Kimchi, not for me

I'm stupid. I just spent 20 minutes petting a long-haired cat.

I'm allergic to cats, particularly long-haired ones.

Now I can't stop itching.

I am so dumb sometimes.

Need to go find the benadryl now.

stinks. It really stinks. It's impossible to define and incredibly difficult to explain. But it's very real, and I'm very much in it right now.

So between that, the recent death of my grandmother, the (temporary) loss of some friends in Korea, the permanent loss of a specific relationship in Korea, and the providential severing of a friendship here, I'm really struggling right now. I miss my sisters. I have a cold, and it's beating me up way more than it should. And I've hurt myself almost once a day steady for the past week and a half.

The good news? (Beth and Lis, avert your eyes from the next sentence.) Girl Scout cookies. :) They help with almost anything.

So yeah...pray for me. I need it.

I just wanted to post a quick note of congratulations to my dear friends, Adam and Beth! I cannot even begin to express how VERY much God used them to keep me sane while I was in Korea. I miss them...a LOT. But anyway, I just found out from Adam some good news about their future, and while the news is entirely good (great and wonderful, even) it's partial at the same time. I'll explain later. Anyway, Beth and Adam, congrats! I love you guys SO much and I miss you like crazy! Your family is in my prayers, and keep me updated!

I apologize for the delay in posting. I arrived in the States Tuesday evening around 5:00 PM. I arrived in Atlanta and was welcomed back to the States by my dear and wonderful GA Mom. She met me at the airport with a delightful Welcome Home balloon, which I saved and is drooping slightly but still looking exceptionally cheerful in the living room. She also brought dog food for poor Daive (who is THE most amazing dog ever, but more on that later) and some toiletries for me. It was awesome. She drove me to my motel, and we got to sit and talk for an hour or two. I had a great time, and was thoroughly enjoying the quality time. I spent the night in Georgia, and then drove down to Pensacola on Wednesday. I had a slightly difficult time adapting to the different traffic rules, even though I didn't drive to speak of in Seoul. I rode in enough taxis to get used to the rules of the road. I felt bad every time I turned left where there wasn't a traffic light, especially a traffic light with a green arrow. I got over it quick enough though. Even made my way back to Pensacola by my own navigation skills (aided by maps, of course). I ended up renting another motel room in Pensacola, so I could go through my suitcases and figure out what I needed for everyday life and what wasn't necessary. Thursday morning came, and Jen came and met me at the motel. I managed to wait until it had started to rain (yeah, welcome back to Florida!) to load my stuff into her itty-bitty boop of a car. We went out to the airport for me to return the rental car, and then went to Alltel for me to get a cellphone. This was the day of the storming, where the huge tornado hit the school in Enterprise, Alabama. There was a torrential downpour, and while Jen sat in the car waiting for me with Daive, I was at least slightly worried a tornado might touch down and relocate my sister and my dog. Thankfully, that didn't happen. I ended up getting a red Razr, which I absolutely love. I can't remember what all else we did that day. I think I went to Wal-Mart that evening to get a few random and necessary supplies. I got to go with Jen to pick up Cam from daycare, and the boy has grown up a whole lot since August, and I thought it was him when he came out, but didn't want to be one of those weird people that hugs strange children. Anyway, it was him, and it was awesome to see him.

The next morning, Friday the 2nd, my dad called me around 7:00 AM to let me know that my grandmother had passed away around 1:00 AM that morning. Jen had been on her way to work, as was Val. They re-directed, and came back to Jen's house, where we sat for about 30 or 45 minutes, talking and sharing in some jokes and humor that many people would probably think was inappropriate. It is so a family thing...as I learned yesterday. Anyway, the funeral will be tomorrow (5th), and my two cousins are flying down from Pennsylvania today. It'll be nice to see them, but the circumstances are majorly crappy.

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was...uneventful. I actually forgot it was my birthday. Steven drove over on Friday afternoon, and we went out to eat that evening. I felt guilty and a little tasteless to be going out to semi-celebrate my birthday on the day my grandma died, but we've had four or five deaths in our family in the last five years. Anyway, I finally just came to the realization that me going out to eat doesn't mean that I didn't love or care about my grandmother.

Anyway, I'm at my sister's house right now. At the moment I'm planning to be in Pensacola until around March 15, when I head over to Jacksonville for a friend's wedding. I'm going to look into temporary housing tomorrow, because I love my sister enough that I don't want to stay in her house till she hates me. :) And even though I sorted through my stuff so I only have one suitcase in her entryway, it seems to be expanding (I know, I know, I've been doing some shopping), and I'm afraid if I stay here much longer, my belongings might take over her entryway entirely. Daive is mostly behaving with the cats. (My sister has four cats.) There's one cat that is leery of Daive, and that makes her want to see him, smell him, and possibly lick him some (but definitely not eat him, Daive's not violent like that). Anyway, overall everything is going well. It's weird to be back. It's weird to hear English everywhere. It's just kinda weird. Something I noticed just now, it's nice for the blogger toolbar to be in English. It was in English on Lis' toolbar for awhile, and then it changed to Korean for no apparent reason.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm going to go attempt to be slightly more productive than I am right now. Have fun, everyone.