Your mission, should you choose to accept...

I've been working on what I like to call replacement thinking. So when I start thinking of something that depresses me about England, I immediately replace the thought with something positive. Or if I find myself thinking about what I hated the last time I moved here, or some awful experienced I had last time, I stop myself and think instead about how much different this time will be. Not a revolutionary idea, but it seems to be working. It's difficult to always think positively. And it would be so easy to fall into a big pit of self pity. Sometimes self pity can be so rewarding. But it never gets me far for long.

I'm also trying my damnedest to make this move totally different from the last move. It's the same town, same people, same problems as last time. But last time it got the best of me. So I really am trying to, not only think of things differently, but also trying to be a different person. I want to be stronger and more open minded, more tolerant and clear headed.

In some ways I'm looking at this as a mission. I more or less had to make this move (it really was the right thing to do), Paul would have suffered greatly if I had put my foot down about staying in Portland. So I pretend I'm a secret agent sent here for a purpose, and must complete my mission. In real life my mission is to keep my head together and my purpose is to become a better person. But in my imagination I'm a super sexy secret agent sent to England to infiltrate the British people, become one of them and perhaps take down the monarchy.

Even if I wanted to leave I couldn't, so I just have to make sure I don't get myself in a state where I want to get the fuck outta dodge.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all stiff upper lip and emotional suppression for me. There are so many wonderful things about living here. Which is why I'm starting "What Tickles My Pickle About England". A quick little addition at the end of each blog entry about all the great things that make living in England really fucking cool and just that much more tolerable. I really do plan on getting at least one blog entry completed each week as long as I have internet access. And even if I don't have tons of great photos to post.

What Tickles My Pickle About England is Branston's Pickle! It's this fantastic "sauce" I guess you'd call it. It squeezes out of the bottle looking like a dark, small dog turd and tasting like heaven. And you would be sorely mistaken if you think its just a bunch of mashed up pickles. Oh no! This stuff is absolutely chock full of goodness and strange ingredients, such as: swede, onions, cauliflower, vinegar, tomato, apple, dates, mustard, cilantro, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves and of course a few pickles thrown in for good measure. I'm pretty sure it's a super food so I eat as much of it as I can.