Today I blabber about a couple of different subjects, one of which is ABC's show Lost. If you like the show but haven't seen the past six episodes, well, read at your own risk.

We have our tickets to go home. I repeat, we have our tickets to go home. Liz mentioned this the other day (see Traveling Cats) but I'm a little less interested in the 'traveling cat' part and a little more interested in the 'us-getting-the-heck-out-of-here' part.

No, that sounds mean. I'm just really, really excited to go home.

For the past few days it's felt like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. We have our flight, our confirmation number, our seats. July 10, 2008 will be our last day in Dubai. We'll be home at noon on July 11.

Four months from today.

It reminds me a little of the television show Lost. You know how, for the past three years, the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 have been stranded on a tropical island? Well for the past two years I kind of feel like I've been trapped in ... well, a desert. But hey, we um ... we have islands in Dubai. Sure, they're man-made, but they're islands. And I bet some are darn near tropical, what with the massive irrigation and all. So yeah.

But seriously, back to 'Lost'. The show, for the first three seasons, was famous for flashbacks to the characters' pre-stranded, former lives. But now, starting at the end of the last season, we're now getting flash-forwards to their lives after being rescued. Well, not all of them. Only six get rescued, but so far we know of four of the apparent Oceanic Six.

"So what?" you ask? Well, the writers of the show are somewhat fond of killing off characters. I mean, we've lost Boone, Shannon, Artz, Scott (or was it Steve?), Mr. Eko, Ana Lucia, Libby, Charlie, as well as Ethan, Goodwin, Mr. Friendly ... and the entire DHARMA camp.

To know that Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid survive, well, it's hopeful.

As for relating it to Dubai, well, somehow I feel like I'm one of the Oceanic Six.

Like, I'm going to make it. The end is in sight. Begin flash-forward now.

I just ran into a friend outside, and he likened our summer plans to "escaping from jail".

Cue the rushing WHOOSH sound and cut to me, sitting on a dock on the lake, pork hot dog in one hand, cold Shipyard beer in the other. Smiling.

This is coming off as terribly negative, and probably disjointed as all get-out. Can I blame Holden Caufield? Right now we're reading The Catcher in the Rye so I think my writing is a little more scattered and mental than normal. Hey, at least it's not profanity-laced. That kills me. It really does.

Maybe I can blame my other school, where I'm knee-deep and sinking quickly in midterms and projects?

I'm overtired?

Hungry?

There's got to be a good excuse in here somewhere.

The end is in sight. In the case of 'Lost', well, that might not be a good thing for the characters. For me? I'm quite looking forward to the beginning of the next chapter in my own life.