Displaced Yankee Productions | 2006 | March
Archive for March 2006

Bags are packed. Gear is tested. Travel arrangements in place. Passport – MIA. Now I always keep my passport in the same place. Why? So I can put my hands on it when I need to get it. Like when I’m leaving for Cambodia. In one day. I’m soooo ahead of the game I thought as I prepared my travel wallet with my id’s, visa photos, cash, etc. I went to get my passport to finish it up. The passport, however, had other ideas. Now I don’t live in a very big place. But it certainly seemed like a black hole as I ripped it apart trying to find that little blue book. Forty five minutes later, I collapsed in my chair on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I decided to take a break to clear my mind so I got up to get my vaccination record out of the filing cabinet from a file marked “Cambodia”. And there at last was the wayward passport – put there by me a couple of weeks before in an effort to plan ahead and put needed information for the trip in one place. Of course anyone who knows me knows my short term memory is hideous. And as a result, I managed to lose my mind. Now if I can only remember where I put that….

Nothing makes a trip to a third world country seem more real than a prescription for Malaria on your dining room table. With only two days to go before my still photographer, Theresa and I take off for Cambodia for the first of four production trips for “Small Voices” I have quickly discovered my normal method of packing is not going to work, apparently I can’t just dump the contents of my dresser haphazardly into my suitcase. I’m going to have to go against my own nature and actually PLAN to pack. My sisters will never let me live it down. My apartment looks like it was run over by a Rite Aid. The generous donations of friends and family have resulted in thousands of vitamins, hundreds of dental supplies, games, school supplies and other gifts. I’m wondering what the baggage guy is going to make of my suitcases. One alone is stuffed with toothbrushes, toothpastes and Disney floss. If they get suspicious, I can claim I have OCD about dental hygiene.
Theresa and I have spent a ton of time on the phone agreeing we have not enough time to get everything done. I know it will all come together, it just would be nice if it did with enough time for sleep. We both received the last of our vaccination shots this week: Hepatitis A&B, Tetanus/diphtheria Typhoid…. The doctor said not only would we be protected for Cambodia but having the A&B series was probably good for living in Los Angeles anyway. Hmmmm.