Twenty-Ten

I really don't know how it got here. I didn't think I'd live to see 20. Mostly because it seemed like it was a very long way away. Now I'm more than 20 by quite a bit. And the date looks weird and no-one knows how to say it.

So where were we?

Oh yes. The wonderfully weird world of living in foreign countries and trying to get used to it. Hard to do. America doesn't have very much custard.

But right now I'm back in England and trying to pronounce words like 'tomato' and 'route' without feeling that it all sounds wrong now. And it's freezing. Never seen snow like it.

But with a new year comes resolutions. Mine are as follows:

1) Get fit. You are creaking as much as your grandmother.

2) Write this thing.

3) Become fabulously successful.

Number 2 appears to be the easiest one to achieve for now so here I am. As for the other two, I'm waiting for my neck to work properly and praying that my plane will take off relatively as scheduled next week, so I can continue to live it up in LA.

***

They always say the first year is the hardest. I can almost hear "The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz as I nod my head in eager agreement. Yes it was tough. Brilliant. Traumatic. Thrilling. Sometimes all at once. And then, quite unexpectedly, I felt peaceful and happy. My Saturn Return seems to be working out nicely. I like the climate. And you can smell opportunity in the air as you would a curry in Southall.

I haven't been blogging. It's been a year of transition for one thing, so my energy has been directed elsewhere. But this isn't a diary where I can or will spill out just any old thoughts and feelings. When I started blogging there was a lot of that and it was frequently theraputic. But frankly, there are situations and people involved in my life now that simply cannot be broadcast. So it won't be. I don't know entirely what that means for this blog, but I hope to write up some of my amusing encounters and experiences as a Brit in California. I have a back log in that respect.

It's almost a year since I jumped in a car with a friend and drove to Washington DC for Obama's Inauguration. What a journey that was. And since then I've continued to be blind sized by alien scenery, overwhelming kindnesses, and an almost unrecognisable language that I'm told bares fleeting resemblance to my own.

I have also continued to be shamelessly English. Whilst here in the mother country, I have mostly been spending time with friends and family, but I've also made time for some lovely traditions such as Panto. Popped down to Cardiff in the snow to enjoy John Barrowman's Robin Hood. Great fun, though the theatre was a little empty due to cancelled school trips. We just shouted and laughed as loudly as we could and I moved to the front row. Bit of fun, dance and dazzle. Almost balanced out the angst of last year's Torchwood.

I shall be taking back some English things with me to keep sane, but I'm otherwise adapting. I don't do that very quickly so it's nice that it's finally happening. And now, everything is in place. I have a life there. And I'm loving it.

So that's my brief catch up for the start of 2010. There is a danger that this is all you'll get because life can be oh so busy, but that will have to do. I occasionally update Twitter when I remember Twitter. Plus I'd rather have something vaguely interesting to say (that can also be published online and isn't compromising for me, or friends, or any institutions I may or may not be attached to).

But Happy New Year nonetheless.