Well after much emailing back and forth and Instant Messaging about buying airline tickets off of travelocity with an AOL browser, it seems that Jessica is, in fact, coming for my birthday! It's not that she's really coming for my birthday, (she's actually leaving the states on my birthday and getting here the day after) but I suppose it's actually a party for the both of us. Her birthday is the 8th (she's going to kill me, is it the 8th or the 12th?) and so we'll both have something to celebrate.

Well I thought it was high-time to let my parents know about Laramie. It was hardly fair that nearly everyone knew by this time except for them, so tonight I worked up enough strength to break the news to them. I had already tried to make it known that it wasn't a 'for sure' even back when we got back from Laramie. There was no use in making the opportunity seem more than it was; simply an opportunity which I no longer had any say over.

Of course I was honest with them along the way, a great interview in Laramie, a slightly animated lecture that I gave, calls from all of my recommendations (lengthy, positive discussions which only made me feel better about my chances) and the waiting game we were playing.

I called them and they were more than sympathetic/supportive but also I could tell that they stil know me well enough to know that I'm not completely knocked off of my feet by this 'setback.' Is it a setback or simply a direction finder? It's like I'm a golfer (only three times in my life) and I've picked up a handfull of grass and I'm dropping it in the wind to see which direction it's coming from.

Now if that wasn't an analogy, I dont' know what is. I suppose it's sort of un-applicable in the references, but I suppose it makes sense. This is what we wanted anyway, absolute directions. No to this and yes to that and therefore it all works out in the end.

For another analogy (better fitting, as I have actually done this myself) simply replace golfer with softball player. Or in references to track and field, we'd lick our finger and hold it into the air. I doubt this was the more acurate of the two, but still, it's all about trying to figure out which way is what.

I did, however, get an email response back from a guy who has a really great web/advertising agency in Laramie, and he suggested (via my suggestion) that if Eva still wanted to go to school, that I should get in touch with him and maybe I could work there. The only problem with this avenue is that it seems that in such a small town I'd be running into the person who got my dreamjob at every turn. We'd bump into him/her on the ski-slopes and our carts would mangle at grocery stores. But, I suppose in light of the situation, it's better to have as many opportunities as possible. And this is one. Albeit a slightly strange one, but still an opportunity. Besides, he likes my stuff. That's always a nice blow on the finger.

:)

Oh, and goodbye February. You certainly were the shortest month I've lived in awhile. This time next year, try to stay around a bit longer, ok? I don't want my life to be filled with Februaries. I don't suppose it helps that it's a couple of days shorter than most, but this month seemed to begin and then end, all in the span of a week or so.

IN THE NEWS:
In the final minutes of their lives, Columbia's astronauts were cheerful, at times lighthearted. They helped one another in the cockpit, collecting empty drink bags and putting on their spacesuit gloves. The two women mugged for the camera. They remarked on the blast-furnace heat outside — mere minutes before the superheated gases were about to penetrate the left wing and lead to their deaths.

There they are with such life, I think it's rare that we have instances recorded in such manner. They're putting on their gloves. I suppose in any instance where life ends so suddenly with a viewership of millions, it is so troubling. What makes this different than the post-action shots of dead people laying in the street. I suppose it's the life-part.