9:30

We're all packed and ready to go! Amazingly, we got all of our stuff into the moving truck but only with the help of my good friend, Eric. Man, thanks so much! We couldn't have done it without you. So we're leaving at 9:30 and will get there whenever we get there (It's 8:16 now). With the big truck being as big as it is, who knows how long it will take; I don't think that we'll arrive any sooner than six in the evening. It should be a very long and HOT ride and we'll be ready to relax by the time we get there. I'm kind of sweating over only nine miles per gallon and not being able to use the AC but that's all part of moving, I guess. One thing for sure is that it'll be good to be able to start something new! Moving forward, right!

Anyway, to all of my friends who come and visit this site, as you can probably imagine, things have been very busy lately and I haven't been able to post many photos or write much. But as soon as things settle down in about a week or so--knock on wood--and assuming that we establish our Internet connection as promised, things should be back to normal. OK, Mizuha!!?? haha

Hey, wish us a safe trip up. Once again, thanks so much to Eric (and Brenda) for all of your help. We'll see everybody up north soon!!!!!

The Sky

The sky has been really pretty lately as fall has arrived. Ironically, although the seasons have changed and we should be on our way to having brisk and cool weather, it seems to have gotten warmer. But don't take that as a complaint because we always welcome warmer weather, especially in our last week of living in Southern California. Anyway, here are some of my reflections in the sky this week.

Our House

Here is a quick shot of our new apartment. The landlord just called and told me that it's ours and that we can move in on the first of the month!!! We're so excited! What do you think?

new pad

One day of searching was all it took for us to find our new home! Yes, oh, yes! After going up and down the streets of Midtown--getting totally lost on the ONE WAY streets the entire way--and calling place after place, we found our sweet spot on I Street, which was actually right where we wanted to be. It's a great, little Victorian-style home that has been very well taken care of over the years, and is close to just about everything--restaurants, bars, cool art exhibits, and best of all, a lesbian cafe in the throwing distance of a rock! I kid you not! And starting the first of October, it's all ours!!! We're so excited to get in there and get started with our lives in Sactown! We'll try to take some pics to give all of you an idea of what it looks like. And hey, we have enough room for visitors so come, come, come!

Sacramento, Here we come!!

Tomorrow morning, we're driving up north to look for an apartment so let's hope that, one, we get there safely, and two, that we can find a nice (and affordable) place to live! We'll keep our fingers crossed and enjoy our new ride! Wish us luck, OK! :)

Since coming back...

These are the few diaries that I wrote on my old site since coming back:

Thursday, September 1st

We bought a new car today, Scion xB, in silver! It's our first new car and we're SOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!


Wednesday, August 31st

Hisashiburi! It's been a super long time since I've written anything on here--twenty-nine days to be exact, but who's counting--and I'm not sure how I can possibly recap the events of this last month without first writing a novel, but here we go:

Our August:

1. It's good to be home and away from Japan!!! Life back home is pretty much where we left it, again, proof that the world does not revolve around us, and trying to get back on our feet and get the ball rolling again has been, to say the least, interesting and very challenging! First of all, our biggest news: we decided to move to Sacramento (Northern California) and hopefully that will happen sometime in next couple of weeks!! Everything sort of depends on when we are able to buy the car that we have our eyes on, the Scion xB, which is out of stock at the dealership right now and has to be found and ordered. It's a cool, boxy and affordable ride that we both like, and it's so Japanese! Actually, let me restate that: about us liking the xB, I have to say that Farah likes it second best, next to the Honda Element but for now, this is what makes the most sense for us as a young, married couple. Am I right? Don't answer that unless it's a YES, okay! :)

2. It's so greeeeeat to be surrounded by family and friends again!!

3. We went lots of places and did lots of things this month, such as: horseback riding, a very cool and relaxing trip to Bass Lake and Yosemite with Eric and Brenda, we met lots of really nice people in Sacramento, we went to the beach several times, hung out with my Dad and Leslie quite a few times too, and FINALLY we got to see Noah! Also, one of the really cool things about going to Sacramento was that we got to see Ryan and Jenny and get reaquainted with them. Both Farah and I are looking forward to getting to spend lots of time with them because we've never really had the chance to hang out much and bond... You know what I mean, right?!

So anyway, that's the story for now. We are doing well and although quite busy, we are really happy with the way that things are going... well, there are lots of complications--red tape up the ass--with Farah's new status as a permanent resident and all but we won't go into all of that. All is well!

p.s. I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to email lately partly because we have been busy and mostly due to the fact that we don't have a computer right now! That's just another thing that we have to take care of... Hang in there, friends! I'll email back soon... (Just to name of few of the neglectees, Chris, Mizuha, Tez, Yuki, and Ito-san, I'm so sorry!! I'll be in touch really soon!)


Monday, August 2nd

It's so good to be back!!!!!!!!!!!!