My Final Week Begins Tomorrow

The past few days have been busy. Last Saturday was the start of the Chinese Year of the Rooster（雞年）, and I accompanied the Boise State Chinese classes on guitar as they sang at China Night. As usual, when dealing with Wei Laoshi （魏老師，BSU Chinese teacher）, I was conscripted into volunteering to play a guitar solo—four days before the performance. (Really, I volunteered, but those of you who know 魏老師 know what I mean!)

After China Night, I arranged for my family to have one last dinner before I move away. I’m also looking to fit in a trip to the McCall Winter Festival, (probably not enough time), and see the great Eric Johnson play guitar at The Knitting Factory on February 3rd. And today, I managed to run around Meridian and Boise to donate my old things. I also ordered some Chinese yuan as pocket money for my first few days.

I finally received my scarf in the mail—yes, cashmere, I’m so stylish—to fend off what’s left of the cold this winter. It was two weeks late, on account of the weather and the post office. I also received and installed a second SSD into my laptop. What for? I haven’t decided yet. Regarding my computer, since I have masochistic tendencies and dislike Windows and OSX, I use Linux on my laptop. However, it still requires setup in order for things to work smoothly.

It’s regrettable that some things I like to do with my father, such as watch our television shows, I won’t be able to do with him this next week. The Walking Dead returns after I’ve left, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia won’t be finished before I leave, either. What else? Rick & Morty and Archer are two cartoons I enjoy with him. Those won’t start until well after I’ve left, either. And, when summertime rolls around the mountain, who will my dad go mountain biking with? I like to imagine him as a sad, lost puppy. But I’ll certainly miss him, too.

As my time’s traincar approaches the cliff’s edge of this journey, I want the train to slow down so I can pretend to look at the view while I procrastinate. But, it turns out that passengers do not control the pace of the train. If I can fit some sleep in with writing this blog and the website, eating farewell dinners with friends and family, and double-checking my prep lists, I’m still not sure when I’ll fit in some breathing. But if I can survive this final week, then all I need to do next is survive a long plane ride and the gauntlet of my new career.