Tired of hearing about the stress of packing up for my trip to Israel? Packing for 5 months has proven to be an ongoing nightmare. I won't bore you with logistics, just use your fertile imaginations on what it's like.

Today I was told by a best friend that a farewell party is in the works for me this Saturday (this was their way of tipping me off because I *hate* surprise parties). I wasn't terribly happy about this news since I had openly expressed a couple of months ago that I did NOT want such a party and that I would rather do my rounds and visit people more personally. This is in large part due to the fallout I had with two girlfriends of mine... I just don't want to have an awkward situation where we all have to be in a room smiling and pretending to be happy because not everyone knows we aren't speaking anymore. Ucch, this drama is so highschool and I don't have the energy for this. Anyway, now I have a damn party to go to and I'm none too impressed. I'm sure I'll live, I just *really* didn't need the added stress.

I have, however, made myself a new friend. A former blogger (now just a reader), Noorster, wrote to me after finding my blog through Lisa's blog (a Canadian-turned-Israeli) and has written to me in friendship as she is a flight attendant for the Hungarian airline that I will be flying with next week. She has offered suggestions, answered questions and is even trying to arrange her schedule so as to meet with me and show me around a bit! How SWEET is that?? I'm telling you, there is a "brotherhood" in blogging that people outside of the blogging world just don't understand. I am lucky enough now to have a name, number and email address for a friend in Hungary, so I'm feelin' pretty darn good about that.

Now I must get back to my packing.... I'm a bit stalled and I don't know what's holding me back. I think it's the fact that it just never seems to end. I have a feeling I'm going to need to repack a few times to remove some things in order to make room. I mean... do I really 3 black t-shirts? Probably not.