Packing

I leave for Dumaguete tomorrow, on a Cebu Pacific flight, for a three-week writer’s baptism. It will be my first time on a plane in five years, and the first time a funeral won’t be the reason for travel in almost a decade.

Three weeks will be the longest time I’ve ever been away from home. Even during our Jakarta days, vacations to Manila would last two weeks at most.

It will be the first time I’ll be away from my parents, save for the overnights and weekends out of town with friends in the past. Been spending a lot of time with Dad over the past couple of days. I think it’s partly subconscious father-son cheesiness on both our parts.

There was a time (back when my age was still in the single-digits) when I would pack weeks in advance of a trip. Now, a big traveling bag stares at me and the task of filling it seems a bit too daunting.

My plan had always been to only bring one extra large duffel bag with a week’s worth of stuff that would just go through P25/kilo laundry every weekend. People are trying to convince me to bring a suitcase, at least the small one with rollers. One of those in bright red is now blocking my door.

“Light clothes,” says Ian Casocot in a text message. That was kind of obvious. Whites and grays, I’m thinking. Anything darker would be suicidal.

I hadn’t planned on it, but Mom said I should bring a pair of shoes. So I guess the Chucks are going with me, but the flip-flops aren’t giving up their starting positions.

Tita Bijim returned my video camera. Was considering taking it along, but I don’t want to risk losing or breaking it. The Cybershot will definitely be with me, though the dinky 25-picture capacity will need some back up.

The iPod—months removed from additional songs because of downloading laziness—will make the trip. And so will A Million Little Pieces. At 50 pages a day, I’m set to finish the book by Day 2. I’m hoping for a lot of reading material in Dumaguete—the workshop manuscript figures prominently in this projection. Perhaps a last minute trip to Book Sale is in order today.

It’s the smallest things that irritate me most about packing. Toothbrush. Toothpaste. Soap. Shampoo. Deodorant. Nail-clippers (can you bring that on a plane?). I really don’t want to think about it, but I’d probably regret not doing so.

I’m excited. Packing’s a bitch, but I’m really stoked (why did I use a skater word?) for the next three weeks.

Projection: What’s going to be worse than packing to leave is packing to get back, with all the pasalubong people are expecting. I’ll deal with that shit when the time comes.