Happy Alloween!

Americans take halloween seriously. And it's getting bigger. This year is said to be the most celebrated halloween ever, and it shows. Decorations everywhere, most employees dressing up, oodles of stores dedicated to halloween (and desperate things they are too, my short visit yesterday just made me sad. Where's the pride? Where's the craftsmanship?), and folks wishing each other happy halloween left, right, and centre.

My costume (mentioned in the post yesterday), as seen above, actually looks a lot better in the pictures despite the face contortions required to keep the least adhesive mustache in the history of costume clinging to my upper lip. My day has been low key, continuing my quest to try the 10 worst drinks in America as selected by Men's Health, going to Borders (my heaven might well be an unlimited borders gift card - does that make me sad? Don't answer that.), reading, and swimming. Got a dinner party tonight. Look at me, so festive!

Actually my festivity took place in DC - Becka kindly sent me photos of my jack-o-lantern (something that Americans still take pride in making, thank goodness, though ceramic monstrosities are creeping in.). Not up to the others carved that night, and far off the hardcore jack-o-lantern fanatics (see http://yeswecarve.com/ for Barack-o-lanterns, a fine example of which was made in my presence, or http://www.extremepumpkins.com/ for general pumpkin carving hilarity.), but a step in the right direction for me. Try to ignore the mistake that makes the happy side of the drama mask look like a devilish smiley face. I was drinking beer. 

Now kids, I encourage you to enjoy festive seasons responsibly and not go see Quantum of Solace without Al just 'cause he's in American and has to wait for two weeks and he deserves to have something rubbed in his face after all that bragging about being a lazy bum in America.

Kidding. But not really. But really. Nah. Un hunh. Nope. But I am kidding. (Sorry - no one will get that reference to Eddie Izzard except maybe Les, if he's paying attention)

For the record, I am kidding.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Driving. Me? Insane!

That's right folks! This man is legal on the roads of the world! Nobody is safe! Mwah-ha-ha-haaa!

Not a great driver (yet) - 11 out of a possible 15 minors, mainly for 'not checking the intersections enough' and a couple for having my nose on the pedestrian crossing, and a couple more for vigorous cornering. Full points on my car knowledge though (the different terminology was confusing!). No freeway driving or parallel parks in my tests, what I was practicing the most. Been on a couple solo drives in my 'hood on roads I know. It's a groovy feeling not to be the outcast non-driver.

Work was hard, especially as I had 4 hours on the carts in a busy lot (I got extra cart hours for failing to be dressed up. I didn't bother pleading the truth about the awful, rip-off, piece of crap 'instant disguise' I'd bought. Einstein my butt. I knew the rubber mask of Nixon at $5 more expensive was the way forward. Damn it. Got a free hot dog and some free cans of Diet Coke at work. Not too shabby.

It's late, I'd better hit the hay. Might hit the celebratory Corona first though. It's to aid sleep. Really.

Whatever. I deserve this 'un.

High Ho, High Ho

Back to work for me. Pretty usual apart from a lesson in customer service, a new name badge (see above - I seem to have lost my "asdair" so as to not confuse customers), and spilling the last chicken noodle soup all over myself at the till, thus depriving some poor women of her chosen lunch. *Sigh*

At 31C is was another scorcher today to roast me as I collect the many, many carts the Californians won't return.

I hope all your lives are as colourful and interesting as mine!

PS I see I used brackets today. Drat. I lose.

Out of the Freezing Land and into the Fire

After my time in Britain - not an American experience per say, so not covered here - my stopover in DC was a good way to prepare for the heat of California. And it was a chance for me to do something better on the east coast than run through Newark International.

I experienced pumpkin picking (in the pouring rain), cider (no booze, but not apple juice, but really apple juice but thick and lightly spiced - I prefer the British definitions of drink, much simpler), American public transport (not bad, clean), serious pumpkin carving (My skills weren't up to the Barack O. Lanterns, I stuck with the traditional triangular cut-with-a-kitchen-knife-that-isn't-really-up-to-the-job features. I love the classics, baby!), Ethiopian food (any food eaten with fingers wrapped in carbs has got to be a winner), ballroom dancing (not really [sorry Kim], just wanted to see if you'd given up on the dense list format by now), decent American beer (I guess there had to be some, right? Ha ha!), margarita from a slushie machine (gotta get myself one of those), Becka's whip-round tour of DC (tailored for my preferences, naturally) and the caloriffic might of the Cinnabon chain (mmmmmmm....).

So, all in all, it was okay.

In all seriousness I had a great time, much needed - especially after the low in Scotland (not to say I didn't enjoy seeing y'all... you know what I mean) and a big, public thank you to Becka for that. Listening to my rubbish for two days takes some serious patience...

Got to get driving again, test Thursday. Work Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday. Straight back into the swing of things in the 33C heat. Thankfully it's supposed to get down to 20C high by the end of the week. So odd considering that most of you reading this are beginning to freeze...

After that session of condensing a lot of good stuff into a shorter, less interesting form I'm gonna go, but not before I set myself a little challenge. I use ellipses (you know...[such wit!]) and brackets far too much when I write (please ignore the rest of my poor grammar and/or spelling - this isn't a test!), it seems, so next blog post will contain neither (I hope...)

Peace out!

Words by Alasdair Dennis.

 Pictures by Becka and used with the permission of Dennis Enterprises.

Windy, and not 'cause of me...

Shortly before coming back to Scotland (where I am now) the Santa Ana winds swooped down upon SoCal. They are strong, low lying winds - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_ana_winds to learn more if you're really interested.

As far as I'm concerned it was just a couple of very blustery days that hastened a much needed change of season. The leaves were blown down, making it feel more like 'fall'. It also spread the fires in California like mad - I'm sure some of you have read about the fires on the news. I saw the masses of smoke lingering across the land and sea from the plane. It was really very impressive.

LAX was a zoo, flights were full (good - no wastage), no problems with the flights.

I'm happy to see Kim again. Really.

Not been posting

I haven't been posting much, but I figured everyone is getting bored of my day-to-day swimming/driving/shopping/working. I'll start posting just observations, but things are pretty busy just now so it'll just be when I have time. Or when I actually do something to interest people.

Some Pics

Yesterday was spent doing some moving and plenty of driving, including some longer trips on the freeway.

The photos I have posted are of the car I drive (though I have driven my godfather's Mazda CX-7 a couple of times), the house I stay in, the clear walls of OC (so as to not spoil the view), one of the big ol' spiders I mentioned, and a road name that made me chuckle. It was funny 'cause an attractive jogger was running under it when I first saw it, totally like one of those STI HEBS ads...

Oh my, another two days gone. They do seem to fly by like trucks and trains.

Yesterday (Thursday) I did a bit of driving, some cooking, swam, walked, and read. Not much to blog about, but I did take some photos which I will post tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

Today I shopped. Not my favorite pastime, but a necessity. Had some delightful sushi and tempura for lunch, and some tasty sweet and sour chicken for dinner. I drove to and fro a cinema, where we saw Appaloosa (a great film, very enjoyable). This trip involved a longer stint on the freeway - not so bad in the medium light traffic (and the dark made it easier to place cars in the blind spot).

I'm going to grab some sleep. I should really come up with something interesting to post on this ol' blog of mine!

Ralphs

It wasn't so bad. The scorcher of a day made the trolley (sorry, cart) collection sweaty business. And I have developed a healthy dislike of paper bags. I like the concept, but they're harder to pack and have less in them 'cause people expect to use the paper handles. Whatever happened to just carrying them without the easy-tear handles? The store bags people take in are a godsend - large, sturdy, and ecofriendly.

The day passed quite quickly and for that I am thankful. I didn't want my smile to turn into a grimace.

The first of october - where is the time going? I went to Laguna beach and to the gym for this housing area - Laguna was nice, typical CA beach but the gym was somewhat limited. I guess the Pleasance spoiled me!

Today I'm looking into a brief return to my wet 'n' wild homeland...