Not Too Distant

A week and a half ago, Emily moved to San José, CA, to begin her year of service in the local Bahá'í community.  This past Monday, I visited my parents and relived my days as an only child - 23 years later.  It was awesome.  I loved being the center of their attention!  I needed to paint a jewelry box so I used their backyard (Kyle strongly discouraged me doing it in the grass outside of our apartment - next to the parking lot) and when my dad came home from work he came right outside, gave me advice, and created a "picker-upper" from a hanger so I could more easily paint the pieces.  Mom made a delicious dinner and we all sat in the living room, eating our Southern meal while watching the news.  It was like a dream come true!

Anyway, back to Emily moving to San José.  Yesterday we decided to have a Google Hangout.  G+ is awesome.  I don't care that a majority of my friends don't use it, but I think it's awesome.  I follow the news, tech sites, and non-profit organizations on G+ as some people might via Twitter.  One of the awesome features of G+ is the Hangout function.  It's like video Skype for multiple people - for free.  Woot woot!

The three of us kept texting about what time we should Hangout.  We decide on 5:30pm-EST and all is well.  In the afternoon, I decide Amber and I should FaceTime (I have a Mac, she has an iPhone, it's awesome) while we study because neither of us were being very productive.  We had a fun time in our respective libraries.

Amber showing me books;
Me making weird faces.

While video chatting, we often make
weird faces at each other.

Often.

Texting each other; this is what I'd see
when she'd check what I wrote.
We were in the library...silence...

After our FaceTime session, Amber had class.  Shortly after, she called to say that she got out of class early, so we can Hangout earlier.  But then she says 20 minutes from then because she still had to get back to her dorm and Emily had to get to Starbucks to use the internet.  So I start tidying up our apartment and forget all about the time...until I check my phone and have a Hangout request in my gchat from Amber.  Oops.  I then get out my computer but it's dead from being used at the library all day.  Quite the ordeal to get our Hangout started:

1. Jasmin's computer malfunctioned.
2. Amber decided to go to dinner with her friends just as Jasmin got her computer working and joined Amber's Hangout.
3. Emily's computer malfunctioned.
4. Amber joined Jasmin's Hangout from the student union via her phone.
5. Emily's computer continued to not connect to Starbucks' internet.
6. Jasmin helped Emily connect to Starbucks' internet.  Thank goodness for all of those hours of studying in Starbucks.
7. Emily joined Jasmin's Hangout.
8. Emily's end gave lots of static - painful to the ears.
9. Jasmin & Amber kindly asked Emily to mute herself.
10. Emily muted herself.
11. Amber made it back to her dorm and joined the Hangout via computer.
12. We were finally all "together".

So of course once the Hangout began, there was no stopping the awesome silliness that happens when the three of us get together.

Together again!  For the first time since mid-August!

We all make weird, silly faces.  Always.

Emily attempted to turn her microphone back on.
She was unanimously muted.

I miss my sisters, but I'm glad that technology has advanced to the point where we can see and hear each other from over 2,000 miles away.  Unfortunately, Emily did not bring headphones with her to California.  I think Amber or I will ship her some, because that was just ridiculous.  Actually, it was pretty fun because Emily would type to us and we would respond aloud, and often I would forget that she had speakers and was in a coffee shop.  Oops.  :)