Ahh lists.
Where would I be without them? I am a compulsive list maker in denial. Whenever I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of things I have to do I feel the urge to merge a pen/pencil to paper…I try hard not to give in...But I always lose in the end…

I’ve always been this way, every holiday I’d insist in having my own little bag for the airport to carry with me on the flight, stuffed with the things I thought I’d die without, like bubble gum, or a piece of paper, or a book of stickers, a comic book, my teddy bear (only when I was a kid mind you). And I’d always have a list to mark off the things in it.

My moms a list maker too…every time we have to go out of town/the country or come back from out of town/a country (this happens roughly 8 times a year) she has a list of all the chores left to do and the things we have to buy to carry with us. Although she even makes lists for grocery shopping. Enuf said...the things we inherit from our parents.

My dad doesn’t make lists…ever. He just remembers what needs to be done and does it. I wish I could do that, but apparently I can’t.

Just recently I made one for the things I have to do when I get back to the motherland. Sometimes its important to make sure the list is very cryptic incase it lands in the wrong hands (note to self-paranoia is still intact). Here it is:-
1 Pay rv
2 Get all JKs notes
3 Get all ccs needed
4 Meet up with neets and mal before 29th & 30th respectively; before they leave
5 Call/Message all necessary people to say hi I’m back
6 Make care packages for requisite people
7 Visit Sonia aunty
8 Call cry to ask if help is needed, pursue relentlessly
9 Assess Boredom Situation and consider alternative employment options
10 Reconsider Yoga
11 Start studying from notes (I’m dead, I’m so dead)
12 Push mom to join you-know-what
13 Study
14 Consider joining you-know-what.
15 Stop feeling so depressed about going back and being bloody terrified about unknown and unwelcome changes in life and MOVE ON!
16 Look for poem in chicken soup
17 Call shah for face (promoted to number 4 on this list)

If you knew me well enough, knew where I lived and what I did, you’d probably understand a part of this list. But otherwise I’d bet you didn’t actually get most of it. Did you? Did you??

I got a childish kick out of being in any kind of vehicle, particularly one going somewhere fast. Moving from A to B felt like what life itself was all about. Getting there was always an anticlimax.

from The Escapist by James Morris

i hate packing, but someones gotta do it

Things every frequent traveler (the house packer variety) must have:
Duct tape
Lots of good sturdy little locks
Masking tape
Lots of plastic bags and newspaper
At least one big hard piece of luggage
Extra large plastic bag
Plastic Rope (optional)
All bags must have wheels
Weighing machine (actually not required if you can guess the weight of a bag with a margin of error of two kgs like I can, but years of practice needed for said ability to evolve)

This list is particularly for when you’re traveling by plane (I think that point was already understood, but I thought I’d clarify it anyway).

Most of the stuff on the list might sound unnecessary, and maybe for some people it is, I obviously don’t speak for everyone, but it’s always worked for us. Let me elaborate:

Duct tape: Sometimes your bag might be on its last leg and you’re taking it for one final trip, or maybe you’ve just overstuffed it and you’re not too sure if it’ll stay shut by the time you get it back. Strategically placed duct tape helps. If nothing you feel reassured about the safety of your stuff. It actually helped us this one time when a bag of ours (brand new I might add) kinda-sorta fell apart in the end; the duct tape helped hold it together. But please please don’t overload on the tape. You don’t want it to look like you’ve bandaged your bag for a trip to the hospital. One tip to avoid spoiling the bag though, take all the tape off when you’re home. Leave it on long enough and the glue will stay behind. No further explanations necessary. But it doesn’t stick particularly well on certain synthetic-fabricky bags.

Little locks: to uh, lock all your bags (attach it to the zips). The combination lock isn’t always enough.

Masking tape, plastic bags and newspaper: to pack away Each and Every bottle/tube/jar of liquid/cream/whatever. To avoid messy spills in your bags. And the layers of paper and even plastic bags are good for padding the easily breakables (you can’t bubble wrap every damn thing)

Hard luggage: again, to protect the easily damaged stuff.

Extra large plastic bag: tucked away somewhere accessible (incase of excess baggage).

Plastic rope: extra useful to hold bags/cartons/lumpy-clumpy-questionably-shaped luggage together. Not for the faint of heart. It really doesn’t look so good. Buts it does the job better then duct tape. Tying your stuff together with these florescent ropes is an art form, and doing it correctly is definitely a skill.

Weighing machine: to be aware of how much weight you’re carrying. And to see if it’s possible to stuff more stuff in ;)

Ok I can’t think of anything else. So until the next post…happy packing (?)

of journals and blogs

This is only my second blog ever(i abandoned my first because i was in this place for 3 months where that particular website was banned...the link snapped...the interest waned). So i obviously havent been doing this for long. But i have to say this, maintaining a blog is tough stuff.

I've had a journal (Dear Diary) since i was 8 yrs old...or was i 9, i dont remember. When i read them now i have a smile on my face from start to finish. intially, i used to have a golden rule of not exceeding one page, so i'd try to squeeze everything possible into next to no space (it was a small book). and the day i exceeded one was a momentous occassion. My first 'proper' journal (ok ok diary...there i said it) had mickey mouse on the cover, and even after all these years it still smells like some sort of flower(synthetic ofcourse).

And my latest journal is filled with some juicy gossip, my tales of woe, all my angry thoughts, some of my escapades and some of my crazy weird thoughts that make me sound seriously insane...but somehow its just to personal to write most of it online,and besides i'd have a hard time fictionalising (is this a word) all the names,places and other misc details that i usually dont have to bother with(my journals go with me to my grave).

Lets see how long i can maintain this thing...especially when the call of real ink and paper is so hard to resist.

Remember by Christina Rossetti

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

why lost in transit u may ask.its because i've spent all my life travelling, from house to house,city to city,country to country. Unfortunately i always end up going to the same old places...but i still feel like im always on the move. There was a point in my life where i was literally living out of a suitcase. The consequences of all my nomadic ways are that i always feel unsettled and restless, and i feel like i belong nowhere.I am happiest when i'm on the move.

But every new journey has taught me to learn to live with a lot of things...and also to learn to live without. They have helped me to accept people as they are,in all forms of nice and nasty....to take my time before forming my own opinions about people and situations,and also to be flexible enough to change them when things change....i learnt to live with change, again and again and again,even if i wanted to run back to all things familier and comforting. I learnt to live in the moment, but also to plan ahead to be prepared for things to go horribly wrong.

And even though our(my family) way of life was not something we had consciously planned, nor was it ever my decision, each time we moved, i dont regret a single moment of all my experiences.welcome to my life.