Counting Down . . .

I leave in 5 days for my trip!

I am finally starting to get excited about going, though I am also starting to feel the familiar feeling of "Why on earth do I have so much stuff if I don't need to take it with me on vacation?"

This inevitably happens when I go on vacation.  In the go-through-everything method of packing that I employ, I am always stunned by the amount of stuff I have that I simply don't need.  6 "junk" t-shirts for dirty work.  8 tank tops when I don't even like wearing tank tops.  5 pairs of jeans when I only ever enjoy wearing 3 of them.

These kinds of questions bother me, mainly because the simple solution is "Get rid of the stuff you don't like or want or need," but there's always something that holds me back.  It's amazing the amount of stuff I don't even like but I hold on to and use for some unknown reason.  One explanation might be, given the fact that I do use some of the stuff, that I NEED the items and therefore it would be stupid to get rid of them.  However, the only reason I use them is because they create a need by being there, not because the need is there and they fill it.

I think a better explanation is that there is that primal "store up for the winter" thinking that pervades human actions, which leads people to do strange things like hold on to bedsheets from 1970 "just in case" the current ones get messed up.  Of course, if the current ones get destroyed, new ones will be bought as a replacement before the old ones will be brought out of storage, but these kinds of facts I can never quite convince my brain of.

Of course, even of the stuff that I DO want to take with me when I pack, it seems to be far more than one person should ever have in their possession/desire to drag with them to a new location.  My mother often says that I have anorexia when it comes to possessions, I always have this constant desire to reduce and purge myself of unneeded items.  I hate the idea of being needlessly burdened down with items that aren't really essential to life.



In other news, tonight is my last class for my summer Ethics course.  It's been interested, and made me more confused than ever about the world, but I do feel kind of bad about the course in general.  Due to it being the first time this teacher had ever taught the course in an intensive 6-week, 4-hour-class-twice-a-week style, and his lack of knowing how to structure the time, we missed a lot of material.  Taoism, my favorite Eastern religion, was completely skipped over, as well as Family Ethics, Media Ethics, and a few other Ethical issues, despite the fact that they were listed in the syllabus and the readings were in our textbook.  I would have liked to have gotten a more broad scope of Ethical thoughts and issues, but I suppose it was not to be.  Many people have said that this is common of summer courses, that they are far easier and more relaxed than standard, and part of the issue might also be that I am taking the class at a community college, rather than at a standard 4-year school, the style of which I am now used to after a semester at Cedar Crest College.

In other other news, my bag today has, by far, the most eclectic assortment of things that I think it has ever held, which, for me, is saying something.  It contains, among other things:
My textbook for tonight, along with my binder and notes
Library books and movies from two different libraries
Two pouches of CapriSun which I took from the giant boxes at the break room at work
A piece of pizza
A water bottle
My bill and receipt for tuition for the Fall at Cedar Crest
A box of frozen vegetables
An umbrella

However, as I am writing this list, I realize that I left all my pens and pencils at home, and that if I plan to take notes tonight, I should scavenge for one before it's too late.  I should get on that.

The Song You Never Knew You Knew

I can't even remember what made me think of this today, but I suddenly remembered the song "Like Humans Do" by David Byrne.

I don't particularly like the song, nor do I find it all that interesting, but it is inexorably lodged in my brain because it was the one song that came preloaded on Windows Media Player on Windows XP (I can't even imagine how much was paid to get that kind of exposure).  Until I figured out how to get free music / started earning money in order to buy music, this was the one song I listened to over and over and over to be an awesome Windows-Media-Player-using adolescent.

Ah, youth.

Packing Prep

So, in less than two weeks, I will be leaving for my study abroad trip to South Korea.  As a result, I have recently started on the arduous task of sorting and processing my possessions for the aforementioned trip.

While most people are selective when they pack, only picking out the items that the like and putting them in their suitcase, I follow a slightly different approach.  I start by assuming I could take EVERYTHING I own, and then gradually sort out what I don't want.   So, in this case, considering I am going to a South Asian country in monsoon season, the first things to be eliminated are sweaters and coats, along with boots and hats. 

I know it might seem absurd to pack in this way, of starting big and pairing down, but it works for me.  If I just picked out the things I wanted to take, I would constantly be plagued by the feeling I had forgotten something.  Using my method, that is impossible.  (The only area for mistakes is in that I might use faulty reasoning as to what I need to bring or not.)  Also, I typically find a few items that I no longer need in the process, and a side benefit of packing this way is that I clean out my closet.

As I only ever really get into the physical process of packing within 48 hours before departure, I haven't actually begun packing anything yet, but I have begun mentally considering what it is that I have and don't need to take.  So far I have successfully ruled out the sweaters and coats and things mentioned above, along with a number of purses and bags, and party dresses. 

Also, I have decided I don't need a large flashlight or toolbox, or more than one or two pairs of pajamas.

Music Mashup

So . . . yeah.  I've been a bit lax in posting lately.

Like I said, when I don't have a lot going on, I just get plain lazy.  Hello, summer.

What I have been doing is listening to lots of music, and for reasons that I don't even completely understand myself, it's been a lot of European dance music.  I guess Pandora is just freaky like that.  In some sense I am a bit embarrassed that I have not heard this music before, because a few of the songs have been #1 in like 20 European countries, but because the USA currently has a giant repulsive invisible force field when it comes to letting international culture in, I'm not super-surprised.

There are two songs that have gotten completely stuck in my head, and I will find myself humming them at random times, see below if you are interested in getting them stuck in your head as well.

"Alors on danse" is by the Belgian singer Stromae, though it is sung in French.  Knowing no French, I don't actually know what he's saying, but I'm just crossing my fingers and going on good faith that it's not about killing people or anything like that.

The second song is not nearly so globe-trotting as the first, but it features the Canadian band Dragonette and Kaskade, a house DJ from Evanston, IL.  Given the proximity of Evanston to Chicago and my love of that city, gets a little bonus in my book.

In other, completely unrelated news, my summer philosophy ethics class is drawing to a close.  Did I even ever mention that I was taking a summer ethics class?  Well, I am.  While it has been interesting, it has only made clearer to me that ethics is a really really confusing issue, and there's probably no freaking way I will ever understand it fully.  But then again, I don't think anyone ever has, so I don't feel so bad.

Book Love

While shelving at work yesterday, I saw that PCL has recently purchased some new editions of old classics, which are, in my opinion, absolutely lovely.

These are editions of classics like Emma, Jane Eyre, Dracula, etc., bound in linen with stamped covers, ribbon markers, and more.  Maybe it's just the retro lover in me, but I think these are awesome.  There's something so sensuous about a well-bound and styled book that mass-produced paperbacks just can't capture.

The only problem at the moment is that I don't actually read classics (or any fiction for that matter, I'm pretty much a purebred nonfiction connoisseur).  So I have absolutely no reason to buy these, or even check them out of the library.

Darn.