packing

Well, I'm almost done packing. I think I will be able to fit everything in one bag and my backpack. I took a picture because I'm really impressed with myself (although I should point out that the bag will be getting much fuller than that, because there's a bunch more clothing that needs to get packed after I wash it). I'm generally pretty terrible at packing light, and I think this is one of the best jobs I've ever done, considering how long I will be gone (of course, I'm not actually done packing yet, so we'll see). It's certainly much easier to pack light when you don't have to bring any sweaters or jeans.

I also managed to get my old laptop back into decent working order (apparently it had some kind of crazy virus, and in addition the hard drive was too full), so I will be bringing it as well. I put Stata on it (that's the statistical software we use to do econometrics), and I'll get Excel from my ma when I get home. I'm very lucky to currently be in possession of two laptops, because I can bring the crappy one to India and not worry about it getting moldy or stolen or something.

Today is the 26th birthday of my dear friend S. Happy birthday! (He probably won't ever read this, but that's okay.)

E left for India tonight. I think he's on a plane on the way to L.A. at the moment. I'm glad he's getting there a week and a half before M and me, because maybe he can get a little bit of a feel for the city and find the office of the NGO we'll be working with and stuff like that.