Ink whore

A whole bunch of things have happened since I last posted. Most recently, i.e. since yesterday, I have more tattoos: eight to be precise. Since I never posted about the previous two inkings that means I've had seven new ones since I posted about my first. For a recap, here they all are:

Run that by me again?

Erin and I were in the supermarket other day and the guy at the checkout said the greatest thing ever. I was buying some wine and when he scanned it he looked and up and said "Are you over eighteen?" I was nonplussed for a second before saying "Uh, yeah. I'm 40 in six weeks".

I know I look younger than I am - people usually take me for about ten years younger - but this was totally new. Excellent!

Nobody likes an overachiever

So, yet another productive weekend at Snappish Towers. I was on call so I couldn't really go anywhere, like to the movies or into London. I spent an hour or so yesterday evening rearranging the living room so the sofa was closer to the TV - I have a 24" widescreen Sony, which isn't really big enough for the size of the room - and putting the dining table on the other side. Apart from that when I wasn't either asleep, eating or out buying season 5 of The Sopranos and a present for my baby, I spent the entire weekend watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 24 episodes - all of season one and half of season two - so you can't say I wasted my time in idle, worthless pursuits. I called Erin in Portland yesterday - we've been married five months as of yesterday - and for some reason she thinks my watching a whole pile of Buffy is the greatest thing ever. Heh, did I marry the right girl, or what?

Another wedding in the family

It's 2.18am right now which makes it 9.18pm over in the US, where my mother in law is getting married right about now, on a boat somewhere in Maine. I was supposed to be there but with airfares running at over £600 to Boston at this time of year we couldn't afford for both of us to go, so only Erin is there. I'm really sorry I couldn't go. I think my mom-in-law is great and I wanted to be there with Erin, Patrick, David and Maeghan to see her get married.

So anyway, to Kim and Dave, I wish you all the happiness in the world and the best of luck.

I can see your house from here!

I chanced upon Google Local yesterday. Been having fun finding various landmarks with it. The level of detail on the satellite imagery is impressive in some areas, such as London and other places.

More airmiles!

Yay! I'm going to see my baby again. No - better still, I'm going to see my wife! Man, I love that I get to say that :-)

*Does a little dance*

London Heathrow (LHR) To Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)
Airline: UNITED AIRLINES (UA)
Flight Number: UA 929
Departing: 08:00 Thu 20 Apr 2006
Arriving 10:30 Thu 20 Apr 2006
Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) To Rochester (ROC)
Airline: UNITED AIRLINES (UA)
Flight Number: UA 472
Departing: 13:10 Thu 20 Apr 2006
Arriving 15:53 Thu 20 Apr 2006

Rochester (ROC) To Washington Dulles International Apt (IAD)
Airline: UNITED AIRLINES (UA)
Flight Number: UA 7137
Departing: 14:36 Mon 24 Apr 2006
Arriving 15:59 Mon 24 Apr 2006
Washington Dulles International Apt (IAD) To London Heathrow Apt (LHR)
Airline: UNITED AIRLINES (UA)
Flight Number: UA 918
Departing: 17:58 Mon 24 Apr 2006
Arriving 06:20 Tue 25 Apr 2006

So, what did you get up to last week?

Once again I find myself apologising for my abject lack of posting. This time I've been quiet almost three months. Part of it is I haven't really had a lot to post about. Well, that's really not true - I could have posted quite a lot about Erin. The real reason is that so much of my spare time not spent sleeping has been occupied with Erin: time spent with her, talking with her on the phone or chatting on IM. So I've had precious little else to talk about other than Erin and I thought I would keep quiet.

That said, I should probably have mentioned that she was here for two weeks at the beginning of the year. She arrived December 30 and we spent New Year together, went up to my parents for a couple of days, during which time she saw York and witnessed her first ever football match (at Newcastle - she claimed to be bad luck when Boro gave away an undeserved 94th minute equaliser, until I pointed out that the last time I saw us get anything there was Boxing Day 1991). Overall it was a great relaxed time, it felt very natural her being here, we are extremely well-suited and it was very hard leaving her at Heathrow on January 14, although a bit easier knowing that I was going to Portland the first full week of March.

It didn't take long before we both came to the conclusion that we wanted more than a standard long-distance relationship. However we couldn't make any plans until we knew the outcome of her application to go and teach English in Japan for a year from the summer. The interview for that did not work out, so we figured we'd think about the summer, or late May to be more accurate.

But we got impatient....

And thanks to the relaxed and civilised requirements for a marriage licence in the State of Maine (photo ID and thirty Yankee dollars) it's possible to bring forward your plans without fuss or warning.

Yes. We got married.

I will save the details for a subsequent post, so without further ado, I present a few pictures from our weddding day, March 6, 2006, of myself and my beautiful bride.

Merry Christmas!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft, einsam wacht
Nur das traute, hochheilige Paar,
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'!

— Franz X. Gruber, December 24, 1818

We will kiss goodnight under a starlit sky

Like everyone, I imagine, I have favourite songs. Songs which are meaningful to me for all kinds of reasons; because they remind me of times or places or events. Some songs of course remind you of people. The songs which mean most to people I think are generally those which remind you of the person you love. I'm no exception. There are songs which remind me of my ex and songs which remind me of other girlfriends. And of course there are now songs which make me think of Erin.

In many cases such songs are simple declarations of adoration or longing or loss into which people often read whatever they wish. Dido's song "Don't Leave Home" is an excellent example of this. People commonly miss the point entirely and play it at their weddings, oblivious to the fact that the subject matter is actually drug addiction. The song which makes me think of Erin, "Hollow As A Bone" by the Cowboy Junkies, feels very different to me from most songs which make you think of a person because it's rare for a song both to put into words, save for one line, exactly what you're feeling and to express well a quite adult and complex feeling, that of being smitten with something so that you feel the need grasp it very tightly lest it slip away.

He could not help but hang his eyes
Her beauty held him so
If this was not a state of grace
Then grace he'd never know
I want to yell farewell from a crowded pier
Just me and a thousand goodbyes
The tears will be bittersweet
'cause soon she'll be back my side

If I lost you now
I would feel as hollow as a bone.

Knight in shining armour

The thing I love most about the Internet is the opportunities it affords for communication with people you would otherwise never have the chance to meet, to get help and give help. Here's a trivial, but in my opinion, excellent example. This afternoon, thanks to the Internet, I helped someone three and a half thousand miles away find her mobile phone.

I was chatting on MSN Messenger with the fabulous Michelle, Erin's friend from college in Alfred, NY, when she asked me for a favour. She couldn't remember where she had put her mobile phone so she asked if I would call it so she could hear it ring and locate it. A simple thing, right? Everyone's probably called their mobile at some time or other to try and find it. But in this case tricky because Michelle doesn't have a landline. No problem - just use the Internet to get someone on another continent to call it instead. Simple!