Today's installment is another episode of too busy living to write about it, so I have a lot to mention.

First and foremost, I've gotten my surgery date confirmed: 2002-03-15. My surgeon, Sanguan Kunaporn, says I should be in Phuket on the 14th. I'm going to try to be there at least a day before that.

Now that the date's set, the fun begins. Emotionally, I believe I'm ready for the surgery. Financially, I haven't a hope in hell of having enough in the bank by that point, so I'm going to likely have to take out a loan to pay for everything. However, I've already figured that into things, and I won't mind it if that's what it takes. I would rather have the operation done and be on the road to recovery and dealing with the financial worries for five years than have to put off the operation until I have the money on hand. 

Second, my psychiatric evaluation is finished, and apparently the doctor that I visited thinks I'm a woman. Imagine my surprise. With that step completed, now all I have left is the operation, which is already scheduled, and the hair removal, which was going to take years anyway.

Speaking of hair removal, I'm likely going to be able to afford my next round of facial zapping with the high-powered laser as soon as my tax return gets back, which was its own party. It turned out that if Jessie and I both filed single, we got back $800 between us (Jessie got $1100 and I owed $300). However, if I filed as head of household and claimed Jessie as a dependant, we got $2000 ($1400 for me and $600 for Jessie). I think you can guess which one we took. It's weird that the numbers should change so drastically by such a minor change in status, but they did, so we're taking advantage of it. I mentioned it to my father and he didn't see anything wrong with the plan, so I went with it. He knows more about this stuff than I do anyway, so I trust his judgment.

I just got back from a trip up to Pennsylvania to visit my other mate and go to some job interviews, and I hope like crazy that I hear something back soon from ISI or the recruiter helping me land that job. I think it was a really
positive meeting with their company, and it sounded like a fun job, not too challenging but enough work to keep me occupied. Further, if I get it, it means that I can pack up and leave Texas that much faster, which is the real reason I went up for the interviews in the first place!

Being around Efrain again was absolutely wonderful, and I miss my kitten a lot. I hate the fact that Jessie and I can't both be up there, and I'm sending Jess to Philadelphia a week from Tuesday which means for some amount of time, until either Jessie or I land a job in the area, I'll be away from both of them. While I'll still have Miranda around down here in Texas, I'm going to be going steadily nuts. However, it's only temporary, and I'll head up to be with my loves by June anyway even if nothing works out, and then I'll get whatever position I can find up there.

It's a bit strange, getting ready to send the person that's helped keep me the most stable away from me. However, I know it's a short-term separation, and soon I'll be back with my mates. Things are going to work out. I believe it