THIS WEEK ON our little telenovela, we begin HD-Chapter Five Hundred and Nine, In Which The Honda Makes A Resurgence, the Audience Reads A Private Email, Events Are Explained and Discussed, Many Words Are Written, and A Small Caffienated Change Takes Place.

I just want to stop a moment and thank the people that have helped in some way up to now. There are some kind and generous people reading this page, and some come from places and situations I never would have guessed would read me, let alone care about the Straits of Nezua. I would be happy to thank them publicly, but some people specifically request to remain anonymous...and I hate to assume different for anyone else. But rest assured that every little bit of anything—info, encouragement, fateful incidents, centavos—is helping, and I promise to um, live blog, from wherever the hell I end up. I'm actually tentatively (well, I've agreed) to post on Feministe the second week of July (I think?) because I thought it would be great to step into the middle of a blogwar the week I am still unpacking boxes. If you don't know what I mean by "blogwar", don't bother! (And no, mis hermanas, I don't think you were treated fairly, so I don't mean to imply that I see the whole thing as a conflict of two equally-weighted and opposite issues or something like that.) Seriously, I won't fight. I'm too full of sweetness and light oh SHNAP I'm the lyrical Jesse James. No, no no, I'm the helical Frasier Crane. No I'm the blogular Valerie Plame. I'm the Xicano Auntie Mame.

The plan. We have to sit down and go through my emails and make a chart of who knows what and has expertise in what area, and has offered what. Because the key here lies in our planning this whole thing right. Mister X might know immigration laws, and Ms. Y happens to live in an area we were thinking of going and can say which places are worth looking into; another friend offered a sleep-over spot on the drive through if we need it, and so on. As Kurt said.

And so on.

I just remembered, like I do about every tenth hour for the last month, that I still haven't called my newfound family after their welcoming and kind email. Rebekah! Forgive me. Just give me a little while more to sort out my emotionally shifting life here (hi everyone, welcome to my email to rebekah quintana) it's nutty, I've even stopped going to my Spanish Classes (why did i capitalize that?) because I'm in the StraightAhead car right now. Don't have a lot of room to let the dog run. And so...I don't call because that's a whole new situation...and important one. And, yeah. I'm just fried right now. I should just pick up the phone and call one of these days I'm walking in the setting light of the sun. I will, soon. I need things in my home and life to calm down a little. I hope you can understand...I will call in July. After we've moved to...wherever we end up. I think it will be Southern California. In that case, it might be easy at that point just to set up a day we can all visit. We'd be in driving distance, then.

So it looks like we can buy the car back from her mother. It will cost us about $2K. That's a big ole chunk, but we are hoping that the other things we have going (cashing out 401Ks and such) will add up to what we are figuring. Luckily, "G" just got laid off, so to keep current on his child support, he is going to work on this car for the mother in law, before we buy it from her. SO, if all that goes well, we can have mi novia's old car back. We had to sell it for cash. Sort of like an in-law pawn shop. But a good one! No markup on the resale. And no sniffling creeps lurking in the shadows with their parents' keepsakes curled up in a batwing.

It's not a bad car. Average, I guess. 80s? 90s? Maybe 90s, yeah. Honda of some sort? A little beat up after the years, but...well, I hope the week-long repair thing goes well. Having una ranfla would be good, es muy importante. This will allow her to work, and us to live. We both need to work, and while I can earn money from home, she needs to drive. And well, you just need a car in most places non-NYC, especially with una chavalita, mi lunita.

The rest of the feria we've alloted for our "budget/goal" will go to renting a uhaul trailer to pull, first and last month's rent, gasoline..and some money for food and other things you need when you move somewhere. Razors? Soap. Laundry machines.

Man. We are going to have to get used to the idea of throwing a few things away. That great curved springy wooden Ikea chair. Our glass entertainment stand? The stool I've had since I was with E's mother? Ah. I'll really have to wait and see as we we pack the trailer. We're downgrading, as we still have the furnishings of our old suburban joint packed in the garage.

This part always stings a bit.

Remember I said something about the Winter Fat Suit? Well, I know it's only a small change, but for the last week I have cut down my two (16 oz) mugs of black coffee to just one. So that is half the caffeine, and half the (organic raw) sugar each day. It's something. I can tell because of how much I miss it.

So, things are good. Things are a bit tense. We close in on our time here, and as I've said, this feels like a move we've really been waiting for since we were invited here. Since leaving NY (in May of?) last year. We knew this was a temporary stop, though we thought it would be a bit more temporary. I'm looking forward to the change.

I had decent sum worth of graphic design work pull out on me after initial contact, which was a bit disappointing. But there are still possibilities in the air. And I really do feel that things will work out. They have to! It's just that simple. There's no other option. I'm actually less worried about that than I am about things remaining level around here. Sometimes there are unpredictable movements that can come into play when roads diverge. Have to stay awake. Keep an eye out for sudden signs, curves.

Otherwise, I am around. But because of the web work I actually have landed, I am not able to comment-joust as much, and I know some email and whatnot is waiting a while. As it is, with little 'nita, my hours are broken up into clusters, so I'm on and off and on this thing. And usually half awake. It's a temporary push, it's a transition, as I said, a cusp. A window and a wind and a proper moment to push away from the edge.

All the while, though, the days are growing more beautiful, morning light reminding me of summer skies. Hot salmon dawns and mango-skinned evenings and winds that travel hundreds and hundreds of miles just to touch you.

Oh yeah, XicanaMystic sources confirm that Bill-O has been checkin' up on The Unapologetic Mexican. Jeh-jeh, what can I say? Que tal, Señor Moto-Boca! Y ¡Órale!