10 Day Count Down

I leave for Alaska in 10 days. Two days later, I leave the country. There’s an element of surrealism to it; I can’t believe just yet I’m going to be gone from the good ol’ U.S. of A. for so long. I feel like I should be preparing more for it, but how exactly? Eat enough cheeseburgers to last a year? Shoot some guns so I don’t forget how? I expressed my anxiety over departing America to Graham, a friend who lives in North Carolina. He said not to worry, he’ll send me baseball cards and a pair of Levis if I get too homesick.

Tomorrow Mom and I are driving to Portland so I can buy enough makeup to last. I also need some new pants, since - I’ve been told adamantly on several occasions - it will be near impossible to find pants that will fit my big white booty in Nationalist China.