Another toasty day in Colorado, and I've been forced to abandon the stuffy, second-floor apartment-without-air-conditioning for the sancutuary of the coffee shop. I'm beginning how long I can get away with coming in, ordering the cheapest cold drink (small cremosa, $1.50), and spending 3 or 4 hours mooching off the wireless connection. I hope they don't start enforcing a minimum purchase policy, 'cause it's the best deal in town!

Last night I began the moving process in earnest. I have been seeing this move and transition coming at me like a storm on the horizon, and it's only just beginning to feel real. It's the feeling your get in your lower back that comes from lifting heavy boxes and lugging them down stairs, into the back seat of your car, and then up the steps of the post office. I sent off three boxes this morning, full of the books from my personal library that will keep me company through the long, dark Lithuanian winter. That culling and sorting process was not a fun one - forcing me to look over every book for its potential educational usefulness, and escape-fiction-worthiness! One perk of working at my bookshop is that I've been able to get ahold of back-up copies of certain favorite titles. Instead of taking my entire Lord of the Rings collection, I just went ahead and bought the used all-in-one edition and shipped it off! This is a psychosis, I know.

The great thing about shipping the books (aside from saving me 65 pounds worth of weight that wouldn've somehow had to have fit into my two checked pieces allowed by the airline), is that they're already on their way - to arrive in 4 to 6 weeks, just about the time that I'll get there. And because I feel like so much of me is in those boxes - so many thoughts, ideas, memories - part of me has just gone on ahead, and will meet me when I get there.