On packing light and other delights
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 07:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniYou would think, as much as I do it, that I'd be better at packing. And you'd be wrong. Mind you, I'm better than I was mumblety years ago, when I practically packed the house to go to BaltiCon, all the way out in Hunt Valley -- and still forgot stuff. But I'm not good at it.
Part of the reason is that I'm spatially challenged. No, really. I've lost several close friends who died laughing while watching me try to pack a picnic basket. Granted, suitcases are easier than picnic lunches, because clothes squish, but that's not nearly as much help as you'd think it would be.
This time, I made a list beforehand, just to make good and dern certain that I wasn't overpacking. List looks reasonable to me. I pulled the things on it and not one thing more put it all in cubes (I love my packing cubes) and then put the cubes in the rolling suitcase that was, in beautiful theory, supposed to serve us both for the weekend. Hah, I say.
Hah.
I'm embarrassed to report that my stuff filled up the suitcase. Not quite an Epic Fail -- I'd hate to have to count the times that I've completely overflowed the suitcase -- but, like I say, embarrassing.
However! Steve, who has seen this go down innumerable times, had foresightfully snagged a 'way too cheap orange Wenger (well, OK, that's why it was cheap) rolling case early this week at TJ Maxx. "What do we need that for?" I asked. "I'm totally not taking anything this time."
Exit Steve, whistling.
So, yes, you saw this coming: I'm packed into the orange case -- and I'll have you know that everything fits! Go, me. Also? The Leewit has all the new working files on her auxiliary brain and I'm ready to go. If I have time tomorrow at work, I may use the thrice-curst scanner to bring my handwritten notes for Mouse and Dragon into an electronic format. Which may or may not work, I guess.
In other news, the mail brought delight in the form of Narbonic Six. Yes! The final volume is now available direct from creator Shaenon K. Garrity (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shaenon) -- right here. Go! Buy one! Buy the whole set! Buy another whole set for your mother -- you know she'll love them!
OK, lots of excitement with the mail, obviously, but wait! There's more!
A UPS pulled in front of the house, the driver being too clever to risk his vehicle in our drive, and lo! we have in house 30 authors' copies of Longeye, just in time to take them to StellarCon and show them off! And show them off we will. *sighs* They sure are purty. We toasted them with milkshakes, because, yanno, milkshakes make every victory that much sweeter.
No writing tonight, of course, what with having to make lists and pack and unpack and repack. And! Still haven't answered the email. When I get back from the con. No, really.
"Is your brother...angry?" Aelliana murmured from her nestle against his chest.
"My brother," Daav told her, with a certain wry humor, "is enjoying himself far too much."
Part of the reason is that I'm spatially challenged. No, really. I've lost several close friends who died laughing while watching me try to pack a picnic basket. Granted, suitcases are easier than picnic lunches, because clothes squish, but that's not nearly as much help as you'd think it would be.
This time, I made a list beforehand, just to make good and dern certain that I wasn't overpacking. List looks reasonable to me. I pulled the things on it and not one thing more put it all in cubes (I love my packing cubes) and then put the cubes in the rolling suitcase that was, in beautiful theory, supposed to serve us both for the weekend. Hah, I say.
Hah.
I'm embarrassed to report that my stuff filled up the suitcase. Not quite an Epic Fail -- I'd hate to have to count the times that I've completely overflowed the suitcase -- but, like I say, embarrassing.
However! Steve, who has seen this go down innumerable times, had foresightfully snagged a 'way too cheap orange Wenger (well, OK, that's why it was cheap) rolling case early this week at TJ Maxx. "What do we need that for?" I asked. "I'm totally not taking anything this time."
Exit Steve, whistling.
So, yes, you saw this coming: I'm packed into the orange case -- and I'll have you know that everything fits! Go, me. Also? The Leewit has all the new working files on her auxiliary brain and I'm ready to go. If I have time tomorrow at work, I may use the thrice-curst scanner to bring my handwritten notes for Mouse and Dragon into an electronic format. Which may or may not work, I guess.
In other news, the mail brought delight in the form of Narbonic Six. Yes! The final volume is now available direct from creator Shaenon K. Garrity (
shaenon) -- right here. Go! Buy one! Buy the whole set! Buy another whole set for your mother -- you know she'll love them!OK, lots of excitement with the mail, obviously, but wait! There's more!
A UPS pulled in front of the house, the driver being too clever to risk his vehicle in our drive, and lo! we have in house 30 authors' copies of Longeye, just in time to take them to StellarCon and show them off! And show them off we will. *sighs* They sure are purty. We toasted them with milkshakes, because, yanno, milkshakes make every victory that much sweeter.
No writing tonight, of course, what with having to make lists and pack and unpack and repack. And! Still haven't answered the email. When I get back from the con. No, really.
"Is your brother...angry?" Aelliana murmured from her nestle against his chest.
"My brother," Daav told her, with a certain wry humor, "is enjoying himself far too much."
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-11 01:03 am (UTC)"Lewis and Clark didn't bring that much!" he states. Emphatically.
"They weren't staying for the weekend," I reply.
In other news, looks like Sunday night dinner is a go.
Good for you!
Date: 2009-03-11 01:09 am (UTC)As for packing, the list is a good idea. If you can figure out what you need and how much space it needs -- once -- then you won't have to redo that every time. You can just repeat what works. And if you need an extra suitcase, that's a reasonable accommodation for spatial impairment.
LOVELY snippet!
Date: 2009-03-11 01:15 am (UTC)Abigail
Re: LOVELY snippet!
Date: 2009-03-11 02:36 am (UTC)Re: LOVELY snippet!
Date: 2009-03-11 09:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-11 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-11 02:51 pm (UTC)1) Gather info on restaurants and sights to see. Maps, lots of maps
2) Redo the music on the MP3 player
3) Pick the books I am going to read
4) Pack suitcase
That is the order I do them in and a descending sequence on the time it takes too. Packing the suitcase takes hardly any time at all. I will admit to always over pack socks. Smartwool – best darn socks.
packing cubes
Date: 2009-03-15 05:41 pm (UTC)Re: packing cubes
Date: 2009-03-17 10:25 pm (UTC)Lovely snippet
Date: 2009-03-16 01:09 am (UTC)Grateful for any little tidbits about Daav and Aelliana; not really enough stories of their short married life or the birth of their son.
packing bags
Date: 2009-03-18 05:31 pm (UTC)