Winding Down

     So my trip to Japan is coming soon... two Wednesdays from now I'll be on a direct flight from Dulles to Tokyo along with three of my travelmates, Jen Doo, Natalie Wilson, and Teresa Lui. At this point I should have everything figured out... right?


     Well, the case is that I don't. In fact, I have a problem where things like this don't hit me very hard until I'm actually in the country, or maybe have even spent a few days there. It's rather strange. But anyway, at this point I'm finally trying to check off things that I need to do. I've taken care of getting all of the necessary paperwork with my passport and visa (to make a long story short to give those that need it a special hint, I had to drive to DC and give them my passport and was thinking that I had to return to pick it up, but luckily they just mailed it to me... yay!) and registered my early arrival with the DK House, so I'm set for existing lawfully in the country... but what now?


     First I need to still get some things. One: debit card. Still don't have one linked to my checking account yet. Two: recording device. How am I going to interview and record concerts without one? Hopefully I can actually find a good one in stores so I don't have to worry about paying extra for shipping. Three: some more reeds. Four: traveler's checks, and five: an understanding of what exactly I need to bring on this trip.


     I was talking to my friends Nick and Cody last night about how awesome would be to just bring an empty suitcase and have to buy everything from the start, but seeing that that's really unrealistic because of the financial burden that'd be imposed upon me, I have to actually take stuff. Off the top of my head I can think of only a few things: clothes (with suit!), toiletries, laptop, saxophone and music, Nintendo DS, camera, money, and some RSVP pens. Writing this makes me feel even more disorganized and stupid than I did before attempting to organize my thoughts on what to bring.


     Next, I have to take care of unfinished personal business. Since when I found out I was even doing this I had wanted to make sure that I visited graduating friends at multiple colleges in Virginia. Now I feel that I'll be going to only Charlottesville and Williamsburg because I've spent so much time NOT doing what I had planned. Instead of getting these things done I've been working six or seven days a week with the exception of the month of February where I was going to Charlottesville every week to rehearse with the UVA Jazz Ensemble.


     Regardless of me getting paid for taking UTS (University Transit Service... I drive a bus at school) routes, my income and expenses for February basically balanced out. The UTS pay was covering my gas money and my few sub jobs were paying for food and miscellaneous expenses (... like Rock Band DLC and Super Smash Brothers Brawl). Otherwise, my income for the months of January (severed by the Christmas bill) and March added to whatever I had saved earlier will have to be my funds for the trip. Luckily for me, I'll be getting two hefty VBCPS (Virginia Beach City Public Schools) paychecks and even a Farm Fresh paycheck while I'm overseas so that I'll still be rollin' in the cash even in Japan.


     The morals of this post are: think about what you need to bring ahead of time and take care of it sooner rather than later (but it's not like EVERYONE doesn't tell you that already, so I'm not expecting anyone to really take that advice), and get your personal business taken care of with plenty of time to spare. I'm out to bag some comics and maybe get some stuff a little more organized. Later!

(oh, and STUDY! I've only been studying for a week!!!)


(... luckily I think that's a lot more than my other friends!!!)