I’m on my way…

I’ve finished packing and am about to leave for the airport.  I’m am so ready for this trip to begin, all the transitions of the last week have been a little tiring and I’m excited for this last transition to get underway.  Even though it brings even more transitions along with it.  I’ll write more when I can.

 I’ll miss everyone.

San Dimas High School Football Rules

Sorry for the absence.  I made it home Monday just fine.  I left Amarillo Sunday at 1:15 pm (Central) and arrived home at 1:45 am (Pacific).  The drive wasn’t bad at all it must have been raining the days before I drove through New Mexico and Arizona because the desert was green and beautiful.  There were still a few showers as I drove which gave me some cloud cover the whole way through the desert so the daytime temperatures never seemed to get above 85.

It was strange to leave Texas because I don’t think I truly realized that that time was over.  It seemed so quick.  And now this time at home seems even quicker.  I got home on Monday and it’s already Thursday, and I leave on Monday.  There are so many changes happening in my life right now that its kind of hard to get a footing.  I don’t feel settled anywhere, so although I am totally looking forward to traveling Europe/Euri  my heart is looking forward to starting school where I can have a consistent bed and some sort of a schedule.

Homesweet

Today we celebrated my sister’s 25th birthday. Wow. It’s been good to be home and spend time with friends and family. It’s strange though because being home has been completely normal, I mean I haven’t been gone for very long at all so it makes sense that it’s more comfortable than not to be home.

I think home, the physical and the conceptual, will be changing dramatically within the next months. My parents are indeed moving and I will return from Europe to a completely new “home.” I probably won’t be living there for very long I imagine, I hopefully will be able to live with my friend or find an apartment down by Talbot (if I decide to attend grad school which is certainly a good possibility). We’ll have to see. All of that seems really far down the road but it is only six months away. Weird.

We’re not in Texas anymore.

I am back in LA but it almost didn’t happen. The person who was originally going to take me to the airport couldn’t do it so another person offered to take me and said he would pick me up at six. My flight left at seven in the morning but since the Amarillo airport is tiny and only fifteen minutes away you don’t really have to be there that early. So I got up early this morning and was waiting for my ride; 6:05, 6:10, 6:15, 6:20, 6:25, 6:30. I decided that it was time for plan B so I jumped in my car and flew down I-40 to the airport I got there at 6:46 AM parked and ran to the terminal. At security they stole my pocket knife (which I loved as a parent loves a child) and let me through. I ran through the halls in my California sandals and was greeted by name–being that I was the only person left who hadn’t boarded yet. I took my seat on the plane and let the party start.

First I sat next to what I think was a fourteen year old boy, who decided the first thing he should tell me was that he had never flown alone before…I said I hadn’t either (which I actually don’t know if that is true or not). He then proceeded to curl up in his seat and cuddle his huge teddy bear. I thought that’s odd for a teenage boy…but not as odd as when he reached into his backpack and pulled out his baby blanket. That’s when I had no idea who I was sitting next to. He got off at our stop in Albuquerque (no surprise there) and I continued on to Phoenix and then to LA.

One more day…

I finished my bookshelf yesterday but just didn't have the time to take and post the pictures, but I have the time today. It came out looking a lot better than I ever expected it to, not to mention the fun that I had and the memories that I have of making it. The other great thing about these pictures is that you can learn a lot about me, like; what books I read, the color of my wall, whether or not I have an iPod, if I like lemonade, and you could guess two of the instruments I have hanging on my wall. There you go, near eternal intimacy in one photograph.

In other news, while preparing for travel in foreign states and foreign lands I decided I should probably know how to cut my own hair. Accordingly, I got out my hair trimmers and gave myself a hair cut…it is short. Certainly shorter than expected but it'll be okay, besides I'm going to Texas. I also had a little goodbye party with my family and some friends tonight. It was the last time I will see them for a few months and then even when I get back from Texas I'll only be in California for a few days before I leave again. It's strange to think how much will have changed by the time I get back. My niece, who is right now just barely on the verge of walking and talking, will be walking and talking when I get back from London. WALKING and TALKING. My parents said they might move from the house I was raised in before I get back from London, which will be fine but obviously significantly different. My friends will be even more scattered and living in a new season. Add to that the experiences I will be having and the change those experiences will have on my life and who I am, and we have a whole new life.

I'm excited.

Closing Up Shop

During my two weeks of down time at home I decided to finish a bookshelf that I built a year ago. I finished the frame last year so I just had to plug the screw holes with dowel, sand it down, stain it, and then apply the finish. I'm almost done but have decided to do one more coat of finish on it. Sure, maybe I should have been ordering rail passes for Europe, or buying supplies I'll need for living in a foreign country, or even just doing laundry for Texas…but there is something really innate working wood with hand. I'll post some pictures before I leave on Friday of the finished product but for now enjoy these of the process.

I-40

This is the path I will be taking. It seems I will be driving through three and a half states (although whether or not New Mexico can be considered a state is still under deliberation). If I could only use one word to describe each state California is the only state that I wouldn't use the word "hot." Of course "meat" and "shoot things" follow closely when thinking about Texas. It's also a little unnerving to have everyone I know from Texas laugh when I tell them I will be spending the summer in Amarillo…ominous, foreboding, luminescent, sparkly? Yes. However, I am looking forward to being able to remove hot pans from the oven without a mitt, as well as putting out candles without licking my fingers due to the thin yet fluid layer of sweat that will constantly be forming and reforming on my skin.

By the way, I had a biopsy today.

Cancer = Thwarted.

And I am still loving this guy…

testing testing 1 2

 

I’ll be doing quite a bit of traveling in the next six months…hopefully this will let you follow. This Friday (June 9th) I’ll headout long on the highway for Texas. I’ll spend around nine weeks there, returning home on August 14th only to leave for Europe on the 20th of August. I’ll be traveling through France, Italy and Switzerland, then I will spend a semester studying at the University of Roehampton in London. Not bad I suppose.