Celebrations

Friday was Sean's 29th birthday, the last one either of us will celebrate in the U.S. for the next couple of years!  We went to Kitchen Zinc for their delicious pizza, and our waiter was a guy who Sean knew from some Little League connection back in the day (admittedly, this happens all the time when you hang out with Sean or Linda...another restaurant we really like, Leon's, also has a former baseball colleague working the floor.  It's nice to be known!).  Afterward we saw Guardians of the Galaxy, which was really fun. I knew the reviews were positive, and I'm always easily entertained by a popcorn flick, but I was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely funny it was. Sean really enjoyed it too, which is rare kudos.

Last night was the 12th annual crab sauce fiesta in Sean's honor.  It's always fun, and even though I don't really even like crab sauce, Linda's pepperoni bread and that fucking delicious pistachio cake are always to die for.  Shane and Nicole, whose May wedding I'll be missing, informed me they're going to launch a Kickstarter to pay for my ticket home.  Then Ward suggested a Kickstarter to take all of them to Rome, instead.  Then they thought perhaps do both, and see which one makes more money!  Hey, I'll gladly attend their nuptials if they want to fork over the $1,000.  As it stands now, I don't even actually have a ticket back to Rome in January.  I'm waiting to book it until the autumn.  It's a little tricky, since I'll have to pick a "return" date that's within my first visa period, and then change it later once I have the visa renewed. They won't let you buy a one-way ticket anymore, apparently, in case you decide to become an illegal alien; the airlines can even force you to buy an exit ticket at the gate, not something I'd like to risk.

In other Rome news, I've added a printer, speakers, and a foldable guest bed to the pile of trophies awaiting me!  AAR posted our bios and photos on the website, and after I'd gone to the trouble of having a little "photo shoot" with Sean down at Yale, they just used the professional shot they took in NYC, anyway. Pfft. They wanted a photo of Sean, too, for "internal communications", so not a total waste of time.  By the way, they call him and other spouses "Fellow Travelers", which I found amusing because that used to be a term for Communist sympathizers.  In the words of Homer Simpson, go back to Massachusetts, pinko!

Now that August has begun, we're almost at the 1-month mark.  I keep looking at my closet and thinking "but how much can all that really weigh?"  I have 122 pounds of luggage allowance total, which sounds like a lot, but which has to include heavy things like all my shoes, my rainboots, my winter coat, and my laptop.  Forget about bringing lots of supplies like shampoo, either; there's no point, when I'll just have to buy it there eventually anyway.

...Part of me doesn't want September 7 to ever come, so Sean and I don't have been separated.  Another part of me just wants to GO already!