April 15th

I guess this is also tax day, although as I needed my refund ASAP I've filed long ago - hope you got your stuff done!

I've actually been wanting to move to downtown Cleveland for some time now, as I work there, my church is there, and plenty of activities (Baseball/Basketball/Football games, concerts).  It's also driven by cost factors, such as gas, and oh - I owe lots of money for surgeries.  So I'm renting out my house (can't sell it in this market) and will rent a cheaper place downtown.  However, my stuff is in storage (thanks Mom/Dad) and I'm staying with my parents until I leave for Thailand.  When I come back, I'll get an apartment.

So the move has done wonders for keeping me busy and not always pondering my upcoming trip.  Well, it is on my mind allot, and I think that's Ok, because it's helping me resolve some issues in my head, and basically confirming my desire to proceed.  Everything has been planned out, and I just need to pack and send the final payment, which is already sitting in my bank account.

While I'm set with GRS & breast surgery and comfortable with those options, the debate rages on in my head about doing the voice surgery.  I have been getting other people's feed back.  Many people tell me my voice is fine, some say I need to be comfortable with it, and if surgery will do that, I should just get all my work done now.  Some say do the voice if you want, but not while I'm recovering from GRS/BA.  I am working hard on my voice, but there are times & situations I just can't speak how I'd like to sound.  But I've resolved to waiting until my consultation to decide.  The consultation is the 19th, before my surgery.  However, even if I commit to it, I can see backing out of it, if I'm not ready for another surgery, which would likely be May 30th - 9 days after the first surgery, but in time so that the doctor can check out my voice after my 2 weeks of silence.  Yes, I'm not allowed to talk for 2 weeks and after that it'd be limited use for another couple, and I wouldn't really be working with it fully until about 6 weeks.  AND at that, it'd be a few months before the hoarseness wears off and it sounds Ok.  If this isn't enough concern about having it done, there is also a much less degree of certainty in getting good results.  There are a couple people who've recently had this procedure done, and I'm anxiously following their progress as they heal.

I'm still hoping to do a video log soon.  The hold up is that I have to make sure I look nice, and have enough energy to maintain a nice voice and I'd like to have a little bit of an outlined planned out so I don't ramble incoherently or so 'um' all the time.  Stay tuned :)