I am pretty fucking sure I teeter on the brink of madness. Today’s examples of my mad are two-fold.

First, for Christmas my family was a tad aggravated at the realization that my impending move means I am jettisoning all housewares and brickabrack. Therefore, gift-giving of most things they would have gotten for me might end up on Craig’s List.

I dropped a couple of completely unsubtle hints, though, and Danny and Drew came through with a toy that should help with driving the convertible across the country.

Measure of insanity the first, I loaded some maps on it, and proceeded to drive the wrong way home via Revere from my last attempt to get M. onto a plane back west. (By the way, earlier I wrote that in one week I will have gone to the airport five times. In truth, when I leave tomorrow it will be six.) So, even though I know how to get from Cambridge to the airport and back, I got lost in Revere and watched the map on the GPS device tell me how wrong I was.

Insanity proof #2, I am dead-dog tired. I didn’t get a chance to do laundry for my trip and will need to get up early to do it. I have to pack everything and conceptualize what I might need in the 9-10 days I’ll be gone. My bills are unpaid, and some unemployment checks are as yet uncashed.

So, what did I do to prepare for my trip? I read the travelite FAQ, of course. Much like cleaning my house, I feel that reading about packing is the same as actually doing it.

I hope the Bay Area has room for another kook.