So I promised a longer journal, and here it is.

In short, the three weeks spent with `Zikes (and the 10 days with `brokenboulevard) in Arkansas, USA were amazing to say the least. Epicly awesome. Incredibly terrific. Quite nice. Kinda alright..

Since I've known `Zikes for some years now, and we've been talking pretty much daily for the past year, it's only logical that he was just as I expected. There were a few minor surprises, but not enough to make him a new person. `brokenboulevard on the other hand is someone I've only talked to for a month or so before meeting, and she was quite different from what I thought she'd be. Unfortunately my memory has erased what I originally thought she'd be and replaced it with what she actually is, so I wouldn't know what changed. She was still hyper though, just as hyper as she is online.

Last Thursday we were quite distressed to realize `brokenboulevard only had one more day with us, because her flight was scheduled at 7:30 Saturday morning.

On Friday we picked up the new kitten from the animal shelter and learned that it was female, just like Spock. So at least when we'd leave there'd still be females to feed and spoil in the house. `Zikes had promised me a couple of months back that I'd get to name the kitten we pick up during my visit, but I was completely out of ideas and handed the privilege over to `brokenboulevard, who named her Ikea. I'm innocent! Spock and Ikea. As soon as we got home and opened the pet carrier, Ikea got out and started exploring. We'd closed a door on Spock, but since Ikea didn't seem to care about the wailing cat we decided to let Spock out and see what happened. Spock was very curious about this possible new play mate, and Ikea completely ignored her. The days after this they took turns in growling and hissing at each other, but nowadays I've heard they're playing together.

I watched `brokenboulevard pack all her stuff late that night. She'd picked up a lot of stuff, enough to fill the new suitcase she got and still had trouble getting it all inside. She'd brought me a Dr Seuss book and only just now remembered it, so I read about Fox in Socks for a while. Never read anything Dr Seuss before, more than the occasional sentence here and there on the internet.

Saturday morning was a boring morning. We all got into the car and headed for the airport. While `brokenboulevard went through the security check, me and `Zikes noticed that we could actually stay and watch (so we did) and if she'd seen us we could've kept her company for quite a while longer. Alas, she didn't, so after we'd watched her disappear towards her gate we left the airport in a sullen (and sleepy) mood. We went back to the house, and sat down with a laptop each. I was amused to see `Zikes fall asleep on the other couch, and even more amused to see him wake up every time `brokenboulevard twittered (makes a noise on his phone), mumble a few words and then fall back asleep. I stayed awake though, which meant I was quite sleepy the rest of that day. And the day after that too. We didn't really do anything at all after `brokenboulevard left, except have free dinner in someone else's house (sister's on Saturday and aunt's on Sunday), and Monday morning it was my turn to leave.

I'd set up a temporary US phone to support twitter in both directions, so while `brokenboulevard spent 8 hours at the Charlotte airport with a laptop and free wireless for company (dAmn, MSN, you name it..), I spent 8 hours at the airport with Twitter. I walked around until I found a nice and quiet corner, curled up in a chair and dozed off. I managed to sleep some of the hours away, walked around the airport a while (it was even bigger than it seemed 3 weeks ago), bought a sandwich, an apple and a coke for $15 (ridiculus!) and listened to a piano. Quite a boring day. When I finally got on the plane, I paid the damn $5 for the headset, watched the movie Marley & Me, and then listened to Radiohead for the rest of the trip while dozing off quite a lot. Once in Germany I didn't have much time at all for doing anything except just finding my gate in time for boarding. Unfortunately I didn't get to take the train this time, so no video of that. On the last plane I was happy to have a window seat, though I fell asleep there as well.

While leaving `Zikes house made me sad and was no fun at all, being back home is great in some ways too. I'm with my Roze again, to talk to and hug. Food has never tasted this good before, everything I've eaten since getting back home has been delicious and awesome. On the other hand, I also realized how depressed I was before I left, with feelings of inadequacy and such.

The time zone differences were once again discovered, and I remembered how difficult it was to live a normal European life while trying to get the most out of my friends far away, namely `Zikes. This is why I've decided to try to live on a slightly weird schedule for a while - I'll wake up at 2 AM and go to bed at 6-7 PM. The depression I've had this week was quite awful until I tried this schedule, and now I'm feeling quite alright. We'll see how it goes. It's fun how I decided that changing to an Australian time zone is the solution to getting the most out of Europe and USA.

Oh, and I got ill again. Don't you just love airports? This time it's faster, but also much worse. Coughing so hard my back is hurting. My voice disappeared again (already on its way back, though).

I hope you enjoyed reading my wall of text.

Journal skin by `nokari