LIVE BACON CHIPS

Ramblings and photos from a fearful homebody on the loose

In Which I Still Aten’t Ded

by dodgyhoodoo on November 15, 2013, no comments

… though it’s felt like a close thing a few times. Anyone who’s done the intensive version of the Cambridge CELTA course will understand why…

It’s hard to believe there’s only a week of this left. Three weeks ago I’d never taught a class in my life; yesterday I honestly felt like I belonged in front of that class, despite three days of working till 2-3am, feeling utterly wiped out and somehow having done something bloody painful to my knee (I still have no idea what, I’m just hoping it fixes itself over the weekend). Felt like I’d been put through a mangler but it was the best teaching session yet. Go figure. There’s still time for me to screw things up horribly, I’ve got one assignment I haven’t had a grade for yet and one more to do over the weekend, but with one week to go my teaching sessions are still on track for a standard pass. It’s put me through half a dozen kinds of hellish nightmares and I’m still enjoying it. Hmm.

While I won’t miss carrying around half a classroom every day, I’m going to have to come up with some things to do when the course has finished. Four weeks of intense pressure and full timetables, then complete freedom with no plans… Sounds like a recipe for flailing around aimlessly. There’s a course I’m looking at which takes the skills I’ve been learning and applies them to one-to-one teaching online, which looks like a good idea. Time to get out with a camera in the meantime though, I think – I want to get to grips with shooting video, try making some very short films, but I’ll think about that in a couple of weeks when my brain doesn’t resemble a dead sponge…

So these are some things that happened

by dodgyhoodoo on September 17, 2013, one comment

In the last few days:

– Big wedding do on Saturday with loads of E’s family – check
– Sunday morning dog-meets-face incident, claret everywhere – check
– “Just in case” tetanus shot this morning – check
– Studio flat in Brighton just waiting for the final nod from the agency – check
– Properly started researching CELTA training in Brighton – check

Just in case I feel like I haven’t been doing that much since I got back. Suddenly, stuff is happening. (The dog thing was more shock than injury, barely more than a scratch on the nose as it turns out. Got the tetanus booster anyway.)

A New Life In The Off-World Colonies

by dodgyhoodoo on September 9, 2013, 3 comments

Well, I’m back. (Come on, like I wasn’t going to go there…)

I don’t think it’s properly hit me yet – the whole “back in the UK, no permanent home, need to find work” thing. Probably because looking for a place in Brighton doesn’t feel so very different to trying to find a host in the next city on my USA trip, though it is a wee bit more long-term. And of course I’m still living out of a case in the meantime…

I know I’ve only been trying to contact people for less than a week, but seriously what’s the point in a website that lets you make online enquiries that nobody replies to? Or only replies to say please call ASAP about a completely different flat, ignoring the original request entirely? Looking at you, Zoopla. Argh.

So… Looking for a studio or flatshare in Brighton, planning to retrain as an English language skills tutor, need to work on my print portfolio… Better get cracking, then.

Time out

by dodgyhoodoo on August 24, 2013, no comments

Three months is a long time to be running around from city to city, a day on the Greyhound here, two days on the train there, possibly not having any accommodation confirmed by the time I got on board (and in the case of Boston, no accommodation at all as the request fell through en route). So I’m taking a week out before my last weekend in New York and the flight back on 2nd September. Yeah. I’m flying home on Labor Day. I clearly know nothing about US public holidays…

I’ve ended up an hour of so from NYC, in West Haven CT (the quieter, less Yaleish nextdoor neighbour of New Haven). Took an absolute age to get from New Haven station down to the motel – even getting a bus as far as downtown West Haven means waiting forever, let alone the extra mile or two to Beach Street, and forget about travelling after 6pm – but eventually I had a room to myself, Chinese takeout of dubious quality but vast size, wine, and this view just over the road (iPad photo, not that great):

So yeah, that’ll do.

Still hopelessly behind on the blog. I do mean to get more of the trip written up, however briefly, but all the photos as far as LA are already up on Flickr – and besides, they look prettier there.

One thing this trip has forced me to do is get to grips with photography again. I spent a long time not feeling like I was good enough to do anything with it; but having come out with a good few shots that might well work as prints, at least as well as some stuff I’ve seen on sale, I guess they’re the thing that needs to be good enough. So I’ll be working on some new treatments of the best shots from the trip, and trying to get my head round print sales instead of worrying about whether I’m good enough. Onwards.

Boston: This place is difficult

by dodgyhoodoo on August 21, 2013, no comments

So I’m in Boston MA for a few days, and I’m finding I have trouble with history here.

The whole downtown area is geared around Paul Revere, the Revolution etc. That’s not what I’m having difficulty with, though it is a little Brit-unfriendly at times (it was a couple of hundred years ago, guys, enough already) Everything I love about the US started here.

After spending half the day sorting out laundry, I ended up in an “Irish” pub for a bit. It had spotlit portraits of Padraig Pearse etc behind the bar along with a copy of the ’16 Declaration. So here’s where things get difficult.

Here’s the thing: I’m a Brit and a Londoner as far as it goes (born London, grew up in Sussex, moved back and lived in London half my life), but my family’s Irish all the way. Have I got a word to say against the ’16 Rising? Of course not. Have I got anything to say against the bombings in the 70s, 80s, 90s? The ones that were funded through pubs like the one I was just in? Damn right I do.

So here’s where things get difficult. Especially given that this very same town was hit so recently by the marathon bombings. The contradiction between pride in revolutionary history, the expectation of security against anyone causing bloodshed here, and the fact that a fair few people here funded bombing campaigns in Britain is hard to get my head around. I honestly don’t know what to think.

So yeah, this place is difficult.

Backlog: Chicago

by dodgyhoodoo on August 9, 2013, no comments

As I’d had an extra day in New Orleans thanks to the train tickets selling out, I ended up with one day less in Chicago, so I only ended up visiting the Field Museum and the Art Institute.

To be honest, I’d never heard of the Field Museum before reading the Dresden Files (if you’ve read Dead Beat, you’ll know why I was keen to visit). The prehistory section is possibly the best I’ve ever seen… And then of course there’s Sue.

The Art Institute’s well worth a visit. Naturally the biggest crowds were clustered around American Gothic, but just around the corner, Ivan Albright’s Picture of Dorian Gray (painted for the 1945 film) was almost entirely ignored. People, eh.

Did you spot a few very subtle hints that some sort of sporting event was happening while I was in town? I guess Chicago takes its hockey seriously.

Backlog: New Orleans

by dodgyhoodoo on August 7, 2013, no comments

The steamboat Natchez is apparently the only authentic paddle-steamer left on the Mississippi (their friendly rival, the Creole Queen, runs on diesel electric instead). I went on a cruise up and down the river for a couple of hours – lots of interesting scenery, and the crew commentary was entertaining. The cruise route goes past the industrial area where the levees broke during Katrina – you can’t see much of the Lower Ninth from there, though.

I ended up with an extra day in New Orleans, thanks to the vagaries of Amtrak tickets – in the course of an hour, the NOLA-Chicago train doubled in price and then sold out completely. So I had a wander down to City Park, hoping to get some gator photos… No such luck, after the first half hour I realised the heat had been getting to me more than I’d thought, and I bailed out before I passed out…

A quick West Coast check-in

by dodgyhoodoo on August 6, 2013, no comments

Your two transatlantic reprobates

Your two transatlantic reprobatesYour two transatlantic reprobates, last week

I know. Waaaaaay behind on updates. One thing I’ve rediscovered is that I can’t write for shit when I’m in company (in the flat, in the same room, whatever). On my own? Down the pub? Fine. But there’s something about being physically with someone that stalls my brain, even if they’re in the next room reading a book. Not an excuse, just a crappy bit of my psyche to work around and occasionally hit with a wrench. And then, of course, when I’ve got a day or two on my own with absolutely nothing to do on the long train journeys, there’s no wifi so there’s no WordPress access. Arse. Not much I can do about that one. But man do I feel crappy about all that solo time I spent not writing anything much.

We’ve been in Carmel, CA for a couple of days. Beautiful place, but the centre of town is like this beautiful, arty shopping mall that wants to pull you in, dazzle you with the pretty, sit you down for a meal, and send you packing when your money runs out. It took us all morning to find the one and only general store, and we totally failed to find anywhere for a quiet, unrushed sit-down drink; fifteen wine-tasting outlets but no visible pubs or bars.

The place we’ve been staying in, though, is a little cabin in the woods. (No, not that sort of cabin in the woods.) Quite a view to wake up to, and I’ve had plenty of hotel rooms less swanky than this place. It’s a shame to leave, even if there’s not much to do in town.

On to Morro Bay today, meeting up with E’s sister tomorrow, and down to LA till Monday. Then it’s a two-day train journey to Indianapolis and GenCon…

The photos are coming. Really really. Promise.

 

H bloody P bloody Love bloody Craft

by dodgyhoodoo on July 18, 2013, no comments

The Lovecraft BarFolks, you would not believe the place I found tonight. I was looking on the map for places to get a drink near my hotel in Portland, and I found a place half a mile south called the Lovecraft Bar. As in, that Lovecraft. Yeah.

It’s bloody brilliant. It’s like a slice of Camden from 20 years ago, back when Camden was fun. Big stupid monster movies on the screen, goth-punk-industrial music, a bar with local brews and hallelujah a cider too… Man, that place is fun. Sounds like it’ll be crazy on Friday night, but I know where I’ll be Thursday night.

[Yes, I know I’m weeks behind on the photos. They’re coming. And I still aten’t ded.]

[EDIT: Bar. It’s the Lovecraft BAR. No idea where Tavern came from…]

 

Epic train journeys and their downsides

by dodgyhoodoo on July 11, 2013, no comments

So by the time you read this I’ll be in Seattle. I took the Empire Builder from St Paul / Minneapolis after CONvergence – it was one of the long-distance train journeys I absolutely had to take while I was out here. The train left Chicago 45 minutes late. Then the engine that provided electricity for the train broke down near Milwaukee. Then there was a medical emergency at Wisconsin Dells. This is all before I got on the train, you understand. It was due in St Paul at 11:15pm on Monday, finally turned up 3:30am Tuesday. Then the crew changeover in North Dakota took an extra hour, due to the already late schedule and a miscommunication over Mountain Time.

We were due to get to Seattle around 10:30am today. As I write, it’s 9:15am and we’re sat at Whitefish, and when we get to Spokane in around 5 hours’ time we’ll be put on express coaches to Seattle or Portland (the train would normally split at Spokane, but they’re just calling it quits at that point). Oh yes. And there’s no wifi on the train, and virtually no phone data coverage for most of the route. Completely off the grid until I get to Seattle, whenever that turns out to be… And this will be the case for the 50-hour journey LA-Indianapolis for GenCon, too.

So why, some people ask, don’t I just fly instead? Here’s a few reasons:

The sheer beauty of the forests up here is almost overwhelming. Quite literally breathtaking – I looked out of the window a minute ago and just stopped. I’d have come all this way, delays and all, just to see this.

(1) Dear Amtrak: if Greyhound can put wifi on their coaches, could you pretty please with a cherry on top just try it on your long-distance routes? Yes, OK, coverage will be spotty unless you make it a satellite service, but still…

(2) The ridiculous duty-free catalogue on the plane to New York had a pre-pay MiFi equivalent for £70 including $30 credit. Why, dear sweet squidgods, WHY did I not buy it? Might be worth me looking for one in Seattle.

[Posted from Seattle, a day later, finally got wifi again…]