I went to the doc yesterday for my travel visit. I am now officially poked full of yellow fever vaccine (which hurts like a bitch, y'all), boosted with adult polio, and the proud owner of four hose pillse to guard me against typhoid for the next five years. And the best part is I also get a month's worth of malaria pills to bring with me, just in case. I don't know why it amuses me that they are contingency malaria pills, but there it is.
(I have them in case I decide to go on an overnight to Iguacu Falls in Argentina, stay past dusk at Angkor Wat or take an overnight border crossing into Cambodia, or go to Laos).
This combines with the vaccines I got over the summer from the regular injection clinic. I am not completely guarded against absolutely everything - while I am just fine with inviting over a pile of yellow feverites for an evening of Twister and sneezing at each other, I am only 90% safe on Hep A. I got one shot, but won't get the other until I am back. So no nice Hep A and snow pea saute for me on the road this trip. Sad times.
But I want to say, mad love for Kaiser right now. Reading the travel forums and the like, apparently it's pretty common for folks to set aside a couple hundred for their vaccinations. Mine cost me my copay for the office visit and the two prescriptions; that's it. Yay, Kaiser. I WILL thrive, thank you!
November 30, 2007
I am a terrible blogger.
This is why you never send me chain letters, people. That chain will invariably make its quiet and unnoticed demise with me. I am way too lazy to make them work - even those ones that involve two people and a recipe exchange? I have yet to pass one of those on. And I love to cook and collect new recipes. Hopeless, I am.
Anyhow, all of this is to say: arduous tagged me (even though she KNOWS I am utterly useless) so I will give my seven things. But since I don't know a single blogger who has not been tagged, it all ends with me.
And despite the entire purpose of my blog, not one of mine will be travel related:
1. My favorite flavors for fake-flavored things are root beer and green apple; I do not particularly like root beer or green apples.
2. I have a random tendon thing on my right hand that I can wiggle at will. It's sort of hard to explain, but those rope things that run the length of the knuckle, that move when your finger moves? On the pinky of my right hand (and only that hand) I can make it wag back and forth, without moving the finger. No idea why.
3. I have only ever owned Honda cars.
4. I have a complicated relationship with tomatoes. I hate them in general and won't eat them, but I will eat and do like tomato products. I love ketchup, I eat marinara, I eat salsa - but mostly because I love vinegar, basil, garlic, oregano, chiles, etc. If it is a chunky salsa, pizza sauce, whatever, I tend to eat around the tomato chunks. Plain tomatoes, tomato soup, tomato juice, are all the root of evil. Mushrooms are simpler, and I won't eat them in any form.
5. I watch on average 30 hours of television a week.
6. I crack my neck, back, all finger joints, and toes. I no longer do it as a habit, but only when they are stiff or sore, but that means cracking on pretty much a daily basis. I also pop ankles, knees, elbows and, weirdly, my breastbone (which I didn't think had a joint...?), but only when they go wonky, I cannot do it at will.
7. I regularly sleep face down, with no fewer than 5 pillows and one full body pillow on the bed.
I think I am supposed to post rules or some such, but whatever. You can't tell me what to do.
Anyhow, all of this is to say: arduous tagged me (even though she KNOWS I am utterly useless) so I will give my seven things. But since I don't know a single blogger who has not been tagged, it all ends with me.
And despite the entire purpose of my blog, not one of mine will be travel related:
1. My favorite flavors for fake-flavored things are root beer and green apple; I do not particularly like root beer or green apples.
2. I have a random tendon thing on my right hand that I can wiggle at will. It's sort of hard to explain, but those rope things that run the length of the knuckle, that move when your finger moves? On the pinky of my right hand (and only that hand) I can make it wag back and forth, without moving the finger. No idea why.
3. I have only ever owned Honda cars.
4. I have a complicated relationship with tomatoes. I hate them in general and won't eat them, but I will eat and do like tomato products. I love ketchup, I eat marinara, I eat salsa - but mostly because I love vinegar, basil, garlic, oregano, chiles, etc. If it is a chunky salsa, pizza sauce, whatever, I tend to eat around the tomato chunks. Plain tomatoes, tomato soup, tomato juice, are all the root of evil. Mushrooms are simpler, and I won't eat them in any form.
5. I watch on average 30 hours of television a week.
6. I crack my neck, back, all finger joints, and toes. I no longer do it as a habit, but only when they are stiff or sore, but that means cracking on pretty much a daily basis. I also pop ankles, knees, elbows and, weirdly, my breastbone (which I didn't think had a joint...?), but only when they go wonky, I cannot do it at will.
7. I regularly sleep face down, with no fewer than 5 pillows and one full body pillow on the bed.
I think I am supposed to post rules or some such, but whatever. You can't tell me what to do.
November 10, 2007
rollin' in it
i sat down tonight to do all my dull financial stuff (because that's how i roll on a saturday evening, y'all), and i calculated my savings account. i make direct withdrawls to my ING account with every paycheck, and have for the past year. i also try to put as much of my paycheck from second job into ING as well, plus any extra i have from being a good girl and not going to lush (or mervyn's, apparently).
assuming i stay on schedule and make the deposits as planned for the rest of the year (and there's only three; really no reason why i won't), i will have totally hit my savings goal for my trip. it's a big number, and i am actually really proud of myself. i have no intention of spending the whole wad in the course of the trip, because i get jittery without savings and i would like a solid nest egg to use as re-entry money, but it's a good enough bundle that i don't think i need to panic on the road. i should do just fine, and still have plenty to go see priscilla in sydney like my mom wants me to.
assuming i stay on schedule and make the deposits as planned for the rest of the year (and there's only three; really no reason why i won't), i will have totally hit my savings goal for my trip. it's a big number, and i am actually really proud of myself. i have no intention of spending the whole wad in the course of the trip, because i get jittery without savings and i would like a solid nest egg to use as re-entry money, but it's a good enough bundle that i don't think i need to panic on the road. i should do just fine, and still have plenty to go see priscilla in sydney like my mom wants me to.
November 03, 2007
binging & purging
I went shopping today, which as I have mentioned I...don't do. It felt a little weird, to go out without no intention of buying anything (when not going to REI. It seems I always buy something at REI. For the trip!)
It started slow: first stop, farmer's market with mom. I bought nothing myself, though my have heavily influenced the purchase of some persimmons and some of the last raspberries of the season. I am unrepentant on either count.
Next, we hit up the flea market, with the sister in tow. Despite the name, there is little used crap at this flea market; it's much more a craft/staple market, but that does not sound as cool, and it does not at all detract from the awesomeness of the place. I didn't buy much, and nothing pricey, and it was all gifts for friends, but it felt so foreign to buy things that have not been on several lists for months.
But apparently, I opened some flood gates, because our next stop – at MERVYN'S of all places – I went a bit nuts. All staples, all things I need and will wear constantly, all on sale, but man did it feel like gorging myself on three guilty pleasures at once.
So to balance it out, I came home tonight and listed things for sale on eBay. I've been meaning to for a while, and it seems like a good time to offset my new possessions & the money I spent on them. I'm not selling a lot, and nothing particularly exotic (and, note to self, much of it was stuff I originally BOUGHT on eBay; the auction system does not fare will with my impulsive nature), just stuff that I do not need and will probably not move with me when I relocate (again) once I am back from traveling. So if I don't need them now, might as well get the money.
Now I just have to hope someone is as impulsive as I am and bids on these things!
I also went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes and shoes and bags and books for the next charity pick up. I have started doing it for every pick up time, so I sometimes don't have a lot to give away, but the purging has gotten pretty addictive. It feels refreshing to get rid of things that I don't need and don't want and don't fit and have worn out, and pare it down to only the stuff I love and use. Don't get me wrong, I still have outrageous amounts of "stuff," but it gets more managable each month.
It's no Vow of Non-Consumerism, but moving from a one-bedroom apartment and back in with the 'rents, curbing all purchases in order to save money, planning to spend the better part of next year traveling with very few material possessions, and the idea that I will move again when I come back has been very, very good about ridding me of some unnecessary clutter.
It started slow: first stop, farmer's market with mom. I bought nothing myself, though my have heavily influenced the purchase of some persimmons and some of the last raspberries of the season. I am unrepentant on either count.
Next, we hit up the flea market, with the sister in tow. Despite the name, there is little used crap at this flea market; it's much more a craft/staple market, but that does not sound as cool, and it does not at all detract from the awesomeness of the place. I didn't buy much, and nothing pricey, and it was all gifts for friends, but it felt so foreign to buy things that have not been on several lists for months.
But apparently, I opened some flood gates, because our next stop – at MERVYN'S of all places – I went a bit nuts. All staples, all things I need and will wear constantly, all on sale, but man did it feel like gorging myself on three guilty pleasures at once.
So to balance it out, I came home tonight and listed things for sale on eBay. I've been meaning to for a while, and it seems like a good time to offset my new possessions & the money I spent on them. I'm not selling a lot, and nothing particularly exotic (and, note to self, much of it was stuff I originally BOUGHT on eBay; the auction system does not fare will with my impulsive nature), just stuff that I do not need and will probably not move with me when I relocate (again) once I am back from traveling. So if I don't need them now, might as well get the money.
Now I just have to hope someone is as impulsive as I am and bids on these things!
I also went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes and shoes and bags and books for the next charity pick up. I have started doing it for every pick up time, so I sometimes don't have a lot to give away, but the purging has gotten pretty addictive. It feels refreshing to get rid of things that I don't need and don't want and don't fit and have worn out, and pare it down to only the stuff I love and use. Don't get me wrong, I still have outrageous amounts of "stuff," but it gets more managable each month.
It's no Vow of Non-Consumerism, but moving from a one-bedroom apartment and back in with the 'rents, curbing all purchases in order to save money, planning to spend the better part of next year traveling with very few material possessions, and the idea that I will move again when I come back has been very, very good about ridding me of some unnecessary clutter.
October 31, 2007
genesis
I decided to go around the world because nothing else was working out. Despite my pretty compelling laziness, I have always been a fairly driven person, and was consequently convinced (at least in my head) that I was going to Be Something someday. I worked towards it, followed all the right things, said no to drugs, stayed in school, etc.
I got jobs, and got better jobs, and moved onwards and upwards. Until I was living in a city I did not like (what up, LA!), doing a job that I had grown beyond, and looking for a change. One protracted, disheartening and fruitless job search later, and our hero is well and truly depressed. The problem was the realization not that I was not going to get one of these jobs I was vying for, but that I didn't really...want them. The actual jobs and the actual industry were so far removed from what I was passionate about and what I wanted to do that even if I had what I was supposed to be working for, I still wouldn't be happy.
So, okay, so time to regroup and figure out what it is, instead, that is going to make me happy, since it will no longer be this path to this career, clearly. I put in notice at my apartment, and start to bandy about wild notions -- I should move to a small town and open a movie theatre; I should become a pastry chef; I should find a sugar daddy (still considering that last one, too). I should chuck it all and go around the world.
That one stuck.
When I was in college and therabouts, I was huge on travel. During those four years, I went to London enough that I actually got BORED WITH IT. Can you imagine? But one thing I always coveted about British culture was the respect for taking off. It was in London, and all of the zillions of travel agents that are everywhere, that I noticed the "Around the World" fare that was at the end of every single deal board out front. That was when I got the pipe dream of taking off for a year and just heading all around, going to every single place that I want to see. It was one of the things that I knew I was never going to do, because I had this spectacular career path all figured out in my head, and that made me sad, but it was just the way it is.
And then, suddenly, career out, travel in. So I quit my job and moved home with my parents(glamorous!). I got another job, one that also brought me back to academia a bit, which I had missed, that actually paid more. And I started to save.
The idea was, if I am going to try to figure out where I want to be, I can do it miserable and aimless in a place, both literal and figurative, that I hate, or I can do it on my own on Thai beaches and Chilean glaciers and Croatian cities. I clearly lost a bit of the original dream when it came down to it -- I could go round the world three times, and just keep coming up with places I wanted to see, and I am not going for a full year, and I am doing it on the cheap -- but the essence is the same: look out world.
So that is why I am doing this -- nothing else worked out, so I am doing something for me. Something that I know I cannot regret. Something that I never thought I would be able to do.
I got jobs, and got better jobs, and moved onwards and upwards. Until I was living in a city I did not like (what up, LA!), doing a job that I had grown beyond, and looking for a change. One protracted, disheartening and fruitless job search later, and our hero is well and truly depressed. The problem was the realization not that I was not going to get one of these jobs I was vying for, but that I didn't really...want them. The actual jobs and the actual industry were so far removed from what I was passionate about and what I wanted to do that even if I had what I was supposed to be working for, I still wouldn't be happy.
So, okay, so time to regroup and figure out what it is, instead, that is going to make me happy, since it will no longer be this path to this career, clearly. I put in notice at my apartment, and start to bandy about wild notions -- I should move to a small town and open a movie theatre; I should become a pastry chef; I should find a sugar daddy (still considering that last one, too). I should chuck it all and go around the world.
That one stuck.
When I was in college and therabouts, I was huge on travel. During those four years, I went to London enough that I actually got BORED WITH IT. Can you imagine? But one thing I always coveted about British culture was the respect for taking off. It was in London, and all of the zillions of travel agents that are everywhere, that I noticed the "Around the World" fare that was at the end of every single deal board out front. That was when I got the pipe dream of taking off for a year and just heading all around, going to every single place that I want to see. It was one of the things that I knew I was never going to do, because I had this spectacular career path all figured out in my head, and that made me sad, but it was just the way it is.
And then, suddenly, career out, travel in. So I quit my job and moved home with my parents(glamorous!). I got another job, one that also brought me back to academia a bit, which I had missed, that actually paid more. And I started to save.
The idea was, if I am going to try to figure out where I want to be, I can do it miserable and aimless in a place, both literal and figurative, that I hate, or I can do it on my own on Thai beaches and Chilean glaciers and Croatian cities. I clearly lost a bit of the original dream when it came down to it -- I could go round the world three times, and just keep coming up with places I wanted to see, and I am not going for a full year, and I am doing it on the cheap -- but the essence is the same: look out world.
So that is why I am doing this -- nothing else worked out, so I am doing something for me. Something that I know I cannot regret. Something that I never thought I would be able to do.
October 24, 2007
In defense of product
Under the best of circumstances, I am an absolute sucker for new beauty products--good smells, cute packaging, grandiose claims, whatever, I'm sold, give me the new face masque. Or lotion. Or scrub. Or all three.
So combine that with the fact that I have been under a spending embargo for pretty much a year. I have been trying my very best to save, and while success has been dubious at times, I have gotten better as my departure date draws nearer and the costs of all I want to do become more real.
Pretty much the only thing left that I can buy guilt free? Items "for the trip." OK, so maybe I played a little fast and loose with the definition of "for the trip" a time or two, but when I don't buy ANYthing but gas and asiago bagels from Panera, I go a little mad sometimes. So what if I justify a heady dash through the world of product as "for the trip?" I need to make an educated decision as to what toiletries I am taking with, don't I? I can't wind up in Patagonia with an oily face and stringy hair, can I?
I know that every RTW book, blog and forum tells chicks doing long-term travel to give up vanity and embrace the low maintenance/inner hag look. To that, I say: Pshaw and whatever, book, blog and forum clearly written by men (And yes, I regret it on the road or in hindsight, I will absolutely and publicly eat my words.). In my day-to-day life homeside, I am not very high maintenance, but what I need, I need. My hair is about 1.5 inches long at its longest. I don't need to wash it every day, I don't ever condition it, I don't need to comb it, but I also do not have the luxury of the ponytail option. So I am sorry, I need some product. I am not talking about a barrage of serums and gels and lotions and a fistful of straightening/curling/flattening ionic whatever irons, just my one beloved bottle of Bumble & Bumble. Otherwise, quite frankly, my hair will feather itself into a gigantic butt on my head. That is not a look I need to take on the road.
I've been deep in love with Lush because it really does complete me. Not only is everything so very soft and smell so very good, but they sell most things like meat at the deli -- you want a thin slice of 3 soaps, they price 'em by the pound and wrap them up. It's a dabbling shopper's dream: I get to appease my evil consumerist tendencies without getting tons of different stuff, just a bit of this and some of that. Plus, Lush has mastered the genius of solid shampoo. How great is that for travel? No liquids! Just rub a little on your scalp, and you are good to go; 8 of a pound lasts months! I was so set.
So, yeah. All of this really is my justification for going to Lush today and buying, buying, buying. But, see, they are discontinuing the shampoo I had already chosen! It's been tried and tested, does not give me butt head, does not let my hair get greasy or dry or flaky or flyaway or lifeless (when you have short hair, which I love, it sort of magnifies any of your hair's negative characteristics, which I do not), plus it even gives a little red hue. I mean, I won't be devastated if I can't buy more of it when I get back, but it had already made the cut and was on my list! In pen! And now it's a limited-time purchase? That huge chunk I bought is totally justified. It's for the trip.
So combine that with the fact that I have been under a spending embargo for pretty much a year. I have been trying my very best to save, and while success has been dubious at times, I have gotten better as my departure date draws nearer and the costs of all I want to do become more real.
Pretty much the only thing left that I can buy guilt free? Items "for the trip." OK, so maybe I played a little fast and loose with the definition of "for the trip" a time or two, but when I don't buy ANYthing but gas and asiago bagels from Panera, I go a little mad sometimes. So what if I justify a heady dash through the world of product as "for the trip?" I need to make an educated decision as to what toiletries I am taking with, don't I? I can't wind up in Patagonia with an oily face and stringy hair, can I?
I know that every RTW book, blog and forum tells chicks doing long-term travel to give up vanity and embrace the low maintenance/inner hag look. To that, I say: Pshaw and whatever, book, blog and forum clearly written by men (And yes, I regret it on the road or in hindsight, I will absolutely and publicly eat my words.). In my day-to-day life homeside, I am not very high maintenance, but what I need, I need. My hair is about 1.5 inches long at its longest. I don't need to wash it every day, I don't ever condition it, I don't need to comb it, but I also do not have the luxury of the ponytail option. So I am sorry, I need some product. I am not talking about a barrage of serums and gels and lotions and a fistful of straightening/curling/flattening ionic whatever irons, just my one beloved bottle of Bumble & Bumble. Otherwise, quite frankly, my hair will feather itself into a gigantic butt on my head. That is not a look I need to take on the road.
I've been deep in love with Lush because it really does complete me. Not only is everything so very soft and smell so very good, but they sell most things like meat at the deli -- you want a thin slice of 3 soaps, they price 'em by the pound and wrap them up. It's a dabbling shopper's dream: I get to appease my evil consumerist tendencies without getting tons of different stuff, just a bit of this and some of that. Plus, Lush has mastered the genius of solid shampoo. How great is that for travel? No liquids! Just rub a little on your scalp, and you are good to go; 8 of a pound lasts months! I was so set.
So, yeah. All of this really is my justification for going to Lush today and buying, buying, buying. But, see, they are discontinuing the shampoo I had already chosen! It's been tried and tested, does not give me butt head, does not let my hair get greasy or dry or flaky or flyaway or lifeless (when you have short hair, which I love, it sort of magnifies any of your hair's negative characteristics, which I do not), plus it even gives a little red hue. I mean, I won't be devastated if I can't buy more of it when I get back, but it had already made the cut and was on my list! In pen! And now it's a limited-time purchase? That huge chunk I bought is totally justified. It's for the trip.
October 10, 2007
testing the waters
I am taking off for nearly seven months, and I will have any sort of company for maybe…5 weeks of that time? At most? Spread out? So clearly, I need to get comfortable doing the traveling and all that it involves – the navigating, arranging, logistics, the pain in the ass stuff – all on my own.
And what better dry run than Milwaukee!
…yeah, I don’t know. But I was visiting friends in Chicago, and taking a couple of days to visit Madison, so I thought, why not? I’ve never been to Milwaukee, visited only in my most vivid Laverne & Shirley fantasies.
Turns out, Milwaukee is rather pretty:
And what better dry run than Milwaukee!
…yeah, I don’t know. But I was visiting friends in Chicago, and taking a couple of days to visit Madison, so I thought, why not? I’ve never been to Milwaukee, visited only in my most vivid Laverne & Shirley fantasies.
Turns out, Milwaukee is rather pretty:
ALSO turns out: I can up and decide to go somewhere, go there, wander some, find some lunch, and find my way out, all without a map, a plan, or any idea where I am. This bodes well for me, I think.
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