Today’s our one-year Cali anniversary! Yes, it was exactly one year ago today that we left snowy, cold Oregon for warm, sunny California. Well, it’s usually warm here. I knew the move would be rough, though I had no idea it’d nearly kill us. Even so, we have survived! In one year we’ve gone further than we got in the 3 that we lived in Oregon. We’ve got new computers, a camera, an iPod, desks and more. We didn’t even have a kitchen set in Oregon! An old, peeling, and beat-up table and lawn chair hardly count as a dinette of any kind.

If someone had told us where we’d be a few months after leaving Oregon, I’d have wanted to drop dead on the spot. Had they told us where we’d be a year later, I’d have laughed!

I’m helping Tom help himself with not eating himself sick. Fortunately, he’s never eaten to the point of puking, but he upsets his belly at times on his days off by eating too much crap. So he’s doing what I try to do and space out his food so he eats more often but less at a time.

We decided to take a chance at upgrading our internet speed to the second-highest speed out of four, and we’re now twice as fast! In a month or so, we’ll step it up another notch.

I won another writing contest! Just some bullshit essay about how duct tape saved the day. I made up some line about being scared of mice and jamming the hole with duct tape where the sink pipes go through to keep them out, and it got me a Tee and a roll of duct tape in Orange Blast. Cool, huh?

I don’t know if I’ll get it, since I’m obviously not getting the popcorn samples I also won, nor the perfume, nor the Karmaloop shopping spree, but I won a $50 Amex card in an instant the other day as well.

Since Jesse hasn’t shown up, we’re assuming he got a construction job. With that kind of thing, you just gotta go on whatever jobs they give you, whenever they give them to you.

Anyway, other than just lounging around doing our usual things these last few days like watching movies, programming, fine-tuning the new computers, writing, enjoying the radio, entering sweeps, playing around in Kiwiland, and running a few errands, life has been good. My sleep is still cursed (even at night now), but life is good. We tried Rally’s, a grocery store Tom ran out to today, and I love their Chinese buffet. I got chicken fried rice, and sometime I’ll load up on a little of everything except for chow mien and egg rolls. It’s not a good place for regular grocery shopping, though, as opposed to Walmart, cuz it’s so expensive.

We canceled Rhapsody and got commercial-free, unlimited song-skipping for just $35 a year with my old Yahoo radio station. The only thing I can’t do now is downloading, but with my recorder, that’s ok.

If things could stay running as smoothly as they have for the rest of our lives, even if this place is too small and too old, that’d be just fine with me! God, I hope we never have any disasters half as bad as last year! I know one thing for sure and that’s that I’m never going to stop praying for things to be ok no matter how mad I may get at God for the unfairness in this world that has touched myself and others.

Of course, staying away from the off-brands helps keep us safer, too. Jews may not be as hated here as in Arizona, but no matter where you are, the off-brand prevails.

Tom and I both agree that while I may be best as a psychic at influencing and with dream premonitions, there definitely does seem to be an uncanny coincidence with “jinx-writing.” So many things I’ve written in stories, letters or journals have come true. Therefore, after I finally get around to finishing the stories I’m working on now, I should definitely try to incorporate more of what I’d like to happen to us for real into the story somehow.

Tonight I’ll be redeeming points for lip gloss on KB.