Good morning, afternoon, and evening, everyone! _{(Man, it's tough keeping up with international friendships, no wonder I'm not in government. )}

Wanted to post a new journal primarily to remove the old one, as The Typographer's Society is now officially a Super Group again! Very pleased with all of the donations I received, in particular from a small handful of people that helped the most. You guys are awesome.

After I came back from Colorado in August, I needed to get to work making a dent in my loans, and immigration, so that I could reach my target of moving to Colorado by the start of April 2012.  So far, I've made significant steps towards that goal.

I got a job at RONA - which is a big-box hardware store, similar to Home Depot or Lowes - and I'm a floor sales associate in the paints department.  And man! There is a lot to know about paint!

I would have never guessed that one could have so many different choices regarding it, but it's pretty incredible.  I'm on my sixth day today (starting at 1:45 PM), and I've already learned a lot of stuff, and I'm pretty good at my job. I really like this position, because there's a certain sense of high customer satisfaction when I mix a good, deep color for someone and show it to them once it's done - I get to watch their eyes light up in excitement over the wizardry and mystery that is my paint mixers.

Based on what I'm making and my hours, I'm going to be capable of making a significant dent - over 50% - in my loan by the end of the year. Then, the next three months (January, February, March) will be about finishing that off and starting up the immigration process.

I'm excited.  Things are rolling.

I also moved in with my best friends, and have been living with them for over three weeks now, and things are amazing between us all.

Since the start of August, one of the things I've been on is this ... mad crusade.  To get rid of everything I own. And it's amazing how much stuff I threw out!

Boxes, bags, clothes, old electronics .. LOTS of them.  Cables, cards, tools I never used and sucked, more old computer crap, furniture that was falling apart, old devices that I swore I would repair one day - never did; tons of old memorabilia from times long gone and not missed, almost 90% of the files in my credenza - who the heck keeps every single travel document they ever collect? I did, apparently.

I threw out well over 300+ pounds of papers and trash, and the remarkable thing is that now, the room I am in physically cannot get messy - there's barely anything in here to make a mess. I mean, this went so far as to looking at my computer case, deciding it was too big, and throwing it out.   I took my motherboard's mounting screws, drilled them into two custom-cut 8x2x1 pieces of wood, and put the motherboard there, with the PSU next to it, and the HDD's underneath. It's pretty awesome.

So, that's what I've been up to, in a nutshell.  How's everyone else doing?