NZ Minus One

Haircut at 10:30, finally. I’m looking like Frodo Baggins up in here, with this hair. Call my cousin. Call Ashley in London. Figure out what to take to New York. Figure out what to take to Value Village. Figure out what to give to the Team Sisu garage sale. Take pictures of the house before it gets ripped apart with everyone moving in and moving out. Vacuum the bedroom. Clean the bathroom. Is it weird that I have an inappropriate crush on a nineteen year old girl rapper? Because I can’t stop yelling UK ALL THE WAY NOW and JUST CHECK HOW MY FLOW DIFFERS I’M DROPPING LYRICS LIKE A WHORE DROPPING KNICKERS. I love her. Is that weird? Because seriously I am listening to the Menta Remix of “Random” like all day and all night. Make sure to fix up the playlist for the party. Make some sort of dessert thing for next week’s going away thing at work. Or maybe I’ll just bring cupcakes. Tiramisu, though, for the party? When would I make it, Thursday? Except maybe we’ll all go salsa dancing Thursday. Paint toenails. Call Dad and give him my flight info. Get some more plastic containers from Target. And big garbage bags. How am I going to wrap the bed up? How am I going to get the bed down to my cousin’s? Where the hell is that Netflix about the coral reefs that arrived somewhere in this house four weeks ago and which I cannot find? Because that stupid coral reef…which I haven’t even watched… is going to end up costing like forty dollars in Netflix fees. Go to the bank and get traveler’s checks. Email to confirm with the Octopus Resort. Write Grammy a letter. Write thank you notes to bosses at work. Cancel my gym membership. I hope it’s good weather for next Saturday, man. I hope a lot of people come to the party. MAKE WAY FOR THE ESSSS OOOOHHHH VEEEEEE! Decide what to bring down to the ABL with me to give to Anna beside the pictures from college and all the bellydance gear. Speaking of which, get a flight from Portland to San Jose. Should I bring the laptop with me and give it to Mom to bring out in December or should I leave it here and have Treasa ship it to me when I find a place? What am I going to do with all the food in my cupboard? What am I going to do with the three bags of baby carrots in the fridge? I mean, I love baby carrots but not even I can eat that many before I go. Every morning now when I wake up I think “Ten more days in this bed. Nine more days in this bed.” It’s so weird. It’s so weird. I’m really doing this. It’s so weird I’m about to be out of a job and out of a house so I may as well move to the other side of the planet. In some ways it will be a relief to be somewhere completely new but on the other hand am I really going to not be sitting on the blue carpet of the cloud room this time next month, looking at my weekend to-do list and deciding which park to hang out in with which friend before having which kind of lunch. It’s so strange that Friday is my last day of work. Ooh, right, email that person about meeting up in Auckland. And email that other person about meeting up in Wellington. Makes sure to do a test pack this weekend. What am I going to do with the extra shampoo in the bathroom? It’s nearly a full bottle but I won’t use it all…especially after I get my crazy hobbit hair cut off, I hope…but I don’t want to throw it away. Wash the futon cover. See if either Linda or Jen want to take my stuffed octopus collection for Riley and/or Theo. Should I just sell the bed on Craigslist and forget about storing it? What’s going to happen when I come back and have no bed, though? What’s going to happen when I come back, period?. I haven’t even left the country and I’m wondering what’s going to happen when I get back. I have no idea when I’ll even be back. I’ve been saying twelve to fifteen months but I don’t know. EVERYBODY GET RANDOM ALL GYAL DEM ALL MAN DEM. What does “all gyal dem” even mean? That’s so embarrasing that I had to google that. I don’t care because I just love her. Cancel my National Geographic subscription, sob. Cancel my bus pass. Fix the database that I ruined yesterday at work because I am a genius sometimes. Read all the Anne Of Green Gables books because I haven’t read them for so long and suddenly I want to read them all and there’s not enough time before I go. There’s not enough time for anything before I go but I can’t even think about that too much because I have to get my hair cut and call my cousin and call Ashley in London…