Geek stuff like console gaming, D&D and other roleplay systems, MMORPGs, reading fantasy novels and suchlike :) Also an avid kitteh-lover with my own English kitty here and her arch-nemesis the Yank-cat XD
Immigration Info
Immigration Status
Removing Conditions (pending)
Place benefits filed at
California Service Center
Country
England
Our Story
It's a long story but we're beginning to document it on our website here:
http://www.jeraly.com/
Oh alright - I'll try for the abridged version - anyone who wants to read the full story and all the nitty gritty details can check out the website although it is missing parts at the moment ;)
Basically I was in high school and they had blocked all the chat sites so it was our challenge to try and find somewhere, anywhere to chat online - this is going back to about 1999 or so? Eventually I found what was called a MUD (I don't know how many of you are familiar with MUDs but wikipedia has a good explanation :D) which simply put was a text-based online roleplaying game where you could also chat.
I used to visit this site a lot even though in those days I had no internet access at home - I used to stay behind at school to go on the computers then go back home for tea (no - not drinking tea - dinner ;D). I met a load of people there and had a good time despite the horrendously slow network and outdated computers ;) (yes I know - this is meant to be the abridged version!)
Cutting a long story short(er) I eventually went to university when I was 19 (2001) after making a few really good friends online. I was engaged and living in the pocket of my then fiance so moving away from all my family and friends and not being able to see my fiance every day took its toll and I ended up suffering from clinical depression. At this time I was only seeing my then fiance on weekends (oh what a luxury that seems now!) but my depression was dragging him down so I turned to my online friends for moral support, a shoulder and some objective points of view.
Eventually (again, cutting a long story short!) my relationship with my fiance deteriorated beyond repair and I moved back home to try and pick up the pieces of my life but at this point (Dec 2001) I was developing feelings for this one person online. We tried to hook up and make a go of it but I was suffering from depression and he was a bum who had no job and such low self esteem he never thought he would get one. Needless to say even though we struggled through an emotional amount of time, we decided to part ways (I think it was me getting back with my fiance who banned me from seeing the other guy that did it :P).
My fiance and I despite trying to make it work decided that really he was never going to trust me and I think I was more with him out of habit and security than the fact that the relationship was working so we parted ways and lost contact for a couple of years while I went back to university to train to be a teacher. I had a few relationships, one lasting over a year and another couple that weren't too serious and from time to time this guy and I would touch bases and have a bit of a catch-up via e-mail. In the summer of 2005 we started contacting each other more often. I had just come out of a string of short-lived relationships, was generally fed up and had resolved to be single as I was damned if I was going to go through all that heartache for something that wasn't going to go anywhere!
Jeremy and I got talking and we were both happy where we were. I was doing my degree and really enjoying it, he had found work and was getting on really well with that as well. But the old feelings started creeping back. At first we pushed them to the side and tried to ignore them: after all, we had tried to make a go of it once before and it just didn't work out so what was going to be so different this time? But it was a downward (upward?!) spiral and Jeremy eventually resolved to come to the UK so we could meet in person before we made any "official" decisions.
That first meeting was the scariest thing in my life and although Jeremy was a miserable SOB (due to him having massive jet lag, a cold and me running around so he could meet everyone so he didn't get a chance to breathe!) we hit it off really well and decided to make a go of it. We had both grown up a lot and figured that we knew what we were letting ourselves in for - we really felt that we had something special there that was worth fighting for.
So I returned the visit and travelled to California on my own at Easter 2005 for two weeks, then I went back for seven weeks in the summer before he came here for three months. We've been through some hard times with his dad dying while he was here and him having to get on a plane with practically no notice to go sort out funeral arrangements and things. We worked doing stupid horrible jobs (delivering yellow pages, paper routes) so we could save enough money for him to stay here but without him working "illegally" - but we've got this far and I have no doubt in my mind that because we have managed to fight our way through so much together that we will continue to do so through our married lives :)
