Packing and Preparing … and some Procrastinating

Taking trips to Baltimore and DC, Colorado and Austin – I’ve been doing a little procrastinating. Sweet, rebellious procrastinating.

There is so much to do now that if I had a job now I’d have to quit just to get it all done in time.

Sparing the minutia, the large things I still have to do involve getting personal property insurance, procuring a large hiking bag pack (any suggestions?), transferring all my data to my new tiny netbook, setting up communications with my family and friends (handwritten address book in 2010, what?!), and wrapping up my banking and cats and medical prescriptions.

Oh, and the PC office said that if I don’t get my H1N1 shot and bring proof to staging then I’m not going – so that’s high on the priority list.

I’ll soon post a packing list along with thrilling photos of all my things.  The goal is not to pack to camp, but to pack to live. I intend to slightly underpack and purchase as much as I can there.

Ha! Let’s see how that one goes!

Maintaining My Cool in a Chaos of Preparation, Classifieds

Since receiving my invitation almost two weeks ago, it seems like time is always running out and everything is portrayed in this state of “pre-Botswana”. Consequently, I’ve been heeding my father’s orders and selling everything. I’ve sold a guitar, a guitar case, a drumset, an iPod Touch, and I’m about to drop off a ton of clothing to consignment and later I’ll be selling my phone. I’m practically a self-contained Craigslist, so, you know, if you want something for cheap I invite you to check with me first. I probably have it, and if I do, it’s almost certainly in mint-condition.

Good news is I’m also buying some new items with the $$ I get from selling – for instance my new ASUS EEE PC 1005 PE netbook is in the mail! I also used my drumset money to buy a new, smaller, cheaper, quiet and very transportable practice drum pad set that, yes, I will dare to take with me. I’m also purchasing a smaller iPod… and I got a Kindle. Better sell a limb and get a PacSafe.

Other than material exchanges – I’ve met some wonderful current PCVs and invitees via the Botswana 9 Facebook Group. The Botswana 8 group (the group preceding ours that’s already there) has given us invaluable advice for packing and preparing, and since then the scariness of the whole thing has ebbed, just a little.