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The Week
I spent most of this week playing dress-up, attending cocktail parties and banquets and talking to my dad's industry friends at the annual golf tournament he hosts in Ojai. It was surreal in many different ways, but fun and unusual as well.
Each night dressed in cocktail attire and make-up, which is completely out of character for me these days, I schmoozed with people who asked about and marveled at my stories of living in "Kakzakah...where?!" Each day, in a blissful, wooly-headed haze, I sat at the 5-star spa like some lady of leisure whose husband must've been out on the golf course - $20 per day for all the sauna, steam, jacuzzi, pool, fitness and yoga action your heart desires. No worries, no concerns (as long as I could ignore the things that still needed doing back in the real world), just peaceful lounging and waiting to prepare and primp for another night's cocktail party. What a bizarre thing it was.
To make the situation even more bizarre, there was a huge brown cloud looming overhead as a huge fire just over the hill from us less than 20 miles away was blazing. So, although the temperature should've been over 100 degrees, the cloud shielded the town from the heat in a heavy layer of thick smoke and ash that gently rained down on us all week. The last day and night were the worst. As I came out of the spa to lie in the sun that day, I noticed the air was so thick with ash that I couldn't believe the place hadn't been evacuated let alone that people were sitting out bathing in this brown tinged haze. At night, the brown cloud creeped gradually closer and closer to the banquet that was taking place outdoors because no one had expected this natural disaster to affect the event.
Preparation continues
As soon as we got back in town, my dad and stepmom left town again and I said my goodbyes for the year. :(
I saw a dermatologist this afternoon and had what was probably a basal cell carcinoma, the doctor said, removed. I bought some travel insurance for the first time, specifically for the trip through China. Then, spent the rest of the afternoon and evening packing and preparing for departure: laundry, copying last minute CDs and moving files from the old harddrive to the new laptop, sorting through clothes deciding what will stay and what will go to KZ in a box or to China in the backpack. The list of things to do has shrunk but sadly is still longer than I'd like.
Reunions and final thoughts
As if there weren't enough to think about, I'm mentally preparing for my 20-year high school reunion which is tomorrow night. So, it's a countdown to tomorrow evening around 5pm when I've got to have everything finished because from that point on I'll be distracted with seeing people I haven't seen (or wanted to see) in nearly 20 years. Thankfully, I'm going with my one and only remaining good friend from high school. We'll have a laugh together and I will strive to have it not affect me too deeply and have me thinking about just how surreal life is...any more so than I already will be.
I spent most of this week playing dress-up, attending cocktail parties and banquets and talking to my dad's industry friends at the annual golf tournament he hosts in Ojai. It was surreal in many different ways, but fun and unusual as well.
Each night dressed in cocktail attire and make-up, which is completely out of character for me these days, I schmoozed with people who asked about and marveled at my stories of living in "Kakzakah...where?!" Each day, in a blissful, wooly-headed haze, I sat at the 5-star spa like some lady of leisure whose husband must've been out on the golf course - $20 per day for all the sauna, steam, jacuzzi, pool, fitness and yoga action your heart desires. No worries, no concerns (as long as I could ignore the things that still needed doing back in the real world), just peaceful lounging and waiting to prepare and primp for another night's cocktail party. What a bizarre thing it was.
To make the situation even more bizarre, there was a huge brown cloud looming overhead as a huge fire just over the hill from us less than 20 miles away was blazing. So, although the temperature should've been over 100 degrees, the cloud shielded the town from the heat in a heavy layer of thick smoke and ash that gently rained down on us all week. The last day and night were the worst. As I came out of the spa to lie in the sun that day, I noticed the air was so thick with ash that I couldn't believe the place hadn't been evacuated let alone that people were sitting out bathing in this brown tinged haze. At night, the brown cloud creeped gradually closer and closer to the banquet that was taking place outdoors because no one had expected this natural disaster to affect the event.
Preparation continues
As soon as we got back in town, my dad and stepmom left town again and I said my goodbyes for the year. :(
I saw a dermatologist this afternoon and had what was probably a basal cell carcinoma, the doctor said, removed. I bought some travel insurance for the first time, specifically for the trip through China. Then, spent the rest of the afternoon and evening packing and preparing for departure: laundry, copying last minute CDs and moving files from the old harddrive to the new laptop, sorting through clothes deciding what will stay and what will go to KZ in a box or to China in the backpack. The list of things to do has shrunk but sadly is still longer than I'd like.
Reunions and final thoughts
As if there weren't enough to think about, I'm mentally preparing for my 20-year high school reunion which is tomorrow night. So, it's a countdown to tomorrow evening around 5pm when I've got to have everything finished because from that point on I'll be distracted with seeing people I haven't seen (or wanted to see) in nearly 20 years. Thankfully, I'm going with my one and only remaining good friend from high school. We'll have a laugh together and I will strive to have it not affect me too deeply and have me thinking about just how surreal life is...any more so than I already will be.