I applied for a second job today as a personal assistant/carer/escort - something to do during the evening or on occassional weekends for maybe 6 hours a week. These jobs are pretty good fun - I miss the hands on support that I used to provide when I worked in Supported Housing like teaching people how to clean, cook, budget and supporting them to the pub, the gym or to shoot a few rounds of pool etc. I'm doing lots of work around learning disability legislation and the administrative side of things but it would be nice to do some practical work too so I don't lose sight of who I'm working for. I've already had one person interested so it's looking promising.

Nallely should be here tomorrow - I can't wait but I have a lot of things to sort out. I hope she likes living in London. It is a bit of a culture shock compared to Chicago but in my opinion that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Both cities have their pros and cons - one thing I miss about Chicago is the Summer weather. The 5 months of Winter snowdrifts and blizzards I don't miss quite so much.

What a weekend! The Batcave event on Friday was great. Finally getting to see Specimen play live and meeting Ollie Wisdom afterwards... joy! That was something I'd never thought I'd experience. It was fantastic seeing so many people there - especially the Nottingham crowd. I was worried that it would end up being an expensive and quiet night but I was very wrong (about the quiet night bit anyway!)
Last night was Batcavey Bop at the Orwell which was also a lot of fun. Thanks Nik fo letting me spin - I really enjoyed myself. I had to make an early run for the door as I was zoning out due to not having slept and recovering from a prolonged hangover from the night before. It was great to DJ again although lugging an expensive laptop around the dark alleyways late at night probably isn't the most sensible of ideas.

Today I'm being homely and I'm going to attempt to make a pizza. There are only 5 more days until Nallely is here - not long at all but the days are going by so slowly!

I finally got to see the catacombs at Kensal Green! I also got to prance around like a dandy and air out one of the frilly poet shirts that has been lurking at the back of the wardrobe for ages. I don't do the 'trad' thing very much anymore - I find it too impractical and my tastes have changed over the years but it can look bloody good when it's done right.
The catacomb tour was short but well worth it although it is a shame they don't allow photos. I'd quite like to get back into making and selling cemetery cards again and could do with some more pictures.

I am feeling restless tonight but there is no way I can go out. I'm all spent up after buying Batcave tickets and I'm still waiting for petty cash refunds for items I've bought for work. I'm going to have a deeply intellectual night watching the entire Ross Kemp on Gangs series instead :)

Oh P.S.

An alternative to the Dev for pre-Dead and Buried/Slimelight/SH5/Vagabonds drinks



271 bus from High&Is tube goes direct there and 476/73 goes from the pub to Kings Cross

It says starting at 9 on the flyer but I think we may be starting a little earlier than that and the music will be broader - trad, early industrial, minimalwave.
Beer special is 2 quid for selected drinks.
More than happy to take requests :)


Apologies for crossposting

I have a trip to Wales next week for work. I'll be visiting a guy who is moving back to London so I'll be finding out what he wants from his new service and help him get set up in his new home. It seems to be in the middle of nowhere with no direct trains and lots of potential to get lost but it'll be nice being out in the countryside.

Tomorrow is Dead and Buried and I will NOT be drinking. I'm going to stay sober until Nallely gets here - it'll be healthier, cheaper and if I'm going to get drunk I'd rather it be with her than anyone else. Part way through D&B I'm going to help Glen out at the Orwell where he is starting a punk night. It's a nice little pub with lots of potential but it's a bit out of the way. It'll be good to spin some punk stuff - I've got a lot of weird European punk but don't get to play it very often.

I want to visit Pripyat!

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/c/chernobyl/index7.html

Cavey Nik has a slot for me at this night...



That should scratch my itchy DJ finger nicely!

It sounds like the perfect end to a weekend of Goth hedonism after the Batcave event on the 11th and the FotN gig on the 12th. Gives me a reason to keep my hair up for the whole weekend!

This is how you'll feel when you hear my set :)

Now I'm established and finally have my own internet connection it's time to put some plans into action...but I need some advice.

What do people think about a new goth night in London & what are the essential things it would need to make it successful?

After Seizure I have itchy DJ fingers and I desperately want to get back to promoting and spinning again but I really don't want to step on the toes of any existing nights and I'm worried that London might be oversaturated as it is with lots of DJs and not enough bands.

Work is going pretty well at the moment although social services are being quite slow giving me a caseload. I'm spending most of my time turning information about individualised budgets and details about my post into a user friendly, pictorial format. I didn't realise how much had changed regarding learning disability legislation over the 18 months that I was in the States. When I left Haringey there was a lot of talk about giving people total control of their benefits and telling them how much they were receiving for services but not very much had been done about it. Since then there have been pilot schemes all over the country and as my project is the first one to work with adults with ld in Ealing there will be quite a lot of pressure on me to get results.

I'm really liking living in Acton. It is a bit of a trek to get to Camden and central London but the area is really nice and there are plenty of places to go jogging. I do laps around Gunnersbury park a couple of times each week and always think to myself what a stunning venue it would make for a goth night. There is a beautiful little folly temple building by a lake - very Byronesque, and a lot of ruined buildings.

Tonight I was half planning on going to Blood and Velvet but after looking at how long it would take for me to get there I might give it a miss. Anyone know of anything else going on?

Well, the first couple of weeks at work have gone well and i meet my first clients on Monday.
Most of my time has been spent networking, checking out day services and swotting up on direct payments and individualised budgeting - quite a lot of info to take in.

I've been exploring Ealing and doing plenty of jogging in the process. I jogged to Kensall Green cemetery 2 days ago and saw that the wall had blown down leaving it nice and open for a picnic amongst the gravestones :)

I'm still using the internet cafe but I have a land line now so shouldn't be long before I get the net set up again. At least I get a chance to talk to Nay without my damn mobile cutting out or running out of credit.

In the morning I'll be coming back to London to get ready to start my new job. Until my first month's wages come in I'm going to be skint, which is not going to be much fun, but at least I'll be able to concentrate on work and getting to know the area. No internet for a little while other than internet cafes until I've sorted an ISP so expect a little more LJ silence than usual. I'm a bit nervous, which is to be expected really. I've moved countries, got a job, found somewhere to live and managed to attend the Wake the Dead festival in LA and WGT in the last month and I really need to settle down somewhere and avoid all the craziness. It's not really cost effective living a rockstar lifestyle on a social care worker's salary.

Good news for anyone like me who used to live on the Clays Lane Co-op housing site...

Tommy, the nasty little thieving smack head, finally gets life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7402306.stm

Back from an amazing WGT which was lots of fun. FOTN rocked. Now I'm back in Notts missing my wife & friends tremendously.
I will be looking at flats at the end of the week so I can move down to London and start work asap.

PS
I found the clip of Valor getting his ass whupped at Parkbuhne by one of the Eva O posse :)

I got the job!

Sweet mother of God!

Once they have sorted out references they'll be able to give me a start date so I'd better start looking for accommodation in West London.

WGT will be time for some serious celebration.

What a day! We arrived early this morning and spent most of the day asleep at my folks place. I'm now busy trying to sort out travel to London for Tuesday's interview but it seems like it is going to be incredibly expensive unless I bus it down there at 3am. My body clock is all messed up though so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Possibly thinking about staying in London till we jet off to WGT. If anyone has floor crash space for Wednesday and Thurs night it would be greatly appreciated...

Today is my last day at work and tomorrow we fly back to England in time for the job interview. I'm so tired right now - I was packing until 1 this morning and the previous night was Seizure. I need a couple of days to regroup and focus. bleh.

I've gone direct to work from the airport after visiting LA and I'm knackered. Gonna have to get a serious amount of sleep tonight to catch up and be energetic enough to get ready for the move this week.
LA was fantastic and Barbara and Tony were great hosts making sure we saw the sights and checked out some of the local vegan cuisine. On Friday I went with Nay to Release the Bats in Long Beach where I had the novel experience of being at a packed deathrock club - something that doesn't happen very often in Chicago! The music was great and I got some dancing in before the floor became too overcrowded. We did some shopping on Melrose on Saturday and then went to the Wake the Dead festival. I wasn't too familiar with most of the bands but there was a good crowd and it was a great opportunity to catch up with people. I also discovered canned michelada and got quite drunk. Yesterday we went to Venice beach which was very strange - all sorts of crazies, body builders and gangsters. It was a bit like Camden on steroids. There was a lot to see but we had limited time and I couldn't fully appreciate it as I was so tired - definitely somewhere I'd like to travel back to in the future.

On the work front I had some good news. I received a call on Saturday morning letting me know that the interviews for the co-ordinator post could be re-scheduled for next Tuesday! I don't have much time to prepare as most of this week will be spent packing and saying goodbyes but at least I'll get a shot at the post.

Tomorrow is the last ever Seizure. I hope we get a good crowd out so we can go out with a bang. Even if I wasn't leaving the night has come to the end of it's short life - trying to have a weekly goth night on a Tuesday was perhaps a little over ambitious but it has been a lot of fun. I may even get around to posting my set list this time. I also have an entire batch of wheat beer homebrew that needs to be drunk before the end of the week so if there are any takers let me know.

The first thing I saw as I came in to work today was a punch up on the patio. Not a great start. Sunday mornings should be spent tucked up in bed not de-escalating psychotic people.
I applied for the perfect job yesterday. It has all the elements that I have been looking for - London based, working with people with learning disabilities and designing multimedia care plans. It is exactly what I've been looking for and I wrote a blody good application. Fingers crossed. I have 2 more applications to write today. I'm not quite as excited about them but I can't afford to be picky at the moment.
In 2 weeks I will be leaving Chicago to embark on further adventures in the UK again. The time is flying by so quickly and it is going to be awful being away from my wife but I know that in the long run it will be for the best. I thought about going to Nocturna last night but the combination of having to work today and trying to budget for the move made me realise it would not be a good idea.

Seizure tonight, but it will be upstairs at Liar's club rather than in the main club downstairs as there is a band on. The club night will stop at the end of April due to recent poor attendance so we'll make sure we go out with a bang before I shoot off back to the UK. NMA was great on Saturday and it was fantastic to see them so close up with lots of Brits in attendance.
There are just over 2 and a half weeks to go before I leave the country and I still have so much to sort out - trying to find time to job hunt is very difficult so I'll be in self imposed exile until then.

Last night I had a lot of thinking to do.
Nallely was accepted into law school in the UK a few months ago and we were planning on returning to London in August but my work situation has become a lot more difficult since the start of the new year. My staff team has been down a member for over 3 months, I've been putting in an average of 10 to 20 hours a week in unpaid overtime trying to complete all the outstanding work and it takes an hour and a half each way to get there and back every day. I'm also getting paid the same amount as I was 8 years ago although I guess the experience I've gained is going to make my resume kick ass. There are some other issues which I'm not going to go into but I'm getting pretty burnt out and it is time for a change. I told my boss today and although he seemed a bit disappointed I think he understood my frustration.
The plan now is to look for jobs in London (I've already found a couple of nice ones in the Guardian online) and return to the UK at the start of next month - hopefully I'll be going back into non-profit learning disabilities as I need a break from addicts and gangbangers. It'll mean some time apart from Nay which will be awful but we managed to go for a year apart so a month should fly by.

If anyone knows of some decent social care jobs or 1 bed apartments in London let me know!