I missed the boat.

Well, it was bound to happen, I suppose. This weekend when my email and calendar at work went down, all of my organizational skills apparently sank with it. Last night I was supposed to be at a script selection committee meeting. Without my Palm Pilot and Microsoft to back me up, I had written the meeting in on next Wednesday. Which of course is wrong. The only way I found out that the meeting was last night was that Fred called Yeffy's house looking for me, so when I showed up, I called him.

By then the meeting was over.

Great. I feel like a complete dunderhead. Ah, well. I will knock 'em dead at the next meeting, right?

I just hope I wasn't scheduled to do anything else this week. I will check with my MSU advisor, to make sure of it, but I believe my appointment with her is next monday.

I'm getting pretty excited about that. Of course, I'm secretly hoping she will tell me that in a mere 6 credits, I can graduate. Of course that's not going to happen; it will likely be more like 35 more credits, if I'm to make a guess.

Still, I'm moving on something I've put off for too long. I can afford it. I will take student loans and get my company to pay them off. In the meantime I won't be making student loan payments, so all that extra money every month can go to help with Forest's tuition and our extra expenses.

It sounds idealistic, but I really think it will work.

Poor Forest is really feeling the strain of all of this right now, though. He is deeply worried about getting started at MSU; it's really bothering him that he hasn't gotten going on it yet. It's been a financial decision each semester, and each semester he hangs his head in despair.

I'm hoping that if I go, too, it will make it financially easier. We can carpool. Hell, some semesters we can perhaps share books. We'll have an extra couple of hundred dollars each month to use on MSU. I will be okay.

I can't convince him of that right now, but I can give him a little hope, which I've been working on.

He's mainly stressed out right now because he doesn't have a car. Forest HATES not having a car, particularly since we live so far from everyone and everything. His Geo died a couple of weeks ago, driving home the fact that his brother hasn't worked on his Neon in about 3 months. Nothing against Sean; he's had about 3 other cars to fix in that time, and Forest hasn't had time to help him.

Now they have put in several afternoons on the Neon, and it's still not running. Worse; in the middle of Tuesday night, someone in lovely North Lansing stole the jack that was holding the engine off the ground. It fell. Replacing the engine mountings will be around $400.

Just what we needed to hear.

So Forest and his brother are buying a totaled Neon from a family friend, and looting it for parts. The hope is that they will have the Neon running by the end of Saturday. In an attempt to make my sweety feel better about things, I've offered to spend the day on Saturday with he and Sean, working on the Neon. Most likely, I will run for parts and fetch tools and try to stay out of the way, since I don't know anything about it.

The cause for his stress hit home today, as he didn't have to be at work until 11 AM, but had to drop me off at 8:30 AM, and then go all the way back to Eaton Rapids to get ready for the day; then later on he'll have to go from the farthest side of Lansing to Okemos to pick me up, then I will drop him at Judo, and go home. Then I'll have to drive back to Lansing and pick him up at 10:30 when Judo gets out.

Obviously, we need two functioning cars.

Last night was a good stress-buster, though. I picked him up at 5:30, and he was a complete grumpy stressed-out headachy mess. Poor guy ended up taking a nap and still not feeling better. I'm glad to say that hanging with the gang and gaming seemed to pick him up quite a bit. By the time we were driving home, we were both wide awake and chatting away amiably.

It's pretty unusual for us to both be alert that late at night, so we hopped in the shower together, and shared some late night soap and steam. I love to shower with him at the end of the day like that. It just seems to wash away everything in the world except for the two of us. It's very relaxing.

Forest spent part of yesterday cleaning our living room and ninja room, which was very cool of him. Our house still shows the effects of last week's packing and this week's unpacking from our trip. I promised that tonight before I engage in my major chill-out session, I would complete at least one major task. We've been going back and forth on what we'd prefer that task to be; I lean toward a complete scrub-out and overhaul of the kitchen; he leans toward putting away all the clean laundry.

I am really looking forward to the wind-down after that. Just a couple of hours to do nothing. Mmmm.

Of course Forest feels guilty that I have to come into town at the end of that and pick him up; but I don't mind. It's a half hour that I otherwise wouldn't get to spend with him, how bad can it be?

We spent some time last night talking about our plans for the holidays. It's a difficult time for both of us, because we both have strong family Christmas Day traditions. I suppose many new couples have the same problem; getting adjusted to the new family situation. We're really no different. Forest's family and my mom's family have both always gotten together right around noon to start the family gift exchange and fun; and then they both tend to eat a late-afternoon/early evening dinner afterward.

Forest and I are just such elves, though, that we love Christmas dearly, and want to spend the whole thing together, no matter what. Going our separate ways is not an option.

Last year, we went to my mom's early in the day, and Forest's family after that. Forest's folks ended up waiting around until we could get there to open gifts and such, and he didn't get to spend as much time with them as he would have liked. Kirstin got tired and cranky, and we decided we had to go home.

Christmas morning is definitely off-limits to everyone but immediate family; Kirstin, Allyn, Bill, and Kathy. That's inviolable, and Forest and I both agree. It's a very special time for the kids. Using it for other purposes is out of the question.

So after the morning mayhem, I suppose it's only fair that this year it's my family's turn to wait. I'm going to talk with my mom, and ask if we can do the family get-together around 6 PM, and make it an evening occasion. This probably won't go over too well, since my mom will likely have overnight guests, and will have to come up with some way to entertain them during the morning and afternoon. It will also sort of suck for Forest, because even though he'll get to see his family earlier in the day, he still will only have a finite amount of time with them, when traditionally they all hang out together all day and all night. His brother will be bummed that we don't have time to go to a movie or something.

It seems strange to be thinking about this before Halloween, but believe it or not, plans are already starting to fall into place for Thanksgiving, and folks generally discuss plans for both holidays at the same time. Forest and I agree that we should try to come up with a plan and present it to our folks well in advance this time, so no one is left wondering what's going on. We're not the only guests our families have to coordinate. Yikes.

We're actually considering asking his family to come to our house on Christmas Day. I don't know whether that will fly or not; but Forest feels that neutral territory, away from his mom's and dad's realms of unhappiness, would help the situation. I'm not even sure that it's a good idea to try to get everyone together under these conditions; his mom and dad are still working on their divorce, and still hurting each other every day. They're also still dating other people, and experiencing all the jealousy and stress to go along with it. I don't think there will be happiness under one roof, no matter whose roof it is.

Still, my honey, the peacekeeper, wants to try in the spirit of Christmas, and I feel I ought to support him.

Shudder.

I actually ought to consider these things, because apparently our company is set to receive our corporate bonuses on the 27th. What of that doesn't go toward fixing our roof will be Christmas money, and if we're seeing everyone I think we are, we have a long list of gifts to buy.

I'm thinking of asking my parents to refrain from buying gifts for Forest and I, and putting the money in our hands for college, instead. They would probably embrace that idea; but it isn't a lot of fun for them, especially when they have a new son-in-law on their list. I also feel a little wierd asking for college money when my dad has already spent so much toward my non-completed degree. The only reason I couldn't finish school in the number of semesters I was allowed under the Education Trust contract he bought was that I was unfocused and didn't know what I wanted to study. It's the most wasteful thing I've ever done, and if I were my dad I might take it personally.

He's never said a word; but I still feel bad saying, "Dad, can I have more money for college?"