MESA

i am making another sojourn to the great (big) state of cal-i-forn-i-a!

on november 17 i will board a flight out of cincinnati & float off to san diego, CA, home of this year's MESA (middle eastern studies association) annual meeting. activities officially commence on november 18, & i will happily attend panel presentations for three solid days before ducking out early on the morning of november 21 to return to oxford.

this will be a fun adventure, & hopefully a brief opportunity for some brain recuperation. i'll be attending all by my lonesome, occupying a big, comfy bed each night with no company (save for a stack of books & the din/glare of the television set). i'll eat my meals alone & enjoy the sights at my own pace... i'm sure we'd have a wonderful time if tyler could come along, but this isn't a vacation sort of adventure & he'd be awfully bored abandoning work & school to find ways to occupy himself all day long in san diego while i spend my mornings, noons, & nights at the conference. ok, so maybe he wouldn't be bored, it is san diego. but a joint venture isn't in the cards this time, so i'll be taking lots of pictures & sampling foods to report on when i return. (ruby might be more interested in the pictures/food reports than tyler, since he's had to view/listen to so many of those by now, ha.)

anyway, it'll be a great opportunity for me to evaluate the "state of the field" & all that grad studenty jazz. i'm looking forward to the adventure. plus i can finally figure out what exactly san diego means, since "scholars maintain the translation was lost centuries ago"...

ok, couldn't resist an "anchorman" quote. i wonder if the cast will be waiting to greet me in the airport?  :)