Blog of Bling #1a (Orig. Posted 08-08-2008)

Am I actually pretentious enough to write a blog about myself?! Well, yes… So if you’re not interested in what’s going on in my new life, then this is your invitation to stop reading… I mean forever: books, magazines, newspapers, if you’re not interested in my life then you’re not interested in life at all, right?So skipping the boring details, I planned a 5 hour layover in Chicago before flying to Heathrow. After missing my international connection due to a short delay in Louisville during my last international trip, I vowed never to make the mistake again. So even with the inevitable flight delay coming out of Louisville “International” Airport, I was able to spend a good 4 hours (along with my last 30 bucks!) in Chicago O’Hare. Highlights of the actual flight to Heathrow were the 270 pounds non-English speaking German women to the right of me and a talkative British couple to the left. Seven and a half hours later and a neck problem later, I arrived in Heathrow. I then had the pleasure of hauling 4 bags through one of the busiest airports in the world. After a bus to a different airport I finally met up with my boss. Down to Brighton on a train we sped. A shower and shave and I was out and about like I’d gotten even 5 hours sleep the night before. Among the tour of Brighton is my favorite beach in the entire world: one without sand! Waves crashing on pebbles, a pier with an amusement park, and a video arcade/casino? make this a pretty neat town. But alas, I only lasted until about 7 pm, local time, or 2 pm in Louisville. Twelve straight hours on a relatively comfortable air mattress and I was off to Imperial for the first time as an actual employee, where I was informed that I needed to fill out six separate documents requiring residence address, bank account info, and insurance information, none of which I have yet in the UK (United kingdom, for those blue-bloods that are completely flummoxed right now), and that my paycheck had been lost on its electronic route to my US bank account.I’m getting tired right now, as are you probably, so I’ll simply skip to the highlights of the commute home: a train gate terminal slamming into me and eating my train ticket, and a pigeon shitting on my arm as I (FINALLY) tasted my first cup of much needed coffee…So despite the rocky start and my feeling completely out of place, I’m sure things are about to turn for the better. After all, my paycheck will surely turn up somewhere in cyberspace and be placed properly in my US bank account, where I’ll promptly pay a nice fat service fee to have it transferred back to British pounds in a newly set up UK bank account….brilliant!Hopefully I'll be keeping this blog up regularly and will be able to switch it over to a proper website. Till then, facebook will do. I'm actually a little busy right now, ok?