his cats, his clothes, his gadgets, and a proper job – in other words his whole life – it’s a huge relief that he can put his world back on track.

Mark didn’t know whether to laugh or cry on the phone: he was ecstatic but also on the verge of a tearful blubbing. Not surprising considering how stressed and pessimistic he’s been since the visa application went in. I don’t think he could dare to believe that he’d get it. Silly sausage!

I look forward to the kiss goodbye! ;)

* Who will we turn to for computer hardware and software assistance, incisive football commentary, booming laughter, and crazy birds nest hair?



An Obsession Lurks

Being new to the blog game, I didn’t really know what to expect.

It’s bloody addictive that’s what it is.

And the addiction works on two levels: I NEED and WANT to update my blog each day. I also want to do a good job, so as part of my research into what makes a good blog, I foolishly took a quick look at some random blogs that had been freshly posted to via blogger.com.

Fatal error! Don’t do it! Reading other people’s blogs should come with a government health warning. Either they are quite interesting, so you end up wasting your time reading the whole thing, and then go looking for another one; or they are incredibly bad, so you waste some time reading it and then go looking for another.

Whatever I write, I am determined not to fall into one of the apparently standard blog moulds. After randomly looking at just half a dozen blogs, I’ve encountered the following genres:

Single American Urbanite Woman Looking For A Date – Site Includes “Photo of My Cat” And Quotes From “Sex in the City”
Teenage Angst – Nobody Loves Me (But I Haven’t Met A S.A.U.W. Yet)
Iranian Student Studying English – And Not Doing Too Well In His Studies Apparently
I Am A Computer Nerd – Kill Me
My Blog Is A Radio Link From God
I Type Out Stories From Newspapers And Make A F*cking Stupid Comment About Them
I Copy Text From News Sites And Make A F*cking Stupid Comment About Them
I Am A Crazy Freak

Of course, if you’re a stranger who’s reading this after a random net trawl, you already know that you’re addicted…