Oregon Field Trip Part 1: "You Ain't Gotta Love Meeee...."

Well I just (22 hours ago, whatever) got back from my little Oregon adventure and I have so much to tell you! Since I know you guys (my three faithful readers) are just DYING to hear every little detail I'm going to do this blog in installments, beginning at the beginning (duh) and ending at the end. Each blog will also get an Ali lyric as the title, since I'm creative like that. Anyway, on to the story....
As many of you already know, I had been planning a field trip to Eugene, Oregon since the end of March/beginning of April to go see my new favorite rapper Brother Ali. The original plan for the trip was to drive from Santa Cruz to Eugene with a friend and meet up with my fabulous roommate Meagen and our good friend Kaci, who were driving down from Seattle the same day as we were going to be driving up. It was the perfect scenario; however, due to some unforeseen complications, the original plan was shot to hell about eight days before the show. I responded to this disappointment in my usual manner - crying, moping, complaining, etc. After a few days of this type of behavior, I realized that I still had a lot of options open. I figured I would just wait and see what happened.
What ended up happening was a huge paycheck that I was not expecting to be as big as it was. I took this as a sign from Jesus that I should just sack up and go to Oregon by myself, so I decided to buy a one-way plane ticket to Portland. Meagen and Kaci could pick me up and I would drive with them the last two hours to Eugene. They agreed that it was an awesome idea, and four days later I was on my way to San Jose International Airport (which actually only has domestic flights - go figure).
Now would be a good time to mention my horrible fear of flying. I think it stems from a combination of my deathly fear of heights and my desperate lack of control while on a plane. I have only flown a total of four previous times and I had never flown alone. Needless to say, I was somewhat anxious getting on the flight. To be brief, I made it out alive and no worse for wear. Some highlights include: after telling airport security that I had no liquids in my carry-on, a bag search revealed a full-size bottle of lotion, facewash, hair products, and perfume (for some reason it didn't click with me that the suitcase I was not checking was also considered a carry-on); taking my seat on the plane only to realize that I was surrounded by fussing babies...literally surrounded, I had a baby to my right, one in front of me, twins behind me, and another baby behind them; crying silent tears and clasping my hands firmly in my lap during take-off and landing; and most notably attempting to calm my nerves by watching a few episodes of "Scrubs" and "The Office" on my iPod, only to realize that I had accidentally deleted ALL TV shows from my iPod while putting on a new song. Basically, I had nothing to do but listen to that damn Gwen Stefani and Akon song over and over again since it was stuck in my head like WHOA!
After all that drama, I finally arrived at the airport, picked up my poor suitcase filled with liquids from baggage claim, and hopped into Meagen's car. I think that's where we'll stop for tonight...stay tuned for the next installment!