I don't feel quite so guilty about working on personal stuff tonight. I got the kitchen and living room reasonably tidied. Jeff cleaned the guest bathroom, and I tidied up the guest bedroom. Laundry's going now. This house is in much better shape than it was 48 hours ago.

I even got a bit of work done on the site for Andrew and Joy. After much tweaking I finally got around to sending them a proposal for the front page of their site.

All this…after getting my spouse to the mall this morning. Dillard's had some pretty sweet end-of-season sales going on today, and Jeff finally has some new pants and shirts. We got a few pair of pants, about four dress shirts, and a pair of shorts—for $70. Once I get the pants hemmed, he's set.

Andy emailed me this morning to let me know that he's taken care of some more planning for my vacation (aiiieee…it's SOON—two weeks!). He's purchased the Broadway tickets and the hockey tickets. I'm starting to get really excited about all this. I'll send him a check for all the incidentals (tickets, rail fare to New York, my part of the hotel cost) as soon as he gets me a final total. I'm trying to make sure that I pay for as much of the trip as possible, before it actually happens.

I'm still somewhat amazed that I'm going to be in New York City for my birthday. It's a city I've never been to, and didn't figure that I'd be seeing anytime soon. I think what really amazes me is that after this, I will have seen almost every U.S. city that I want to see. I lack Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Next year I'm wanting to expand my horizons a bit; I'm thinking of taking an extended weekend and staying with Brad for a few days. He's willing to traipse off to Vancouver with me for a couple of days.

I prattle on about this in such a haphazard fashion, and it's hard to convey the sense of wonder I have that I'm actually getting to DO this.

Many of the places I've seen in the past year or so were never quite real to me until I actually set foot there; I think the best example of this was the Lincoln Memorial. I walked in, and the sheer enormity of the building fascinated me. This photo gives an idea of the sheer size of this building:

Amy, Lincoln Memorial
by domesticat.
[full photoset here]

I have so many places left to go, I wonder how I'll manage to see them all. Even though I'm never totally comfortable in large cities, I make myself go to them anyway because there's so much to see and do while I'm there. I have to just swallow down my uneasiness and remind myself to enjoy the moment; later, when I'm home, I can twitch and shudder at the sheer nearness of so many people.

My itch to go overseas is growing. I've experienced a lot of what America has to offer, and I think it's time to go see a bit more of the rest of the world. My concepts of the rest of the world come only from the books I've read and the few people I know who have actually had a chance to travel abroad.

If I've learned one thing from the places I've been, it's that the books are often wrong, and you have to see it all for yourself.

I guess it's time to start saving up the cash, hm?

Side note: Jeff apparently just found another medical experiment in the fridge. I'd better go see.