2001-12-05 - 11:31 p.m.

i want the new polaroid mio for christmas.

"erin, do you really *need* another polaroid?"

no, of course not.

"don't you know that polaroid has gone bankrupt?"

of course, silly. did you think that would stop me?

"so, just how many polaroid cameras do you have now, anyway?"

five right now, if you count:

-land camera (takes rectangular peel-apart pack film)

-sx-70 camera, a gift from the polaroid corporation (takes time zero/sx-70 film)

-600 series (takes boring, standard 600 film)

-barbie i-zone (i-zone film)

-space-age spectra 1200ff, which i've only had for a month, so the mio seems a bit indulgent (spectra film)

the new toy takes mio film, rendering each camera completely different from the next and, therefore, necessary. you see? i knew you would.

i am not fazed by the fact that i cannot currently access the polaroid page. nosiree, not fazed. kodak will rescue polaroid. i can feel it.

in other news, my dad picked two of those gift-giving paper stars off of a tree, with all the gifts going to children in a transitional home near where he works. he picked the two oldest girls (17 and 20) because he thought they would be overlooked. my dad is a sweet guy, but if you imagine your dad (or anyone else's dad) trying to pick gifts for girls of this age, you would understand why i urged him to let me help. (scariest thought: they each asked for bath & body products - i don't even want to think about what he would have picked.) so we got some nice stuff that i think they will be pleased with. and then we went to best buy so i could touch the new mio. (i promised not to buy it... yet.)

in yet other news, simon is back safely in australia. i am sad, but my sadness is canceled out by the fact that the australian consulate has given me a case number. in other words, my visa is officially in process. i expect to leave here in late march or april, which is part of the reason i decided to jump on the diaryland bandwagon. i want to document all the strange things that are going to happen when i move to another country, get married, and cohabit with -gasp!- a boy. i have never been good about keeping a paper diary, so i'm hoping this will be easier. feel free to send words of encouragement.