Preparing for the future

If you weren't aware, November 4th is quickly approaching, hallelujah.  But before November 4th is October 24th and before that is October 4th.  You don't really care about these dates, but I do.  Because Oct 4th and 24th are the days the movers are coming to take my belongings, and you have no idea how NOT excited I am about smelly arabs being in my apartment.

Yellow = moving days, Green = for Courk, Red = VERY IMPORTANT, Black = MD, :) = America!

Do YOU remember?

The only date Teh Sister cares about in October is the 10th.  It's her birthday.  She'll be 21.  It's cool that she was born on a year that ends in zero, because that means whatever number year it is, plus however many decades old she is, that's what number her age is.  It's pretty much the only way I have of keeping up with what year she was born, besides those annoying 10-10-220 ads in the late 90s.  Teh Bear is the same way, sans the born in 1990 part.  Lucky me.

Recently, I made a list of things the movers can take in their first sweep and things that needed to stay behind for the last 20 days.  I have to say, its really hard to sit in your bed and think of all the things you want to have packed away until further notice.  There are also things that are hard to remember, like my big blue circle chair.  I was staring at it the entire time I was making the list, and still didn't see it as something that could be packed, although it can be.

The biggest things area of things that I want to keep for the last 20 days is kitchen stuff.  When I told the personal property guy (PPG) this he said, "Your apartment didn't come furnished?"
tM: Yes.
PPG: It didn't have pots and pans?
tM: ...It had a pan and a dirty spatula, spoon, and small knife.
PPG: Your building owner sucks.
tM: Tell me about it.

The Navy could save a lot of money by reducing money they give sailors in Bahrain for housing.  We can't pocket any of the money, so it all goes to the building owners, unlike with BAH in America.  As an E5, I pay 756BD a month for housing.  Oh, you want that in American?  $2011.96.. EVERY MONTH.  Locals would pay no more than 400BD for the same exact place, but because they know that we're military, they charge as much as we are allowed to get.  Who says that military members are the only ones committing waste, fraud, and abuse?

So because my building owner sucks, I'm having 2 packouts.  PS, I still love my apartment, sans the bugs.

The first one will be stuff that I don't need.  Which will include the love seat and recliner (that have been serving as booster chairs for boxes in the storage room), decorations, picture frames, books, hopefully candles, the floor lamp, big blue circle chair, wrapping box, uniforms that I won't be needing anytime soon..  There's probably more stuff hidden away that I could find to be packed away.  The first shipment is supposed to arrive in MD mid-Nov, so anything that I would like to have as soon as possible should be sent with the first packout.

The 2nd packout will be anything remaining that doesn't get mailed home or packed in my suitcases.  It isn't set to arrive in MD until mid-Dec.  I'm, again, planning on doing the suitcase living for at least 2 months.  Rah.  That should include all my kitchen stuff and whatever clothes don't get put in suitcases.  I'm mailing the uniforms that I'll need in MD to NC, so that way they will be there before I arrive and I can just throw the entire box in the new car with my suitcases, essentially saving valuable suitcase space for more important things.. like pants and sweatshirts.

The difficult part about the entire process is the waiting.  I feel like I can make it sound so simple.  I can plan it out and have everything done before hand if I wanted.  But, it all relies on others, which I super struggle with.  I'm a Type-A control freak.  I'm sure as soon as the movers enter my apartment and start going through everything I'm going to want to freak out on them... instead I'll just light some candles and mutter under my breath while saying, NO that doesn't go.  They will then do their bobble head thing and probably wrap it and put it in a box anyways.

At the end of September, a guy from the moving company stopped by to do a survey on what I'll be moving, so that way he knows what the movers will need to bring for packing stuffs.  He spoke pretty good English, but I doubt any of the movers will understand any of the Southern Drawl that pours from my mouth.  He asked that I have the stuff that I want in the first packout separated so that way its easier for the movers.  What I took that to mean was, they probably won't speak English, so anything you say to them, sans pointing, will be met with the bobble-head-nod and a noxious cloud of body odor.  Grand.

When I had my packout in GTMO, I didn't do anything.  Actually, I just sat on my bed to stay out of the way.  4 Jamaican men were jamming stuff in boxes so quickly that I was mostly in awe.  So this time, I apparently have to help?  Meh.

An organized mess, this is what my dreams of moving look like.  (image)



 *HHG = Household Goods, which can be used interchangeably with personal property..  aka my shit.