51 Days Before

"That's when I see you, with loving arms to fall into."
- Vengaboys, Kiss (When The Sun Don't Shine)

Tonight I am wondering:
1. what to pack
2. when to pack
3. if I can teach my sister how to use skype so I can still see my cat
4. whether or not the other girls in my group will like me (I have met two through Facebook; one of them legit looks like Megan Fox with a hint of Angelina Jolie)
5. what to do about the birthdays I'll be missing while I'm gone (I can think of 5 right off the top of my head)
6. to whom I'll be writing letters and whether or not I should bring stamps with me when I go
7. when to start work when I come back
8. if I should gamble with a new haircut before I go (I've been considering getting a real hairdresser to give me bangs)

The answers I have come up with are:
1a. I just shouldn't think about packing yet, but I'll make a list towards the end of December.
1b. But I know for sure I want to bring some of my favourite books, and my laptop (because I can't exist without my music). I want to bring my stuffy, Puppy, because I've never been away from him for long (he even came with me when I moved out) but at the same time I don't want to risk something happening to him - or worse, getting laughed at for still being sentimentally attached to a stuffed dalmatian. Maybe I'll leave him with someone I really trust and ask them to cuddle him if they miss me? Or maybe I'm actually insane. Also I don't know which shoes I want to bring. Do I even own winter boots? I may need to go shopping before I leave.
2. I'm super excited to go and want to pack like, yesterday. Buuuut realistically it needs to be done much more last minute. But not day-before last minute because what if something's missing and I'm packing at 11:30pm and don't have any way to acquire whatever it is that I only just then realised I don't have?! So I'm thinking maybe January 2.
3. I probably can, but I should probably use Skype to see people, not kitty. But I'll miss her :(
4. I'm pretty sure they will, and judging from what I've seen from other people I know who have gone, I'll actually get super tight with someone and we'll miss each other loads when the program is done. But that doesn't mean there won't be one or two people who don't like me and that does actually terrify me.
5. I already know I will be missing the birthdays of: Eevee (Jan 6), Jewel (Jan 13), Wrecking Ball (Feb 22), Hamlet (Apr 11) and my little sister (June 17). Those are just the birthdays I remember. Ok, I didn't honestly remember Hamlet's birthday, but I remembered it was in April so I just checked on Facebook for the actual date. I just really don't have the budget to get all of those people a gift before I go and then send it to them while I'm gone. And I know you're probably thinking "um, send them cards, duh", but I really enjoy giving people presents. Then again, what I enjoy is seeing them open it and like it, which I couldn't experience anyway...
6. I definitely want to write to Hey Rosetta!, Love, Wrecking Ball, and my sister. I can keep in touch with people through phone calls and Facebook, but I feel like writing will be a nice way to stay in touch too. I enjoy sending and receiving letters. I think I told Chaser I'd send her letters too. And I want to write to my sponsored child once or twice so that she knows I'm still thinking about her. But will I really have time to write that many letters? And also, stamps. I should probably just bring them with me when I go. Except for the ones for my sponsored child because she lives in the Philippines and I think the pricing on those stamps fluctuates.
7. I get back on June 20. I probably won't want to start work again right away, but I'm also going to be in desperate need of some moneys at that point. Well, not at that immediate time, but I will need to go back to work as soon as possible to start saving for school again. That's about as far as I've managed to follow that train of thought because then I think "ohfuckschoolfuckmylifewhatdoidoooooo" and start a game of minesweeper.
8. If they look awful I will need to figure out how to hide my awful hair from the people I am living with until they grow back which will probably take at least three months and I think they will notice if I am always wearing a hat inside. But bangs look really cute on a lot of people (see: Zooey Deschanel, Emma Watson, Reese Witherspoon and, if you know who she is, Hey Rosetta!) so I am really tempted to give them a shot.

In other news I remembered that I have a Pokemon Crystal emulator on my laptop and my sister and I are now collaborating on a game (translation: when we are both home and awake, which is about 4 hours a week, I let her play while I give her prods like "ooh, catch that one!" and "try that direction, I don't know, I haven't got this far before").