Photo TR: Natatomic does the West Coast Trip

[nayTake pictures of my feet]

Great TR!

And I feel your pain - I was terrified to fly right after 9/11. Xanax was my best friend for getting through those flights. Luckily I don't need that anymore, but I'm still a fan of the occasional in-flight alcoholic beverage.

[natatomicSWF looking for dorky overweight coaster enthusiast to sweep me off my feet.]

^I tend to be more worried about the plane spontaneously exploding or plummeting to the ground at any minute, which was how I felt even before 9/11. My mom and one of my cousins get just as panicked as I while flying, so I'm just waiting for scientists to discover the plane-phobia gene and validate my irrational fears (no, it's NOT all in my head, thank you very much. I was BORN this way!)

[dandamanGuaranteed Fresh or Your Money Back!]

Highlights:

Ch-ch-chinchila!

See? His mayo-phobia, like his straightness, is all an act.

Amazing.

My wisdom teeth removal wasn't too bad actually, thanks for asking! It was more annoying than anything. I was still syringing my tooth holes for the first few days of the trip.

That was, what, two weeks or three after the surgery? I think I stopped doing the saltwater rinse about at about 10 days and I was (surprisingly) fine. Glad to hear it went OK; we need you at the top of your game to post such wondrous items as this.

[Philrad71Don't put that donkey on the floor!]

Soooo, I don't like flying. At all. Like, I kind of had a major panic attack last time I flew. So I did my research on plane safety tips and discovered that the most dangerous seats on a plane are basically any of the ones with a view. Which is why poor Robbie had to look at a wing the whole time. I, on the other hand, was under the influence of 2 or 3 Xanax (Xanaxes? Xanaxi? Xanaxen?) and a shot of rum. A giant shark could have leapt out of the ocean and devoured us in the air, and I would have been just fiiiiiine with that.

This should receive the 'best caption ever' award on a TR! Awesome!

Seriously though...panic attacks are not fun. I have the occasional one, but I don't have any problem on planes - a lot of times, they happen in a car. How weird is that? Well, pretty weird, I guess...

Anyhow...great trip report. I always enjoy viewing your pictures and comments!

[natatomicSWF looking for dorky overweight coaster enthusiast to sweep me off my feet.]

^Thanks!

But I can see why you'd have panic attacks in a car moreso than an airplane given the safety records of the two modes of transportation. Heh, not scare you even more or anything!

That was, what, two weeks or three after the surgery? I think I stopped doing the saltwater rinse about at about 10 days and I was (surprisingly) fine. Glad to hear it went OK; we need you at the top of your game to post such wondrous items as this.

I had stopped swishing around salt water after the first week, but the oral surgeon said that I might have to use the syringe up to 6 weeks after depending on how deep the holes went (apparently it varies). I think I stopped around week four, though even now, I still will find a whole meal lurking there in the back every once in a while.

[CorkscrewFoleyReeks of Books]

I love your drawing of Tony Hawk's Big Spin, it looked better than what they come up with over at Vekoma.

As for flying, I'm still relatively new at it, and almost got ill before getting on the plane--yes, I am dealing with anxiety attacks. But like anything else I'm worried about, I just told myself if anything happens, it'll be so quick, I won't have to worry--and believe it or not, it works.

Can't wait to see Gilroy Gardens.

[Philrad71Don't put that donkey on the floor!]

But I can see why you'd have panic attacks in a car moreso than an airplane given the safety records of the two modes of transportation. Heh, not scare you even more or anything

Yeah, I agree...funny how they can seem to crop up out of nowhere - one minute fine and the next minute - panic failure.

I also remember having my four wisdom teeth out and having to use the syringe to get all the grody stuff out. Seems like it took forever for the skin to "grow" back.

Okay, enough panic-n-tooth talk...let's get back to more fun stuff!!!

[alpengeist04Why do I still have a donkey title???]

Great TR so far. That is definitely an angle of Tony Hawk I never seen before. Also, I can't believe how many smiling faces there were in your Kong photos.

Kong is evil.

The rest of SFDK rules!!!

[nayTake pictures of my feet]

^I tend to be more worried about the plane spontaneously exploding or plummeting to the ground at any minute, which was how I felt even before 9/11. My mom and one of my cousins get just as panicked as I while flying, so I'm just waiting for scientists to discover the plane-phobia gene and validate my irrational fears (no, it's NOT all in my head, thank you very much. I was BORN this way!)

I have a friend who feels the same way and absolutely refuses to fly. It's a common fear and you're definitely not alone! That's great that you conquered your fear a bit for this trip!

I had the worst panic attack the first time I flew after 9/11. And it was to London, so it was miserable feeling that way for the majority of an 8 hour flight. Now the way people drive around here, I actually do feel much safer flying.

[printersdevil78Nuthin' better than a naked donkey!]

I believe this was Matt's milestone coaster of #217 or something. And then he proceded to marathon it for aproximately 832 rides which, according to his excel chart, brought him up to 39 more rides on it than he had ridden at this same time last year, but 28 times less than the year before that.

Re-quoted for truth (and humor).

Natalie, I have a proposal: Since you write the absolute best captions on TPR, why don't we join forces? I'll post my photos, and you can write the captions? Then again, you take better photos than I do, too. So why don't we use your photos and your captions and we can use my... uh... screen name. Yeah, sounds like a plan!