Beam Reach

Closing in on zero hour

I like these interesting titles. Maybe they’re the only parts of my posts that are interesting. At least that’s one thing though…
I’m working on my last and FINAL revision of the paper. Val sent me corrections yesterday, and MASSIVE reformatting of my results was in order, chopping down my page total from 25 to 22. Today I’m actually reading over everything again and revising though. I practiced my presentation with Val earlier too, with a grand total of 23 minutes as my speaking time. Not great. And I didn’t even point to my figures or pictures, which Val says I need to do. So I tried to cut out a few things, and I might have to trim my notes a bit, say less because after all, if it’s on the slide, people can read it, don’t NEED to hear it too.
After lunch today I went to the Gato Verde to take my turn bailing out the water from the port berth that it’s leaking into. I volunteered to do so because I felt I should, but I really was not happy about it at all. I don’t think most people take me too seriously about it, and I can’t even understand it myself, but I have a genuine anxiety about being on the boat. Sam came with me to help though, and beyond just pouring out the water when I passed the bucket up to her, she helped me A LOT because her presence was very reassuring and I needed that. It’s not a nice thing to have such a weakness that can make you feel so helpless.
I’m pretty sure my parents and brother have arrived in Seattle by now. They’re staying in Anacortes tonight, but they’re coming in on the 9:300 ferry tomorrow, and I will definitely be there to meet them when it arrives. Being apart from them for 10 weeks is one of…maybe the single most…difficult things I have ever done.
I can’t believe this is really it. I went through a lot of days when the program seemed like it would never end, but it is now almost here…and I’m almost kind of sad. Just walking to the dining hall for dinner earlier, I could see the sun set bathing the horizon in a flood of colors, and I thought EVERYTHING here is like a postcard. Beauty and just really amazing things everywhere. And then the people I’ve met here…after 10 weeks I’m really going to miss some of them. Sam and Ash are already set to visit me soon after the program, which I’m super-excited about. I hadn’t really thought about whether I’d keep in touch with other students from the program when I was applying, but I don’t think I could NOT do that now. While I am more than ready to be done with the research and the writing (which I have to go back to as soon as I finish this) there are a lot of things that will be hard to let go of. And even if no one else cares about anything that I’ve written in this blog because it’s not terribly exciting or germane to orcas or sustainability or general aspects of the program…it’s important to me because this will probably be my last blog, and I think it will be nice to be able to go back to read something like this.
Just got a phone call from my parents, they’re in Seattle now! 😀 And so life moves on.