So, as usual my "brief time away" has turned a bit epic. But, all is for the good. My last journal was about how my appeal with UCR was rejected and my offer to attend was rescinded. This was a heavy blow and I had to get used to the idea that 1) my self-imposed summer banishment to the middle of the Mojave Desert was worthless and 2) that I would be waiting yet another year to get on with an education that, quite frankly, should have been done a decade ago. Part of this acceptance was to begin classes at my local JC. I didn't have much energy to be happy or positive or creative, hence the absence. Then a week into classes I get a letter from UCR that they reconsidered. I'm not sure why but I've never been one to look a gift-horse in the mouth (or to abandon a chance to use an old cliche) so I dropped my JC classes and have enrolled at UCR. Better yet, they accepted way more of my transfer units than I anticipated and it looks like I can have my B.S. in just under a year. Furthermore, it looks like I will be able to study abroad next summer in my home away from home, Argentina. There have been some hiccups here and there and nothing's perfect but things are certainly better. I won't be active till things settle down but I am not gone. I have actually been putting this journal off for a while and then I realized that the last episode of Pokemon DP was today. I got that game as a wedding gift from my wife. It's what led me to PCA which in turn is what kept me here at FA. It is because of this *childish* yet very awesome gift, not to mention quite a bit of understanding on my wife's part, that I have my friends here. I appreciate all of you,


~y.