To see a world in a grain of sand...

...and two weeks' worth of clothing, ready for both snow and Africa, for both work and play, in two small bags, the two Eddie Bauer ones with the rugged, safari-like, Lara-Croft-esque appearance. Indeed, my good friends, I am packed and ready to go, and ready to eat free ice cream in celebration of ten years of yahoo, before I cry and then board. Riding on a plane, a crateful of aluminum, is one of the nicest things to do. No real responsibilities for a stretch of time. Your entire mission in life consists of reading a book or a magazine, or drawing, or watching the cruddiest and most mindless films imaginable ([27 Mar note] read: Bridget Jones/Edge/Reason and Shall We Dance? [the US version]), or talking with someone sitting near you, or learning key phrases in a foreign language (Wanneer vertrekt de trein naar Groningen/Schiphol?), or just enjoying the music that they play. And it certainly is wonderful. (note upon rereading, 27 Mar: I'm ashamed to admit it, but until IAD-AMS, I had never even heard of CocoRosie. Anyone who claims that "By Your Side" isn't lovely will have some splainin to do.) I wonder whether or not I'll buy a new digital camera today. Probably not, but it would certainly be nice to have one like...ooh, what was his name. I've forgotten his name; I'll look it up and then edit this, but my student in Tampa, the one with the camera that could fit into an Altoids tin. And if it happened to be a pretty shade of green, well then, so much the better. I'm looking forward to Nigeria, greatly, but also a little apprehensive; it's come so quickly that it almost resembles a loss of control, which is of course deplorable. But the country, the continent, the food, people, and culture, all of that, I can't wait to encounter. I can't get enough of it. And my six-hour European layover on the way will be used effectively. So wish me well, my friends, and I'll see you in two weeks, exactly, wishing it were four.