Thanks, everybody, for your confidence in me. I'm sure I don't know what I've done to deserve it. I still think I probably made a very uninteresting impression. I really want to be this interesting client who deserves to get help. (Hmm. Should I say that to him? Probably not - might be seen as manipulation.)

A lot of the time I sat mute with clenched fists, seeking for words in my mind in a kind of increasing panic. He brought up several topics I would really have liked to explore, but I failed to say anything constructive about them. Will I be able to bring those up again?

I do like his attitude, though. I think I'll come to like him as well - not saying that I dislike him, at all, just that I don't yet know him at all. And - pathethic Apteryx - I would like for him to like me as well.

Am feeling better now than I did a few hours ago. I had a surprise visit from my niece, who is 18 and enjoys hanging out with her auntie. How cool is that?