And we got through the birthday dinner with great civility. Huzzah. I was not trying to burn bridges. Kiddo says they had an absolutely perfect day. Today is our last full day in Portland. We will do a load of laundry and pack those clothes. Big kids will practice writing. We will almost certainly walk to the park to stretch our legs and get some exercise. Tonight we have dinner with my only buddy who lives in Portland who was born in Portland. Seems nice to close out my Portland time this way.
We are otherwise packed. We have just enough leftovers in the fridge that we can scrounge up a couple of meals. Oh, we should probably bring the groceries we didn’t get around to eating to a neighbor.
I think we are going to have 9 rolling bags. One of which must stay with us as carry on (it’s a little kid size) because it is all art supplies. 3 backpacks and a diaper bag. 3 purses. That sounds like a lot and it sounds like we have reduced a lot. We are not at the maximum for weight limit with a single bag. I probably have at least a cumulative full bag of weight leftover. The heavy shit is on the boat. This is fun because on the way to Bangkok we get 2 checked bags per person with a seat. 8 rolling bags: perfect. And 8 carry ons. Technically we could turn that into 6 carry ons with a grocery bag. Going from Bangkok to the UK we only get 1 checked bag per person. I will combine things so we have 5 checked bags and 4 carry on roller bags to go with 3 backpacks and a diaper bag. The purses can get shoved into the roller bags for security. No trouble.
That’s even under our baggage allotment, just barely.
I could have at least one more backpack full of stuff. Technically one of the roller bags is MCs backpack.
It is lighter and easier to manage than we’ve had all year. This is good. I also plan to go to the airport hella early because I am over rushing to an airport. I’d rather hang out there for an extra few hours doing laps with the baby. We have to check out by 11. The car is due back by 3:30. We will probably have lunch somewhere and then go straight to the airport.
I still haven’t figured out where I can drop off the car seat that is now old enough I should not rehome it. Hm. That’s a problem I need to figure out today. I have time.
Apparently the host for the Bangkok apartment is sending a relative with a van to pick us up from the airport. That sounds absolutely awesome. Did you know that Thailand requires you to have enough hard cash to pay for most of your trip or they might not let you into the country? Did you know that stays of more than 30 days require a special visa you have to get in country? How about did you know that if you overstay your 60 day visa (that requires special permission to begin with) by even 1 day you can get permanently banned from the country? I assume this is a rare worst case scenario but Thailand doesn’t fuck around. Alright then.
Gotta fill out the passenger information for the tickets. Go to the post office.
We leave on the 30th. We don’t arrive until the 1st. It’s going to be a very long trip.
Ok, passport information is now entered for the trip. Woo.
The brick of passports is even more solid and intimidating than usual because it has all the paperwork that allows us to enter/stay in the UK. It’s the size of a huge cell phone/small tablet but it is so dense that if someone handed it to you casually you might drop it from surprise. Vaccination records, international drivers licenses, Global Entry cards, and some travel cards for companies. Our life depends on this brick. Today we are wondering if we should photograph the stuff in the brick for record keeping. But then all of our most sensitive data will get stored in either iCloud or Dropbox and frankly that’s scary too.
Ayiyi.
25 hours until we check out of this house. 12 days until we go home. We looked into flights to Taipei for Christmas and I about choked. It would cost nearly $5,000, maybe more, just for flights. Given how fussy I am being over not wanting to spend $5,000 furnishing my house it seems kind of ridiculous to pay that for a trip right this minute. Perspectives shift. Priorities change. It wouldn’t have been as expensive to fly straight from Bangkok if we were staying in Asia for months. But we aren’t. Because it is time for school.
I emailed the head teacher yesterday. No response yet. I assume telling her about a problem that will arrive in two weeks isn’t that urgent yet.
Also, if you are a Girl Genius person: WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH LUCREZIA!??!?! I don’t understand how she has been doing this wandering in and out of time business. What was her ultimate goal?!?! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS AND THESE AUTHORS HAVE TAKEN OVER 20 YEARS TO GET THIS FAR I MAY NOT LIVE TO SEE THE RESOLUTION. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I am looking forward to having a more curated life. I am hiding from reality and I know it. But my brain and my body need a break from stimulation. I need to slow down. I don’t know that I will hide forever. Just for a bit. Until i don’t vibrate with pent up energy because I never slow down.
What will I feel like when my life is smaller?
I can’t wait to find out. I want to walk. I want to explore. I want to look at plants. I want to learn to eat plants as a bigger part of my life. I want computers and internet friends to take up a smaller percentage of my life. I want video chats to be a bigger chunk of my online time than forums and I suspect I will never get above 5 hours a month of those.
Social media makes me feel like my friends don’t prioritize me or care about me very much. Not being on social media means that when I talk to my friends I feel showered with blessings because they took time out of their busy lives to acknowledge me.
I don’t want to be on social media again. It seems unwise for my mental health.
I should make the kids sit down and do all the last reviews for their classes and clear out my inbox today.
I keep hearing the Rascal Flatts song I’m Moving On in my head.
I did not write my mother a letter or postcard or anything. Silence will inflict less pain. I do not want to hurt her any more than I already have. Just… go.