December 2014

Where do I start...what a month this has been, and without a doubt it's been a month of two halves.

You know that feeling when the festive season slowly starts to creep in, even though you try so hard to try and resist the cheesiness of it all? I had that, but also a lot of nerves, which was pretty much how it was for the first half of this month, working at my charity shop placement and keeping busy with that, my artwork and buying Christmas presents for family and friends (as usual, I cut it fine).

Those nerves were all for the anticipation of the second half of the month, as I knew I would be spending my first Christmas and New Year away from home (27 years though, quite a record) - on the 11th, I jetted off on my second trip across the Atlantic to the US this year, and my sixth US trip overall. It was very bittersweet leaving my family behind, but at the end of the day I know that they want me to be living my life and enjoying it - and when I travel, that's what I'm doing.

And now the trip itself - with only an annoying delay to my long haul flight and a customs office giving me the third degree, my travel to the US was pretty much fine, so once again all the nerves about the flying was for nothing. Since I arrived Stateside, so much has happened - I got to be with my lovely Nicole again, as well as her family and friends, we revisited places that we'd been to before, including Branford Point, Stony Creek, Mystic Village, and of course the Big Apple aka New York City, as well as also spending a couple of days over in Long Island revisiting a couple of close friends from DeviantArt, however I was seeing it all slightly differently, with it being my first trip to the US in Winter - my previous visits were all in either Spring or Summer, and while there were some unseasonally warm temaperatures and no blizzards, there were also some freezing days too - and as I type this, there's still every chance of one of those infamous wintry nor'easters to hit. I also discovered some new places previously unseen, including the beautiful Chatfield Hollow State Park with its forests and lake, and the impressive collection of planes on display at the New England Air Museum.
It was a little bit strange celebrating Christmas over 3,000 miles away from home, but I still enjoyed it, and I got to experience the occasion American style, and not that this is much of a big secret, but the Americans don't half make a bigger deal of Christmas than what we Brits do, that's for sure - every other house had elaborate lighting displays, Christmas music was all over the radio, and Nicole's family certainly weren't shy with the presents, not that I asked for anything - the only present I wanted was to be able to spend the festive season with Nicole, and I think that's the one present both of us truly asked for. (I apologise for the slushiness.)
I also got reacquainted with some old American food favourites, as well as giving some new ones a try - and there was also another first this trip, as myself and Nicole attended two of her friends' wedding, and we weren't just spectating, we were both in the wedding party, Nicole was the maid of honour, I was one of the groomsmen, and we were both dressed the part for it too. The ceremony went beautifully, the reception was blast, many congratulations to the happy couple, and I was glad that both me and Nicole got to be a part of it too.

As I type this, 2014 is into its last 24 hours, and I will be getting to see in the New Year over in the States, with Nicole, her family and friends. My final thoughts on this year? Like most years it's been up and down - there have been times where I've wanted to crawl into a hole, but also times where I feel like I've had the time of my life. No-one knows what 2015 will bring, or what'll be happening a year from now, but I will be celebrating on New Year's regardless. If there is definitely one thing I want to celebrate from this past year, it's all the memories that have been made.

To sign off, I'll leave you with this festive group shot I made for my DeviantArt friends. Wherever you are, and whoever you're with, all the best for 2015.

November 2014

I can't say it much more plainly than this, really - for the most part, this November was more or less a carbon copy of October. As I write this I've now been at my work placement for 7 weeks, and while I'm used to the routine of it now, some days have been better than others, but on the whole I got lucky getting the placement that I did. I just can't help feeling that when I'm there sometimes I could be doing so many more things that I'd enjoy a lot more - but then again isn't that how everyone feels in a job?
Something that got my attention for the wrong reasons this month was the whole Black Friday mayhem - something that up until now I thought only happened in the US, but it seems that it's spread. I fail to see what's good about queuing up at insane hours just to buy something expensive that's been reduced when the reductions aren't even that massive, and when all it does is cause people to turn into crazed maniacs. I feel sorry for the frontline employees working in the participating shops who have to deal with the madness, and I hope I don't ever end up in that position myself, either.
Speaking of the US, the excitement and nerves are starting to kick in for me now - as I type this it's less than a fortnight till I fly back over there to see Nicole, her family and friends, and spend the festive season over there. It will be strange with it being my first Christmas away from home and my family, but hopefully it will still be very enjoyable.
That's pretty much all I have to day for this month - come next blog, if all goes to plan, it'll be from Stateside once again.

I'll leave you with a tribute picture that I made - dedicated to those who have fallen in combat.

October 2014

I'll get the obvious shtick out of the way - I wouldn't say October's been frightening, however it has been a bit upside-down to say the least.
As I mentioned last month, I started a 6 month work placement at a charity shop - having not worked for 4 years, it's taken a bit of getting used to, having to get up early and go walk around a shop all day, shifting stuff around and sorting stuff out, but I guess I'm pretty much adjusted to the routine now, though I have found myself feeling a lot more tired at the end of the day - having a full-time job will do that to you, not that that hasn't already been said.
To be honest, I dont mind it, going into the shop and doing the work, it keeps me busy, makes me feel useful, and most of all I get some exercise out of it. The part I have the problem with is having to go and do 4 hours of jobsearch once a week - the training provider who organised this placement and who supervises the jobsearch are just a joke, more specifically the attitude of their staff, they come across as very condescending, and while I haven't really been on the receiving end of it, some of the others who I work at the shop with have, as I have to listen to them rant about it on a daily basis. It just really brings everything down, and there's been too many days during this placement that I've wondered what the point of it all really is. When it boils down to it, everyone in this situation is being exploited just to massage the unemployment figures, and we have no choice but to go along with it. I do NOT want to be stuck in this situation for the rest of my life - but the only way to avoid that is to get a job, and it's the obvious failure in that department which is the whole reason I'm in this situation.

On the flipside, even though it might come along more slower than normally, I'm still doing my artworks in whatever spare time I have, and still doing my livestreams also. Working shouldn't mean having to give up what you enjoy - as a well-known saying goes, you should work to live, not live to work. As well as that, it feels like it's getting closer to December, closer to taking my next US trip and seeing Nicole again - and it really can't come soon enough.

I'll leave you with not one but four sets of Halloween themed artwork - one for each of my comic series. Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween, and also hoping that November will pick things up.

A Monster Thing Halloween 2014
Bob & Flyer Halloween 2014
Snow Sam Halloween 2014
The Surf Club Halloween 2014 

September 2014

September usually isn't one of my favourite times of year - it's that time where summer ends and things turn very autumnal, and of course in the past it was also the month where the summer holidays ended and I had to go back to school and get readjusted to being in a different class and having a different timetable, and all that jazz - and the way things have gone this month is not too dissimilar.

Last month I mentioned about being put on a training course that turned out to be refreshingly bearable...well, I've now been put on something else by that certain place I keep mentioning, and this time it's definitely not bearable - for 6 months, I'll be doing a 30 hour work placement, which will be in a charity shop, along with having to attend a 4 hour jobsearch session at a training provider every week. The problem is that I don't get a wage for this, just my unemployment money every fortnight as normal. As it stands, I don't have the placement yet, the training provider is apparently trying to sort one out for me, however if they can't, I have to attend their jobsearch session every day and do nothing but jobsearch for 30 hours a week. It's all BS, I know it is, because I've been in this position before, and the only reason they make people do 30 hours of jobsearch is so they can keep tabs on them - as I mentioned, this is only designed to massage the unemployment figures and put money in the pockets of the organisations concerned, and I have no choice but to go along with it, for if I choose not to attend, I'll get my money stopped. I'm really not happy about being put in this situation at all, and I find myself worrying that I won't be able to have much of a life outside of this placement/jobsearch deal - I know that's how it would be if I had a permanent job, but at least I'd be earning money to justify it. I just feel like I'm being used as cheap labour at the end of the day, and other than work experience I fail to see what I can get out of this. Obviously once more happens, you'll hear about it here.

That's the bad stuff out of the way, now onto the better stuff.

Since around 2008, when I flew on a plane for the first time, I've had a big interest in planes, more specifically commercial airliners - at the back end of August and most of this month, I've been taking that interest a bit further. You see, I like to planespot, just watch planes flying up above, and it just so happens that where I live lies right under the flight path of air traffic flying in and out of Newcastle Airport, which is great. By taking it further, I mean that I've now been logging each plane that I see, and obviously if I've logged a plane already I don't log it again. This also harks back to a hobby I had when I was a kid - me and my brother would walk around the streets and write down the make and model of all the cars parked in the street and tally them up. Funny how things come full circle.
This also ties into the other good part of this month - on the 28th, myself and my lovely Nicole celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Sadly we couldn't be physically together for obvious reasons, but we still made the most of it via Skype - I sent Nicole a home-made greeting card complete with cheesy words, plus two packets of her favourite Aero Bubbles chocs, and a little gold clock that I came across a few months back - I thought of Nicole as soon as I saw it, because even though we're separated by distance and time, there's also not that much time until we do get to physically be together again (December). So it just seemed right that I buy the clock for her, as a reminder that time isn't always against us.
I said this ties into the planespotting - Nicole's present for me was a model plane, and not just any plane, but a British Airways Boeing 747, just like the ones that have flown me to the US to see her on three occasions now, and what will be flying me back there again in December - and it goes without saying that I can't wait. Too bad we can't just skip over October and November, I'll especially want to this year.

I'll sign off with some artwork, as always - a group shot of the cast of my comic series "A Monster Thing", and speaking of that, I've gotten back to making my series of cartoon blogs on my YouTube channel - go take a look at those and more if you're interested.

Sayonara for September.

PS: One last mention - many congratulations to two good friends of mine, Andy and Hayley on their recent marriage - all the very best for you two crazies. :)

August 2014

Well, this month was another month of two halves - and as I always do, I'll get the bad half out of the way first.

A certain place that I won't mention referred me to a mandatory training course,the likes of which they've forced me to go on before, you know the type, sit in a classoom with a bunch of strangers while someone tells you "do this, do that". These courses aren't even designed to help the "customers" on them, they're just an exercise in massaging the unemployment figures and keeping the money rolling in - so naturally, I was expecting the worst.
I was surprised, however - the course I was sent on is probably one of the better ones I've been on, there's a relaxed atmosphere to proceedings, and the staff there, unlike other places, actually seem to care about the people in their charge, and I have to admit, there's been some subjects on the course that I haven't been taught on other courses, such as confidence-building and assertiveness. I mentioned those two examples, because I'm lacking in both of those, and I find myself wishing I could be more confident and assertive, not just in looking for a job, but in my whole life too.
Don't get me wrong, I still hate the idea of being stuck in a classroom for 6 hours a day being told stuff I mostly already know, but at least this particular place tries to make the process far more bearable.
During this time, I had some food for thought about my future...one of the staff at the course ave me some advice about what I should do if I want to go into an art career, and their advice was that I should go and study art at college, and try to get a job in something that could lead to an art related job, such as data entry. However, to be brutally honest, I'm not getting any younger, and I don't think I could face being put back into a school situation, at least not full-time anyway. I would like to think that there's another way that doesn't involve college, but that's probably just wishful thinking (I do far too much of that.) I want to live my life, not spend it in a classroom.

On the plus side of things, I got a hold of some new music, and good new music seems to be a rarity these days - the album "Violence & Destruction" by Islander - alternative metal with a sounds throwing back to early 2000's "nu-metal", but without most of the cliches that gave that genre a bad name. Take a listen to one of the tracks from it here.

There was some more nice summer weather to enjoy, and I took advantage of it to take some trips to the beach at Tynemouth - if you haven't gathered already, I love that place. I've been to many beaches, but I always find myself going back to that one, because it's got bags of character, and it's simply beautiful. And needless to say, going there makes my summer.

I'll leave you with a beachside real life/cartoon crossover - no prizes for guessing which beach this was taken at.

July 2014

Things have warmed up this month - not on the job front though, I'm afraid. The TK Maxx job was a non-starter, I heard absolutely nothing back about it, and I'm inclined to believe that contrary to what I was told, there was never going to be an interview at the end of the course that I took in June. Typical false promises as always.
I did actually get an interview though - not with TK Maxx, but with Greggs the Bakers, for a job as a team member in my local store. Trouble is, it was also a managerial position, and of course I have no managerial experience - they as good as told me that at the inteview. I think you can guess how that ended.

The weather's been warm though, much warmer than June, and I've been making the most of it, going out for walks and heading to the beach at Tynemouth. I prefer it when there's a breeze to counter the sweltering heat though, that's not to say I don't enjoy the sunshine. Summer is my favourite time of year for a good reason.
This month brought back memories of last July, when I was over in the US for my longest trip abroad to date - you can read about how that went right here and here. 
While I wasn't abroad this summer, I did get to go to this year's Sunderland Airshow - it was my fourth time there, the first three being in 2005, 2006 and 2012. The getting to and from the airshow was a nightmare, because of all the crowds, chock-full trains and buses not turning up, however, the airshow itself was as brilliant as it always is. I saw quite a few aircraft, some I'd seen before and others that I hadn't - my personal highlights of the airshow were the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster); the Breitling Wingwalkers; and of course, the star attraction of the airshow, the Red Arrows display team. 

You can watch my videos of the airshow at the links below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4


Again, I wasn't abroad this summer, but my brother Chris was, he spent a week in Prague in the Czech Republic, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't mind having the house to myself, although you know how it is when one of your family goes away on holiday, you're soon wishing for them to come back. Chris has set foot in Holland, Germany and now the Czech Republic - I have yet to set foot in any European country outside of the UK, so there's a bit of sibling envy going on there!

As always, I'll leave you with some artwork - and considering it's summer, it's only right that it's something summer themed.

June 2014

What a difference a year makes...

Last June, I was feeling excited and happy for my 6 week trip to the US, getting to see Nicole again and seeing all the sights that we did. 
This June, however, I've been feeling pretty much the opposite. I've been feeling just a bit overwhelmed and stressed, and it's all to do with the ongoing jobsearch. I mentioned in my last blog that I had two interviews lined up - the one for the security steward, I went to it, however I quickly realised that it wasn't the right job for me, with it being a zero hour contract, meaning no stable income, so I had to turn it down - plus, it's not a career I wish to pursue, as I've mentioned.
The interview for the assembly operative didn't happen, because it was being held through an agency to have a reputation for putting people through pointless training courses for money, and the job suddenly failing to materialise. However, it was also because something else came up - the work programme that I'm on arranged for me to attend a 2 week "pre-employment" course, to do with the company TK Maxx, who are opening a new store in my area and are looking for staff. I did the course, which involved going over customer service skills, interview techniques and even having to visit a TK Maxx store, plus a mock interview which went really well. I am supposed to get a real interview at some point in the next week or so, so I'll keep you posted on that. I am concerned about the job though, I'm worried that 16-24 hours' worth of wages isn't enough. I want a job, but I don't want to be working just to have every penny I earn be spent on bills. I actually want to have a life too, is it too much to ask?

On a brighter note, it's now my favourite time of year - summer of course, although I'm hoping the heat won't be as unbearable as it was this time last year. And as much as I love summer, I'm still looking forward to flying back over to the US in December to see Nicole again - at least, I hope I will be.
There's also been quite a bit of sport going on - I used to be into it as a kid, but nowadays I couldn't care less about the football. I'm talking about the World Cup - teams from every country kicking a ball around a field for 90 minutes just to win a glorified tin cup? We know it's all just about the bottom line really. I know the same thing could be said for the Wimbledon tennis, but I'd much rather watch that than the football, any day.

Anyway, as always I'll end this with a bit of artwork - inspired by a livestream request from Granitoons, here's Bob & Flyer looking a bit elementary.

May 2014

Normal service has been resumed - the start of this month was my return from US trip #5, and I can't put into words what a great time I had, getting to see Nicole and friends again. I mean it when I say I really didn't want to go back home, and the day I had to fly back home, while not as bad as the last time, was still a bittersweet day. More memories to cherish, though...and also more on all things US a little later on.

For the most part, aside from a mini heatwave in the middle of this month, I've been getting back into the normal routine - and as I've experienced before, after coming back from a trip some things about the normal routine seem to be worse than what they were before - especially the jobsearch side of things. I feel like over the last few months the pressure on me to find a job is getting ramped up, to the point where I'm getting anxiety issues before I have to attend each of my mandatory jobsearch sessions.
On that note, as I type this I have two job-related "interviews" next week, but they're not really interviews - one is a recruitment day for a security/event steward job, and the other is an induction for a supposed assembly operative job. They're both well outside of my comfort zone, and I was pretty much press-ganged into applying for them by certain quarters, because I have no experience in either job and they're not careers I ever wish to take up - but I will go to both "interviews" anyway, if anything just to see what happens.

Also - I might've mentioned this before, I know I have to a few people - there's an issue I've had for the longest time. Whenever I'm in a group situation, either online or offline, and with anyone, I can't help but feel that I'm the odd one out, while everyone else just talks over. It's half my own fault, because I'm a very quiet person most of the time, and I don't know what to say or how to make myself heard, and I'm always afraid that I might come across as rude if I do speak up or say "Hey, listen to me!" However the other people in the group are half responsible too - I'm not saying that they do that intentionally (the vast majority, anyway), but that's how it can come across to someone like me. Plus, if everyone's talking over each other and/or talking about something that just completely goes over my head, it really doesn't help. I know this sounds harsh, but this is how it can be sometimes.

On the plus side of things, and going back to the US trip again - I wasn't expecting to say this so soon, but I have booked my next trip to the US - I'll be flying back over in December, for a month, and I will be there for Christmas, New Year and my 29th birthday - and also a wedding. Two of Nicole's friends, Paul and Crystal, are tying the knot in December, and I'm not only invited, I'm also in the wedding party, so it's a first - and hopefully it'll be a great occasion, too. And the best part is that I'll get to spend it with my lovely Nicole (how many times have I said that now?) - I can't wait.

I'll leave you with this comic I produced for one of Granitoons' art jams this month, based around the very funny improv show "Whose Line Is It Anyway", which he introduced me to recently - give it a watch, and also check out Granitoons' gallery if you haven't already.

April 2014

No fooling about this April, I can tell you now. Two important things have happened this month, one very much more exciting than the other. I'll get the less exciting stuff out of the way first.
I mentioned in my last blog that I'd gotten a job interview at a shop in Barnard Castle - I'll cut to the chase, I didn't get the job. It was probably just as well that I didn't, because the commute would've made it financially unviable, and they also didn't mention what the hours would be. Still, at least it was some interview experience, which I need badly considering interviews are a rarity for me. The jobsearch continues.

Now for the exciting part - I also mentioned in my last blog that I would be flying to the US for the fifth time to see my lovely Nicole. As I type this, I'm there, on the second week of my two week trip, and it's been great to be back, seeing the sights and getting to spend lots of time with Nicole and her family and friends. The best part was that I was more or less Nicole's main birthday present (how cheesy does that sound? XD), as her birthday was on April 23, and it was great that we got to spend it together. We were also in Newport, Rhode Island for that, where we explored the town, visited some of Newport's famous mansions, walked on the beach and also checked out the International Tennis Hall of Fame, all good times.
I also visited Long Island once again and met up with long-time DA friends Shane and Paula for the third time, took a nice hike in the Rocky Point Pine Barrens and also got together to make some collab drawings, which was just as fun as the previous times.
Despite the weather not being on my side for this trip, I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far, and things between myself and Nicole are as strong as ever. Going back home is going to royally suck, like it always does, but hopefully it won't be much longer before we see each other again.

As always, I'll leave you with some artwork, a somewhat belated Easter greeting.

March 2014

So, Spring has sprung once again, and I'm feeling the effects of the clocks going back an hour, not to mention still feeling a bit on the cold side too - though considerably less cold than last Spring's whiteout, of which the US have had their own this winter.

As much as I don't like to being up stuff going on in the news, I'm sure most of you will heard about the missing Malaysian Airlines flight - this has struck a chord with me because I'm a fan of aviation, and because I'll be getting on a plane again myself very soon, and it just beggars belief that in this day and age a modern jet can just disappear off the face of the earth. I can only hope that they find it sooner rather than later, so that the families of those on board can at least get some closure - I can't begin to imagine what they must be going through.

On a somewhat more hopeful note, my jobsearch this month finally got me my first interview since October. The catch is that it's in Barnard Castle, which is somewhat awkward to get to and from because of the bus timetables, and it's a part-time job, which means transport costs might be an issue...but it could also be experience and something to put down on the old CV. The interview is on 3 April, I'll let you know what happens, of course.

And now onto even more brighter news - if all goes to plan, by the time I come to write my April blog, I should be back in the US once again - as mentioned before, it's just less than 3 weeks till I wing my way across the Atlantic for the fifth time to see my lovely Nicole - and obviously, you'll hear all about it here and in my YouTube blog.

So, that's the March madness over and done with - and as always, I'll leave you with a bit of artwork: one of my AMT characters Wolfgang rocking out.

February 2014

Just as quick as January flew by, February has pretty much done the same. (This is going to be a recurring theme throughout this year, I'm sure you'll agree.) However, apart from one night of snow, which quickly cleared away, the weather this month, much like January, has still been very mild compared to past winters - at least, that's the case in my part of the country, I've been very lucky considering what's been happening elsewhere in the UK with the storms that battered the country this month, and caused widespread flooding. I hope those who've been affected by the flooding will be able to get their lives back in order as quickly as possible, it must be awful to watch your home and the place you know so well get taken over by a deluge.

February also meant a certain day - the day which I now prefer to call "Slushy Day", but what everyone else knows as Valentine's Day. Even though I'm not single, I still have my views on it, which are all very well covered here. 
Either way, I got to see my lovely Nicole via Skype, and we exchanged gifts - before you ask, "How were you able to give each other Valentine's gifts via video chat?", she gave me her gift during her stay here 2 months ago, while I sent my gift for her through the post. It'll also be just under 2 months until we're hopefully together for real again, too.

Now, I don't normally watch much sport, however there are exceptions: Formula 1, the Wimbledon tennis, and both the Summer and Winter Olympics. This month was the turn of the Winter Olympics, last held in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, and was this time held in Sochi in Russia. It enjoyed watching all the different events, namely the skiing, bobsleigh, luge and the snowboarding events, including my favourite event, the snowboard cross, and the events weren't short of drama and action. Great Britain don't usually do very well in terms of medals at the Winter Olympics, but I don't really care about that - for me, the Olympics is all about the action, the coming together of countries, and the taking part, because just getting to compete at the Olympics is an achievement in itself, and it's just a shame that a lot of people, especially the media, tend to forget that. I also don't care much for the political and financial sides of the Olympics, either.

A bit of closure now - I mentioned back in November that I had been considering trying to go self-employed doing artwork, I never mentioned how that all panned out. Well, I had an appointment about it back in December, and the impression I got was that it would be too much of an undertaking, financially. It's a shame, but I need to be able to have a stable income at the end of the day, and that line of work will not give me that.
However, I know two friends who are attempting to go down the same route - Andy and Hayley, aka Granitoons and TopperHay from deviantART, and I wish them the very best of luck with that. Please go and check out their galleries and give them a commission if you can, because they are simply brilliant cartoonists.

I'll leave you with a bit of artwork, as always - my bug characters Bob & Flyer as cowboys.

January 2014

...and just like that, 2013 was gone. Aye, it really felt like it just went in a flash. Now it's that time of year where the high of the festive season is slowly replaced by the onset of normality and routine, and the realisation that the only thing that's changed is the two numbers at the end of the year.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy my New Year's Eve/Day though - me and my brother Chris had a small party at our place, complete with food, Scrabble, Rock Band, music, table football, and plenty of drinks. I did get a little tipsy but it didn't last. Chris, on the other hand...
We weren't alone, either - Chris' girlfriend and one of his friends popped round, but the best part was that I got to ring in the New Year not just with them, but with my lovely Nicole too. The past couple of years, I had to settle for a half-drunk Skype chat with her, but this time that wasn't necessary, and I'm glad we were able to be together properly for the occasion.

You can watch the New Year's Eve video here.

Nicole's visit - continued

My first week of 2014 was, to say the least, bittersweet - sweet because myself and Nicole spent more quality time together, but bitter because it wouldn't be long before she had to fly back to the States. We definitely made the most of the time we had left though - just like on Nicole's previous trip in 2012, we joined Chris and friends for a blast on the laser quasar at South Shields (Chris schooled us all that time), it was a lot of fun as always. We also paid one last visit to my family before we headed off for our last hurrah of the trip - a "romantic getaway" to the DoubleTree hotel at Newcastle Airport.
This was my second stay at the hotel, the first of course was in June, just before my most recent US trip (more about that later), and the hotel was just as good as it was then, our room was nice and comfy, with a shower, telly and fridge, and we both got the hotel's trademark free cookie each.
We headed to the Metrocentre in Gateshead to go and see a film, and it was on me, too - Frozen, the latest Disney film. Aye, it was cheesy to the max, with slushy romance and big musical numbers, and maybe the story could've had a little more clout to it especially as far as the character development goes - but the animation was very well done, and for the whole time we were watching the film, I just forgot about real life for a while. Any film that can do that, for me, is a good one. And it won't surprise you to hear that my favourite character from Frozen was Olaf, the snowman, though maybe I'm biased because I have my own snowman character. Much more important though is that it was the first time I'd ever had a date at the flicks, that I got to watch it with Nicky, and she enjoyed it too. That made it all the more special.
After Frozen, we checked out some of the shops in the Metro and saw all of the impressive Christmas decorations they had on display, before we hot-footed it back to the hotel to have a romantic meal for two at the Italian restaurant there - and funny enough, in a case of déja vu, we ended up having the same meal that I had there back in June, cheese pizza and garlic bread pizza, plus chips and orange juice. Because it was split between us, I managed to eat more or less all of my share this time, although it was still very filling of course. It was all just sweet too, me and Nicole having a meal together with the ambience of the restaurant. I didn't want the night to end, and neither did Nicole.
We finished up with some late night telly and some quality time, and it was quite late by the time we got to sleep - however, this was the only minus point of our stay at the hotel, much like the first time, I didn't get a lot of sleep, and neither did Nicole, because of a mix of this whirring noise that kept going on and off through the night, sleeping in a bed different than at home, and the anticipation of the next day.
We refreshed ourselves the next morning with a shower each and a nice breakfast at the restaurant, with cereal, coffee and croissants. It didn't seem like it was long until we had to check out and head over to the airport, knowing that the moment we were both dreading was fast approaching.
You don't need me to tell you that saying goodbye to someone you love always, always sucks - it was somewhat worse this time, because I ended up having to say goodbye to Nicole twice, because the first time she tried to go through to security, she got told that she needed a boarding pass printed off, so she had to go back to check-in and get one, which meant that we got to go through the goodbyes once more. Of course, I had to stick around and watch her plane fly off.
I was upset of course, but I don't think it really hit me until I got back home to my empty flat and realised that she wasn't there anymore. I was happy too, though - because the fortnight Nicole was here just made the festive season that more special than how it usually is, and I'm glad that we got to spend it together...and I know it won't be long before we see each other again.

You can watch all the videos from Nicole's visit here.

Now for the rest of this month - weather-wise, I was surprised that there was little to no snowfall in December, and this month's been the same. We normally have some snowfall round about now, so it seems very unusual. I've seen in the news and heard from Nicole about all the snowfall in the US though, it's almost as if the snow that was meant for the UK was dumped there instead, on top of the snowfall they normally get. I'm sure there'll be some snowfall here in February or March though - I haven't forgotten the "great Spring whiteout" of last year.
Same old story on the never-ending search for a job - I'm still looking and applying for them, and still jumping through the hoops that a certain place makes me do. I just want the day to come where I'm not under their thumb anymore.
Oh, that's right - Mark #27 has left the building. Me and Chris turned 28 on the 7th, and like we have done since our 20th birthday in 2006, we had our birthday bowling session at the Metrocentre, joined by Chris' girlfriend - without bragging too much, I destroyed them both. To everyone who wished us well, be it with a gift or a greeting, many thanks to you all. :)
There's also one small little thing I have to mention, which I hinted at before - I know it's not gonna be long till I see Nicole again, because I'm flying back over to Connecticut again in April, for 2 weeks, and it's thanks to Nicole and her parents, they chipped in half of the airfare as part of Nicole's birthday present (her birthday is on 23 April). Definitely looking forward to that, and to seeing her again.

I'll leave you with some slightly old but new music and some artwork - and on that note, I'll bid you all ciao for now and a Happy Chinese New Year...try not to horse around too much. ;)