Busy

Currently I am in London. Today I had quite an interesting experience. One thing that I meant to do when I was in New York City, but never got a chance to since I ended up sick, was to head into China Town and have some Dim Sum. I decided that I would make up for that missed opportunity here in London. This evening I walked down into China Town and found a particular Chinese restaurant that I was searching for that I knew served Dim Sum. I ended up finding it, unfortunately they stopped serving Dim Sum at 5pm and I was there a little after 7. I ended up still eating there and had some Ma Po Tofu, which is my favorite Chinese dish. Anyway, I digress; onto my point of an interesting experience. Upon walking into this establishment I had the most peculiar sensation that I was back home. Somehow, walking in and sitting down in a Chinese sit-down restaurant means home to me. Perhaps it is because Chinese happens to be one of my favorite fares or maybe it is the type of people that a Chinese place draws. Whatever it was, it was certainly nice to have a taste of home.

I have not written a blog in a while and rightly so, I suppose. I have been quite busy. I do not feel like I have gotten that much accomplished in the last couple of weeks, because somehow I have a huge list of things that I have been meaning to do (writing a blog being one of them), but I just have not had the time to sit down and actually do them. I might end up doing quite a bit of catch up work tomorrow so that I may cross off some items on my ever growing list, however, I am in London and I have no obligations to do anything tomorrow. I may end up doing some touristy things around town like going to see the Tower of London or there is a Chinese Art exhibition being put on currently that sounded quite nice. I suppose I will just see how I end up feeling tomorrow morning and decide from there. Although, there are probably some things on my list of stuff to do that I will need to accomplish tomorrow. So then, what then has been keeping me so busy that I have not had time to do what I want, or in some cases, need to do?

Well, my acting classes for one thing has taken up the last two of my Saturdays, this one included. I got back from class a couple of hours ago, took Miriah for a walk, then ate at said Chinese Dim Sum restaurant. The classes have been lots of fun and tomorrow I plan on signing up for at least the next class coming up this Saturday and possibly the next one after that as well, however, the latter is a iffy because it will not be a possibility for me to stay with Charlotte here at the Madison House in London. It is perfect for me to stay here while taking these classes because I literally walk outside the door and go across the street to where the classes are being held. The class starts at 10 and I can walk out the door here at 9:59 and still be on time; it is quite wonderful. However, if I do end up taking the class on the 12th, I will not have that luxury. I am thinking I will try to find someone that I can couchsurf with here in London. After all, London is one of the most surfed cities in the world. Although, so is NYC and I had a hell of a time trying to find anyone to host me there simply because anyone who hosts constantly has guests staying with them. Hopefully tomorrow I will have that all straightened out. The thing that has been taking up a lot of my time, or at least a lot of my limited mental power, is helping Jerry with a project of his at work. Jerry has been developing a test that he administers to patients at the hospital in Leicester who have suffered from injuries to the head and may or do have brain damage. The test he is developing sets out to be able to access the abilities and functions that may be inhibited by the injuries the patient has received. It is a fairly large and all encompassing test that looks at numerous brain functions. In theory, using this test as data to stand on, Jerry can: make educated assessments of what functions his patients may or may not be able to do or perform in their daily lives; help guide other psychologists, case managers and social workers in providing care that meets these patients needs; determine what problems these patients may have with adjusting back into a "normal" life; as well as determine whether or not his patients should or should not be given further care from the UK's National Health Care System (NHS). So far, Jerry has 3 years of data logged for the test that he has put together. Jerry has wanted to put together a much more presentable version of the test so that he can present to a test publisher here in the UK in order for other psychologists worldwide to make use of it, which is the first of it's kind, as far as Jerry knows. My role with this test started out small with me simply redesigning some elements of the test and putting it together in a nice looking fashion using the computer. Since then, it has grown into us wanting to redesign entire modules of the test and now even producing at least one if not two parallel versions of the test along with doing some major graphic design work to really enhance the overall look and presentability of it. All in all, this has been what I have been spending a majority of my time doing. I have gone into work with Jerry a couple of days to his job in order to put some time into this growing project. We are both very excited about the prospects of what it can and will do once it is all together. I hope to really be able to help Jerry make this test what he wants it to be so that it will be published successfully and used widely. In the hands of psychologists around the world, this test has the potential to identify problems for people with brain injuries and damage early on so that they can be provided with the proper care they need and deserve. There is certainly a lot of work to be done on the development of this test(s), but even if I am not with Jerry that much longer in my travels, I will hopefully be able to continue the work while I am moving about. Oh, and of course, I have been out in the yard continuing my work in the garden. So far I have displaced over 6 tons worth of dirt, rubble and rocks out of their yard and I still have quite a ways to go with it. Earlier this week I transplanted a bush/tree to another part of the yard to make room for some more digging, trenching and wall building that will happen sometime here in the near future. So this is pretty much what has been keeping me busy. Needless to say, I have been spending a lot of time talking with Jerry. Not only about all the work that is in our future, but also with personal matters. Jerry and I get along very well and it has been great developing our friendship.

Looking towards the future, with all of the work that is still left to do, it seems that I will be with Jerry and Charlotte for a while still to come. Near the end of April, Charlotte will be coming home to Seaton for 5 weeks. She will then be returning to London come June when the new school term starts and she needs to return to manage the house here where all the James Madison University kids stay while they attend class. When Charlotte does come home to Seaton, I will then be leaving for at least 3 weeks traveling around the UK in order to give Jerry and Charlotte some much needed time alone together. I know for sure that during this time I will be taking a 5 day guided tour of Scotland as well as visiting Cambridge. Other then that, I have many ideas about other places that I may wish to visit, I just have not had the time to research any other locations. One major thing on my list of things I need to do is make an itinerary for those 3 weeks. There is nothing to say that I will return to Seaton after those 3 weeks are up, but considering all the work that will certainly be outstanding, I will most likely want to come back to help out as much as I can.

I am quite enjoying being here in the UK and I am very excited about what the next couple of weeks will hold for me. I now that I will be busy, and that is a good thing.