Making Lists, Checking Them Twice, Going Crazy

Now with 9 days to go (!!!!), Drew and I are fervently checking boxes on checklists and making more checklists to check in the interest of being as prepared as possible, and having a checklist to check constantly, check-it-y check check check. The other morning, whilst waiting for our breakfast at the Startz Cafe in Canyon Lake (test ride pictures to be uploaded soon!), I asked Drew, "wanna make a list?" Like, wanna play cards, or, wanna build a fort? Amazing.

This has become almost a pastime, making lists and coming up with stuff to take care of, and the closer to the deadline, the more lists there are and the more stuff to make lists about. I'm feeling more or less prepared, both mentally and check-list-ally, but most nights for the last week I have been waking up in the wee hours and writing down something crucial I forgot to do. Lists have come to be the overlapping memory I am trying to keep straight. I wish my mind could keep all this junk in order, and maybe after a few generations of evolution, it will. But for now, I gotta keep writing stuff down in my little to-do book, and on the back of bar napkins and HEB receipts and my hand and the cat.

As I lay awake in bed at night, I think of the lack of lists I'll have to keep on my mind when I'm floating free down the little Indian byways, waving at farmers and high-fiving holy cows. Then I lift off the ground and fly high above the country-side, zigging around the Taj and bouncing off the tops of trains and rickshaws. Then I fall off the bike into a giant inland sea made entirely of curry, eating and swimming at the same time. I climb out and wash my sins off in the Ganges, floating down in an innertube, Comal-style, until I fly off a waterfall and land on top of a big temple. Grabbing a zipline, I whizz above the crowds of pilgrims and holymen, dopping down onto my bike, which has magically scooted under me. I toss some rupees to a guy who chucks me a cup of Chai. Man, ain't life great.

Then I woke up and realized I was writing a blog entry. Snorrr-wha?

All in all, the list-making organizational process gives me peace, and the closer we get to the jet-day motivates me more and more to prepare. If today I'm this crazy on the crazy scale, in 4 or 5 days I'm gonna be THIS crazy. Like Gary Busey crazy.

OK, off to Pleasanton to see my Grandparents - they will be performing the admirable task of looking after my superb cat friend, Merlin - whom without, I would just be a man.

When in doubt or under pressure, just meditate, Om-style. Or try laughter.