110 days go to, hopefully.

What. A. Month.

I’ve worked three out of four weekends this month, and boy am I relieved there are no more upgrades on the near horizon. I’ve done next to no gaming or reading, I’ve taken over the Xboxcast Twitter, graded to red stripe (tkd), called my home-sick sister, force-fed an extremely sick cat, run 5km every week, and pretended not to be put out by my brother inviting himself and his girlfriend around to cook dinner for them. Every lunch break is filled with errands or doing things for other people. But honestly, it’s been pretty awesome (and productive).

I read a blog post this morning entitled Just do the Next Thing which just reinforced my conviction that sometimes it is completely ok just to plod, so long as I’m moving forward. Especially, I’ll add, when it looks like your dream of moving to Melbourne by October is looking less and less likely…

It’s ok, I’m not down. Just tired.

On the single weekend I did have free, I set myself a small goal. Next to my desk, in this photograph, is box of more childhood knick-knacks.

I made decisions on all of them and made all the necessary plans to get my childhood gymnastics medals framed (which took 2+ weeks). It was enough for me to even shift my desk closer into the corner, which gives me a sense of slightly more room which I’m enjoying (before and after photos below).

Speaking of this room, as I’ve only got four(ish) months left until our planned leaving, I need to start clearing up my PC of any local files and ensuring they’re all in OneDrive so I can sell it. This is not going to be a rewarding task, since decluttering my harddrive is not going to be nearly as aesthetically pleasing and clearing out a shelf or cupboard.

I don’t have a lot to say about the following progress shots, so enjoy the before/after without so much waffling. The differences are tiny, but I’m still proud of them.

The Before and Afters

Kyle spent an entire evening considering each and every one of his albums.

My bottom drawer is missing because the thing completely fell to pieces a few days before this photo was taken.

The Personal

I’m getting more and more reluctant to talk about Melbourne with any of my friends. Earlier in the month, Kyle was talking to me about what it was like to immigrate to New Zealand, and how that affected his friends. It made me realise that by bringing up Melbourne all the time, I might be hurting them more than I realize. Thankfully, most of my friends have been supportive, but I know what it’s like to pretend you’re ok with something but still struggle internally.

The other interesting thing is having numerous people ask if we still think we’ll make it to Melbourne by October, or worse still, they ask if we’re still going at all, due to the COVID-19 fallout. It’s hard not to notice the hope in their voice sometimes. It’s stupid, but sometimes I wish we weren’t quite so surrounded by people who love us because I feel like I’m letting them down.