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The benefits of a new perspective.
I won't pretend that I'm not nervous and uneasy about my upcoming trip. I'll be wandering alone around San Fran for the majority of the time, as I can hardly expect my Viz cronies to sacrifice an entire work day to show me the sights. I've never been comfortable in the busy downtown atmosphere, added to the fact that I'll be alone in a place I've never been, and forced to deal with intimidating things like public transportation (which I've never used, aside from the free schoolbus and transports you find in airports) and taxicabs. What if I get lost? What if I make an ass of myself when I reveal I don't have the slightest clue how to use a city bus? What if the cab driver who takes me from the airport to my hotel takes the long way around? What if a group of scary, obnoxious men latch on to me and my Ice Queen persona doesn't give them the message to leave me alone? What if I can't find the right kind of food to eat and have to live in agony for several days?
But all of that has been put into perspective by a book which I learned about a few days ago. "Down the Nile", by Rosemary Mahoney. A non-fiction book where she describes her true adventure of rowing, alone, down the Nile River --yes, as in the African river--in 1998. This woman braved the fanatical and unrelenting Muslimbrainwashed men, crocodile-infested waters, a horribly foreign and half-uncivilized culture, a host of 3rd world country diseases, and who knows what other trials...all this apparently without speaking barely a word of Arabic. And remember, she was completely alone. O.o
And here I am, freaking out about visiting San Francisco. Ha! And to think that I used to love to pretend I was Indiana Jones. *shakes head in wonderment*
So whenever I feel the nervousness returning, I just remember Ms. Mahoney, and I realize how completely ridiculous I'm being. I must read her book. I must.
But all of that has been put into perspective by a book which I learned about a few days ago. "Down the Nile", by Rosemary Mahoney. A non-fiction book where she describes her true adventure of rowing, alone, down the Nile River --yes, as in the African river--in 1998. This woman braved the fanatical and unrelenting Muslim
And here I am, freaking out about visiting San Francisco. Ha! And to think that I used to love to pretend I was Indiana Jones. *shakes head in wonderment*
So whenever I feel the nervousness returning, I just remember Ms. Mahoney, and I realize how completely ridiculous I'm being. I must read her book. I must.