WOOHOO! I made it here, no staying overnight in Amsterdam, and no lost suitcases.

So far we have been to Target and got a big drawer unit for my clothes, and spent the rest of the time sitting about watching movies or reading. Kit is being very friendly, but she's also still peeing on random spots on the floor. So she's banished to the spare room. Unfortunately that means I can't start fixing it up as my room yet, so I'm squeezing my stuff in amongst Loki's, we need a nice stack of milk crates to decant junk into.

So far it's not too hot here, it's consistantly grey and hazy/cloudy, very humid, but not DEADLY heat. It rained on my first full day here, it was really heavy warm rain, accompanied by thunder. I love warm rain, it's got all the fun of a Gene Kelly musical, without the whole getting chilled to the bone thing.

Loki's still asleep, but then he works nights so our hours are rather offset. I'm going along to a fancy restaurant near where he lives to see about getting a job to tide me over till I can find lab work. The manager was in Loki's Pub one night and said they were looking for waitresses who knew something about wines, and he said I should go along and see about applying, especially when told I'm British. I'm just so naturally classy you see....

*ahem*

OK, time for coffeeeeeeeeee.

~R.

In 5 hours I'll be in the car on the way to the airport...I guess I should go to bed. I actually managed to get all my stuff into 2 suitcases plus MAX carryon. Except for a shoebox of stuff that's getting airmailed. I think a shoebox of overflow is pretty good going.

OK, so there's also the stereo, box of books and box of clothes that are getting shipped slowly, but that was all in the plan.

Bed now. Lord knows if I'll actually be able to get to sleep in time to get up.

~R.

It's about 29 hours till I land in Atlanta, hopefully it won't be like that dream I had a while back where we land in the car park in front of the LeFont Plaza movie theatre, and the people waving the glowing sticks to guide the aircraft are all done up for Rocky Horror. Yes I'm a freak. FYI, the Plaza does Rocky Horror as the Friday Midnight Movie, so the dream wasn't THAT strange. Honest.

We're all heading off to have a family lunch, it's a lovely sunny day, and it was nice being in town this morning with no huge festival crowds, I got to stroll along Princes St and admire the view of the Castle in the sunshine. I'll miss stuff like that, but every town has nice places to wander and look at the view, one of which is right next to our apartment in Atlanta!

Countdown for Mission: Move To Atlanta is kicking in.....I'd better not suddenly discover a whole heap of clothes I forgot to take.

Ok, gotta go, Dad's here. Time for lunching.

~R.

Ladies and Gentlemen brace yourselves please...I HAVE A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!!! Yup, after 21 years of being an American Citizen I'm actually an official person! I can get a job, pay taxes...oh...damn, I have to be a responsible working adult now...maybe I'd better actually finish writing my fantabular resume now.

I applied for it almost 3 months ago, and when I phoned the Embassy in London they just logged on to the Baltimore SS main office computer and told me my number. If I hadn't called I'd prolly have waited another month or so for them to actually TELL me my number. Burocratic delay is great isn't it? Even better when you're trying to spell it.

~R.

I'm glad I don't have a dog, I've just had 2 hours of looking after a nutso mutt who wandered into our garden (and our pond) Dad was phoning the police station and trying to get ahold of the owner, and I was trying to keep it happy, but out of the pond. Unfortunately it seemed very thirsty, and didn't get the concept of drinking from water that it wasn't currently swimming in. Cute beastie, but a definitely handful. Yeah, I'll definitely walk a dog for someone who's incapacitated, but they're just too much work all the time. I don't want to put that much energy into a critter who isn't a mini human, thus promising the potential for conversation.

Phew, my jeans REALLY need a wash now, pond water and doggy smell isn't my usual perfume of choice! That damn mutt just kept going back into the pond, in between destroying a frisbee and any bushes that got in her way in pursuit of said frisbee. Good thing both of the cats were down the pub or something. THAT could have been messy. As it was it was a fairly fun interlude of dog pseudo-ownership. I wonder where these puppies get their energy from, it was so damn BOUNCY. And we could do that great thing where you pretend to throw something and the beast's halfway across the garden before it figures out there's nothing to chase yet. Muah hah hah. It's a shame when cats figure that one out at age 5 weeks, hours of entertainment can be had fooling dumb animals. Though admittedly it can get depressing when the dumb animals are the same species as you...

*sigh* I'm off to see the Cirque Surreal this evening, I'm TIRED. It'll be good, I just wish the big top was heated. I've started getting up earlier, but haven't managed to convince my body that also going to sleep earlier is also a good idea. Right, now I'm going to see just how many piles of books I have to sort through to find my photos so I can pack the first case for Atlanta. The smaller case is going to be full of the random heavy stuff. If I put books in the huuuuuuuuuuge suitcase no-one can lift it!

Ah! I just remembered something GOOD! I took all my textbooks to San Diego, and I DON'T NEED THEM ANY MORE!! *ahem* Not that I'm glad to be a graduate or anything. The boom box is getting shipped *sniff* surface mail, and maybe the photos should be too, I don't NEED em, it would just be nice to be able to finish albuming them while I have free time. Oooohhh, I'm actually getting somewhat organized. Wow. That coffee is finally kicking in. Right, all I need to leave unpacked is clothes to last me from now to Tuesday. Alternatively I could stay in all the rest of the week in my PJs, and pack EVERYTHING. Nah, I tried that when I was a kid, it doesn't work.

Maybe next time I'll be able to report some progress in the packing saga.

~R.

When the cats refuse to attempt Mount Laundry without ropes and a sherpa, you know it's time to do the wash...

Having said that it was only 3 loads, it just LOOKED mountainous. Hell, it looked like it was developing foothills. So today is the beginning of the organisational nightmare that is Operation Move-To-Atlanta. Beginning with my stunning leap out of bed at 9am, followed by staggering around my room trying to locate wearable clothes from the assortment of clean heaps "to be put away later". What's the point in putting clothes away when it's all going into suitcases in the next couple days anyway? Exactly.

I just had a horrible thought: when I went to San Diego I had the use of my Granny's luggage allowance. So I have more stuff, and one less suitcase to work with. *eyes up wardrobe unit and wonders if it'll be possible to convince the airline staff it's really a handbag*

Anyway, to be totally boring, I'll list today's achivements. For one thing, I managed to get in and out of town before most of the tourists had woken up and infested the throughfares in their matching Edinburgh Tattoo waterproof ponchos. This is a major achievement, not just because it means getting up before noon. I returned 4 dud bras I'd bought without trying on, and GOT INTO THE CHANGING ROOMS WITHOUT WAITING to try on some more. This getting up early thing really can pay off. I even got myself some squishy shock-absorbing socks with "L" & "R" marked on em. That'll solve the dizzying problem of which foot the socks go on...no...wait...what if I lose both "R" ones in the wash...will that give me two left feet? Sorry, too easy.

After buying some little sushi thingies from a sandwich shop (they contained COOKED tuna, sacrelige) I made it back in time to aid the return of the Parents' furniture, all orange-apholstered and shiny new from their makeover. I suspect it's not the same chairs. There's no cat scratches in the fabric, they can't belong to us.

Now all I have to do is pack up all my important possesions into two suitcases and a few boxes, and give the rest to goodwill. That way I can wholeheartedly say that nohting in my room is for the trash. Even if Margaret thinks otherwise *grumble grumble*

Ah hah, I hear the car, I wanna see Mum's reaction to our new fab furniture.

~R.

Hrrrm....Um...K'wyn basically said it all. Go look at her blog. *doesn't know enough html to give a pretty "click here" link* http://kyrwyn.tripod.com/weblog/blog.html

All I have to add is our skirts are might pouffy. (and we're DEFINATELY not making the silly hat)

~R.

I can't be arsed to blog. meh.

Not much to add. Chocolate pudding goooooooooood.

Still basking in post garb glory. Though boobs are enjoying freedom of non-garb clothing.

Parents are out dealing death and destruction to the mollusc population of our garden. Anyone know of any hungry hedghogs we could adopt?

Wearing garb round town [check]
Snapping string squeezing self INTO garb [check]
Random children screaming in fright at cleavage [check]
Random people smiling at girls in silly outfits [check]
Random tourists requesting photos with the girls in silly outfits [check, and double check]
Random people asking "Are you in the Festival?" *sigh grumble* [check] (X5)

Feeling feminine and knowing that stick-insects DON'T LOOK AS GOOD IN GARB. [check] :-P

WOOHOO! It's sunny. Well, kinda. OK, so it's not California, but it's as sunny as it gets after a day of greyness. And I've taken decongestant. So maybe my head will calm down.

We're going into town today, getting a lift with my Dad, who's going in to give a radio interview. My Father The Professor. Though he says he's only called in because he's the official Prof of Linguistics of Edinburgh University, so they randomly call him in when there's any kind of language debate. *nodnodnod*

Hrmmm, it looks like we might be going into town wearing Garb. Teehee. I'm going to have a bath, then we'll decide how brave we feel.

~R.

I'm definately allergic to grey weather. I've had a headache all day. I would almost prefer to have one migraine every month and get it over with. I hate low level achyness. wagh.

We did basically nothing today, but then it was raining heavily on and off all day, so it was a good idea to stay in. The cats were giving us dirty looks all the time, "turn off the WET!!" Poor dumb kitties.

Being hassled to go eat stuff I don't want to. No-one can eat if I'm not there apparently.

Hrmmm, I'm not exactly sunshine and light today. It happens.

~R.

*Announcement* I am in less of a nutsky mood today.

Probably because I STARTED in a good mood, so I'm not experiencing a backlash from a shitty morning. I got my diploma today, I had to pick it up form the post office, because it was recorded delivery. It was a really nice sunny morning, so we sat outside with our coffee and Inigo kept us company by hiding under the bench. He was in a "don't touch me, just admire me and give me milk" mood.

K'wyn had a craving for Hot & Sour soup, so we found a Cantonese place for lunch, it was good too, (phew) after which we met Duncan so he could pay me back for the last phone bill. It would have helped if he'd had his cheque-book. "I've brought cash...is £20 enough?" This is for a phone bill from march to June, including his calls to France. *pat pat pat* Yes dear, make it more like £250... Gotta love that boy's command of reality. Ok, NOW I need a smoke. Sorry K'wyn, I don't think I'm going to manage 2 days without.

On the up side, K'wyn and I bought ourselves some twee little espresso cups, they were on sale if you bought 4, so we bought 2 identical pairs, and took one of each. One pale green with little daisies, and one white with multicoloured polkadots and a blue saucer. We're so sad. But in a very cute way. We also went to look at coffee presses, or French Presses, which are WAY cheaper here, but we got booted out of the store because it was closing. At 5-30, strange time. That's something I won't miss about the UK.

I loved being able to nip out for coffee at 3 am, or just set up with a text book and index cards and not leave my corner for anything but refills and the loo. Mmmm....all night coffee places. But I won't need em so much, cause I won't have finals week. *trying hard not to look too smug at being a graduate*

~R.

Mmmm...brain not working. What to say? Well I'm glad K'wyn set this up for me to be on my already existing website, I figured it was possible but I know naaaahting of how to set it up. Maybe I'll even get some help polishing my website to make it look less like a pagebuilder special :-¤

Today we went to Castle Gloum (yeah, Castle Gloom) properly called Castle Campbell.

"We wandered around for many days, lost in the forest. Finally we came upon the castle. Or...what was left of the castle I suppose you would say. Anyway, we got to the castle, but sadly...ten minutes after tea time" Thus ends the K'wyn as Billy Crystal as Old Narrator Dude section of the posting.

The way up to the castle used to have a detour where you go along wooden walkways and staircases right next to and over waterfalls and stuff of the "Burn of Cair" (stream of worry to you non scots) "But you see, when we got to the stream...the path...she was closed. So we walked around the long way around to find the path on the other side. She was closed" *Rosie slaps the old Russian narrator dude upside the head to get K'wyn back*

You done now? "maybe yes. maybe no. I tell you later"

*Rosie locates the trapdoor button*

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh"

(Rosie pushed the trapdoor button)

No I'm not having a battle with my alter-ego. I'm having a battle with one of K'wyn's. Marginally less insane. Maybe.

The point being, no groovy elfland gorge climbing. But a nice walk anyway, once it was over. *ahem* Hopefully we got some good pictures. And I managed to resist, or avoid buying another pack of smokes, so today has been nicotine free. Which believe me was amazing considering how the day started out. (Rosie getting teased by mother while holding knife, Rosie speedily go for walk before tempted to brandish knife at anything other than dried out cheese. (Rosie also leave K'wyn to the mercy of the cogsci PhD student *tap tap tap*))

Rosie go bed now. Much to do tomorrow. Including trying to get phone money out of Duncan.Yargh. (K'wyn laughs in background) And going into my bank (again) to make sure they really have paid attention to the fact that I no longer live in London.

Take care anyone who bothers to read this.

~R.

*smiles* haha... command prompt... ftp... we win. *neener neener*