so i have a plan. this is the plan. don't tell anyone the plan, especially ara, because it is a surprise, and if you ruin it so help me...

i leave houston and arrive in des moines. i spend monday evening hanging out with mom and steve and my bro, and then i leave des moines tuesday morning around 8am, arrive in chicago around 2pm, and take my car into lubepro's to get my oil changed. because ara is working on tuesday. and has no idea i'm going back to chicago. and so i come back exactly 3 months from the first day we met, in the very same way we met. i think it's a great plan, and one of my surprise appearances is going to work, dammit! :)

the plan is foolproof. as long as you don't tell him. so don't.

the only thing i'm slightly worried about is how his parents are going to react to me coming back early. see there's a little bit of an issue there. his parents don't like me because i'm not armenian. well, i shouldn't say they don't like me. they are kind to me and i think they like me as a person, but apparently they don't really approve of ara and i dating because they think dating could one day lead to marriage and they don't want ara ending up with a girl who is not armenian. and i guess it has come up a few times since i left. there has been no official talk about them disapproving of me, but i guess his mom makes little comments sometimes when we get off the phone (side note: you may be wondering why ara is 27 and still lives at home, because normally that kind of thing isn't "cool." the reasons are manifold, but the main ones are that his parents are both diabetic and retired, and it is easier on them if he his home to help out and to provide financially for them). anyway, ara is coming to iowa/nebraska/missouri at the beginning of august to hang out and to meet my family, and when he mentioned that he would be doing that, his parents weren't so happy about it. and i just think... ridiculous. i never have a problem getting along with parents. and it's like i'm being discriminated against because i'm... too white or something. that's just weird. ara is a man and he will make his own decisions, and i'm thankful for that... but i would like for us all to get along. it'll work out.

leaving houston. more on that later today.