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So, my sister came up to help me on Friday with my storage unit. We stuffed her minivan full of my boxes and hauled it all back to where I'm currently living. We pulled out the few units that will be going to my new home (the rest will go to storage in Alaska) and then we got to work on the remainder of my bedroom. The miscellaneous boxes I've been living out of the last 2 years are now gone. Funny how the room seems so much bigger. But it hit me as I set the last box on the stack that -- sweet Jesus! -- in one month I'll be back in Alaska! It's really happening. I guess the money I shelled out to pay off my credit card wasn't enough ... I'm practically itching to get going. Other things I realized this week... (1) I have cat stuff at my parents' but I'll need another set for Chevak (2) I have way more ebooks than I realized (3) I forgot to grab my bookmarks off my old laptop before handing it over to be purged (4) I still don't know where the controllers are for my PS2 (5) Flash drives breed On a different note, My sister and brother-in-law want my car, so that's one worry off my checklist. My niece and nephew will be out to visit their dad in June, so I'll get to hang out with them before I leave. I'll be accompanying them to the San Diego Zoo and to a waterpark. Not sure what else. My sister suggested I use google plus (?) as an alternative to Facebook in order to stay connected to friends down here in CA. Anyone know how to do that? I checked it out when I got home today and either I'm blind or it's not as easy to find as my sister made it out to be. Granted, it was part of a 5-second conversation as I was leaving her house this morning. BTW, she and her husband moved out of the hellhole they've been in the last year. Much nicer place they've got, and the house certainly has character! LOL. There's a pillar in the living room and all the doors are different colors. I turned in my final portfolio for my beginng teacher program last week, so that's a weight off my shoulders. Choir is officially over for the summer (as of today), so another responsibility bites the dust. Since my students are all working on class projects this coming week, I may actually be able to leave school before dark. I wonder if that means I'll be able to get some writing done? I've been plagued with visions of Dmitri and Mordred surrounded by pirates singing sea chanties. Anyone know of some good ones? Also, the latest Star Trek movie sucked ass.

So here I am trying to keep myself on track. This shall be my things I still need to do in order to get up to Alaska and my new job. 1. Transfer Credential -- ready to be mailed -- Application form -- status: filled out, notarized -- Fingerprints -- status: completed and in packet -- Transcripts -- status: located and in packet -- CSULB Recommendation Form -- status: received and in packet -- Test Scores (CBST, CSET) -- status: received and in packet -- Teaching Certificate -- status: downloaded and in packet -- PRAXIS Test -- status: passed Gen Science test taken May 4th -- awaiting official scores 2. Sorting/Cleaning/Packing -- storage unit -- status: ready, closed out account and items are not sorted and at the house -- home closet -- status: ready -- home bedroom -- status: ready 3. Donations -- clothes/shoes -- status: packed up, ready for delivery -- stuffed animals -- status: dropped-off Friday, May 3rd to SAFE -- books -- status: complete -- salvation army -- status: INCOMPLETE, 2nd bunch of junk ready for drop-off -- electronics -- status: INCOMPLETE, received back-up drive, old laptops with BiL for purging 4. Moving Company -- decision -- status: chosen Airvan, emailed rep -- goods survey/estimate -- status: survey done, awaiting estimate tally -- Alex (the rep) says he estimates 2500 lbs and 2 shipping crates, which would be approx $4500 -- pick-up/moving day -- status: scheduled for July 1st -- expected delivery -- status: UNKNOWN -- school supplies -- boxed and ready to take to school 5. Alaska Storage -- location -- status: uncertain, still need to convince parents I can store in a facility -- size -- status: unknown, see above 6. New Job -- Job Fair -- status: complete, job chosen: Chevak, AK -- resume -- status: complete -- job status -- status: conditional upon credential transfer, Praxis scores -- classes -- status: UNCERTAIN, but 8-10th grades, physical science, biology, and? -- school supplies -- status: IN PROGRESS, need a list of things already acquired and items needed to acquire -- current school supplies -- status: PENDING, need to mail ahead, begin after CST testing 7. Mom's Shopping List -- God, I love my mother, but I swear she thinks I'm going to freeze to death and/or starve and/or die from lack of entertainment. -- IN PROGRESS, emailed first draft, need to think of more stuff she can buy to make her happy

So, this is it. In ten hours I'll be on a plane to my new home in Prince George, five hundred kilometers away from everyone and everything that I've grown up with for the last twenty-seven years of my life. I wish I could say I was excited, because I should be, and on some level I suppose I am. This is a chance for a new start and to erase all of the mistakes I made in Vancouver. No one knows me in Prince George; I don't have to face the stigma of all of the things that people think I am or anything like that. I can be a completely new person and not be held back by my past life. Except that this is my home, the place that feels most comfortable to me in spite of the summer heat wave and the fact that I'm completely persona non grata in the gay world and my political world. I'm utterly alone here, but at least I'm alone with people who love me. I won't have anyone or anything when I get to Prince George. I wish I knew how things would turn out, or that at least I'd be okay up north. I don't know anything about the culture of the city or even what the food will be like, and I'd hate to think that I spent all this money just to get sick repeatedly and not be able to actually do any of the things I want to do. I'm scared that this will be another stupid detour and waste of my time and money, that I won't be any more employable than I am now and that I really am to be relegated to a pointless existence for the rest of my life. But there are no guarantees, and staying here is nearly a sign of surrender. So I guess I'm off. I don't know what it will accomplish, but I will be back again someday... I think. Except for GA. I'm not leaving here, you people can't get rid of me that easily.

So, one day left until Spring Break begins! I'm excited about it and yet not at the same time, because it's not going to be much of a vacation. First, there's all the grading I have to do, then there's my beginning teacher portfolio to put together, plus all the moving stuff, and then getting ready for my trip to the job fair in 2 weeks. So, updates! I got my resume updated, but still waiting on the majority of my letters of rec -- and oh shit! Just at this moment, I realized I never asked my department chair for one. Crap, let me put that on my list of things to do in the morning. (he teaches a "zero" period before the regular school day begins, so I'll have to catch him then.) I have several boxes of items to be taken to goodwill from the house, and I have to go fetch the stuff out of my storage unit that's going out for the big garage sale, which of course is the weekend after I get back from Alaska, so no real time there to get ready. Why am I not surprised? My new chemistry unit went well, I think. The kids are really starting to grasp the math, which is excellent. Today they started their spring project (it's due May 1st) and they seem excited about it. They're making board games based on chemistry topics that they're going to use later to study for the state tests. I started this project last year with my physics students with some really awesome results, so, here's to hoping it works as well for the chemistry kids. The job fair is April 12-13th. Got an alert last week that my departure time was moved up. Now I have to run from school (gets out at 3ish pm) to the airport (30-45 min away) to catch a plane that leaves at 5 pm. O_O At least I'm heading out via Long Beach airport and not LAX! I have bags to check, and me being myself hates to be late, period, so ... yeah. I'm trying not to psych myself out, but that's a lot to do in a short amount of time and I can feel myself getting stressed just thinking about it. I still arrive in Alaska at something like 2 am, so my layover time in Seattle has increased -- this is a good thing, because it never fails that the plane from LA to Seattle is in a completely different terminal than the one from Seattle to Anchorage and with only 45-60 minutes between the scheduled landing and departure times, I always end up running. Annoying as hell, because planes from LA rarely run on time, which turns that 45 minutes into 30 ... if I'm lucky. I swear to God I'm getting a non-stop for my final flight out of here!