Hooray for the internets! And I'm glad to hear that your literal story, the OoT Retelling, is still being worked on. Kudos to you sir! I can barely wait to read it! =D
Awesome. My story is practically the same as yours, with the exception that I moved to the city and not the desert. Other than that though, I too have begun growing a beard and (as a birthday present from my parents last week) finally have a computer (and a pretty damn good one at that) with which to traverse the internets.