So I have a ton of stuff to do before PAX this year:

• Register for PAX (before March 31)
• Book a flight
• Book a hotel
• Buy a Nintendo DS (I hear there’s lots of waiting around and time to be killed)
• Set Alice up with a blog of her own
• Plan my other family oriented vacation (I’m thinking of renting a house on the beach for a week)

Much of these items require cold hard cash, and I hope my impending promotion brings with it some big bucks. Finding out that I’m at the bottom of my pay grade was more than a little disheartening. Also, not having traveled much at all in my 28 years, booking a flight and a hotel seems an arcane sport, like bow fishing or quiddich. The airlines freak me out, especially with all the changing regulations and maneuvers regarding electronics. I’m hoping my travel companions, who actually do have a great deal of travel experience, can help me out because this kind of stuff is so far out of my comfort zone it would, under normal circumstances, prevent me from embarking on a trip like this at all. But this is PAX. This is a chance to see some amazing stuff and coagulate with members of my species. If I’d given this thought I would probably have said no.

I forced Alice to read Gabe’s last post about his anxiety. It struck a cord with me and I knew it would resonate even stronger with Alice. Hopefully she can take solace in knowing that there are other people out there who get into cyclical worry cycles. For me, Gabe’s other post about not wanting to get lost and just wanting to stay home was more indicative of my personal neurosis, albeit farther from the bell curve than my own. As a result of Alice’s exposure to Gabe’s openness she stated, “Maybe I should have an online diary.” Yes. Yes, you should. So now it’s on my TODO list.