panic, then some randomness

[bedlamsbard]

*breathes into paper bag* Panic came back. This is such a stupid idea, oh my god, why the hell am I doing this when I would much rather stay home and knit. (I am a nester to, like, the umpteenth degree.)

Now I am wondering about what suitcase to bring, the big one or the smaller red one. (It's going to be the big polka dot one, duh. I'm going to have to check it anyway; the red one is a hair bigger than can fit comfortably in an overhead bin. I know this from experience.)

Agh, and right after I do this, I get about a three week break and then I have to get on ANOTHER GODDAMN AIRPLANE to fly back to New Orleans. That is seriously how I think of airplanes these days: Another Goddamn Airplane.

As far as I can tell from internet weather forecasts, Cambridge in July looks rather like New Orleans in March, without the chance of Mardi Gras. In other words, I shall prepare for everything from wintry rain to the hot summer sun. (This sentence seems familiar, so I may have said this before.) So that's less than encouraging. I wonder if I should bring my ankle boots after all. (Let me tell you a story about for at least five years, I have been buying shoes from half a size to a size larger than my actual foot size. I am still resistant to the idea of being a 7 1/2 rather than an 8, but I digress.) (EIGHT IS MY FAVORITE NUMBER OKAY.)

Also, thinking about travel is making me want to throw up. Why the hell did I think this was a good idea again?

*

Um...here are some things that are not related to my panic attacks:

1. This is a hair style I have found myself liking a whole lot. I do it all with hairbands, no pins, mostly because I haven't bothered to find my bag of bobby pins and unpack them. I divide my hair in three and put it in three low ponytails, then twist each one into a bun and secure it with an elastic. (So six elastics in all. This is, coincidentally, the same method I use when I'm making one big bun, except then I'm using four -- two on the ponytail, two on the bun itself.)

2. My mother and I are quilting, intermittently. Apparently we started piecing together a blanket a few years ago (probably before I started high school, so more than a few), and it languished forgotten in the back of the linen shelves until I got interested in quilting again this year, so we've started it back up.

3. I have figured out my proportions, sort of! I am actually a small hourglass; I don't think I have particular wide hips or shoulders, but my natural waist is small and relatively high. Related: found a great dress at Goodwill that fits perfectly and is really suited for that particular silhouette. (I think fifties style, with the flaring skirt? Clearly we repeat the part where I am still making things up about fashion.)

4. I'm going to talk about hair some more, sorry. So I am one of those people who washes her hair every day with both shampoo and conditioner, and usually I'm fine with that, because I hate the way my hair feels on the second day of no washing. But now I'm wondering if that's a bad idea, and if I should wash my hair less frequently. I shower and wash my hair right before I go to bed and I french braid my hair for the night without blow-drying it; I don't have curly or fine hair, but I don't have particularly wavy or super straight hair either. It's a little coarse, I guess, but not drastically so. From what I've been reading, second- or third-day without washing hair is usually what's best for doing hair styles, but I know from experience that if I leave it that long I can't do anything with it, because it loses volume and feels terrible and thin, whereas the morning after washing, if it's been braided, it still has enough residual dampness left that I've never had a problem putting it in braids or buns or anything else. I tend towards elastics rather than pins, since pins tend to get lost in my hair, and I don't use hairspray or product of any kind, or dye my hair (it's so dark that it would suck to dye anyway). I just wash it a lot, because I don't like the way it feels when I don't wash it. Except now I'm worrying if I'm ruining my hair. (Also...I spend a lot of money on shampoo and conditioner, even though I don't buy a super-expensive brand.)

5. I got a book out from the library that is basically teaware porn. Oh my gods, the china; I am now craving Wedgewood teacups like a crazy person.

Comments

[pinesandmaples]

You could always take the train to New Orleans. It's much more humane.

[bedlamsbard]

I feel like going Seattle-New Orleans on the train would be a multi-day process which doesn't seem substantially better, although one of my friends has done the Chicago-New Orleans train multiple times.

[pinesandmaples]

Well, it is. But you can get a roommette so you have privacy and a bed that goes flat and a shower and all your meals included in the cost of your ticket for about what plane fare costs. There is something charming about reading all morning, eating lunch, reading until a nap, then dinner, then enjoying the sunset...while traveling.

[bedlamsbard]

...hmm. That actually sounds pretty charming. *muses* But it's, what, three days?

[pinesandmaples]

If you go Seattle --> Chicago, then Chicago --> New Orleans, it is three nights.
If you go Seattle --> LA, then LA --> New Orleans, it's four nights.

I recommend the first route, myself. It's one I've always wanted to take.

The other lovely benefit of the train? 3 checked bags up to 50 lbs each are included in the cost of every ticket. You can buy three more for $10 a suitcase or box. (And Amtrak will check packed shipping boxes that are new and sturdy looking. They also check bicycles.)

Sorry, I'll stop pitching to you. I love Amtrak, and I get a little carried away.

[clanwilliam]

You thought it was a good idea because you get to meet US! (Okay, that's not helping.)

[bedlamsbard]

No, it helps! Meeting fen is always an encouragement. :)

[go_gentle]

I don't know if this will be the case for you, but I find my 2nd-day hair is very different when I've switched to washing it every 2/3 days, versus 2nd-day hair when I've been washing it everyday and just miss a day.

[bedlamsbard]

Hmm. Maybe I'll try it when I'm in England. I've always gotten scared off because I haven't gone longer than a day in between washes for years, so it's never gone on long enough to get used to it.