Is that light I see really a train?

I'm up to 20 boxes/containers completely ready to be picked up. I am nearing the end, but not there yet. My back is feeling it. One room is packed up, there is a large pile of stuff to be given to the landlady, and hopefully it will all be on it's way Friday. And maybe I'll be on my way Saturday. In an hour or so I start taking down my computer setup. Then I will be on my netbook and USB stick until Friday. I don't see me renewing it unless I can't leave till Monday for some reason. I started using the cardboard boxes. I hate to admit it, but they do make things a lot easier to pack. Right now I'll take that utility on this end, and deal with it on the other end whenever it is that I'm where they are again.

I have a lot to mail. I'm not looking forward to that process, but it is just me not liking to mail things. I forgot my inventory list to make the customs forms from when I went last time, so I have all of it to mail today. That is on tap for this afternoon. Maybe. So far I have found a few things I thought I'd lost, and then repacked them so they are lost again. I am leaving things behind that I actually wish I could take but that aren't worth the effort. I am leaving a lot of projects in the middle of the process and hope someday to get back to it. Just don't really know when or where right now. Two days and a wake-up. I hope.

Packing

This is how it started. It got worse. Today a corner has been turned. I also may have sold the TV, or rather my former partner from work may have sold it for me. Bless him. He's working on selling the wardrobe now. I just sent pictures of it to him.

As soon as I make a decision before going to bed, I wake up the next morning and change it. I positively decide to change my ticket, originally bought back in December (I think) to go on vacation, to leave earlier than the 15th, then decide not to and to just stay and veg because I don't have the brain cycles to change it. However, the packing is proceeding and there are starting to be a few empty spaces here and there.

So, time will tell. For the most part I would really prefer to get out of here and go home as soon as I can. Just don't know if I'll have the energy to make it happen. Work will reimburse me whatever I decide.

Everything is better with a little Cat

Not the 4 footed kind, although one of those would help a lot as well. Cat Stevens. A fellow blogger wrote a post that just screamed at me the emotions voiced in a Cat Stevens song from years ago. Ok, it would have to be from years ago if it was Cat. In looking up the actual lyrics - which were different than I remembered by a bit - I ended up on a Cat kick and have been listening to MP3's of his for the past hour or so. I am in a much better place.

Everything happens for a reason.

A down day

Yesterday I hit a down spot. Just overwhelmed and scattered. I still made some progress. I go back and forth between wanting to get this done and not wanting to think about being done. When I'm done I will need to either change my ticket to closer to now, or find something (cheap) to do until the 15th. I don't really want to travel around here when home is something so close I can almost taste it. I may come back some day. I know my way around the area (being Central America) now, and being here doesn't scare me. I'm just ready to leave right now. I would be reimbursed for any change fees, etc. I just can't think about the details of how to do it right now.

Bill came and got the shelves he bought. I had to take stuff off and pile it someplace else. I also sent some of the plastic drawers that I used as a dresser off with him. I actually apologized to the drawers as I was washing the dust off, that I was abandoning them down here. And so, this is why I have trouble getting rid of stuff.

I have 6 containers loaded, inventoried, taped up and ready. I have one more I just need to move out there and put a number on. One more priority mail box ready to mail tomorrow. When I shipped stuff down here I have over 60 numbered items, for context. I went to the PX and when I didn't see any Gorilla Boxes out I asked one of the locals who works there if they had any in the back. She quickly went to the back and many minutes later wheeled out on the two wheeler a nice new boxed Weber charcoal grill. So, not to say the same thing won't happen back home but maybe I'll be more in a place where I can see the humor of it all.

On-going

There is progress, but at the moment I feel like I've hit a wall. There are a lot of lessons here, and at some point I hope to have time to ponder and learn from them. I have started boxes on the travel north, 3 priority mail boxes sent yesterday. More packed and in the car to send Monday. 5 more boxes picked up from the post office when I was there. This is stuff I don't want to drag through the airport, but don't want to lose use of for 2 months. Mostly I don't know if I will need it or not since I haven't dealt with cold weather for almost 4 years (Washington State was dreary while I was there, but not terribly cold).

I have one container packed, inventoried, taped up, and numbered. Two more that just need to be taped and numbered, and 3 more that need to be inventoried, etc. More in various stages, but at least some part of this is ready to go, even if only one container at this point. My local rep came by this morning and is buying my fridge and microwave and shelves and fan and ironing board. This is good because he won't need them until I am actually leaving. Still have the TV and wardrobe to sell.

I'm tired. I'm heading in to post to eat lunch at the dining facility and buy more Gorilla boxes.

Day 2

Not up quite as early. It doesn't get light till after 6am and it is a bit difficult to get motivated till then. I have 4 boxes ready to mail, and I need at least 2 more Gorilla boxes (black plastic foot lockers of sorts) to pack up stuff. I'm trying to not use the cardboard boxes that were used to pack things into when it was shipped here. At the other end some (most) will go into storage, and I prefer not to use cardboard boxes for that. I also need to be able to handle the containers on the other end, so I'm packing a lot lighter than the moving guys did with the bigger boxes.

I am not shipping a lot of furniture as I don't have a lot. My bed is an aluminum folding cot with an integrated queen sized air mattress that I got at WalMart about 3 years ago. I've replaced the air mattress twice. It's advantages are that I can handle moving it myself (has it's own carrying case) and it is fairly comfortable. I'm taking my LazyBoy leather recliner back as well as my Ikea kitchen table. The rest is just... stuff. I am packing myself up as that is the only way I will have any chance of knowing what is where. I lost a couple of things from the move down here for months till I would unpack something not related at all and there would be whatever I had been looking for, stuffed into the available space at the time.

I may get a bit chatty here as I don't really have anyone to talk to. I live in a town away from most of the other contractors (by plan) and I'm keeping a low profile so someone doesn't decide to pull my ID's and keep me from getting onto post. Most of the contractors are retired military so they can use that ID to get on, but I'm not. I am supposed to have access till I leave, but, well, better safe than sorry. I need to get there to mail what I want to mail back.

sigh

I can definitely say I was not to the point of being able to pack up in a day. Some progress. Not a lot. I am going to mail a lot of clothes and such, and maybe one of the laptops. I hate to trust it to the APO system, but I don't think I want to carry 4 computers through security at the airport. Most of the issues are timing how to manage the transition. However, there are a lot of folks on-line who do something called the Project 333 where they choose 33 items only to wear for 3 months. I'm managing a lot more than 33 items between 2 checked luggage and mailing stuff. I need to go to post and get more mailing boxes tomorrow and send off the ones I packed up today. Maybe as things clear out I will feel more on top of this.

The Beginning

Up before the phone alarm goes off at 5:30 am, coffee made. I am wondering around a bit just looking, details jump out and I do them such as sweep the floor, do some ironing. Trying to get ready to really start packing. The stuff that I have out where I can use it looks like a mountain of stuff to try to push into neatly packed boxes. First I have to unpack what I had already packed in the suitcases to go on vacation. Priorities changed. The issues to consider are timeline - it will take at least 2 months to get the things that are shipped - and safety. My computers and cameras need to be with me in carry on. That is 3 laptops and a tablet, a tablet/phone, a video camera and a quick shoot digital camera. A lot of weight to schlep through the airports. I will hopefully need interview outfits, and all the heavy winter clothes that I've been pushing to the back of my closets now need to be packed in my checked luggage to wear as soon as I get back. Jeans come out to be packed, shorts pushed back to be shipped. Nicer clothes packed, what I've been wearing, well, not so sure where it goes, but I'm thinking that sleeveless tops won't be what I'm wearing every day for awhile. Coffee maker, shipped, backpacking drip coffeemaker in my carry on. Cleaning supplies given to... someone.

I sit down and drink coffee and play on the computer. The desktop computer that will be shipped. Oh, guess I better pull a backup of it as there is no guarantee that my things will actually show up at the other end. Trying to figure out timing all this, so I'm not left with my clean underwear in a different country than I am. The short answer to this is that I can just replace anything I have for not a lot of money. There are stores on each end of this trip. My friend here has said that I can crash on her couch in the time between when my stuff (to include my bed) is shipped and when I leave. Hopefully that will only be one night, but who knows.

And so it begins.

Turn the Page

Today I was cut from the contract here. I'm not alone, they cleaned house. Nothing really personal. My corporate bosses, the ones from Texas, say they have no issues with me and will try to find something for me to do. With the debts, other than the house, paid, I can live on unemployment. Turn the page...

So, now I spend time truly packing, sorting, etc. I am not so inclined to donate as much, but that may change. I'm still processing events. My first inclination is to just ship all my stuff back, doesn't cost me anything to ship it as it's covered in my relocation. I've got time to figure this out. My back of the envelope plans at this point have me looking to be back in the States this time next week. Everything isn't just in jello, it is written in flowing water at this point. I look around and, well, I'm not real motivated. When I don't have to go in to work tomorrow I will be happily motivated to get home.

I should be feeling something. I will, once I get started. Dang, this is a lot of stuff to figure out suddenly. Prayers requested. I'll get though it. And I'm still going to Las Vegas. The flight is already paid for and the lodging is free. I'm thinking that the change of scenery will help me get my legs back under me.

Chugging Along

I sent out a bunch of on-line applications. So far the contracting world is unimpressed that I'm available. Oh, well. Just getting started is the best thing to do. If my resume isn't out there, no one will see it. I need to do a cover letter. For some reason I am fighting that. It will help, no doubt, to have one. It's on the list.

I removed a couple of blogs from my blog list, sadly, as the writers had passed on from this world. It made me sad to see them at the bottom of the list, no longer to be updated. I have this weekend added a few more. A lot of times I troll other bloggers blog lists, and if I find myself spending as much time clicking off their list as I do my own I figure it is time to add those blogs to my own list. I do have an eclectic (thank you spell check) list as my interests are fairly wide ranging. I am mostly following full time RV'ers, though, as that is where I hope to end up.

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend, and I spent it in Teguc at the InterContinental. The casinos were very, very good to me. Here's hoping that the trend continues while I'm in Las Vegas. I have that RV lifestyle to fund, you know. I was double upgraded at the hotel since my original upgraded room was not yet ready when I arrived. My special front desk guy showed up and suddenly I was on my way to the Jr. Suite on the top floor. Separate living room with it's own guest bathroom, both a glassed in shower and a sunken tub off the large bedroom. Have I mentioned that I will miss this part, being one of the 1% while paying discounted rates?

Being away last weekend set me up needing to spend this weekend cleaning and mopping and doing laundry and ironing. Something seems to have happened to the geckos. I'm wondering if my upstairs neighbor putting out poison for the ants got to the geckos. I haven't heard them in a few days and they are usually fairly noisy around sunset. I also have been invaded by the big ants. I don't kill them intentionally, but I do encourage the spiders to do the natural thing. My floors looked like Armageddon (again, thanks spell check)with dead ants everywhere. Again this morning is more of the same after a day of sweeping them up yesterday. I, myself, have avoided the use of poison out of concern for the geckos.

I am pulling things out to donate as I pack for my trip. I'll take two suitcases to Mom's, planning on leaving one in storage. The box of glasses did get taken in to a co-worker rather than packed away. It is a start. I am excited about 5 days in Las Vegas, time in the US, alone, to do what I want when I want. I do admit that I'm kinda hoping to fund that RV lifestyle while I'm there. A girl can dream.