I blogged last night, but it was kind of a rant, and I don’t particularly like ranting on here. Therefore, I decided to post again, and this is something I planned on talking about anyway.

Each time I’ve traveled to or from college, I wondered how I did it successfully. In order to live somewhere else for an extended period of time, you obviously need to bring a lot of stuff. Even when living in a small dormitory on campus, you have to bring lots of things so that you can live comfortably. One of my biggest concerns during each packing process is this: what am I going to do about all of my clothes?!

I’m not a minimalist when it comes to clothing. I have a fairly extensive wardrobe¹ (yet I never feel like I have enough to wear), and I certainly can’t bring all of it with me. First of all, there’s no way it would reasonably fit in the closet and dresser that are provided in one room of campus housing. Second of all, I’d have to find a way to make it fit among all of the other stuff I have to bring! Because there are plenty of other things I need to take with me, I must cut down on the amount of clothing that gets to come, too.

It actually isn’t that difficult to decide what stays home and what comes with me. Knowing Syracuse weather, the majority of the academic year will be at least somewhat cold. Therefore, most of the clothes that I would wear in the summertime stay home, while most of the clothes that I’d wear in the winter get packed up. The problem that poses is this: winter clothing is generally thicker and larger than summer clothing. My sweaters, hoodies, and winter accessories² obviously take up a lot of space. In order to ensure that the rest of my belongings will fit in the minivan that we’ll use to get me to school, I’ve limited myself to one suitcase. How does this work? Even if I cut down on stuff, I still have a lot!

Pictured above are my mounds and mounds of stuff. This year, I’m living in an on-campus apartment with my friend Nicole. We have more things to bring this year in comparison with last year because we have to stock up our kitchen and bathroom with their respective necessities³. Not pictured are my under-the-bed bin (which you can see on my On Dormitory Life: “Organization” article), printer, other computer stuff, 25-pound bag of rice, and microwave. Obviously, my socks will not be packed so haphazardly as they are in the photo. And somehow, all of this will fit in the car. My university is almost 300 miles away from home. Taking two trips clearly is not an option. (;

…But what’s more challenging than figuring out how to pack all of my clothes and other things? Cutting down on the number of shoes I bring. I really love my shoes, and I wish I could bring almost all of them. Instead, I have to limit myself to about… 12 pairs. I must have about 40 pairs in total⁴, and it makes me sad to part with lots of my heels, which are just impractical to wear most of the time when it’s icy and gross outside. It’s easy to accumulate shoes when your feet stop growing by age 13. Buy timeless shoes, and some will last you years!

1. Compared to my friends at school, I don’t have the biggest wardrobe, but I am probably approaching the higher end when it comes to the amount of clothing I own.
2. Scarves, hats, and mittens
3. Pots, pans, and other cooking essentials for the kitchen; shower curtain, rug, and organizers for the bathroom.
4. Including flip-flops, but most of my shoes are real shoes.

I’m back! Here I am! If you follow me on Twitter, or if you’ve been checking the site updates, you know that I wasn’t completely away while I was in California. During the downtime we spent at the resort in Rancho Mirage, I was on my laptop Tweeting and doing stuff, since I read all of Cat’s Cradle on the way there, and The Age of Innocence wasn’t captivating me enough. Anyway, here are the highlights of my trip:

We toured Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City on Tuesday. It was awesome! Tony the Tour Guide was grrreat and personable, and we had a lot of fun. Most notably, we got to see the set of Jeopardy!, which is my favorite TV show. For those of you not familiar with the show, it’s the only quiz show that really matters, period. I aspire to be a Jeopardy! contestant one day, which is part of a grand scheme of getting my life together, but I’ll talk more about that another time.

On Thursday, we went to Santa Monica, where we sat on the beach for a few hours and I got sunburn. I must think that I’m impervious to such things and skin cancer, since I never put on sunscreen unless someone tells me. When I was younger, I never wore sunscreen and never got burned until I was 16 or so. I’ve either pushed my luck, or age is a factor in this phenomenon. I am now somewhat less of a lobster than I was before, and I hope this turns into a very nice tan!

Then we visited my mom’s cousin in another town, which took a while to get there due to traffic. (LA area traffic is not cool.) Anyway, this was actually an enjoyable relative visit, since Debbie, her daughter, and Debbie’s cousin and husband were there, and they all primarily spoke English! Usually when we visit my mom’s friends or family, all I hear is Tagalog, which is mumbo-jumbo to me.

It was hard to believe that Debbie and her cousin Janet are 45 years old because they both looked at least 15 years younger. I couldn’t get over that. Debbie’s gray-haired American husband, who kind of looked like Mark Harmon, almost looked like her father in one picture hanging up in the house. I don’t know if it’s the deal with a lot of Filipinos (my mom has looked the same my whole life), but I hope I got some of those age-well genes, too!

As for the rest of my trip, we went to the air museum and art museum (the contents of which my parents did not understand, as it was mostly modern art) in Palm Springs, explored Palm Canyon Drive, ate a lot, and bought a few things. I’ll post pictures soon! Hope you all have been well!

I know I said that I’m not a novelist, but it actually is my goal in life to publish one novel, among hopefully numerous volumes of poetry. I would be kind of like Sylvia Plath, who’s known primarily for poetry and a novel, The Bell Jar, but only in terms of publications. Don’t expect me to bake my head in an oven anytime soon; I don’t plan to. Anyway, I have this idea that I think would be great. I know how I want to execute it. But I’m just bad at writing stuff down. I keep writing snippets here and there, and they are desperately needing many words to unite them.

Just a heads up – I’m going to California on Saturday, and I’ll be gone for a week. I don’t know if I’ll have internet access while I’m there, and if so, I don’t know how much I’ll be online. This will probably be my last blog until July 11th or later. I wanted to let you know, in case you happen to be wondering about my whereabouts.

Speaking of travels, Dan and I did indeed go down the shore for the afternoon on Monday. Being down there really made me want to get sand between my toes and lie on the beach all day. We just spent our time on the boardwalk and not the actual beach, but I should get my opportunity when my parents and I go to California, so my summer won’t be incomplete.

I hope you all have a good week while I’m away. To those of you who will be celebrating Independence Day on Saturday, I hope you have a nice holiday. I will be on a plane… reading, hopefully.

Edit on July 3rd: I’ve added an Ask Me section. I thought it would be fun. So go ahead and ask me something. -nudge-