I board a plane for the Beer and Cheese Tour of Seattle at six a.m. next Thursday.

(Have you guys noticed over the past few years that every trip, project, etc. always seems to get a title after it's been in my life a while? By naming it, I bring it into existence. Or something.)

The standard life photos go up a lot faster than my version of the 365 Library Days project. I know from watching the other photos posted to the photo pool that what I'm doing is very different from what the other participants are doing. I'm not sure if my version quite qualifies as subverting the intent, or celebrating it in a different way.

Starlady nails it in one. They're on to me. Blast!

(photo is SFW)

• 3:59 PM CT: Ooof. I have to be awake again in twelve hours.
• 5:14 PM CT: Delight is, the night before a big trip, remembering where your 25-year-old camera bag was stored!
• 05:35 PM CT: Well damn. I'm all packed and it's only 5:30. This 'preparedness' thing is odd, yet comforting.
• 08:24 PM CT: Cat lying on small spiral notebook knows something's fishy tonight, and not in that kitty treat way.

• 1:16 AM CT: Hint, if American Airlines calls at one a.m., the news isn't good. Rebooked to 8am flight. Pissed. Sleepy.
• 1:37 AM CT: Edmund attempts to show love and solidarity by licking my eyelid. This is going to be one of THOSE trips, innit?
• 2:18 AM CT: "Mom, Edmund beat me up and took my lunch money. Cuddle me?" - Tenzing, just now.
• 3:00 AM CT: @gfmorris I'm up b/c of airline stupidity. I expect an equally good reason out of you, sir!

• 6:03 AM PT: Not funny. Why am I awake at 6am PST? Oh, right. Jet lag. GRR.
• 6:09 AM PT: @itarille I agree. So why are we up?
• 6:24 AM PT: I'm revisiting a childhood memory of loving to read by the fire. *tailthump*
• 9:57 AM PT: Seattle outing with the intrepid Gessaman boys. Grinning stupidly.
• 1:39 PM PT: @itarille I have jasmine dragon phoenix pearls for you...
• 1:47 PM PT: Marooned in tea shop. Hoping @adamrg will toss me a rope.
  

• 12:03 AM PT: Introversion: the deep and abiding need for a room with a door one can close.
• 10:58 AM PT: Erranding after a quiet morning of phone calls to home and peeps.
• 11:55 AM PT: Granite Falls, Washington. It is staggeringly pretty here. That's all I can say.
• 7:38 PM PT: Plan B, I think.
• 8:06 PM PT: Still grokking that I get to drink with Mr. Canspice tomorrow! OMFG.
  

• 8:13 AM PT: Waiting on tea, talking to Bill and Debbie. A bit bewildered - they aren't who I flew to see.
• 9:58 AM PT: Coping with a bad case of the jitters.
• 10:40 AM PT: The roadtrip with the Amazing Gessaman Brothers begins. (heeheehee)
• 11:33 AM PT: Hello from Bellingham, WA. I hear there will be beer!
• 12:49 PM PT: First beer buzz acquired before crossing border. *hic*
• 1:11 PM PT: Jake: "Neck beards are terrorism."

How to put this. How to say it in words. How to damp down thought, impression, compulsion into mere vocabulary, and leave it out for the world to see.

I hugged Brad, and I made a squeaky noise. When I had awakened earlier that morning and realized that I would see him and Alice that day, I realized it had been too long since I had seen them. Years too long.

• 11:48 AM PT: Coffee and donuts at Tim Horton's, followed by hugs goodbye. I waited far too long to see these friends.
• 11:57 AM PT: Crossing bridge in Surrey. Decemberists on the iPod, and a quiet grey sky. Content.
• 12:24 PM PT: Easiest border interrogation ever. Welcome back to America!
• 2:26 PM PT: Lunch w/a friend of Adam's whom, I learned, already knew me through my blog!
• 5:06 PM PT: [cat.net] Pacific time - http://domesticat.net/node/1434