far from home
the only advantage of celebrating my birthday in this land of strangers is that I can take advantage of the international date line and celebrate it for two days. for when it wraps up here, it should just be picking up in the american time zones. the older i get, the harder it gets, and the bigger of a deal i make of birthdays, it seems. YES IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! i hope you've filed your taxes.

things here are interesting. drama continues to unfold, but it's being received very well. surprisingly well. which makes life both nice and hard.

today we started the stress & rescue section of our dive course. it involved a 1.5 km swim/snorkel. i kicked everyone's asses. it seems that no one is really in the habit of swimming laps, as i once was. it was nice to, once again, establish american dominance over this piddly nation. ;)

it's getting late and i'd really like to go to bed before i turn 26. i love you guys and miss you. knock one back for me, eh?