Did I mention that my bracelet turned up yesterday? I don't think I did!

A few days ago the custom bracelet I'd had made - one of a pair, of which Jason has the other half - went missing. I was understandably gutted; as I believe I wrote in an earlier entry the bracelet was something to remind me of him while I was away. It was something important to me.

Well, as I was walking home yesterday you won't believe what I saw lying there on the pavement, not twenty feet down the road from the bus stop I usually get off at. Toggle clasp (which I believe is the reason it went missing - it has a habit of coming undone), chain, little teapot charm turned copper-orange after a thousand hand-washes and exposure to the elements...

I can't believe it stayed there all night! I can't believe nobody noticed it! I'm glad for it as well, because if someone had turned it in - well, they could have done so anywhere, and the people who associate me with that bracelet are a select few. Jason, Sian and my immediate family - so just about five people.

So I have my bracelet back now, and I'm happily wearing it on my wrist. What luck, though! I think the dream I had the night I'd lost it, where I woke up to find it lying on my desk half-hidden under a notebook, could have been telling me it was nearby.

Let me see... bylines this week on pages 12, 26, 28, 35, 36 and 53! Not bad; I believe that's two up on last week!

It's good to look back on my journal and see it looking a bit more complete. All the typed-and-emailed-to-myself entries have been posted now and I'm just working on the handwritten ones now. To be honest, I still have a vast amount of post-Ireland handwritten entries to get up, from what I recall was that immense Internet downtime that ended some time in October. I do remember getting my Internet back shortly before NaNoWriMo.

There's yet another crazy idea rattling around in my head. I've been considering creating a Minecraft blog - that is, a blog through the eyes of the little dude you play as. You can imagine, due to the nature of the game, it would be quite zany, and obviously screenshot-heavy. The thing is, the 'print screen' button on our keyboard has died. Well, it occasionally works - one time in every twenty I press the button, anyway.

Happily, Ashley has informed me that there's an in-game screen capture function so if I can figure that out, all will be well and I'll be able to start my Minecraft blog whenever I want! I'll just have to buy an original copy of the game when I go to Ireland.

Jason's back tomorrow, and he'll be back for a week! Yay! I'll be meeting him on the platform and I can't wait - we've been in contact by text and phone all week so it's not like we've been completely cut off but nothing beats having someone you love there in person, does it?

So he'll be in St Helens for a week before heading back down to Exeter to start his course properly. I think he'll be there for three weeks, which means he won't be up here when I finally go to Ireland. Had it been just two he might even have been able to see me off but it's looking unlikely. It's a shame, but there's nothing I can do. We can't exactly negotiate term times with a college, can we? These things are usually set in stone unless said otherwise.

I've just found out via Twitter the dates for next year's Cambridge Rock Festival! It'll be on August 2, 3, 4 and 5 at the same place - Haggis Polo Club Farm in Barton, just outside of Cambridge. I'd love to go for the full four days this time, with a crapload of my own food and cash for more souvenirs of awesomeness. Of course I'll be dragging people with me again this time - Jason, Holly, Sian, and they can bring as many people as they want, providing they all have their own tents and ticket money and the like. It would be groovy to go in a big posse!

Another story on my to-do list - the Open Mic UK one - is slowly coming together as people get back to me. Three St Helens contestants are doing well on it so I'm doing a piece on them, and I've e-mailed them all a set of questions tailored to how far they've progressed, their circumstances etc. Turns out we've got some high-flyers here! One's through to the regional finals of Open Mic, and another has also got through to the finals of the Miss Teen Queen modelling competition.

That's one of the things I've noticed since starting work at the St Helens Star - there are some very gifted people in town. It seems to be a hub of creative talent - there are artists, writers, musicians, models - and we're also celebrating some very good A-Levels and GCSEs this year. Then there's obviously the heavy emphasis on rugby in town - we have some very talented sportsmen and women, too. It's just a pity that my judgement of St Helens was clouded for so long by the narrow view that I had - and that was the rather inelegant view of Beth Ave.

Plus, it has to be said that everything I've achieved has been done so in the borough of St Helens. Good GCSEs, good A-Levels, the Prince's Trust and work experience at the Star... mind you, I tend to attribute my own successes to my need to rise above. I did so well because I knew I had to be better than the people who put me down. I had to do better than my parents had done, and I had to say 'no' to just staying in the same place all my life - moving along at the same level. I guess that could have happened in any town, be it Portadown or St Helens or even London.

Anyway, it's time for lunch soon! I have half a pot of soup and a baguette upstairs, as well as a Muller corner (peach and apricot - omnomnomnom) and a huge carton of orange juice. Heck yes!

The TV Beds fellow has been placated, thankfully, and my financial situation has been eased somewhat with my bus tickets being refunded. Steve said that since the normal expenses process would take too long - the money would only be paid at the end of September - he would give me the refund himself, out of his own pocket (yes, I thought I was tripping when he said this), and then he'd automatically be paid back as soon as the refund from Newsquest's accounts department went in.

He still owes me £5, apparently, but I'm not all that fussed - I just need enough to carry me over the weekend and to Wednesday. I'm so grateful that Steve has agreed to do this, though, especially in the way he has, giving me the money up front - if anything, I owe him for taking me on, giving so much constructive criticism (highly valuable to someone as inexperienced as I) and for putting up with me. I'll admit that more than once I've felt a touch incompetent and something of a burden!

Actually, I think the whole St Helens Star news team deserves thanks. It hasn't just been Steve who's helped me out. Andy, Steven and Mike, too; they've all been willing to advise me and give me the odd nudge in the right direction. They didn't start me off with work that was too difficult, nor did they have me trundling away on church fillers for four months. And then there was the constant supply of tea and biscuits - which was my wage, according to them! Invaluable.

Andy and Steven have told me a million times 'don't be a journalist - it's not worth it!' - well, in fifteen years when I'm still a lowly suffering penmonkey on a regional weekly paper... they shouldn't have made the job so enjoyable, should they? :)

On a serious note, though, I couldn't have asked for a bunch of colleagues more accommodating of me and my limited experience. Even though I've only been there five months (and only two more weeks after this, sadly), I've grown as a person in so many ways. I've found myself with great people skills, a greater understanding of politics and law, insight into how the journalism world works on a local scale... plus I've come away with a portfolio and some amusing anecdotes to drop when I'm at the pub! None of this would be possible if they hadn't taken me on; I'm indebted to those guys.