"all you need is one pair of running shoes, one pair of walking shoes, and one pair of dress shoes"

- my dad's shoe suggestion. so far I've decided on 13 pairs of necessary shoes. what?

Vacuum-sealed bags are the answer to the packing dilemma. I've managed to (almost) squeeze an entire walk-in closet into one rolling suitcase. minus, of course, the 13 (14,15,16?) pairs of shoes and every other possession one might find necessary over the course of a year (or two).

yesterday my phone was stolen from the playground, which feels like the beginning of the ubiquitous lonliness. it hasn't quite hit me yet but I'm getting a taste of what it will be like.
I think I'm more angered by the fact that I couldn't get rid of it on my own terms, not owning a cell phone is a little "fuck you" to the way we function as a society, and because I'm not going to be communicating with 95% of the people in my phone in less than two weeks maybe I was going to call everyone at 4 am pretending to be Darshanda. I don't know.

12 more days.

Packing is keeping me up at night, my anxiety levels are out of control, and I'm having nightmarish airplane crash fantasies (not the good kind.)

I won't write again until I'm there. wish me good luck.