6 Days until departure

Hello once again!

This time I am writing to you from Los Angeles, CA! I just landed yesterday at around 1:30pm and was picked up by my father. I am spending all of the coming up week with him before my departure to London!

The hardest part of yesterday though was the leaving. I was leaving my family for a whole year to a far off place. You would think my family would get used to not seeing me, noting that I see them only around 2 or 3 times a year currently, but I imagine this time since it's only once in a year it is taking a toll on them. At the airport my mom started crying while she was hugging me. It was a very emotional moment because I knew she would truly miss me. She needed me as her anchor. I was the one she would turn to for advice and help and anything else that she may need. I was always just one phone call away, but now we don't even have that. While abroad the only way she can talk with me is through yahoo instant messenger or through email. She wants me to call her everyday, but I think it would be best to make it about once a week so that she gets used to the idea that her son is away. Of course I won't start straight away with that but will gradually ease into it. I don't want to hurt her feelings anymore than they already are.

My brother seemed to be really hurt also. While I was at the bookstore yesterday he called my dad and wanted to talk with me and was bawling due to the fact that I had left. He truly missed me which was a weird concept considering most of the time while I was there we hardly talked and even got into a couple of arguments. He is an odd character, but I hope he will one day become more than that.

So to change topics entirely, yesterday at my Dad's house I started to play Myst III: The exile, and it is a fun game. It is very challenging and forces you to use your brain. I am still stuck using the hints occasionally, but only sometimes. I am getting better. The premise of the game is that Atrus, the main person, writes Ages. These ages are such that they actually exist, so in essence he creates miny planets. The way he creates them is by writing a book about them. Once the book is completed you just touch the inside of the book and you can transport yourself into that age. Well the story plot is that the evil guy (can't remember his name) comes and steals one of the more important ages and so Atrus sort of has you go after the bad guy in order to recover the book. The 1st problem is getting into a certain room. You have to solve complicated puzzles with drawings that are hard to distinguish (which is why I used the hint book because I couldn't see what the monitor was showing, I needed a clearer picture). Once you get into the room the bad guy disappears and basically says you have to complete 3 different ages in order to find him in a 4th age. So the premise is that you have to go to each of the ages and solve tasks in order to get the guy his book back.

So yesterday I played and was finally able to get to the room in J'annin (the age you start in) and finally learned how to get into the other ages. I first tried Amaterea which was not that bad of an age. It took me a few tries to understand what I needed to do, but once I got the concept it was pretty easy. Only one puzzle was difficult to solve in which I need help on (and only minorly). So I finished one age, and only 2 more to go. My hope is to finish the game before I leave here! That should be an exciting goal.

Also yesterday my dad and I went to Barnes and Nobles. He wanted somewhere to sit and work on his computer and I wanted a new book. Oh, as a future notice. The book called "The Illuminatus!" by Robert Shea... horrible book. It is a fun read, but also very difficult. I swear the person who wrote it was on some kind of drug because the scenese change so fast. Like within one page sometimes you will go to 4 or 5 different settings with different people talking about totally seperate things (like there are 6 ro 7 plots going on and you have to keep track of all of them). So, it is basically way to confusing. So I wanted another book. After looking at the science fiction section for a while I chose "Ender's game" by Card. I had noted that a lot of people say that this book is a good book and so I decided to sit and read. After reading about 6 chapters I fell in love. The author writes with such grace that you just can't put the book down. You are drawn so quickly to the characters that you have no option but to keep going on with the book. I would highly recommend it to anyone. I hope to finish that book by tonight so I can maybe get another one!

Well, I am at my dad's work and it is getting busy so I should go and start reading my book. Things to do for me today: Go to the bank to deposit any cash I have on me, find Samantha's missing cooking stuff, and find my European money bag.

Tons of love from Los Angeles,
Aram the Garmo