June 13th, 2006

This morning, after a lot of getting ready. We decided to go to the mall to get an adapter for JJ’s charger, to fit my phone. My phone had been on charge since I got here, and although it had been keeping what little charge there was intact, it wasn’t adding any, at all… So, hoping it wasn’t the battery that was at fault, I had opted for the adapter option.

At the mall, we headed straight for Radio Shack, where I told the guy what kind of phone I had, and he went off to find the right piece. After Radio Shack, we went to a couple of clothes shops, then to a pet shop, where there were loads of puppies. Actually I think it was more of a puppy shop…

After the mall, we went back to the apartment, where I plugged in my phone. We then headed to 4th Avenue and to a shop called ‘How Sweet It Was’ – It was pretty cool, it was a clothes shop, but full of old clothes and stuff. The woman working there was really nice as well. After that, we went to Brooklyn Pizza, got some food and headed home with it.

Later, we went to the library where I talked to some people, and put stuff on MySpace. Then at home, I lay on the couch with my newly charged phone, texting Cara.

I headed to bed after everyone else, everyone apart from JJ, after watching Letterman.

June 14th, 2006

I had a weird dream this morning. It was at the academy I went in and the first thing I saw was the head teacher punch a kid in the face. It wasn’t Brown though, it was the head of Seafield, Skelton. I woke up, got dressed and had something to eat.

When Kara came back from class, we decided to go to Mount. Lemmon. JJ had orientation, so we left without him. We were on our way, when we got a call from JJ, he’d left early, and wanted to come. So we went back and got him, before setting off again.

I was texting Cara again, for some of the way, but surprisingly my phone doesn’t work half way up a mountain. We stopped half way up, and went for a walk, and took some pictures. We then got back in the car, and headed further up, where we stopped at a lake.

We were there for a while. JJ went fishing, armed only with a stick and a piece of gum, he caught something. It was nice and cool up there, unlike the heat of Tucson.

We then headed home, Kara left to go get some stuff for her car, and JJ and Kristin went to Denny’s. They brought back some Chicken Strips and Fries for me. We then headed to Espresso Art, to use the wifi. We got back and I watched some TV, while Kara and Kristin did homework. Then, me and Kristin headed to Fry’s to get the basics again.

June 15th, 2006

Got woken today by Kristin and JJ, they were being loud. Got up, had a quick shower, just to wet my hair, cause it was a bit of a mess. Afterwards, I had something to eat and eventually we headed to the library. We drove, meaning we had to pay for parking. I spoke to several people online and Kristin and I looked into camp grounds and stuff at the Grand Canyon, before realizing that the parking meter would be out.

We went back to the car and drove home. That was about the most exciting thing to happen today. I started reading a new book, Naked Pictures Of Famous People by Jon Stewart. I read some of that before going to sleep.

June 7th, 2006

When I woke up, Kara wasn’t in bed, I wasn’t sure if she’d gone out or not. I lay in bed for a bit, she then came into the room. Looking at the time, she realized shed woken up an hour before she had to. I got out of bed and we headed through to the living room/kitchen.

I got a drink, Sierra Mist, which is Pepsi’s version of Sprite.After I went for a shower, or at least I attempted to. I couldn’t work the shower thing I went back and asked Kara for help. She set it going for me. After the shower, I finally felt clean, but it was only a matter of time before I started to feel all sweaty again.

Damn heat.

Later on we went to some guys house, Aaron, I think. He seemed pretty cool, he liked my T-Shirt (the Xenu one), Kristin had been storing some stuff at his house, so we were there to pick it up. On the way to his house, I went in Kara’s car and realized just why cars have Air Conditioning. Needless to say I went with Kristin on the way back.

We stopped at an Ice Cream shop on the way back. I felt really ill afterwards. Apparently, if Id tipped them, they would have had to sing a song, I wish I had now. Just for a laugh.

We got back to the apartment and hung out for a bit, before going to see X-Men 3. Kara and Kristin hadn’t seen it, I don’t think JJ had either but he couldn’t come.

When we got to the cinema, Kara asked for a ticket for the wrong showing, and because I just said same please I ended up with the wrong one too. Kristin, who had to go to the ATM to get money, got the right ticket, so we followed her to the proper screen. It wasn’t busy, so we weren’t stopping anyone seeing the movie.

There was a Snakes On A Plane poster in the lobby.

The only real reason I wanted to see X-Men again was for the hidden scene It really wasn’t worth it, especially considering the length of the credits.

At night, Kara and Kristin got into the pool. I was considering it, but decided against it. We started watching a film in the bedroom, before going to sleep.

June 8th, 2006

Woke up today, JJ had gone to Wal-Mart at some stupid time and bought DVDs he didn’t need, so he wanted to return them. We needed to go shopping anyway, so we went over to WalMart, they were happy to exchange them for store credit, but they wouldn’t give him cash without a receipt. [WalMart smells.] We went to Frys to do the actual shopping, it smelled a bit too. It was also really badly organized – I miss ASDA.

We got back to the apartment and unloaded the crap we’d bought into the kitchen, then we headed back to WalMart, JJ with his receipt, and Kara with money to buy a TV. – It was about time really.

After the alarm going off as we left the shop, we got to the car, and realized the TV wouldnt fit, not without a struggle, anyways. We forced it into the back seat, meaning Kara, JJ and Kristin had to sit in the front, and the TV and I sat in the back..

We went to the library and I updated the blog.. I also emailed my mum. Allison met us, and we walked back to the apartment, we watched some TV and I headed to bed, and listened to some stuff on the mp3 player. I didn’t get to sleep though. Kara came in, about an hour later, at that point, I turned off the mp3 player, turned over and got to sleep not long after.

June 9th, 2006

Woken up to the sound of the shower going on. I got out of bed and went to watch TV. Regis and Kelly was on, a mix of This Morning and Des & Mel – only worse than both.

Then The View came on, just as bad, Kara wanted to watch it though.

She left for class, and Kristin came home, and once JJ was ready, we left. We dropped him off at work, before going to the cinema so Kristin could apply for a job, we then went to a Subway-esque place to get an application. Then I decided I was hungry, cause I hadn’t eaten properly since I got here.

After a lot of How about? We settled on pizza. Brooklyn Pizza, we both had a cheese slice and a drink. I paid, cause I’m cool. (Haha.)

Afterwards, we walked around a bit and took some pictures, then headed back to the apartment to pick up Kara, before going to take more pictures. We drove out of town, to a scenic view point kinda bit.

Climbed up a hill to a little hut, and took some pictures and rested, after the climb. Apparently, its not only cold air that effects my asthma. Its also hot, dry air.

On the way back, we almost crashed. We didn’t though, so no need for details.

Got back, watched Jeopardy. Then Kara decided she wanted to watch a film. I made some toast, and put some cheez whiz on it. Its good stuff.

Later that night, we all ended up around the pool. Kristin had a big blow up lilo thing. Kara got on it first. Smoking as she floated around the pool. I had been sitting on the edge, with my legs in the pool, and after being splashed a heap of times, I got pulled in. I then got on the lilo thing and floated around a bit, before heading back inside. Soaking, I got changed into my Scottish PJs.

June 10th, 2006

Woke up, went to get something to eat.

Kristin, Kara and I watched Y Tu Mama Tambien, then we woke up JJ before all heading to the library.

We were there for a while, it was nice going down early – People were on MSN. So I talked to them, updated Myspace a bit, etc.

We then all headed back to the apartment, where I dumped my bag and grabbed my wallet. Then we headed to the cinema again, to see A Prairie Home Companion.

I’d seen a trailer for it, but really didn’t think I’d enjoy it. It was actually a really cool, funny film. I’d recommend it.

We went home, and watched Wheel Of Fortune, and then the Saturday Night Movie – Total Recall – GREAT film.

During Total Recall, JJ went to get some Fries, which he claimed weren’t really fries, describing them more like proper chips. To me, they were just fries though.

Kristin and JJ then went to rent the movie, Match Point, I decided to go to bed, I was tired.

June 11th, 2006

Woke up, JJ was still in bed, but Kara and Kristin were nowhere to be seen.

I had a drink, looked to see what was on TV, then I noticed a piece of paper on the floor.

“We’re at the pool, come out!”

I went out and sure enough, there they were. After a while by the pool, we all headed inside again.

We then went to the video shop and rented TransAmerica, amongst others, we got back and watched it. Its an alright film.

After that we went to the library, I checked some stuff online, spoke to a few people before heading back to the apartment again.

Kristin, who’d left the library before us to go to a job interview came back – She got the job. They then watched another movie. One I didn’t want to watch. So I went and read my book.

Once the movie was done, me and Kristin went to Fry’s to get some milk, bread and stuff. When we got back, I started watching Match Point, before getting ready for and going to bed.

June 12th, 2006

In the morning, JJ and Kristin went swimming in the pool, I went out and sat at the side, then we headed back inside. We then went to the video shop, to put back TransAmerica, then went to do laundry. We were there for ages, so I read my book, which I’m almost finished.

We then went back to the apartment, before heading to the library, again. Orientation for the University is this week, so we had to go to a different area than usual. While there, I spoke to some people on msn, and looked at stuff to do in Arizona.

Kristin and I have decided to head up to the Grand Canyon this weekend. Kara doesn’t want to go, cause she just sees it as a hole in the ground, JJ’s working, so he cant go.

There’s also some cavern things, that look pretty cool.

At night, Kara and JJ got drunk, then we all headed to the pool. Kara and I, sat and talked about Scotland, and the people we know.

She was asking what everyone was doing now. It was cool.

After, we headed inside, JJ, Kara and I sat and watched Buffy (the original movie), Kara headed off to bed not long after it had started, JJ passed out on the couch, and I headed to bed before it’d ended. I had never really watched the film properly. Its weird to think that something like the TV show came from something like the movie.

Left the house at 2:45am and made our way to Aberdeen. When we got there, the airport was still shut. I slept in the back of the car for about half an hour. When I woke up, my mum said she’d seen a couple people go in – so we did too.

Inside, there was a woman standing, telling us that they weren’t really open and to go take a seat. They then announced that the check-in desks were open, so we headed over, but none of the desks were for British Airways.

While standing, waiting, hoping that a British Airways desk would open, someone came over to us, and asked if we were flying B.A. and that if we were using E-Tickets (I was). She then took us over to the machine and attempted to guide me through the process, but it didn’t work properly, so while checking our luggage, she printed out the boarding pass that hadn’t printed.

My mum and I then went for a drink in the café, before going out to the smoking area, which wasn’t really a smoking area. I then headed to the security area, said my goodbyes to my mum, and went through to the other side.

I put my bag on the x-ray thing and walked through the big metal detector. Although nothing beeped, the guard on the other side asked if he could search me, saying it was just a random check. I then stood for a few moments with my arms outstretched, and legs apart, while he patted me down before heading through to the departure lounge and waiting.

The plane down to Heathrow wasn’t too bad. I got really bad aches though, I would of said earache (‘cause it was to do with the whole pressure thing), but it wasn’t just my ears, it spread throughout my neck, shoulders and head. It wasn’t nice.

When I got to Heathrow, I walked the miles of corridor, before sitting down in a big expansive room, filled with check in desks, and phoned my mum. To tell her where I was, and how things were going. I then headed downstairs, and found a map. The map told me where the Burger King was and I went and ordered some food. I text a heap of people from there before realizing the time and grabbing my bag and leaving. Heading for the map again. The map said that the gate was 15 minutes away and as far as I was aware I didn’t have 15 mins to spare!

I eventually got there, after a lot of fast paced walking, and squeaking of shoes. They weren’t boarding though, so I went to the shop and bought some mints. At the gate, there was a guy and a woman, the guy was checking the passports, the woman was checking the boarding tickets. They both ended up looking at my passport, commenting on how they’d never seen one of the new ones before – The new ones being the Bio-Metric ones. I was kinda shocked, considering the amount of people that travel through Heathrow everyday, and they’d never seen one?

The Plane wasn’t too bad on the way over, I slept for a bit and ended up watching some Father Ted and Friends. The screens also had a map function which showed where the plane was at any given time. So that was pretty cool. Everyone from Aberdeen, right through to LAX was really nice, and friendly, they gave off a happy to help kind of vibe.

That’s where the vibe ended though.

We left the plane after 11 hours on board, and headed down the corridor to the customs section. We were told that our baggage would be on carousel 5 – fair enough – I was then pushed into a queue, where I waited for a good 20 minutes before a woman called me over.

Is this the first time to the U.S?, she asked.
Yes. I replied.
No, I know it is. You filled in this form wrong.

Now wrong implies that I’d done something so drastically wrong that I;d have to get a new form and start over. However, that was not the case. I hadn’t put my name in a couple places, which, if I hadn’t put my name on the form at all, I might understand the need to send me away, but because it was already on the form, and I could have filled it in there and then in a couple seconds, I felt it was kind of stupid to make me wait all over again. Which is what I had to do.

I filled it in and headed to the back of the queue, where some woman came over, muttered something about China and moved me to another queue, which said it was for U.S Citizens – just in case its not clear, I’m a U.K citizen, not U.S – it all worked out, and I headed to the carousel, that’s when my first problem occurred, I couldn’t find my bag anywhere.

Panic set in.

You see, where I’d first queued, my carousel was right in front of me, after all the switching and stuff, I’d forgotten that the carousel wasn’t in front of me any more, so I walked all the way back to Carousel 5, and sure enough, my bag was there. I re-checked it. In the line it said to remove padlocks as they will be broken if they decide to look through your luggage. I didn’t remove mine, but I did unlock it.

All the guards, etc. at LAX seem to love shouting. Its all DO THIS. DO THAT.

After re-checking my bag, I headed over to Airport Information. The woman there was really nice, the first really nice American I’d met. She gave my the directions to the terminal I needed to get to, I’d decided just to walk it. Before I left, she warned my not to give money to anyone out there, “they’re not fundraising” – when she said that, I presumed she meant homeless people. That maybe they were going with the logic that if they didn’t get any money, they’d go elsewhere, in search for some. Kind of like the whole stray cat/food thing.

As soon as I stepped out of the doors, into sunny L.A, a guy came up to me and told me the same directions Id just been given by the woman inside, then said that he was from somewhere and would I like to make a donation. I said I had no dollars.

Oh, we accept all currencies, sir.
Nah, sorry I only have a credit card. – which was of course, a lie

However, even if I had felt the need to give him money, I only had $50s and £20s – which still amounts to about $35. He accepted the excuse, shook my hand, and I headed to Terminal 7.

I got there and sailed through the E-Ticket stuff (Thanks to the woman at Aberdeen). I had to take my shoes off at security and put them through the X-Ray machine, before walking through the metal detector. Everything there went OK, and I headed upstairs to my gate.

I decided that I needed a drink, then realised that all I had was $50s. So I went to the ATM and got $20 out, and went to the shop. I bought some Cancer Water (Cancer Water being Dasani – the stuff taken off the market in the UK, for having cancer causing chemicals – that and the fact that it was just tap water. T’was all they had though. I bought a bar of Herseys too. I then went back and sat down at the gate.

I sat the bottle of Cancer Water down on the chair, it began to roll, I didn’t know this because I’d seen it do so. I knew it because I looked up from my chair to see the woman across from me smile, and then almost chuckle, before pointing at my bottle.

I liked her.

The plane began boarding, and I went and found my seat. The woman behind me, Sharon French (like the language – as she exclaimed down the phone to whoever she was speaking to), kept using her phone, even after the flight attendant had said her piece about mobiles. Just as we were taxi-ing to the runway, I heard from behind me,

“Um, Ma’am, do you still have your cell on?”

Sharon then turned off the phone she had in her hand.

“Thank you.” Then a few minutes later, “That one too, ma’am”.

It made me smile at how dumb she was.

When I got off the plane at Phoenix, we had to walk across the tarmac to the terminal building. The heat was so intense, that I automatically thought I was walking in the draft from one of the jet engines but yeah, it was just the desert heat.

I made my way into the terminal, following all the signs for baggage claim. I was still looking around, getting kinda lost, ’cause I couldn’t see where the claim would be. I looked up and I saw Kara, Kristin and JJ standing there with a sign saying “Smith”.

It was nice to see people I knew, finally. I gave Kara a hug, then Kristin said Hey and we hugged. Then JJ introduced himself, extending his hand to shake, but I hugged him too.

Kara and I headed for baggage claim, standing there looking at all the bags go by, she made a comment about Chicago.. When I said I hadn’t been to Chicago, she told me we were standing at the wrong carousel.

We got my bag, and headed for the car. JJ drove home, just outside Phoenix we entered a massive dust storm, which I later found out was about 1000km across. We stopped for Gas – I didn’t bother correcting them. Then headed back to Tucson. (which, from Phoenix is probably the same distance from Aberdeen to Elgin, maybe just a bit more, except instead of all the big green fields, hills, forests, you have desert and the odd cactus.)

When we got to Tucson, there was a lightning storm, although for the most part, it was just flashes, as opposed to fork lightning.

We got to the apartment and I went almost straight to bed. Where I slept for about 13 hours.

There’s a lot of it.

I’ll produce a better blog another time. I’ve written a heap of stuff down, but it’s not on this computer. We don’t have the internet at the apartment, so I’m using the computers at the library.

The flights went off without too many problems. I have to say, I hate U.S Security and Customs. They have no organisation skills at all. The first woman I spoke to, said:

“Is this the first time you’ve been to the United States?”
I replied with a “Yes" 
She said "I know, you filled in this form wrong." 

She then told me to fill it in properly and go to the back of the queue. I wouldn’t mind, but I’d only missed a couple details, both of which had already been printed on the form somewhere else. She could have just let me fill it in there, and continued helping me out. The cunt.

More of that story in the proper, more informative post though.

The apartment’s nice enough, but small. I’m living with Kara, Kristin, and JJ. They all met me off the plane in Phoenix, and drove me back to Tucson. I was too busy trying to figure where my baggage would be that I didn’t notice, but when I looked up, I saw the three of them standing there, with a little sign that said "Smith”, which was nice.

Nice to see someone I knew, finally.

Today, we didn’t do much. Kara had stuff to do until 2, JJ started work at 11, when I woke up, Kristin had already gone, but she came back around 11, just as JJ was leaving. Kristin and I watched Garden State together, with Commentary, cause I hadn’t done that before, and had watched the actual film like last week.

We then went over to some guys house to pick up some of Kristin’s stuff – she’d been storing it there. On the way there, I went in Kara’s car, a car without Air Conditioning. Needless to say, I went with Kristin on the way home.

This evening we went to see X-Men – The Last Stand. The dialogue was just as cheesy, if not more so the second time, the action still amazes me. We stayed after the credits for the hidden scene… I’d have to agree with the family behind us when they said “We stayed for this?!”

We drove back to the apartment again, where I read some more of a book. Then we walked here, the Library of Science and Engineering – Par-Tay.

I’ll give more detailed posts, when we either have the net at the apartment, or I write it up on Kristin’s laptop and save it so I can just paste it here. We’ll see.