Single geeky female... makes lists

As i write this I am officially T-minus four months & three days from leaving on my adventure. Now I know that might seem to be quite far away still but over the last few days I have been coming to the dawning realization that what this time really is turning into is a looming pile - of lists. I can't, hell I won't, claim to be the most organized person in the world. Actually as anyone that I've ever lived or worked with can attest I am generally one of those people who tends to work best if I leave everything until the last possible moment & then in the frantic rush to get everything done hopefully something wonderful - or failing that at least passable occurs.  I am pretty sure that this approach isn't going to work out in this situation however. It's just now dawning on my slow brain that this is it - essentially this is me, at the ripe age of soon-to-be-twenty-five growing up & moving out, away from my family & everything I know to THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD!!

Yes, theoretically i knew this before - but it's only now that it is really hitting home. I'm not planning on being back in New Zealand for at least 18 months and although part of me would love to think that my room filled with all my multitude of stuff will stay as my families shrine to me, its simply not practical. Nor is kidding myself thinking that the clothes, books, DVDs, posters, & just general pieces of my life can stay - or that i would indeed want them to stay - cluttering up space in my Mums house. So this thought process leads me to my 'new' thing. To-do lists. There were some already, I'll freely admit. What needs to be purchased before I go away, what bills need to be paid, how many pairs of undies I think  need to packed, but now there is the prospect of even more listing. More organization. Planning - especially when to find the time for all of the sorting, packing, unpacking, donating, throwing away, changing my mind & hurriedly taking out of the bin, repacking, deciding what to do with all those things that I've hung on to 'just in case' & finally boxing up what will need to be stored,  I will tell you now it is a prospect that for me, is scary as hell. 

I've started trying to think in terms of 'what else needs to be done before I leave' - which is still quite unbelievable when you consider that it was only back in February that I was sending off the visa application & so nervous that it might not happen at all!! What is probably going to really bring this home to me is when I do have to start packing up. I have 30 kilograms of luggage that I can take with me - which lets face it by the time I have packed away all the tech that must come with me leaves about 20 kilograms!! - & the few small (light) things that I can post over in the coming few months but that is essentially it. 

Wow it really is an interesting - or perhaps overwhelming would be the better term - prospect. It will definitely be a big change for me. One, to simply not have the number of possessions that I have grown accustomed too & two, that while I'm over in Canada I will have to change my habits - I won't have the freedom to spend the money to buy things that I want rather than need & of course if I do buy anything I would have to decide what to do with it as more that likely I couldn't take it with me when I left. Thinking about it seriously this will probably be the biggest change in myself, yet another thing that I hadn't anticipated before starting this journey. You couldn't compare me to a hoarder - or at least i hope not! - but I, like I think most people will admit too, have a lot of 'stuff' that has collected over the course of my life & I am happy to admit the prospect of  having to pack it up is not one I am looking forward too. I think another one of the lists that I'll have to start is who can come on what days to help me pack & sort. Actually that is quite a happy idea the thought of having a packing team - I'll probably need at least that much intervention!! 

So to the people that will be on my list & will hopefully, come & help me in this - thank you in advance. To the people who are going to have to listen to me moan & protest about it in the meantime - I'm sorry. And finally to the people who will have to put up with the stuff I just can't bare to part with cluttering up their space - I love you. And like a good friend said to me today - 125 days to go!! Can you imagine? I think this is the first time that I am really starting to.