10 and counting

Sunday, June 23, 2013

So, there are 10 days until we leave.

10.

Not school days.  10 calendar days.  For the record, I haven't started packing nor have I even identified where most of the shit I will need is.  And I have a ton of stuff to do.  It doesn't even fell like this trip is real because there is so much to do before going that I have not even been able to think about, or get excited about it.  All I am thinking about is if shit gets fucked up at work while I am away and then I will have a huge mess to clean up.  That happens I am not going to be too happy.

If you don't believe that the word conspires against me, consider this:  my car is leaking oil again.  This is now the third time it has had to go back to the dealership for this problem.  Still don't believe me?  When I went to do things for work, I realized that all of my stuff - including my laptop and my flash drive were in the car.  Still don't believe me?  The dealership is in Riverhead and it was about 5:45 when I got to leave to go see if I can get the stuff.  Still don't believe me?  The car was behind a 9 foot locked fence with those little pointy end of the fence things on the top.

But thanks to the skills I acquired as a juvenile delinquent ninja I was able to get over the fence and get the things I needed so that I could at least go to work on time tomorrow.

There are two and a half days of school left.  I know it is hard for you who have "real" jobs to understand but there is a lot that has to get done in that short amount of time.  I will pretty much have to buckle down and work super efficiently to get it all done in time.

Jess has been feverishly working on the trip, finding out as much info as she possibly can, getting additional things to do, hopefully including a football match in Inverness.  Some of her friends suggested she also write a blog so that we can see it from her side as well.  Bad idea.  1.  You lose the humorous aspect of this one; 2. She would be writing it directly from mine - which just takes away all creative license and quite frankly smacks of plagiarism.  But we shall see.

I end up writing late and she is usually asleep and if you don't think that's true, you just need to read some of the blogs from the old trips to find the photographic evidence, it's all there.

As for NJ3, he has started to have a few little tantrums lately.  Nothing terrible - he's still the best baby ever but I think we are going to hit the terrible two's a little early.  We're hoping it may just be a tooth so his bottom jaw teeth skyline isn't so lopsided but he seems to really not want to be taking his afternoon nap - though of course he generally falls right asleep.  That may eventually lead to a problem with naps when we are away since he does not generally sleep in the stroller or anywhere else.  The nap nazi always has him home, changed and in the crib - which is good, except when you want to travel to another continent with a five hour time zone difference and excessively long hours of daylight.  Otherwise, I can't see any problems with him really - we'll have the Benadryl and aspirin and any other medical stuff we may need.

Maybe it's just the alcohol.

I also haven't weeded shit here - that will take up next weekend and at some point I will need to actually get shit together for this trip which will also include a trip to the camera store for some maintenance on the camera, one of those things I was going to learn how to do myself when  bought the camera like 3 or 4 years ago.  Time flies!

This is it.  10 days. Nothing can stop it at this point.   'Cause everybody knows how the story goes, there's no ifs ands, buts or suppose...  I'd bet money almost none of you readers know where that's from...no googling either.

Did I mention how the shit I am apparently allowed to bring keeps dwindling?  I'm pretty sure at this point I have been allotted the new flip flop bottomed shoes I got and a pair of underwear that must also double as a bathing suit.  I'm not sure I'm even allowed a shirt.  I get to carry the car seat, stroller, luggage and then maybe a backpack that has the camera, laptop, stuff for work and no doubt, 73 diapers.  All this while having some incessantly yell, "Dada, dada, car, dada, dada, car, car, ball, dada, mama, dada, car..."  Then there's the other person who is also talking, I think, but I am not really listening.   I still have to get my new set of stitches out this week - and if they're not healed, there's a new monkey wrench...I'm going to Europe with either a hole in my back or another stitch - at which point they might as well just heat up some metal and cauterize that shit.

And yet, with all this to do, here I am writing to entertain you on a Sunday night at 10:30.

All this for castles, wrecked abbeys, 60 degree weather, people who only I can understand and ground up organ meat and spices.

Fuck yeah!!!! We're going to Scotland (and Iceland).