FoF

i am leaving for louisiana on wednesday. my flight is at 8:30am. i hate leaving now, with all the uproar at home. but i have to go to these 2 conferences. the first is the Merck/Merial National Veterinary Scholars Symposium. i'm going to present my research from this summer (which is finished and was highly successful!) in poster format. it's a graduate / vet student symposium. i've never been to baton rouge, or anywhere else in louisiana really. i'm excited and apprehensive both. terrified of flying, of course. imagining the worst things happening - surfing the internet and reading about the planes i'm flying on and everything else i can get my grubby little hands on. some parts of me are ok with flying, know that rationally - nothing is going to happen. then the irrational parts of me pipe up and start yammering about mechanical failures and pilot error and turbulence and wind shear (can you tell that i've been surfing the net for 2 hours?)

on aug 6th, i fly ALONE from LA to TX for the annual assoc of avian vets conference. there, i'm presenting my research - in conjunction with my mentor - on monday. in front of roughly 700 people. i should be more scared of that. but mostly i'm scared of the flight. i've never flown alone before, so it'll be an eye-opening experience. might turn out to be liberating. or - could turn out to be mind-blowingly horrific. i'm hoping desperately for the former.

i've been watching planes land at our local airport a lot from my front porch. we're close enough that i can see the planes descending. it comforts me in some ways.

i wish i had a prescription for xanax. or valium. or any other sedative that would knock me unconscious for the flight. instead, i'll have to crunch chewable dramamine (for my air sickness) and hope that i survive the 12 take-offs and landings i must endure. kville to memphis, memphis to baton rouge, BR to houston, houston to san antonion, san antonio to memphis, and then memphis to home. i won't be back till aug 12. nine whole days. and more flying than i've ever done in my life, plus 2 presentations. it's going to be so much fun. i mean that about 50%.