Errands, Chocolate, and Good Old-Fashioned Procrastination
December Photo Project Day #23

I left work today and made a trip to Greenpoint, Brooklyn to purchase some kielbasa for a Polish Meat Peace Offering, of sorts.  It's a long story.

After that mission was accomplished, I had more Christmas shopping to do.  How exhausting is Christmas shopping?  Very.  You know what I'm talking about. 

A couple hours in and I could take no more.  I was near City Bakery, so I popped in for some of their famous hot chocolate and marshmallows. Found a seat near a Christmas tree and finished my book (Gadzooks, Great Gatsby!  Liked it so much better than I had in high school.)

After break-time was over, I braved the cold and crowds again and finished my errands.  (Dear fellow shoppers - if you're wondering what that meat smell was tonight, it was me.  It was me and my bag of kielbasa.  Apologies.)  I returned home, ate dinner, exchanged gifts with my roomie, and that brings us to this moment.

I'm leaving town tomorrow, so do you want to take a guess as to what I'm doing right now?  

Yup, I'm not packing.

But I'm fixing' to start, any minute now.  Any minute now, and I'll put something in my suitcase.  Any. Minute. Now.

Wish me luck.  It could be a long night.

Past details of my unfortunate sickness:

Not packing for Boston in 2008

Not packing for a wedding in 2007

Not packing for Easter in 2006

On the Twenty-Second Day of Christmas

Daily Photo: Weird light-sculpture thing near Rockefeller Center

It is bitter cold here in New York today. Glove-wearing, hat-wearing, windy, shivering cold. Unfortunately for me, it's also quite cold in my apartment. My landlord controls the heat, and let's just say he's quite... conservative with his temperature control. I am wearing two pairs of socks, 4 layers of shirts, two layers of pants, a scarf and a hat. Inside. My. Apartment. And I'm a still chilly, so I'm clinging to a cup of tea while I pack.

Did I say 'pack'? Yup. It's that time again. But I'm doing quite well tonight: my clothes are already selected and in the suitcase. Now I'm just finishing up odds and ends before calling it a night and crawling under flannel blankets, comforters and quilts.

What 'odds and ends,' you ask? Well, I thought it would be nice to make some Christmas cards for my family. Nothing says "good old-fashioned family Christmas" like hand-made cards featuring "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" quotes, am I right? Here is a little sampling of my work:


What am I thankful for today? I'm thankfully looking forward to a little reunion with old friends, scheduled to happen in a mere 32 hours. So excited to see you girls!

On the 11th Day of Christmas

Daily December Photo #11: Cartier - Gift Wrapped

It's raining in New York today. Like, really raining. Rivulets running down sidewalks and soaking your socks. Wading pools form curbside, owing to poor drainage, but when I leap over them I pretend I am executing a graceful, perfect-10, figure skating move. I always stick my landings. While holding an umbrella! Brian Boitano, with his "tano lutz," ain't got nothing on me.

I would like to say more on this, touting my imaginary skating prowess, but I have things to do. Namely, packing. I'm heading out of town tomorrow, so I best get to putting things in a bag. But you know my track record. And the night is still young (not quite midnight even!) I think I'll put on a pot of coffee and make a holiday mix-cd now...

Not Helping

This current state of ennui and distraction I'm experiencing is not helped by my packing issues. I'm heading out of town this weekend and was up until 3am last night, packing.

Yeah, you know that's a lie. I was up until 3am, but very little actual packing took place.

From 10:30pm until 12am, I worked out what I would wear to the wedding tomorrow - this involved trying on nearly every dress/skirt/sweater combination I own, while my roommate offered sage advice. Then came the shoe debate. Three contenders were narrowed to the one Chosen pair. Finally, accessorizing (pearls? pashmina? neither?). Being a girl is so hard!

From 12am until approximately 1am, I avoided packing by weighing the options of which piece of luggage to use. (rolling suitcase or backpack? rolling suitcase or backpack? rolling suitcase? backpack?) I determined that neither the rolling suitcase or backpack were suitable. I envisioned the perfect piece of luggage. I spent 10 minutes online trying to find it, even though it would be of no use to me at that point. I gave up, and dragged the ol' backpack out of storage.

The hours of 1am to 3am are a blur, though I am confident nothing made it into the backpack during that time. I vaguely remember creating a new iPod playlist entitled "Meloncholic Mellow Noel." I ate at least 3 Hershey kisses. I reviewed my dayplanner to ensure I had noted all events from now until January. (I had.) I read some blogs. I measured the merits of staying up to finish (ok, start) packing versus going to sleep and packing in the morning. I changed the display options on my cell phone.

Finally, Exhaustion could be ignored no longer. I fell asleep. I overslept. I did all my packing between 8:30am-8:40am this morning.

Love me or leave me, I remain forever-

Your Packing Freak

Hello, my name is Kristy. I procrastinate.

I've decided to go home for the weekend, so I bought me a ticket for the 9am bus out of here. It is a few minutes after midnight, and you can rest assured, I am not packing. Clearly you can see that I am instead "blogging" as they say.

Some of you may be thinking, "Kristy, it is a few minutes after midnight. Why don't you pack and go to bed?" To which I reply, "You don't know me at all!" This is what I do: ritualized not-packing. I may be up, not packing, until 4 or 5am. I'm that good at it. It's where I shine.

Not-packing involves an intense combination of wandering to and fro, emailing, making coffee, drinking coffee, burning cd's for friends, organizing old utility bills, hating all my clothes, making a list of things I could pack, checking the weather report, deciding to watch an episode of Friends on TV while I pack, watching an episode of Friends while not packing, deciding whether or not the trip will necessitate me bringing a bandana (the answer is always "yes, just in case"), plus a whole host of other activities, none of which involve placing items into a suitcase.

Tonight I will be attempting the triple-axle of not-packing: Yes, friends, I will be doing my taxes. This not-packing ritual has intensified over the years, and I'm not sure why. What is causing this mental block that prevents me from behaving like a normal person on the eve of travel? I think I should spend the next few hours psycho-analyzing myself to get at the root of the issue.

Reach out touch faith

One of my favorite games is the Inappropriate Game. It requires no equipment and can be played any time, any place. It goes something like this: you try to figure out what would be the most inappropriate ___________ to do ____________. Example: What would be the most inappropriate song for a bride to walk down the aisle to? Possible Answer: Mu-zac version of "It's Raining Men."

Some friends and I particularly enjoy the genre of "Inappropriate offertories." What would be the most inappropriate song to sing for an offertory at church? Some suggestions have been "Like a Prayer" (Madonna), "Moment Like This" (Kelly Clarkson), "Faith" (George Michael), etc.

Tonight at the Maundy Thursday service I attended, the offertory was actually "Personal Jesus" by DepecheMode. At first, I was reminded of the inappropriate Game, but after listening to the lyrics, I think it rather worked quite well.

I'm amused by the imagined scene of two little old blue-haired ladies sitting together in a church. It's time for the offertory, and as the ushers start to pass the plates, Pearl turns to Eugenia and whispers, "Genie, isn't that DepecheMode they're playing?"