December 2016

Well...to talk about this past year, where do I even begin?

Before that, there's this past month to talk about - and as well as freezing cold weather, it also brought me some good news. It took 11 months, but I finally got my residence card, and my social security number, which means I can now legally work in the US, and also travel abroad again, and needless to say I am happy this has finally all been sorted. Now I just need to find a job.

Of course, this month the festive season came around, and as hectic as it was, with buying presents and getting the house all decorated for the occasion, it was really enjoyable. It was also very bittersweet - on the less positive side, it brought back all the memories and feelings of this time last year.  However on the positive side, me and my wife Nicole spent Christmas with her family, and along with a very memorable gift-giving we also put together a gingerbread village (I wonder why those are only popular in the US?), which was a lot of fun. This was also our first Christmas together as a married couple, and it was all the more special because of that, I certainly hope neither of us forget it.

I still can't believe that I left behind my family and my old life in the UK a year ago, and I still remember all the mixed emotions I felt that week, with having to say goodbye to my family, yet also feeling excited about starting a new life across the pond. I do miss my family a lot, and I really hope that me and Nicole will be able to take a trip over to the UK to see them again at some point in 2017, but I also don't regret making the move. As I've said before, it was an event in my life that needed to happen.

Needless to say, 2016 has been quite an eventful year. I know a lot of awful stuff has happened in the world this year, with political upheaval, the passing of many famous faces (closer to home, I lost a dear friend in November) and all the injustices in the world that just seem to escalate year after year - but I guess we should all be thankful for the all good things that have happened too. The world is full of beauty and good people too - you just have to dig through all the dirt to find it.

On that note, I hope everyone had a good Christmas, and I wish you all the best for 2017 - and as always, I'll leave you with some artwork - a festive group shot of me and my wife's main characters in fine voice.

November 2016

Quite a lot happened this November, the least of which was the temperatures plummeting of course.

I'm sure most people reading this will be aware of the big political event that happened this month, as it was all over the news - but I'm not going to dwell on it, because quite frankly anything political angers and depresses me. All I will say on the subject is that it is not worth destroying friendships with someone because of who they voted for - we are all human after all. So please, just do yourselves a favour and let it go. Life is too short.

On a more personal note, I had some sad news earlier this month - a friend of mine from back in the UK passed away. She was an elderly woman who was friends with my grandma, and who me and my brother became friends with when we were kids. I used to go and visit her a lot and keep her company, as she lived alone. Sadly her health began to decline a few years ago, however I still went to visit her and also helped her by doing food shopping for her once or twice a week. It was especially hard saying goodbye to her just before I moved to the US last December, because I had a feeling there and then that it would probably be our last goodbye - with her passing, I feel like a part of my past passed on with her, along with all the memories she had of her own life - however, I can find comfort in knowing that we were able to do say our goodbyes, and that she's not in pain anymore.

November had some better moments though - for the very first time, I got to take part in the annual American tradition that is Thanksgiving. I spent it with my lovely wife and her family, we had dinner (albeit without the traditional Thanksgiving turkey), played a very lively game of 500 Rummy, and got to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade on telly, complete with all the colourful parade floats. It was pretty enjoyable on the whole.
I also got that good news from immigration that I'd been waiting for - my permanent residency has been approved! It took long enough (11 months!), but it's now there and black and white, I am now a legal alien. I should be getting my resident ID card in the next three weeks, and then the next step will be to get a social security number - and then I can finally start applying for jobs. Not gonna lie, I'm very nervous about that, but then again who wouldn't be? It's long overdue.

As always, I'll leave you with some artwork - inspired by watching the Thanksgiving parade, I doodled up my monster character Greenie as a parade balloon. And while I'm on the subject of artwork, I decided to create my own separate Facebook page for my artworks (thanks again to my good friend Shane for help with that.), if you want to check it out, you can find it right here at BluebottleFlyer Arts.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving, even if you're outside of the US - till next time.

October 2016

Autumn has been in full swing now, and apart from an unseasonable spell of warm weather midway through the month, the temperature has started to drop quite a bit - this is crazy New England weather though, I should be used to it now.
Had some news on the immigration front - hopefully I should hear something around November, and I should also get my green card by February. This does mean that it will have taken a whole year to get this sorted, but either way it's about time. This also hopefully means that me and Nicole will be able to start planning a trip back over to the UK to see my family.
In the meantime I've been busy with doing artwork including commissions, helping around the house, going out for bike rides, competing in the bowling league (we're still up top somehow), selling stuff on Ebay and taking part in our weeklt community activity. I don't think I've ever been so busy as I am now, and while it keeps me active and productive, even a bit social (can you believe that?).
I can't forget about spooky season of course - this month is my first Halloween in the US. On one trip to Newport this month me and Nicole took a ghost tour around the city, whuch was quite interesting to say the least, and just yesterday we went to our first ever murder mystery party (I played a man cursed with pine legs), and while interacting with the other party guests was a bit of a challenge, it was a lot of fun and our hosts really went to town on putting it all together, I would definitely go to another murder mystery in the future.
On the artwork front, I took part in an art challenge called "Monster A Day", which was exactly what it says on the tin - I drew a monster each day of October, and it was a great excuse to draw characters just a little outside of my comfort zone - like this fire golem for example.

Until next time - and until then, don't let the zombies bite.

September 2016

This summer was certainly an eventful one, and while I'm sad to see the end of the nice warm weather, this month has also seen me begin to experience Autumn in the US for the first time - up until this year, I had experienced every season but Autumn across the pond.

The immigration situation has progressed somewhat this month, I finally had my background check a few weeks back, and now I am waiting for them to send confirmation that it's all clear. Our lawyer also sent me my work authorisation papers, however because of an admin error I haven't been able to get those completed. It's little hiccups like that which have made this process so frustrating, as I well remember from this time last year.

And where did that year go? Many times this month I've found myself thinking back to those few months, going down to London to do my medical, seeing the sights of the city, wondering whether my move to the US would pan out. It feels strange looking back.

I also have some news regarding the children's book that I'm collaborating on - the pictures for the first book are all finished, now I just need to stop procrastinating and get them all sorted into a PDF file. I get easily distracted, after all.

It wasn't just a Stateside Autumn that I was getting to experience this month, either - the 28th September marked me and my lovely wife Nicole's 4 year anniversary of becoming a couple. Now I know couples don't usually celebrate that particular anniversary, but this was different, because this year was the first time we were able to celebrate that anniversary together in person, not through a Skype chat, and it was wonderful being able to do that. Memories like these are what remind me that making my move and beginning a new life with Nicole is what it's all about.

The new local bowling league season has started this month, too - last season was my debut alongside Nicole's dad and close family friend Steve, and I was amazed that we finished second place in the league overall. This time, I'm bowling alongside my lovely wife, and so far it's going really well.

The artist's corner this month is also a shoutout to my good friend Chris Clews from Australia - we collaborated on a comic, featuring a few of our characters - you can check it out right here.

Bring on the pumpkins and Autumn leaves - till next time.

August 2016

So, summer's at an end, and I can safely say that I've been making the most of the warm weather, as I have done for the majority of this summer - bike rides, beach time and going on trips with my wife Nicole.

On that note, we had another "rock and roll" weekend on the 6th and 7th, going to not one but two gigs at Mohegan Sun, my first time going to the arena there, and the biggest music venue I've ever been to, I have to say. The first gig was a double header, Counting Crows & Rob Thomas. I'd only heard one Counting Crows song before the show, and I was familiar with some of Rob Thomas' music as Nicole is a big fan of both his and his band Matchbox 20's music. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of either artist, but I will say that Rob Thomas put a lot of energy and passion into his show, interacting with the crowd and getting everyone pumped, and his songs are very catchy - I think he should've been the headline act, because while Counting Crows were solid, they just weren't quite as memorable in my opinion. Still, it was a good night all round.

The second gig was the flipside, one of my favourite bands, and my second time seeing them, the Deftones. They had Spotlights and the infamous Swedish punk band Refused opening for them, Spotlights were pretty good with their heavy shoegaze-iinspired metal, I wasn't too sure about Refused though, while they were very loud and energetic (their singer had quite the stage presence), they jut didn't quite do it for me. However, Deftones absolutely killed it, they were every bit as awesome as when I first saw them back in '07, I couldn't fault them at all.

It wasn't just music shows we checked out at Mohegan Sun - on August 20 we checked out the TerrifiCon comic convention, my first comic con since San Diego back in 2010, and while this one was on a smaller scale, it was every bit as packed as San Diego, comic book stands, famous faces and cosplayers everywhere, and while it was a little overwhelming it was still a lot of fun.

We also celebrated two friends' wedding on the 27th (congrats to you both, you know who you are), it was a great party, and of course it brought back memories of our own wedding ceremony two months ago - I have to say, it was nice not being in the spotlight.

This month also saw the Olympics, which this year were held in Rio in Brazil - I caught some of it, though I really don't like how like everything else it seemed to get overshoadowed by all the scandal going on. It was also a little strange knowing that the previous Olympics were held in London back in 2012, back in my home country.

I seem to have been getting these reminders of my home country a lot lately, it's been 8 months since I left the UK, and I admit that this past month I've had moments where I've been missing my family a lot. The fact is, that is always going to happen, as anyone who's in a similar position will know, being far away from your loved ones is hard - but that's why I'm thankful for technology such as Skype, I can still easily keep in touch with them. I just hope that both me and Nicole will be able to go and visit them again someday.

On a brighter note, things are finally progressing with my immigration - they finally received my case, 5 months later, about time too, and just this past week I had my background check done up in Hartford, so now I am waiting for that to come through, and then hopefully it won't be much longer before I have my residency card and am able to apply for jobs. That's been on my mind too, wondering about whether I'll be able to cope balancing work and life, but the fact is, I won't know if I can until I'm living it. Ill keep you posted on this of course.

Last but not least, with summer coming to a close, I'll leave you with some summer-themed artwork - if this doesn't make you want to jump into the nearest pool, I dunno what will.

July 2016

Warm weather, biking and travels were the order of the month for this July, and in all honesty I don't know where it went - life just seems to pass by much quicker in the States.

On the downside, I'm still no further forward with the social security/green card situation, and me and Nicole's lawyer just doesn't seem to be taking our case seriously - without a social security number I can't work or use Paypal and Ebay, which also means I can't do art commissions - so I really want this to be sorted, it's beyond ridiculous now. I've been living in the States for seven months now, and this really should've been sorted ages ago.

I'll say that again in a better light though - seven months living in the States. I miss my family back in the UK, even moreso since their visit in June, but I'm also still doing great despite that, and with the help and encouragement of my lovely wife, I've been trying new things - this month we both decided to start a diet, and I'm not joking when I say this is the first time I've ever tried a diet. In short, I've cut down on the sweet stuff and started eating more fruit, and it actually has made me feel better, why did I shun fruit most of my life?
On the same note, I've been continuing my bike rides to East Rock, and recently started doing a two-man bike ride each week with a recent new friend of mine - speaking of that, he and his wife (who is my wife's best friend) are trying to write a series of children's books, and they kindly asked me if I could illustrate the books for them - needless to say, I jumped at the chance, and I have been in the process of making the drawings for the first book for the last couple of months now. It's great to have the opportunity to do something like this, and I really hope it might lead somewhere - if not, it's still an experience.
On the travel front, I got to celebrate 4th July with my wife, my first time celebrating the occasion as a US resident - we spent that weekend in Rhode Island, glorious weather for it too, and we got to watch the fireworks over Newport Harbour - good times. We also went to another couple of gigs too - Hellogoodbye and Foreigner. Personally I'm not a huge fan of either band, but they both put on a good show - and any singer who can hold a high note for over a minute deserves a huge pat on the back (Foreigner's singer Kelly Hansen I'm referring to).
I'll leave you with some summery artwork, a quartet of lifeguard characters I came up with.

Till next time, and don't stay out in the sun too long.

June 2016

Well, I can say without a doubt that June was certainly not a boring month.

On the normal side of things, I've been realising that Connecticut usually gets a lot more nicer weather than the UK, and as I've mentioned before I've been taking advantage of it by bike riding, and lately I feel as if the more I ride, the more I get used to it, the more energy I have to ride up hills and whatnot - it's far better than just being stuck in the house vegetating in front of a computer screen, and it makes me feel good just to get outside and keep active.

Now for the less normal side of things - on June 9, my brother Chris, my mam and my grandma made the 3000+ miles trip across the Atlantic to visit me and my wife Nicole in the US - this was not my brother's first US visit, but it was very special for my mam and grandma as this was their very first time setting foot on American soil. Words can't describe how over the moon I was to see them all again after almost 6 months apart. As with anyone visiting the US for the first time, it took my family a little time to get used to all the cultural and physical differences, but they adjusted canny quickly. 
Myself and Nicole made sure that they made the most of their time here, taking them to as many places as we could, and where better to start off with than the Big Apple? Aye, it was an English family in New York, and my family got to see it in style with an open top bus tour around many of New York's famous sights including the Empire State Building, Battery Park and One World Trade. Following that we set foot in the famous Times Square and had dinner at the Hard Rock Café, needless to say my mam and grandma were a little taken aback by just how busy New York can be - but one quick subway ride later and they also got to see how more peaceful it could be too, in Central Park, despite my grandma's unwanted encounter with a stray rat! It was all an experience though, and they were all glad that they got to see one of the most famous cities in the world.
The following day was more chilled out, showing my family around the block of flats where me and Nicole live, and we did a lot of catching up too. One sleep later, and then it was the main event, the main reason my family flew over - me and Nicole's wedding ceremony, or part two of our wedding. (For those who don't know: we were officially married in February, but because of my move there wasn't time to plan a proper ceremony, hence the separate ceremony)
I spent the morning chilling with my family before putting on my tux and getting ready to go to the ceremony, two of my good friends Shane (who I asked to be one of my groomsmen) and Paula drove over from Long Island to attend the ceremony, they got to meet my family, and Shane was kind enough to drive us all to the wedding venue, and despite some hiccups with the directions on my part, we got there in the end.
The wedding ceremony was held at Lighthouse Park in New Haven, inside a building right next to the beach - we had originally planned to hold the ceremony outside on the beach, however because of high winds we had to move inside, but that didn't make it any less special. Everything just came together - Nicole's family, the staff, the caterers, the photobooth people, the photographers and the DJ all did an amazing job - but most of all, our families and friends were there to see me and Nicole cement our marriage. It was one of those moments that you just have no words for, and it was certainly a moment and a day that none of us will ever forget.
After a relaxing wedding night in a hotel room going over all the wedding photos, we were on the trail again, this time taking my family to our go-to holiday place, Newport in Rhode Island for a couple of days, where we took a trolley tour around the city, showing my family the old-style streets, the scenic Narragansett Bay, the famous mansions and the beautiful Ocean Avenue. There was one moment while driving around we ended up at a nature reserve, and right in front of us was one of the most beautiful sunsets any of us had ever seen - if one moment made the whole trip, then that was it.
I was dreading the inevitable goodbye - but we still made the most of that day too, showing my family around me and Nicole's favourite local places, namely East Rock, Stony Creek, and of course Branford Point. Eventually we had to make that long drive to JFK Airport in New York, where we made sure that my family got checked into their hotel (they had an early morning flight). Their journey home wasn't quite plain sailing - the hotel wasn't the greatest, and they ended up having to sleep in the terminal at Heathrow Airport overnight, because their flight out of JFK was delayed, and they missed their connecting flight to Newcastle  - but thankfully they made it back safely. Saying goodbye to them was just as hard as it was back in December, and it will never get any easier - but I was also just beyond grateful that they were able to make the journey to the US and to see me and Nicole get married, and I know that they were glad to have made the trip too.
There were a couple of other firsts this month too, as Nicole brought me to two popular events around her hometown of Branford - the Branford Festival, which is a series of events including live bands, fairground rides and various stalls held on the town green; plus the Branford Fireworks, which is basically the Connecticut equivalent of the Bonfire Night fireworks back in the UK - the fireworks were set off from Branford Point, with some of our friends me and Nicole got to see the whole display from the shore opposite, and it was very enjoyable.

So that was my June, and without a doubt it's month that will hopefully stay in memory until the end - moments like that, you just can't put a price on.
I'll be generous this time and leave you with not one, but two artworks from this month - a tennis-themed comic (it's Wimbledon month), plus a little something I made to mark the wedding ceremony.

Until next time.