A Few More Days

It's getting "down-to-the-wire", folks.  It won't be long and I will be sitting at the airport with great anticipation of the up coming weeks.  In the last remaining days I still have projects to finish here at home, a sometimes demanding writing schedule (more about that in a minute), and I haven't even begun to pack or buy those last minute items that I will need for the journey.  But that's how I normally operate -- not that I'm a last-minute person, but there are always more important things that need my attention, and I know I have a schedule in my mind for taking care of those things.

Inside the Albuquerque Sunport

So here's where things stand as of today:  I'm still leaving early on Tuesday morning (5:55 am) from the Albuquerque Sunport with stops in San Francisco,  Hawaii, Guam and then Manila.  I'm hoping that I can find that infamous and unoccupied three-prong outlet at each airport so that I can recharge my laptop's batteries and also get some work done when laid-over -- especially in San Francisco when I sit for three hours waiting for my next flight.  I can get a lot of writing done in that time since I have nothing else to do.

I will be in Manila for around 36 hours and then will catch a flight to Cagayan de Oro in the northern part of Mindinao.  A few days later (with a stop or two in between) I will find myself in the town of Ubay on the island of Bohol.  That's where I will spend most of my days, working at the Icthus Christian Academy helping to evaluate students for learning disabilities etc. and to teach the staff there how to do the same thing so in the future they can evaluate students without me.

I have several other side trips on the schedule, but things have changed a little already and I haven't even left yet, so I don't see any reason to publish a "maybe" schedule.  Suffice it to say that I will be busy regardless of how the schedule works out.  For every place that I will visit there are 4 other people asking me to visit them at their place. . . where ever that may be.  So there is no shortage of people to see and needs to consider.

The tarsier monkey, one of
 Bohol's inhabitants.

I will also be busy in the evenings doing some writing.  I've been given two science fiction stories to ghost write -- one that I've started and the other I will receive information on sometime today or tomorrow.  These are important as they are  my primary source of income for my personal expenses.  One of my biggest concerns with doing mission trips like this is having employment that will give me the necessary income to take care of my expenses while still having the flexibility to travel when I need.  (I do not get any payment from Educate Bohol for my personal needs.)  So this writing gig has turned into a real blessing.  I'm making nearly as  much as I was working retail management at some horrible little store here in Rio Rancho . . . no, I won't go into details as to why it was horrible . . . but it wasn't the people who worked for me - they were actually quite remarkable.  Aside from the freedom to travel, this new work is much more enjoyable and carries a minimum of stress.  As long as I don't get distracted by Facebook or some other social media I can usually get quite a lot done.  There are still some issues that come up that I need to learn how to deal with.  And there are the totally unanticipated events like a death in the family (which just happened last week) which throws the schedule out the window. Other than that, I think this is a realistic endeavor, at least for now.  We will just have to evaluate as we go.  If at some point it no longer fits the need then I will move on to something else -- but at this point, I am truly hoping and praying that this will continue to work out.

Well, today is "garage" day.  I need to clean it out and organize it so that, a) people can find things if they are looking for them, b) so that at least one vehicle can be parked there in case it snows while I am gone, and c) so that my son's and his fiancee's "stuff" can be organized and easily accessible for being loaded onto a moving truck tomorrow.  I don't have any writing scheduled (yet) for today so I'm turning it into a work-around-the-house opportunity:  garage, swamp cooler (if you're from southwestern USA you will know what that's about), re-weatherstrip the front door and caulking around some of the windows.  That will easily fill my day "off".  Then back to the writing on Friday.  Oh . . . and some peeps have asked what the name of the book is that I'm writing . . . sorry, am sworn to secrecy . . . part of the ghost-writers-of-the-world pact.  So do me a big favor and just don't ask.

Five days to go . . . but who's counting?