Book Sale Tomorrow

Hi Chi,

Tomorrow Howard Brown--http://www.howardbrown.org/--will be picking up some of my stuff. There are other things that sadly, will be left behind, and still other things which will be stored in the homes of my lovely friends.

The bulk of my stuff is books, though. I can't keep all of them. I'll just keep some of them, and the rest? Well, the rest I'm selling, giving away and donating. If I make any money on them, then that money will be spent on one of those awesome little tiny netbooks so that I keep up with this here blog while I'm down south.

So: BOOK SALE/give away

Sunday July, 26th
1512 W Jarvis Ave (2nd fl. of Public Storage)
11a-2p

Come on out. If you need my phone number, just send me an e-mail.

It is Official

I have a visa. I spent $190 on a shiny, yet stylish, Brazilian sticker. Am I sucker? I can't wait to find out.

Good Things Came of It

Sometimes you meet someone who's only interested in making people happy. Gui is a guy like that. He's throwing a housewarming party on August 1st. That's a Saturday. He's also insisting that it be a send off for me--and, he's insisting that people make a donation to my trip. Thoughts? This feels a little strange, but I don't want to argue against it. Maybe that 3 years spent and 50lbs gained at the Stil was time/money well-spent. I came away from it with some good friends.

Pet Sitting

It's the middle of July and I have everyday planned up until August 15th. I think this is a sign of aging. Plan, plan, plan and pencil things in. I heart calendars more than a gal ought to.

I'm still whittling down my to do list, but I've covered the couch surfing part. For a week and a half I get to spend some good slobbery-cuddly time with a chocolate lab named Mesa. I'll live in an intricately decorated, peaceful apartment near the redline and be lulled to sleep by the voice of an automaton notifying patient (and not so patient) commuters that "an inbound train will be arriving shortly." Thanks to JP.

I'll be a block and a half away from The Sovereign, a former watering hole of mine. It is actually one of the places I took my brothers and my father the weekend of my graduation from college. I learned to play pool there on a rickety, warped miniature pool table with beer stains and a short stick. Interesting how things come full cirlce yet change each time.

A smaller circle, has me back at H's house for a week or less. She's been kind enough to demand to drive me to the airport frazzled nerves and all.

And BFF R has volunteered to do my pack-ratting for me at her house. I love my friends.

Final Steps 37days and counting

Hey ya'll,

I made the final payment today! I also had a great weekend. Hip hip hooray! for potlucks, family and deviled eggs.

Now, that I've made the final payment all I have to do is get my visa. I have roughly 5 weeks to make that happen. Wish me luck.

After that I'm just tying up loose ends and saying big "good-byes" to folks and places.
Loose ends:
automatic bill pay,
couches to surf on,
stuff into to free storage,
Americorps paperwork/money stuff
plan one hell of a last weekend (August 7th,8th and 9th). H, it's me and you on the 8th.

Deadline

So, I have 6 days. 6 days to make my final payment of $486 to United Planet. I dunno if I'll make it, but I suspect I will. See, this weekend, my favorite bar--the Poitin Stil up on Jarvis and Greenview--is hosting a bar-b-que. Carol's organizing the potluck, and I am putting a bunch of raffle tickets in to a box and shaking them around. I'll pull out three, one at a time, and 3 people will win 3 different cash prizes--$500, $100, $50. It is going to be awesome.

Here's the glitch. I bought 400 tickets, asked 10 people to sell them with me, but only magaged to get about 140 sold. Not bad. That means the odds are good! So come out. Buy a ticket and win some money!

This is the final fundraiser! That means the count down to departure has begun. 6 weeks and counting.....