January 2009...and everything is just fine..

I have been blogging yet not as regular as I used to. One good reason for this was because I had a job. They due to something called "the credit crunch" my new job, which had been around for no less than 100 years, went into administration and then out of business. I'm sure I mentioned this situation in my other blog but I didn't go into much detail as this is the trans-atlantic blog of my experiences.
Fortunately my post-holiday/unemployed blues had been distracted with my visit to Wembley Arena on 11th January. My husband was nice enough to stick around for an eight hour straight Snooker match and not run out screaming due to the 1,000 pins dropping (or my drooling for Ronnie O'Sullivan). It had been a tiring, but happy experience even if I hadn't managed to get on BBC2 for giving the evil eye to coughing spectators.
Back to reality, I have been looking for work. It feels as though I am not finding the variety of job opportunities I had three months ago. The temp agencies and place where I dropped off my resume so far have been as promising as entering contests- I may or may not have a chance. I need a bit more guarantee that my efforts are resulting in....results....
Also, I wouldn't really say I've felt bored, maybe a bit disappointed in my opportunities at the moment. I wanted to take community classes in either Math and Makeup. The community has decided I haven't been a resident long enough to enroll. My cries of "but I pay taxes" promptly got laughed at(I'm assuming, why else would I be told that the "Free Math Class" would not be offered to me). Determined to not be let down, I called the school with the beauty class that I wanted to attend which was separate from the enrollment board. I spoke with a very nice woman who refered me to a seemingly cheaper shorter term class. Unfortunately, by the end of the week, the instructor knocked an extra £45 and wednesday nights into the equation. It seems that this will not work out well for me and I'll have to think of something else for weeknights that don't fall on Wednesdays.
Wednesdays, of course is now officially my inclusion in League Scrabble. After three months of rejoining my English scrabble club my game scores will actually count. As its only been two weeks in the season I've won one of my four games and my score(spread) is about -280. Once a month on Tuesday nights an associated club holds a meeting(These are called 'Drives'). Soon, I'll probably be mucking about East Anglia hitching rides to tornaments, since I don't have a job and all....did I say I wasn't bored? I guess I am.....

Christmas is coming, the Goose is on the loose...

...that's right on the loose, and nothing could be more clearer to the point then the mob of shoppers I experienced this weekend at Westfield Mall in Shepard's Bush, London. Weither or not the shopping complex is the biggest among mega shopping malls is irrelivant. The point is that 99.9% of the punters decided that Westfield was the place to be all afternoon along with every member of their familes. I saw every clothing trend known to man, both in the shops and on the shoppers. Build-a-Bear-workshop looked like You'll-be-lucky-to-pay-for-a-Bear workshop as mobs kids ran around in circles.

My only interest was Soaps. I just wanted to find nice smelling soaps in beautifully presented wrapping. The illusion of Westfield mall was a place that would be filled with megastores. This was not true. It was more like miles and miles of mini branches of semi posh brand names. In other words, there were tons of stores but none of them could boast tons of product in their spaces provided. Only certain retailers got the honor of taking up prominent chunks of all levels in the mall that actually did have both a back and front end.

Back to my Soap interest, due to the previously mentioned "mini branches" I could not find a huge section of the brand names I had interests in. The choices were standard from the stores I could squeeze into. One kiosk was actually called Soap and Co. yet they only had 1 bar of soap which was black and grey. "It's dead sea soap, it will do bla bla bla bla wonderful things...1 bar for £7, 2 for £21!!!" I decided to move back slowly and then successfully get lost in a crowd.

Finding a crowd was the easiest thing to do. I found at least 2,000 maybe more that day. Finally, it was time to pick a restaurant to que outside of for at least 20 mins. This was the reason I sat down for dinner at 4pm. There was no guarantee I'd be able to get served when all lines were out the door at times when people were commonly hungry.

It turned out to be a pizza restaurant. The food was good and nicely presented. I had nearly eatten all my vegetarian pizza when I saw something pink under an olive. "What's that?" I asked
"Is that chicken?" Well, no, it turned out to be fish and the management was proper and did not charge for the error. The free me culpa latte made up for the incident. At the very least, no one was rushed to finish their meals. But, this was obvious as it took awhile to get seated.

Oh, i've complained enough....but at least I know that live English shopping is a sport to be best enjoyed in smaller venues.

Scrabble Club Report-Week 2

This week I returned to Scrabble not expecting much, except to see some more members who hadn't seen me the week before. I was pleased to find out that I might be able to be added into an official division game scoring before the end of the year. No word yet on when this could or will actually happen.

As I am playing friendly games, I also found out that my scores are still being recorded and saved. Also, I got a free scorebook to track my own progress. The group is very organized and I still feel pressured to play well, even if my game scores aren't divisional.

Game 1- My male opponent was about 45 years old, had a tenancy to play unpronounceable words, and coffeehouse(ie. too catty) about my word plays. He was set on winning the whole time and sighing while I took time to place words. I cleared my tile rack before he did and the one point he lost to me seemed to be like I threw a rock at him or something. Then, after he won, he bore me with stories about a trip he took to nyc in 2003 and liked the subway service. (yes, the NYC MTA! *cough cough*) Scores: Mr. Exciting-449 Me: 233

Game 2- Oh no, I got paired up with one of the oldest women in the group. she was like 87 when I left so I imagine she's 89 now. I just don't like her very much and I normally get along with most seniors. She happened to have a cold that night and was unable to look up all the words of mine that she didn't think were real. My 2nd turn was a bingo(which are called "bonuses"in the UK) for 73 points(D-i-a-r-i-Eblank-s). My opponient was pretty sharp that evening and not in a sour mood(like usual) so most of the game went smoothly. So smooth that she beat me by 111 pts!

Score: "Not that lady again...please!":409 Me: 297

Game 3- My next opponent was as quiet as a mouse but set to play. Early on, i got a 74 bingo with a blank for "Denotes". The next several turns I did poorly but caught up nicely to nearly win the game! Nope, amazingly it was a tie. Ah, it was a good game though.

Score: nice librarian:369 me: 369

Next time- the win?

Let's go to the police station!

The beginning of this week was horrendous. I lost one of my bags and it had my house keys in it among some other important items. It was really embarassing because I don't know where it could have dropped or if it got taken when I was sitting in a dentists office. I'm still convinced the dentist is working some scam because they said my consultation cost one price and then I got to reception and they jacked up the price £30 more than originally quoted. I was certainly distracted and I hadn't walked past more than half a block when the incident occured. It was really fishy. But, it sounds insane to accuse people when I didn't pay attention when leaving the office.

Worried that someone could then break into my house, my locks were then changed. I called or wrote as many offices that I could to report my loss, but I had stalled about 30 hrs before going to the police. It took some time to figure out which station to report this "loss." It was raining when I decided to take a bus ride. Even if the cops couldn't be bothered, it gave me an excuse to get on the bus and see if I could navigate the neighbourhood.

The buses are funny. There are double-decker buses, but I prefer to stay on the lower level and not fall down a fight of stairs when its time to get off. That afternoon, I was struggling through the soggy windows to look at the street signs and numbers. I had an idea where I was going but not too sure where the closest stop would let me out. I did get out at the wrong stop, but I managed to find a map and found the police station within three minutes.

Inside The station, the walls were painted mostly white with some brown doors along the sides with a security-locked clear window sliding door facing font. The queue(I can't say "line" anymore wasn't more than a few people. A small group of people were complaining that no officer was at the desk to assit them as one of the people wanted to "surrender." Obviously, I stayed out of the argument, no need to get involved with a potential lunatic. The focus was my lost bag.

Literally, a few minutes passed. Everyone got seen quickly (or maybe brought into custody!) and then it was my turn

"BEEP BEEP" went the doors as they opened and I was waved in. I gave my statement at the desk, got a receipt and the officer didn't laugh his ass off after I left. Honestly, I pictured my old local police station in brooklyn where a disinterest secretary would snarl as you for having a question. The constable was polite enough to stand out, but no word yet on the result of this crime of the century.

I think if I do need to "surrender" about anything, I'll choose this police force.

The Return-Scrabble Club Report(Week 1)

Please Note: This entry is about my interest in the world of Scrabble and Scrabble Players. I will try to make this interesting for those who haven't seen a Scrabble board since they were ten(ie. non-players)

As I had decided to attend a local scrabble meeting, I hoped that someone would remember I was part of the group from ages ago. This sort of Scrabble play is different. It's serious business-play to win/win to play-even a "friendly" ranked game, is not. However, I do understand that when I meet with this group, I will have to be prepared for anything, as many more words can be played in the game that were not acceptable in a US game, so it makes things a bit harder. I cannot play open book anymore which also limits myself from spell checking before playing a word. Even with these tough-by-the-book competitors, most people are pleasant enough and encouraging.

Our meeting room had changed and I was one of the first people there since I had taken the train and not arrived by car. I sat down and pulled out my Uk Collins Dictionary and knew to count the titles with the scrabble set that was placed in front of me. Most of the members are over 40 with a few around my age, including the offical timekeeper who set up the matches via computer. The woman who took our £2 dues, remembered who I was and was pointing me out to the arriving players. I didn't really mind. I smiled and waved a few times at some people who looked interested that I came back.

Three Hours, Three Games.....

Game 1- The Timekeeper announced he would be playing myself and another woman at the same time, but with two separate boards. The timekeeper is a phenominal player. I know this. The other woman was not pleased that she couldn't play a league ranking game as her and myself have to wait a couple of months until a new session starts. I blocked out her complaints(and low cursing!) and focused on my game. Timekeeper got no less than two bingos and over 500 points, which I had expected. I didn't expect him to say "do you want to know what your score was?" in a half-patronizing way. I told him I was fine with my score no matter what. Score: TK:500+ Me: 223

Game 2- I met with a woman opponient who seemed to know me more than I remember her. She asked if i minded playing with a timer clock. I was up for the challege- play within 25 mins or lose points. It was a game that started off with half the board closed up and no places to put titles. Half my time was spent switching for new tiles and slightly getting distracted by the ladies comments of "oh, bad luck," "oh, that's a shame" or "oh, you took my spot where I wanted to place my bingo" every so often. I pressed on, as did she, and we both managed to closely not run out of time which we both were equally happy about. Score- Lady:about 325 Me: around 260

Game 3- Finally, a woman I remember who was around my age. She seemed a bit tired and told me so later on in her actions(utter bordom), but intially was asking me a bunch of questions about me return. Being after 10pm I played very poorly and was unhappy when she wanted to me to look up a word in the dictionary for her score that I knew wasn't a word in any universe (something like HATESQUIDS). Anyhow, I got a few good scores in during the game and gave up 6 points at the end SCORE: LadyMyAge-365 Me: about 240

In a nutshell, I miss my mahattan group, not only because it was fun and relaxed but it didn't feel like taking a school course. Plus, they have been so kind to me, nothing can compare. I even got a new photo from one of our fifth monday dinners.

The treasure from the Uk group asked if I would be returning next week, I said that I would, I just wonder if I can bring some Army fatigues and a couple of Mahattan players to back me up.

Pumping With Beans

October 2nd- Less than a week after my arrival in the UK and I'm getting aquainted again with the British media, not to mention resuming with english culture and leisure. A job? Not quite there yet, but on to the fun and not-so-fun stuff during my downtime.

I found my excerise dvd which only plays in UK PAL format. It's called "fit friends" with someone named Gaynor Faye who was an actress on Corination Street(I still don't recognize her or the fitness instructor, an ice skating celebrity). Three days of avoiding the "pumping with beans" section on the dvd, I'm near to wacking ms. faye and co. It's not an excersize session- its more like bootcamp with smiles. I'm convinced the celebrities rest between takes of the split up excersizes that run together. It's neverending! I've been stopping the dvd whenever I stumble into the couch. It means its time to go shower!

I don't have cable anymore, but I have Freeview. It's about 20-30 channels that include bbc1, bbc2, ITV, C4, and 5. The remaining channels are either affilated with these network or are radio or shopping based. There are too many great shows to meantion, but somehow I'm always stuck watching Top Gear, Countdown, BBC news or a food program. I will never be deprived of Doctor Who again, so I have no complaints.

In fact, I waddled down some other roads today to attempt visiting Tescos(A super super SUPER market). I thought it would be quiet but school kids were running around and I wanted to browse casually. The biggest nightmare for me is not the crowded shopping but the process of buying something.

• step one- look confused as hell and wonder around looking for the shortest line


• step two-pick a line and get out your carrier bags, wallet, tesco card and juggle your basket in one hand


• step three- look distressed as the cashier scans all of your items before you get the first item scaned in your bag


• finally- pay, hand over club card, grab everything handed back(change, receipt and card) plus whatever you didn't have time to pack up and look like your a spaz for ten minutes off to the side until completely ready to leave.

ok, so this once again happened today but I returned home in one piece. Let me look to see what I actually wound up with.....

• Tescos free catalog


• New Magazine(a celeb mag)


• Doctor Who Magazine issue #400(with David Tennant on cover-*drool*)


• Local Paper- with job section


• A local Job Paper


• New Moon by Stephanie Meyers


• Another club card application

Next time, I should bring a shopping list because I might wind up with some the music and movies on sale for £4 each. I'll need clear note stating "do not buy 'Maid In Manhattan' just 'cause its dirt cheep-y'all don't need that crappy film just cause Ralph Finnes is in it!" (I may or may not feel this way about the Stephanie Meyers book, being an impluse buy which was the same price.) So with all this reading, televison watching, and confusion over celebrities-with-excersize videos, I hope to drag myself to a job centre soon. In the meantime, I'm still learning to travel to Scrabble. Coming Soon- how I survived my first day back at scrabble...

PGMNW(this blog) relaunches from London

September 2008- Day three of married life in the UK; Having shipped out to London from NYC over the weekend, I find myself on Monday morning reflecting on my experiences. My flight over was generally uneventful- all the people I shared my seating sections with kept to themselves, either crying with their head down or pushing their seat back to jam my food tray in my lap. The crying babies on the plane were a joy in comparrison for signs of life. My vegetarian dinner and inflight purchase of playing cards were the highlights. However, I just wanted to arrive and go home to sleep.

When my plane landed, I was waved right into the country. An extreme 360 degrees from the last time when I nearly got deported. I actually was puzzled for not being detained. But, since I stopped hanging out with Saddam Hussein(R.I.P), I guess I'm off the most wanted criminals list....But I had all my proper documents ready if questioned. I was so tired from my traveling somehow I gained super strength to quickly grab my bags and wheel them directly into my husband, paciently waiting at the exit. We couldn't find the car. I couldn't stay awake.

Back at home, I finally slept for about four hours. My jet lag isn't as bad today but it was much worse yesterday when I woke up at six am. That morning, I had much energy and headed to a new local park where my husband was competing in a race. Unknown to myself, one of the cordinators convinced MH(my husband) to use me as a volunteer. Ok great! I was a bit surprised but I was handed an orange vest and placed as a Marshal to direct a mob of runners on their first turn. That's right Marshal #1 because I never had been to the park and my position was the closest to the exit. So, there I was at 10 am waving my Doctor Who magazine to the left wearing this vest on top of my black jumper. Later, a woman told me that she dated MH when she was a teen. I never asked, but I didn't understand exactly what she had meant until MH confirmed it. Good times...I love meeting new people. (really, I do but right now I look alot like Kenny from South Park, I stick out and feel enclosed with some people).

Most of today has been confined to unpacking and errans. I'm trying to stay busy and re-learn the ins and outs of London. I think I would like to have a job soon, I do like writing on blogs but I need to stop to figure out how to travel to interviews. A travel card is in my horizon and I need to go buy out an orange parka, as at least it does keep warm as the cold weather will be approaching.