It's Thursday

A very scattered, random update from a sleepy girl who's squinting because she doesn't have her glasses on...

A blind couple has been coming to the past couple spin classes I teach. I love this! I give them so much credit, and admire the heck out of them. They bought cycling shoes and have jumped right in. It makes me teach differently, being very explicit in my instructions and calling things out with more warning. But I'm thrilled they're coming to class.

Paul, the lucky bastard, left for a backpacking trip with the guys. I'm super envious, mostly because with this staff job picking up for long weekends here and there is not an option. I also miss starry nights in chilly night skies. I hope he has fun!

Meanwhile, someone in our building stole our plastic laundry basket from the laundry room. WTF? Our laundry room is up three flights of stairs by the roof, unlike most buildings where laundry is in the basement. So I really need that laundry basket. I left a note, but suspect no one will return it. Because if you're lame enough to "borrow" or steal someone's laundry basket, are you really planning to return it?

Oh, and I finally got that friggin' lip stud removed and replaced with the hoop I'd wanted. I like it! Todd did a great placing on the piercing and got it exactly how I wanted it. I've got a little scar tissue on the inside of my lip from the stud's post being long and slamming around, but I'm slowly dissolving it by putting aspirin crushed into a paste onto the scar tissue each night; crazy, but it dissolves the tissue. You imagine what that feels like, okay?

My trip is just over two weeks away. After tomorrow, I have exactly two weeks of work. Thankfully I'm not very busy right now. There's one large project looming, but it's going to be someone else's work soon enough. It's sort of unbelievable that I will leave and return right before Thanksgiving. I'm back three days, and then we fly to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with Paul's large family. No doubt I'll be culture-shocked.

I have gotten both my Nepalese and Indian visas, all my travel vaccinations, restocked my first aid kit, and gotten travel meds. I've given up on breaking in a new pair of boots. I'll go with my old ones, even though their tread is very nearly gone. At least they won't shred my feet. I have a new backpack, and have done a hike to get it dialed in. Hopefully more hiking in the next couple weeks will happen, too. I have to admit I'm at the worst level of physical fitness in a couple years. Working so much, living with someone I love who is an amazing cook and shares a sweet tooth-chocolate habit, all contribute to this.
Such is life. I had plans to be in mega-great shape, but plans don't always go as planned, do they?

Speaking of plans, at this point I'm going to go to India with Michelle. Although I'm considering spending a couple days at the Kopan Monastery north of Kathmandu, and then perhaps flying down to Varanasi and meeting her there. I also have an interest in going to Dharamsala, and she does not. Perhaps I'll go there on my own while Michelle goes on to Delhi to the Irish consulate; she's got to meet them about showing her work there, which is awesome. She wants to rejuvenate in Rishikesh, which sounds pretty great to me, so maybe we can meet up there after she goes to Delhi. Who knows? We have no set dates or reservations anywhere. I am not so keen on spending days upon days riding trains in India. I'd rather fly, and get to experience a place more deeply than to meditate past the "joys" of train travel. Like I said, who knows? I'm speculating at this point, and reality will be whatever it becomes.

I'm excited. Scared. Hopeful. This trip is going to be one of the biggest things I've done. Bigger, in some ways, than moving to Yosemite three years back.

I've started a blog for my friends to read about my trip. I'll post there from the road, so that people can be kept updated about my adventure. Drop me an email if you want to get the URL. If I like you, I'll tell you about it. It's entirely separate from this one, and you stalkery types can't just get there from here.