get cracking!

Two more days and I am finissimo, done here at the park. I have about an hour's worth of packing to do and twice that amount of time for doing my share of the moving-out cleaning. Nelda and I have been doing a fairly stellar job of keeping our quarters tidy, which will definitely facilitate my leaving bright and early Tuesday morning. My plan is to make my rounds of goodbyes today and Monday...auugghhh, it's going to be tough but the good news is that:

1. I'm going to live!

2. The park will probably still be here when I get back.

At any rate, it's been an incredible experience up here, one that I am loathe to leave behind. If I wasn't doing something so fantastic upon my departure I would stay on, but AK is calling with a strong voice now. Last night I talked with Kayleigh, a friend from SMSU who is traveling to Korea to teach English. [inside remark: I am SO proud of my graduating class--I graduated with an amazing bunch of people. Most of the people I was close with at school are in different countries, teaching in cool places, seeing the world...incredible!] It was good to talk with her and catch up; just knowing there's a network of familiar faces across the world is a delight. We had the "if you EVER need a place to stay in Korea/AK, you know who to call" conversation; it made me laugh, but then again, I have never once limited myself in refusing an offer to see another corner of the world. If I hadn't gotten accepted to APU, there was a strong chance that I would have applied to be a research assistant on a Lake Baikal project in Siberia. Another friend from SMSU offered me a place to stay with his family in India, where his dad works for their version of the EPA. Why would anyone in their right mind turn down such endeavors? When again in my life am I going to be able to drop everything, buy a plane ticket and move across the world?

Fortunately for both my parent's sakes and my bank account, I am only moving to AK. I already have friends and resources waiting for me up there. I got accepted to grad school. I have a place to live, although no means of convenient transportation yet. I know that I will feel more capable, settled and comfortable upon my arrival. I hope that I am not being too cavalier in my assumption and plan that everything is going to go okay. It's been hard work establishing myself in a new community that I have yet to see or experience.

Right now I am thinking of the enormous pile of my possesions sitting up in the balcony of my mother's house, and the intense amount of sifting I am going to have to do in the week to come. To be completely honest, the only things that got sorted into AK/MN piles were my books and about half of my clothes. Chuck threw the rest of it in the back of his truck and into my mom's house unsorted. : ) Soooooooo I do have my work cut out for me. I have pored over AK climate charts, packing lists in guidebooks and other documents to help me figure out exactly what I'm going to need. Long underwear and my coffee pot are definitely at the top of my list. My boxes are going to be packed by category...appliances, clothes, etc. I also have to figure out what I am going to need for my day and a half on the train, and two days with the Dilleys before heading up to my house in Palmer.

I've always said that I can pack for anything in ten minutes, but this may be a slightly bigger challenge.

Last night was great. I met up with buddies (aw, buddies!) in Washburn at Patsy's bar for my last Saturday night in the area. It wasn't too bad a venue, but unsatisfying in that there were idiot drunks, too loud of music and motorcyclers cruising up and down the road revving whenever they'd pass the bar. The shining lights of the night, the said buddies, made everything worthwhile with good conversation when we could hear each other and much laughter (RangerBob: "I can't believe you're standing here defending Tucker Max!"). At one point in the night we decided to walk across the street to a little park to chillax, and after stories were told, backrubs were given, grass stains were gotten and sobriety achieved, we left for our homes. nice wrap up to my time here...very characteristic of us, I daresay. always an adventure.