10 statistically improbable things about me

Saw this on another blog, thought it was a cool idea (basically, things I've done that most other people haven't). Except that my life isn't particularly extraordinary, so digging things up is very challenging. Especially when I'm cutting out all the not-safe-for-parents things I could put up here (there goes Paris...) Uh, just kidding.

1. Been on reality TV. (Un-glamorously. It's not as cool as you'd think.)
2. Was in Alaska on the longest day of the year.
3. Climbed a mountain at 2 AM while it was still light out.
4. Saw a grizzly bear in the wild (same trip as #2 & 3).
5. Had dreadlocks for 2 1/2 years.
6. Have had meaningful relationships with 4 guys of the same name - this includes the guy who spent 3 weeks putting in my dreads and the 2-year-old I babysat this summer, but those are both pretty meaningful, in their own way :)
7. Came very close to getting tear gassed by a bunch of cops on horses.
8. Biked 110 miles in a day (and didn't regret it!)
9. Been compared to Claire Danes, the White Witch (of Narnia fame), and Sonic the Hedgehog.
10. Have an irrational fear of water. (Not like the shower. Like large unknown bodies of water.)

Now I feel so prepared for the "2 Truths and a Lie" that's inevitably going to come up on the flight to China. I just need to think up some good lies about myself!

Also, this is totally off-topic, but I was in the Museum of Natural History today, and overheard a funny little piece of conversation.
SCENE: In front of the polar bear diorama.
Enter mother and 4- or 5-year-old daughter.
Mother: Look, there's the polar bear!
Daughter (points to dead seal at the bear's feet, complete with realistically blood-spattered snow): ...and there's it's baby!

Imagine explaining that to your kid.

Details, details

As it gets down to the wire (five more days til takeoff!) I’m starting to realize how much getting ready to leave for a long trip is just a series of little details waiting to be taken care of.

Examples:
- Buying homestay gifts (that were not made in China!) and good airplane reading
- Obsessing over whether or not to bring my laptop (the verdict, finally, is not.)
- Obsessing over whether or not to bring my iPod (the verdict, tentatively, is yes - but I'm leaving it in a plastic bag and only using it in homesickness emergencies!)
- Paying my credit card bills so I don’t have to worry about making payments while I’m abroad
- Getting traveler's checks
- Collecting, and figuring out how to use, all the medical supplies my mom is sending with me (just in case). These include: syringes (just in case I need vaccines), Malarone (just in case of malaria), Tamiflu (just in case I’m worried that I have avian flu), Lunesta (just in case I can actually sleep on airplanes), Pepto & Immodium (OK, these transcend “just in case” and enter into the realm of “when”)
- Printing out family photos to show my host families... Zhe shi wo baba, wo mama, wo jiejie. Things in Chinese I actually know how to say!
- Putting a couple of crucial phone numbers into my international phone so when I’m crazy drunk at 2 PM US time I can tell people I love them from across the world

But mostly, I've been sitting around thinking up details and things I can obsess over. Like dumb things, though, because really this China trip is more or less completely taken care of. No, I'm thinking about things like whether I want my parents to get my room repainted while I'm away, and which ones of my many buttons I want to put on my backpack when I go back to Carleton, and whether I should bring the nice case that my insulated mug came in, and whether the people at security will get mad if I bring an empty water bottle in my carry-on, and whether the stewardesses would let me fill it up from the water they have on board the flight, and what the best strategy is for resetting my watch, given medications that have to be taken at 24-hour intervals...

What this all means, I think, that it's time for me to leave the country.

A Very Long Weekend

This past weekend was pretty much a series of goodbyes to Carleton friends - and unless I get to meet up with Carisa in the city before I leave, probably the last Carleton goodbyes I say before I leave in a week. Did I mention I depart in 7 days? yup. One week.

But all this being said, all the time spent since this past Friday was pretty uniformly wonderful. It started out by meeting up with Max and Rachel and Nik in my house up in Massachusetts and seeing the modern cinematic classic that is "Snakes on a Plane." Now aside from this being an absolutely awful movie with a lot of totally gratuitously cringe-inducing moments (especially the first few snake attacks, though I think Rachel and I both appreciated the concept of the "trouser snake"), we had a marvelous time. It also had the unexpected side effect of making me actually look forward (a little bit) to my rapidly-approaching thirty hours of snake-free transit time. Compared to "Snakes," the flight to China is going to be awesome.

Saturday and Sunday were spent hiking and swimming and boating and watching movies, as well as making some sublime guacamole and an obscene amount of weirdly sticky pasta. We said goodbye to Rachel and Max on Sunday afternoon, and on Monday had lunch with my parents and then headed off to Sterling for a very relaxing evening at Nik's house.

Tuesday was kind of an adventure. We were supposed to go out to Russell's house in Hingham, a suburb of Boston, and from there take the T into the city to meet Laura on her lunch break. First of all, Hingham is a very confusing town, we got madly lost and Russell had to talk us through a mess of back roads to get to his house. We arrived a bit late, so we headed straight out to catch the train. On the way, we encounter the world's slowest opening bridge (what's the name for those bridges?) and had to wait twenty minutes while a boat passed underneath. Then, just around the corner from the T stop, Russell's car stalls out. So that was the end of that adventure. We did have a very interesting tow truck ride with a guy who could not wait to get out of Massachusetts (he just bought a 4-bedroom house for less than $50,000 in upstate NY). And since Hingham, aside from being confusing, is also really lame, we hung out at Russell's all afternoon and played Life and cards. Which was an excellent time anyway, aside from it being a bummer not to be able to see Laura before I left.

Last night was spent in Sterling, which brings us to this morning, when Nik and I got breakfast and I dropped him off at work on my way back home. Somehow, even though all the goodbyes were really tough, I can't help feeling like they were a lot better this time around (compared to the ones I said in June, thinking I wouldn't be seeing any of these people for at least 6 months). I don't think it's just that now it's only four months of separation. Saying goodbye after all the stress and anxiety of finals weekend was rushed and busy and full of regrets for time not-well-spent. The past few days were more or less stress-free and relaxed. So while it's never easy to leave people, at least all the partings were on a good note.

And now I have the whole week to stare at the mess in my room and think about how to organize it into something that resembles a packed backpack. Oh joy!