Atrophy?

My writing muscles seem to have gone into cramp. I'm hoping that this is only down to the relatively lengthy period of enforced non-writeyness while the computer was in transit and I was in The Land of Interminable Packing. Those of you who are waiting for emails, letters, diatribes, or slashtastic sitcom treatments: please be patient. I'll get to you eventually.

I'm more homesick than I expected. I miss my old haunts and my mates, especially Marianne. But I'll be popping back to London in a few weeks for Dolly Wilde's visit, so I'll be seeing everyone again soon.

I haven't really been out much, just the odd quiet pint with mates. Still finding my feet, you know how it is. I need to get set up with a temp job but I've found myself in one of those Catch 22 situations: to get a job I need a bank account in Euros, and for that I need proof that I'm living where I say I'm living, and for that I need some sort of official looking document. A bank statement or a payslip would do nicely, but for that I need... you get the picture. The landlord's going to give us a new rent book with both our names on it tomorrow (intead of just Mandy's), so all may yet be well.

I've spent my time mostly trying to unpack and exploring the city. Cork's great. I've never lived in an area with such a high pub density. There's scores of them, mostly offering live music too. Aside from pubs I'm about five minutes walk from two major breweries, a big ol' cinema and an opera house (and a rather yecchy-looking strip club, but you can't have everything). Next time I'll give you a few links to online stuff about the city, so you can feel all envious and resentful. Bwahahahaha.

Did a bit of shopping today; I bought myself a book to serve as a journal-cum-sketch pad. I want to keep a record of my general impressions while I'm living abroad so that I can refer back to them later on. I got a set of Chinese brushes for Christmas, but what with one thing and another I haven't done any painting for months. Now seems like an ideal time to get back into it. I usually paint in acrylics, but they're very bulky and I'm trying to travel light-- plus you can't really use acrylics with Chinese brushes. Can't wait to get started!

One good thing about the move is the way it's made me pare down my projects. One art medium. One musical instrument (bass guitar, if you really neeeed to know). One electronics project (yes, the laser harp). I almost left the electronics stuff behind: I'd got so cheesed off with the subject what with all the bollocks that my moribund degree course put me through. I was just going to shove the breadboard with my prototype circuit into a box bound for storage, and then suddenly I remembered how much fun all that stuff is when you're just doing it for the sake of doing it, rather than for someone to grade. So, the Laser-Driven Pokemon Autopsy Harp rides again! I won't be able to make the housing yet (too bulky to take to Barcelona when we go) but I can tinker with the guts.

Unpacking my leccy stuff at this end, I thought for one ghastly moment that I'd neglected to pack any linking wire. I felt... emasculated.