Christopher Pratt (cpratt) wrote,
Christopher Pratt
cpratt
What an exhausting day. I only just last night returned from the exotic colonial decay of the Hotel Pachuco in San Cristobal de las Maquiladoras, a slum located in a picturesque but poorly drained section of Tijuana, where I spent the last five days volunteering my services for orphans with severe orthopaedic problems. When I wasn't sleeping a dark, exhausted, dreamless sleep, accompanied by my faithful pool boy Enrique, I was slinging plaster of Paris around like a unhinged epileptic madman, trying desperately to put right those horribly crippled limbs. Of course, it's sometimes difficult to go on when you know that that adorable little Paco will probably be sold into an indentured servitude in Soledad picking cheap Colombard that will be sold as Chardonnay, but for now, the look on his face when he receives those new orthotics I made for him melts my heart. I sob quietly into my freshly starched Hermès scarf, the one with the picture of Hello Kitty astride the friendly forest bear that my dear friend Misoyaki purchased for me at the Odakyu "Walt Whitman Cedar Pals" sale after the cherry blossom viewing party we spent together, entwined under the Nipponese stars...

Naaaaaaah. I'd better stop before I use the word "febrile".

My name is Christopher Pratt. I am (for approximately seventy-two more hours) a software quality assurance engineer working at Netscape Communications, a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner, which is of course in turn a subsidiary of GloboChem LLC. I have been working this job for just over three years, and I am about to change everything by leaving voluntarily (Friday afternoon at two PM; it's already been scheduled) in order to spend the next eighteen months travelling.

This is what brings me to LiveJournal. I do not feel any immediate need to share anything about my personal life with complete strangers - but I do feel a need to provide an occasional "where am I now" update so that my family and friend will know that I'm okay. Wait. Friends. I forgot Matthew. Hi Matthew!

Ahem. I've posted an itinerary of my travels, and I've made that URL privately available to my mates, but if you don't know me personally, this is, I'm afraid, all that you'll get. I'll endeavour to post at least once a month (wow! what dedication!). By the end of 2001 I should have spent my 32nd birthday in Nagorno-Karabakh, visited the Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten in Berlin, walked through most of Central London, frozen my ass off in Silesia in November, and (hopefully) have had a really good time of it.

This Friday, I leave my job. This Saturday, I'll spend time with friends at home over a bunch of sandwiches and a case of South African chenin blanc. This Sunday, I'll finish packing. This Monday, Dan-the-marmot, my partner, will drive me to the San Francisco airport. This Tuesday, I'll land at Schiphol.

In the meantime, however, I have some work to do.

Next post: likely from the easyEverything Internet café just off the Rembrandtplein.
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