ASAP indeed

Suddenly the tables have turned and I'm the one having nothing to do but wait while Cam runs around to do a hundred errands at once! And yes, I am complaining. But we are sooo thrilled that suddenly we have an ETA and that is going to be very soon!! I have reached a point where, no matter where I am at or what i am doing, I feel tired of always doing it alone. I have been able to live alone for years, travel alone, be content doing my own thing. But I am so ready now for Cam and I to start sharing our personal existences with each other! We've been there, done that and now we are going to mesh like peanut butter and jelly. And now I kinda feel like illustrating that....

Whats also more thrilling is that people ask me about Cam and when he is arriving all the time. As if there was a genuine concern for when our reunion will be happening! These are people, whom most of the time, I can't remember their names... It's a beautiful thang. And now that it is starting to get warmer, an All American BBQ is certainly required in order to induce Cam's new status of Americanish!! Huzzah!!

Nothing much else to report except that I am more excited everyday for my love to show up at my door. And the fact that I STILL have tortillas in my fridge.

Visa... GRANTED!

Just back from the US Consulate! The Visa has been granted!! At last!!!! I am so incredibly relieved and happy: I had the biggest, goofiest smile on my face all the way home on the train from the city!

So, what was it like? The process itself was really, really simple - probably taking 15 minutes from beginning to end. It was just the stuffing around with typically secure American security to actually get into the consulate, then a lot of waiting around.

Did I say a lot of waiting around? Sorry, I meant an interminable amount of waiting around. In a waiting room that makes your average RTA/DMV waiting room look like a funfair. Bland, white, dull. Not a clock to be seen anywhere - like it was some kind of timeless purgatory or limbo, or a gateway to another dimension where time runs at the speed of frozen molasses on a really cold day. I arrived at 8:00am, and my processing didn't begin until (I estimate - no clocks, remember!) 11:00am. I was ninth on the list of immigrant visas to be processed! Ninth!

There was a family getting some sort of immigrant visa done ahead of me, and I swear that they hadn't done any of the paperwork required. Every time I looked, they were filling out some new form that should have been completed before their interview. It's fair to say that they were the main reason for things taking so long, as they commanded the attention of the consular officers for over an hour.

The one interesting thing while waiting was listening to people discussing their visas with the consular officers. And before you think that I was eavesdropping on people's private discussions, I should point out that there were microphones installed at each window which basically broadcast these discussions around the entire room. People with minor criminal convictions pleading their case for entry (most of these got their visa). Students from foreign countries trying to enter the US directly from Australia (none of these were issued visas). All sorts of people heading off to the Land of the Free for all sorts of reasons. At certain times, I reckon there were 80-100 people waiting for their interviews. Non-immigrant visas were processed a lot quicker than immigrant visas like mine, just in case you were worried about how long people were waiting!

Finally, it was my turn, and I approached the window. The officer basically took everything off me in one fell swoop, quickly checked my passport and told me to sit down while she went through my application and paperwork. Ten minutes later, she asked me to tick one box I hadn't ticked, returned all my original documents and asked me to wait for another, more senior, official to give final aproval.

A few minutes later, the senior official asked me some very general questions about my relationship with Christine, took my fingerprints on his dinky little finger scanner and approved my application! That easy! The Visa and the magic "Sealed Envelope That I Must Not Open On Pain Of Death" will be processed today and will be in my mailbox on Monday!

To say I'm happy and relieved is an enormous understatement! Now to get the heck out of here ASAP!

Nervous? A bit!

Well... I'm ready. Ready as I'll ever be, anyway. Everything is printed, collected, collated, sorted, copied, checked and then checked again. A couple of dozen times. It's all sitting in my bag, ready for tomorrow morning. Shirt is ironed. Nothing more to do now except wait for tomorrow. I may not sleep much tonight, but we'll see. In less than 12 hours, I'll know how I went. Everything crossed for me?

Cam's thoughts on his new career as an astronaut

There are probably some of you out there who have read Christine's last post and are now sitting there scratching your head. "Is she serious?", you're asking yourself. Or, "You can't do that for a wedding!" Well, here's what I think about the matter...

One of the things that I love most about Christine is that she sees the world through unconventional eyes. Doing things the same as everyone else is not for her. And it has a wonderful effect on me, because it makes me look at things differently as well, question why things should be done just because that's the way things are. And her vision of our wedding as space opera is just such an example of that. At the very least, there's a lovely metaphor of the exploration of our future lives together to be had.

Now, I've done the traditional wedding: itchy grey suit and tie for me, (admittedly lovely) white dress for my ex-wife, marriage celebrant in the beautiful grounds of the family property in the Southern Highlands near Sydney, the whole nine yards. It was a great day and everything was perfect, but I don't want or expect this to be replicated with this wedding. I - like Christine - am after something new and different, something that sums up our adventurous spirit and the way we want to live our life together. Free. Exciting. Unrestrained.

I think it fair to note here that if I had come up with something for this wedding by myself, it wouldn't have been as "far out" as what Christine is imagining. But her enthusiasm for the idea is so infectious, that I can't help but be excited by the idea myself. And getting Christine enthused and passionate about the ceremony itself is very important, because in a lot of ways I don't think she ever imagined herself as getting married at all.

It's easy to think is that Christine isn't taking the idea of marriage seriously, that this is just some kind of big joke to her, but nothing could be further from the truth. Christine and I have talked extensively about the responsibilities and promises inherent in a marriage, and she is fully aware of all of these things. (In fact, I've probably made extras sure of her comprehension because of the way my first marriage collapsed.) It's just the actual ceremony that she worries about, and being able to shape it the way she wants is very important to her. Her need in this case is far more important than mine, so I'm up for whatever makes her happy.

In the end, it doesn't matter to me what we wear or do, as long as the legal requirements of the State of Oregon are met, and - more importantly - as long as we truly mean what we say when we exchange our vows. The external appearance is fleeting; it's what's in our hearts that truly matters.

I for one, welcome our new alien clerical overlords


I thought I would take this time to fill you in on this "wedding" that will be taking place this July.

It will be a different mix to most weddings and it may be hard to call it a wedding at all and more of a performance art piece. The idea of organizing a wedding sounds as boring as talking to grass... which I don't do often and hardly recommend. SO. What I have come up with is a project in which Cam and I will be celebrating our new life and expressing the exploration which the years will bring with Portland as our unexplored frontier. We will be prepared for this challenge, dressed in full astronaut suits ready to take on whatever the day may throw at us.

With equipment of a DV camera, small trampoline, and our small crew we will set out on the town. What we hope to create is a short montage film of Cam and I appearing many places within and out of the city, running, jumping or just sitting on the MAX. The footage will be edited later and slowed down in order to create effects of weightlessness and freedom. Scenes will include sunrise above the city, playing cricket in a park, riding the MAX, skipping over a bridge, and then eventually the ceremony.

THE CEREMONY will include Cam, myself and Kevin Marcott as our alien pastor. Communicating through an alien tranlator, Kevin will speak in his alien tongue which will be repeated in English throught the translator. Cam and I will exchange words (in English for the family) and then from there we may be sucked into the mothership and taken to a far off destination that has not yet been disclosed, but probably a pub of sorts :D

Cam and I may begin the filming process a week or so in advance so the family will not have to follow us for an entire day participating in our crazy hijinks. The exact date will be posted as soon as Cam gets around to getting his VISA and actually landing in the country first. Details are still being processed but now you can rest easy that the situation is not up in the air. LOL! Pun totally intended!

US Consulate Interview date set!

D-Day is Friday, 27th April at 8:00am. All things being well, I should have my K-1 Fiance Visa in my hot little hands on the next business day (Monday, 30th April). Cross everything for me!

Now that things are almost done, now that there is a tangible feeling to this whole saga, I think both Christine and I are becoming impatient. She vocalises it a lot more than me, but I feel exactly the same way. I just want to be on my way, but even now things get thrown in our path...

Take, for example, shipping my belongings over to the States. Christine asked why I couldn't do that now, and I didn't really know (apart from not wanting to jinx the interview)... so I went and looked it up on the internet. And what's the first thing they ask you for?

A valid Visa for entering the country you want to move to.

So, like it or not, not a lot can happen until that tiny scrap of paper is issued to me at the end of this month. It's maddeningly frustrating, but we've made it this far!

Now I know how closure feels!

When my previous wife (Sian) and I separated, I somehow managed to keep hearing about her life. I didn't want to, it just seemed to keep happening. And every time I heard a new little snippet about her post-me life, I would feel the blood begin to rush to my head, and I'd get flustered and red, furious, angry, sad and bitter all at the same time.

So it was very interesting today when I was having lunch with Sian's brother Cecil and his partner, Krithia... For on their fridge was pinned an invitation for Sian's wedding, which had happened just a few weeks previously. But far from feeling these horrible emotions that I have felt before, I basically burst into a great big grin: I simply didn't care what she did with her life anymore. I didn't say anything about it to Cecil and Krithia - there was no need to - but I just felt completely at ease and relaxed about this turn of events. With this, I truly know that I have left this part of my life behind and am ready to venture forwards with Christine.

It's just funny that this closure comes just as my Visa application process is coming to an end - talk about timing!

(I still can't stop smiling!)


Hey! So I've been off the blogs for awhile. Even though I just got this new fantastic super nice 23" Cinema Display for my laptop. I have been doing fun big screen related stuff like a 300 party, and seeing how many different windows I can display at once on it. Other than that, this illustration portays my life in modern day evenings.

Being completely procrastinatory is not all I have been doing. I have been sending out a few 3D renderings or so hoping to score a modeling job so that my screen will be able to be used more industrially than recreationally and I can ween may way away from the Mac Store. I am terribly excited about this hardware. It fills me with joy.

Other than that, I have been wishing I could go to the beach on my days off. Coogee preferably.