Late nights and hair pulling

It’s 2 am and I leave for Thailand in 36 hours.  36 hours.  Oh shit.  I’m nervous.  I was supposed to find a place to stay in Chiang Mai, and get in touch with this orphanage to shoot some promotional footage, which I’ll then have 5 days to edit, while getting ready to leave for another three weeks and trying to work.  Oh and I just decided to go to Coachella with Rachel.  ”Gee Ashley, your life is so hard.  Tropical destinations, music festivals.  If only we all had your problems…..you ASS!”  Yes, I know, it’s not a big deal, and actually it’s all supposed to work out, according to my horoscope anyway.  (it’s my second religion.  I do have an aquarius tat on my foot.  yes, an aquarius sign.  as much as I love the ocean they are not waves for that.  at least not in the primary sense). 

So here I sit, at my parent’s island (in their kitchen, not a real island), typing fast and deleting to correct my spelling mistakes, slightly shivering and not cleaning nor looking for my other travel stuff.  I pre-packed.  Pretty surprised.  Just a few other things to add and that’s my pack for 7 months.  Well, minus the souvenirs I’m gonna pick up.  But I’ll probably ship a lot of those home.  Can’t have too much weight on the bad back!  

Oh the bad back.  Been bothering me lately.  The lack of working out due to sickness has weakened it.  But the weight loss from sickness has lessened the load.  6 and one half dozen to the other, or whatever that phrase is.  Definitely should not have had that Diet Coke with grenadine.  Too much energy, especially since I basically quit drinking pop and other forms of caffeine.  (I did need some to balance the white wine flight).  My former boss will be happy.   Always touted how bad pop is while he smoked cigarettes.  Pick your poison, I say.  

 So here, I sit, listening to DownDownDown, a Bay area band I have the privilege to call friends/acquaintances, over and over as I do not have their album yet and won’t have for Thailand.  I can’t sleep, riled up and worrying about my complexion.  This winter/spring hump is wreaking havoc.  Hopefully the 90 degree weather will fix it.  And the possible thunderstorms in/around/near Phuket won’t mess up my scuba certification.  OH gosh.  I need to email them now.  Get that set up.  Possibly pay. Ok, I’m gonna do something productive now.  Like switch my laundry that I just remembered I was doing. 
damn.  

 

My schedule = Jello

Delicious, translucent, and slightly firm.

So, I finally booked some trips and started to make actual plans. And my bank account totally took a hit. So here’s a bit of a schedule.

May 12-23: Turkey. I shall be biking, hiking, trekking and sea kayaking around this beautiful country.
May 31-June 27: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey again.

I have deposited money towards these trips with the help of Andy at STA. He’s kinda the man.

Tentative plans (meaning I have them in my head and they seem to be available but who knows what will happen)

June 29-August 23: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Zanzibar, Kenya, Uganda. (June 29, cutting it close, I know. Especially since the flight takes almost a full day from Istanbul to Cape Town).
August 25-September 1: Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro! I’ve been wanting to do this since I was 12 and read Michael Crichton’s Travels. My mother, Shirley, may be joining me and if so my plans diverge from here.

With Shirley: Kilimanjaro, a few days in Johannesburg and a week or so in Cape Town. Then I will spend my time at Baphumelele, the orphanage/children’s home I volunteered at in 2006. I shall stay there until Thanksgiving or possibly after if Shirley can part with me for one holiday.
Without: Heading straight to Bap!

Yea, so that’s about it. For now. Quite frankly, this isn’t terribly witty or funny but hey, I’m living in Minnesota and I don’t have a job, yet. I’m not terribly interesting right now.