Meet the Step-Daughter

No, Katharine doesn't really have a daughter. She does, however, have the charming Ms. Pyewackette, pictured above.

Pye will be accompanying Kate on her journey to America. It's funny enough that Kate and I have had to fill out documents and applications until our wrists have turned blue for her to come over here, but all Pye's going to have to do is take some sleepy pills and get comfortable in a crate for 24 hours. The United States keeps a close eye on its immigrants now, but quarantine laws for pets are virtually non-existant.

Australia, on the other hand, has strict immigration and quarantine laws. It'll be something to consider when WWIII breaks out in 2014, and the Baker family decides that maybe it's time to go back to Oz. Hey, if Mel Gibson was able to do it, why not us.

Understand that we don't call our pets our sons and daughters in real life. We love them, but they are pets, not children. My father refers to his parakeet as my half-brother. He also wanted me to take pictures of the raccoons on his backdeck so that Kate could see her "sisters-in-law."

Judging from the picture above, I think that Pyewackette will be more than able to handle her "cousins".

Is It Monday, Last Friday Or 1974?

A real quick way to mess with your own mind is to watch a movie about changing past events/memories for the second time and have it come out with a different ending than you recall.
This weekend, I paid a visit to the only video store in town that will still let me hire from them. The guy who owns this store does not enjoy my patronage and, well, rightly so. I have a wee problem with the returning part of the whole rental transaction which has left me blackballed at Blockbuster, Video Ezy and Civic Video stores Australia-wide. This guy, however, is in a precarious position, being an independent with a so-so selection situated 4 doors down the road from a Blockbuster, and as such, he’s forced to tolerate what no one else will. Neither of us is winning on this deal. I’m hiring a number of pricey new releases that rarely make it from the plastic bag they were brought home in to my DVD player and he’s too worried about losing customers to charge the full late fees that I should incur. We’re both paying for a whole lot of nothing but it’s a little game I can’t seem to stop playing.
That said, I restrained myself this weekend and hired only one DVD. It was The Butterfly Effect. I had seen this movie when it was in the theatres but looking at the DVD case in the store I couldn’t recall a single scene. Later at home, when the first scene started, it all came back to me. The basic gist is that the main character finds a way to return to certain scenes in his life and alter his actions therefore changing the present, hence the butterfly effect. However, the ending I watched this weekend is completely different from the ending I thought I saw in the theatre. So I'm asking myself: Was this a different version released for US audiences? Was this the production company’s way of messing with the audiences head? Or did I imagine the original ending? Probably the former but, I tell you, after watching all that memory manipulation and parallel conclusions; its still got me feeling a little uneasy.

Another Saturday Night

Today has been peaceful, at least I can say that. Steve and I laid down a drum track on our black box for a demo that we're doing. It was weird being at Chris' house without Chris. We still drank some of his beer and hung out on his patio for a bit.

Since then, I've just been doing a lot of nothing. Talked to my neighbor's dad for awhile in the driveway. He asked if he could take down a tree that was just barely on my property, but appeared to be part of his daughter's landscaping. I said sure, I didn't like having to deal with all those leaves and bugs anyway. I remembered when Kate was here in December and I always had to remind myself not to park so far into the drive or else Kate would have to use a macheté to get out past her door. I went inside and heard him cutting down the tree.

It wasn't that big of a tree to begin with, but when I went out later, it seemed like I could suddenly see the whole block at once. Then it dawned on me that the whole block could now see me as well. It just seems so ... open ... now out there. I don't know. It'll take some getting used to, but it's nice to be able to back the truck all the way up to the house now.

I went to Target tonight and bought three things: a fan, a drill, and a scale. The fan that I have now is more than cooling, but it also makes too much noise when I'm trying to sleep. It has been relocated to the office. The new fan is quieter, taller, and looks nice. The drill is something that every house needs anyway. I have a new mailbox that I've been wanting to put outside, but haven't been able to intstall it without a drill. That will be fixed tomorrow. Plus, the drill also doubles as a screwdriver! The scale I got because Steve and I were horsing around on Chris' scale this afternoon, and the one at Target was only six bucks. I can see how much the cat weighs now.

It's been awhile since a new post has appeared here. This is supposed to be a mutual log from Kate and I. We've been going through the whole immigration cycle, making wedding plans, and more. She's going to quit her job, sell her belongings, pack up, and leave her homecountry to come live in Arkansas with me soon. She's a brave kid, but she still claims that she doesn't have anything to talk about on here. I tell her to just come up with anything. However, you have to keep in mind that Kate could type out the instructions on how to fix a drill bit and I'd still read it with a dreamy look in my eyes.