These next few weeks.

So, pretty much everything in my life is changing over the next few weeks. This is all sort of overwhelming, but it's also so exciting.

This week is a big one. Mainly because I'm defending my Masters thesis on Friday. Um, I'm a little nervous. I just practiced my presentation for Doug and Uta and got myself tied up in a "big ball of wool". This is not a good feeling because I have enough actual tangled balls of wool in my life and I don't need any extra metaphorical ones. I know I'll have myself untangled by Friday, but it's a bit unsettling this afternoon. Apparently, some people find untangling wool to be therapeutic and relaxing, though. There's a group of people on Rav you can send your tangled wool balls to. They will deal with the mess and send them back all skeined up. I'm not a member of that group and they probably wouldn't be able to do much with my thesis presentation anyway.

The weeks after will include the following events:
-making edits to my written thesis and preparing to publish
-visiting Warsaw, for one last relaxing weekend before I move
-traveling to Manitoulin Island for a roadtrip with Nat
-Hillside festival where I will be running a crafty workshop
-Wolfe Island music festival with Em
-moving out of our sweet little abode in Guelphtown and finding some place to stash all of my belongings
-perhaps (of course) a going away party for everyone

During this time I also need to pack for my trip. I'm taking one backpack for the entire four months. It carries 65L, or about 35 lbs. That's all I can comfortably carry for the day anyway. I've been collecting items to take over the past little while. I need a lot of multi-functional items because I'll be at an International conference, working in a forest, working in a rain forest, camping in the desert, flying on a bunch of planes, working on farms, swimming in oceans, the list goes on and on. So far, here are the items that I feel a little bit crazy about NOT taking:

-my hairbrush
-my laptop
-my wallet
-a pillow
-my running shoes
-a proper towel
-my jeans

These are all of the things that I want to take, but just don't have the space for (my hairbrush is really big and I chopped my hair off anyway). Everything else I've found suitable alternatives for except my jeans. I might end up wearing them, actually, but I'm trying to find another pair of pants that will dry more quickly, but still look fashionable. I'll have to come back here and post the few items of clothing I'm taking and amaze everyone with how many different outfits for different occasions I can come make with so few items of clothing (um, I still don't have that completely figured out yet).

Yeah, so busy busy busy, but a lot of fun too!