I finally got to talk to Will after several weeks without contact, and I feel tons better. I was worried because I didn’t know what had been going on in his life since just after he got to Seattle…all I knew was he’d come back to Wisconsin to collect Hiroko and hadn’t said a word. ~_~ I was upset enough about it that I didn’t talk to him about until just now, because I didn’t know how to approach it. I didn’t want to jump on him and act accusatory because my initial thought actually proved correct: he’d simply not had time. In any case, I broke down in tears this afternoon while talking to him because I missed him so much. ;_;

Ross is gone for the next two weeks too… sigh It’ll be tough not being able to talk to him but I’ll survive somehow. I have a LOT of stuff to take care of, namely digging myself out of my room. That is going to be a HUGE undertaking given the amount of stuff I have to sort through, so that will definitely take me awhile. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to talk to Jules a lot soon since his parents are going off for awhile. Poor Rosey is getting swamped with assignments…I sure hope she holds up okay. She needs to be in fine form for when I visit.

Also, Will mentioned coming back to the midwest for Thanksgiving and I realized I won’t even be in the country at that time. And then I realized that the place I’m going doesn’t even recognize that holiday given that it’s an American thing. Hmm. That will be odd. Maybe I can convince them to have turkey sandwiches with me or something. I haven’t missed a Thanksgiving dinner since I’ve been old enough to remember.

Also, new photos of me and the blanket I’m crocheting. (Don’t look there, Ross.)

I finally got around to loading the drivers for my camera onto my computer and dumping three weeks’ worth of photos. There really weren’t that many but still, a few noteworthy ones.

This tree greets me every day on my walk to work. It’s always really happy to see me. Gives a new meaning to the term “woody.” Probably a month ago now, I cut myself shaving, and the wound was in the form of an exclamation point. Zing! At Dave’s birthday dinner we had some yummy desserts and a bottle of wine that looked like a superhero. I decided to call it the Caped Chianti Crusader. This spider web appears on my sideview mirror every day…and every day I destroy it, only to have it reappear the next day. ~_~

I’m mostly moved out of my apartment now. My dad and brother came by last night and helped me move the TV and stand out. Basically I’m left with my computer, miscellaneous clothes and toiletries, a few electronics, and the blanket I’m crocheting. I don’t even miss any of the stuff I’ve taken to my parents’ house, which is pretty cool. It actually feels quite liberating living on the very basics. I’m very excited to go through the “metric arseloads” of crap that I own and give it away or sell it. I’m very interested in simplicity now. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to redesign this site to reflect my attitude towards simplicity once I’m settled into my parents’ house again. I just came up with a pretty cool concept for the main intro/splash page, and normally I hate splash pages and think they’re a waste of a click, but this one has a real purpose. You’ll see. :3

This week just flew by, but that’s a good thing because it means the weekend is already here. :-D Yay.

All in all, the weekend was great. Thursday night Dave came up from Milwaukee and we took him out for his birthday dinner. We tried the new Italian restaurant that the Victoria family just opened (a bit down the street from Victoria’s.) The food was essentially the same so it was really yummy. We had a bottle of Chianti (no liver or fava beans though) which was also delicious.

More good news on the Australian front: my passport arrived on Friday. Woohoo! All I’m missing now is the visa. Jon better hurry up and apply for his passport soon, dammit. Even if I keep pestering him about it I’m sure he’s going to have to get it expedited. :\

The guys and I played Stepmania in the evening and I was appalled at how much skill I’d lost in the month or two that I haven’t played. I wouldn’t say I sucked by any means but I sure wasn’t nearly as good as I once was. I worked up a good sweat though, and after showering I watched Jon play Dungeon Siege for awhile and I fell asleep on the loveseat. Jon asked if I wanted to keep sleeping there or go home and I mumbled something about “mmgoinhome…” to which he replied “oh, just stay put.” So after he went to bed I moved to the full size couch and passed out.

I got up at a decent time on Saturday and stopped off at an auto parts store to get some car paint (I’d managed to scratch the rear passenger side door loading my computer in the night before :\ )…the employees were all rednecks who looked like hardcore NASCAR fans. shudder I went to my parents’ house for a bit, then returned back to my place to wash my car. While I was home, I told my dad about the spider that lives behind my sideview mirrors that builds a web from the mirror to the door every day (no matter how many times I destroy the web it’s always back the next day.) He suggested trying to blow the spider out using an air compressor…we thought we’d give that spider the ride of its life but there was no evidence of it when we blasted the shit out of the back of the mirror. (The next morning the web was back, bigger and stronger than ever. DAMMIT!) Anyhow, I touched up the paint in several places, so all is good for now, except for that spider. :-(

I rollerbladed in the park in the afternoon and was interrupted by a parade of Seventh Day Adventists. Geez. They’ve temporarily taken over our town with this camporee thing being held at the airport, so there’s no escaping them. Yikes is all I have to say about that. Dave was feeling good enough to get together so we headed over to Jon’s later in the evening. (Dave got his wisdom teeth yanked out on Friday.) Unsure of what to do, we decided to go rent some movies, so we got American Splendor (interesting idea but slightly meh) and Bowling For Columbine (which I had never seen before and thoroughly enjoyed despite Dave’s running commentary on the inconsistencies and inaccuracies. I think it’s especially funny when people get disgusted and just up and walk away from Michael Moore when he’s still talking..,though one has to wonder just how much of that is staged.) I stayed up till about 4 AM crocheting, then passed out on Jon’s couch again. :3

Sunday was much like Saturday…rollerblading in the afternoon, a bit of crocheting, then getting together with the guys again. We headed up to Green Bay and Hiroko made us curried rice for dinner at Ben’s house. She was trying to get rid of food stuffles before she moves to Seattle, so we gladly partook…it was delicious. Jon took her bed and futon frame home in the trailer and we unloaded it and rearranged his room to fit things in. I had some ice cream then went home. Crocheted more. Didn’t sleep enough.

Monday was about the most suck-tastic day I’ve had in a long time. There was nothing really specific that made it shit, but I was in a horribly pissy mood all day. Every little thing was just annoying me to no end, including the funeral convoy that I had to wait for when I left work to get lunch. Ross came online while I was gone and dropped offline the second I returned to my desk, which really frustrated me because there was nothing more that I wanted than to be able to talk to him. Luckily he came back a bit later on, and I think his mere presence kept me from doing anything rash. I wasn’t directing any of my frustration towards him but I felt like I still was indirectly by complaining so much. I have a tendency to feel really horrible when I act really irritated when talking to people who are not the cause of my irritation, like they don’t deserve to have all this negative energy hanging around them. I feel a bit guilty, and I do apologize for it, despite how many times Ross tells me to never apologize for being myself. I still feel like I’m being really unfair when I act that way when a) there’s no particular reason for it and b) I’m well aware of how I’m behaving and could stop if I really tried. Sometimes it’s just so much easier to be whiny and complain about stuff. I guess everyone feels that way at times, and it’s far better to let it out than to let it fester inside. sigh In any case, a nap and an evening of crocheting cured me of that mood…it would have been nice to rollerblade but it was raining. Oh well. Must give my body a bit of rest sometimes.

I’ve been downloading and watching episodes of The Upright Citizens Brigade and Kids in the Hall to keep me entertained while crocheting. UCB is very interesting…I’d never seen it before but it pulled me in from the start. There’s a dude on the show who has excessively poofy hair (he’s of course the skinny geeky tech guy) and I find myself unable to not drool a bit. :-D Heh. I’m trying to get ahold of Monty Python’s Flying Circus since I’ve never seen that either.

Which reminds me, my parents finally got cable internet yesterday. whew So I’ll at least have broadband of some flavor when I move back with them. I’m thinking of getting an LCD monitor to replace the huge ass CRT I have, but that’ll surely have to wait until I have saved up a bit more cash given that I’ve just blown over 3 grand on the tickets to Australia. Several of my work colleagues are convinced I’m going to devise a way to stay in Australia and never come back. I find this quite interesting and funny since I don’t really talk about Aus all that much at work. I guess they just can see it in my eyes when I do talk about it, how important this trip is to me.

I’m going to Australia!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!!111111elevenses!!1!!1

Last night Jon and I went to the travel agency in Oshkosh. We had the itineraries the woman in Appleton had printed up for us, and when the guy checked on them, they didn’t quite work out because there wasn’t enough time between two of the flights, but he was able to push one of them back and get us a schedule that works. whew The computer was being monumentally slow so he wasn’t able to get the tickets approved then (it was closing time) so I had to call back today to find out if they’d been pushed through. It took three phone calls before he told me they were mine for sure. :-D Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate pestering people (especially over the phone) but this means so much to me that I kept calling until I had confirmation. This means more to me than anything. The travel agency was able to offer the tickets to me at a price lower than I’d found online, even after the processing fee that they tack on. The agent told me they can do electronic visa applications for free in a matter of seconds, so once I get my passport I’ll have to stop back and get that taken care of.

So this is the deal guys…Jon will be coming with me on the way out and staying for a week, then coming back. I’ll be staying for a month, then coming back. Any longer than a month and the fare goes up an extra $1000. o_O So we’ll be leaving Wisconsin on November 9 and arriving in Perth on November 11. At 12:45 PM. :-D

My GOD…..I don’t even know how to describe my excitement…the enormity of this has not yet hit me, and I don’t know if it will until I’m actually on the plane. I was already excited last night before the tickets were officially ordered but now I’m beyond ecstatic. This is my dream come true, in every possible way. And I’m left utterly….speechless. As Will said to me yesterday, our lives are finally taking off.

I spent all of yesterday packing things from my bedroom into my car, which I took over to my parents’ house. When I returned, I packed another full load into my car. I’m down to most of my bare essentials (I do, however, still have three computers in my room) plus all the furniture. I can’t believe how much stuff I had packed in that tiny bedroom of mine, and how much I packed into my car. My car could actually hold a storage tub the size of a coffee table, a footlocker, my drafting table, a monitor, and half my wardrobe at once. I mean, HOLY CRAP! (Jules, you can giggle now.) I love my car! I did a lot of organizing of stuff, including all my CDs, which is no easy task. I must have 800-some CD-Rs alone. ~_~ Most of which are episodes of TV shows (I have the full series of Red Dwarf, Farscape, X-Files, Dead Zone, and Six Feet Under!) or backups of my mp3 collection. I spent an inordinate amount of time backing things up to CD before I got my DVD burner, after which I could archive everything on the computer within a single evening.

Last night was pretty nice, as I got to do voice chat with Jules and Ross. We all talked for 2 hours, then Jules went home, and Ross and I continued conversing for another hour. I’m so glad he got broadband…using Skype (full duplex) we could hear each other perfectly clear and neither of us sounded robotic or Russian. (You.want.some.more?) I hope we’re able to make voice chat a common practice now that it isn’t annoying to decipher. :3

Jon and I went to a travel agency on Saturday and as it turns out they can actually beat the price for the tickets to Australia that I found online. Awesome! I hope to be able to buy them tomorrow. The agency in Oshkosh is open until 5:30 PM so hopefully I’ll be able to drop by after work, or maybe call (I don’t really want to call though, I hate doing these types of things over the phone.) Either way, it will happen tomorrow. What a nice birthday present for Jules: confirmation that we’re really coming! :-D

Happy birthday (tomorrow), Julian. (By the time you read this it will be the 10th in Australia anyhow) :3

When it rains I dont mind
Let me stand here all night
Did she take her whole life
Let me know she’s alright

[Chorus]
And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And everytime it rains
Are the angels crying

I’ll stay strong, I’ll be fine
Carry on with my life
I still stare at the sky
Pray for rain, all the time
Why’d you run? Did you hide
Why’d you leave, no good bye
When the clouds, take the sky
Does a soul, give you life?

And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And everytime it rains
Are the angels crying
And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And everytime it rains
All the angels cry for you

I’ll never be the same
I’ll never be the same
be the same
be the same
be the same

And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And everytime it rains
Are the angels crying
And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And everytime it rains
Are the angels crying

I find I quite enjoy this song. Perhaps this would be something appropriate to play at my funeral one day…the words are beautiful, appropriate, and the song is rockin’. Perfect for me. Speaking of which, I don’t know if I ever mentioned this, but when I finally kick it, I want to be cremated and spread about Australia. I don’t want a casket at all. No, I’m not being morbid here, I’m just letting you know, this is something I’ve given careful consideration. (Watching episode after episode of Six Feet Under gets you thinking of such things.)

It’s been an interesting couple days…I got my new hard drive and IDE card and was all ready to set it all up…and then I couldn’t turn the computer on. The fans would start to spin and the LEDs would come on for about half a second, and then it would shut off and try again, the cycle repeating itself indefinitely. At first Jon thought the power button was jammed, but that wasn’t the case. This has actually been happening for a year; it began last summer when I brought my computer over to Jon’s place to get some mp3s from him and there was a power surge that knocked the electricity out on that whole side of town. When I brought the computer home it began showing this behavior so thinking about it now, this is probably what caused it to start.

In any case, when it started doing that last week I took it over to Jon in a flurry of panic and it didn’t do it for him. He rewired the reset switch to be the power button (I had thought I’d done this myself but perhaps I was on crack) and I took it home where it started doing it again. Grrr. So rather than dwell on it I went for a really long walk. On Friday night I brought the computer over to Brian and Jon’s apartment and we took a look at it. After yanking everything except the motherboard out of the case, Jon deduced that the power supply was going bad. So I drove back to my place and got the power supply out of my old Athlon Thunderbird machine. We put it in, and guess what…no problem. sigh There’s no wattage printed on the side of this PS so I’m playing it safe for the time being and not hooking everything up to it. (Don’t want to blow another one ~_~) We also stole the reset switch off the case that one of my classmates found on the side of the road and hooked it up to the power button, and that works fine now too. XD I spent all of Friday night getting Windoze updates and installing software. When I went home I put my data drive back in and merged the partitions. Just as I started the format, it began to rain. So I prayed for God to let the merge finish without a power outage that would fuck me over, and went to bed. When I awoke the next morning it had finished just fine and so I sent out a thank you to the universe and rebooted. I got an error on startup “Primary slave disk failed” so I was like “oh, fuck!” When I got into Windoze, the drive and data were just fine, so I thought I’d give it a defrag to be sure. Holy shit, that drive was unbelievably fragmented. It took nearly 6 hours for it to finish, but when it did, the computer ran sooooooooooooo much faster. I cannot believe what a difference it made! It also booted faster, and without the error message. I’ll still have to keep an eye on the drive though…here’s to hoping it doesn’t start acting like Ross’s data drive. ~_~

Saturday night I ordered a new power supply online and watched I, Robot. It was okay…the special effects were amazing, but the storyline was a bit lacking…it wasn’t as “cerebral” as I would have liked…too action-y. Will Smith was perfect for that part though, as it was written. I thought the robots had a bit too much “human” animation to their faces…there were just too many subtleties added for a machine (like the curl of a lip or flaring of nostrils) so that wasn’t too believable. I’d say it’s worthy of a rental, but no one should pay full price to see it. Earlier in the evening I’d also watched an episode of Six Feet Under, which was one of the best ones yet. Somehow I’d downloaded the episode after this one and missed it without realizing it. Hmm.

As for the rest of the weekend, my non-computer-related activities included going to a family gathering-type-thingie on Saturday. All my relatives fawned over my hair and asked me all sorts of questions about my trip to Australia. When I explained to my aunt that I was going to visit my friends, not to be a tourist, my mom interjected and said “one of which is madly in love with her.” O_O I couldn’t believe that came out of my mother’s mouth. I don’t know if I was more surprised that she’d said anything of the sort to begin with, or that she’d used those words rather than “one of which Ann is madly in love with.” I mean, there was nothing wrong with her statement at all, it was just a bit shocking that is how she chose to explain it. XD Also, trying to explain to people how I could be so sure about “this guy” being so right for me when I’d never “met” him was a bit difficult, but that’s not surprising. I don’t expect anyone to really understand this, and it’s not exactly something I’m really open about in the sense that I don’t go advertising that we met online. (Well, I sort of did just now, didn’t I? But you’re online reading this right now so I suppose this doesn’t really come as a shock to you. :-P)

So Sunday…I went rollerblading in the park. Whew. I could really tell I hadn’t bladed in a week because my legs got tired by the end of the first lap. But once I got back into the rhythm of it there was no discomfort, and all was well. After my 10 laps I went grocery shopping and procured sushi, potato salad, bread, and Vanilla Silk. I thought I’d give Silk another try since I had only tried the original flavor and hadn’t liked it. It was very good, sort of like drinking ice cream. :3 I shall get that from now on. After eating I took a nap and woke up all sweaty with marks on my skin from the folds of the pillow and blanket. Yuck. I called up Brian and we went out to supper, got frozen custard, then went back to the apartment and played Dreamcast games until he had to go to bed. I messed around online for awhile, found out that there were 4 more episodes of Kingdom Hospital available for download (w00t!) and started up torrents for them and a few other things. I reluctantly went to bed (it was after 1 AM and I wasn’t really tired) and lay there for a long time just thinking about Ross and what it will be like when I first meet him at the airport. I fell asleep very happy.

I love Ross so unbelievably much. We’re already becoming of one mind…there have been so many circumstances already in which we say the same thing at the same time or within moments of each other, enough to freak others out. excellent That’s how it should be. He and I are meant to be, everything about it just feels right, and I am truly happy with him. November will be the happiest month of my life.

Today I played Peasant’s Quest (the Trogdor game on Homestarrunner.com) and wasted about 2 hours that way. Haha. It’s very funny, especially if you’ve ever played a text/graphics adventure game back in the days of the 386. Hugo’s House of Horrors comes to mind for me. Good times.

Peter and Will called me from Montana on Wednesday night and Peter has messaged me a few times since they’ve been in Seattle/Portland. Seems as though they’re having a good time there, and Will’s interview went pretty well. I’m so excited for both of them, and quite possibly the awesome life I’ll have with them, especially Peter if he indeed decides he likes Portland enough to move there. :-D I really hope he does, because it’ll be really fun to live in a city like that with him. :3 Will and Peter are two of my favorite people ever, and I really want them to always be part of my life.