move, completed

We're still living among mounds of unpacked boxes and our furniture situation is in a state of flux, but at least we're moved in.

It's been nearly a month since we moved from one part of Northwest D.C. to another part of Northwest D.C. (we moved north and east, ending up near here). The first week after we moved in, neither of us spent enough time at the new apartment to bother to unpack anything (I was working 16 hour days and Kirsten was out of town for work). So what is at best a slow process - unpacking - became even slower. At least now we've got most of the boxes opened, a few of them emptied and even have furniture arranged (figuring out how to fit things in the living room took the better part of a weekend). Now the wishlist includes things like unpacking the final few boxes, figuring out where everything goes (instead of simply piling loose ends on top of the unpacked boxes), trading up from our free couch and acquiring a desk to configure some sort of computer work space (although just hauling out the dual laptops in the living room works too, I guess).

I can see a future, someday, when every surface isn't covered with loose ends. I don't know why I think such a future exists, since my past has mostly been filled with loose ends everywhere, but such dreams are nice to hold on to.

a plan

My work on the Springfield, Mo., ice storm disaster-recovery effort is done. (At least as officially as it can be - they never really tell you when you're finished, you just go "on call." But it's in the last gasping stages, and there's almost a zero chance of more work for me).
So I'm headed up to Columbia this weekend to relive my glory days. Then back to Springfield to finalze packing effort, then next week head to DC with stops in St. Louis and Indianapolis (hopefully a game at the new Busch will be involved). Then I'll land in DC just in time to ... well, at this point I have no idea what I'll be doing in DC. Looking for work and ways to earn money. Exploring the city, and reaquainting myself with the tourist spots I saw years ago. Piling through a to-do list that has built up since I just couldn't get myself motivated at the end of 12-hour days (or even the shorter ones). Perhaps a little road trip thrown in for good measure.

a new point

We're gone from North to South. Left Wellington, packed even more stuff into the car, got on the ferry, and drove most of the way down the east coast of the South Island, stopping in Dunedin.
Dunedin seems a nice enough place - it's New Zealand's version of a college town. About 100,000 population along with 20,000 Otago University students. We haven't had a chance to see if those students actually give the town any life; since arriving on Tuesday we've mostly been holed up in bed trying to shake colds which have plagued us for a week now. We're also doing a bit of cleaning in exchange for free beds at a hostel. That's the reason we ended up in Dunedin: we didn't have any real idea on where to go, and this was where we found free accommodation.
What I can tell, however, is it's an interesting city visually. It was founded by Scottish settlers in the 1800s, and there are plenty of big, imposing, European stone buildings around town. It's also built on shoreline hills - Dunedin claims the world's steepest street (which I haven't seen yet). And outside of town is the large Otago peninsula, home to the world's only mainland Albatross colony (if you consider New Zealand a mainland) as well as two kinds of penguin, one the world's rarest, sea lions, seals, and all sorts of other things to look at.
It's not the first time we've passed through this town. Dunedin is actually where we spent Christmas. Five months ago, the town was cold, grey, and our car broke down. Now it's cold but sunny, and our car is working so far.
(knock on wood)

maybe we won't kill each other

So for the next three weeks or so Kirsten and I will be traveling about 2500 miles in the car, driving for a day, then stopping for two or three days. Eventually, we'll end up in San Francisco and fly away.
I've done long road trips, by which I mean a week or so of hitting different cities each day or two. After about five days of living out of your car, tempers flare. Tension rises. Kirsten and I may not be engaged by the time we get in that plane.

no more health insurance

I am officially unemployed. My last story for the Hattiesburg American, at least as a full-time employee, was sent minutes ago.
It's an anticlimactic end - as always before a Conference USA media day in Memphis I stayed out too late and had to wake up too early. Now I'm just really tired and facing a five-hour drive.

Here we go

the story:

The best part about this move so far has been the reaction I get when I tell people what I'm doing. Everytime I tell someone I'm leaving Hattiesburg, I invariably get the standard question: "Where are you going?" Then I answer.

"I'm headed to New Zealand."

And immediately the face goes from the normal OK-standard-polite-conversation-mode, generally into a double-take and a mixture of envy and confusion. It's fun stuff.

New Zealand's working holiday visa application went online July 4. We applied late July 5, and I think I was approved as soon as the immigration office opened and someone could hit OK. It may as well have been instantaneous, and certainly took less than 24 hours. Much better than what would have happened before, when NZ required you to send the application - and your passport - to the embassy.
I was approved by the time I checked on July 6. Kirsten (thanks to spending too much time in Mexico) was required to get a chest X-ray and mail the results to New Zealand. She got her approval today, so we can each officially work for a year from the time we enter New Zealand. Of course, we're leaving on August 28 and as of yet neither of us has any idea what we'll do, or where we'll live.

I'm looking forward to it.

the leap

Eight days left until I leave Hattiesburg. I'll be three months shy of four years spent in Mississippi.

The heat index was 110 today. I think I'm all right with leaving.