Rosanne's Lounge

Whoever thought I’d be writing a subject-line like that, huh?

Still, Doug just got his confirmation letter granting him a Spouse Visa (Provisional) and saying they’re transferring the file from Washington to Auckland which usually takes three working days. He has to go get the actual visa placed in his passport, and then he can come home (flight is already booked for March 18th) and apply for work, sell photos etc and get a Medicare Card! More importantly, it ends the up-in-the-air feeling which was beginning to give him sleepless nights. Let’s hope this means things really settle down now.

Whoo hoo! And other noises.

It’s true! We’re also selling things, but some things just have to go.

The little blue apartment will be having a clearance sale on Saturday, February 9. We’ll be selling a futon bed (base and mattress, queen-sized), a regular mattress (queen-sized, a year and a half old), bookshelves, pots and pans, some clothes, cushions and who knows what else. There will probably be knick-knacks. There may even be re-gifting. We’re giving away a washing machine (it’s Jack’s but we have permission) and we’ll happily take early bids for any of this stuff on the proviso you come and take it away as soon as you possibly can [1]. The unemployed and single parents may enjoy peppercorn price tags!

I’d love to say proceeds will be going to charity, but I’m afraid they’ll be replenishing the empty coffers after shipping all the beautiful stuff Doug and I bought from the States. It’s mostly my old stuff that’s going.

Come one, come all. Address e-mailed on request.

[1] We want office space back!! If you’ve ever tried fitting two two-bedroom apartments into one two-bedroom apartment, you might have an idea of what we’re going through.

Despite last minute scrambles to get extra paperwork and half-plans for Doug to stay an extra week in the hopes that the Immigration Department will issue his prospective spouse visa now, we’ve decided to take the flight as planned tonight, so we’ll see you all in Melbourne on Sunday. Well, actually, we’ll probably see very few of you on Sunday and more of you at Tim and Nicole’s wedding on Monday.

The last few days have been stressful. Some of it has been lovely though, including a last visit to one of our favorite spots in Palo Alto, a restaurant called NOLA, where we had creole shrimp and passionfruit and guava martinis, followed by a trip to Watercourse Way, where we soaked in a private tub, languished in our sauna and generally relaxed. The next morning, we went to Moma to see Eliasson’s latest work, which was brilliant and which I don’t have time to describe.

Anyhow, flight at 10.30pm our time. We land in Melbourne around 12.30pm Sunday. I don’t know where my mobile phone SIM is but my home number is the same as it was.

And for the record, this journal returns to Australian Government Style Manual, Sixth Edition, starting Sunday. Thank effing heavens.

This last week is kinda crazy. There are people we’d love to say goodbye to in person but can’t for one reason or another —

anthologie

is booked up,

mizchalmers

is in New York,

joedecker

is in Patagonia.

We had a fabulous dinner with

galagushka

and Lars last night at a sweet Cuban place in Palo Alto called La Bodeguita del Medio which was divine. We really will miss those two a lot.

Sunday we went to see Bee Movie for a break — it was great! — and then came home and had a family dinner and played Scrabble with Doug’s sister.

Saturday we went out to the De Anza planetarium to watch a laser show accompanying Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album. that was fabulous: a real blast from the past. I’d forgotten how good it is and the laser show was incredible. Even better though were the times when they just let the stars and nebula-scapes slide across the ceiling while those songs softened in between wails and the sound of money clinking. “All that you are… and all that you feel…” There was an amazing moment in conjunction with the ‘lunatic is in my head’ where the entire hemisphere of the ceiling turned to veins and suddenly we were flying through a brainscape. If you live anywhere nearby, it really is worth the $9.

Only two nights left and we’re gone. Eep.

We leave on Friday. The following *stuff* is available for nominal donations. It’s all in excellent condition, bought new at the beginning of the year or more recently, but won’t work in Oz.

• Four-disc DVD box set of Firefly
• Motorola headset
• Electric toothbrush with wall mount
• GE digital messaging system with cordless phone
• White two-slice toaster
• Sub-woofer and two speakers for multimedia system (i.e.: has mini-audio plug)
• Large number of power strips, including funky orange one from Ikea