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01/09/06 - At last! After three and a half months in this country, and pretty much a whole year (more eleven and a half months though) in total, I've finally got myself back in work. It may be at McDonalds, but hey, it's work, and I'm loving it (no pun intended). It is a nice feeling to be working again, it certainly beats being stuck at home on the PC all day. The staff at McDs are really nice though, and the work isn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I'm still adapting to the tills (but I've learnt them quite quickly though). But at £4.50 an hour, I think I still need to find more work...

I had another dream about Asia earlier on this week, I recall a young Asian girl talking to me in her family's house, and she wanted me to stay in Asia and said that I should get married so I could. Was it really one of those strange signs telling me what to do? Seems like a fair enough idea, but I don't think this girl in my dream was from Malaysia, as she had a pet pig... Why can't every country just have an immigration system like the UK, then I could live and work somewhere else without a problem. Let me out! It's bad enough that I had to have another haircut today (no more photos of me coming for a while), though it's still longish, so it will grow back fairly well and evenly. I want to go home!

08/09/06 - It seems that most things I have to say on here seem to happen at the weekend or early in the week, so writing some things can sometimes feel a little out of date. It was sad to hear Steve Irwin die from a Stingray earlier this week, but it seemed more like his destined fate than anything else. What are the chances of a Stingray stabbing him right through the heart? After all the snakes and crocodiles he's countered, this is how it ended for him, but it's certainly a better death for him then dieing in a crash or illness. I've heard some people say it's more tragic then the death of Princess Diana, but atleast his won't be full of twisted conspiracies. But I'm interested to see what reputation the Stingray now develops, as it managed to kill a world famous, death-defying naturalist...

In my second week at McDonalds, getting a bit annoyed with the scheduling, having my shifts clash with the morning church service for two straight weeks. But I had a brief interview at Sainsburys, where hopefully my long term experience will get me the job, but there's a huge deal of competition. Quite a lot of people turned up at Sainsburys on Wednesday to get their hands on the jobs on offer, which shows how few jobs there probably are in this area... I also have an interview with a school, to hopefully get a bit of teaching experience under my belt... Where does going back to Malaysia fit into this?

Had more dreams about Asia, this time of my beloved Chino... 'I miss you'... it was special how she would recite her mother's 'romantic' SMSs to me... I'm really missing all the love and respect that I got out in Malaysia, it certainly made me feel I had more of a purpose. I'm certainly not benefiting anyone or getting any feel good factors here... My site, and mainly this week my Photography Section, seem to be getting the most care and attention. I think I may finally have the Photography Section complete by early next week, there's always been the odd little something that's needed to be added or edited, but I think I may have finally got it all done to a satisfactory state now. I'd probably have had it done much quicker if I knew how to code databases, but who needs php when you've got OCD? Hahaha... No, seriously...

15/09/06 - Hoorah! It's the one year anniversary of me going to Malaysia! One year ago today I went on a 14 hour plane journey to Colombo, Sri Lanka, then ten minutes later was on the plane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Well the only Huckle's that have been on a plane lately are my parents, who have left me alone for eleven days whilst they go to San Francisco... So I took the time to call some people back in Malaysia, and they all still miss me. I've been talking to Steven a lot on MSN lately too, and he's sent me photos of Simeon (who I also spoke to on the phone), and hopefully he'll be sending me more pics tomorrow, hopefully with ones from Taman Wahyu's Third Anniversary (If so then there'll be an extra Bonus Photography Album).

But despite how much they miss me and how much I miss them, it's all down to what I can do to get back out there. Working part time at McDonalds isn't going to get me there, but browsing some News sites, I came across this interesting article. So basically getting a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification will be my passport to anywhere. It's just a case of finding somewhere that'll give someone like me (with little teaching experience) a chance at doing it (preferrably abroad too, can't really teach English in England).

More interesting news, in relation to last week, revenge attacks have been made on the terrorists that are Stingrays, for the unprovoked murder of Steve Irwin (article). What did I say last week? 'I'm interested to see what reputation the Stingray now develops, as it managed to kill a world famous, death-defying naturalist...' Wow, people really are predictable. I'm sure sharks were pretty harmless at one point, until man made worst enemies with them. Now Stingray's are to be the new danger's of the sea.

And to finish, been doing a lot of work with my site again. Got a new SIM^TV video, a new Sim Brother series (you poor people, with all this continuousness of Sim Brother's you'll get deprived once there isn't one on), and the Photography Section seems to be in complete working order. The Best Pics section is finally there, after so many months of the link being there, but no albums. But it's all done now, and will only need work when it needs additions. But knowing me, I'll probably find one little fault and will just have to correct every single section...

22/09/06 - Just when I thought things were going so well, running so smoothly, it all has to come crashing down... My days of working at McDonalds are now officially over. I failed my three week probation period, scoring 10 out of 14 (pass mark was 12) in my performance. My last day didn't start out great, having to work with a senior member of staff, who seemed to be picky about everything I did, and hadn't really welcomed me at all to the place. And as if she didn't give me enough of a headache, I then lose my job anyway (Note: This has nothing to do with me though). I was really starting to feel a part of it all, but now it's over already, and the hunt for another job continues...

Despite my four years experience at Sainsburys, that wasn't enough to top me up against 200 other people, who I doubt had as much experience as I did with the store. But I did manage to get an interview with Cineworld this week, though I was a little taken back by the first question being about what was the last movie I saw. What? All this previous experience I have and you want to know what the last movie it was I saw? I need to keep looking, and hard. There should be a lot of places wanting Christmas staff, so hopefully that'll give me a chance.

I also had an interview with a school this week, regarding doing teaching. I think nowadays you need a police check to even step inside a school (I think this is the case if I just want to talk to the head at another school). I don't remember this when I went to primary school, back in the early/mid 90s. There were no locked doors at the entrance, requiring access through a key card or asking the people in the office. The gates were locked during lesson hours, but anyone was free to walk in and out when the gates were open. Has the world become overly protective of children, or was my primary school just very unsecure?

Talking of insecure on the welfare of children, under-12s having to use car seats? Where the heck did this idea spring from? We've had cars for over a century (I think) and now its suddenly sprung onto some team of idiots that children under 12 or under 135cms in height should have a booster seat. Why? What is with all this over protective, health and safety crap? You get kids in Asia riding with their parents on mopeds, yet here we wrap kids in cotton wool. Child seats won't prevent car crashes! It's stupid, it'd be like the police getting involved with Cherie Blair jokingly slapping a 17-year-old for giving her 'rabbit ears' in a photo shoot. Oh wait, it did happen, though 'charges' were dropped. I hope Cherie had being police checked before stepping near an innocent 17-year-old...

Oh well, hopefully all this key-card-locked-door-booster-seat-police-check nonsense, or even having to go to an English Primary School, won't be necessary. I'm hoping to apply for a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course some time soon, and hopefully I'll be able do a full time one (which will only be five weeks long), then I just need to find some work out there and I'll be back off to Asia in no time. Just need to earn a bit of money first...

29/09/06 - After years of nagging through html, four different major designs, and unlimited amounts of copying and pasting, HuckoolProductions.Com is finally in the age of php. It was alot of work, but somehow I managed the get the whole of my site converted into php in under a week! It took a few late nights and a bit of overtime, but the work I've done now will save a lot of work in the future. But everything is looking much better presentation wise too. I've gotten rid of the 'box effect' from Version 4, so I don't have to stretch the images anymore like before, and the borders aren't ruined if someone views the text size larger than medium... There are still a few more bits that I might edit, but everything's looking good right now.

The job interviews are coming in fast, most places are looking for extra Christmas staff now. I've had Spud-u-like and Woolworths this week, then Petroleum and Game next week. Hopefully I'll be able to get loads of hours and loads of cash over the Christmas period, then have enough to spend a good deal of time in Asia, doing whatever it is I've got. And if I've got nothing still, I'll still go out there and see my friends anyway, if I go more than seven or eight months without them, then there'll be this horrid sense of abandonment between us both, which I'd rather not let there be. Must call them again soon, but not as much as in the middle of this month, I still have to pay off my £15 phone bill...

I really liked the quote that was on the finale of Lost the other day: 'All we really need to survive is one person who truly loves us...'. It's just a shame that the people who love me are 10,000 miles away at the moment. But Durga and Chino still seem to make it into my dreams, I miss them so much. I also had a dream about a funeral in the Mekong River, very strange... Just need to keep trying at getting work, getting money, and getting something for when I go back out to Asia. Still trying to get my way round in doing a TEFL course, just need to keep working at it...