The Lich Twig
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Below are the 25 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Dyluck Thanatos "Lich" Yoshi von Kippo" journal:[<< Previous 25 entries]
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12:44 pm
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Hi LJ, sorry I forgot about you
Busy. Busy busy busy. And then I'm busy. Ack... >_<
I suppose I should tell everyone that I've been hanging out with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) chaserocket for more than two weeks now. Having a great time with him. =)
I was in Houston for about half a week, Orlando for two weeks, Savannah for two nights and yesterday we came to upstate SC via a couple of hours exploring Charleston. I'm currently in a Bojangles eatin' chikin' with Fox News above my head, because there's only one dial-up connection where we're staying (I can live with that, but Chase can't >>;) so I'll probably be returning here from time to time.
Current Location: A Bojangles somewhere in Spartanburg
Current Mood:  eatin'
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09:04 am
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And the show is on the road again
I came out to backwater Minnesota, not really knowing what I'd find or having much in the way of expectations. My friend, Nev, and I have found so much in common with one another. It's really kinda sad to leave this little town and Nev behind in it.
But now, to fly cross-country: straight down to Tyehksis to see prismaya. I'll be leaving here in about two hours, and pretty much won't stop until 10pm tonight. As much as I love flight, I hate flying. I have to try and keep calm all day and eat light so that I won't feel sick on the planes...kinda difficult considering I'll be cooped up in Denver airport for a few hours around dinnertime. Usually, though, if I do throw up, I feel pretty good afterwards and won't be affected for the rest of the flight, but after the experience coming to America where I just kept dry-heaving until I finally got some sleep at kitsunethe3rd's house, I've become fairly nervous. Already my stomach is feeling the wim-wams, and I haven't eaten anything since last night. I don't want to puke, it's unpleasant and ungodly embarrassing... x_x;
Current Location: Minnesota
Current Mood:  okay
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11:45 am
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On my way east.
I've been in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia over the past five weeks. And for four of those weeks, I have been with my "brother", Jordan, with our friend Raz featuring prominently as he's rooming here. The other week was up in Vancouver with travallian, a.k.a. Keshi or Razumi, and it wouldn't have been possible without Morca (whom Keshi had not met previously). And I certainly should not forget to make mention of Jordan's parents. Also, I have met up with some friends again in the form of Lance/Tek, Yoshi6400 and Sapphire, and met new ones as well like Pikoshi, Kiffin and Tacki.
I've also seen a lot of fantastic places, like parts of the Oregon Coast, Portland, Crater Lake, the McKenzie Valley, bits of Seattle, Whistler, and the Columbia Gorge. And, truly, that's all well and cool. But, Chase (whom I'm going to be with in a mere 13 days) told me an interesting thing when we first started planning our leg of the trip, and that it was he could care less about the places, because it was the people he was interested in more. I thought he was mad for saying that; but now, I understand why.
The overlying theme that I have found time and time again over the past five weeks has been generosity. Now, that's certainly not an advertisement for the rest of you to come and mooch off the people you and I know in this part of the world, but that's what I found. And, from that, I know I have great friends in this part of the world.
Thank you to all of them.
Don't think that I haven't done anything, though. On the Sunday while I was in Vancouver, I introduced Morca and Keshi (both of whom hadn't met each other previously) to Yoshi6400 and Sapphire, and we hung out all afternoon and a good part of the evening. The most symbolic part of that was us going to White Spot, which is a bistro type place they have up there, and we all sat around the same table. And it was possible because of me. I've created a local network of friends.
So, I must return to packing. We (being Raz and Jordan and me) are driving up to Seattle, then I fly out to Fargo via Denver early tomorrow morning. I'll probably be without internet until Thursday afternoon. I am slightly worried about flying after my arrival here and the fact it's a strange country with strange airlines and all of that, but I believe I'll be fine. On top of that, it's a big symbolic step - I'm leaving the Pacific Timezone and I'll be spending the next twelve days in the Central Timezone - with a couple of hours in the Mountain one. Two-and-a-half steps until I'm in Orlando. =)
Current Location: Eugene, Oregon
Current Mood:  thankful
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10:29 am
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YOSHI IN MARIO GALAXY 2 SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Alright, alright, the whole Team Ninja being involved in Metroid sounds super cool. And yes, I will play that.
But OMG...I had a tear in my eye seeing that shot of Yoshi flying through one of the star cannons. And seeing the abilities that Yoshi is apparently able to do, like that whole blow-out balloon thing...what else can a Yoshi do? The potential for the Lichiverse increased nine-fold.
2010, says Reggie Fils-Aime in the following talk-to-the-G4-reporters...can't wait. I WANNA PLAY IT NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Current Mood:  excited
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11:16 pm
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Of twitter and blogs.
This is a message for all of those people on Twitter.
...yeah, okay, it's a rant. And if you want to criticise me for using Twitter in the first place, don't reply.
There is a difference between a blog and a tweet, and the difference is this: if it won't fit into a tweet, use your blog.
I am getting really tired of seeing people use multiple tweets just to ramble on and on and on. Really, if you have a lot to say, then put it into your blog and link to it from your Twitter. Like I did.
But really, think of each tweet you make just like sending a text message from your phone. Really, that's what it was designed for. Think of it like that. When you send a text message, it costs you money to do so. And, if you're in North America, it costs the receiver money to read that message. So, what do you do? You condense as much as you possibly can and you send it out once. Now, let's pretend that it does cost something to send and receive on Twitter - oh wait, it does. It's called time. It's called a slot in my Firefox Twitter-reader plug-in. It's limited to about 40 slots. Those slots should be for one tweet from one person. But if you post seven tweets, like someone did this evening and which prompted this rant, then you are using up six people's slots. I admit that if you reply to other people and make multiple tweets, that's okay, but if you're going to add something to the previous tweet for no good reason, please think twice.
GRAGH! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!
Okay, rage over. :D
Remember what is posted above your message box on the webpage: "What are you doing?" Answer that, and we'll all be happy and Twitter will be used for its intended purpose. :D
Current Mood:  annoyed
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12:37 am
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o hai
I'm in Oregon right now, staying with jordanrinehart. Spent last week in the Bay Area with an old friend of mine I know fom offline. Still need to update my blog. x.x;
Current Mood:  tired
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10:31 pm
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...?
Earth Day? Shouldn't every day be Earth Day?
...wtf mate? ^^
*munches on some more mini Tootsie Rolls. OMG WHY DON'T WE HAVE THESE BACK HOME OM NOM NOM*
Current Mood: confused
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07:26 am
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I already know the way to San Jose...
By the time you're reading this, I will be either stuck in Los Angeles traffic (in the next two hours), or I will be on the train to San Jose. Yep, it's time for the LichYoshi to move on to the next destination.
I'm going to miss SoCal. There's so much I've done and so much I didn't. Despite wanting to do otherwise, i.e. I think I would have been in Flagstaff right now, I'm really glad that I've spent three weeks here. It's been a good amount of time to see stuff but take it easy at the same time. I've been able to see a lot more of the place than I otherwise would have - I even managed to go to an Angels game - and meet up with a lot of people I know from the area. That wouldn't have happened had I only given myself a week.
kitsunethe3rd has been an awesome host, and his brother and father have been really cool to talk to. Thanks for the hospitality, guys.
This has been only the first of many places - I hope that they are all as awesome as this place has been. Ruling out the train being late, I'll arrive in San Jose around 8.30 tonight Pacific time.
Onward!
Current Mood:  content
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05:59 pm
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Eeeee... =)
Thank you, Mr Rudd. My economic stimulus package arrived in my bank account while I was in Vegas. Now all I need to do is convert it...my cash passport is supposed to be set at 63.15 US cents to one of my dollars, but when I put the bulk of my trip savings on there, I think it gave me a bit more than I was expecting as the official rate went up. So...do I put it straight into my cash passport, or do I get myself a traveller's cheque? I don't know which one will give me the better deal...
Current Mood:  confused
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03:55 pm
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I'm all Vegased out.
Just came back from Vegas within the last hour. *tired sigh* It was definitely worth the trip. Sensory overload no matter where you were on the Strip. Managed to cross a lot of states off my number plate list - including Alaska and Hawaii, within minutes of one another. How do you drive from Hawaii, anyway? o_O; Full details will be in the blog, when I get around to updating it...
Current Mood: tired
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06:44 pm
[Link] | I had a chicken quesadilla from a place called Jalapeños in Tustin the other day. It was really nice. Now I want more chicken quesadillas...
Current Mood: hungry
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09:46 am
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And the counter goes up by three...
I have been a pretty busy LichYoshi. *nods* But I'm just letting you all know that I'm still alive and that I had an awesome time on Friday with showtimeyoshi and nishiox, and also on Sunday with lunayoshi. Thanks guys for going to the trouble of hanging out with some bloke from Australia. =P
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09:00 am
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urgh...
I just had this really bad dream...it's not like anything explicitly bad happened in it, but more like there was the threat of something really bad, like being killed, if I didn't comply...
( Read more... )
Current Location: Corona, CA
Current Mood:  troubled
Tags: dream
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09:24 pm
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I need to think of witty subject titles again after two and a half years...
Whew. Finally updated the travel blog. I didn't think it was going to take -that- long...
Been a very relaxing day here. Had the house to myself nearly all day, but that's okay. It's giving me time to recover from travelling and adjust. Probably get up to something tomorrow, like finally buying my phone and other stuff I need.
Current Location: Corona, CA
Current Mood: calm
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09:24 pm
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-1?
G'day everybody. Or, as is common in these parts, ¡Hola!
I've made it to LA and I'm currently in kitsunethe3rd's living room, typing my livejournal, going to make a blog update. Yeah. I didn't go too well with the flight...all was well and good, but then I had the chicken. And then not enough sleep because some dumbasses were talking loudly in the row behind me, some children nearby were talking loudly, and some baby just nearby would cry at the slightest turbulence. And because I didn't get enough sleep, my body couldn't process the chicken for some reason, and I have been sick all day. Could not keep anything in my stomach whatsoever, not even water. Fortunately, I was able to catch a few hours sleep this afternoon and that's helped it a bit, but I'm still feeling a little queasy and I haven't eaten. First meal will probably be breakfast tomorrow.
I got shown around various parts of coastal LA and the OC...saw the Queen Mary and Long Beach, and went along the full length of Huntington Beach, and saw the blue sit so pretty west of the One (sorry, SD, just had to say that =P). We made it to the big Irvine mall thing and hung out there for a little while, then came here.
Not sure what's happening tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to it. Check http://antipodeanlich.blogspot.com soon for the photos.
Current Location: Corona, CA, 92882
Current Mood:  sick but okay
Current Music: Kitsune's TV
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08:13 pm
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ZERO
Well, take a look at that, ladies and gents, my subject countdown has finally reached zero. I knew that tomorrow would come. I knew that every tomorrow up until now, all 800 or so that I have counted, would be one less tomorrow until that ultimate tomorrow.
Ten years of dreaming, five years of planning, and three and a half years of saving, and it has come to this moment. In less than twelve hours, I leave this house, not to return until the beginning of December. In less than 24 hours, I will be asleep, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Within 36 hours, I will stand on American soil...okay, carpet, and beneath that concrete, and who knows what. But you get the idea. Within 36 hours, I will be on the other side of the world.
I have just come in from gazing at the Southern Cross and the Pointers, stars that I won't be able to see from the northern hemisphere. They were the first stars I was taught to recognise, and they have watched over me all my life except for the five weeks I spent in Britain and Europe as a kid - but I never looked up. The brighter of the Pointers is Alpha Centauri, and I look towards it with hope for the human race and I always think "when will we get there"? Soon, I will look up at the heavens and see strange and wonderful new constellations...and perhaps I'll finally be able to see and recognise Draco. =)
There's still a few things I need to do, like backup the desktop and do a preliminary backup of this machine onto my portable HD, and actually pack - though everything I have to pack is ready to be, more or less. Apart from that, I am ready.
For the first time ever, I can say that I am ready to be there with the people I have known as my friends for almost a decade. I have laughed with my friends, I have cried with my friends and cried for my friends, I have given to my friends, I have received from my friends. And now, I will be with my friends. To them, thank you. Thank you so much for making me who I am. Thank you for giving me hope and strength. Thank you for giving me something to live for.
As I don't know if I will update tomorrow before I board on the plane, I will leave you with the musical theme for my trip. Unfortunately, it is not my own, but I have given great thought to it. The first song I had christened as my trip song was So Sad So Lonely by Matchbox Twenty - the hidden song off More Than You Think You Are. It suited me perfectly back when I had plans of doing it alone. But, then, circumstances changed. No longer do I don't want nobody, and no longer does nobody don't want me. I need the company of my friends, because I realised, hey, that's what I'm doing this all for, for them. And then, I found it. It's somewhat an obvious choice, but as I thought deeper about it, I realised I could see myself and place myself in the poignant words. I leave you with the lyrics for Red Hot Chili Peppers' Road Trippin':
Road trippin' with my two favorite allies
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies
It's time to leave this town, it's time to steal away
Let's go get lost anywhere in the U.S.A.
Let's go get lost, let's go get lost...
Blue you sit so pretty west of the 'One
Sparkle light with yellow icing just a mirror for the sun
Just a mirror for the sun, just a mirror for the sun
These smiling eyes are just a mirror for...
So much has come before those battles lost and won
This life is shining more forever in the sun
Now let us check our heads and let us check the surf
Staying high and dry's more trouble than it's worth in the sun
Just a mirror for the sun, just a mirror for the sun
These Smiling eyes are just a mirror for...
In Big Sur we take some time to linger on
We three hunky dory's got our snakefinger on
Now let us drink the stars, it's time to steal away
Let's go get lost right here in the U.S.A.
Let's go get lost, let's go get lost...
Blue you sit so pretty west of the 'One
Sparkle light with yellow icing just a mirror for the sun
Just a mirror for the sun, just a mirror for the sun
These smiling eyes are just a mirror for...
Your smiling eyes are just a mirror for...
It's time for me to drink the stars.
Current Mood: thankful
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10:12 pm
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1
Just as a reminder, my counter counts how many days I have left after the current one. So I'm not going tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow.
Ulp.
There's a lot of things I haven't got done, primarily sending out my yearly correspondence. If you haven't received any orange letters from me, I apologise profusely and I hope that I will be able to send you something while I'm over there.
More importantly, if you wish to see me or I intend to stay with you and you have not given me your telephone number, could you please reply with it here. All comments are screened so no-one else will see it except for me. Thank you very much!
Current Mood:  urgent
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09:43 pm
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3
Despite crossing more things off my to-do list, I don't think I've had as productive a day today as I have had previously, considering I didn't set my alarm and thus got up at 6.30 when I wanted to be up at 4, and I dozed/napped for two hours this afternoon. Sigh. But I think I've finally done all of my shopping, so I'm pleased about that.
In the meantime, I have decided to start my proper travel blog at blogger.com. It means I will have two blogs going - the one over there is going to be a more public travel-related blog that my parents and other people can read, whereas this one is going to be more for general communication, private thoughts, asking questions, so on and so forth, just like how I've always used it.
http://antipodeanlich.blogspot.com
There's nothing really there at the moment except (once it uploads, and if it works) a slideshow of some pictures I've taken around Brisbane stored at Flickr. Yes, I went and got myself an account there, too. I'm still investigating how both work, but I expect to have a fair degree of expertise in a few weeks' time.
Now that my room is more or less in a state I can leave it in for eight months, I expect to be able to remove a few more things from my list. I still have to do a backup of this machine and of the desktop, which is probably the next big job, but that doesn't count my preliminary pack. I've set aside everything I want to take with me, and now I have to see that it all fits, and if it doesn't, what I can leave behind. If it does all fit, then I'll start living out of my luggage. I also have to ring the health society and Telstra, and see if both my health insurance and my hiptop can be suspended while I'm overseas. I don't have the money for both while I'm over there, and I think it's pointless to pay for something I'm not going to use. My travel insurance will cover any health stuff if needed, anyway. *touches wood*
Telstra will probably encourage me to take my hiptop (sidekick) with me and use international roaming, but I don't think that's going to be worthwhile as you guys will want to call me from time to time to basically see what's going on and I will want to call you to ask the same thing and, especially when I'm in transit between places, to let you know where we are and when I expect to be there. So I can't afford to keep making international calls and you will not want to make international calls to me, which is essentially what the roaming is. Maybe I can get it unlocked and bring it with me, but I don't know who will be able to take it over there and, if they do take it, what functionality my phone will have. If it can't sign in to messengers or use the internet, that's fine, but if to restore full functionality I have to sign up for a contract, then I won't do that. I hope there's some prepaid option I can use. I have been told that T-Mobile and Cricket are pretty good. I've also been told that Verizon has something as well, but after seeing the utter bs that they have pulled on people on my friends list, I don't want to go with them out of principle.
I also need to do a lot of photocopying. I'm bringing music with me, and I'm photocopying the relevant parts of my Lonely Planet guides. I went and got another printer cartridge and another 500 sheets of paper the other day, so I think everything will be fine. With the Lonely Planet photocopies, anyway, I can just chuck them out once I'm done with a particular place. I'm still waiting for the keeper of the pipe band music to send me an electronic copy of the pipe band stuff, too...
Current Mood:  busy
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05:34 am
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4
So, what are you SoCal people doing next weekend? Wanna meet up? =)
EDIT: This journal entry is probably more stream of thought than anything as it's 6am, been awake for a bit over an hour and haven't had any breakfast or coffee yet. Did have an orange juice, though. Oh, and the cold tablets I'm using to combat this affliction. But I wonder if it is actually a cold or an allergic reaction to some plant outside or the Orphea - dunno if you have it there, but it's little strips of paper that act as anti-moth anti-silverfish stuff and you put it in your drawers and things but, my God, it is powerfully scented. There's none out in the open but on my bed I can still smell it from when I packed the clothes I sent to Orlando.
That's Orlando, FL, by the way. I don't know anyone by that name.
Argh, I just tried to shave and my last razorblade died. I was trying to keep it going until Monday morning and buy them for cheap over there at Walmart or something - Gilette Fusion - but I'm going to have to go and get some today. Grr. Annoying. I got like half of my chin done, so one side of my face is shaved and the other is not. =(
Anyway, that's something else I have to do today. I already have to drive to the other side of the city so that I can see if the tax office will give me some sort of written guarantee that I will get my economic bonus payment so that I can show it to the customs officials when they ask me about my finance. And I'll be picking up my first lot of greenbacks from the bank sometime today.
I also need to disconnect my mobile phone...probably the best day to do that will be today after I finish going out, or tomorrow - I prefer to have my phone with me in case I break down and stuff like that, but I need to see if there's anything else I ought to rush out and get.
Done. Shopping list written, master list amended.
I have a list of things to do that I'm crossing off as they get done. Problem is that for every thing I cross off, I remember that I ought to do another item and I put it on...so it feels like I'm getting nowhere. =/ Oh well, two steps forward and one step back, so on and so forth...
Current Mood: busy and tired
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09:11 am
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5
Argh! I think I'm coming down with a cold! This is not fair! =(
Current Mood: annoyed
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05:01 pm
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6.1
So, I'm clearing my desk (shut up) and decide that I want to clear out one of the drawers beneath it that's accumulated junk over the past ten years or so, so I can put in junk that I've accumulated since Christmas. In it I discover the long lost manuscript of WIP2.
Okay, don't know what that means? Let me bring everyone back up to speed here. I like to consider myself a composer, even though I haven't finished anything off for quite some time. I divide my music into two categories, "opus#" for that I've finished, and "wip#" for that I haven't...naturally, the latter means "work in progress". And as that is number 2, it means I have found my oldest unfinished work. While I've gone ahead and commenced a new, electronic version of WIP2 (which is the third version, iirc), it's still interesting to look back at the work of a 12 or 13 year old Lich...we're talking 1997 here, before the internet had taken over my life. I gave it a once over on the piano. The work is very basic and it's only for piano, but it shows a good amount of promise for the things that would come after it. I think I see elements of things my theory teacher would have told me to do in the music.
Anyway, now that it is out in the open, I can throw its ideas into the new version and, perhaps, finish it off.
Still no sign of the missing Opus 1, though...
Current Mood:  accomplished
Tags: music
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09:49 am
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6
This time next week, I'll probably be going through customs into the departure lounge. o_o;
Day one of body adjust has had some limited success...I did wake up at 5.30am, but I stayed in bed and thus I fell asleep again around 7, and didn't wake up until 9. I think I am going to have to treat it like work: alarm goes off, must get up. It'd probably help if I set up my laptop on my desk instead of on my bed, too...
Current Mood: busy
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10:58 pm
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7
it's a sobering thought that just over a week from now, I'll be on my way. I still have plenty of time to get done the things that need to be done, but there's still an awful lot to do.
Oh well, it's time for me to get to bed. Gotta get up at 5.30 tomorrow...that's 12.30pm in LA. Tuesday will be 5, Wednesday 4.30, Thursday 4, Friday 3.30...you see how this works.
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07:34 pm
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8
And today I've had another milestone: my final work shift before I leave. Unfortunately it was a crappy shift, but it's the final one. I'm glad that's over. Both the staff and the customers will miss me.
Today was the state election and, this being Australia, I had to vote. Thankfully it happened before I left, otherwise I would have to had to hightail it to the nearest consulate or embassy. As I've registered with Smartraveller.gov.au, which is the resource the federal government uses in case you need to be contacted in an emergency, they will also tell me if an election occurs. There shouldn't be any other elections between now and the time I get home, though, but with the way politics works, who knows. I think I would have had to go up to Atlanta if I was in Orlando...or else I can just tell the Electoral Commission when I return and find my fine waiting for me that I was overseas and get it waived.
But anyway, I didn't want to vote for anybody. The state politics suck here at the moment...the current party in government is somewhat weak and wishy-washy, the alternative party inspires no confidence whatsoever and is like multiple people trying to drive the same car. So, I voted for a third party and didn't put any preferences into the other parties...though, if the candidate I voted for fails to reach 50%+1 in my electorate, and ends up as the candidate with the fewest votes, my vote will go to the current party in government because that's how it works. It's better than if it went to the alternative party though.
I'm just glad I'm missing eight months of whichever government wins.
Current Mood: accomplished
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04:32 pm
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9
Okay, I've stopped being manic now.
You know those smileys that have a big wide teeth-filled grin? That's me. I feel like I've accomplished stuff today. It mightn't be much but the whole symbology of it means something to me. In the past two and a half hours (because my morning was taken up by work), I have sent off some more parcels, put in my dry-cleaning and got my travel documents from my travel agent.
The first part is a continuation of my send-ahead scheme coming to fruition; I have one more parcel, The Big One, to send, which I will do on Tuesday (pay day). While I decided everything that was going into the first lot of parcels a few months ago, it's a significant step in that I've started to do my packing. I have sent things to America for me to pick up.
The second thing is an important milestone because it means I have decided on some things I am going to take. Sure, I may have already done that, but in my mind, it means I've started packing. It may not be in my suitcase -yet-, but I've got some idea of what I'm going to have with me.
And the last part has to do with the means of getting there. Speaking of which, there's some things in it I need to fill out.
But, yes. I've set myself the challenge of getting to America, and now I feel like I've taken the first few good strides about it. Perhaps it's ironic that such a thing should occur on the 9th last day: it's my favourite number.
Current Mood: accomplished
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