no fear

tomorrow, i get on a plane, fly to a state i've never been to, and, within a couple of days, meet a dozen or so totally new people.

them's of you what what knows me, even them's of you what what've only known me for less than a year, even, i daresay, them's of you who, by june 25th, will have known me for a whole year and no more, should not be surprised to hear that normally, whatever that means, i would be a little dismayed by such plans.

i intensely dislike the airport and airplane experience, though i enjoy flying itself. i've long had a big enough lack of confidence in my social skills that i'd avoid meeting not only new people, but people i knew reasonably well.

well, i can't say i'm looking forward to the airport experience, but i can honestly say i'm looking forward with some anticipation (the good kind, that is) to meeting these new folks, though, to be fair, that anticipation is overshadowed by other anticipations like a 12 piece bucket of colonel's extra crispy on the grass at an outdoor meeting of the naafa.

there are a number of reasons for this anticipation and total lack of anxiety. part of it is just that i've been rapidly shedding my social anxieties over the last year. i'm more talkative, by far, and quicker-witted and funnier than i've ever been. i've been told by an impartial observer or two, mystified that i would consider myself socially challenged, that i'm far from that. in other words: i picked up some people skills recently.

but more than that, i think, is the fact that even though i've been forewarned that i'll treated as a prize pig at the fair up for general inspection, the fact remains that pretty much the entire time i'm with any of the mostly-pleasant-sounding residents of the lesser Spearfish suburbs of WY (or was that SD?), I'll have on my arm, or at my side, or somewhere within 100 yards of me the most incredible and beautiful woman i've ever known, and everyone that i'll meet will know that instead of becoming WY's most eligible bachelor the moment i set foot in the state, i missed that boat by nearly three weeks and am already almost (!) as spoken for as i'll ever be, and by the aforementioned incredibly, beautiful woman, no less.

i'll have a big fuckin' grin on my face the whole time i'm there, and any time i speak to anyone (especially those (meaning everyone) that have been around her long enough (i.e. once) to come to the inevitable same conclusion that i've reached about her) i'll have to hold my tongue to keep from blurting out, "holy shit! do you realize she's gonna marry me?" and everyone that speaks to me, having heard of me already and perhaps not believing the hype, will nonetheless already be aware that she'll soon enough be mine, forever, and as such, i'll already be deemed so awe-worthy that i'll need muster little more grace than... um... something with very little grace, and utter little more a texan "yep" to knock everybody, impressed outta their minds, on their ass.

at least, that's my take on things. we'll see :)