Time to start getting excited...

...or time to take a breath and sleep.

Since my life seems to be a non-linear experience of moments as of late, I'm celebrating my birthday through September. To-morrow I celebrate it with sleeping in, followed later in the day by 'vegan cupcakes and champagne, damnit.'

I still have so much to do to get ready for South Africa. I have so much to do to get ready that I can't start thinking about it. I'm still trying to organise personal to-dos that have managed to be kept on hold for the month of June. There are some exciting things coming up, and there are some less exciting things that are still awesome, like my cheque book balancing.

Then everything comes full circle, and I think about how obscene the relativity of money is. Here I am, subtracting and adding thousands of dollars, and here I go, working with those in the bottom billion: those individuals in this world living on less than 1 US dollar a day (technically, it's $1.25, but that doesn't sound as sexy, now, does it?). At least I'm doing something; stagnancy makes me itch.

So how do you prepare for something like this? I'm taking the usual Meaghan route. Impulsively, there are things that I remember that I might need to do. I managed to get inoculations. I have yet to inform my financial institutions that I'll be abroad. I now have sweaters for layering. I'm seeing and hugging and loving and laughing with friends. Packing is procrastinated. E-mail updates are procrastinated. Reading is actually coming along well, but that's because the materials are more interesting than the 3 other books that I'm reading right now. Worrying about what to eat isn't happening, because I believe in vegetables.

Think about what's coming up, though? No, thanks. That part of the Meaghan route is the leap before looking part, like back-flipping out of an airplane at 14,000 feet, or even the time that I was scared but ran and jumped off the platform for the zip line at camp before I could back down. Everybody has to start somewhere.

Sometimes, it's better just to jump. The calculations can come later, when you're falling through the sky.