Preparing for the Trip (Count Down 3)

Hello everyone,

OK so I'm going to Scotland, Germany and London and people keep asking me to take pictures and keep them informed on what I'm doing, so the best way to do that is by blogging it.

This will be my first official blog, so I am going to do my best to update this daily.  I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to do that when I won't have my laptop or my phone... but seriously phones suck for typing anyway.  I use "swype" and I still hate it!  Full sized keyboards are the way to go.

SO introductions to this whole thing.  I have been blessed with a trip by my very dear "other family" and Kelly.  If you don't know the situation, I'm sort of like a dysfunctional needy bum that they've adopted off the street.  I keep trying to repay their kindness, but I can never keep up!  I know people get upset with me when I talk down about myself, but you're just going to have to deal with it like I have to!  Frig.  Anyway, I've made Kelly a promise to enjoy this trip because "she needs this trip more than I do" and I figure she just wants me to tag along to carry her luggage anyway, so I'll keep a smile on my face while I'm carrying her crap up the mountain.  :/

By the way, if it seems as though I'm making fun of this trip, it isn't done out of disrespect, it is done out of fear.  I've never gone anywhere and I'm really nervous about it.  Besides, I like my bed a lot and will miss it.

So, the plan is to land the plane in Switzerland, take a camel to Germany, Get on a leaky boat in Germany for 2 days then a plane to Scotland, where I will be competing for the first time in my life... which will be at the worlds.  Fan-friggin-tastic.

<rabbit trail>

To be honest, I don't like competing.  I have too many issues with it, both personal and emotional, and could care less if some jerk with a clipboard thinks I'm good or not.  I want to play for people that enjoy music and become the best I can be.  I teach because playing with people that are just as good or better is an awesome feeling and so is the feeling of seeing people progress.  I actually get more enjoyment out of teaching then actually playing now.  However, I still perfect myself because there is nothing better then landing that last accent on a perfect set.  Basically, I do it for the music, not the jerk with a clipboard.

</rabbit trail>

So anyway, after 10 days in Scotland, I'm going to London for a sandwich and then fly back home to Canada.  I like Canada by the way.  Just in case you didn't know that.  Why anyone would want to leave here is still strange to me.

I have only three nights left before I leave, I haven't packed, I haven't mentally prepared myself and I have a crap-load of stuff to do before I can actually leave.

My plan is to come back to a clean house, so I'm tackling one room a day for the next three days in hopes that I can get it all done (plus the other stuff I need to get done which is way beyond the scope of this blog, so I'll shut-up about it).

So over the next 3 days I will be preparing myself to understand that I'm going to be leaving North America for the first time ever.  It hasn't really hit me yet, and I haven't started clinging to my desk... time will tell if that actually happens.

More to follow...