I've successfully sold or donated almost all of my belongings. Off-loaded a few CDs while waiting for the Indian consulate to process my visa application. Just some furniture left, and then I put my stuff in storage, go crash at Andrew's place for a week, and *deep breath* embark on this harebrained journey of mine. It feels as though only a couple of days ago I still had 6 weeks before leaving. Now, suddenly, there's a week and a half.

It's amazing how much stuff I had accumulated. Going through it all, separating out what to sell, what to donate, what to store, what to pack.... I realized just how truly unimportant it all is. Important to my sense of convenience or comfort (physical or emotional), but even those aren't very important on the grand scale of things. Still, it's hard not to mentally grab after things, wincing at the realization that I no longer own some thing or another. Looking for a particular something and remembering that, yep, someone bought it at my yard sale. At times I feel refreshed, lightened, by the purging. Other times my scrimp-n-save mentality kicks in and I feel so tired, as though I'm having to exert a great deal of energy to let it all go.

But it's not all work work work. There's still Halloween (wheee!) and, of course, the opening of the 3rd Matrix movie (on the way to the airport, no less!) I'm feeling only a twinge of anxiety as my departure date approaches. Either I'm not really all that anxious, or it's all extremely repressed and I'll explode sometime between putting my stuff in storage and arriving in Bangkok.

My former co-worker's brother has offered to put me up for a bit in Bangkok, show me around, etc. I met him and his wife a few months ago when they were visiting here in San Francisco - really sweet couple. It's calming to know that there will be friendly, somewhat familiar faces when I arrive in Bangkok, which, from everything I've heard, makes NYC look like a sleepy little town.

Well, it's time to go see if my visa was approved. Keep your fingers crossed!