So,

So, we've been back in the States for a month. And I haven't been updating this blog as promised. Surprise, we're not traveling anymore and our lives aren't nearly as interesting. Well, I still have blog entries lined up for posting, but I thought I should at least give an update for the time being instead of being painfully silent on my precious blog.

One month back and what have we done? Well, not a whole lot I guess. I feel like we're productive but it's hard to make the argument. I try not to let myself sleep all day, I have a to-do list, I get things done. I do not, however, have a job, have another place to live (we're at my mom's), or have my grad school application finished. So, it sounds like we're not making much progress. But I assure you, we're trying.

So what have we been doing? I get this question a lot actually, and I usually have to fumble with an answer since the reality is that putting stuff on Craigslist and organizing my mom's garage just doesn't seem like it's a month's worth of dedication. We have been spending a lot of time purging stuff: our own collection of pre-Australia goods (read: junk) stored away in mom's basement, mom's impenetrable fortress of debris from previous decades that seems to multiply when cabinet doors are closed, and now we're attacking the even more massively endless supply of clutter stored in the extensive bowels of Holiday Bowl.

Yep, I've happily started poking my nose into the family business and now I'm bringing Kane with me. I worked one day with Dad paying bills and cleaning up the office, and now I've stumbled upon a new task that's a perfect fit: sorting out the huge mass of crap stored in the many closets and rooms of the bowling alley. I enlisted Kane to help since we're pretty much professional junk sorters at this point. You have a room full of stuff? We'll sort, purge, recycle, and organize the whole lot for ya, quick as a cricket.

We've also spent some time taking trips to see friends and family: we've been down to SLO, up to Oregon, and out to Pacifica, Concord, San Jose and Buffalo Bills with folks we haven't seen in two years or more. And, I've made friends with my niece, isn't she cute?


I've also been looking for jobs, doing home improvement at mom's house (removing wallpaper, painting, installing new fixtures (Kane)), interviewing with New York Life (I didn't take the job though), starting a new blog (will notify when ready), filling out UCB grad school application, and, as mentioned, putting an inordinate amount of stuff onto Craigslist to be sold. It's actually quite an effort.

So, that's been our life so far. Still on the list: get a job, turn in grad school app, sort and purge more of my useless stuff, continue to work with Dad at the Bowl, start helping Jane with some of her organizational needs, continue the fight to improve mom's house, do my Australian taxes, get health insurance, go to the dentist, call AAA, finish this blog, change light bulbs, get rid of the VHS tapes...