I married my girlfriend so she could get her green card, so she could get a better job since she was here on an employment visa in a job that she hated. She can also go back to school now and not pay out of state tuition fees, which she's doing to pursue a CPA. But I told her that part of the deal is that she's still my girlfriend until we marry for real in the future, IF we marry in the future. She and her parents and friends seemed to understand just fine, mine however seem to ignore our situation; my mom considers her a daughter-in-law and refers to her as my wife, etc etc. Quite irritating so I've just given up trying to correct them. She never asked or hinted about getting married to get permanent residency. Instead she told me she was worried about her company downsizing and laying her off, and then she'd have to go back to Denmark since she's here on a work visa. So I came up with the idea of marrying her, sat on it for about 5 months, then said "ahh fuck it, never been married before and I'm in my 30's. The worst case scenario is divorce on my record. Big deal." So we went to the local courthouse and got married. Then an immigration attorney wanted about $3000 to fill out forms that didn't look to difficult to me, so I did the paperwork for her myself, hired the attorney on an hourly basis to review what I did (for $200 total), then submitted it. Then about 3 weeks after her green card showed up she got laid off. It was a close call.

I told her that when she gets citizenship I expect her to hand me her absentee ballots. I'll be damned if somebody like Obama gets elected because of her vote.

I just bought a condo that is about 100 feet from the beach, and paid less per square foot than what's for sale inland. Wasn't really looking to buy, just to compare the market from what is was a year ago, but ran across a deal that seemed to be too good to be true so I jumped on it. Feels strange because almost every day I realize how much I like the place. It's just a condo, but I seem to like it far more than even my first home I bought 10 years ago. I'm within walking distance to everything, and for somebody who put about 200,000 miles on a vehicle in 7 years as part of my job, being able to walk to most places I want to be is really nice. I made a low ball offer just to buy time to do more research, and the seller accepted it. I didn't expect them to. What I later learned was that the seller was not desperate, but was instead elderly and burned out on being a land lord, and dealing with agents, and trying to sell the place, and didn't really need the money, so she just unloaded it to the first serious offer, which happened to be me. Cool!

I'm looking into buying oil/gas futures for 2008, I predict Bush will do something to Iran.

I've made money on www.intrade.com by betting on Guiliani. (Thanks Juan)

It's been a good year.

You been busy.

Hmm lets see:

Moved to Australia to RMIT in Melbourne continuing my degree in Business Management
Wore winter clothing for the first time ever (its so restrictive :/ )
Turned 21
Went to a casino for this first and last time and played blackjack with a $50 principle and won more than $5000 (and then lost it all again).
Thinking of moving out soon because I just can't stand the relatives I'm staying with.
Became part of the Student Staff Consultative Committees for RMIT
Volunteered at RMIT English Worldwide to conduct English conversation courses for ESL students
Planning on going to Hawaii later this year to see my sister and go skydiving!

Yeah thats all I can think of right now.

Hey Indigo.. didn't I see somewhere that you also lost your virginity this past year?

Wrote a book, got my design and development practice firing on all cylinders, started a family. Have a bunch of personal projects to turn my attention to now that the book is done. The book should be published in about 30 days.

started out living at my parents house
immeadiately became an alcoholic
bought our own house
went into major debt
was engaged
bought a dog (i cannot live without that beast)
learned how to re-finish hardwood floors
planned a wedding & got married on st. patrick's day
went to Vegas & had the worst honeymoon imaginable

I think that's everything. Past few months have been pretty boring in comparison.

The last year has pretty much been same ole same ole for me. Only thing that changed is I got back on the bike and did my first race expert race in years earlier this month. We'll be moving to a new house in august right across the street from a trailhead to a state park with about 20 miles of trails. I'm excited about that.

Quit my job about a year ago, I was working for a complete slimeball. They were screwing me on overtime, so I sued my former employer, and won in court. Tooled around looking for a job all last summer. Eventually found a new gig working on CT and MRI imaging. So, I’m sort of responsible for people’s healthcare. A scary prospect.

Drank beer, chased women, and watched sports. Really, it’s a pretty good life.

Got married in July to Luke/MajicWalrus.
Moved to a new apartment.
Read a lot of crap.
Wrote a lot of crap.
Took 29 credit hours for my final semester of college.
Moved to another new and less crappy apartment. (It's still pretty crappy.)
Graduated!
Went to Columbus for a concert.
Watched my husband get a promotion at work while I, with two degrees, can't get hired anywhere new.
Interviewed for new jobs.
Sat on my butt and read a lot of Harry Potter. (I just finished two English degrees; it is time for some light reading.)
misc other things that need not be mentioned.
Thought about babies.
Returned, sort of, to Kungfoo. Quietly at least.

I still work too much. I still don't sleep. I went out of town with a total stranger because he invited me to see The Police live. I spent countless nights with friends talking about deep subjects. I met a couple of neat people I now call friends. I buried my dog. At times I was very happy, at times very sad. I watched people I love go thru cancer. I watched my brother drive away and start his new life. I was bored. I wasted time. I was always late. I had a blast.

Graduated from college (finally) with a degree in Political Science (focus on national security and terrorism) and minor in French Studies. Given that this makes me beyond useless in the job market, I'm off to law school. My wife and I will start law school at the same time, this August at BYU. Our LSATs and GPAs would have gotten us into much higher ranked schools, but the difference in debt load for both of us on the way out - $250,000 - kept us here in Provo. The wife plans to go into family law - especially adoptions - and I'm still undecided about what area I'm interested in.

Finally bought a house. It's a 3 bedroom townhouse in Provo. I've made lots of little upgrades to it and I'm loving being a homeowner.

Went back to Florida for the first time in over 4 years in May. My family's still nuts, Florida's still hot, and not much else going on there.

Got two cats. They're brothers from the same little, and we've had them since they were 2 months old. We like owning pets, and are actively avoiding becoming one of "those couples" that treats pets like children.

Car was totaled by an uninsured driver (who was likely an illegal immigrant, but is married to a U.S. citizen). Wife and I both walked away from the accident, but our car was trashed. Had to use all savings for law school to purchase and register a replacement car, so it looks like we'll be taking out much more in student loans than we'd anticipated. Owner and driver of the car act as if it's our fault and are unwilling to pay - I guess this is the thanks I get for translating for the driver after the accident and helping the EMTs check her out. Pisses me off even more that they had a 2006 vehicle they obviously could not afford and, due to their lack of financial discipline, destroyed our paid for in cash 1995 vehicle that was actually insured. I'll get some pre-law school trial experience, at least, as we will file in small claims this week to get our money back. New vehicle has all the insurance a man can get.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE INSURANCE THAT WILL PROTECT YOU IN CASE YOU ARE HIT BY AN UNINSURED DRIVER. For $3, I could have tacked on property damage coverage for uninsured accidents to my policy and avoided all of this mess. Make sure you are covered now.

With the exception of the accident life has actually been really good. We're sodding our postage stamp of a backyard tomorrow, and I'm happy to have my own little green space. I'm antsy to get out of the U.S. and already looking into international law school internships. As I have the goal to live on each continent at least once (with the obvious exception of Antarctica), I'm hoping to find an internship in Australia/New Zealand or somewhere in Africa or Asia. My wife will also need to find an internship in the same location, which makes things more difficult, but I'm hopeful.

Man, you don't want to go to Antarctica? I am just nuts about going there. I was thinking of packing all of my shit in storage and doing a few months down there as "support staff" (Basically shit work for the researchers.) Just to have that experience of being there. I really want to do it. I thought about going on one of those ice breaker boats with the scientists that tell you all the interesting things about the place. Of course that is like over $10,000 for a week. How awesome would that be to say you lived on Antarctica? Ya don't hear that every day. BTW, to anyone who cares, I am taking donations for that $10,000 trip. :)

Oh yeah, I'd LOVE to go there. Just not LIVE there - our rule is at least 1 month for it to count and knock it off the list, and for obvious reasons (some of which you state), that just ain't happening. But I'd love to take a quick cruise down. The other thing I'd love to do is take a cruise around Cape Horn. I've heard of several that leave from Buenos Aires and go up to Valparaiso... now that would be a blast.

To continue:
Got a job with the BODIES exhibit... for 14 days. It was killing the family.
Then got back on with my old job at the science museum... life is good.