Four months vs. forty hours.

I have about four months or so to get my shit together for departure, and working forty hours a week doesn't leave me much time to do anything else (or actually give me anymore money, ironically). The good news it that it only takes me under 30 mins to get home from work now so more shopping and planning time. The slight-downside-but-I-already-saw-this-coming is that I don't have that much money to spare in term of buying and spending because now I'm paying for rent. But I don't hate it, and I'm complaining because it's my blog, and I can do whatever I want. Wah.

In term of paper works wise, so far, I have turned in my aspiration statement and update resume. Other pending things to do are:

- Yellow fever shot -- To fight off the disease, not the (Asian/yellow) people

Yes, another vaccine shot. Just when I thought I had gotten them all, there is still one more. This shot costs somewhere between $112-$120, but Peace Corps will reimburse me up to $150 so it's not a problem. And I can get it at Vons. Cool, right? Who would have thought, stop by the store for some bread, and leave with more than just ingredients for a sandwich.

- Ghana Visa, Peace Corps Passport, Passport Pictures -- What? You mean, my American Passport alone isn't enough? What is a Peace Corps Passport? And I have to take an extra 10 passport pictures?

I don't know about anyone else, but having your passport pictures (or driver license picture) taken is never a fun experience. You don't get to smile/show your teeth, you don't get to wear hat/scarf/sunglasses or maybe even earrings, and if you have bangs, sometime it gets pinned on the side and not always in a cute fashion. It's just a full frontal face snap, plain and dull. The only different between this and a mug shot is that you pay somewhere between $5-$15 bucks for your 4 pictures while a mug shot almost always include some overnight time in jail. I don't know who got the better deal here.

- Deferring my loans -- Pretty much the numero uno important thing in my book. Get those pesky debts taken care of. Ugh, the things we have to deal with for higher education.

- Packing or form a concrete packing list -- Don't even let me get start on that shit.