a good place

I just woke up from a dream that did not start, but ended at my staging in Philly in two and a half weeks. I had not filled out any of the required paperwork, not gotten a power of attorney, and had to write a statement responding to "What qualities do you, as a Leo, have that should make us feel more comfortable giving you a PC PC (Peace Corps Purchase Card) when most likely you have little to no credit." First thing I did was panic because of that whole they-changed-the-zodiac thing, and I'm not a Leo anymore (but I will always count myself as one, they can change it for the next group of kids being born, I'm grandfathered in as far as I am concerned) then I wrote about was how I am an amazing budgeter (because I can be when I want) and how I actually do have good credit because I am a grown up who had lots of things in her own name like a cell phone and utilities and cable and leases and credit cards with zero balance. Apparently I was writing all these things on a piece of day old toast, because the paper/toast kept crumbling away. It was a mess and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have let me on the plane had I not woken up soon thereafter.

I hung out with some friends last night who were all pretty excited about my adventures, which in turn made me more excited. One guy reiterated what I am trying to remember when packing: "I'd go with the clothes on my back, minimal everything else, and buy all the cool shit they have over there. They've got to have some cool shit." Thanks Jordan :)

I feel like I am in a very good place getting ready wise. I've finished cleaning out my storage - which involved going through every single box or bin and repacking what I want to keep (much to the chagrin of my mom...) and making a HUGE pile of things to get rid of. I am having a garage sale, weather permitting, tomorrow, after which I'm taking all the left overs to Goodwill and will be done with that phase. I'm doing all the financial stuff today, going to my bank, calling credit cards, etc. Next week I can focus on getting the paperwork all filled out and finalized, I leave on Thursday to spend a long weekend in California with my brother for his 38th (holy shit) birthday and to say bye to my nephews. I will get back and have one week to pack. I have a goodbye party/night out with drinks on the Saturday before leaving. When people ask if I'm ready to go, all I can think is "I will be when it's time..."

Lastly, the Kindle is for sure growing on me. I got all the free books I could find that sounded the least bit interesting, and then I spent $250 on everything else I've wanted. Oops.