35,000 ft
halfway between Philadelphia and Seattle
The last couple of days have been kinda hectic, hence the silence. I spent part of Monday and all of Tuesday getting my stuff together for the trip to Vancouver, where I'll be stationed while waiting for the fiancee visa. According to U.S. Immigration, I can't re-enter until I'm within the 90-day period before the wedding (that would make it early July), and I can't leave the U.S. during those 90 days.
It makes things awkward for working temporarily in Vancouver, since I could be there for two months, or if the process is delayed it could be longer -- either way the only date I have to work with is an optimistic July 3. I'm stuck there in a holding pattern until the visa gets processed. I've moved some of my stuff to Pennsylvania, but the rest of it is stored with friends and family in Vancouver and Surrey.
Do I try to find work? Do I hang out with the kids while I'm in town? They grow so fast, I don't want to miss out on the last of the remaining baby years. Soon the older three will be in school and forget who I am. The twins are so young they might not remember me when I show up at their new house!
The reason why I'm flying to Seattle today is because we bought tickets to see Sting at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. In his current tour, Sting's playing with only three other musicians... a much smaller crew than he's used to. I'd never seen Sting perform before, but my interest piqued when David mentioned that the Wachovia Arena was small. I prefer to see live shows in smaller venues -- not only do they sound better, but it partially justifies the big ticket prices.
And Sting didn't disappoint! For a guy who's turning 54 this year (!), he's still got it going on. I stealthily filmed as much footage as I could, but unfortunately I only had my 256MB card with me, not my usual 512, so I had to erase many of the earlier evening's images to make way for the clips. Later I'll upload a bit of "Roxanne" and Sting's rendition of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life", which was one of my favourite songs of the evening.
Seattle
after 2am, PST
My flight out of Philadelphia was delayed two and a half hours. More on this later. At least I made it here, and so did my bags.
ADDITION: late Thursday, May 5
I've uploaded some video clips of Sting doing his thing:
Sting - "A Day in the Life" (MOV, 11.4MBs)
Sting - "Roxanne" (AVI, 9.7MBs),
