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I'm sitting here at my desk, staring out the window at the sunshine in the trees. Give or take, I've been back in England for a week and a smidgen. In my ears is the album "Flood" by They Might be Giants (the song "Lucky Ball & Chain" playing as I type this [lyrics]). I think I'm over my jet lag now, which means any delay between my ears is just my normal, usual lag. I find it odd the way my emotions have been these past days; down one day, up the next. I think it's normal... I'm told it's normal. It felt good talking to my girls on Saturday; I talk to them every Saturday (unless something import comes up; like I'm visiting them :o) )

Things I've found since coming back.

1. Coffee from most places (i.e. non-coffee-shop places, like Millie's cookies) sucks; but coffee from Starbucks tastes pretty much the same the world 'round. I don't know if I cared less about it before, or whether something else has happened to my coffee-pleasure centre in my brain. Probably I didn't care too much before.
2. I've gone off alcohol. For some reason, the bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale I had chilling in the fridge seem tasteless and barely palatable; I don't know if this is because I've actually gone off them, or if it's the fact that they're barely out of code (they had a best before of the 31st July). I think the former, ale doesn't go off :o)
3. Sunshine makes me happy.
4. I eat so much more junk when I'm in England. I hardly ate anything when I was in the USA; when I did snack, it would be a couple of chunks of dark chocolate or a handful of sunflower seeds (I would eat the David's seeds - loved sucking the salt off the husks and then breaking the shells to get at the kernels beneath (then extracting the empty shells from my mouth))
5. The reason my laptop's docking station's USB ports stopped working in Vista was because of a rogue windows update in about February this year that gave the impression that everything was fine, only the USB ports refused to recognise anything plugged into them. Not a problem until I needed to plug more than three things into my laptop! A googling provided the answer.
6. I always say this, but, I don't need half the things I have in my life to be happy. All I need is a couple of books, a notepad, food, water, shelter; I'm so happy with an uncluttered life. That said though, I come back to England and I like my clutter too. I just need to do something with it to make it seem "organised" rather than "clutter"
7. Just doing the day to day stuff; walking, playing with the children etc. is no substitute for doing sport and exercise. I played badminton for the first time since coming back on Friday, and came away with aches in places I didn't even realise I had muscles (and this is without me running or playing football; two things that usually tax my body. I am a little worried about how quick fitness can be lost)
8. I'm happy with a routine; lack of organisation makes me depressed; particularly when things start piling up "to do" around the house.

Hmm. I wasn't planning a list, how did that happen? I'd better crack on with work now - that's what they pay me for :o)

One more thing, I'm glad I started blogging again. I've missed writing and it's good to have an outlet for all those random things inside my head.