Dilemma

There's a girl here, one of Scott's closest female friends, who I don't really like. I don't hate her, but there's a lot of reasons why it's probably just best if I don't spend too much time with her. Partly because I think she's been quite rude to me in the past, and partly because she's just not the type of person I have much in common with (she was the one who asked whether christmas was celebrated in England).

Now, as I have no friends here, and really don't want to be developing any enemies, I had decided that the best way to handle her would just be to be sweet and polite whenever we happened to be hanging out at the same place. I'm a big girl, and I'm sure I can manage to be nice for a few hours at a time. However, this morning I received an email from her inviting me to an all-girls party weekend on an island just off the coast of LA at the end of the month.

There are many, many, reasons why this trip doesn't sound like it would be that much fun for me. She would be the only person I know attending and, as such, I would have to spend a lot of time with her (i.e. sharing rooms in hotels and relying on her to drive me to and from the ferry). I'm not even sure if I can be polite for a whole weekend, especially when alcohol is involved, and especially when I don't have Scott there to triangulate (knowing both of us he could presumably fill those gaps in conversation somewhat). Plus, these are LA actress girls, for whom appearence is everything, and I don't know if I can cope with the stress of trying to look perfect all weekend...

On the other hand, I'm meant to be starting a new life here. I really need friends, and I really need to develop a bit of a life away from Scott. Am I just being scared? Or, if hell is other people, why on earth would anyone choose to spend a weekend with a girl they found it difficult to sit through a simple dinner with a week ago? Any advice is greatly appreciated...

- Oh, and for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that the girl in question doesn't like me either. She's certainly never been awfully friendly before. She's probably just inviting me out of politeness to Scott, in which case how bad would it be for both of us if I actually go?!?

Life's a Gas

So, I'd been feeling physically ill since I moved to Los Angeles. Most evenings in the apartment came complete with a throbbing headache and increasing nausea. The evening of New Year's day was spent locked in the toilet. Scott and I considered various explanations for this, the two most likely being food poisoning from the cheap Thai restaurant that we visited on NYE, and some sort of psychosmatic illness based on the fact that I don't really like it here.

Plagued by this low-level illness (and by the fact that Scott refused to let me see a doctor due to the lack of medical insurance), I was not too happy at being left on my own for two days while the husband went of to work in San Diego. Knowing that I was miserable and cold, he gave me intense instruction in how to opearate the TV (trickier than you would imagine) and the archaic 1920s heating system. I mastered the TV, but was too scared to use the radiator (which one has to light with a match), and instead snuggled under blankets. This turned out to be a very, very, good thing.

Yesterday I called in the gas man, as one of the rings on the oven (also, it seems from the 1920s) was not working. We had a nice chat (he also an immigrant), and while here he said he would check the heating system for me. Which I thought was nice of him.

After spending 10 minutes or so lighting matches and fiddling with switches, he turned to me with a grave look on his face, and asked when we had last had the heating on. I told him it had been a few days ago. He asked if I had been having headaches or been feeling sick. Why yes I had. He then turns to me sternly, and tells me not to use it again because "if you switch on you go to to sleep and not wake up". Turns out it is leaking huge amounts of carbon monoxide into the living room, and the only reason that we're not already dead is that a lot of our windows are broken, which provided a bit of life-saving ventilation.

Strangely, it almost pleased me to find this out. Clearly it's not good that we were almost poisoned. However, it is nice to know that my body was going mental for a reason, and not just because I'm having a nervous breakdown. It also explains why Scott has found his memory and concentration failing whenever he is in the flat. So people, if you too live in an apartment with antiquted heating systems, a crazy landlady that has no interest in fixing stuff, and find yourself suffering from mystery illnesses, it really is worth taking the time to make sure you're not being poisoned...

Celebrity Spotting - week 1

1- The guy who played the original black surgeon in ER (the one who mentored Carter) - at the Arclight cinema.

2 - The girl who plays Eliot in Scrubs - coming out of a baby store in the Grove.

Clearly I hang out at the same places as fake doctors. What does that say about me?

Quote of the week

Before I moved here, I was under the impression that I was a reasonably tolerant and all round groovy person, who avoided making judgements based on un-PC factors such as race, age, gender or nationality. A week of being a resident of California has ruined all this. I tried not to believe the stereotypes, really I did, but it is so hard not to make judgements about the IQ levels of certain Californian girls when they sit with you at dinner and ask you, with the deepest sincerity, "if you guys, like, have christmas in England".

Life Lessons

I guess the greatest lesson I've learnt over the past few weeks is that it takes great tenacity and strength of character to be able to pack your life into two bags, leave behind your family and friends, and embrace a new existance on the other side of the world.

Sadly, I have also learnt that I may be a little lacking in these areas.