Continuing on with man’s search for meaning, this weekend I attended a free lecture at my university. The topic was over Egyptology and the speaker is a celebrity in the field of all things Egypt. The nerd in me geeked out at the idea of voluntarily spending my Saturday night in a lecture hall learning about Egypt. In the past, I would have eventually talked myself out of attending such an event. Now, don’t get me wrong, the introvert and social anxiety within me bubbled up and tried to talk (more like YELL) me out of going many times. However, the new and improved me kept saying “what else are you gonna do? Sit at home and watch TV? You can do that after the lecture!” So, I went to the lecture with all of my anxiety buzzing and oozing out of me. Naturally, I was the only person under the age of 60 present in the room, which garnered quite a bit of attention from the older gentlemen who insisted on knowing my life’s story. Perfect scenario for a wallflower…NOT! I just wanted to put on my invisibility cloak and slide in under the radar. But, I made the best of the situation and mixed some smiles and mundane small talk in with my mumbles and nods. Overall, I’m glad I went and I look forward to attending similar events in the future.
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It’s been a little bit longer than I would like since I last posted. Last week I got to travel to Minneapolis on business. It was my first time there and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My boss/best friend is originally from there, so he showed me around the town during our down time. I narrowly escaped the arctic blast that blew through last night. Whew! This Texan would have frozen mid giddyup!
My flight home was a little different than the flight out. It was a Friday night, and it seemed like everyone on the plane was intoxicated. I found myself becoming more and more irritated. The flight attendants were singing into the intercom. I actually had a panic attack during takeoff. I got the sensation that I couldn’t breathe and the rational side of me was completely convinced that we’d lost cabin pressure. Because that happens often in real life. Anyway, as I was on the verge of causing a scene, I put my head between my legs and took slow, deep breaths until I felt better. Aside from flying and being sleep deprived, I think part of this panic was due to the feeling that something was wrong at home. I’m extremely intuitive, so when I got a strange feeling and my family was behaving strangely, red flags flew up. I kept asking my sister if anything was wrong which she would change the subject to something random. This was another indication that something was not right. The next morning, my sister called me to confirm my suspicions and tell me that the family dog had died. The details of the situation were unusually tragic and gory making it even more difficult to cope with. So, I will conclude with a picture of my sweet Maverick in all of her puppy glory! |