Peter Spencer
Born and Bred in Blighty
Dragged over to the US by my American Wife, Ashley
Currently residing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with the In-Laws, Joe and Dianne
A hard working (or should that be hardly working) mechendiser for 7up
Pretend to play guitar, and love music





Affekopfs Myspace Site






Ashley
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Crock
Dave Bennett
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Designer: li0nheart
Code base: Ebullient*
Flash: ~thehermitdesign

Yo! Today was a first for me. I played in front of more than 20 people for the first time. It was almost glitchless. Mariah sprung a new song on us at the last second, but that was alright I just played extra quiet for that one, and she played something in a different key, testing my on the spot transposing. That turned out all right in the end too. Ash and I are estimating at about 100 people there. It all went pretty well really, I was a lot less nervous than I thought I would be. In fact I'm glad I didn't know there were 100 people there at the time, otherwise I really would've been nervous! Anyhow, it was fun. Maybe I'll actually be able to play guitar next time, that'll be good. The guy that is playing guitar at the moment plays acoustic without a mike, so you can't really hear him. He says he'd rather I was there on guitar backing him up. There's a couple of kids who want to play guitar as well, but they're pretty much the same as he is, so even though there are going to be four guitars playing, it'll only sound like one - me!

Anyhow, so that was exciting. We stayed after church to discuss how it went, and nobody criticized the bass playing, so that's cool. Oh, I also played mandolin for a song (sorry mother, I didn't wear the moustache, I've lost it!) which went as well as could be expected i.e. alright apart from the couple of chords that I haven't really manage to get quick changes in. We went out to eat with some of the church people at Jason's Deli. I had a jacket (baked) potato with bacon and cheese. It was HUGE! I couldn't finish it! Those who know me will be shocked by that!

When we got home I tidied up our wing of the house. I have my own room for my guitars and stuff now. Just as well really, with two acoustics, two electrics, and a mandolin our room was getting pretty crowded! I wrote a sexy song today, I'm gonna see if I can get it recorded and put it on the internet so you can all suffer!

That's about all I've done today. Oh, I'm actually going start updating the comics again now, sorry for the lapse, it's been hard to find the time. I've got tomorrow off, so maybe I'll do some other stuff to the site. I don't really know what yet, but I'll figure something out!

Here's a link. Back to the stupid ones again!

Mypornname.com

/Hopped!
10:41 PM

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I worked most of today, it was pretty busy. Not too busy though, it is lent after all, and there's lots of Christians down here, and quite a few of them think they shouldn't eat red meat during it. This means quite a loss of business for a diner who's main item is hamburgers.

Anyhow, I left early so I could go and see The Passion of Christ. Our church hired out a cinema so we could all watch it together. If you don't know, it's all about the last 12 hours before Jesus' death. It's not the most pleasant film to watch, but then again I suppose from my perspective as a Christian it was, because He loves me enough to go through all that suffering. About the anti-semitism... Urm, well to be honest Jews don't really come off well in the film, but then again they don't really come off well in the bible either. It was a very dark time. I'm sure they'd react a bit differently now! I think that it's the devil that comes off really bad. I mean they all act so irrationally, and the devil keeps on popping up having a laugh at what is going on, and we already know that he's really really evil already! Anyhow, it doesn't matter what race/creed the people who killed Jesus were. Had it have been in Hawaii the Hawiians would've been to blame, and the same for anywhere else. The point is that in our ultimate sin we saved ourselves from our sins. Not anyone in particular. It was humans that killed Jesus, not just Jews.

Anyhow, that bit aside, if you're going to watch this movie (I recommend it) be prepared for some very very gruesome stuff. The fact that I believe that is how it happened, so basically I'm just watching history being replayed in film form, makes it especially bad. I couldn't really tell you it from a non-Christian viewpoint... I guess if you just watched it without even knowing who Jesus is then you'd be watching a two hour snuff movie, with actors instead of victims. It's very well directed (surprising there been as it's a Mel Gibson effort!) and very moving. I personally would've liked it to go on a bit more to the joyful bit of Jesus being resurrected and chatting to people and whatnot. It's not such a happy ending! It's in Hebrew, or something like that, so you haven't got the High priests saying "Hey! Jesus you mook!" or anything like that. It makes it feel very authentic and true to the source. Anyhow, a good movie, and it was a bit of an eye opener. I mean I know all that happened to Jesus, but there's a difference between reading some professor writing about what would've happened and actually seeing it happen.

Anyhow, apart from that I played some music with Gordon, it was alright, we got more musically in touch with each other I suppose. He's lent me his (American made (that'll mean something to anyone who knows anything about guitars)) strat, so I've got a decent electric guitar to play now! Woohoo!

Now I've got to go practice the stuff I'll be playing tomorrow at church. They want me to play mandolin I think, Ash sprung it on me just now. I'd better go and learn it!

Here's a link which isn't as cool as yesterdays (that's a bit of a high mark for websites I think) but it's still pretty cool.

Powers of Ten

/Hopped!
10:43 PM

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Hey, long time no write! Sorry, I've been busy, and Ash has been hogging the computer. I guess I'd better start with Mardi Gras in New Orleans....

Well it was fun, we went to Pat O'Briens, the best place to get a hurricane from. They have a little courtyard in the middle, it's nice to sit out there and watch people. Lots of crazy costumes. There was a guy in a nappy (diaper), a couple of girls dressed up as penis police with dildos instead of truncheons and magnifying glasses, a girl dressed in nothing but a thong and butterfly wings, a nurse, a bunch of people dressed up as chinese people with plates on sticks (like spinning plates, but not really), and a few ladies with not much more than body paint on.

We sat in there for a while, I had three hurricanes, all of which were very tasty and verrry alcoholic. Then we went to check out a parade. Not very interesting floats, but I did manage to catch a spear. Woohoo! I got a cigar, and we went back to Pat O'Briens. Then we came home, just as well because it started to piss it down on the way back.

That was Tuesday, on to Wensday. Well I can pretty much do Wensday and Thursday together because they were pretty much the same. I woke up, went to work, came home and went to sleep. I'm having to go in extra early because everyone else in the family is working. So I'm pretty knackered when I get home. It feels like I'm living at work at the moment. Pretty crap feeling to have really! Oh well. They've got a new bus boy working now so I don't have quite as much work to do. His name is Joey, he's 19 and he goes to Alcohlics Anonymous. He's not even allowed to drink legally in this country! He's a pretty nice guy, very very slow though! That'll change sometime soon when he gets used to it I suppose. I served a lady who was born in Newbury (for those of you that don't know it's very close to Reading, where I was born) which is a bit coincidental!

Today was pretty much the same as Wensday and Thursday, apart from I went out with Gordon after work. We played some pool. I thrashed him. We played for about an hour and a half and he beat me once. He's gonna have to get more practice in! Then we went to Pat Brady's, which is a blues bar. The band wasn't that great though, so we left after a few songs.

Well that's about it really, Ash and I are going to watch The Passion tomorrow, then maybe I'll get together with Gordon and have a jam/writing session.

Cresta's rash is back, but she hasn't gone back to hospital. She should be alright though I hope. She has a doctor keeping an eye on her, I think she should be in hospital though, but what can you do?

That's it for now, here's a really cool link, probably the weirdest and most original site EVER on the internet. You could spend days looking round this site, it's a true gem.



Nobodyhere.com

/Hopped!
11:33 PM

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Mardi Gras. Fun! Home. Drunk. Bed. 'night!

/Hopped!
7:51 PM

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Hey! Well work was short today, good and bad, for obvious reasons: a)time b)money. Ash gave me a lift in via the church and the attourney's. It was very quiet at work today because it's Lundi Monday, the day before Mardi Gras so everyone was out watching the parades. A new guy called Joey has started at work. He's a nice guy.

So I came home and had a nice long relaxing bath in Dianne and Joes jacuzzi-bath. Very relaxing. I weighed myself. I weigh 200lbs. 14ish stone. The lightest I've been in a long time!

Ash and I went out to eat at Chilli's tonight, it was very tasty. I had baby back ribs. Hey I've lost a stone and a half! I can splurge every now and again! I bought a waterproof jacket from Wally World (Wal-Mart). It's been storming and hailing all day. We walked from the car to the store and we were soaked and bruised by all the hail! Crazy! Just yesterday it was beautiful cloudless skys and sunshine. Today, pissing it down!

This means we might not go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras tomorrow. It's going to be storming all day. They had to cancel a parade today because of the weather. Imagine that! The Krew had been planning it all year and put alot of money into it, but they couldn't do it!

I should maybe explain how Mardi Gras works around here. They have different Krews, Bacchus and Zulu for example, and they each put on their own parade in the weeks running up to Mardi Gras (literal translation: Fat Tuesday - Shrove Tuesday to you and me). The Krews are run by very rich people, it's a family thing, and a big status smybol kind of thing for the wealthy people to do round here. Not really a bad status symbol to have, throwing a party for thousands of people. Better than a yacht or fancy house in my opinion! So there you go. New Orleans has about 25 krews, there are alot more krews all over Louisiana. They throw out all kinds of goodies out into the crowds: beads, doubloons (little plastic coins, and other stuff. Bourbon Street (in the middle of the french quarter) is very much an X-rated scene. The ladies and gents down there will swap beads for a flash of ceratin parts of their bodys. It's lined with balconies so the batering goes on on at least two levels. The best way to describe it is aboslute bedlam, and I love it! Woohoo! I hope that helps a bit. If we do go tomorrow I'll try and take some piccies.

If it doesn't clear it up too much, here's a link for you that'll help.

Mardi Gras.com

That'll do from me today right? Leave me in peace to enjoy my daquiri! Ta ta.

/Hopped!
11:11 PM

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Yup, that's right, not much went on today, I went to church this morning, work this afternoon, and rehersed with the church band this evening. I was playing guitar for a little bit, but I stopped doing that because the drummer was absent, so I played bass instead again. Half a rhythm section is better than none at all! It was fun, I was standing at the back going "bum-bukka-bum-bum" Oh that reminds me, there was something that I found funny that no-one else seemed to (apart from Ash) Mariah said "I want you guys to come in on the bum" Hee hee, come in/on the bum! Hee hee hee! Anyhow, that's it. We're going through a dress rehersal next week. I don't quite know what the difference is, I won't be wearing a costume or anything! Maybe it's so Father Sheldon can dress up and join in too! Anyhow, that was my day. If you want to see piccies of me playing bass, go here (again!) they're just below the pictures I told y'all about yesterday. Hold on, let me just find you a link...

Easy Air Guitar

/Hopped!
10:14 PM

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click here if you you don't have acrobat reader then you can't read it. Oh well. I'm sure you can find somewhere you can download it.... I just saw this while I was looking about, trying to find the real name for my squirrel

/Hopped!
5:24 PM

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here

/Hopped!
5:24 PM

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Woohoo! It's at the bottom of this page (if you click here) if you want a look! Yay!

I'm still going to carry on working at Dearmans for now though, although now I get the privilege of paying taxes! I does mean I've got some ID without taking my passport around with me everywhere. Excellent! I can also learn to drive proper and get a driving licence. Basically I'm American without actually being American, if you know what I mean. The only thing I can't do is vote. Hold on a second... That means I have to pay for the government, but I don't have any say in what they're doing. Oh well. I'll get over it!

Work was quiet today, there was a parade going on in Baton Rouge, so most of the city was there, and not eating burgers. I still got quite a bit in tips. The reason I'm staying at Dearmans is because it's actually pretty good money. I think I've taken home about $400 this week including tips. Excellent!

I bought some jeans and a t-shirt today. Oh I should take a photo of those too so I can show you I suppose! (what??? We've got a fancy digital camera now, gotta get our moneys worth!) Then we went to Waffle House and broke our diet. Ash says she's already given up on this week. I wish she told me while I was at work and I could've had a tasty burger! Actually I couldn't because everyone there knows I'm on a diet, so no matter what I ask for I get chicken salad. They just like to see me suffer! I had a patty melt. One of the most delicious was to eat a burger. It's like a cheese toasty with a burger in the middle. I think it's probably the most unhealthy way to eat anything as well All that grease! Oh well, if you're gonna blow a diet, blow it in style I say!

That's it for today. Oh, I found out the cause for the knife threatening incident. Gill says that Brent asked him to make a banana shake when it was supposed to be a banana malt. Remind me to always get it right when I ask Gill to make me a shake or I might get stabbed! (Joke. He's a good guy really!) He told me that if he did get into a fight with just his fists he'd be in trouble anyhow. He's in the Army, and he can kill a man with one blow, so it would still be using a leathel weapon.... Himself!

I got some CD's today as well, Madlib, which I'm listening to right now. Rastfari am i! Greenpeace and DJ Yoda's Unthugged which is very funny, and very cool at the same time; and Coldcut's Journey by DJ, which I haven't listened to yet.

Well that really is it for today, I'll leave yo with a link and a goodnight!

man vs mayo

/Hopped!
9:40 PM

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/Hopped!
9:17 PM

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Hi, just a quick note to let you know that Pete received his Employment Authorization Card in the mail today! He is now legal to work in the United States. Next we will have to get his Social Security (similar to the National Insurance in Britain) number, driver's license, and once we're settled into our new jobs and home, we will try to speed up the Green Card process (right now it looks that it may take over another two years).

So, that's how fast our government works. We married in March 2, 2002; Applied for his green card initially March 25, 2002. He finally got a temporary visa to come and arrived August 17, 2003, and six months later he gets his work authorization permit.

/Hopped!
1:16 PM

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Dearman's could make a very good soap opera you know! Billy(the boss)'s sisters "money lay" called Brent was working today. This guy is a major arsehole. Gill also thinks this. At about 2 o'clock there was an arguement out the back between Gill and Brent. Brent threatened to know Gills block off. Gill took out a knife and said "Come on then!" Or words to that effect. Understand that Brent is about twice the size of Gill, so had Gil been invovled in a fair fight with Brent then he would've definatly lost. Brent ended up walking out.

Billy ended up firing Gill. He goes home. Billy comes and asks everyone else if they would like him fired. Everyone says "No, Brent's a wanker" (paraphrase). Gill is the hardest working guy there, and they know if he's gone then it'll mean more work for them, especially with Mattie gone as well. Billy phones up Gill and say's he can come back and he says that he's already got a job at Wal-Mart. A while later Harold phones him up and says that he's had time to cool down and he'll be back in tomorrow.

This left just three of us on a Friday night, the busiest night of the week, so I was very busy. On the up-side it meant that the tips were only divided three ways, so I got lots of money. Woohoo! The downside is that now I'm knackered. Still, at least I'm home and I can go to bed now.

By the way the person that told Ash that that squirrel was a panda squirrel was making it up. Doh! Fell for that one! The closest thing that anyone has found to it is the Tri-coloured squirrel. Unfortunatly it's slightly different and from the East Indies. So that doesn't fit in with the Mississippi/Louisina part. Close though!

That's it then, all caught up. Oh, and my mate Norm is in rehab. Dave (his dad) said that he was in for "drink and drug problems". He went back to Dallas to catch up on his old friends. They're all Deadheads and drug-buddies, so I guess he got back into his old ways.

Who says that life isn't exciting round here?!

I shouldn't have to, been as this is so exciting, but I'll leave you a link anyhow.

The Center for Prevention of Shopping Cart Abuse

/Hopped!
9:21 PM

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Sorry, I've just been so tired recently. I think I might be coming down with a cold or something. I'm sniffling and sneezing at any rate. Work was crappy. I'm not longer a genral dogsbody, now I'm a commander dogsbody! I made lots of money in tips. I worked out I'm going to be doing 46 hours this week. That including having Tueday and Wensday off! Blimey!

Well I guess I should tell you about our trip to Jackson to see Cresta. I drove there and back. That's a total of 6 hours interstate driving experience. It's a doddle, as long as you stick to the speed limit and have cruise control on. Nothing to it. Just keep the car in a straight line and avoind hitting anything. I don't know what all the hassle is. It meant I could listen to my music as well, always a good thing! Better than having to listen to bloody country music all the time, which is my choice if Ash was driving... "Hmm.... this country station or this one?" She even tried to take controp of the radio while I was driving - "Aww, but I really like this song!" Country music. It's like crack, rejected by most of society and used far too much by the rest.

Anyhow, the reason we went there was to see Cresta. She looks alot better than I thought she would. I though her skin would be burning off, but she just had a few sores. All the badness is inside her, but it shouldn't be fatal, mummy told me that there's two types, SJS and TEN. TEN is the really bad one, and the most important bit has been done, diagnosing it. They've put her on steriods and painkillers.

We stayed at the hospital overnight. her room was huge! You can have a look at the size of it if you go here as I took some photos. It's good to have been able to see her and relax my fears a little, and keep her company. A hotel room is a very lonely place. Ash's friend Chelsea came along as well.

Ash and I ate at a Waffle House on Thursday morning. It's a good breakfast!

That's all I've got for now. Oh Ash found out that that squirrel I got a picture of is a Panda Squirrel. I didn't make some kind of amazing scientific discovery after all!

How Much is Inside?

/Hopped!
9:06 AM

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Pete and I are both too exhausted to write much tonight. He had a long day at work, and I had one that although shorter than Pete's, was too hectic for my taste. My mom drove up to Mississippi tonight to see Cresta (sis). No word yet, last I heard she's still in tons of pain, which is expected and will probably be the case for a while.

I wish I could write something interesting here, but I'm exhausted and emotionally drained. Pete wanted me to share with you this link for the day, it's actually quite good fun. Warning: if you try this at work, you'll never get work done.

MR Picassohead

/Hopped!
10:57 PM

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Hello hello,

We're back from seeing my sister Cresta in the hospital in Mississippi, very tired, exhausted and drained. You can read about the update on her condition here on my blog. It's late and I need to get to bed to go to work in the a.m.

Also, now that we have a digital camera, we're able to share a lot more photos (per request of the british portion of our family) and Pete's webpage has them all there for you. So go check them out! We think we discovered a new breed of squirrel, go look at that pic!

Goodnight, more tomorrow, hope your'e enjoying your holiday in Scotland Mummy Sue (sorry, it's just SO easy to type). Everyone in the house goes to work tomorrow, dunno what will happen with the pups, we'll see.

/Hopped!
9:56 PM

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I haven't got much good news again. I worked over the weekend and today. I'm going up to Jackson with Ash to spend some time with Cresta. She in bad shape and she's in a hospital where they don't know anything about what's wrong with her so there probably isn't much chance of her being cured. Mattie has the heart of a 90 year old, she's 57, so she won't be coming back to work. Micheal's Granddad died today. So did Stephie's friends new-born baby, Joshua. So all in all a pretty upsetting day.

I hope I cope alright with seeing Cresta tomorrow, I don't like hospitals and I especially don't like visiting sick relatives. It's going to be a bit hard. Not as hard as it will on Ash, and I have to be there to support her. I guess I just have to try and be mature and not get in a strop and stamp my feet about this. Alot of growing up in the last week.

Apart from all the bad news today was alright. So was the weekend.... I haven't written in a while have I? We didn't really do anything special for valentines day, just had a bath and watched a movie, but we did it together and that's the most important thing about valentines day right? We watched a french movie called L'auberge apartement or something like that. The Spanish apartment in english. It was pretty good. It was about an apartment in Barcelona with 10 students in it and they were all from different European countries, so it doesn't matter what language you speak you'd still need subtitles!

We missed church on Sunday... we kind of overslept. Well I missed church, Ash went to the later service. I was on my way to work then so I couldn't go. We went to church in the evening, we (well I, and some other guys... Ash just watched) had our first "jam". We just played some religious songs really. I was playing bass, which was alright. The only reason I was playing bass was because I picked it up at the beginning and was having some fun making stuff up with the drummer. Not a problem though, bass is fun! I'll have to see if I can funkify a few of the songs with some fancy syncopated walking basslines. There was two guitarists, a drummer, me and Mariah who sings and plays piano. One of the guitarists said "I wanna play back-up. Waaay back-up!" The drummer was a better guitarist than anyone of us there, but he could play drums.... He was playing on an electric kit, I had a go on it after we were done and it was great fun! All the different sounds you could get out of it... There was dogs barking, birds tweeting, and monkeys monkey-noising! Great fun! We're going to get together next Sunday and play some more. We only played for two hours, which wasn't enough. We're going to start two hours earlier next week. I'm sure that won't be enough either! I gave Mariah some lyrics I'd written and couldn't figure out a decent melody to, she said it was good and she'd see what she could do with it.

Back to today then, and I'm done! I guess I'd better do a link today. I can hear you all shouting "Give us our link! Give us our link!" So here you go:

Eric Conveys an Emotion

/Hopped!
8:59 PM

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I don't have news of Mattie from Pete's work, but because she is in the hospital, he is working nonstop, which is why this probably won't be updated regularly.

Update on Cresta: Michael (her boyfriend who is with her in Mississippi) says that she looks 50% better, and one doctor thinks she is improving. Another doctor honestly says that since they have never seen a case like this before, it's too early to tell what will happen. She just called, it seems that her doctor has no idea what he's doing, and isn't paying any attention to the doc who knows what is going on (but isn't her doctor) or her. She showed the nurse some of the blisters going on, inside her genitals which are horrible, and the nurse immediately called the doc to say that they HAVE to give her something... but he didn't do anything. She has blisters all over her skin which break and ooze, and leave her skin raw, similar to a third-degree burn. She wants someone to come up to Jackson and help her, since Michael's grandfather (who raised him) is dying in the room two doors down from hers. Mom starts her new nursing job on Monday, my boss just had shoulder surgery and needs me at a State Supreme Court meeting tomorrow to take minutes. I'm sure Michael is overwhelmed and Cresta must be as well. We don't know if she's dying, if she's healing, or if her life will ever be the same again. I can't imagine what is going through her head right now, but I hate the fact that I'm not there with her.

We are also trying to find out how we will pay her hospital bills. She is on medicaid which does not cover a lot of things. If I could be in charge of her debt, I'd add it to my bankruptcy... but it's not that easy. I hope the first doc isn't trying to push her out of the hospital simply because she cannot pay. Michael is also going to speak to the Dean of Cresta's college (she started college in January I'm so proud of her) to make sure she isn't kicked out due to all the absences.

And finally, on Pete: He is simply the greatest husband in the world. He came home from work yesterday with the digital camera that I have been wishing for, for the past two years. And now it's mine (sorry, ours, it's OURs). He had been saving money behind my back and got me the camera as a Valentine's/Anniversary (March 2) gift. Now I only wish I could get him that electric guitar for our anniversary. There is still hope. Today he is at work and tonight he is going to have a jam at church with some other church musical folk, in preparation for our new third service that will open soon. It will be a contemporary service and Pete will be part of the musical portion of that.

Oh, and even while still eating Wendy's, burgers at work, and drinking beer, Pete has managed to lose 15 lbs. (sigh... men!).

/Hopped!
5:07 PM

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Hey, I guess I should start with the good news, because I wanna get it out of the way before the bad news because it makes everything else so trivial. I worked today, I got even tips in the evening (just - it took some intervention from Billy my boss) and I'm going to get even tips until Mattie comes back and I'll be taking orders and stuff. I got $40 today, I would've got about $25 normally. So that's the good news. It comes out of bad news... There's two lots of it.

Mattie is still critical. She isn't going to be out of hospital for at least a week. I haven't got that much information on her situation. I would think that she definatly need surgery, but that's an assumption.

The other bad news is that Cresta (my sister-in-law) is very ill. She went to the hospital today, because she had blisters froming on her lips (I think) She had some kind of allergic reaction to some pills that shes on called Steven Johnsons Syndrome(I think it's to help her hip replacement surgery). It olny affects 1 in three million people, the doctor hasn't ever seen it before apart from when he was in medical school. It's some kind of desiese that starts spreading under the skin, if it spreads to her lungs or any other major organs she'll probably die. If it doesn't then because it's been activated everytime she takes a pill (any kind) after she risks a relapse. She's only 31 and most of her life has been pretty bad (the hip replacement took a long time to get done and she hasn't got any disability benefit so she's having to rely on her boyfriend Micheal plus loads of other bad stuff).

I just ask you to pray for her and Mattie. It doesn't matter if you believe or not (most of the miricles that Jesus did were for non-believers). Just ask him to help Cresta and Mattie to full recovery. You don't have to get down on your knees or anything, just ask for His help. Thank you most sincerely from the bottom of my heart. If you don't know what to say here's an idea:

Lord, I'm not a believer of yours but I need you to help some dear friends of Peter's, Mattie and Cresta in thier times of trouble. Please help them back to good health. If it's part of you plan for them to be taken I pray that you will look after them and be by their side in death as you where in thier lives. Amen.

Thanks again. I can't be bothered with a link tonight, sorry.

/Hopped!
9:52 PM

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This is why I love Pete:

Last night I mentioned to him that a year ago when he was in England and I was over here, I felt such despair that our lives will never be happy again; and looking back on it, I can hardly remember the pain I felt from having to go through a year and half of a long distance marriage. I have him now, every single day and every single night. It has been another dream come true, just to be able to be together again.

Pete replied with "I've loved you from afar, and I love you from a near."

He then began rubbing his ear on my head, chanting "love, love, love, love."

Get it?

Love from a near... an ear. Love from an ear.

I couldn't go to sleep because I was trying to refrain from getting the hiccups from laughing so much. My silly husband.

/Hopped!
11:10 AM

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Well it was quite dramatic. I'll start from the beginning (usually the best place to start I find!) I went to work at 11 today, Norm gave me a lift. I worked until 2:30. I was supposed to go home but no one was around to give me a lift home. I this crazy country you HAVE to drive everywhere, no buses or trains. At least none that go to anywhere near where I work or near home. I've seen a couple of buses, but been as I work just outside the city center and haven't seen a single bus go past, I think that maybe there's only one bus and I just saw it twice.

Anyhow, so I was sitting around at work doing nothing. I see Pam rushing across the Diner and rushing back out the back with a phone in her hand. Gill who was a bit more observent noticed that she was crying. Strange. So we went to find out what was going on and it turns out that Mattie was collapsed in a chair out the back. She was or was about to have a heart attack. Scary stuff. The only reason Pam found out about it is because Mattie had phoned Chantay saying she was feeling bad and hung up. Chantay natrually concerned phoned back and said "What's up with Mattie?" This set alarm bells ringing in Pams head and she went to find out what was wrong. Skip back to the top of the paragraph.

So the Ambulance was called. Mattie was put on a stretcher and wheeled off to hospital (via the ambulance - they didn't just wheel her all the way to the hospital on the stretcher!) It was just as well I was still sitting there, because with Mattie out of action it meant that there would've only been two of them on tonight. Anyhow, Mattie is stable, but she has a major blockage so she is probably going to need some kind of surgery. I don't know, I'm not a doctor!

So I worked until closing. I should've been at Homechurch at 7:00 but I had to work at 8:00. I really had to get there so I could pray for Mattie, and they're all much better at praying than I am, they've had more experience. So we got there just over an hour late, sat around and chatted for a while, and prayed for Mattie. Then we went to Target and Race Trac (not a typo) and bought some stuff. Now we're home, and I'm writing this.

Sorry. I wish Ash and I argued all the time so I'd be able to make a funny and interesting blog like that guy from yesterday. Okay, I don't really.

Nipple Addition Surgery

Warning: This site contains nipples

/Hopped!
10:31 PM

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I tidied out some of the closet today looking for that ring I lost. No joy there! I played some guitar, and mandolin. I'm going to get together with the church music people on Sunday and jam with them. I did a jigsaw as well, it had bubbly edges and some of the pieces were cut into animals and stuff. That was my day! Not very interesting, but it went by alright. Chaio!

Angry Bed Positions

This man has experience. Check out the Things My Girlfriend and I Argue About link at the bottom of the page.

/Hopped!
8:29 PM

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Hey hey hey! I didn't write yesterday because I didn't really do anything... That' really about all I would've written. Well today was a bit more interesting. Ash pulled a sickie at work (I hope she hasn't showed this site to her boss!) So we went to the movies to see Big Fish. Dianne came too. It's an excellent film, it kind of blurs the line between fantasy and reality. Anyhow, it's really good. Not as good as City of Gods, but still really good.

I talked to mother for a bit before we left, you'll all be glad to know she's doing alright. Alright, I'm glad to know she's doing alright. We've kind of lost Ash's engagement ring. Oh well, it's not that important, it is after all only a bit of metal and a few rocks. Still I'll spend all of tomorrow looking for it, maybe I'll find it, but I've already checked the bedroom from top to bottom so I'm not really that hopeful. It'll probably turn up in a couple of years in someones shoe or something. I hope the puppies didn't find it and eat it.

So that was today really, pretty eventful. So I'm all out of things to write now. I've got a really cool link for you today:

Porn Freak

/Hopped!
10:08 PM

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"We're all going to die when Bush gets his way..."

Swoon. I think I'm in love.

/Hopped!
10:11 PM

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That's right, Ash and I went to chuch and watched some films today.

We went to both services at church today, and told people about the Alpha course. They're going to start one up in March. I'm going to be a team helper. They have three guitarists to play for the 11:30 services. We're all going to get together for a jam sometime. It should be fun! I looked over the list of musicians, and there's enough instuments there to get a proper soul band going! Maybe an outside church project will start up sometime...

The movies we watched were Full Frontal, which is good, but pretty slow and somewhat confusing. Especially at the very end. It plays with the film within a film bit, so you're not sure what's real and whats being filmed. Of course it's all being filmed, but if it's filmed being filmed. I told you it was confusing!

We went to watch City of God at the cinema this evening, that's a excellent movie. I recommend it most highly! It's only just come out in the cinema here though. I think it's been out over there for a long time (I know it's been out on DVD since last year) but the Americans are very slow to pick up on international films (it's made in Brazil). In fact they're pretty slow to pick up on anything international full stop! Anyhow, go rent it out! It's very good!

The other thing I did today was write an essay on the things that made me become a Christian go here to read it. That's about it really for today. I'm going to see if Prince has performed on the Grammys yet.

Here's a link

Tourists Guide to America

/Hopped!
10:03 PM

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Well just go here and put in a comment asking! That'll teach her! That is if she doesn't delete this post when she reads it!

I did the usual things that I do on a Saturday, I'm sure you're familiar with them by now. The on thing I did do that I've never done before is go through a drive-thru daquiri today. For those of you that don't know a daquiri is an frozen alcoholic cocktail, and for those of you that might be feeling confused and reading back, I mean drive-thru. That's right they can sell you alcohol without you even getting out of your car! But you can't put the straw in 'til you're driving out!It was really tasty though, I got Strawberry and Banana. It didn't really taste like it had any alcohol in it but I'm pretty sure it had quite a bit in it! I got a HUGE cupful! Great!

We watched A Mighty Wind tonight. A film by Christopher Guest, the guy who did Sinpal Tap. It was a folk version. It's very funny.

I thought today while I was cleaning up: Hey! I'm living in America! Crazy!!! (extra exclamation marks nessacary) Norm said that all my English friends will start calling me yank. I'm surprised that I wasn't surprised. I mean, he's probably right. You're probably there wondering why it shouldn't be called the Yank's ramblings!

Anyhow, I have to be up early tomorrow. So g'night!

Find out what percentage of the world you've travelled!

/Hopped!
9:48 PM

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It's Ash... just playing around with the design of Pete's blog... any comments on what you've seen that you like and don't?

/Hopped!
1:55 PM

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Some people have to see it to believe

I'm disgusted. See for yourself what "animal testing" actually is. This is evidence of IAMs conducting animal testing that is blatant animal abuse. You will feel emotion, so be aware before you go there.

/Hopped!
11:09 AM

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Hey!

I'm back from work, and I'm very tired. I spent all day cleaning for a health inspection. Oh, I got my haircut the other day, I forgot about that. It's now short. The weather cleared up today. That's about all I've got.

Here's a link:

Icebox.com

/Hopped!
9:05 PM

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Hello!

It's been a while from me hasn't it? sorry, I let it slip again! Doh! Well I have been busy. Busy having fun! Woohoo! I went out with Norm on Monday night, we went and played darts in a bar. There were about twenty dartboards in this place, and it was with plastic-tipped darts into a plastic board. The bar looked like any pub in England really, apart from the dartboards, and the lack of windows. I don't know why that is with american bars, but they all seem to have no windows. Maybe thats just Louisiana. Pub gardens are unheard of though. I told Norm about them and he was impressed! So we played darts, Norm beat me every time... Kind of expected! I got close a couple of times though! It was Karaoke night as well... Norm sang Brown Eyed Girl, he's got a pretty good voice. He says he trained for opera for seven years.... Now I look back at that it sounds like bollocks.

Anyhow we were supposed to be going out to play pool, but in the end we played darts instead. So to fix that we played pool during the day on Tuesday. It's $4 per person to play as long as you like during the day. So we played a few games. It turns out Norm is really good at pool as well. Drat! At least I managed to beat him a couple of times this time!

It's good to have someone to go out and have a drink with. He's a great person too. So it's pretty cool, I've got my first foreign friend outside the family! Okay he only lives next door....but still, woohoo!

I worked today, but they let me off early because it's been storming, so people don't want to go out unless they have to. So it doesn't really feel like I've worked today. The storms are pretty bad. There's been a tornado watch on most of Baton Rouge today. I drove to and from the Homechurch meeting and it was pretty scary. I felt in control though, so I handled it alright. It's raining so hard that you don't just have standing water on the road, you have jumping water! People here drive really dangerously, someone will be going 70mph, when it's difficult to see the road at 30. So it's been thunder and lightning very very frightening indeed!

There you go, I think I've caught up a bit. Here's a link that Elena sent me. It's funny!

Chinese Food Song

/Hopped!
10:14 PM

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Pete got his haircut yesterday...

He looks GOOD! Very handsome, very sexy, very very yummy.

And he's MINE!

I'm not sure what it is, but something about short, neat hair on a man drives me crazy, it's how I really "noticed" Pete when he finally got his haircut from the Shaggy in Scooby-doo look when we were in England, and I just couldn't stop looking at him. I'd even make up excuses to visit him at work to see him in his short haircut. Let's just say he looks GOOD. Swoon.

We had a meeting with the Vicar today about setting up the Alpha course at our church. We attended it at another church, and it has changed our life for the better (the best, I'm forever grateful for it), and he wants us to talk at both Sunday services about how it has affected us. Pete also decided that he will begin playing guitar at the church's new contemporary service that will begin in March. He's excited and at this moment learning some praise songs on his guitar. I can't stress just HOW happy our lives have been since we've found Christ. I don't mean to push it onto people, so I will stop. It's frustrating because I want to tell everyone I meet about how happy my life is now and why... but it's not something that people will listen to, not even some members of both sides of the family, and not our nearest and dearest friends... maybe one day that will change and they can be as happy as us.

I'll let Pete tell you about his day (he went to play darts with Norm last night and they went to play pool earlier today). He'll probably write a bit later.

Cheerio for now and x x x x x ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) to the family.

/Hopped!
6:01 PM

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Someone on my radio morning show KKITM made a mistake. They had a british caller who basically said that it's not the end of the world that Janet showed a boob, and the show host immediately decided that all brits are immoral.

Does that mean that I can say all Texans are prejudice against foreigners?

The british woman's argument was that they were immune to things like that because they are exposed to those things from an early age. The host misunderstood this, I believe. He ASSumed that since their parents did not care to hide nudity from the children (another ASSumption) that they were immoral. From my experience of living in England for two years off and on, is that the tolerance is lessened for nudity, but parents are certainly not rubbing their children's noses in it. Nothing like that is shown on television before 10pm (or is it 9pm?). Also, they censor a lot more violence than we do. Should I say then that since we're exposed from an early age to guns and violence on television, that we're immoral?

I think my biggest problem is actually not who is immoral, who looks at boobs and who owns a gun... but how assinine it is to judge millions of people on the basis of one person. He also asked another british caller if all british men were like Hugh Grant. Are all American men like Jerry Springer? When I first moved to England, everytime someone found out I was American, they would say "Oh! Jerry Springer! Are you really like that?"

Do you really feel good knowing that because of one television show, we're all thought to be guests of Jerry Springer?

It's the root of idiocy, stop judging, open your mind and learn something for once.

/Hopped!
10:52 AM

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Has anybody actually read this? I have put in some stuff someone has to have somekind of comment on!

/Hopped!
10:45 PM

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Hello again!

Well I haven't really been up to much today. I sent an email (I hope y'all got it). I spent some time with Norm, I tried to teach him how to play guitar.... It kind of reminds me how difficult it actually is. Maybe he'll practice and finally get it down. By the time we finished he was able to change between E and A pretty well, maybe we'll work on it a bit more tomorrow. I haven't got anything else to do!

We had a few games of sh*thead (that's shuthead in case you're wondering... nah just kidding! You know what it is!) Norm got his W2 today (tax return form) so we went to H & R Block, a tax-working-out place. Not that interesting really.

Ash and I got out a couple of movies today. We just watched Johnny English which to put in one word is awful. Another would be terrible. I could see most of the jokes a mile off. The ones I didn't weren't really very funny. Oh well. We got out a couple of other films too, I'll tell you about them once we've watched them.

So, that's about it for today. Here's a link for you:

Ask Mr Bad Advice!

/Hopped!
10:20 PM

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It's me again!

I bet you weren't expecting that! Me two days in a row! Well I'm back, so you'd better get used to it! Sorry, I know Ash's thingies are more interesting, but you can always check out her funny and well written blog. There's a link to it just over there ---->

We went to church this morning, they're going to have a 11:00 service, which is going to be more contempery and joyous occasion. I'm going to see if they need a guitar player for it, if they do I'm there man! A gig every week! Alright!

I went straight off to work after, it was a bit busier than the last Sunday I worked. Not too busy though! I still managed to read a good bit of the paper. I see that people are a bit annoyed at Tony over there. They seem to be ignoring the whole thing over here. The no. 2 in the Pentagon said "It's better to go with the early intelligence rather than waiting for the right intelligence" or words to that effect. Urm... Okaaay! How about waiting until you have the right thing first? I just found out that the French have a ton of WMD's in thier closet. Maybe if the Pentagon read this it'll get rid of that rather annoying country, they won't wait to confirm it! It iterests me how noone really seems that bothered about it over here, even though American soldiers are being killed every day and the econamy is up the spout because of it. They were like "Yay! they caught Saddam!" now they're saying "What weapons of mass distruction? Woh cares! We kicked their butts!"

Anyhow, enough of politics...

It was a pretty good day at work today, I'm actually being treated like a person! I feel I can call the people I work with collegues rather than "people I work with" or other names (none of which are very nice!) I got to finish early, with my proper amount of tips, which was nice. It was only $8.50, but it was right. I know because I worked it out myself! Woohoo!

Apart from that, I haven't really done much. I played some guitar. I think I might try and put away a bit of money every week and get a decent guitar. The one I've got gives constant feedback when I'm not playing. Kind of cool in one way, but increadibly annoying in another! Ash and I watched an episode of Vicar of Dibley, only three more to go and they're over with! They're pretty funny though. Maybe I'm getting old....

The Eddie Izzard DVD was alright, it's not as good as the other three that I've seen. Well okay, it was probably better than Unrepeatable, but that was his first recorded show so it's understandable, he was trying to find his feet and all that. I guess the one I just watched was his first show in the US so he was in the same situation. It's still funny, but not so-funny-you'll-cry-with-laughter funny like the other ones.

Well that's all I've got to write really. It's really easy this blog thing! Anyone can do it! Just click on the little banner at the top of the page!

One more thing, and it's something I've already told you, but I can't stress the importance of it.... Damien Rice's album is awesome! Really, awesome. In the real sense of the word. Acoustic guitar, cello, and a couple of other instruments. I've just added something to my website that should let you listen to the album (I think) so you don't just have to take my word for it!

Here's you link:

Bumper Sticker Compendium

/Hopped!
9:06 PM

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