And the adventure begins

I'm off tomorrow! I'm still doing that last-minute packing which seems unavoidable, but most of my stuff is all packed into two backpacks. All I have to do is finish fiddling with my electronics and odds-and-ends... as well as continue dramatic readings of Poe's poetry with interpretive dances in the background with my siblings until we all pass out from delirious exhaustion.

Tomorrow... a drive to Albany, a plane to Philadelphia, and the adventure begins :-)

Staging

I got my staging packet in the mail yesterday. That's the final go-ahead I've been waiting for, as it contained the official departure date and travel information. I need to be in Philadelphia June 13th, and I'm leaving for Africa (first Johannesburg, then up to Lusaka, Zambia) on June 15th. In a month from today- that's it, just one month- I'll be in Zambia.

There's pretty much no way to actually get my mind around this, but I feel like it's happening for real this time. I've now down everything twice- gotten two invitations, two giant packets, and two staging packets- and what's left is the real, gritty, challenging, frustrating process of actually packing. This is where I got really bogged down, completely stressed out, and stopped sleeping in January. I'm hoping to avoid that this time around, and I'm actually further ahead than where I was when Guinea was still on the horizon. I have a new pair of dress shoes (which is way more significant than it seems, given that the last time I bought dress shoes I was, I think, a sophomore in high school). I have an iPod. I have several new pairs of Chacos in the mail, and I have an incredibly helpful list of packing suggestions from a girl who is currently in Zambia with the Peace Corps.

Now I just have to sit down in a large pile of my possessions and see whether they can all fit into my daypack (somehow I doub it, but I'm holding on to the possibility) or if I need to (okay, get to) get a new internal frame pack.

Diiiiiiiisc

I spent the weekend with some amazing friends- Friday night at UConn, Saturday and Sunday in Wellesley with Fox Force Seven. Believe it or not, that was the first full tournament I've played with the Foxes since fall of my junior year... craziness. And it felt so good to be playing with them- I've been to other tournaments since my leg healed- Get Ho Ho Ho! in December with SyraConn, and High Tide, but not with my Foxes.

I am very much looking forward to my Peace Corps adventure, but I'm going to miss ultimate. I can very easily see myself missing ultimate more than I will miss Starbucks, or maple trees, or even running water. Because ultimate is more than just a game for me... it's a defining part of my life. Part of me comes alive when I'm playing that just isn't there other times. The focus and confidence I have on the field, knowing what my role is and feeling like I can do what I need to, and do it well... and do it powerfully, and have an unbelievable amount of fun while doing it... that's an experience unmatched by most other activities in my life. Probably my favorite position to play is hammer-stop, and I love to play there, because I know exactly what to do, and I relish the frustration on some wing's face when I'm there to stop her (almost) every time she cuts.

I love to run, but I run because it will make me a better ultimate player. And the more I play, the more I enjoy running, because it reminds me of the incomparable feeling of chasing down a disc, or staying step-for-step with the girl I'm defending (or staying step-for-step with the guy I'm defending). I wonder sometimes, what I would have found to be passionate about if I hadn't run into the Foxes practicing that Friday afternoon my freshman year... and that's a question I suppose I'll never need the answer to, because I found the best sport on earth.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day... not being spent marching down 5th Avenue in New York, or wandering around in the woods. This year I'm going for some good old American-style celebration, heading up to Albany to spend the evening with Deidra and some of her friends.

We're all shoveled out from the nor'easter that hit yesterday. It's nice to have snow to excuse my slothfulness (I rented The Departed and loved it).

Things I'm looking forward to these days:

The new TMNT movie, coming out in a few weeks
Going to Vancouver and Pullman (April 26-May 10)- Returning to the West Coast, where I'm convinced I left a good portion of my soul some years back.
The 3rd Pirates movie

and of course, Going to Zambia. Which, if plans don't get altered the way they did in January, will be June 13. I'm getting more and more excited as time goes by. I tend to go through spurts, where I get bogged down in my day-to-day routine of nothingness, but then I make contact with someone else in my training class, or I find the blog of someone who's a current or past Volunteer there, or I see something like a full-page picture of Victoria Falls in the New York Times, and suddenly I'm hit again with the desire to be there. I don't know what to expect, but I can't wait to experience it. I want my world to change. I want my mindset to be forever shaken, and to suddenly see in front of me, wide open, paths I never before imagined for myself.

I have conquered the world

Or at least, managed to obtain a URL that is unique and uniquely me.

Contemplate this picture, taken while hiking Indian Head (one of the Catskill 35s) last weekend.