"All Your Life Into Two Bags"

(Accurate representation of me during packing)

Packing sucks.

Seriously.

I thought it was difficult trying to move just from one apartment to another. I mean packing everything up into bags, stuffing it into your vehicle, then having to unload it up atleast 3 flights of stairs (the apartment with a view seems like a nice idea till you get there) is a chore, don't get me wrong. But atleast the only thing that makes you anxious is pondering whether everything will fit into your car. 

Try doing all of that, except you only get two bags of up to 50 lbs (thanks, all airlines ever) & a carry-on. Oh, and a purse. Which honestly, I thought about getting just for the extra room. I was thinking something like this -

After shopping prices for a few minutes, I eventually decided it wasn't worth getting stared at by every 5-year old boy & his mother. That, and I think lavender is a better fit for my skin tone. Not that I've done extensive research or anything.

Where was I? Oh, right - packing. I eventually settled for two suitcases, one large & rolling, the other a smaller duffel bag. That was mistake #1, and brought the bag weight into play. The problem here is that in order for this to work, you have to stuff both bags to the brim. Had I opted for two big rolling suitcases, I would've hit 30 lbs each with ease. But alas, the god's cursed me to a life of ineptitude, so I had two very-well stuffed suitcases - the larger of which I discerned was greater than 50 lbs after a loud "OOOFH" trying to lift it. So I started swapping things around. Of course, I had put the heaviest items I was bringing at the bottom of my large suitcase. Mistake #2. I must've dozed off during my that lesson in my "Introduction To Aircraft Packing" class freshman year. To be fair though, it was right after "Underwater Basketweaving 1101" & trying to hold your breath underwater while doing arts & craft is tiring work. Anywho, after a little reorganizing things were looking up. Until I realized I hadn't packed my rather large pillow. As the umps on TV say, "Strike 3, you'rrrrreeeeeeee outta here!"

Frustrating bag weight limits aside (seriously airlines, get on it), I suppose everyone wants to know what I decided to bring with me. So, heres my short list:

1. Clothes.
2. Lots of clothes.
3. My new point & shoot camera
4. Dress shoes, hiking shoes, running shoes
5. Books: "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "Eat The Rich", "The Power of Habits" & "The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe" (I actually never got around to reading this)
6. A small photo of my friends who came to visit over Labor Day weekend (think one from an instant camera). The actual photo people probably wouldn't want posted (closed eyes, bad lighting, etc etc), but here's other "better" photos of said people - all credit to Matt Osajima for these.

I decided to keep other knick-knacks at home because I couldn't be confident I wouldn't lose them. The photo fits into my wallet & reminds me of home, so it's a good combo platter. Which is great, because today I leave for Vienna & from there Skopje, Macedonia. My cohort completed our Staging event last night, so now it's time for us to ship off abroad.

Tonight we have a 5 PM flight to Vienna. It's a 9-hour flight, which means for me it'll feel like it's 2 AM when we land. Except it'll be 8 AM local time. And then we get on a plane to Skopje to arrive around noon - meaning it's going to feel like 6 AM to me. I've been planning how to game my body clock & figure out the optimal time for me to go to sleep on the flight to Vienna so I feel like a real human when we arrive. What I decided was:


                                            1. Go to sleep when it gets dark.
                                            2. Wake up when it becomes light

Honestly, I'm not sure what to expect. I'm sure the entire cohort will be dead on our feet, but we'll roll with the punches. I don't feel like I have much more to say at this point, except that I'm hoping to get blog posts up every two weeks. If you don't want to check this site all the time, you can subscribe to email notifications at the top. Hopefully they work? Maybe I'll just post on Facebook to be safe. Either way, I hope to touch base with everyone again in two weeks. I should have plenty to talk about. See ya then!