Sooo.......today
I quit my "work from home job" that I've only made $600 from since October. I had two job interviews, both of which seemed to go well.
I've also been happy the last two days, instead of "just functioning" or being depressed.
It was nice to dress up and put makeup on and do my hair for the interviews.
Today was a good day.

Have you had a good day lately? (Oh, and BGB, have a fucking great time in Tenerife!!!)
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 4:34, 58 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I've had a whole good week, and it ain't over yet.
All sorts of stuff, ranging from a cake I made that didn't put anyone in hospital, to my boss offering to help me buy a house nearer work.

But you don't want to hear about that. Yesterday I forgot how to drive a car with an automatic box (don't forget we mostly drive stick shifts in UK) I was just sitting there with both feet on the pedals with the car making a groaning noise. Massive humiliation as I was in a car service shop at the time. I thought the hand brake had stuck.

So there you are, we all look like prats some of the time.

Good luck with the job hunting. Oh, and the make up thing. You are a girl, aren't you?
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 6:54, Reply)

Yes.
And, just in case any Merkins are reading this, I CAN drive a stickshift! And change my own oil and tires!
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 6:58, Reply)

And just in case any Brits are reading this, its TYRES.
And "manual gearbox"
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 7:10, Reply)

They know what I mean.
I've been here too fucking long. 11 years in April..
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 7:12, Reply)

Any plans for coming back
or are you fully integrated now?

We have fish here as well.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 7:20, Reply)

Fully integrated.
Made a life here, there's nothing for me in the UK. Well, my brother is there and my long lost newly found dad and half brothers, but nah. I'll stay here. It's sunny most of the time.
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 7:31, Reply)

Its rainy here most of the time
but weather isn't everything.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 7:44, Reply)

True that.
But there again, you can't beat being 5 mins from the beach or 90 mins from the mountains! ;)
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 7:46, Reply)

Tell that to someone in Ohio
It is all a matter of scale and expectation.

I'm 5 minutes from a Beech Tree that I sit under and contemplate the world, It grows on the banks of a 2000 year old settlement overlooking the countryside. It doesn't matter that I'm only a couple of hundred feet up, or that there are no waves crashing nearby.

Still I've travelled a tiny bit in the states, and it am damn bootiful too.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 7:56, Reply)

For what it's worth
I live here

Edit: www.orangecounty.net/cities/CostaMesa_history.html
And I live a half mile from the historical site mentioned at the bottom
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:03, Reply)

And me here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luton
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:10, Reply)

'ERE!

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:34, Reply)

Mornin'
I didn't expect that.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:38, Reply)

She drops by on hearing the codeword
Alright!
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:48, Reply)

I'm fine thanks
Going to Astrofest tomorrow to buy a new tripod and some eyepieces.

Tonight I'm in Southall for a curry with m'colleages.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:52, Reply)

Right, either you're on about telescopes
or you've flipped your fucking lid...
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:57, Reply)

Telescopes yes.
Lid flipped years ago.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:00, Reply)

What's that star that changes colour?

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:02, Reply)

Michael Jackson

( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:03, Reply)

Right, fuck off now!

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:05, Reply)

I though you were being the straight man there
It was a superb feed.

Your Ernie to my Eric.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:08, Reply)

*bring me sunshine dance*

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:09, Reply)

You and your short fat hairy legs
What do you think of it so far?
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:14, Reply)

Waggle yer glasses

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:17, Reply)

*Waggled*

( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:20, Reply)

*phones agent*

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:23, Reply)

*phones police*
Help, this thread is falling off my screen.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:31, Reply)

Sirius
The dog star, being always low in the British sky seems to twinkle because of the starlight travelling through the atmosphere and getting churned up.

No star can quickly change colour, which is a direct result of surface temperature. All stars change colour over long time spans as they develop and eventually die.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:06, Reply)

Yes it's twinkling
and it's kind of going redblueyellowbluewhite
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:07, Reply)

If it was higher up
It would be white and not twinkle
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:13, Reply)

Got it
It turned into something else once though.
Flew round our house.
I was 10.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:19, Reply)

10 on mushrooms
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:26, Reply)

'koff right
It did.
I'm getting neck strain here. Can we move if you're gonna insult me more?
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:28, Reply)

I was driving an automatic last week
and did pretty much the same thing. Put my foot on what I thought was the clutch, and then only remembered it was an auto when I tried to put it into gear and found this funny looking lever instead.

I don't get on well with automatics. I just don't enjoy driving them.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:34, Reply)

Unfortunatley
I had an auto only about 6 years ago, and I should have remembered.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:40, Reply)

It's only boy racers here who drive manual
So try going from auto to manual....drives you batshit!

Edit: If you get a stickshift here, it's about $1K less on a new car than an automatic transmission is. Figure that one out!
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:42, Reply)

Its simpler to make,
and therefore cheaper
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:46, Reply)

Yes, I get that.
But being female and being able to drive a stickshift (manual) out here gets major props. And I'm like WTF?
I've showed a couple of guys up the last few years being able to change gears....especially slowing down changing gears without putting on the brake! Fun times!
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:52, Reply)

It's the same here
Only, by default, most cars are fitted with manual boxes and you have to pay an extra thousand or two to specify an auto. And that blunts your performance and costs more in fuel, apart from removing some driving fun. They're getting better, to be fair, and indeed the new BMW 5 series can be specced with an auto which is both marginally quicker and more fuel efficient than the manual version (at least on the standard tests) but I'm yet to be convinced!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:51, Reply)

You are Clarkson
AICMFP
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 8:53, Reply)

No
I'm not so tall and not so much of a twunt (I hope!)
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:44, Reply)

James May then?
I still want the fiver.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:46, Reply)

Possibly closer to James May than Clarkson
but with less hair!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:47, Reply)

and one less fiver
come on, cough up.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:49, Reply)

*resists coughing*
*chokes*

*turns blue*

No! You won't have that fiver!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 10:04, Reply)

Ok then
No worries






Give me the fucking fiver NOW.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 10:10, Reply)

Can you thrash the fuck out of an automatic?
cos redlining the first few gears is part of the fun. I think i'd hate drving an automatic. As you may remember in the UK you can take an easier test and only drive auto. As most Americans drive auto does that mean they do a normal test and can then just jump in a manual with no experience?
( Peej, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:00, Reply)

Yes.
I've heard horror stories from friends who have rented a car in the UK (or Europe) and fried the transmission as they didn't know how to drive manual.

And the driving test here is a piece of piss.

"Ok, drive up this street. Take your next left. Take a right here. Ok, now, back up straight 100 ft. Ok, now, there's a stop sign coming up, remember to stop. Ok, Ms. Burns....you passed 100%, it's obvious you learned to drive in the UK, would you like to become a driving instructor here?"
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:08, Reply)

If I do my driving test in a foreign country
will it be legal back in the UK?
( Peej, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:10, Reply)

Not if you intend to live there.
On vacation, it's fine, but if you want to live in the UK and have a foreign drivers license, within (I think it's) 90 days you have to take the UK test.
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:11, Reply)

A US licence (sorry license)
is good for a year, I think.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:26, Reply)

In the US, you have to renew it every two years.
Which sucks when you're a spacker and have to wait in line to renew it and your disability placard. Everyone else can do it online. Grrr.
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:27, Reply)

and what about a license from an EU country?
I'm studying for mine in Spain at the moment, but I intend to return to the UK at some point. Any ideas if i need to re-take the test?
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:36, Reply)

Not a problem
So long as you comply with the relevant UK legislation (age, sightedness etc), then your Spanish licence is good indefinitely. If you moved back here permanently you could exchange it for a UK one.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:43, Reply)

cheers
I was too lazy to get it done back home (and didnt really fancy driving around Glasgow), but I'm being co-erced into now by my missus
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 10:11, Reply)

Pretty sure you will need a UK licence after a year or so
Probably need to take the test too.

Edit: I know nothing.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 9:44, Reply)

Had a black pudding and fried egg bap with brown sauce
And all is right with the world.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Fri 5 Feb 2010, 10:15, Reply)

I suspect that part of the problem
has been that you've been working from home. Getting out of the house to work is actually pretty important- you need the social contacts.

In other news- I drove out to the University of Virginia yesterday to visit with one of the profs who's on the admissions committee. She seemed quite pleased to see me. I'm hoping this means that I have a good chance of getting in...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 5 Feb 2010, 12:11, Reply)