Packing and Pack Rat-ing

I'm using this half of the vacation as a chance to really clean out my stuff. How do I acquire so much crap?

I've been here since June. I have more papers than I know what to do with - - but can't seem to throw any of them away. I packed up a box yesterday - 18x18x12 of books. It's heavy. I'll ship it home this week. My bookshelves are basically condensed from three to one. I'll start moving them over to friends this week (I'm giving away as much as I can).

For those of you who are confused - yes, I still have 4 months here BUT my lease ends at the end of May. So I'm moving out. I dont know exactly where I'll be living for the remainder of my stay but I have some ideas.

It's weird to think I'm leaving here. Yes I'm so ready to be back in NY. Being with Asher is where I belong. Yes, with a dog.

In 2 months we have the orientation weekend for the new communal students. 4 enthusiastic Joint Masters students will come over from Israel to begin their LA tenure. They will be confused, have some culture shock - miss Israel, miss the life they had there. What do I say to them? Gee LA is swell - you're in for the time of your life. Or how about The people are great!

Right right I know I met great people. And did fun things. But it'll be weird to see those people.

So packing. Yeah. What do I throw away? What do I keep? I have stuff from Israel here with me! I have every note and every letter people have mailed to me here...I guess the good thing is that it's pretty cheap to mail things - so I just keep sending stuff home - yes, home to new ro. And i'll deal with it there.

I'll have Asher to help me.