It's November now and I am truly BACK ON THE INTERNET*. No more false alarms.

It's time to catch up.

1. An overdue thank you.

Somewhere there is a wonderful person that made my Clarion time possible by donating a scholarship. I don't know who you are yet, but I hope the good people in San Diego will tell me soon so I can write to you personally. Thank you so very much.

2. To my classmates.

You are all so wonderful. I can't get into our board at the moment, so this is me waving frantically while I slide off the shed roof** How are you all? Where are you all?

3. My long-overdue Clarion Blog starts now: (I'll insert link soon)

4. If I owe you an email (and holy wow, I owe a lot), look for it soon. If you don't get one, come here and kick me. Glancing at my inbox, it also looks like some messages I *thought* I'd sent, didn't get where they were headed. It's very late here and it's cold, so email is tomorrow morning's mission.

- - - - - 

_{*With a few hours exception, my internet access has been non-existent since August.  Just when I was about to get one thing fixed, another bloody thing broke.}

_{** Um, the only way to connect to the network at the moment is to climb onto the shed roof and tilt an umbrella at my neighbour's house. Chilly, but the early 5th/Nov fireworks are terrific.}

Clarion is over! :-(

One flight later and I am on Long Island, NY.

Things to do next:

Step 1. Rest.

Step 2. Buy new external hard drive and emergency backup all data. Something has gone funky with my poor laptop.

Step 3. Flight #2. Back to London. Return to ZSL.  Do a literature search on my next lot of species and commence classification.

Step 4. BLOG CLARION LIKE CRAZY.





step ??. profit!

Shh! I'm not really updating.

While I am keeping a Clarion log, I'm carefully not posting it for the simple reason that LJ will suck me in and I'll post EVERY HOUR because EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE HERE IS SO SO AWESOME!!

Stay tuned for a massive posting frenzy in the last week of Clarion or so. :)

Well, my transcontinental flight was not as bad as I feared.  Plane change in Chicago went smoothly, I landed in San Diego early, and my baggage was not lost (ripped, but not lost).

Airport-UCSD travel consisted of me pulling a map out of my bag, pointing at the small red circle and saying, "Get me there."

He did.  I am at Clarion. And it is clearly all kinds of awesome.

So was Dr Who's latest episode "The Sound of Drums", but that's a different story.

Now I will shut up and go back to bed.

New York is warm, sultry and I do rather suspect that brain is melting out my ears and evaporating.  It is 11pm (4am) and I am playing the jetlag defeating game "How Late Can I Remain Awake &  Lucid?"

If I start making burbling noises, pleae do not be alarmed.

My cross-Atlantic journey proved boring and uneventful (ie. very pleasant; I do not want things getting exciting at 24,000ft) and I've spent the last two days teak-oiling my parents deck furniture, ripping up ivy, and making a list of everything I accidentally left in London.  (One of the things I discovered that I didn't leave behind was sharp-edged and metal and in my hand luggage . . . and has been for at least three other transatlantic/transpacific flights.  Consider me coloured a pale shade of concerned.)

- - - -

Have acquired copies of Baker's "Gods & Pawns", CJ Cherryh's "Collected Short Fiction" and Bear's "New Amsterdam", none of which I will have time to read before I set off at 7am tomorrow morning. 

Have not acquired "Red Seas Under Red Skies" by Lynch (UK release 21 June). Am mildly peeved. May be good thing, however, as "Lies of Loch Lamora" rocked my socks off to such an extent that I may wear nothing but sandals for the rest of my life. If the sequel is as good, what will I do for footwear?  

- - - -
. . . . right,  time for sleep.

Right, time for Spot-the-laptop to go inside  the pillowcase, inside the computer bag, inside the hand luggage rucksack.  Of course, when I get to security, I will have to excavate everything remotely electronic. . . .


 . . . .

And we're off!

San Diego, according to the BBC.

Day & night temperatures (*C)

Wednesday	32	17
Thursday	33	17
Friday	33	17
Saturday	29	17
Sunday	31	17

17? At night? I am going to melt!

Repack time!

Isn't it good I quite like packing. :)

What you do is take the contents of your wardrobe and dump it on the bed. Then dump half of that on the floor. Push it around a little to make pretty coloured cloth-mountains.

The next step is to scratch your head and wonder about your taste in clothes.  Also, why do you own five black t-shirts and exactly zero shorts or swim suits?  Doesn't matter-- put it all in the bag. 

First rule of packing: To save space, wear bulky things on the plane and your biggest pair of shoes.
Second rule of packing:  if you forget anything, you can probably buy later.
- - - - - - -

Updated:

Dear Customs People,

I am not a tea smuggler. I just happen to have six different types of leaf tea in my bag.

I promise that herbal leaf tea is not anything particularly illicit.   Also, those 3 jars of marmite?  Ignore those. They're not for me, k?

Love,

me

I have not been on the internet properly for some time. I have not answered emails, not returned phone calls and, generally, have been nowhere to be found.

The reason for this is: a work deadline from hell. 8.30-7, seven days a week.

The reason for the deadline: um. . .yeah, about that.

I'm going to Clarion.

This Clarion.

_{I am an idiot}

I finished the WORK THING yesterday afternoon; my first flight leaves in less than twelve hours.

I have the fretting, pacing, omgwhatamidoingohthehumanity! nerves like you wouldn't believe!

Packing starts now. So does the Official Clarion Log.


_{aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh}