The Pack Rat

I decided to spend most of the day Tuesday nursing my cold and packing up the rest of my stuff. I still can’t figure out how I got so much stuff. I remember when I was packing for the trip, more than a few people warned me not to pack too much stuff. Did I listen? Of course not. Hence, more stuff than I can possibly imagine. I don’t even know what’s in half of the boxes I sent home last week.

On Wednesday morning I had an appointment with the apartment manager to check the place before I leave. It was the shortest and least thorough check I’ve ever been through. He literally stood in the middle of the room, did a slow 360 degree turn, bowed, and said, “Daijobu desu.” (It’s all OK)

I took one last shopping trip to Itoya, the mecca of Japanese paper goods. Of course, this just added to all my stuff.

I dropped by the office to say my final goodbyes and to make sure my boxes were getting fedexed out. Luckily, I was there when the fedex guy came because, for once, I was honest on the customs forms and wrote “Japanese tea” on one of the airbills. You’d have thought I wrote “crack cocaine.” The guy made me open the box and take out the tea. Great - more stuff to lug on the plane.