I�m glad to see that the people of London are getting on with life, and not letting the terrorists win. I finally got to hear BBC news on the way back from Mississippi. BBC doesn�t sensationalise as much as USA news channels do, so I felt like I was getting a clearer picture.

Britain is dealing with it. This isn�t our first terrorist attack. The IRA already showed us that even after an event like this, life can, and must, go on.

My results for last semester came through on Friday, and I�m pleased to say that I passed every subject.

My ceramics grade was B-. The external moderators knocked it down from the B+ my tutor originally gave me (I know, how rude), but given that I had to work doubly hard because I tended to break everything I made, I�m delighted to have passed at all.

My grades for Fine Art and Creative Digital Imaging were both A-. RAAAH! I�m extremely pleased with both of these, though of course I can�t help but wonder why they had to stick the minuses on the end. The minus feels so personal.

This makes my grades for the year:

A (x 1)
A- (x 2)
B+ (x 3)
B- (x 1)

Pretty damn good if I may say so myself!

We left Mississippi on Friday, ahead of Hurricane Dennis. By Thursday night it had increased to category 4, and had moved further east � we weren�t going to stick around for that.

I rode for 500 miles with a guinea pig in my lap (in a pet taxi, which takes up about half of the cab), and my right foot in a tub of hydrogen peroxide. (The hydrogen peroxide was because after wading into the sea a few days previously, my foot started to swell up and hurt until I couldn�t walk on it. Out of desperation we visited a local doctor, who concluded that it was a foot infection, so now I�m on antibiotics and have to soak my foot regularly in hydrogen peroxide. Joy.)

It was a good trip. I got to see Dr Mom and Bonnie�s brother again, Bonnie�s aunt (also called Bonnie � way too confusing for me), and Austin. Austin amazes me. Bonnie always said that of all three brothers, Austin would be the most successful � and I think she�s right. He was 10 in 2001 when I first met him; now he�s 14 and closer to being a man than a boy. He makes As and Bs in school, despite having to work extra hard because of his dyslexia, whereas his older brother K, who is very smart and doesn�t have anything like dyslexia to contend with, flunked at least one of his classes because he didn�t have Austin�s self discipline. (K wasn�t around this year � he stayed in Dallas to keep an eye on his girlfriend.) Austin seizes opportunities, works hard, and is prepared to start at the bottom. He doesn�t expect everything to come to him first. He�s just a neat person to be around, and I was glad to get to spend time with him.

Pandora enjoyed romping around in the run that Bonnie built for her, and when it got too wet for the run, she enjoyed romping around in the back of Bonnie�s pickup truck. She was unperturbed both by the trains, and by Tropical Storm Cindy. Unfortunately Pandora was also ridden with fleas, which she was kind enough to share with Bonnie and I � I think I counted 15 flea bites just on my left foot. I de-flead her when we got back, which she�s still in a big mood about, but I guess she�ll get over it.

I consumed a large amount of seafood (in particular soft-shell crabs), set off fireworks on 4th July despite the holiday being a celebration of the US�s freedom from the UK, learned to float on my back in the sea, looked in on the annual crab festival, watched the sun set, hung out at �Da Beach House�, read, and slept. Clermont Harbor Mississippi may not be the hippest place to go on vacation, but who cares? The slow pace of life suits us just fine.

Now that we�re back in Chattanooga, we�re busy trying to move into the house. We�ve been camping out in the garage apartment, which is tiny and full of construction stuff, while the house is being refurbished. Bonnie meant for us to be able to move in as soon as I arrived, but the remodelling contractor disappeared to a bigger job, and everything fell behind schedule. We were stuck with looking longingly at the house and wishing we were in it.

The day before we left for Mississippi, we finally had the house to a point where we could move in. Working air conditioning (very important down here), working bathroom, electricity, washer/dryer� the only thing lacking is a kitchen, which we don�t use much anyway. So, when we got back, we started living in the house and going into the garage apartment only to use the kitchen. Mostly we were just sick of having a lovely house and not using it, but we also wanted to put some pressure on the remodelling contractor to stop farting around and finish the damn job.

Right now I am insanely excited because on August 8th we are GOING TO SEE TORI AMOS!!! On Saturday a girl complimented me on my Tori T-Shirt, and asked if I was going to see her concert in Atlanta on the 8th. I haven�t been keeping up with her tour dates, so I had no idea she was performing so close to us. I searched for tickets online and couldn�t find anything decent under about $100, so I sort of resigned myself to not going. Then this afternoon Bonnie and I found a pair of tickets, seated together, for less than half of what we had been looking at. We snapped them up straight away!

I�m so happy that I could throw off all my clothes and dance around the house naked singing Cornflake Girl, but I think I won�t in case it scares the neighbours.

I�ll leave you with two photographs from Mississippi.

Matching straw hats is the future...

And this is the cutest photograph known to Vicky. Aww.

(The washing line is behind Bonnie and not going through her head, in case anybody was wondering.)

Well, that�s it for today. Goodnight all.