Things I am not looking forward to

Eleven hours of air travel and FOUR stop-overs beginning in…five hours.

Explaining again to my bio-chemical engineer Ph.D-holding stepfather what it is I do, and that no, it’s not a lot of bullshit (most of the time.)

Giving a presentation on the relationships between “Press Freedom, Media Development, and Parliamentary Strengthening Programs in Transitional Regimes” on Dec 11th. I used to be a decent public speaker, back when I was an arrogant shit of a teenager. Adulthood has brought out my true awkwardness.

Finishing three papers over the next four days.

Picking out a new laptop (I need one, and my old laptop is missing keys and held together with an old Amnesty International bumper sticker, but I have a money-spending phobia worse than that of my ninety year old grandmother. This particular phobia, however, makes me an awesome, awesome girlfriend. Go out? You’ve got to be kidding! Netflix and Taco Bell? Now you’re talking.)

Don’t send the rookie to Kabul!

So, early this morning I got an email from a colleague who just arrived in Afghanistan. Basically, he decried the recent bombing of a wedding party in Kandahar Province and expects things to get worse in Kabul for everyone, including foreign aid workers. He said that it didn’t look good for me or other new staff going over there, because of the rapidly deteriorating security situation.