((Perkins))

Erin! Yay for Erin! Whom I evidently missed by a matter of minutes.

Also Go Team Tea, with the date-making and date-having!

I am now drinking beer with banana juice

I've seen banana juice in the store, and I keep wondering how one juices a banana. But honestly, I'm with meara on this one.

Well, I was equally dubious, but it was entirely delicious. You can't use any old shitty beer, though - it needs to be a specific style of White beer that they get in Germany, which is crisp and delicious. It's not that much odder than Shandy.

thinks

Do y'all have Shandy? Maybe not.

Barnsley! That's one of the places my DH keeps talking about us moving to (as our real residence). That and Heslington, and a couple other places in Yorkshire I don't recall.

Good God. Really? Barnsley is much-dissed, but actually secretly rather fabulous as a place to live. It's only a half hour or so drive to Sheffield or to Leeds, (good sized cities, excellent shopping, the latter boasting numerous posh shops and gorgeous Victorian architecture) and the countryside really is second to none.

We're a ten minute drive from The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which is just gorgeous. Here are twelve pictures of the countryside, although I don't think they begin to do it justice. Cawthorne is one of the prettiest villages in the Barnsley area imho, incorporating Cannon Hall Park, which is beautifully landscaped & fab for a nice walk on a weekend. There's a fairly standard cinema in Barnsley town centre, but far better is the independent cinema in the amusingly-named Penistone, a 15 minute drive or so away. It's a proper Old Skool cinema, complete with bar - you can take your coffee or beer into the cinema to drink. They always have an interval in which you can go and purchase said refreshments, regardless of the movie. It's also got a working Organ (heh), and the Paramount still hosts bands and pantomimes and live gigs in addition to the movies.

Barnsley Football Club actually has its own Poet In-Residence, and according to him, "It's a cliche that it's grim up north. It's not been grim up north since they did away with industry in 1984. Leeds is full of footballers shopping in Harvey Nichols, Sheffield is full of men in hard hats building things and Barnsley is the new Tuscany."

Ahem.

Go Barnsley! Choose Barnsley!

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And I though $2.49/gallon was expensive...

I paid $2.25/gallon this morning. I didn't have time to go to the place that had $2.21/gallon.

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So. Very. Monday.

Do y'all have Shandy? Maybe not.

Mmm, I miss the pub I used to hang out at. And not for the cute Brits this time.

I paid $2.25/gallon this morning. I didn't have time to go to the place that had $2.21/gallon.

Oooph. $2.59 at the cheapest place down here.

Just got out of a production meeting. I need to go and put in my time for the past two or three weeks. Making it up as I go along likely.

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I've seen banana juice in the store, and I keep wondering how one juices a banana. But honestly, I'm with meara on this one.

Banana juice is what my dentist as a kid used to call the novocaine shot, so I'm not sure this appeals to me.

Well, I was equally dubious, but it was entirely delicious. You can't use any old shitty beer, though - it needs to be a specific style of White beer that they get in Germany, which is crisp and delicious. It's not that much odder than Shandy.

But lots of Weiss beers have a slightly banana overtone to them to begin with, so I can see where it might work.

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Oh! But what I am happy about is that I am going to the Wild Animal Park after work for The Park at Dark ( [link] ). Critters at night!

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Dammit, Fay, you're making me want to move there!

I will get a job eventually, right? Or at least an interview? This is getting seriously discouraging. I'm in the running for maybe three positions at this point, have definitely struck out on four, and applied to 5-6 others so long ago I think I can assume I was rejected even without a letter telling me so.

And today when I checked my usual suspect websites to find jobs to apply for (the UW employment site, idealist.org, and craigslist), there was nothing. Nada. El zilcho. There was one UW job I was excited about until I saw it was a one-week listing, which is code for "we've already picked someone but have to go through the motions of a search." I found another UW job for DH to apply for--he's hoping to find something with a little more pay and greater challenges in the next year or so.

I'm trying really hard to think of this as a blessing in disguise. If I could pick a start date for this hoped-for new job of mine, it'd be around 10/15, after the writers conference and after I expect to have finished the rough draft of the WIP. Not having a job now is great because it frees me to devote my time and energy to those responsibilities.

But the not getting interviews is making me nervous that I've lost my cover letter mojo, or that the year-plus off really was permanent career suicide.

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Gas was at $2.25, but now it's back up to hovering around $2.31 at the cheap place I like.

There are at times almost an $.11 difference between where I get gas near work and where I live (about 7 miles away).

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Cass! I was down in your 'hood this weekend! 'Course I didn't realize it was your 'hood 'til I was on my way (to Ren Faire) and my directions from Yahoo Maps included a street that's yours. I woulda called, 'cept I lost your number in the great cellphone debacle of '04. Then I saw from your posts you wouldna been there anyhow. So, my point is apparently, that I was in your 'hood. Wow, not that interesting when it takes that long to type out the whole thing...

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Health~ma to Sean and Jessica.

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Wow, not that interesting when it takes that long to type out the whole thing...

Yeah, but it made me giggle to read it. I will insent my number to you though. Didn't realize it was tragically lost in the aught four debacle.

Where was Ren? Balboa Park maybe?

I have eleven days to figure out what I did. I think I meant to do this Friday but was lulled by the no one else here thing. Maybe I should work backwards.

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