03.12.98 - It all seems a little closer now

There I was thinking that no-one would be that bothered about how quickly I updated my journal but two people have asked me to hurry and write an entry, which is really nice and always gives me the impetus to actually do something with my site. My body clock has been kind of screwed up lately as the result of jetlag from my flight on Monday night. I've never experienced jetlag and never truly believed that it was something that really happened until it hit me this time. I'm feeling ok now though... well I still feel a bit tired but maybe that's because I was up late last night chatting to people online :-)

It's gone 10pm now and I have spent about an hour on the phone to a friend telling him all about my holiday and various other things. I haven't quite got to the stage yet where people asking about my holiday begins to irritate me but I have no doubt it will start to irritate very soon. I intend to create a web page or 'pages' giving some detail about the holiday which is why I am not going to go into detail here. I want to make sure I have some photos scanned so that it does not turn out to be just a load of writing (like this journal) but that people can get some pictorial sense of what happened.

In a nutshell, I had a really good time and it didn't pass as quickly as I thought it would but now that it's gone I do feel a little deflated at having to settle back into the old routine. I was just starting to settle down and relax more in America and Kath and I had such a good laugh towards the end of my second week that it would have felt natural to stay... but I came home. Strange that I didn't really get a great sense of "Ohh!!! You're back! Welcome home!". I mean my parents (especially my Mum) were pleased to see me of course but it just seemed like an anti-climax. I don't know what I was expecting... flashing lights, fanfare, dancing girls, performing dog... hmmmmm, maybe not. Perhaps the image in my mind of my holiday and my return was a little more romanticised than the reality would ever be.

I decided that I wanted to come back home and NOT settle into the same routine. I wanted to make absolutely sure that my resolve to be my own person, get my own life I am happy with and move out of home was concrete so I made a small change and grew facial hair. I figured that people would see the goatee beard and moustache and think "oh look, Rich is a different person". I don't think it worked to great effect and my poor face is struggling to get accustomed to it but I'm going to stick with it for a while and see if I get used to it. People will probably get so used to it that if I shave it off they'll notice the difference more! I'll try and get a photo posted here so people can pass comment on my "new look" but I need to let it grow through a bit more or it will just look like I have a dirty face in the photo. Hehehe.

But what about the holiday? Oh yeah, sorry I keep getting sidetracked. Summary... Atlanta was really cool for the first couple of days but towards the end of the week I found myself struggling to find interesting things to do and was surprised that central Atlanta didn't seem to have more to do there and was actually quite sparse of tourist attractions and shops. I didn't make it to "World of Coca-Cola" but then I'm not really that upset that I didn't get to see the history of brown fizzy water. The best part was going up the Peachtree Plaza Hotel in the glass lift and overlooking the city from the observation points by the revolving restaurant. I got some photos there but I'm not sure what they'll look like as they were taken through glass of course. Dan the dog nearly killed me when I first got there but Mark calmed him down and eventually he warmed to me until we were best of friends. He kept wanting his ear rubbed or his tummy tickled after that and occasionally liked to rough around on the floor. I will miss him a lot because my dog at home just growls at me and is really grumpy, fat and old.

Columbia/Washington DC/Baltimore.... there was so much more to do there and not enough time to fit everything in. It was very tiring doing all that walking in those places too and I didn't want to kill myself so we took it fairly easy but managed to fit in as much as we could. Meeting Theda and Kath was just the best! We all got along very easily as if we had been friends for a long time (well we have... online). I've never met someone new like that and felt so relaxed. It brings a smile to my face too that three people with quite different backgrounds and lives in many ways can be such good friends across such a distance. The Internet is so cool! Theda was more outgoing than I had imagined and has a great sense of humour. I love to be around people like that because they make conversation so easy and you just know you are going to have a good time and a good laugh with them. She is really pretty too and looks fabulous for her age (don't go getting a big ego now I've said that Theda. hehehe) so watch this space for photos... if she'll scan some and let me post them.

As soon as I met Kath at the airport conversation seemed easy and relaxed and we got along instantly. We recognised each other at the terminal gate immediately which was a bonus! I'd imagined us walking past one another and staring as if to say "Is that you?" but it wasn't like that at all. She drove Theda and I just about everywhere we wanted to go and was the perfect hostess. I'm sure it took her longer to relax because she wanted everything to be perfect for us... and it was! I will always remember going around Washington DC with Kath and Theda and I have some great photos of that time to look back on. I think Kath was almost exactly as I had imagined and it almost feels as if I could phone her up and ask if she wants to go to the cinema right now. There's just one small thing stopping me... the Atlantic Ocean. Oh she's a good cook too and I ate rather a lot of blueberry block and muffins from her kitchen. We had a good Thanksgiving dinner too where I tried butternut squash. Turkey is one of my favourite foods too so that was good. Oh don't start me talking about food. I ate SO much all the time because the portions were huge and because I loved all the food... oh and because I just HAD to try some of the chocolate there. Hehehe.

Ok, after saying I would not go into too much detail I feel like I have swamped you with it! I'll stop now or I will have nothing to write about on my proper holiday pages I am going to create. I'm trying to get my life sorted out here now that my holiday is over and I spent yesterday and part of today plowing through job advertisments and phoning up for application packs. I have started looking at my finances now that my wages are different too and my credit card bill is... ahem... bigger. Be prepared over the next few weeks to hear me blather on about my great search for a new job and my plans for getting my own place, probably in the spring. My love life will have to be put on hold because (a) it's too damn complicated and full of hassle and (b) I need to keep my time and energy (and finances!) focused on my career and home situation right now. I've reached one goal and now I have a couple more. I feel really positive about it all and I am so pleased I got to finally see America and my wonderful friends. Even if it never happens again (although I feel confident it will), one thing is for sure... my friends in America seem a little closer than they did before.

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