2008-03-30 - 7:40 p.m.

So Jo's been back for over a week now. In some ways it's surreal- after spending a whole month over in San Francisco in 2006 and Jo spending a couple of 1-2 week stints over here, this doesn't necessarily feel all that different yet. And yet part of that is because when we were visiting each other on holidays we just slipped back into our non long distance relationship so easily and so naturally. So now we've done that again, and while both of us (and Lucy for that matter) are still getting used to Jo being back here, we're both very glad for the fact.

I think the hardest thing for me is that what I want the most with Jo back here is for her to be able to do all the things with me that I've been doing without her for the last 2 years. Going for walks, going to trivia, going out etc. But when it comes to doing our own thing (say if Jo is spending an hour on the computer) I feel lost in my own house. For Jo the hardest thing is working out where she fits in now that she's back, even if the answer is everywhere. Going for walks/runs- that's me and Nathan, where does she fit into that? The dynamic of the house- that's been Lucy and I for the last year, and Jo is fitting back into that. All the things that Jo used to do when we were living together- I've had to do them with her away, obviously, so she needs to fit back in there as well.

In the weeks leading up to Jo coming back it was hard to focus on work, and last week- in it's 3 day glory (we get an extra day after Easter Monday) was no better. I really have to get back in there tomorrow motivated to do this job long term, and not just keep a seat warm. I had five straight days off but I still didn't feel fully rested going into work on Wednesday.

Jo got in a little after 7am on Good Friday. I greeted her with two big bouquets of flowers and a couple of floating balloons bearing messages (and correctly predicted Lucy's "You are such a suck" response when she saw them on Monday, and we spent the day hanging around the house- eating the requisite Hot Cross Buns, having half of Jo's family around for afternoon tea, eating in for lunch and dinner.

Saturday (22/3) Jo had a haircut appointment with Claire at midday- I spent a bit of time rearranging the room to help Jo fit back in there, we did some grocery shopping, had a reasonably early dinner and then went over to Kim and Marty's to watch a pirated DVD. We settled on "Sweeney Todd", which was entertaining- I wasn't sure at the start, but before long Johnny Depp's idiosyncracies and Tim Burton's macabre sense of humour set in and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found myself about as tired as Jo on both Friday and Saturday, though I'm not sure why, but we had a decent sleep in on Sunday to get back on track.

Sunday we went around to my parents' house for the usual veritable feast. It was the first time all 3 siblings had their partners around, which was good, and my couisin Yas was over from Canada as well. We checked out my brother's recently acquired Italian Restaurant which by all accounts is going well for him, and generally sat around eating and being merry (I was driving and many of the others had big nights the night before so there wasn't a lot of drinking for a change).

Monday Jo's Mum came over and we went to Yum Cha, before hanging around chatting in our lounge room for a couple of hours. We did a big grocery shop, Jo cooked, and that was about it for the official long weekend. Tuesday was Jo's first day at work, while I had the day off, and used it to sleep in until midday and watch "Scrubs" for the rest of the time.

Wednesday (26/3) I was back at work- and fairly underenthused by the prospect as I mentioned earlier. That night we went to Bernie with Lucy, Meegs and Schiller, but left after Bernie's first set as Jo was pretty exhausted. Thursday it was actually good not to be rushing off to music trivia- and I spent two hours making dinner instead, but still had time to relax and unwind. This week I'm planning to at least go to standard trivia, if not both- as I said I'm keen to bring Jo along to all the things I was doing before. We'll just wait and see if Annie has written me off as a kept man because I couldn't make it along this week. I can't help but be a little cynical that all this "wall-mending" with Annie could come tumbling in an instant. I guess we'll see what happens.

And Friday after work Jo and I sat around watching TV ("The Simpsons" and then "Mean Girls") after Lucy made a rockin' lamb salad. Yesterday was V Festival which I'll save for another entry. And today we did some shopping (including a trip to Broadway for Jo to get some work tops), went for a walk, and... well that's about all really.

Just to round this entry off... I went to Trivia on the Wednesday before Jo got here (19/3)- it was just Rowan and I and we won again (after winning the previous Wednesday and music trivia the day after)- another $100 on a Townie Card and a case of Strongbow which I carried home on the bus. Thursday (20/3) I did some grocery shopping so I could cook Jo dinner on Friday, bought my flowers, had Nathan round for dinner after he went for a run, watched some "Scrubs" and then went up to the Townie to hang out with Mark and Annie, but didn't play music trivia this time. That's really all that needs catching up on- I don't think I'll be writing every last detail in here now that Jo's back- it's hard to find the time!

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