Cleveland 2008 Convention
I returned home earlier today from Cleveland, totally exhausted, but happy.
I will likely extend post-convention debriefing across a few posts instead of trying to get it all into one. I'm much more likely to get everything and the posts will be blessedly shorter. :) This one will be very general.
Travel to and back was reasonably painless. My friend Bill drove us from Ottawa to Cleveland, so a ten-hour trip was compressed to 8 -1/2 hours at the measly cost of a few more white hairs! Some kind of celebrations (likely 4th of July week stuff) made getting to the hotel a bit tricker than it had to be, but it was all worth it in the end.
It was so wonderful being back at Convention having missed the last one in Denver. I was pleased to see the familiar faces -- and to be dancing again. I have yet to decide whether square dancing is a good addiction for such an extreme introvert as I am. I do absolutely, genuinely love people --especially *these* people--, but no matter how much I love them, spending so much time around people is exhausting for me. I do handle it lot better than I have in the past. Normally when dancing is done for the day I go to my room and go right to sleep. I did at least hang out in the bar for an hour or so to chat with people, and I attended the first part of the Honky Tonk Queen contest -- a first for me. (Just going from the introductions, I think I might have chosen Iona Dubbleweide to win, just because I loved the name...)
The Calling -- mostly wonderful...a topic for a followup post.
I did not call -- a topic for a follow-up post. :) This will be tied in with what I've been doing lately in this regard.
Dancing C2 physically for the first time -- a topic for a follow-up post.
Live Journal tip: my first one...wonderful. Seeing so many people I didn't run into otherwise...and interestingly, dancing Mainstream to Ett -- I think that's a first for me, as I've never been anywhere she's called anything lower than A2. Thank you Gary for posting the picture so quickly!!
Everything ran as smoothly as an event with almost 1000 gays and lesbians (and friends!) could possibly go. Let it be said and done: Cleveland Rocks! They did a lot of innovative things with scheculing this year that worked, and and worked well. In addition to throwing a damn fine party.
More to follow.
I will likely extend post-convention debriefing across a few posts instead of trying to get it all into one. I'm much more likely to get everything and the posts will be blessedly shorter. :) This one will be very general.
Travel to and back was reasonably painless. My friend Bill drove us from Ottawa to Cleveland, so a ten-hour trip was compressed to 8 -1/2 hours at the measly cost of a few more white hairs! Some kind of celebrations (likely 4th of July week stuff) made getting to the hotel a bit tricker than it had to be, but it was all worth it in the end.
It was so wonderful being back at Convention having missed the last one in Denver. I was pleased to see the familiar faces -- and to be dancing again. I have yet to decide whether square dancing is a good addiction for such an extreme introvert as I am. I do absolutely, genuinely love people --especially *these* people--, but no matter how much I love them, spending so much time around people is exhausting for me. I do handle it lot better than I have in the past. Normally when dancing is done for the day I go to my room and go right to sleep. I did at least hang out in the bar for an hour or so to chat with people, and I attended the first part of the Honky Tonk Queen contest -- a first for me. (Just going from the introductions, I think I might have chosen Iona Dubbleweide to win, just because I loved the name...)
The Calling -- mostly wonderful...a topic for a followup post.
I did not call -- a topic for a follow-up post. :) This will be tied in with what I've been doing lately in this regard.
Dancing C2 physically for the first time -- a topic for a follow-up post.
Live Journal tip: my first one...wonderful. Seeing so many people I didn't run into otherwise...and interestingly, dancing Mainstream to Ett -- I think that's a first for me, as I've never been anywhere she's called anything lower than A2. Thank you Gary for posting the picture so quickly!!
Everything ran as smoothly as an event with almost 1000 gays and lesbians (and friends!) could possibly go. Let it be said and done: Cleveland Rocks! They did a lot of innovative things with scheculing this year that worked, and and worked well. In addition to throwing a damn fine party.
More to follow.