I caught up with several more people this week, but still haven’t put out the massive “I’m back, come see me” to everyone yet… it means I’ve been able to ease myself into seeing everyone (and the hideous cold). This week I caught up with Grandma & Grandad, Josie, Saku, Dace’s girlfriend Laura and Mickey. Mickey is off to New York City soon, having acquired his green card in the US Diversity Lottery the first time he applied (*cough* bastard *cough*). Having applied a couple of times myself (with no success), I’m more than a little jealous at this. However, since I won’t be able to take advantage of a US green card for several years yet, not a lot of point in me applying this year. Anyway, it was great to see him again, as I hadn’t seen him in years. It was good seeing everyone again, and I seem to be averaging at least a couple of hours with anyone I sit down with! Then again, with an opening line of “So… what have you been up to for the last… *looks at watch* 2-5 years?”, I guess I couldn’t expect anything less! I also very randomly ran into a classmate of mine from Uni, Dan. He’s apparently working at a local software company, and I might hook up with him later, maybe about some work, maybe just in general.

I looked over all my Student Loan documentation this week, looks like I’m good and the records that I’ve been keeping are correct – yay for me!

I also looked into the Japanese language courses at the Polytech here, the courses are free, just need to pay for the textbook. Speaking of Japanese things, I got my preliminary endorsement from the Japanese Consulate, hurrah! Now I just need to get my official Acceptance Letter from Todai back and in to the Japanese Consulate. After all that’s done (needs to be done by mid-August), I then administratively sit on my thumbs until December, when the final decision comes in from the Monbukagakusho office in Tokyo. I should get the notification that I definitively have the scholarship shortly before my graduation ceremony.

On the broken things front, I had to get my bike repaired this week as well – new tires, new handles, new light fixtures, etc. I managed to forget to get the pads for my helmet, though. Ah well. I got an update on my laptop as well – still in the shop, more things than they thought might be busted, and they’re having issues getting parts as well. They said another few days, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

I changed the internet plan at Mum’s (downloading 2 years worth of Windows Updates killed her usage for the month) and cooked dinner for Mum – we both marveled at each other for coinciding for a meal. I’ve been out meeting with people for dinners and coffees and whatnot since I’ve been back, and have barely really been at her place. In part this is due to my receiving a flood of mothering that I’m not used to and didn’t really want and so I haven’t been spending as much time at her place as I initially thought I would.

I’ve been feeling very weird since I’ve been back, very disconnected. My feeling of transience hasn’t really gone away, but I’m still essentially living out of my suitcases, so that’s not terribly surprising. I’ve been missing Anastasia a lot – I got to Skype with her this week, apparently my Kiwi accent has thickened back up remarkably quickly after obtaining a slight American twang while I was away. I also started looking into flights to and from the US between now and Christmas – I figure I might as well, since my work permit is valid until the end of the year. I’ll need to get a new visa, I guess. In news from across the water, Anastasia got the TV people to come and take away the rest of the TV. *sigh* Such a shame, that.

Abby’s party was this week, it was good to go and see some people although a bit weird to go somewhere and see all of my sister’s friends… and not have my sister be there. Not the usual context, although nice to say hello and so on. I showed up with Rach, Slosh and the KAOS contingent, which pretty much doubled the size of the party when we arrived.

As an aside, I also did a preliminary visit to the Carlton, where Dace’s 21st is being held. I’m in charge of music and the slideshow (already did the invites).

As another aside, I also started watching this interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates this week: