Hello....

[chrissie_linnit]

It's been ages, hasn't it? I'm afraid RL has had me in it's thrall and apart from sporadic dips into fanfiction (something to read has kept me from going totally barmy), I haven't really had a lot of free time.

Thank you soooo much to everyone for the birthday wishes... I'm blessed to have some really nice friends despite me neglect of them. *BIG HUGS*

A bulleted update, and hopefully regular, madcap, Linnit service to follow:

• EBLinnit - my boy has been terribly ill over the past few months, and in hospital for most of it. I've been up and down to Brum all of the time trying to get him some professional mental health support. He needs residential care, but there are so very few organisations that provide that help... many people like EBLinnit end up in prison because there's nowhere else for them to go. I've refused to allow that to happen. He's not a criminal, he's ill. He's never harmed another person in his life, nor stolen or committed a criminal act. All he is guilty of is not being able to cope with the pace of today's society and it's demands. That in turn has led to him turning in on himself and self-harming. Thankfully, last week, he was accepted on to the waiting list of a residential hospital. It'll provide him with a six month pacement. That will provide me, his Social Worker and the hospital with time to look for something longer term for him. By Christmas EBLinnit should be out of hospital and settled... *big sigh*
  
• USA Vacation - Las Vegas was and experience never to be forgotten. We had seven days there in total. Three would have been enough for me to be honest... it's very 'in your face'... a Mega Blackpool in the desert! The shows though - Elton John, Cirque du Soleil and Blue Man Group were out of this world. Yosemite was breathtaking, vast, enormous, etheral. Nature lives in wonderful panoramic splendour there - I'll put up some pics soon. Monterey/Carmel revealed less hectic community life. One a healthy fishing town with great fish food eateries. The other a classy, artisan town with small stores and home made preserves - oh... and over eager traffic cops dishing out tickets to poor tourists who park facing the wrong way down the street! Did anyone know it's a violation to park in a parking bay on the left hand side of the road if your car is facing right??? Pismo Beach was like Beach Boys heaven, all surfing and boarding and beautiful long haired boys with, sadly, even prettier blonde haired girls hanging on to their arm's. Los Angeles was somewhere I'd been told I'd hate. Sadly.... I loved it. We stayed in Beverley Hills, just off of Rodeo Drive and it was cool to people watch down by the beach and in the bars in the evenings. MiniLinnit and Spouse did tons of body boarding. SiL and I did lots of watching!
  
• Reading. I've been reading most of the time. If you have time and you really do enjoy a good vampire tale with smart plot, cool sexy vamps and sassy heroines, I strongly recommend you go out and get a hold of JR Ward's 'Black Dagger Brotherhood' books. Just three so far: Dark Lover, Lover Awakened and Lover Eternal. I hooked. The closest rival to the BtVS/AtS verses I've come across. On the fantasy side, and over the past two months (which will prove I've been lost in books), I've also read everything published by: Anne Bishop, Juliet McKenna, Raymond Feist & Janny Wurts and Laurell K Hamilton. I'm fast running out of authors.
  

Phew... I intend to start reading my LJ daily, so I will be back to commenting on your updates, I promise.

Hope everyone is still out there, well, and not p***ed of with me.