How facebook updates can change your life...

On Wednesday morning I got up. Evaluated my to-do list for the day. Hyperventilated.

Went to the gym. Acquired some endorphins to empower me.

As I stepped out of the shower I heard my sister's voice on the answering machine. Got dressed. Called her back.

It's about 2am her time. (In Australia)

"so hey, she says, are you free from September 15 to the 27th?"

" Absolutely!" I said. I did not even have to check my calendar. Because more often then not, I go 10 days at a time with no obligations, resonsibilities or scheduled events whatsoever. You too?

Back up a day or two. I had posted that I was feeling blah on facebook. The way one does. Because people love nothing more then reading about everyone else's passing malaise on facebook, right? My sister responded that it was a post-run drop in endorphins. I flippantly responded that the cure could be her flying me out for the half marathon she will be running next Saturday. In Australia. Where she lives.

Hence her 2am call. And my moment's hesitation before saying, "heck yeah" (although you all know I would have used my South African non-swear-word equivalent in there.)

Put in a quick call and left a message for Aaron to see if he was cool with assuming all my duties and becoming a single father for ten days.. and we were all set to book the ticket. We had the itinerary. And it is brilliant. Flying into Sydney, then off to Queensland to run a 1/2 marathon (which has since been downgraded to a 10K-even better) alongside the ocean. Which may be even better then along a road-kill strewn gravelly high-way. And then to Adelaide to finally see where my sister calls home.

So I am shopping for pins (read on), and having thrills of anticipation, when I get a call from Aaron. Yeah that all sounds cool he says in his ever accommodating Aaron way. "Do you need a visa?"

A visa? Nah. I doubt it. I'm South African. Weren't we all part of the commonwealth at some point?

Turns out that in fact, I do. Common-wealth, schmonnom-wealth. No loyalties there, mate.

Visas take 15 days to process (sometimes much longer, the website earnestly assures us). I am set to fly out in 5 days.

Hmmm...... Well then, I guess the trip is off. Easy come, easy go. But...sad go.

"Oh no" my never-say-die sister assures me airily, "they just say that. I have gotten visas in just a day or two. It won't be a problem." She busies herself googling to find an Australian consulate in my area.

Not so much with the Australian consulates in Ohio. Washington DC it is.

I call a few hundred numbers and finally get through to a helpful yet non-committal person who kindly tells me that if I send a letter indicating the urgency with my application, there is a slim chance it will be processed in time for me to fly out on Tuesday.

This leads to a full day (or in my poor sister's case, a full night) of visa application form filling out and the rounding up of all manner of other documentation in an attempt to show that I was not planning to ditch my family and take up a new life permanently in my sister's guest room. It truly did take the entire day.. and the entire evening-all the way up until 1am. The entire day which you may remember from way back at the start of this post, had started with a "to do" list that made me hyperventilate. So somewhere in between all of this I was getting all of that done.

In addition to all of this excitement, I embarked upon a massive sewing project. Except I dunno how to sew. Happily a friend sprang to my rescue yesterday, sat by my side and taught me the mysteries of my borrowed sewing machine, empowering me to do a fairly terrible job on said project. A terrible, yet mostly completed project. And now I am on my way. I can thread a machine and wind a bobbin fearlessly. And I have learned how to use a seam-ripper very, very well. There is no stopping me now. Thank goodness for friends. Really and truly. More on the why I embarked upon an urgent and massive sewing project when I can't sew during one of the busiest weeks of my year thus far...later

So as it stands. It is now almost Saturday and by next Saturday I may or may not be running a race alongside a beautiful stretch of Australian coastline and alongside my beautiful sister of course. Time will tell. (I am to call the consulate on Monday for the verdict, by which case it might be too late to buy a plane ticket). It's been an adventure anyway. So strange because last Saturday running another race in 2 weeks was not really on my agenda. And running it in Australia-well even imagining as much would have given cause to believe that I was suffering from dehydration induced delusions.

But right now, I am suffering from sleep deprivation induced delusions....
Later gators

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