name dropping never felt so good

cape town, zanzibar, morocco, victoria falls, nairobi, namibia, mozambique, botswana. these are only a few of the places i'll be as soon as next monday rolls around. i'm doing them all solo-style, too, cause, you know, that's how i roll. if the pictures look that good, imagine the real-lifed-ness of it. you can only drive so many people to airports without getting antsy about your own departure. i'm looking forward to the send off. one wave is all i'm giving. after that, i'm not looking back for at least 6 months. (i like acting like a tough guy, but the truth is i'll be thinking of you all daily. at least.) things are getting awfully messy around here and i couldn't have picked a better time to pack up and go. it's this kind of new start in a new place with a once in a lifetime opportunity thing that really gets a girl's heart rate up. i'm smoking more cigarettes than ever to compensate. i'm cooking for the first time in my life, which gives my parents the strange feeling of having a real armenian daughter around the house. my feet ache from 8 on-your-feet-all-day hour workdays. i'm running "lost" marathons that make me wonder if a 22 hour flight for a girl terrified of flying is worse than choosing to live in the center of naturey goodness for a girl terrified of death inducing things hiding behind shrubbery. but, you know, south african accents are said to be romantic and who couldn't use a little bit of that in their beds lives?