Ready As I'll Ever Be

As I have already seen Morvarid and Adrianne mention, junior year was, simply put, terrible. I made it into double digits in all-nighters (partially the result of my doing, but mostly of circumstances), which gives you an idea of what I went through. To say that sitting through 6-8 hours of classes on no sleep really sucks is a drastic understatement. June seemed to be lightyears away, and while one of the most exciting summers ever awaited me, it seemed like it would never come. But it did, and I could see the finish line! My teachers began assigning less work (students aren't the only ones ready for summer) and as soon as I had completed finals, I could finally direct all of my attention toward my summer in New York. The excitement in me grew and grew as we got closer and closer to the morning of our takeoff. While it may be 3 in the morning when we meet at El Cerrito HS on Monday morning, I think I'm going to have more energy than I've had in the last 6 months combined.
I've spent the last few days doing all sorts of things to prepare for this trip. I made a huge list of everything I need, went out and bought a few of the things I didn't have, downloaded some new music to have with me, and tested out this laptop which I just received from Don Gosney earlier today. Tomorrow, I'll spend whatever time I need to pack all my clothes, etc. For those of you who are staring at your computer right now re-reading the last sentence to see if you read correctly that I have not started packing, I have my well-planned-out method for packing, which consists of making sure I have every single item I need and spending the day before my trip putting it all into a suitcase. Many people (my mom) don't understand why or how I do this, but I can guarantee that at 3:45 Monday morning, I will be at El Cerrito High School, suitcase in hand, ready to go.
Physically, all I have left to do is pack. Mentally, though, I am set; heck, I've been ready to go for weeks! Monday is the day we've all been waiting for! The day that we worked tirelessly to get to, it's almost here!
This trip, though, does not come without its concerns of course. I am, for the most part worry-free, although one thing concerning me is my trouble waking up in the morning. The expression "sleeping like a log" applies to me in that you could hit a log hundreds of times with a baseball bat and the log would not react or show any emotion. I express this concern because it has been a problem of mine in the past, although I feel I have done everything possible to prevent it in the future. For starters, I am carrying my phone's alarm, a ringing alarm clock, and an alarm clock/radio, and each of these will go off every morning to wake me up. Additionally, I have made huge strides toward improving my time management and making sure I get enough sleep every night, and in the same way an 8.0 earthquake is 10 times greater than a 7.0, waking up after 8 hours of sleep is 10 times easier than after 7 hours.
Concerns for me generally revolve around uncertainty, so I am not so much concerned, but more saddened by the fact that I will be spending 4 weeks without my family. I know that I will be fine, but I love my family, and every minute spent away from them is tough for me. But, after all.....I AM spending four weeks in New York City. So I can't really complain to much.
And I'm ready to go! It's been a grueling 6 months, but I am as ready as I'll ever be to board that plane to New York!