A half hour ago, I was on the phone with trukkle, when an email arrived in my inbox.

This is what it said:

Your application has been approved and the visa has been issued. Please check your visa immediately on receipt to ensure that we have completed your visa correctly


MY VISA IS APPROVED MY VISA IS APPROVED I AM MOVING BACK TO ENGLAND I AM GOING TO BE WITH JAMES I AM GOING HOME!!! :D :D :D


I cried and hyperventilated and laughed and squealed with James and sighed enormous sighs of relief and euphoric joy. :)

Thank you SO MUCH everyone for your support and kind words and encouragement, you honestly helped me more than you know, and I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends who care about me. It's been a long, horrible wait, but FINALLY IT IS OVER. Oh gawwwwwwwwwwd I'm so happy. And exhausted. *G*

ohmygodohmygodohmygod EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :D :D :D :D :D

Oh, hello there. :)


( The Hobbit and the Weasley invite you to peruse their Adventures )

♥

I HAVE trukkle's DOCUMENTS FOR MY VISA APPLICATION :D

Oh, the squee! It's probably a good thing I have to run off to work now, otherwise you'd have to endure a mile long post with graphically sappy details about how much I love James and can't wait to be back in the UK. Eeeeheee.

They arrived by courier about five minutes ago, along with a gorgeous romantic love letter, and a little card from a pub called The Tame Otter (located between Wigginton and Weeford OMG HOW CUTE IS THAT ;-), just because it reminded him of me. Le sigh. :)

Oh, I am so happy.

Squeak. :))

Neil said so, it must be true. *beams proudly*

Oh, I'm so happy. :) On Friday trukkle went to the Graveyard Book event in London, where he met my friend arcadiaego and proceeded to have a jolly wonderful time laughing and being adorably excited dorks at each other, yayyy. Neil read Chapter Five from the book, answered lots of questions from the audience (like about his buddy Jonathan Ross's recent behaviour, and quite possibly confirming that he is indeed writing for Doctor Who - I need to write him about that, actually ;-), and then did a swift and efficient signing for the fans. Well, it was swift until trukkle got to him. *grins*

arcadiaego was first, and was able to have her picture taken, which was lucky, before moving to the side in a state of abject squee while James had his turn. :) He said he was there at my request, and Neil lit up and asked how I was doing and said lovely things about me and wheeeee :D Then James said that I was very well and in fact recently became engaged...to him. (Eeeee I am now Officially Unofficially Engaged. I think. ;-) And Neil beamed and shook his hand and congratulated us, and said more lovely things about me and then James had to leave because the girl behind in the queue was getting jealous and making 'hmmmph' noises at him. ;-) So he stumbled off the stage in a giddy daze, as Neil called out that he liked his shirt (which I bought for him of course :) and James and Liz went back to their seats to bask in the glow of a brilliant evening. I'm so happy for them! I wish I had been there, of course, but I'm thrilled they had such a marvelous time. And even happier Neil said I was magical. Oh, bliss. :)))))

Old lady: I want a book on the Louvre
Me: Wonderful, we have many art books for you to peruse, I'm sure you'll find one you like -
Old impatient lady: We just got back from Paris
Me: Lucky!
Old and quite possibly insane old lady: Yeah, the Louvre was great, but we were so disappointed in the gift shop - we wanted to buy a book about all the art we'd just seen, but couldn't get one because they were all in French. Can you believe that??
Me: ...
Me: *blink blink*
Me: Let me show you were the art books are...


Then there are the people who come into the shop, not knowing the author or title of the book, or even the genre or subject they're looking for, and expect us to know what the hell they want. I can only assume by MAGIC. And if I had magic powers, I sure as hell wouldn't be wasting them on finding shitty romance novels and mass market thrillers. Srsly.

A woman came in today asking for 'some sort of Frankenstein book' for her son, by 'Mary somebody, I guess....' I WEEP FOR HUMANITY.

My favourite, however, is the lady who came in yesterday, again not knowing what she was looking for (at all) - she knew beyond a doubt the author's name was Elizabeth Case, and when I couldn't find her in the computer we spent nearly two hours roaming around the store (I did of course leave to help people with real books to find, but because I am So Nice I kept coming back to help my crazy person, plus I crave a challenge ;-). We searched in vain, because, of course, the author Elizabeth Case did not exist. Guess the real name of the author she was looking for. Go on, guess. You never will. :) After countless 'are you SURE that's her actual name, not Libby Cass or any variant of Elizabeth Case imaginable?' and her annoyed replies that YES OF COURSE that's her name and being cross at me for daring to suggest she could be wrong...the author she was actually looking for was, in fact, Kate Atkinson. Which TOTALLY sounds like Elizabeth Case, I'm sure you will agree. *rolls eyes and sighs* So hilariously, epically wrong. Sheesh.

In other news, I am ridiculously smitten with Supernatural (and especially those utterly adorkable J2 boys). Bweeeeeeeeee. :)

Because I don't have anything remotely interesting to say today, have a literary-themed meme:

List 10 books you have on your bookshelf that you think nobody else on your friends list has on theirs. (I didn't include First Editions or signed books, and I'm sure I didn't produce a particularly unique list. But I think the result is a rather good cross-section of my interests, and probably offers insight into my personality, which might be even better. :)

1) Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens by James Davidson
2) The Arthur Trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland
3) The Witch Must Die: The Hidden Meaning of Faerie Tales by Sheldon Cashdon
4) The Queen's Conjurer: The Science and Magic of Dr. John Dee, Advisor to Elizabeth I by Benjamin Wolley
5) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (but only because it isn't officially released until next week ;-)
6) Kimi wa Pet (complete manga series) by Ogawa Yayoi
7) The Dinosaur Heresies by (the brilliant) Dr Richard T Bakker ♥
8) Behind the Dolphin Smile by Richard O'Barry (The tragic history of the dolphins who played Flipper. *sniff*)
9) Life, and How to Survive it by John Cleese and Robin Skinner
10) The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible by Jonathan Kirsch (I highly recommend this to everyone, it's fascinating.)


Tomorrow the cable company is coming to install my new internet connection, HUZZAH! No more AOL dialup for me, thank the Great Green Arkleseizure. *grins*

And even better, on thursday ashfae and randomchris arrive from Edinburgh, wheee! I am so excited to see my best friend again, it's been three and a half years already since we were last together, and I am utterly beside myself with bounceyjoy and glee. Yayyyy. :)

In other words...Happy 30th Birthday to me. ;-)

I received a call at 530am this morning. Normally this would not be a cause for celebration, but today, it most definitely was. :)

trukkle had his interview this morning in Hove, and not only did it go blissfully well...he got the job! HE GOT THE JOB. We can finally begin filling out the visa paperwork so I can move to the UK! IT'S REALLY HAPPENING OMG OMG FINALLY YAYYYYY.

ENGLAND HERE I COME!

*happyspazflailglee* :D

Hello poodles!

Thank you SO MUCH for all the kind words of reassurance and support on my last entry -- I do apologize for being rather cryptic (hell, I apologize for writing it all), but I didn't feel like going into details and just had to let something out else I essplode. I'm sure I'll write a proper, detailed entry about just why I was feeling particularly upset this weekend, but this is not that entry. Today is for cheering up, and finding the things in my life right now to enjoy and feel good about. Thus I present to you a list of Things That Make Me Happy:

1) trukkle has a job interview on monday with a computer wholesale/repair company, which he is almost guaranteed to get, which is fantastic on many levels. The job would give him work experience for college as well as a much needed paycheque, and it would mean I could FINALLY begin filling out all the paperwork for my visa application so I can get on with moving to the UK! Plans would be Back On and life would not end and I could stop feeling so bloody useless and miserable and gahhhhhhh we really need this job. *laughs* No pressure or anything James. ;-)

2) The amazing Peter S Beagle friended me on Facebook! AND HE KNEW WHO I WAS OMG. *spazflail* :D I've met him several times (ComicCon, ORC, and The Return of the King Oscar Party) and shared some fantastic conversations (and lots of laughing!), but I didn't think he could possibly recall me from the hundreds, if not thousands of fans he meets every year. I feel so honoured to be remembered by one of my favourite authors, especially when he's such a charming and wonderful man. Yay me! :D

3) I know this is very silly, but I love my new mood theme. Hee. I feel like posting more just so I can use every mood on the list! *grins* And isn't posting more a Good Thing? Yes, yes it is. :) I think I've written more entries this month than I have in years. Which is probably a bit sad, really. When I first had my journal (in 2002!) I posted nearly every day, about musical performances and London all kinds of fun things, back when I was living in Surrey and had an entirely different life. It's difficult to think on those things without feeling overwhelmed by regret, but my new life will begin soon, and I won't have to feel upset about the life I once had, or the people I thought loved me, ever again. Hurrah. :)

4) I'm going to see Eric Idle again at the Hollywood Bowl next week! WHOOOT.
Have I mentioned lately that I've met all the Pythons (except that partypooper Graham of course), some more than once? Oh yeah. I'm just that awesome. *smug*

5) This post from Cute Overload - ZOMG OTTERS. Happy burbling chirping canoodling utterly mindblowingly adorable otters! *sighs happily* :)))

Happy Independence Day Americans!

To celebrate, I give you the most patriotic video you have ever seen. Enjoy! :)

...seriously, watch this video. It will BLOW YOUR MIND. *giggles* And yes, I am using my LJ icon ironically. Hehehe. ;-)