Preparations, part two

Step Two: the packing

While the medical preparations were at least exhaustive in attempt, I've actually been much less careful in the packing itself. "Exhaustive" is not a quality I am seeking. I hate to schlepp crap. Every purse I've ever had is the size of one or two hands; my car is spartan-esquely empty; moving days are the worst ones of my life. I just hate schlepping crap.
Keeping this fundamental rule in mind, I kept in mind the following guidelines for a packing list:

(a) if i take it, i have to carry it
(b) if i take it, i'll probably lose it, break it, or ruin it beyond imagination
(c) if i take it, and don't ruin it, i'll probably be relieved of it by an dexterous stranger before long

which leaves me carrying: a small set of clothes, a smaller one of toiletries, a few precious (consumable) books, and four risky pieces of technology: a camera, its bits (battery/card/charger/cord), contact lenses, and my cd player. I'm hoping to hold onto most of them as long as possible, particularly those contact lenses - my extreme blindness transfers into low resaleability - but we'll see how it goes.

Speaking of clothes, I was informed that my current wardrobe may not have much to offer in the way of blending in with Nigerian/ Sudanese fashions. Given guidelines (b) and (c) above, I chose to create a new one entirely at GoodWill. 30 minutes spent holding up every floor-length garment in the skirt aisle produced the following satisfying aquisitions for exactly six dollars total (where's my runway?) :

the first, very classy, i thought

the last, also

the third is a real risker - notice the ankle exposure when i shrug - and the second is all but useless in the sudan - but the fabric was soft and i just couldn't resist.
(i've always been a sucker for tactiles.)