I Should Be Packing

In six hours, a van will arrive at my apartment and take me to the airport. So if I had any sense, I'd be packing my bags. Strike that -- if I had any sense, I'd be done packing my bags, and I'd be asleep right now.

But I'm not. I was able to delay very successfully by being unable to decide whether I was going to check a bag or go strictly carry-on. I'm going to be gone for a week, which definitely makes it difficult to use a single bag; however, I have a feeling that the line for checked baggage is going to be extra-long, so I'd like to avoid that if I can. Plus, I have to fly through Denver, and I have very clear memories of about seven years ago, when they installed their futuristic automated bag-losing system.

I think I've decided on not checking a bag, which means I'll have to get by on one bag for clothes & stuff, and one bag for laptops -- I'm bringing two laptops in my computer bag, and there's at least a chance I'll need both of them. That boils down to me having two heavy, stuffed bags. I'm trying to pack as carefully as I can, because the airport security might go through my bags. In a way, I kind of hope they do; it would be reassuring. And it would give me a reason to be at the gate two hours before departure.

I can't just load up my bags with books the way I usually do. For one thing, I almost always read all the books I have on the first leg of my flight, which tells me that I might as well not bother adding the weight of ten books to my bags. I mean, if I can't fill up the time anyway, why bother? And for another thing, I fully expect to purchase stuff on my trip, and I'd kind of like to take stuff back with me.

The most I overdid it wsa three years ago, when I went to Tokyo on business, stayed there a week, and then went to the San Diego Comic Con before returning home. I had so many souvenir and gewgaws that I ended up having to buy an extra suitcase. It's my only hardshell checked-baggage-style case, and it's really big, which is another reason I probably won't use it.

Besides the important process of overthinking the packing, I've been able to eat up time by watching my new purchase: The Simpsons, Season 1, on DVD. Mmmm. Season 1 isn't the best, but it's still the Simpsons. And the commentary, by Matt Groening and various writers and directors, is great. I hope that later seasons have Conan O'Brien. I also hope my purchase of the Season 1 DVDs speed up the process of getting the later seasons out.

Stall, stall stall.