Another look at Close Encounters

I love this.


Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind from Marc Bullard on Vimeo.

Comments

Suddenly I'm getting a bunch of spam comments, so forgive me, but I'm gonna have to go to comment moderation.  All that means is when you comment (and of course I hope that you do) it won't show up until I ok it as someone I actually know and not someone trying to link to some pharmacy site.  (Some of them are so polite.  "I love your site, it is so informative, I read it all the time!  Also, follow this link to get viagra!")

My sweet Craigslist Adventure

Holy crap, Craigslist is awesome!  I've bought a few things from there in the past, but this was the first time I've sold stuff.  Made $100 in less than 24 hours, and someone who wants to buy the washer/dryer for $550 but probably won't come and get it until Monday.  Sweet!  I probably should have tried for more money, because clearly there are plenty of people desperate to buy my crap, but I'm not gonna worry about it.  Each piece that leaves this townhouse decreases my stress level, so I'm happy.

The POD with all our stuff was picked up yesterday, which was the biggest relief of all, as I was convinced it was going to be too heavy for the forklift.  But it wasn't, and that is on the way to Vegas.  So our apartment is quite bare.  Still have a dining table, which I intend to put on craigslist, but not until closer to departure, because clearly once it goes up it will sell quickly, and I need somewhere for this computer!

While the focus is on getting things out, we unexpectedly just had to bring a bunch of stuff in.  My brother surprised us (and himself probably) with a last minute visit.  He and Tara arrive tomorrow and are staying through Thanksgiving.  Of course I work four of the five days they are here, we have no couch or TV or dishes or just about anything.  Luckily a friend loaned us some bedding, towels and even a shower curtain, so we've at least got the basics covered for them.  (Good thing I didn't put the futon on craigslist yet!)  But I'm sure we will have a great time, I've been trying to get him to visit since we moved here, and late is certainly better than never.

Had dinner with Chrisy last night, who just got back from a conference in the Yucatan where she got to pal around with Jane Goodall.  Yes, THAT Jane Goodall.  She had lots of great tips for us.  I can't wait to go swimming in a ceynote!

If the Earth had rings like Saturn

I'd never thought about it, but this is awesome.

Plane tickets to Mexico? Check.

Super boring? Remembering to call and cancel Netflix and Tivo. Super fun? Buying our plane tickets to Cancun. January 13th, with a layover in Dallas, window seats the whole way. Sweet!

I was surprised to find that most flights were either a red eye with layovers of 10+ hours (who wants to do that?), or else they landed in Cancun at like 9pm. I suppose most people who fly to Cancun have their resort pre-booked so just have to get there, but as a backpacker you want to arrive early in the day so you have time to look around and find a place. We haven't ruled out pre-booking a hotel that first night, although we don't really intend on staying in Cancun. Just a few hours south is Tulum, an old Mayan ruin right on the beach, which sounds far more interesting to us.

We arrive at 3:30 in the afternoon, so we'll have a little leeway to decide what to do.

More packing

Yesterday I had what, for me, comes as close to a "bad day" as it gets. Just feeling a little overwhelmed with so much to do, with a million little decisions that aren't really so important, but added together made me feel like I was on the verge of accidentally parking in front of a fire hydrant or something. Deep breath, keep packing, move on.

And packing indeed. I'm now worried that we are packing so well that the pod is going to be too heavy. So the duality of my nature is having an epic battle, with one half of me wanting to save as much as possible just in case (or just because we can), and the other side wanting to toss everything that is not required to sustain life. If someone could film the fight going on in my brain it would make one heck of a pirates vs ninjas movie. Again, I am fully aware of the futility of trying to know which dresser would be most useful or if the decorative pillow will be useful in a different apartment. Knowing me I'm gonna want to decorate everything Mayan when we get back anyhow, so maybe that answers that question. :)

We've decided to go ahead and pack the TV, three weeks before we actually move. In theory, I'm a snob that hates TV and would feel great about being one of those show-offs who brag about not owning a television. In practice, I am a reality TV junkie, and love Survivor and Amazing Race and So You Think You Can Dance and Food Challenge, not to mention Glee. It is going to be hard to give them up, especially in the middle of a season, though I suppose we can watch them all online. I had given up TV for several years in the early 90s when I was doing so much theatre, which worked out great. Maybe it is time to try it again. Except for Glee, no lofty philosophy is making me miss that piece of heaven.

David can pack like Einstein can do math

We've got the pod coming on Wednesday, which we will fill and then send on to Vegas, where we will move it into storage until we get back. After a lot of debate, we decided to only get one pod instead of two (which was recommended for our 1200 square foot townhouse), sell the extra furniture and just buy new stuff once we get moved into another place. Yesterday we decided to get a head start on the packing, taped out the area of the pod on the floor and did a practice run. And thanks to David's savant-level packing ability, we realized are going to be able to bring a lot more of the furniture than we thought. The great thing about adding a dresser (or four) is that all that drawer space is great for packing dishes and things too, so two birds with one stone.

We put our first plant out on the sidewalk today, which someone snagged less than ten minutes later. We are going to lose a lot of great plants, and it is good to know they will be going to a good home. (Forget pets, my plants are my babies!) Gonna be tougher when we get to the expensive plants, our gigantor bird of paradise and the ficus tree.

Rain, rain, go away

Preparations continue. Tuesday I walked 2 1/2 miles to some office to get a permit for the moving company to park a storage cube on the street for us to move the essentials to Vegas. We are going to get rid of most of our furniture, but there are always boxes of yearbooks to save. Unfortunately they have to do some visual inspection of the street to make sure there isn't a bus stop or something in front of our house (there isn't), so I have to go back again to get the actual permit. Due to the holiday yesterday, it may or may not be ready this afternoon. However, it is raining cats and dogs out there, and another 5 mile round trip walk in the rain does not sound very appealing. (I don't drive in the city, parking is awful.) I guess I'll have to take the metro part way. I'm weird like that, the metro doesn't make a straight line to where I'm going, I have to go all the way into the city, transfer to a new train and then head back out again, which isn't hard but just annoys me to have to, map wise, go so far out of the way just to circle back. In the end I'd rather just walk, which I guess is partly what makes me constitutionally inclined to be a backpacker. Thank you New York for bringing that out in me!

Tuesday night our friend Morgan who was in "La Boheme" with us called, he has been living in Switzerland but was in DC for an audition. He had just a little time to spare before his train back to NY, so we walked another 4 1/2 miles to see him and give him a brief run around the Capitol Building. (I never get tired of seeing people see it for the first time, it is always such a thrill.) We had a great time catching up, we are so lucky to know such awesome people that are scattered across the world, and maybe we don't get to see them very often, but when we do we have such a great time. Ditto to the time we got to spend with Jun, my best friend from high school who stayed with us for a few days this weekend. We have great friends!

I can tangent like no one, eh? My point being that I ended up walking almost ten miles that day, and while my legs and body had no problem, my feet were a little sore at the end of the day. Gotta start building up my callouses again to prepare for hiking up all those Mayan temples. So rain, please stop so I can start walking again every day.

Travel health

Our preparations continue. Next up we need to find a place to get a Thyphoid immunization. I had one for my Asia trip, and I was hoping it would still be good but after looking it up it turns out it is only good for about two years. Luckily we've both had our hepatitis shots for work, because those ones are expensive. The last decision concerns the malaria prophylaxis medications. When I went to Asia I decided not to take anything, partly because I'd heard about all the side effects, and partly because I was there for so long the risk/benefit/expense didn't seem worth it. I'm lucky that mosquitos don't particularly like me for some reason, which also helps. We haven't decided for sure yet, but I think we are going to forego any meds this time as well. Which just means we have to be extra careful to not get bit, so we'll be bringing along the DEET and wearing long pants and shirts at night.

Otherwise there isn't too much else to worry about health-wise. We'll probably go to the dentist for a last check-up just to be safe, and I'm going to order some extra contacts to take with me. There are several companies that do travel health insurance, that will fly you back to the US if anything particularly bad happens to you, and we will definitely take out a policy, they actually aren't that expensive. (Which tells you that most people never make any claims, because traveling is as safe as anything else!)

Packing

One thing I learned trying to sell yourself as an actor, is that it is all about spin. So while I could just say I leave things until the last minute because I'm a lazy procrastinator, instead I'm gonna go with something about the glory of spontaneity, or of the importance of living life in the moment. I suppose the reality is somewhere in between. But our plans continue to shift ever so slightly, a few days here, a few days there. As actors we could never plan ahead for anything, and even though it should be easier now, we've just never developed those skills.

By lucky accident, our procrastination saved us almost $150 though. For the move we decide to go with one of those pods you pack up, and then the moving company moves it for you, and somehow our last-minute reservation ended up being cheaper than the quote we got a few weeks ago. Thank you angels! We've been going back and forth trying to decide how much stuff we want to save. I've been at war with STUFF ever since my first back-packing trip, which has been a very rewarding change for this former pack-rat. Once you live out of a pack for a year, you realize how little you really need to get by, and how all the excess crap we collect just drains your energy. However, we did buy a bunch of furniture here, and weren't sure whether it was better to move it, store it and use it again, or just sell it all on craigslist and buy new (or used) again when we finally get to California.

Math to the rescue again! We think we will be able to keep our leather couch (by turning it on end in the pod, I hope it survives shipping like that), and possibly a dresser. Not even counting any money we might make selling the rest, we'll save about $1400 by dumping it now, which to me seems enough to buy new stuff once we settle again. Plus just that much less hassle and worry, and I'm always a big fan of reducing hassle and worry.

We are also getting rid of all our CDs and LPs and lots of books. I'm fine keeping photos (we have a lot of those) and stuff like yearbooks, but lots of stuff is just taking up space. We've been reducing our CD collection for a few years now, and finally have it down to about 600 (from a high of 1400). We are going to donate most of it to a theatre company here in DC, which we feel pretty good about. I suppose we could sell it somewhere, which if we were uber-thrifty would be nice. But time is limited, and I just don't have the energy to go down that road. I'm all about saving money and being cheap, but sometimes it just feels good to make a donation that you know will be appreciated.

Question: should I save things just because they are autographed? I have a CD for "Three Wished For Jamie" (if you've heard of it, then you are a nerd!) that is autographed by Charlotte Rae. I love me some Mrs. Garrett, but I can't decide how long I need to carry this around with me. Ditto "Rags" and Marcia Lewis. Even worse is an LP of "Little Mary Sunshine" autographed by Elmarie Wendell, whom I worked with years ago in a production of "Gigi". She is a neat lady, but packing a single LP isn't easy! What would you do?