Okay. I thought of a topic to blog about while I was in the loo, but in the THREE SECONDS it took to walk back to my PC I've forgotten it. It had nothing to do with peeing, for a change.

The part I did remember, though, was about American sports. I have decided that, with the coming of the baseball season, I should finally decide which teams I support. As for the sports themselves, I currently love baseball, enjoy ice hockey, and tolerate American football and basketball.

Leading candidates in each discipline are, respectively, the Cincinatti Reds, the Colorado Avalanche, the San Francisco 49ers and the Charlotte Hornets (who seem to have, in my ignorance, become the New Orleans Hornets! For shame!). So now is the moment to tell why why I should change my allegiance to YOUR team in the comments bit below. Be eloquent, passionate, and corrupt, and I'll be yours forever. Maybe.

I have unusual bruises on my body this morning. That's because I spent several hours last night jumping around on a bouncy castle! It was fantastic, after we realised that simply jumping up and down wasn't cutting the mustard. So instead we took to taking a run at the castle, jumping on it and trying to hurl ourselves over the far wall.

Had we actually succeeded, they'd have been scraping us off fences and bushes, but fortunately it wasn't going to happen. However, we did discover that if 4 of us launched ourselves at the same time, we could topple the whole bloody thing over! Which we did, several times, until we got told off by the hostess. I was very shame-faced. Honest.

I also have just remembered I had a dream a couple of nights ago about holding a throbbing, pulsing snake in my hand. It was trying to bite me a lot, so IO held it really hard and almost choked it. It continued to threaten me whenever I let my grip loosen, so I had no choice to keep a tight hold of it till I woke up.

What could it possibly mean?

Got out of the house today, and was glad for it. I'm back at home, watching TV I have little interest in, and I'm not really enjoying myself much. I miss Denver, I miss Sarah, and I didn't get to go book shopping.

I did get my bike back though, and bought a swish new motorbike jacket. I look very dapper, if you like people in motorbike jackets with shoudlers the width of a substantial aircraft hangar. It's padded with padding, you see, in case I fall off.

(I didn't get the red one. Mine is the 2nd from the right in the small pictures)

The last week, while snowed in in Denver, I got the chance to do something I never even realised I'd been missing out on. Over four days, Sarah and I sat through the feature film version of Sense and Sensibility and the BBC TV adaptations of Emma, Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice. It was admirable, most admirable!

The former and the latter were fantastic. Unfortunately, the middle two were let down in part by the ultra-fake studio sound of 70s and 80s period drama, and in part because they took so bloody long to get anywhere!

However, Mansfield Park, which I am now reading, has inspired me in one particular way. A few months ago I inherited my brother's old car, which is a fantastically generous thing for him to do, for which I am incredibly grateful. However, it's really not a very exciting car to drive. It's a 1-litre VW Polo, 9 years old, and is dull, worthy but a bit stupid (or I'm a bit stupid when I'm driving it, same difference).

I have therefore finally decided to give it a name. It shall henceforth be known as Mr. Rushworth.

Following Archel's example, I have today joined BookCrossing.com and registered my first book! I haven't released it into the wild quite yet - we're to all intents and purposes snowed in at present, with THREE FEET of snow having fallen since Monday night - But if you happen to be in the Denver, Colorado area, look out for a slightly battered copy of David Sedaris's excellent Naked* in coffee shops, sleazy motels, opium dens etc.

*I bought this book on the recommendation of the practically-perfect-in-every-way Laura, and I should add that I did really enjoy it - thanks Llew!

So now it's snowing. I'm sitting at Sarah's desk, watching the snow fall through the steamed up windows while Sarah leans against the sofa and makes flash cards for her exam tomorrow. I'm going to test her on them later, but for now I'm idling away my time on #sinister, chatting to Jay, Jay, Andy and Laura. They are all berating me for having only just watched The Breakfast Club for the very first time.

I enjoyed it, though. I didn't realise how little fashion has moved on since 1984. I didn't realise how petite my nostrils are in comparison to Judd Nelson's. I was also genuinely surprised at how it didn't look dated. Then I realised that on the date the action was supposed to have taken place, I was already in double figures. I also realised I'm sounding scraily close to grown-up Fred Savage in The Wonder Years. Or Carrie Bradshaw. Argh.

It was my birthday yesterday. Twenty-nine doesn't seem scary in itself, but it does mean next is thirty, and that's fucking terrifying. My dad, who's essentially my hero and role model when it comes to how I live my life, said that 30 was the one birthday that really shook him.

Looking at it a different way, though, it feels as if I'm being granted one final twelvemonth to sort my life out and get it firmly onto the track I'd like it to follow for the indefinite future. In some ways, I'm already making very good progress; in others, not so much.

Ach, please ignore this self-indulgent piffle and entertain yourselves properly at the links mentioned above. I'm going to return to snow-watching.

There is supposed to be 1-3 feet of snow in Denver over the next 48 hours, so I'm gearing up by trying out this cute lil Weather Pixie (which I was delighted see originates from the south-east of dear ol' Blighty). Does it work?

Sorry I haven't blogged for ages. Whenever I go abroad this tends to happen, and then by the time I get home I have so much to say I never get round to actually saying it. Mostly, all I'd have to say is stuff about what I did, and how fun this or that was, with maybe the occasional anecdote. I don't have a lot of them, largely because I can never remeber interesting or funny things that have been said or done.

I will, however, be posting some wildlife shots when I can upload my digital camera. No snakes yet, and as it's supposed to snow tonight, no snakes full stop, I'd guess. Hot elk action, though. Rar!

I have also vowed to go on fossil-hunting ebxhibitions when I get back to the U of K. Anyone fancy coming with me?

In world affairs, I am amazed to see that Tony Blair is regarded in America as the moderating, cautious influence on that cunt George W Bush (profanity inserted intentionally for when he decides to Google (TM) himself). I was also pleasantly surprised to see nobody's favourite politician Robin Cook has resigned from the cabinet in protest at a war nobody of sound mind actually wants. So there still is some concept of personal belief and honour in the Commons? Nice to know, if occasionally hard to believe.

Six days till I return, and I am already hoping against hope that the snow will last long enough to prevent my flight leaving. I like it here. I don't want to go.

I've been harangued for not blogging at all lately. So here's a thrown-together mishmash, a la the clip episodes of The Simpsons (actually, I should try compiling a set of "classic moments" from the last 8 months of Eat the Wapse, but I'm not sure even you suckers would buy that).

First off, I hear that Wolfgang Wolf, the actually-really-called-that manager of German footie club Wolfsburg, has been sacked. Do they have no sense of the absurd?

Secondly, the most detailed and entertaining spoken conversation I've had today is with my printer (it says "printing started!" on, erm, printing, and "thank you!" when you give it more paper). I said "you're welcome". Sigh. On a similar level, I've spent far too much of today playing Bloblander, a cute and addictive little game featuring Aardman's cute wee BBC3 characters. As a result, as I type my fingers are worrying that my Blobcraft is about to crash, and I am compelled to search for the "thrust" button (though isn't that always the way, etc.)