My desire to move to the land of my ancestors is growing stronger. I've sent out two applications now, which still indicates some hesitation on my part, but is worlds of initiative away from sending out no applications.

But I am now faced with a quandry, of sorts. I applied for a graphic design position with a hotel in Ireland. To my utter enjoyment I received a response. But I'm not sure how to read it. Basically, the representative of the hotel said they'd received a huge number of responses to their advert, and in the interest of time would only be responding to successful applicants.

So were they telling me I'm not a successful applicant and shouldn't look for any more correspondence? Or was the email -- a response to my application -- an indication that I am a successful applicant? I suspect the former is true, but pray for the latter.

Jon, my partner, is also hoping for the latter. He's already planning what all we'll sell rather than take with us. It's amazing how much of my stuff is frivolous and how much of his stuff is essential to our very being. But that's another post for another day.