Serendipity

Yesterday as I was packing, I got the very strong urge to go to REI to buy packing cubes to keep my suitcases organized. I actually think I have enough space to take not only clothes for Ghana, but also some skirts and warm clothes for Jordan - even a coat is packed in there now. And while several things will come out of the suitcase in Ghana (stuff I'm taking to the camp to leave there), it would be so nice to be organized.

So I went to REI, and as I was looking over the packing cubes (which aren't really cubes - they don't have equal length sides) I saw a dog to my right that looked familiar. Josie?! I looked up and yes, I think, yes, it was Jacque - an old friend I haven't seen for a few years. It was cool to see Jacque and Josie and meet Victoria who seems interesting and nice, and to catch up.

What are the chances that we would be there at the same time? I was definitely compelled to go to REI right then, and happened to recognize Josie. Jacque didn't recognize me, and she looks really different too and am not sure I would recognize her without Josie.

So much of my life is serendipitous. If not for that turn there, that action there, things would be so very different. I might not be taking MEEWT if it weren't for a few key people - such as Mary from Montana that I met while kayaking in Baja in March. She had taken a round-the-world trip a couple years ago and had good advice and made it seem real and possible. And if I hadn't had an internship last summer with sometimes too little to do, I would not have responded to the Graduate Student Association's call for applications for Academic Affairs Officer. But I did, and was appointed, and through a strange off-hand comment from the VP about a conference in Sacramento I ended up there one weekend in February (where I met Greg). And if it hadn't been for the free open bar at the hotel we were staying at and my travel companions Donovan and Bryon and I wanting to get GSA's money's worth and try new drinks for free, I never would have had the buzz when I went to the conference banquet. Without that liquid courage, I probably wouldn't have struck up a conversation with our server, Mahmoud, who probably gave me his email address to make me just be quiet. But he responded and while I had found this Arabic study program in Jordan on the internet, his validation of it (since he went to school at that university) made it more real.

So, I'm going to Jordan because of a boring internship day and good gin (which Susan would say does not exist, but I'm partial to slurping juniper). It also is a result of not getting the full fellowship to study in Egypt and all the silly meetings and hoops to jump through with that program. I'm a better independent traveler - don't have the patience for idiots to tell me what to do. All sorts of factors converge to make things happen. Fascinating.

I leave the US early Saturday mornbing, and I plan to go to Portland tomorrow after a haircut. Apparently a haircut is no longer just a haircut. For the past almost year, Sabine and I have made Vidal Sassoon in Santa Monica our haircare destination - spending a full, long day in traffic and in the salon for that just-right color and cut. Honestly, it always felt like a little mini-vacation because when I'm trapped in the chair, there ain't much I can do about it. I always read, but I can't do all the other things I need to do. Anyway, so this time I'm going to Mos Faded here in Eugene. I've liked Lara's hair since she hooked up with Sadie, and it's from Eli at Mos Faded so here I go. But it's not just a haircut, as his website reveals. It's a Barbershop and refuge from the monolithic culture of Eugene.

Not that there aren't aspects of the monolithic culture that appeal to me - here in Eugene is where I became an adult. Many of my values are clearly developed here - such as for recycling, good and cheap and organic food, alternative transportation (people here actually WALK and BIKE instead of drive everywhere), and political activism. But now that I've lived in SoCal, the monochromaticity of the populace here makes me uncomfortable.

Today is all about the applications for grad and law schools. Essay writing and bullshitting and all that. I did some drafts a couple months ago but they didn't flow so I'll do them today, the last day I can, and not give a hoot about flow - just get them finished. Ah crap. The central law school application is available on-line now ... meaning I actually have to do it now before I leave. I should be happy about that, but I'd given up hope and thought I'd just take care of it all from Jordan - at much greater expense (having to FedEx things to the schools from there). Of course it couldn't be available when I had my high-speed internet connection ... so this will be a very long day on the computer. Sigh. But then it will all be finished and that will feel good. So, now I'll walk the dogs and make a decision about which law schools I really want to apply to (even though now I'm only thinking about surviving the next year and can't even think about after that), and write incredible essays for each one, and fill out all applications, and send everything off. Yawn.