Use the whole pig. There is this stuff called crackling. It's crispy pig fat. Good hot, not so much cold. I've had it homemade and it was ok. Yesterday I bought in a bag, like crisps, and i thought I was going to vomit all over everyone around me. It's good to see that it doesn't go to waste though.

I woke up this morning to the sound of my door brushing across the carpet, followed by a "RRRRROOOOBBBBB!!!!!!" It was Joseph coming to see if I was still sleeping. With that tactic he should have figured out by now that I'm never asleep when he does that. Apparently 8:30 in the morning is play time. I had no idea.

So, he likes to use my window as a pirate's den. He can yell out to the neighborhood and kinda feel like he's outside because it's a low hung skylight. I was pretty much still in the mood to sleep, but he was obviously having fun so I didn't want to disturb that. It didn't stop me from sleeping. Eventually he jumped on me and woke me up. I asked, "why on earth did you come up here." "because I wanted to see you." Aaaahhh. What a cute little terror.

I'll miss that. I'm not really looking forward to going back to the states. When I left I wasn't sad because I knew that I'd see everyone in a few months. Many of the friends that I've made here I won't see for at least a few years, if ever. I certainly won't miss the weather. I won't miss the coffee one bit. But I will definitely miss the ale. I will miss the Royal Oak.

My friend Justin played last night at the Oak. He's really really good, but pretty much just plays for fun. Well, he likes to have fun when he's playing, so he tailors the songs he plays to the crowd. Sometimes its a sing along, other times there's a naked man running around pretending to be Guenevere from the Camelot story.

Pints of ale here are served by pump, not pressurized tap. Today I'm going to get to pull my own pint. I'm stoked.

I have one paper left to edit. Everything else is finished. It's nice to know that I never have to write a paper again unless I choose to. Also, I can finally read for fun.

Wednesday was a great day. It was sunny, Lola and I took the kids to the park. Me and Joseph were racing on the way back and we had to slow down because of a man on a bike (which turned out to be his dad) and Joseph stopped paying attention and fell. It was a good fall. He has a nice mark on his face now.

Yesterday was better than most. The bad thing about English weather is not that it rains all the time but that it constantly threatens. It's as if there's a villain outside waiting to blast you in the face with a water canon right as you walk out the door. "Oh man, it looks like weather. I'm not sure I want to get stuck out in the rain." The next morning you wake up and it never rained. You realize that you've wasted the entire day indoors. That is normal English weather. Yesterday it really rained, that was a nice change.

Today is a nice day. But not so much a good day. It's my penultimate day here. I only have two more nights to hang out with my friends. I have one paper to finish. Lola seems a bit frustrated today so I might take Joseph off her hands for a bit if she wants me to. I don't envy here sometimes. But, man she's a killer cook.

I'm not stoked about leaving.