CISOA, Day Two
Was I still thinking I might go walking around outside? Maybe, but the vendor show was starting, and that is always fun. Now I am meeting more people that I know. Dave's customers, people from VCCCD, APOGEE employees. I feel like i know Rod now. He is so friendly! He is a black man, maybe in his forties (maybe in his sixties, who can tell?), and he is one of those shorter, compact men, very positive. He is there to run the booth, I guess. And now Mona comes. She was a last minute replacement for Patrick, who had come down with COVID. I have met Mona before, in Texas. She arrived last night after midnight, but she is up and energetic and a little bit bossy, but sometimes you need a bossy person to take you by the elbow and show you where to get tea and munchies. I guess I looked like I needed to get taken around or something, but also Dave had told her about dinner last night, and she must have felt for us and was determined to see I wasn't left out again.
I stayed in the vendor room most of the time, walking around and joking with people and running into so many people I knew. I almost walked by Marc B, but I could feel his eyes on me, and so I stopped and said Marc? and he laughed at me, which is all we do together--laugh and crack jokes. He was one of my favorites back in the day. All the women swooned over him, and were deeply disappointed when we learned he was gay. He's a lot of fun, though, and we always liked each other. He was with Shawn, who took Mike's place at the district, and Shawn is very nice. And then Dean came up, and he is nice, too, although kind of negligible in a way that I don't really understand. He's one of those people who blends into the background too much. Maybe because he doesn't crack jokes like the rest of us.
I had running jokes with some of the vendors, like the one who had a top hat turned upside down to collect business cards. I had looked into it before asking about the rabbit, and then I would walk by and say, "still no rabbit?" and he didn't really laugh, but I didn't care, I thought it was funny. He didn't have much of a sense of humor. And then there was the guy whose swag included green rubber frogs you could shoot at people, and I would say "the froggies!" which wasn't really funny, but made him giggle. And then the Juniper people were nice because I said I would prefer their lanyard over the ubiquitous Ellucian one, which everyone was given at the door. They were so thriled, they gave me a big green beach towel. And there was a nice woman who I had a long chat with, but I don't remember what it was about now, nothing to do with business. Maybe books or something.
And then they brought out more snacks.
That night for dinner, Dave/APOGEE took out the Citrus College people (some potential clients) to a burger place. We all (thirteen of us) walked to it in the cold night air, about a half a mile. Dave did good walking! After San Antonnio where he was almost passing out after walking about 15 steps! Whew, it's gone, whatever that was. I sat next to Allen, whom I know from various other dinners and lunches and such, and a couple from Citrus who had a baby, and that was fun. I did my nonsense syllables with the 10-month-old baby and he stared at me like they always do at first (like they can tell it's not English!) and then he started laughing like he totally got the joke, so that went over well! The restaurant was right next to railroad tracks, like five feet away, and they were constantly going back and forth, which certainly added to the ambience.
Oh, and I tried to create my own crossword puzzle for Dave to do. It's really hard!
I didn't sleep as well that night. Woke too early.
I stayed in the vendor room most of the time, walking around and joking with people and running into so many people I knew. I almost walked by Marc B, but I could feel his eyes on me, and so I stopped and said Marc? and he laughed at me, which is all we do together--laugh and crack jokes. He was one of my favorites back in the day. All the women swooned over him, and were deeply disappointed when we learned he was gay. He's a lot of fun, though, and we always liked each other. He was with Shawn, who took Mike's place at the district, and Shawn is very nice. And then Dean came up, and he is nice, too, although kind of negligible in a way that I don't really understand. He's one of those people who blends into the background too much. Maybe because he doesn't crack jokes like the rest of us.
I had running jokes with some of the vendors, like the one who had a top hat turned upside down to collect business cards. I had looked into it before asking about the rabbit, and then I would walk by and say, "still no rabbit?" and he didn't really laugh, but I didn't care, I thought it was funny. He didn't have much of a sense of humor. And then there was the guy whose swag included green rubber frogs you could shoot at people, and I would say "the froggies!" which wasn't really funny, but made him giggle. And then the Juniper people were nice because I said I would prefer their lanyard over the ubiquitous Ellucian one, which everyone was given at the door. They were so thriled, they gave me a big green beach towel. And there was a nice woman who I had a long chat with, but I don't remember what it was about now, nothing to do with business. Maybe books or something.
And then they brought out more snacks.
That night for dinner, Dave/APOGEE took out the Citrus College people (some potential clients) to a burger place. We all (thirteen of us) walked to it in the cold night air, about a half a mile. Dave did good walking! After San Antonnio where he was almost passing out after walking about 15 steps! Whew, it's gone, whatever that was. I sat next to Allen, whom I know from various other dinners and lunches and such, and a couple from Citrus who had a baby, and that was fun. I did my nonsense syllables with the 10-month-old baby and he stared at me like they always do at first (like they can tell it's not English!) and then he started laughing like he totally got the joke, so that went over well! The restaurant was right next to railroad tracks, like five feet away, and they were constantly going back and forth, which certainly added to the ambience.
Oh, and I tried to create my own crossword puzzle for Dave to do. It's really hard!
I didn't sleep as well that night. Woke too early.