Oh c**p, i'm leaving in 3 days.....

Well, the 3 day panic and restlessness has set in. This usually happens, but this time is way more pronounced. In fact I just realised I was pacing Grodnick (which admittedly only takes ~4 paces between my front door and my back door), but i'm not sure how long I was doing it for. This cruise I have to be a responsible adult, and it's a little scary. This is the second time i've been on a cruise as a proposal writing/funded PI (principle investigator), but the first time there was a wealth of PIs on board (around 5 if I remember). This time it is Laura and I in our group, two others in the co-cruise-sharing Texas geology group, (but we really have little overlap in responsibilities between our groups), so i'm starting to feel weight on the shoulders and a little nervousness to make sure it goes well. There is one uncontrollable part to this cruise that is a feature of where we are going to sample and I think it is that that is making me the most nervous.......the weather. The weather in the Drake Passage basically sucks this time of year (winter down there - and is often heralded as the worst high seas weather you can get in winter).........and as much as I can control equipment and supplies and be super organised, I can't control the weather.......

I'm also feeling super foolish and pissed off about my heel too - what a time for that to happen. I still couldn't put on shoes this morning and really began to panic they are not going to let me on the ship (and still am). It was also still bleeding a little this morning and my super friend Jenny convinced me to go to the university health center today to get it looked at. The conclusion - yes, I probably should have gone and got it stitched right away (so out there, you can now say "I told you so" for sure), but the doctor wasn't too worried said though it would have healed a little faster it would be for scar control mostly as i'd looked after it well. But it does have a little infection, and though it may clear up on it's own i'm now on antiobiotics to make sure it gets out of there by friday. He was also impressed that that was done by a screen door, and is pretty sure it's going to be a nasty scar with a stupid story behind it, so I should make something cool up now to explain it away. Shark bite or something. So if anyone has any cool-story ideas, just throw them this way.

Sorry to go on about my heel which I know is just a thoroughly gross and boring thing to keep talking about, but it's really the bane of my life right now and totally on my mind, and since that is what i generally blog about, thats what your getting. After I have thoroughly warned you all about the dangers of screen doors, it'll go back to travel, fluffy penguins and coral next week, don't you worry.