Killing Distance........................Dear Mella 3

October 14, 20071

Dear Mella,2

I think sending little things to each other is a superb idea. And, since we still call each other every now and then (come on, what are best friends without phone calls?) we should still write everything down in our letters to form a sort of written history. That's just to clear some things up, seeing as I called you a day after I got your letter. Sounds like you're having quite a bit of fun over there, too, though I'm surprised you haven't had like ten people ask you out already, you gorgeous brilliant girl.3

On to the point. Life is going pretty well here in London. Tessa and I saved up some money and we went and saw a really cool version of the Phantom of the Opera at some opera house, forgot what it's called... It was no Michael Crichton, but I have to admit it was excellent. I got reprimanded for spending thirty dollars on an opera (thirty dollars!!) instead of college-student-food, but Cimon will live. He's always sneaking into my apartment at night since he lives only a few blocks away. Once I actually got up to see what was making rustling noises in the kitchen and I found him smuggling some leftover waffles I made that morning. Hey, you and I both know the extent of my cooking skills since I grew up eating microwave dinners, but he says I'm an amazing cook anyway. 4

I found another couple of pretty cool people that live in my apartment complex, and we've kinda moved into everyone's houses simultaneously. Need some food? Ask around, you'll get fresh pizza. Out of toilet paper? There's always the neighbor. There's even a mock library being passed around, which is really just a cardboard box that people put copies of some of their favorite books in. It's a buck to 'rent' a book, and at the end of the month we use the money to buy everyone snack food. Kimmi, the girl who organizes all this weird stuff, is pretty wicked. She's really cutely short and skinny, but what she lacks in size she makes up for in piercings. Not tasteless ones like in the eyebrows or tongue, but she has a little green stud in her nose and like six rings and various tidbits in each ear. She's works as a part time tattoo artist and part time piercer, even though you can't see any of her tattoos unless you ask her to show you, if you get my gist. 5

May is... ridiculously smart. She's read pretty much every book ever written. She's in my English class and is pretty quiet and calm, but she's fun to just lounge around with and do nothing, although she's given me a few unicycling lessons as well. It's crazy cool. She also plays the trumpet, which is AWESOME.6

So Kimmi found some glow in the dark paint and figured it would be awesome if we painted her bike's wheels luminous green, and this was at like ten pm, right? So we go out there and we're painting her bike with this glowing goo and suddenly we hear this loud scream coming from down the street. It freaked us out but when we went to investigate it turned out it was just Nancy, May's sister, who dropped a vase on the floor. I don't even know why I just mentioned that, but it was scary for a moment and then just plain hilarious. 7

Cimon and I have been officially dating for about a month and a half or so. He's just as amazing as the first day I met him and we hang out every single day, and since we have a lot of the same classes we help each other with homework and studying (don't worry, I'm here on a scholarship so I won't let my grades slip). I guess you could say he's a tutor with benefits! Tee hee.8

It's getting a little more chilly here and I've had to buy a woolly sweater from the store because the only hoodie I brought here from the states got lost somewhere. The leaves on the trees are about half way through their whole I'm-gonna-turn-red-now-cuz-I-can phase and I guess they're gonna start falling heavily in a couple of weeks. I can't wait, I love the crunchiness of fall!9

It's odd knowing that there's not going to be a Halloween here, since I've always thought of October as "Halloween month". Oh well, I never particularly liked putting fake wounds and chains on myself anywho, and dressing as something non-scary just completely defeats the point of Halloween, unless it's something truly brilliant like a black hole or something cool like that.10

My classes have gotten a lot harder since I last wrote to you, but I'm managing them without a problem. I have an added "biology" course since there are so many different plants and animals here, and I can study them without feeling nerdy. Now I have an excuse! Ha!11

The stars here are different. I didn't really notice the first couple weeks I was here, but they really are completely different. I mean, it's kind of a given, but it's so odd looking at the sky every night and seeing something cool like that. You can't see that many since I am in a big city, but hopefully I can go out into the back country next weekend and have a sort of star party. Most of my friends think it's a good idea, and Cimon says he has a friend who has a telescope we can borrow.12

For now I'm off because me and the friends are going out to dinner to celebrate Ryan's birthday (he's Kimmi's boyfriend). It should be good fun.13

Ta ta for now!14

Hugs and kisses,15

Clarissa Diego Winfrey16

err... Clay17

P.S. I stuck in a couple leaves from the trees that were a particularly cool shade. I used a laminator at the university to lock them in plastic so you can keep them for a long as you want. What season is it in Australia again?18

P.P.S. Your drawing does NOT suck, and I quite like it! I showed it to Cimon and he said it was worthy of his thumbs up. Thumbs up, Mella!