Well, here I go..

After 5 months, eleventy billion blog posts, and reams of pointless paperwork, it all comes down to this: tomorrow I fly out of the great city of Seattle and hope the pilot manages to point the plane in the general direction of Japan. I should be arriving in Okinawa around 9:30 pm on Wednesday, Okinawa time, after about 15 hours in the air and eighty million years in layovers.

I do have somewhat of an irrational fear of flying, but I think I'll manage. Unfortunately, my kitties will not be traveling with me because some goddamned moron (me) fucked up some paperwork. And by "some paperwork", I mean the one document that is required by the Japanese government for my cats to even board the plane. See, this is why I hate useless, complicated paperwork: the important stuff always gets lost in the shuffle. So, the cats will be joining us...eventually. But, on the bright side, at least they won't be stuck in a kennel for 2 week while Eddie and I get moved into base housing. By the time they get here, we will be moved in, settled in, and ready for them to come tear up our government-issued furniture.

Shponker and Garfield seem to be settling in here at La Casa de Lori's Parents. Shponker is becoming the conversation piece du jour, but that's to be expected, since he looks like an alien. Garfield is still timid and hides a lot, especially when Squeak picks on him (um, Squeak? Did you perhaps miss the memo where you're 18 years old and aren't a scrappy kitten anymore?).

That's all for now. I have to finish cramming a few things into my overstuffed suitcases and *maybe* get some sleep tonight.

And for anyone who's noticed that my NaNo progress has ground to a halt, all I have to say is: I have a 10.5 hour flight followed by a 3.5 hour flight. Rest assured, I'll be catching up.

Off to the Land of the Rising Sun!