I've got all my bills paid off and my insurance and phone service set to cancel on the appropriate days, I've got most everything I need to take with me (with a few exceptions) and my mother hasn't even cried once yet! ...I do have to say that the other day she gave me a hug and told me exactly how many more "good night" hugs I'd get before I leave. I asked if she was putting me on a hug budget...I didn't get an answer.
As far as the doings of leaving go, I only have three more days left at work, which I am enjoying the heck out of. I was hoping to get a leave of absence so I'd have a job to come back to, but as it turns out, my company does not consider the Peace Corps as an acceptable reason to grant a leave of absence--if I were going overseas in a war to kill people and blow stuff up, they'd hold my job indefinitely, but as an ambassador of peace and good will...well, I'm left, at best, to hope for something upon my return. As you can imagine, this did not sit well with me. Ballsy as I am, I skipped all the middlemen and went straight to the CEO of my company and told him how ridiculous this is. He promised me he'd take a look at the policy and see what can be done to change it; while it's too late for me, hopefully there will be changes made at the corporate level that make it easier for people like me to do good things in the future and still come back to a job.
So yeah...I've been thinking about what kind of technology I'm going to take with me. Nearly all the other current Peace Corps Volunteers that are in Cambodia right now have said that having a computer is REALLY nice. When there's nothing to do you can watch movies, play games, and pre-write blogs and letters....I happen to like this idea. Unfortunately, my computer is not agreeing with me. Since I graduated it has gone on this ridiculous decline of functionality and it is little better than a door stop at this point. So...to buy a new one, or not to buy? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the field to suffer the paper cuts and torture of pen and paper, or to give way to the rise of technology...
I'm going to be taking my iPod, which I've also heard is almost utterly indispensable, and I'll also be taking the SWEET new Kindle my parents gave me. Oh! And my camera. I've been told that I will be beaten within an inch of my life if I don't take a ridiculous amount of pictures and send them on a semi-regular basis. Other than that, I just need to pick up a couple head lamps to use while riding my bike at night and for reading in bed (so I don't burn down the house, see). Oh...and underwear. :( I have to go buy underwear, and anyone who knows me knows that this is not my favorite thing in the world. In fact, I hate underwear and I hate underwear shopping (any shopping, really) with a burning, flaming passion. It's a good thing I'm getting a headlamp to avoid the whole burning and flaming thing, because I'm pretty sure if you combined my hatred for underwear with an open flame, people in China would feel the rumble from the explosion. Sadly, if they did, I couldn't help them...I'm going to Cambodia, you know...
I'll do it for the cause though....oh, the sacrifices we make...
Pretty soon here I'm going to start my epic whirlwind adventure of picture taking and family member visiting, just so I can make sure I don't get stoned with stones and burned with fire upon my return....and so I can show my new Cambodian family (whomever they may be) what their American family counterparts look like.
Heh...turns out I'm pretty much like Brad and Angelina (only without the whole 'are they going to divorce or not' bit, and much more pizaz). See--they have a habit of adopting kids from every flippin continent....I happen to adopt my own families in every country I've lived in. Every state too. I have Chinese sisters and a Chinese mother, and pretty soon here I'll have a whole Cambodian family! This is EPIC! Somebody call PEOPLE magazine, Brangelina has NOTHIN' on this!!!
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