- - e r i k - - Congrats to you and good luck with school and life in Australia. You have quite a long flight awaiting you.

wolfen: Thanks for the advice. Don't worry, I'm taking it all in slowly. I haven't done anything "insane" (yet). Funny thing you mentioned counseling...because I am a counselor! Crazy huh?

And for the rest, thank you for your kind and supportive words. It's amazing when I read back to my original post. I could still "feel" the anxiety and the "yearning for more." What a nice feeling to be able to "quell the storm inside" (as wolfen said). Although "quell" is more like "suppress or crush", I prefer "quench" as in "quenching or satisfying your thirst." Sorry, I just wanted to clarify that.

Again, thank you MacNN community.