#AugustBreak2013 Day 24

Took a walk into City Centre to get exercise today. I’ve been in this computer chair a lot more than usual and my back gives me little signals that it’s had enough.

We were looking for one of the food festivals, but we found nothing going on except Match Day, so we stayed out of the rain in the Burger King. Afterwards, we bought Saints Row IV, which Steve and I have been playing for the evening. It was just going to be an add-on to Saints Row III, but they made a whole new game out of it. Pretty fun, but a lot like the last one. I missed the driving and shooting; I am not the greatest at aiming though, so I get frustrated really easily with missions.

That’s about all for today, honestly. I didn’t do a dang thing for writing, which is going to amp my daily word count goal considerably. I’m usually too tired to even read much at night, so tomorrow is going to have to be catch up time.

#AugustBreak2013 Day 9

This morning I had to go see the Nurse for my check up (hooray), then I decided to treat myself to a breakfast. Sainsbury’s café was closed for upgrades until the end of the month and both McDonald’s and the M&S café were just ridiculous busy. I had to take my word processor, my book, my Kindle, and myself back home. No work done this morning.

After I ate way, way too much Chinese Take Away (they had a sale at M&S), I took my nap, then had to go out again for the chiropractor’s appointment. My back’s doing better but I’m still under the orders to swim more. I’m not recommended to jog, which I contemplated since the weather’s nice, but he didn’t recommend it. Don’t have to tell me twice.

When I was finished there, I only had about 30 minutes to enjoy my triple caramel frappuccino light and read the preface by Capote in Music for Chameleons. The intro discussed his writing, which is just cool because I forget how much I’ve liked reading Capote in the past. He’s definitely unique with a good perspective on the art.

“I will say only that all a writer has to work with is the material he has gathered as the result of his own endeavour and observations, and he cannot be denied the right to use it. Condemn, but not deny.”

“When God hands you a gift he also hands you a whip; and the whip is intended solely for self-flagellation.  ….It was a lot of fun [writing] at first.  It stopped being fun when I discovered the difference between good writing and bad, and then made an even more alarming discovery: the difference between very good writing and true art; it is subtle, but savage. And after that, the whip came down!”

Afterwards, I picked Steve up and we headed to Tesco for dinner and shopping. I love that place. We have a huge, new Tesco now and I can pretty much find everything I need there because they have a lot of American food and kosher food which I didn’t really think about before, but we do use the pickles and the noodles from those aisles in Florida. It’s really been a long time coming to be able to have the food items you don’t necessarily have to get straight away, but you know the option is there. Our Sainsbury's just got flavoured coffee last month (Tesco doesn’t even have that in all, oddly), so the limits are something you’re very, very aware of when you’ve lived in the land of “Get Everything You Ever Wanted 24 Hours A Day.”

Also, when the UK says their store is open 24 Hours, they mean except the weekend. *shakes head in dismay*

My links for today include:

• E. B. White explains why he wrote “Charlotte’s Web”
• Books To Read When You’re In The Mood To Cry For Days

#AugustBreak2013 Day 5

It was raining this morning, so I took Steve into work today. I then went off to my local Next / Starbucks to get some work done. While it’s still summer, I found they had the Fall collection out. I know Brits poo-poo Next, but I always loved it in there. Granted I don’t really have the money or need to wear the cuteness, but I like to look anyway. I love the feeling that Autumn gives you, like when school starts again and there’s this hope for a whole new, exciting school year. This can only be accomplished, of course, with sweater sets and wool skirts. Sadly I just don’t need to buy such things anymore. Sort of makes me feel less girlie when I don’t shop, but my whole day consists of hanging out in a café, a swimming pool, a grocery store, or my house. Cuteness isn’t really required there.

There use to be a time though when I was a mad shopper. Now I do it in tiny, responsible sessions.

But the most important thing is that I started the week with over 800 words, so I’m still plugging away at the project, or WIP, as the writer blogs like to say. I’ve also decided to finally read Mockingjay even though I heard how much of a disappointment it is from the first book. I’ll have to update bookblogarama about that too. I was also trying to catch up with Downton Abbey last night on LoveFilm’s ITV Player. I know the big story events, but I’ve missed a lot of episodes from the middle of Season 2 and all of Season 3, pretty much. I know it’s hard to believe, but I lost interest after a while, but I was glad to watch again.

The driving begins

It’s almost June and it’s gotten cold enough to switch the space heater on in the living room. Surely I will live to be a ripe, old age because I’ll never thaw out. Where is summer?

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I have been busy living this thing we call, “life.” On Wed, the 15th of May, I passed my Practical Driving Test! Changing instructors was the best thing I ever did for myself. It only took 3 months of driving with her and I passed my test on the first try after the switch. She’s awesome and while I’m relieved to have that stupid test over with, I’ll miss my lessons.

So, after passing my test, I was exhausted emotionally - the whole process is a 40 minute drive that renders you mindless because you’re so freaking nervous. But I went to search for cars as I had been doing for a year since I started learning to drive.

Let me tell you what an absolute pain buying a car can be. First, I wanted to try the Kia Soul because it’s so stinking cute. They had a used silver one at Benfield and I took the Metro, then walked all over creation, including a busy highway, just to get to the car lot. The salesman was nice, and I drove on some quieter roads, just to get the feel of the car. I drove it pretty well, and I would have bought it, but Steve assured me that I should try out some others. I asked about the promotions they have for the Nissans there, but was told that the £115 a month sales on the Micras were only if you put down a huge £3000+ deposit. No thanks. I told them I’d be back for the Kia once my husband was available to look on Saturday. Of course the salesman wanted to drop the car off at the house to ensure we focused in on the one car, but I declined the generous offer.

I moved on to Evans Halshaw because we had looked at new Hyundais a while back. The salesman there was nice and he had to shoo off another salesman as we were looking (to which he apologized for his co-workers actions.) We really thought we’d get that i20, even after we looked at the Vauxhall Adam which was too small, but very cute. The salesman at the Vauxhall branch leaned in the window very intrusively as well, and we wanted to get out the minute we got in. Well, when I went back to Evans to look at used Hyundais, I noticed that few cars had any info on them. When I asked for the mileage on an i30, some super pushy salesman came out, stood in the door of the car so I couldn’t get out, told me all about how Evans was the best place to buy because people always come back. After sitting in the stupid car for 1 minute, the pushy salesman goes, “So, do you want it?” I really should have laughed at him, but instead I had to push past him to get out of the stupid car, and told him how I wasn’t going to buy anything until Saturday. He tried to get me to buy some weird looking Peugeot too which was and never has been in my consideration list. (No offense to Peugeot.)

After escaping the pushy salesman with the, “yeah, yeah, here’s my number, I’ll be back Saturday,” b.s. the salesman went, “Well when you come back Saturday, don’t talk to anyone else but me!” He also gave me his card twice within the minute I was there, and printed off info about the i30 and said Peugot for me to take home. I threw them out at the gas station next door. He’s called at least 20 times since that meeting as well. Next time he calls, I’ll tell him to bugger off.

Aside from being full of pushy salesmen, Evans also is in a really crappy area of town. On my way back to the Metro station, I also got accosted by yet another drunk who was being looked for by the police and wanted to pretend he knew me. I talked to Steve on my mobile as I walked to the Metro with a drunk dude with a shopping sack full of wine. I was ready to buy that Kia and forget ever taking public transport again after that. Good Lord, I must just look really nice or something.

Anyway, I went home and looked online for other cars I could compare with the Kia at Benfield. When you use their online chat, there’s one rep who contacts the local dealership about the car you’re interested in. When I went to chat the second time, they threw the original rep at me who was questioning me about the Kia. “Yeah, yeah, it’s fine, but can I see another car to compare it with?” Their site indicates that any car on any of their nationwide lots can be brought up to another dealership for viewing. I mentioned this in my previous posts on the history of my car ownership and my speculative U.K. car purchase that I have had 2 Toyotas in my past and both of them served me well. I asked Benfield if I could take a look at an Auris they had listed. They said they could but it was in Leeds and I’d have to pay them £100 to have it brought up to look at. What? No. I could go to the local Toyota dealership and look at hundreds of them for free.

And that’s what I did. I looked at two Aurises from Hodgson Toyota and chose a black one that I took through Northumberland on my test drive. (I didn’t realize Northumberland was that close because I’d never driven a car through there before.) The salesman was nice and not pushy at all. He drove me back and forth to the bus station as we went through my paperwork visit too. I like my Auris because it’s pretty much set up like my old Corolla that I sold when I moved to England. I picked it up on Saturday the 18th, just before they closed (we took a detour to the Toby Carvery and then slugged through traffic in the taxi.) Now it’s sitting out front with my “P” (for “passed my driving test” – my U.S. friends were confused by that) and my Hello Kitty magnet from EPCOT on it. It’s been well taken care of and I’m extremely happy with my executive decision to buy what I know.

As for the roads and the actual driving – oh my. Steve bought me a Garmin which helps me immensely, but I still get nervous and freaked out about getting in the wrong lane or taking the wrong exit. It’s not like being in Orlando and knowing, relatively, how to get back towards the coast to get back home. But now that I have a car, the supply teaching jobs have been pouring in. I’ve also been driving myself to teaching jobs, which is way better than taking the bus for an hour. My first assignment was to go up the highway/motorway to Alnwick (pronounced “Annick”) which was a 40 minute drive in the country. Basically it’s Virginia, just on the opposite side of the street up there. I was scared to death to do it, but I did. I took wrong exits and just followed the Garmin’s instructions to get back. Sometimes I get confused by what lane/exit to take because once you get in the roundabout you have options. I hate that. Tell me to go here and here for the A1. That’s all I need to know. Sometimes the exits aren’t even marked, you just have to hope that you followed the roundabout sign 50 feet ago and the lane markings correctly. (Yes, we have signs and writing on the lane. Confusing!) But I’m really enjoying working in Primary Schools so maybe they’ll hand me a job next school year or something. At least I can drive to it.

But anyway, I’ve been driving Steve back from work, and we’ve been able to do more, as I predicted. Yesterday we went back to Beamish. It took 10-15 minutes but I had to go on these super windy, tiny, hilly, narrow country roads to get there. I’ve seen roads like that in Ohio when I was little, but back then I wasn’t in charge. I had no intention of going 60 mph as the speed limit indicated. I took my sweet time and made it without having too much of a heart attack.

So that’s my story of the driving. I am still in the not 100% sure of what I’m doing mode but I’m not going to be too hard on myself – I’ve seen plenty of people who don’t look like they know what they’re doing either.

Video games, books, and cars

Ah, it’s a nice, rainy day in England. I’m still wondering when a full attack of Spring will be upon us. I’ve been turning on the oscillating fan in the living room on at night, so I guess it’s getting a bit less like winter. Still chilly and windy so I need some sort of coat when I leave the house. After living in Florida for all those years, even if I wasn’t an outdoorsy beach person, it’s hard to live in a place that doesn’t have an inviting kind of day that makes you want to go outside.

Anyway, I’ve been playing The Sims 3 a lot lately. This has been my go-to obsessive game for years. When The Sims first came out, my poor PC couldn’t even handle it and I had to reboot it over and over. But the game was amazing fun, so it was worth it. There’s no skill involved in playing The Sims either; you just mess around in a little pretend world and screw up characters’ lives. Fun. Plus there are so many expansion packs, I’d work a couple of days just to buy them all. (No, I’m not kidding.)

Actually, I screwed up my back initially when I started playing The Sims again in March. I sat here at the computer desk for hours, leaning forward, then when I was on the coach watching The Hunger Games, I realized it was a bit sore. By the next week I was out for the count. Sims are fun, but not worth all that.

Also, I moved my book reviews and weekly reading memes to a new site: bookblogarama. I needed a fresh start because I see so many really well done book sites and I wanted one too. So I’ve started adding things to the Tumblr site too. Projects are nice to have, especially when they give you something to look forward to every day, and reasons to investigate things.

I went to City Library on Tuesday to investigate World Book Night. I wrote on my netbook in the cafe over my £2 Americano while I listened to the music in the atrium. I found no free book giving though (unless you could the books that you can borrow for free anyway.) I did check out Me Before You from the World Book Night display by the cafe so my mission was complete. I had to meet up with Steve so I didn’t stay for the Murder Mystery event they were having afterwards – that seemed fun.

And I’m still not test-ready because stopping on hills in a manual-shift car is just not an easy thing to do. So I keep practicing until I have this down pat, or I throw in the towel and opt for an automatic (which, in most cases, is considered a mobility vehicle in the UK.) But in order to keep my options open, I’m sticking to the stick shift and the steep banks. Incidentally, I found an article on USA Today called 10 cheapest cars: Why (almost) nobody buys them. that are supposedly they cheapest. They claim that, “the bottom-price model has a manual transmission. Few can or will drive a stick-shift nowadays.” Just the opposite goes for us in England. Also, USA Today sites issues with insurance that is different here too. Insurance is based on size of the car and its engine, so like a Fiat 500 is in the lowest price bracket.

But when I get my license, I’ll try plenty of them out. Now that both Steve and I have hurt our backs, I’m thinking a little car that sits low to the ground may not be the best choice. Sorry, Mini. Cute, fun, little Mini.

My first UK car–which should I choose?

From my last post, I mentioned that I have driven in Florida since I was 16. Now that I’ve been carless for 2 years and 4 months, I’m almost ready to take on the British road system. This means I can’t just go grab a car that I like off the lot, I have to take a lot into consideration. Size, price, reliability, gas mileage, number of doors, insurance price, tax price, and whether or not I can actually drive the silly thing.

Steve and I have a theory about Vauxhall Corsas – driving instructors must choose the hardest car to drive, so that you can drive anything one you pass your test. I’m suspecting the car I first learned on was a diesel. You couldn’t do anything in second gear, heck you couldn’t even change the gears. (My first instructor had two of them, both made audible clunking sounds and I had to hold the gear stick just right, otherwise it would not go into 3rd for anything.) You also have to dance your feet all around, constantly just to keep the car still with the clutch control. Even the turn signals were rubbish and you had to constantly mess around with those to keep them on (one click full down to turn it on, one half click down to turn it off or something stupid like that.) The set up for the headlights were all over the dash too, not just on the windshield wiper and turn signal levers at the steering wheel like every other car. Even Jeremy Clarkson said, “Vauxhall has never made anything decent.” Now that I drive in a better car (with a better instructor) I’d never consider buying a Corsa.

I’m learning on a 2010 Honda Civic now. Before, I was convinced that I’d never be able to drive anything larger, different, ect. than the Corsa but man, was I wrong. Even on the first lesson, I could hold that car still at a traffic light way, way easier than the Vauxhall. There’s a lot of ease to the pedals, and the gears too that make this car a contender for me whenever we start looking to buy. Granted, I would get a used one because the new ones are pricey. The 2010s aren’t bad, but the 2006s are a bit ugly. Plus, the back of the car has that spoiler in the middle of the window, so it’s kind of hard to see out of the back of it. I like the big side mirrors though (unless they come dangerously close to parked cars.) It’s also a bit too big I think but I don’t want anything too small like all the other hatchbacks around here are.

I know he’s the most popular car in the UK, and they’re really reliable, practical, etc. but the Ford Focus does not evoke any kind of emotion other than, “Bleck,” with me. They’re everywhere, and reviews say they’re cheap to service and maintain (a big plus) as well as being able to get a decent one for under £6000 (a huge plus.) But my parents owned a Ford Taurus once that died in a horrible way right after they bought it used. I kind of don’t trust Fords now (terribly unAmerican, I know) but I may have to get one of these if I drive it and like it. I still say it looks masculine and is a bit too big. (And ugly, don’t forget ugly.)

I love these little Minis, it’s true. I mean, how can you not love a little face on a car like that? (Very girlie, I know.) I know they’re rated high and, heck, made for the type of driving I’ll be doing. For under £6000 I could get a decent one but I’d need to make sure it had air conditioning and low mileage and that may be a bit tricky. I’m thinking of just having my first car for a few years, so this isn’t a bad option (is it?) I mean, there’s only 2 doors and the hatchback. It sits close to the road so I’m not sure how safe it is (but heck, I’ve been in one that drove on 1-4 in Orlando and that’s insanity waiting to happen.) I just don’t know if I should go the practical route or enjoy my first little car that can zip around British streets (if I can, in fact, get it to zip up hills with my driving learning impairment.)

Of course, I’ve considered just going back to my roots with the tried and true Toyota. The Auris would be the modern version of my Corolla if they still made them in the UK. Sadly, Whatcar doesn’t rate them very high but Parkers gives them 4/5 stars. I can get a decent one for the same price as the ones above. I’ve not driven a manual Toyota here, but my past Toyotas ran without giving me any problems, so I may play it safe with this one. The Yaris looks like it may be a bit too small for us, but I could always try him out too.

I don’t know why I can’t fall in love with this Fiat Panda. He’s cute, the right size, and prices right with good reviews but I’m just not sure. We sat in one when we first looked at cars. It’s got a really neat set up inside too, but I’m way more about practicality than how the interior looks. There’s a lot of stuff going on inside, and the handbrake is an odd, boxy shaped thing. I’m not opposed to test driving one, but I’m still semi leery about buying a Fiat since I hear it’s been called a Fix It Again, Tony for so long.

I’ve researched used car sales, new car sales, Top Gear reviews and consumer reviews. I’ve looked at these top contenders up here as well as:

Nissan Note - is it too narrow in the cabin?

Hyundai i20 – drove a Hyundai in Florida during last vacation, but read that the gears are clunky on the manuals here, plus I’m not sure if this is too small either

Volkswagen Polo – price is the issue, especially price to maintain, and size compared to the Golf

Kia Soul – it is so stinking cute, but I think it’s too big for over here because it was taller than me, plus bad reviews.

So what so you think I should get? Are any of these a definite Yes or No?

Read part one of my car journey: History of My Automobiles’ Past

History of my Automobiles’ Past

When I bought my cars in Florida, it just happened. My parents loaned me their beige Pontiac right after I first got my license, until I took over their Chevy Beretta. Dear Lord, did I love that car. Just looking at old pictures of it, makes me nostalgic. Cars should give you that kind of emotion. You should feel a kinship to them. My first, proper car. He was so fast (I got it at 120 on US1 in the middle of the night one time.) The bottom was low and the front scraped a lot if you hit a speed hump too hard (as if those really deter you from going fast.) I had this from the time I was 17 up to age 22 or so, I guess. Ah, Beretta. I miss you!

I couldn’t even watch when my Beretta was taken away. When he finally died, I got myself a Geo Prism – a Chevy with a Toyota engine. This car took me to Orlando twice a day in many cases. I went to college, my friend’s apartment, the club, everywhere. I even remember the first day I got it and taking it to Downtown Orlando thinking the lights weren’t on bright (because my Beretta just did stuff, without a hitch you know?) It was almost totalled when an elderly lady pulled out in front of me on US1, one morning on the way to class. It even got broken into once (I do not miss being downtown.) Sadly, after I started work as a full-time teacher, the signs were there that my Geo was on his last legs, er, wheels. Mind you, the A/C always worked and the paint was a mess from the Florida sun, but he was still running.

I looked online, and for under $10k, was a 2003, green-silver Toyota Corolla on sale at the local Nissan dealership. I went down, drove it, and bought it. Nothing fancy at all. No power windows, no alarm, no sports pack. In fact, I resented the stupid car because despite it being a Toyota with the same, cute headlights, it wasn’t my Prism and I still drove that little clunker around until he was finally taken away as well. I had both of them parked in front of my apartment for a while too. But I learned to love him, and I called him Yoda (as in Toy-Yoda.) The Corolla did me very, very well so I’m an avid Toyota fan. It survived a side-swiping and the back seat full of crap that I put in there (I always brought everything in my car.) I even picked Steve up from the airport on his first visit to America in my Corolla. But when I moved, I had to have my folks sell my little Yoda for $4k. He had the side scraped up, and the check engine light going, but he was still going strong after having him for 8 years.
So now that I’ve been carless for 2 years and four months, I’m trying to figure out which should be my first, British car. I’ll discuss what I’ve considered, and the research I’ve found on each one in my next post.
Read part two of my car journey here: My first UK car–which should I choose?

The bus station and the crazies who lurk inside

It’s nice to sit here this morning and listen to the bird’s singing out my window. It seems like Spring is upon us, but it’s still way cold and it snowed a bit yesterday morning. Wonder how Florida is today…

Yesterday I had a bit of a situation. First, I travelled to the local JobCentre to sign up a new claim. I’m sure I’m not eligible for compensation, but I wanted to see if there was anything they could do for me to try and find full time work somewhere. I was interested to see the types of people who were among the unemployed ranks: everyone. Seriously. All sorts of people where in there. People as young as 18, people much older, and people my age.

It’s not a pleasant place to be, obviously, but I honestly don’t know how any large amount of people can be living off of the system. You have to produce 10 job posts that you’ve applied for, and check in every two weeks. I’m suspecting that most of these people are like me; applying over and over and getting nothing back from the employers. (At least some of them interview me and/or send a nice note letting me know I wasn’t chosen for the role.)

After I went to the JobCentre, got my groceries, even allowed a lady and her granddaughter to use the pay-toilet after me so she didn’t have to shell out 20p, I had my encounter.

I was sitting on the bench in the bus station, waiting for Steve to call me. There was some big, loud, ginger dude talking to some lady and her kid about a phone to my left. I wasn’t paying much attention except I could hear the woman yelling, “Stop it"!” to the (presumably) the kid, as the guy continued loudly blahblahblahing. I’ve seen my share of loud, obnoxious people in town because, heck, they’re going to be everywhere you go. I didn’t think much else about it, until the lady and her kid walked off and the drunk dude came up to me, an inch from my face, blathering about something.

Now, since I live by the age-old practice of “Don’t acknowledge and don’t make eye contact,” so potential crazies will leave me alone, I did just that. But when he got closer to me, slurring about how he wanted to use my phone, and he’s give me a quid (no money visible, of course.) I was like, “What? No.” Seriously. Are you kidding me? Then he got pissed off. “But I need to call my effing neighbour!” I just kept telling him, “No. Absolutely not. No,” and putting my hand up for him to back off. He then proceeded to shout and call me all sorts of names (some of which I don’t know the meaning of) and he went on, ranging and raving through the bus station about what an effing blankety-blank I was.

I may be, dude. But I ain’t stupid.

That was enough to shake me up a bit, so I tried to find a security person of some description, but finally settled on going into the ticket agent’s and telling her about the incident so she could alert security. Steve called and I grabbed the next bus so I could get the heck out of Dodge.

Steve wanted to make sure that I reported the incident to the police, so I called the non-emergency number and let her know some crazed, drunken man was trying to get cell phones off of people. My concern was people with little kids or elderly people (though I’ve seen some of them in town who will push and shove to get on the bus or through a store, so I doubt they’d be very intimidated.) When I talked to the police, the dispatcher told me that I should have called 999 right then and there to let them know. I told them it wasn’t anything I needed to make a statement about, but the police still wanted to come over and talk to me.

About an hour later I had a nice policewoman in my kitchen discussing the woes of people with drug and alcohol problems in public, as well as the phone theft concern. She told me she had a friend in London who grabbed a phone out of her hand while she was sitting on the bus. (Remind me never to live there, would you?) I told her about the situations I’d seen at the schools in Florida with kids blatantly stealing phones from other students and even teachers. Heck, when I worked at the NASA contractor, one of my friends had her phone stolen off her desk. When we were at O2 over the weekend, we saw that an iPhone can cost up to £719 out-right. Good thing I only have a Windows phone, but still.

In Orlando, it was illegal for people to be visibly drunk in public and cops were everywhere, waiting to nab someone. Here, according to the policewoman, it’s illegal for anyone to shout obscenities like that in public. (Can you imagine how many people in Florida would be arrested if that were the case there?) The logic is, children may hear this, or elderly people would be intimated (heck, it intimidated me) by the rude, loud, bullying type of behaviour. The policewoman thought that these kinds of incidences would be more prevalent here. I told her Americans have less shame about being rude to people; plus they may or may not have a weapon.

Moral of the story is: sit around other people, not alone on a bench where no one can see craziness take place. Be aware of your surroundings. Stay away from loud, potentially drugged/drunk/mentally disturbed people.

And drive a car because the bus station can get creepy.

When I Get A Job

I really should update on what’s been going on with me lately. Last week I was able to try out for three different teaching positions, which is a huge accomplishments when I sat here for over a year and a half without so much as an offer to be a support assistant.

On Monday I went to a Secondary School to work with some kids who may need me any time between now and April until the end of the term. After I spent the day there, I high-tailed it to do an interview and 15 minute lesson at a college where I applied to teach English (basically freshman English for those of us who hail from America.) Then on Thursday I was able to do a 30 minute try-out lesson at a Primary School.

Any of these jobs would be great to have but the Primary School is closer so it would be nice to have a short commute. I’ve taught college English before (in fact, that was my last teaching position I had in Florida) so that is a really nice opportunity too. The Secondary School is a bit out of the way, but I figured out the bus by the time I left the afternoon of my initial try-out day. Again, any of these would be a welcome relief since I am so ready to not be in the house every day.

Of course, I have my projects I want to keep working on, and the Secondary School position isn’t 5 days a week, so I would have time to continue doing my work at home as well. It’s just such a nice relief to not have to be glued to Twitter all day just because I have nothing better to do.

It’s a weird thing, being alone all day. The more use to it you get, the more you forget that there’s a whole world going on outside that you could be a part of. I try to convince myself that I don’t mind it, but once I start going into schools, I remember how good it feels to use my day productively. I like helping kids. I like being out in the fresh air. I like feeling useful.

I also like being able to have money and I’ve made a list of things I plan on getting once I finally have another job lined up:

• A car
• Insurance for the car
• DAB for the car
• TomTom for the car
• Makeup from Avon
• Dresses
• Nice skincare products from ProActiv, Lush, Lancôme, etc.
• Girlie DVDs such as Gone with the Wind, Dirty Dancing, Mean Girls, Ten Things I Hate About You, Heathers, Clueless, Carrie, The Twilight Saga (I know, I know! I even got the soundtracks on Zune player today.)
• Go to teaching workshops- Read, Write Inc., etc.

Of course, books are on the list too, but I have a handful of them (at least) on my Currently Reading list as is. I will try to update Unfinished Book Reviews on Wednesday and Friday too. I always feel bad when I miss those posts because I have opinions on what I’m reading that I should be posting.

Besides, if I’m working, I’ll have less time to read anything outside of school. I’ll use that money to take Steve out to dinner, and to buy my parents biscuits in cute, British souvenir tins instead.

Wish me luck! (Again.) Jobs and a career are so much nicer and rewarding than watching daytime telly all week.

New desk day

Today we had the groceries delivered at 10:45 by Tesco. Since it was cold and rainy (a wonderful combination) we took a taxi to the MetroCentre. There we had lunch at the Chinese buffet, walked around, then went to the retail park for Starbucks and a visit to IKEA.

Now that the Christmas tree is put away, I decided we need a desk in the corner of the living room. After much debate we chose the smaller white desk with the green drawer. We also grabbed the £9 yellow Jules chair even though it didn't have roller wheels.

Since we had to watch Celebrity Big Brother tonight, the desk is only half finished. Jake has already claimed the chair for himself - as he should with his catty ways.

It's getting down to 27F soon. It snowed for a bit today, as the taxi driver told us, and it's going to snow Monday and Tuesday. That means me, the netbook, and the new desk are going to be spending a lot of time indoors next week.

Sent from my iPhone

Back to normal

Eldon Square, Newcastle - Win 7 camera with auto-fix

Yesterday we eventually did get out and about. We went up the steep hill to the charity shop to donate our old toaster. There isn’t anything desperately wrong with it, aside from it being really over-zealous about toasting. It did not make our smoke detector happy but neither does our oven, grill, or stove top.

We took the bus, went into town, got some decongestants from Boots which are, as the clerk behind the pharmacy counter claimed, “the strongest you can get without a prescription.” When I took them last night it did nothing for my stupid ear. Now Steve and I are just hanging out calling, “What?” to one another because we can’t hear anything. Wish this would just go away. The sneezing and coughing isn’t nearly as bad as it was but it’s still there to remind us that these germs aren’t going away. Steve suggested that we had a cold after my flu. Whatever it is, I’m tired of it.

Since we wanted to find relief from the stuffy head symptoms, we went to Nando’s for hot chicken. It’s always way too busy so when we were on our way to the Chinese buffet and we saw that there wasn’t a long wait for chicken, we took the opportunity to treat ourselves. They have cloudy lemonade that is, by all American accounts, “proper” lemonade. Very tart, non-fizzy and so, so good.

After our chicken dinner, we hit Paperchase where I already ordered sale item notebooks, but this time I found a couple of earbud cord wraps (one spider, one garden gnome) and some pens. I still have yet to use all the notebook I bought previously but I was still tempted to buy more.

Before heading home we went to Krispy Kreme where their prices trick me into buying a whole dozen. The coffee’s awesome and I could eat six maple iced donuts in one sitting but I don’t plan on running a marathon anytime soon, so I have one at a time.

Once we got home we took the Christmas tree decorations down. Sad. It’s especially sad when we were sick all holiday so we couldn’t enjoy it as much as we’d have liked to. Today Steve threw the tree out and I filled in my Leave to Remain form for UK settlement. I’m going to be so glad when that stuff is all over.

The first week

Today I spent the morning on the couch, trying to get this stupid sinus headache/earache stuffiness to go away. I was awakened by the pleasant surprise of my Tassimo delivery, courtesy of my £20 voucher that I received in the box with the new machine. I think I’m set for quite a while. I also came home to a delivery of a Christmas gift that included a ton of Dunking Donuts coffee. My parents had sent me some Barnie’s Santa’s White Christmas coffee as well, so yeah, totally stocked up for months.

My biggest accomplishment today was going to the salon. I decided to ditch the highlights and go for an all-over natural dark brown. I only had my hair dyed at home (and I messed it up really bad on my own, I tell you.) so this was a treat. It was pricier than usual but now I only have to do the root touch ups to keep the tell-tale signs of age from creeping back on my scalp.

I bought Steve some more supplies since he’s still feeling badly. I hope we both get over this stupid flu soon. I’m tired of feeling like an invalid and I know he is too.

I was thinking tonight that after mentioning the blog post regarding how many blogs writers actually need, I’m going to go back to having my author website forwarded to the blog. I may cross post later on, but for now, I’ll just stick to this since my updates are all here.

Tomorrow I plan on going back to the gym for my second jog/walk of Couch to 5K. Wish me luck!

Too busy to blog

Earl Grey Monument

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted since I started work. Now I have two weeks of teaching English in England under my belt. I’m very lucky to be at the school I am because it’s just a world of difference from the public schools of Florida’s boondocks. (And if you’ve ever been to Florida’s boondocks and seen the schools, you know what I mean.) The kids are still getting use to their new, American teacher but they’re polite and smart. The faculty is super supportive as well so, yes, I’m happy where I am.

I’ve obviously had to quit NaNoWriMo this year too. It’s a shame but the second book in the series will get finished one day. I’ve also not promoted my book on Amazon and Smashwords so I’ll have to set up some automatic updates for my Twitter account – my very neglected Twitter account. It’s honestly a bit of a relief to not feel I have to use it. I like a lot of people on there but my following list has gotten to the point where I can’t keep up with anything.

Anyway, this is an extremely short post. We’ve already started Christmas shopping and even visited Newcastle’s Christmas Market last night (very, very cold but luckily we found some mulled wine to warm us up.) I’m taking my Life in the UK Test and my Practical Driving Test in December as well. Once I have that completed, I plan on heading out to find us a car.

No more waiting in the cold for the bus to come! Hooray!

Hope everyone in the US has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We’re celebrating with a turkey dinner but it’s just not the same. I hate missing the Black Friday sales too. Oh well, at least some stores ship to the UK.

Okay, fine, I admit it–I want a job

Durham Castle, England

I am finally beginning to understand a simple fact of life: when I stop worrying about things and trying to make them happen, they work out just fine.

Last week I wrote about how I had to accept that I'm my own boss and that no school is going to give me a job with my lack of Englishness and English experience. I had been called fairly often by one of the five teaching agencies that I signed up for. Each time they kept trying to get me a position somewhere and even one place they asked me to interview but it was too far and my holiday was coming up anyway. But they kept telling me they were putting my resume forward for different English teaching positions which I just thought was pointless since nothing’s happened for almost a year now.

Last week they told me they had a school they were trying to get me in for to teach Key Stage 3 (middle school) English and the teaching agency was going to offer to pay for me to come in for a few days on a trial run basis to see if they wanted to hire me on. That was fine, I told them, and figured I’d never hear back about it. I had already decided that I was staying home and writing the second book in my project’s series. I already set up my own imprint, fancies up my blogs (including my author page), and worked on the blurbs for the cover and the Smashword descriptions. Plus, NaNoWriMo is coming up next week – I’m a busy lady! I was not going to worry about some potential teaching job one bit.

Of course, they said they school accepted my trial run offer.

Now I’m looking at a week next month at a nice, Catholic School with kids aged 11-14. I’m not sure what they’ll have me do during this trial run; if I’ll be purely a supply/substitute teacher, taking over the class and teaching from lesson plans already made up, or if I’ll be working with a teacher who is getting ready to go on maternity leave. Whatever the case, I honestly am really excited.

Once I knew that I’d be going back to work, I felt a weight off my shoulders. I love being home but I would rather go in and work and try to do my best so that this school keeps me on. I miss having shopping money, and having someone to talk to at lunch, and finding ways to get kids interested in reading and writing. No, I have no idea if they’d consider keeping little ‘ol American me, but I sincerely would love to be in gainful employment again.

Plus, I need a car and Christmas money. For real.

So wish me luck that I do a great job and the school keeps me for the rest of the school year. If I can work with kids, I can write for kids even better. I’ve not abandoned my plans for NaNoWriMo or my grand series scheme. If I’m working, I know it will be tougher to find time to write but other people do it, so I will too.

Regardless of the outcome, I know I’ll have extra cash for the holidays, thank God. I am so grateful for that! Santa can’t get much done without some dosh.

Living and driving in the UK

The leaves are starting to change.

Now I'm back at home, sitting with my coffee, looking out my window at the cold weather rolling in. The cat sitter has stopped by to return the keys. She took good care of our grumpy cat for two weeks.

It's taken me more than a week to get back into working at the computer but after getting some things done yesterday, I think I'm getting settled back on nicely. Not everything is done, of course, but some.

So far my main objectives are:

• To get the project out the door in e-book
• Get it in paper format ASAP
• Get the author site set up (working on it but Blogger and GoDaddy won’t play ball.)
• Marketing - research more of what needs to be done.
• Get set up for NaNoWriMo for the 2nd project of the series.
• Of course I also have to get my driver's license test passed, my Life in the UK test passed, and my settlement application sent in.

And it's going to be Christmas soon!

I’ve been studying this stupid Life in the UK test with my books and app, highlighter in hand, but they still throw insane statistical curve balls that even British born citizens don’t know the answers to. But luckily I’m use to standardized testing, remembering facts, and knowing what kind of questions to expect on things like this. What percentage of the Scottish population is a minority? How many people in England own their home? What percentage of women in the work-place have children? Etc., etc., etc. If I keep studying and memorizing and highlighting, I should be fine to take this before the end of the year. Maybe November?

The driving is still going to be a pain too. Every time I’m in the middle of a lesson I think to myself, “I’ll never be able to drive here.” If anyone ever wants to feel more stupid, attention-deficit, or incapable of learning basic tasks, try learning to drive in England. I swear, it’s not the gear shifts so much as the way the roads are set up - though the stupid gear shifting confuses me too. For two hours each week, this driving instructor tells me that I’m not keeping things simple, making mountains out of molehills and not thinking about what I’m doing. Well, I’ll tell you why – everything confuses me!

You get to a roundabout. The sign says you’re going to a town that is for the third exit. So, I have to remember which exit to take. Then I have to know to get to 10mph and 2nd gear (Cue the driving instructor shouting things at me like, “Suzanne, is it clear to go? Quickly, Suzanne! Quickly! If it’s clear to go, then go!” Every. Single. Time.) Then I have to get into the right lane, keep screwing with the signals to make sure they stay on (Seriously, did they not consider this when making roundabouts?) Then I have to get over in the other lane when I get half way around (“Check your mirrors, Suzanne! Stay in your lane! Don’t cut the lanes!” The lane markings are usually too faded to see most of the time.) Then I have to take my exit.

Now, even if that doesn’t sound too difficult, I get totally confused once I get in there because between the time that I decided what exit to take and finding the actual exit, 20 things have already happened. I’ve been checking traffic, checking my mirrors, down shifting, up shifting, lane switching, and being shouted at the whole stinking time. I don’t think most Americans would be able to handle this at all but maybe I’m just special.

Anyway, tomorrow the driving instructor’s going to “see where I am” in regards to setting up a driving test. Personally, I think I need a year of driving lessons before I could even attempt one but we don’t have the money to go through all that. I was thinking today that during the driving test, the examiner won’t speak to me, so maybe I’ll be able to concentrate a little better. I get confused driving in Florida in traffic and trying to talk to a family member, let alone being told to do something every 2 seconds while driving on a 10% decline down a hill that is flooded with parked cars on either side. It’s stressful, I tell you.

But when I finally get to drive on my own, I’ll be able to give my full attention and concentration to the road. After driving a Hyundai for our rental car last month, I’ve already chosen what car I want to get. I even bought cute vinyl stickers and a magnet for it over vacation, just to give me some motivation. Now all I need is a license and, you know, money to pay for the car.

Hyundai new i20

The Tuesday Seven

Coffee break

1. I’ve now finished my second Pretty Little Liars books and numbers three and four are on their way via Amazon. (I still got them out of the library today anyway so I don’t have to wait.) As much as I think I read too slowly, I still got tired eye syndrome again and I had to give myself a break today from reading anything else. (Granted, the tired eye symptoms showed up while I was on my way home from my last interview so stress may be the cause as well. But I don’t feel stressed so who knows?)
2. The oven had to be fixed yesterday. Last Thursday I went to make our standard fish and chips (yes, we have fish and chips night) but it wouldn’t heat up. After investigating online (because neither of us have a clue how appliances work) I figured out that it was a simple procedure to have an element replaced. Luckily we have the convenience of manufacturers sending out technicians who can get stuff fixed in five minutes and I was up and running. Our next order of business will have to be the toilet – it’s been making that awful pipe vibrating sound whenever we flush it. (I guess it’s a water hammer?)
3. You may have noticed that the Olympics are underway. I’ve been watching them non-stop since the Opening Ceremony on Friday night (Ah, the bit with The Queen and James Bond – so good!) I am really impressed by the BBC’s coverage of the games. We have 24 live HD channels so Saturday morning, bright and early, I sat down to channel surf until 10PM. I did that Sunday and Monday too while Steve was on his business trip (He got to go to Italy. I tried to have him convince the boss that I should go as the company tourist: drink cappuccino, buy leather handbags for the other wives, take photos for the webpage, etc. but they didn’t really go for that. He also got delayed in the Paris airport – oh the duty free shopping I could have done in those few hours!) Anyway, the Olympics -- I did, admittedly, nod off on the couch during some of the handball and hockey matches. Not that they’re not interesting, it’s just a lot to take in one sitting. Especially someone like me who generally doesn’t like sports.
4. But we’re going to the game on Aug 4th which will be fun and exciting. I heard that Newcastle was super busy in City Centre with all the Olympics and food festival going on at the same time.
5. Yes, we missed the Newcastle Eat Festival this year. Very sad. We at least tried the Total Recall pizza at Papa Johns while our oven was broken. It was so, so good.
6. I’ve had my break from driving but I get back behind the wheel on Thursday. Last lesson, my instructor asked when I was going to finally take my Theory Test so I’m going to have to set that up. I’ve read that Highway Code book a bunch but I’ll have to do some practice tests too. I’m excited to get my license but I’m just not feeling like I want to rush any of it. (Maybe I am stressed?) At least once I get the Theory Test done, I can hang on to it for a long time until I take my Road Test.
7. I still think I may want to get another iPhone next year. There are plenty of things I’d like to get but being jobless just sucks the excitement out of shopping all together – there’s no money to buy anything and there’s no place to wear/use said thing anyway. Maybe this is my penance for going into debt when I was working. Now I live in jeans, corduroys, sneakers, and t-shirts. Bleck.

The Tuesday Seven

1. It was a windy Sunday here in the North East. We had our roast dinner and are watched the documentary on the race car driver Senna. (I fell asleep for 30 minutes of it though.) I really find biographies of people of all types of careers quite interesting. Senna said at the start of his career that his being from Brazil, trying to live in Europe and succeed at driving was always a fight, it was never easy. I think things are more of a struggle than some and their challenge makes them all the more real.

2. This week is only going to be semi busy for me. I won’t be having a driving lesson until next week so I’m able to be at home more. However, I went to see how my blood work turned out this morning, early. As predicted, I am absolutely fine. No low blood sugar or anything so I’m just going to have to have some kind of food when I first get up in the morning. It’s simple but it’s easy to not do, especially on weekends when I sleep in. Now I get up (the cat never lets me sleep past 7AM anyway without alerting me of his empty food dish) and have a cereal bar or something before lying back down. Granted, eating and sleeping right after isn’t good either, but neither is getting sick from not having any food.

3. I have another interview. I'm really feeling like I'm getting close to something but there's still that hurdle of, "But you don't have as much experience in British schools as the other candidate..." I really hope that I won't have to go through the ropes all over again here like I did in Florida. Talk about something always being a fight. This finding a job thing has just never, ever been easy. Also, the school I am interviewing with gave me a letter with an incorrect date so I had to call and confirm which day I should turn up. They also indicated that I should email the person listed on the letter to confirm I was coming. Later, after I’d talked to the front desk, someone called me to verify that the candidates knew what day to show up (Lord knows how many candidates there are) and the lady said, “So you’re coming to the interview then?” “Yes.” Still, I tried to send email as the letter indicated, but it won’t go through to that address. Today I have been trying to call the school all morning, but the calls just go to voice mail. I won’t be surprised a bit if I show up tomorrow, bright and early, and they weren’t expecting me. Oh well, nothing more I can do, with any of it, right?

4. But I still keep working at home. Well, lately I've been out of the house each day so I've gotten side-tracked. I am totally unmotivated. I have the "what's the point?" question in my head more than usual. All the books and writers in the world, it's hard to make myself want to do something that is "life changing" for someone else.

5. We went to the Summertyne Americana Festival at the Sage Gateshead on Saturday (as seen in the photos above.) There was a lot of dancing (see video of the hip, rockabilly kid) and live country music (see this other video.) We also ate jambalaya, cupcakes, and BBQ Cajun chicken. We had awesome margaritas too but I drank mine too quick to bother taking a photo.

6. After taking photos with my current camera of The Queen and of the festival, I am getting a new camera for my birthday in September. My Dad (who really needs a photography site of his own) got me started on the hobby when I was a kid, so he’s my go-to person for cameras and pictures. He chose this one because it has a way better zoom on it, wide angle lens, and more options. I need more options. What I have will only do so much. It’s getting frustrating when I see nice photos taken with an iPhone when mine can’t handle what I’m trying to do with it. Now I can up my game!

7. We’re going to see the Opening Ceremony on Friday! Steve’s coming home early from work just to make sure he’s here on time. We have 24 BBC HD channels, just waiting on our cable box for us to enjoy the festivities. I told Steve we should just stay in all weekend and watch the games. Then next Saturday, we’re headed to St. James’ Park to see a football (that’s soccer to us Yanks). We have to arrive at least 2 hours ahead of time. We can’t bring bags or have bottles of water either. Oh well, I’m fine with them being extra safe. I just want to be a part of the excitement. I was ready to bring my camera but I don’t think I’m allowed to. Oh well. I don’t want technology getting into the way of my fun anyway. I’ll make sure to record the game on the V+ box – maybe we’ll be on TV!

Here’s a photo of me in my cowboy hat, American cupcakes in hand, standing by the Olympic rings on the Tyne Bridge to help you guys spot me easily:

But everyone else likes it: Popularity vs. Quality

Hey you, get off of my cloud.

Have you ever wondered why something is popular? Have you ever questioned the quality of something popular? Have you ever tried something that everyone else seems to be raving about, only to be disappointed? Of course you have. We all have. Why is that?

This morning Steve and I were discussing how the world is more accepting of crap these days. The more other people accept it, the more it becomes popular. Then the powers that be get the idea of, “well, lots of people liked this, so let’s rejig it and package it as something slightly different but the same.” They make money because people love the same crap.

Granted, we can’t argue taste. This is all about television shows, movies, music and books, of course. Plenty of people said they couldn’t stand Gilligan’s Island but it still stayed on television forever. I know that the argument is, “Well, I don’t want to think about it, I just enjoy it.” That’s fine but it makes me sad to know that quality books, movies, shows, and music aren’t even known about by some of these people who don’t want to think about it. I know people who have also thought I was in the wrong for not going along with the sheep-like following of a certain popular show. (I’ll give you a hint, it’s a competition and the one who wins year after year sounds just like the winner from the last season.)

We all have our guilty pleasures, as I mentioned in my last post about contemporary and classic books. I watch reality shows even though they aren’t good, quality shows. Even when I watch them I ask myself why I’m bothering but sometimes a little thoughtless fun in your entertainment decisions is good. But most of us know the difference. We may know things such as “Moves Like Jagger” is a terrible song that shames Mick’s good name, for example. We may also know that Twilight fan fiction is based on books that were called out by Stephen King himself as terrible. We could also know that a movie like Battleship is bound to be awful if it’s based on a board game. And I’m sure we all know that half of the stupid shows in prime time are bloody awful. Why, why do they still watch them?

But some people can read, listen to, or watch these for a cheap thrill. However, knowing that they aren’t “good” is the difference between those who go “this is the best book/show/song/band/movie ever.” No, no it’s not. You can enjoy it but it’s not “good.” Good connotes quality, effort, style, talent and creativity. I am not trying to demean anyone who likes music on Radio One or Hillybilly Handfishin’ (thank you, Joel McHale for reminding me what kind of crap the US television producers can create.) My hope is just that they give things that aren’t popular a second chance. Some good things are popular, of course, but the majority, not so much.

Technorati Tags: Mick Jagger,Rolling Stones,Animal Planet,Joel McHale,The Soup,Twilight,world,money,television,music,Gilligan,Island,argument,sheep,competition,winner,entertainment,difference,Jagger,song,Mick,example,fiction,Stephen,movie,Battleship,band,effort,talent,Radio,Handfishin,Joel,McHale,decisions,producers,crap

Contemporary or classic books?

Just a few of my books lying around. This is why I need a bookshelf.

Today I stumbled across the Guardian article, “Influence of classic literature on writers declining.” I understand what the author is saying. When I was in high school and college I learned all sorts of classical literature which I am eternally grateful for. However, now that I’m older and less patient, I am more happy with reading YA and contemporary literature.

I still need to write my book reviews for the last two books I read during my classic literature run. I haven’t done one of them because I just want to say, “this wasn’t my thing” even though everyone and their grandmother seems to love it. The word Steve used was “accessible.” With authors like Austen, the language gets in the way of the story for me. I enjoy it but it takes more work. Still, I am 100% behind reading the classics. Without knowing Shakespeare, for example, you can’t know how literature has evolved into what it is today.

Still, the ease of contemporary fiction is good for influence’s sake, as the article suggests. While not all of it is good or anything that I’d be interested in personally, the same has gone for classic books of the day when the sensationalist novels were full of drivel. It’s just a fact of literary heritage that best sellers are not always going to be quality books. That doesn’t mean we can’t read them for entertainment. I still like to watch reality shows from time to time even though I know they’re full of pretentious crap. But I digress.

Personally, I want a balance of classic to contemporary but lately my preference has been  leaning more into the modern fiction (and the books that were popular when I was a kid, as you can see in my photo.)

Technorati Tags: reading,books,news,writing,English,Contemporary,bookshelf,Guardian,article,Influence,literature,author,college,Austen,language,Shakespeare,example,fiction,drivel,fact,heritage,entertainment,preference,photo,authors,sellers

Getting stuff done

As much as I like to get work done, there are just things that are more important. The DIY project at Chez Pick has been going on all weekend. Steve has been home for four days and we've used the time to get things done.

First, the couch was successfully built. It took five hours and a lot of anger before he finally got that thing put together. Not only did the couch not have Velcro on the frame, rendering the extra couch cover we bought useless. Then the cover for the cushions was too small (there's no way you can smash a leather cushion with a wood back into a pillow case). But the kicker was that the chaise lounge had no instructions in the box. We tried to call IKEA but they were closed. During lunch break (Steve needed one by then) he found the instructions online -- for the American store. There were differences that he had to figure out on his own. Thanks, IKEA!

Anyway, the couch is lovely and Steve did a great job. The chaise is big enough for us to both sit on and watch TV. (The cat fits too.) We got to relax Saturday and Sunday with movies and hanging out in our cosy living room.

Today we painted the bedroom. There was blue wallpaper that had been painted a dark red (the seller's choice) and we had to get that changed. While we could have taken the paper down, we just painted over it to give it a quick make-over. (I've posted the before and after pics on Flickr.)

Now that this weekend's family time devoted to making this place more homey is complete, tomorrow will be back to work for us both. I neglected my walking a lot this weekend too (not that the cleaning and painting doesn't count as exercise) so I'll out and about tomorrow. Then it will be time to get myself back at the desk.

Technorati Tags: blog 2012,blogathon 2012,painting,Dulux,decorating,family,home,DIY,Chez,Velcro,leather,wood,IKEA,American,Thanks,room,seller,paper,Flickr,desk,differences,weekend,chaise