John and Tom

(John) Well, it's now well over a year since this blog was born, and, frankly, the standard has slipped since our glory days of three posts on that first day. I must say, I'm a little concerned about Tom, he hasn't posted since the end of March. I realise my stndard hasn't been much higher, but I've managed a few at least. I think the blog needs a new start. I am going to call today B-Day, the day when tomandjohn is reborn. From today forwards, I vow to update regularly and I trust Tom to do the same. I am now back in England after my American excursions, which I can say without hesitation were the best two months of my life- good sights, good people, good food, good improv, good weather, good times. I went 36 hours without sleeping for the return journey, and had only had four hours sleep the night before, so had 16 hours straight last night. I return to Birmingham tomorrow for Tom and Deirdre's new plays. I look forward to getting back in the poker and improv scene (although I warn everyone i have been to Vegas, the home of poker, and Chicago, the home of improv, so I will probably blow you all away with my talents). I don't know, however, where I will be staying, my house contract runs out on Wednesday. I need to sort out my plans for next year. So far, here's what I've got: go to Edinburgh in August, go on holiday with school friends to Wales in September. I really need to work out what I'm doing after that. I don't know where I'll be or what I'll be doing. However, my American trip has taught to just go where the wind takes me and not plan ahead, so I shall do so. I see Improv Idol returned. I don't see how this is possible when I have the bulk of the plate used as the trophy last year. Those babies are one of a kind. Good to see we're on the Fringe and Underbelly websites, although I'm not happy Scriptease plays second fiddle to SS on the Underbelly's one. This has been quite a long post so I'll wrap up there. I wonder how many people actually read all of the post and how many just read the beginning and the end, and skimmed the rest. Oh, finally, go and see Crash. I saw it last week, it's the best film I've seen for ages (even better than the one I saw at a 3D film festival in Boston). Bye!

(John) Something unprecedented happened to me yesterday. For the first time in my life, I was full after eating a meal. Normally, when people complain of being 'stuffed' or 'full to the point of bursting', I don't really understand what they mean. Sure, eating fills a gap if i am hungry, but, generally speaking, after eating a meal, I am ready to eat something else pretty soon after. Not until yesterday did I truly grasp the concept of being so full that it physically hurts to walk, sit, or do just about anything. I went for a meal at TGI Friday's in Dallas (not a massive amount to see here, apart from the JFK assassination sites), and it was the biggest meal in the world. I had Bruschetta Chicken Pasta followed by Strawberry Cheesecake, and I literally struggled to walk afterwards. I thought I would never need to eat again. As it turned out, I got peckish again about 3 hours later, but, still, I had a moment of epiphany yesterday, even if it did only last for a couple of hours. Now, where did I put those crisps...?

(John) OK, here goes: life in America is progressing nicely, I am in the heart of Hollywood at the moment and celebrities I have seen so far include Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Jack Nicholson, Quentin Tarantino and Rob Schneider. I have been eating out ridiculous amounts, now I know why Americans are so fat. Next stop is Vegas, then across to the deep south. I'm looking forward to playing Texas Hold Em in Vegas. I am surviving on about 5 hours sleep a night, and 2 minutes posting on the blog. Time's up!

(John) Well, I may have seen the Statue of Liberty, the Empiter State Building, the White House, and lots of other famous buildings, but only now, having endured a 17-hour bus journey from Washington to Chicago, and then lost my bag for three days, do I really feel I've experienced life as a traveller in America. Having got up at 6am, and then arrived in Chicago at 12.30am the next day, all I wanted to do was find my hostel and go to bed, but the bus officials contrived to lose my bag somehow. Fortunately, it has now been recovered, but I had to live a serious back-to-basics lifestyle for three days, surving on only the set of clothes I travelled in, a couple of books, and a pad of paper and pen. It was certainly a memorable experience, I can now really empathise with Jack Kerouac. Some things I have noticed about America thus far: people in cars like to beep their horns for no reason, dogs are friendlier, shops tend to try and outdo each other in terms of who has the best punning name (e.g Bloomingnails for a manicure place), girls love a guy with an English accent (I'll say no more on that one...), their sports are far, far, inferior, food is cheaper and bigger, the cities and public transport system are easier to navigate. Next stop is South Dakota (Mount Rushmore, etc), then on to California. Oh, and the weather's nicer, I'm working up quite a tan out here. All in all, life is sweet.

(John) What's happened? I go away to America and the blog goes into stasis. Tom, you need to learn to cope without me. I know it's hard, but you can get through this, and come out the other side stronger. Now then, buck up your ideas and get posting; blogs can live on bread alone (where bread is just one person posting). I have precious little time, as internet use is limited to half an hour, so I like to use as much of that time as possible looking at porn...er, I mean catching up on the news in England, so blogging may be sporadic from me over the next few weeks, but I'll post when i can. New York is amazing, I've been here five days so far, and have done more in those five days than I would normally do in five months. Plus, I still have six days to go here. Today's highlight included going up the Empire State Building and seeing the pub where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death. Tomorrow I'm going to the Museum of Sex and watching the New York Knicks basketball team at Madison Square Garden. Peace out.

(John) Ever since I was little, I have had roughly the same haircut: fairly short, neat and tidy, nothing too flashy. I went through a phase of having it shaved very short when I was about 14, and it was very much in the 'pudding-bowl' mould when I was about seven (I swear to God I have a photo of me playing in the snow where it looks like I'm wearing a hat, until you realise in the next photo it's my hair), and I guess i style it a little more now than I did when I was younger, what with the use of gel every now and then, but, for the most part, it's remained the same for most of my life. It is therefore tempting, what with a two month trip to America approaching fast, to take one of two drastic steps: either shave it all off, thus saving me the hassle of having to worry about it at all on my trip, or let it grow long. Now, it's been about two months since i last had it cut, and so it's due for a snipping, but I'm severely tempted just to leave it. I may even go the whole hog and grow a beard as well. I figure I'm going back to basics a bit with the America thing, living life on the road, Kerouac-stylee, so maybe I should embrace the whole hippie/beatnik culture completely and leave the hair as nature intended. I would welcome any comments/suggestions.

(John) As far as I can remember, I have now posted on the blog in ten different locations: my house, Annabel's house, Cerys' house, 3C, the computer cluster in the uni library, the Central library in Brum, Sevenoaks library, Croydon library, the Basement of the Guild, the Mason Lounge. These will all pale into insignificance, however, when, my blogging goes Stateside and we have the first international John and Tom post. It will herald the dawn of a new age for the blog. On a separate note, when are you going home, Tom? The possibility of poker night next week was mooted by Neil and myself if you're going to be around.