watch out classrooms across the globe

I HAVE MY CERTIFICATION!  

whew. now it's on to on site practice and then job hunting... oh happy day!

Side note: Brihaspati reminded me Jupiter is beautiful right now if you look just above the horizon at dusk. I saw it tonight, after the clarification that it was Jupiter and not the plane nearby I was admiring. Only pretty thing to look at while on the New Jersey Turnpike... silly holiday traffic. I wonder how many people looked above the dotted lines and caught a glimpse of something other than brake lights. I may never know.

the packrat was found dead yesterday.

condensing memories and beautiful things into enough milkcrates to fit under a full sized bed and stacked two wide and four tall into a closet has been accomplished. where are all of the other priceless gems of heather's past going to be stored you ask? in the homes and hearts of those unfortunate souls silly enough to purchase these items at their local goodwill or shabby yardsale (no offense aimed at the beautiful woman hosting said sale). impossible you say? hah! don't call my bluff yet, please. Is there anyone out there who would like to take charge of a beautiful pink toilet? or a vibrant green sink? silky pale blue sink? please? just thought i would ask...

On a completely different note, this experience has evolved once again in objective; however how can that resonate in anyone when there really isn't any hard proof yet of my actual departure? verbalization only goes so far to convince people. bah. i can see it in your eyes, knowledge that this is all just some big scam. you may be right. i may be crazy. but this lunatic will starve for six months rather than come back a day sooner than 26 August. this does not exclude fleeing to a different location, possibly on a different continent depending on how desperate i find myself. 

with 38 days to go i must:

make it to the inauguration 

prevent cavities

roadtrip!

get some nasty looking moles removed... scary.

...pack

back up my computer

save my money?

  

60 days to go.

Let's put this into perspective... After a long Wikipedia search I could not find a war or conflict that lasted for 60 days, there were so many too! Not that I'm trying to define the next 60 days of my life as something tumultuous... 

Sidenote: Waboose is sleeping in my lap and her dreaming twitches totally match the beat to the Girl Talk song (No Pause) I'm listening to right now... Awesome taste in beats, kitty! I can only imagine what that dream consisted of. Speaking of which, note to self: I think the dream dictionary is a must pack! 

...Quite the contrary thanks to two contacts I've been connected with, this is really going to be an awesome experience with a relatively smooth transition. You can't see it but my fingers are crossed? 

Another monumental event: I have starting packing up things to get RID of, and so far I am up to six boxes....SIX!  The pack rat in me cries with each (currently) useless frame, book I swore would be read in the near future, fantastic piece of fabric, oversized t-shirt requiring badass altering, deteriorating jeans that with just one provocative patch could become my next favorite conversation piece... All of these items that held so much potential when there was time. Now I am confined to 60 days, which means only Christmas present crafts are being completed; everything else is being donated to another's just cause. 

On top of everything, this leaves only 60 days to say goodbye. I don't think there are a phenomenal amount of people on my list, and who really knows how long I will be gone, but there is never enough time to say goodbye. 

...I FOUND CHUCK PALAHNIUK ON AUDIO!!!! SWEET! This is awesome, and is bringing my downloading obsession close to the end, i think... Unless something else fabulous pops into my head... Anything?...

Recap: 

60 days til my flight

9 days to finish course online

24 days to create enough presents to put a dent in my craft piles and free up milk crates for books, etc.

30 days to come up with a resolution...

19 days left to work, therefore 19 days left to save.

14 days til the start of Christmas parties...oh yummy.

17 days to bake and mail the Christmas oatmeal cookies and bourbon balls tins...EEK.

At least it seems like after the New Year I can relax and only focus on filling my bags with all the necessary goodies any international traveler feels they must have on hand. 

And now a word from our sponsors:

Oh Baby whatcha gonna do?

Oh Darlin' whatcha gonna do?

I'm getting sick and tired of fooling around with you!

--Professor Longhair.

Baby steps.

The plane tickets have been bought AND paid off... This is it. Even if I am not able to pay off the rest of my tuition, I have tickets taking me to Peru and bringing me back no sooner than August. This is a long time to be stranded, left to my own devises almost completely cut off, in a foreign country. All this and there is still little realization in my daily activities of what looms ahead. I have been able to light a fire under my ass to finish the class assignments by the due date, which is a good sign. However, I have not really made an assessment of what I should and am able to pack, boxed up what I need to get rid of and then box up what I would like to have waiting for me upon my return, been evaluating my time for goodbye visits, nor have I been able to find a suitable home for Waboose. This is the most difficult task at hand, but I will not harp my concerns to the innocent...

Goals:

Hopefully this experience will prepare me for an ESL classroom in the setting of an inner city public school. 

Not be homesick and want to return before I have accomplished my South America related aspirations.

Leave feeling like a contribution has been made.

I must take a lot of pictures!

Remember to send postcards a month before important dates so they arrive in a timely fashion.

Live in a manner globally friendly that is monetarily conservative. 

Do not cross any cultural taboos and piss people off in whatever location I end up in.