All Star

Spring sprung and left Perrysburg coated in snow and slush. My tiny break left me tired of being at home, seriously I need to go do something.

Over the next couple days Kristy and I will start our packing and condensing so that in 81 short days when we gots to gets all our stuff is boxed and distributed. This is the chore that I am looking forward to the least. Being the Air Force brat that I was raised as, means I am no stranger to leaving all my material belongings behind me, however the time we take getting rid of them is poopy.

Oh peep this, my last month+ is already planned, the events will include (in chronological order of our last weekends): garage sale @ Mark's , our going away party - I guess we have to throw our own, bachelor party for Eric - I am in charge of this one, Eric & Sarah are getting hitched, and maybe possibly/probably going to Philly to see Jeremiah, Pops, and Kelly.

There should be something witty here that ties this all together and makes the reader think that I got it all under control; but there isn't.

Comfort Eagle

So this week has been productive thus far. I have some plans to save some loot and have gotten most of my list of; "things to do over break", done. I now have lessons to take and make and BAM mission accomplished.

I am writing this blog mostly as a test to see if my auto emailing system works. I added a few new goodies to the sidebar recently, including: news about Mauritania (loads of stuff about a country you never heard of before this) and a wishlist for those long lost extremely wealthy benevolent relatives that will one day soon google me and find me. I jest, its more just a shopping list of things for me to buy LOL

I read in a blog recently that a Mauritanian PCV lost 50lbs in less then 6 months . Wow thats a lot! I cant imagine me 50 lbs lighter, I am ok with 20-30 and wary of 40 but I think 50 and I really will just float away. Wierd.

I hope that this works

In Bloom

I have another day off school being that its good Friday and for some reason our state that says it upholds a separation of church and state allows us to endorse a religious holiday in our school system. I wonder what would happen to peoples opinions of this if it was not their religion that is being supported by the powers that be.

Spring has come and on its first official whole day we are expecting a snow storm in Ohio. BLEH
I have a week and a day off of work and I shall have to accomplish quite a bit in this time. I have to contact a tax guy, find out about new carpeting, sprint through some french lessons, and then compose some lesson plans of my own. I also today am going to attempt to get this blog to email those of you who may wish to have updates sent to you, without having to check from time to time.

Peace Corps prep is going well at present. The next step that I want to work on is getting our apartment in shape to vacate. We have so much stuff that we don't use and so much that we do and we have to get rid of stuff, have some things stored, hopefully sell things. Does anyone want to buy my crap? err I mean gently used products.

The best thing I have gained from getting ready is the camaraderie from those of us who have connected and are getting ready to go. EVERYONE I have met has been great, we all have a lot in common and I super stoked to share these experiences with these fine examples of our culture. I have really gotten to know Brandon, I think that we are kindred spirits and cant wait to goof off with him in person. It will be the awesome!

I think that the camaraderie applies to Kristy and I, we are bonding well in this experience. I know our relationship is strong but I really like that we are growing closer in this. We are playing on our strengths and I foresee this as a great way to start our experience, if I don't fuck it up with my mad slacker skillz.

Oh I have decided that I am going to try to name my blogs after songs in my music library from now on as music has been one of the things in my life that I look to for stability, and to help the people I care for know bits and pieces of my moods. Lets hope I can continue to do this for the next few years.
EDIT - I have gone through and renamed older blogs to fit this theme.

Roller Coaster of Love

This last week + has been quite the roller coaster, thats right a tired ye olde phrase of ups and downs. I am so ready to be done in the US and ready to start our new lives in the RIM. I think hope and pray that the things that we are searching for in the human species are actually located in Mauritania, I know I see them here.

I see that people genuinely care about each other here, but I see the malice coat most everything, the greed motivate, and apathy crush dreams under its uncaring (<--- oooh! context clue) weight. I know I know I know that these things exist everywhere, but to the degree that they do here? That is what I am seeking, not to find a utopia that is a fools errand, we build our ideal worlds and shape our perspectives to hone in on that which we seek. Now thats done and out of me

I have another school day off, which gives me the time to write this. I have to sleep as its not even 6 and I have been up since 4 I just couldnt sleep. Shaved, showered, dressed up with no place to go, HAHA.

Japanese food and Lionking tonight! Hurray for date night. It will be our last live performance until we can catch something in Mauritania.

We have started to amass more gear for our trip; YAY! Fun, fun, headlamps and Leatherman tools, we have some camera memory cards coming too which is something I am looking forward to as I want to take lots of pictures, I promise I will post them as I am able and I will try to get some good ones.

So two things happened in the adventure, Philly is no longer the staging location, it's now Atlanta. I am unsure how I feel about this. I dearly wanted to see my brother and father prior to me leaving the country for a couple years, but I also am glad that the journey will start with a clean break and I can start to hang out with our country mates of June 08. The ones I have met seem to be really cool, all really unique and caring individuals.

Second thing, the date of leaving to staging was solidified, we are scheduled to leave the P-Burg on the 17th. That is a mere 10 days after Eric and Sarah's wedding. LOL I will be living out of a suitcase for their wedding! That is just too funny to me, I will have to be uber presentable in a tux and all, and my life will be in such a state of disarray and material simplicity. Too great!

I am gonna stop now because I think that my mindless ramblings have become just that, mindless.