Running about

Today is the kids last day of school. We had originally planned for them to go until the Friday before we leave. Then we moved it to this Friday and then to today. There is just so much to do we need them at home to help pack and to get ready for the big Moving sale this Saturday. It should be quite an event. I posted it on craislist.org and have already gotten some phone calls about it. Cross your fingers. Hopefully we can sell or give away everything we want to get rid of.

Reservations...

I have reservations. Not about going to australia. I have plane reservations. The tickets are bought and paid for. I should have them in my hands in a week or so. We are also close to having the shipping of our personal goods finalized. Mostly what we are doing right now is trying to get everything going into storage packed and put away. We are also preparing for a garage sale this coning Saturday. Lots to sell. It would be nice to put together a few dollars from the sale, but mostly it's about clearing out the house. Wheeee.

And they're off!

Last night I got the visa packet delivered via email. I got it filled out and sent back last night along with a good bit the of the supporting documents. I just scanned them in and sent them in a couple of emails to keep the file size from getting too big. This sure is a lot easier that when I went to Japan in 1986 or even when Tomoko came back to the states with me in '91. That was a lot of sending stuff back and forth and chasing down documents which took forever to get processed or delivered. I like this way better. I've only got a couple of letters of recommendation to go and then the dreaded physical examinations. Those are scheduled for next Wednesday. I've done that before too and there's not much to it. The doctor pokes you a bit, takes a blood sample and an x-ray and that's about it. Unless there are unforeseen complications we'll be in australia by the end of November.

In other news Paul is coming by tomorrow to pick up the comic collection. I'll tell ya, selling my funny books has made this all very real in a way it wasn't before. I know, I'm an adult, sort of, but I like comics and graphic novels. Parring the collection down to a size I can reasonable put into storage was a little painful. Ah well, it's in a good cause and maybe will finally break me of my collecting impulse.

The contracts are signed. Now the paperwork dance for the visa begins. I've been through this before when I went to Japan to teach and study. I wonder if it's changed?

On the home front we move closer to being ready to go every day. I sold my comic collection yesterday. I kept a few trade paperbacks and limited hardcovers, but everything else went, including statues and some of my original art. Right now getting enough cash together to set up house properly is my biggest concern. It's enough that I'm moving my family to he other side of the planet. I at least want them to be comfortable there.

Next is the piano. It's only a year and a half old and is really beautiful, but we may not be able to get as much for it as I had thought originally. Hopefully we can make up for it with some collectable items I had forgotten about.

Everyone is getting pretty excited. Tomo especially is looking forward to living in the city again. She's a city girl born and raised and living out here in the burbs wouldn't have been her first choice although she likes the schools and all our friends. She just loves being in the thick of things in the city. I think she's going to get her wish.

The Adventure Begins

We're moving to Sydney Australia. That's what we'll be talking about here. I got a job offer from a studio in Sydney on September 29th and accepted it on October 1st. Now the mad scramble begins.

Let me introduce the family. I'm Kenn. I work in the animation and VFX business. I've been looking for the right job for about 4 months. This one seems like the perfect fit. My wife is Tomo. She was born in Japan but is a naturalized US citizen now. Alex is my son. He's 14 and started high school in August. Zoe is 12 and started Jr high in august.

My contract is for 3 years so we have decided to rent out our house and sell most of our belongings. We want to store only our most important personal items and take only the most important ones with us to Australia.

I've already sold my '67 VW bug. I listed it on Craig's list and got rid of it the next day. I've been planning for about 5 years to restore it and give it to Alex when he starts to drive. but never had the time or energy. Tomo is thrilled. She's been after me to get rid of it for a while now. If fact we are really simplifying our lives here. I have a pretty extensive comic collection that I am going to sell. The owner of my regular comic shop is coming by tomorrow to look over the collection. I've known him for 17 or 18 years so I trust him to do right by me. I'll get what I can for the books and move on. I got my reading enjoyment out of them. I have a bit of a collecting jones. it's time to break the habit and this is the perfect opportunity.

Our only regret with the move is that we did a major remodel of the kitchen and really the entire downstairs about a year ago. We love it and we've only had a year to enjoy it. Fortunately, the rent will cover all or most of our monthly expenses of running the house while we are gone so we're not losing by it. It's just sad to be leaving it so soon after we had the work done and suffered through the remodel. Ah well. That's the way it goes.

That's it for now. I'm going to try to get other family members to blog here as we chronicle the move and our adventures in Australia.