04 February 2012

Quick! Call now - time is running out!


It’s going to be summer next week.  Really excited for that.  Granted, I have been able to drive around the Northeast with the windows down for three of the past seven days.  So I guess that makes it a little less exciting.  Also slightly diminishing the fact is that, when translated literally, the Guaraní term for “summer” apparently comes out to “Louisiana in the dead of July without A/C but with the humidity plus five extra degrees at times for good measure.” Go ahead.  Look it up.  Prove me wrong.  I dare you.

Let’s get down to some nuts and bolts.  If my previous posts are any indication, you’ve probably realized that I’m not too keen on this sort of discussion.  Today, though, I’ll go ahead and humor you with a brief stroll through the hardware store.  I leave Albany on Tuesday afternoon and arrive in Miami later that evening for orientation.  On Wednesday, some other future expats and I will orientate and icebreak our way through the day before boarding a late night flight south.  Somewhere on Thursday’s schedule, and not to be overlooked, is an arrival in Paraguay.  I’ll go ahead and highlight that as *urgent* on my itinerary.  I’d hate to skip that one.

And then it all happens.

As for communication over the next several weeks, bear with me.  I will surely post updates on here and respond to all emails as time and Internet access permits.  A mailing address will be coming shortly, as well.  Stay tuned for that.  Beginning on Tuesday, my (518) cell phone number will no longer work.  Go ahead and call it if you’d like but know that I reserve the right to not call you back indefinitely and to look confused and hurt when you accuse me of not returning your calls.

Also, since I won’t be able to answer your future texts, please feel free to pick your favorite responses from the list below and use them as needed.  I think I’ve got most situations covered:
  • Definitely.
  • Leaving now… Be there in 10.
  • Ok sounds good.
  • Yeah, I saw that – it was awesome.
  • can t now im dr ivng
  • Burnett blew another 6-run lead?  For real?
  • [the second half of that Shins lyric you just awkwardly sent me]
  • Yes, Mom, I made it to _______ safely.  Sorry I didn't text you first thing when I got there.


I suppose this will be the last time I update this blog while I’m in NY.  I travelled throughout the area a lot over the past three weeks.  I’ve had an unreal amount of fun and said too many goodbyes.  Some of the toughest are yet to come.  I hesitate to use the word “emotional” because I really hate what its everyday connotation implies.  It conjures images of weakness and instability.  It evokes the scene where a giant, soaking Alice, cake in hand, helplessly cries herself a flood because she knows no other way of coping with a changing environment.  I’ve yet to shed a goodbye tear and, truthfully, I probably won’t.  That’s not typically my outward nature.  But I still can’t think of a better word to describe the recent days and weeks other than “emotional.”  That’s exactly what it’s been – a flurry of emotions and I’m thankful to have shared them with so many wonderful people.

Paraguay has some big shoes to fill.  This is a statement I’ve thrown around somewhat facetiously over the past few months.  Now, though, I say it genuinely and without pretense.  

Have a happy, healthy and unbelievably awesome 2012, America!

5 comments:

  1. Sooo, texing me when you get there is no longer an option? Hmmmmm, what to do, what to do??? I realize our lines of communication will be lost in the very very near future. There is, however, one important thing i have to tell you before you go.It is a piece of information that I am sure will help you immensely, and this piece of information is.......................

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  2. I hope youve got your best shoes on....

    <3

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    1. Chris, youve been gone for a while now, and I think at this point Paraguay has officially become the dirt in my fries.

      Sincerely,
      -"Jim" M.

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