Packing List

here is our packing list, in no particular order:

2 frisbees
baseball gloves
4 baseballs
dvd collection (including movies and television shows, over 500 discs)
matthew's shoes (1 pair flip-flops, 1 pair sneakers, 1 pair dress shoes)
p's shoes (3 pair flip-flops, 2 pair sneakers, 2 pair heels, etc.)
p's journal
music cd's (not many, as most of our music is digital now)
portable dvd player
play station 2 + 2 controllers
wedding photo (awww - ain't we cute?)
laptop
digital + camera + connecting wires
perfume
pill boxes
extra birth control
glasses
optical focus exercises (cuz our vision sucks)
important documents (diplomas, passports, marriage certificate, etc.)
underwear
socks
matthew's shirts (maybe 7 t-shirts, 4 button-up shirts, sweatshirt, assorted sweaters)
p's shirts (god only knows what she has in her closet)
2 tide pens
aveeno body lotion
tweezers
malaria pills
dental floss
shower clock
matthew's pants (1 pair jeans, 2 pair nice pants, 3 lengo jhuppos)
other p clothes
diabetes glucose meter
sneaker arch support inserts
eyeglass screwdriver
miniature ganesh (p swears it's not religious, but rather a good luck item...)

i know that we've already forgotten several necessary items, but that's why one makes packing lists long before the departure date. august first - that's now officially under two months. it's so soon and i can barely contain my excitement. it's so difficult to focus on such mundane activities like packing and working on the sale of the condo, but completing these things will allow us to leave with no stress and minimal worries.

p and i watched a documentary about india last night, appropriately titled "the soul of india." it was really good, though the production values were a bit cheap. it was done by this guy named rick ray, who apparently was a scuzzy backpacker before turning scuzzy documentarian. he basically spent half a year touring around india and, like any self-respecting backpacker, he made sure to visit every hidden corner of india and apparently double-checked under every rock. the documentary is about ninety minutes long, and in that ninety minutes he actually manages to give a nice overview of the different regions and peoples of india while offering some decent historical context. not surprisingly, the state that we'll be living in, gujarat, was barely mentioned, as the state and the people are generally the most boring people in india.

hooray, gujarat.

there is a direct connection for me between watching movies set in a particular location and visiting said location. after all, the entire reason that i became interested in moving to taiwan six or seven years ago was because i watched and fell in love with the movie yi-yi by edward yang. (i still highly recommend this movie for anyone and everyone - it is, in my humble opinion, the best movie ever made...) i saw the movie with my parents on st. patrick's day, 2001, and by the end of august of that year, i had seen yi-yi four more times and had completed my move to taiwan. i was a cocky and confused twenty-three year old with a misanthropic streak and the wide-eyed excitement of a five-year-old.

i attempted to do the same thing to get myself inspired and excited about my subsequent trip to ecuador, but the only part of ecuador worth wasting film on is the galapagos islands, and those don't really count as part of ecuador, at least not if you want an idea about ecuadorian society. there was one mildly popular movie that i know of that's set in ecuador - i think its called ratas, ratones y el ratonero - but that's set on the pacific coast in the slums of guayaqil and the spanish is impossible to understand if you're not a native speaker. but this documentary is just perfect for psyching myself into the trip - ray shows all of india, from the congested cities to the congested countryside, and, for good measure, also adds short clips of the congested tourist traps.

fortunately, neither p nor i have much interest in those places that get the most tourist foot traffic. most tourists to india are either the dirty post-college, pre-unemployment backpackers who come to india in search of some pseudo-spirituality or the mildly wealthy white couples who find it a fucking riot to be served alcoholic drinks by diminutive indian waiters dressed like carnival freaks in turbans. i guess part of the essential indian experience for most travellers is not having to see the real, frenetic and messy life of india.

i guess we plan on trying to see as many sides of india as possible. we have the time and the energy, if not the money, but that's probably good. the lack of money will force us off the beaten path more than we might otherwise choose to do, and that can on;y enrich the experience.

at least that's what i'm telling myself now.