Packing Part Three

Packing (because it ultimately happened) was depressing and stressful, as almost all packing is. I spent the morning getting all my stuff together and procrastinating every way I knew how. After checking about ten thousand websites, contacting people I last talked to in elementary school and starting two new books, I finally decided I needed to actually get my shit together. 

I got a couple of the Pack It organizers from the Container store, and my dad and I spent a fair amount of time folding and organizing everything into these "folders" and "cubes". The entire time we were talking about how helpful and fantastic they were. Then of course, we get to the part where we have to actually put them inside the suitcase, and they all fit perfectly....except for the fact that the other 20 pounds of toiletries, shoes, books and gear are still sitting on the bed waiting to be packed. So then we spent another hour pulling everything out and putting it in the two vacuum bags we bought (which are fantastic by the way, I highly recommend them for any serious packing you have to do). I called Ed to ask him about the feasibility of a second bag and he ultimately ended up talking to me about Merck manuals. 

Long story short we finally managed to get everything into the suitcase and carry-on case (though i cant find nail clippers anywhere so I could end up coming back looking like that Chinese guy who was in Guinness for having the longest fingernails ever. Which would be gross)

So. Everything is packed and ready to go and I'm really really excited to get on the road and I have my comfortable plane clothing all picked out and everything is absolutely set and the only problem is....I'm really going to miss my family. I've had such a fantastic time at home these past couple of weeks, and Bear and Cinnamon and Cobi have all been adorable and my parents have been utterly agreeable (strange!) and I've just really come to recognize how pretty our house and garden is (and even, though you will laugh, how pretty the GSP is, despite the fact of it being filled with smog and factories). So I'm sorry to be leaving Maplewood, and more sorry to be leaving the people in it. 

And on a completely separate note, it has been called to my attention by numerous people (Hi Meg!) that my blog name is ridiculous. It was only ever meant to be a filler name till something more appropriate came to me, and I briefly considered having a poll until I decided that was giving it a bit too much weight. Just to fill you in on the thought process, the first name I came up with was (sadly), "Suddenly Sudan" after Suddenly Susan (obviously) but i figured no one in my generation except maybe Smisch would get it. And then there was "Lions and Zebras and Rhinos, Oh Dear" and then there was "S-U-D-A-N-D-A-Y hey!" after that Bay City Rollers song, so as you can see the ideas weren't really rolling along(har!). So I've settled on this, and its even more ridiculous than Out of Africa, but as we all know, I'm a ridiculous and absurd person. So I'm not too worried.

I'll post one more time tomorrow, primarily because i have a FANTASTIC picture and then it will be GOODBYE JERSEY and HELLO HEATHROW, NAIROBI, JUBA AND TORIT!