You will sing his song, you'll carry on.
I'm sitting on the same couch in the same condo in South Beach as I did almost exactly a year ago. I'm enjoying the familiarity of the once-a-year novelty. Its not quite as warm this year, but I think its getting there -- yesterday it was around 70, today should get up to about 75 and tomorrow its 80. Mostly sunny, of course. (Sorry, Chicago people.)
The weekend before we left for Miami, I had three really long days in a row, and didn't sleep very much or very deeply, but they were all awesome days.
On Thursday I was up early, spent some time with dommeryourass watching Dexter, worked out at the gym, went to visit IRX, then headed downtown to meet up with a couple Ragdale Spouses who were in town for AWP (gigantic conference of fiction writers and poets and creative writing programs and every single literary journal and small press in current existence), went to a reading, met up with more people and had a mini-reunion dinner at Oysy, visited an art studio, then parted ways with everyone. It was 10:30 at night. I then took the train to meet J-Hud and we saw a midnight viewing of Friday the 13th and walked home. We stayed up talking for a little bit, I went to bed at 3 am with my laptop but didn't fall asleep until near 4.
Friday, I woke up at 10 am, we puttered a little in the morning, then went to the new coffee shop in Logan Square, headed back downtown. Met a different Ragdale Spouse who just got into town that morning, we decided to eat lunch at Oysy (again) and ended up running into other Spouses and joined them. I went to a panel on tips for applying and interviewing for creative writing teaching jobs that was really informative and confirmed that this is the next step I want to take. Decided to wander around the bookfair and felt completely overwhelmed but quickly ran into a Spouse who was my guide. This particular Spouse is perhaps the most popular person I have ever met in my life. Seriously, every 3 feet we got stopped by someone who knew him. It was hilarious and impressive and sometimes hard when we were trying to get out the door to dinner. The fair closed about 15 minutes after we got there, so I took a nice cool and refreshing walk with him in the 20 degree weather and had some good face time. I think one of the best things about this visit with the Spouses is how I had a nice range of large group, small group, and one-on-one time with most everyone. We then all converged again for a uber-fancy and delicious dinner at Le Coloniel (aptly named) that was subsidized by my generous patron Spouses. I sat next to a friend of theirs they knew from school, who goes to my zen temple and we had an excellent chat. I ate tuna tartare for appetizer, steak and shrimp over tomato pilaf for entree, and homemade coconut macaroon with ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert. All of it made me tear up a little when I took a first bite. Afterwards, a few of us drank giant glasses of wine at a nearby bar, then I made it home at 1 am, but again not really falling asleep until 2.
Saturday, I was hurting when the alarm went off at 8 am but I had to be back downtown for a 10 am breakfast with the Spouses. I spent so much time in the south Loop this weekend, more than I did last year combined, I'm sure. We ate at the artists cafe on Michigan, then I went to the bookfair more thoroughly for an hour or so, then I walked all the way up to the River East theatre, got there at 1:45 pm, just in time for a 2 pm showing of The International that nearly sold out. Afterwards I took the bus home to let Sophie out, tried to nap for 20 minutes but couldn't, took a shower instead to wake up, then headed back downtown for dinner. We ate at India Grill which had delicious food but the WORST service, mostly because they seemed to be missing at least two servers. We were slightly annoyed, but mostly made the best of it. Splitting a bottle of wine helped. At the end I was a bit drunk and a lot exhausted and I said my last farewells to the last remaining Spouses and headed home. It was only 11 pm!
Sunday morning I did not want to get up and go to temple. But I also needed some silent space, to help recover from my overstimulating weekend (even though I only went to one reading and one panel at the conference, I spent a lot of time in the midst of the 8,000 people). I was pretty fried all day, went to an emergency friend meeting but mostly laid on the couch and didn't even start packing for Miami. I did that on Monday morning, since our flight wasn't until 1 pm. dommeyourass made a post last night that sums up much of our activities. The only difference is that I ordered the bacon cheeseburger at Big Pink and ate 93% of it so there were no leftovers. And that the book I'm reading is Ali Smith's "The Accidental" and its quite good.
Also, I got an ipod nano, it arrived on Saturday. I got the 3rd generation one refurbished for a good deal, and frankly, I like my little square friend much more than any other nanos. I can finally fulfill my dream of watching a handheld television. So far my video podcasts are mostly Rachel Maddow and TED talks.
Last night we went to bed pretty early and I was so exhausted and sore from the day (running in the morning, walking all over, being in the sun), plus having a minor head cold (thankfully just phlegmy and runny and sneezing), plus the accumulated exhaustion of everything, and I slept for 9+ hours and feeling much better. Except now I'm starving and DYA is still asleep so I guess I will eat oatmeal in-house and save eggs benedict at News Cafe for later.
The weekend before we left for Miami, I had three really long days in a row, and didn't sleep very much or very deeply, but they were all awesome days.
On Thursday I was up early, spent some time with dommeryourass watching Dexter, worked out at the gym, went to visit IRX, then headed downtown to meet up with a couple Ragdale Spouses who were in town for AWP (gigantic conference of fiction writers and poets and creative writing programs and every single literary journal and small press in current existence), went to a reading, met up with more people and had a mini-reunion dinner at Oysy, visited an art studio, then parted ways with everyone. It was 10:30 at night. I then took the train to meet J-Hud and we saw a midnight viewing of Friday the 13th and walked home. We stayed up talking for a little bit, I went to bed at 3 am with my laptop but didn't fall asleep until near 4.
Friday, I woke up at 10 am, we puttered a little in the morning, then went to the new coffee shop in Logan Square, headed back downtown. Met a different Ragdale Spouse who just got into town that morning, we decided to eat lunch at Oysy (again) and ended up running into other Spouses and joined them. I went to a panel on tips for applying and interviewing for creative writing teaching jobs that was really informative and confirmed that this is the next step I want to take. Decided to wander around the bookfair and felt completely overwhelmed but quickly ran into a Spouse who was my guide. This particular Spouse is perhaps the most popular person I have ever met in my life. Seriously, every 3 feet we got stopped by someone who knew him. It was hilarious and impressive and sometimes hard when we were trying to get out the door to dinner. The fair closed about 15 minutes after we got there, so I took a nice cool and refreshing walk with him in the 20 degree weather and had some good face time. I think one of the best things about this visit with the Spouses is how I had a nice range of large group, small group, and one-on-one time with most everyone. We then all converged again for a uber-fancy and delicious dinner at Le Coloniel (aptly named) that was subsidized by my generous patron Spouses. I sat next to a friend of theirs they knew from school, who goes to my zen temple and we had an excellent chat. I ate tuna tartare for appetizer, steak and shrimp over tomato pilaf for entree, and homemade coconut macaroon with ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert. All of it made me tear up a little when I took a first bite. Afterwards, a few of us drank giant glasses of wine at a nearby bar, then I made it home at 1 am, but again not really falling asleep until 2.
Saturday, I was hurting when the alarm went off at 8 am but I had to be back downtown for a 10 am breakfast with the Spouses. I spent so much time in the south Loop this weekend, more than I did last year combined, I'm sure. We ate at the artists cafe on Michigan, then I went to the bookfair more thoroughly for an hour or so, then I walked all the way up to the River East theatre, got there at 1:45 pm, just in time for a 2 pm showing of The International that nearly sold out. Afterwards I took the bus home to let Sophie out, tried to nap for 20 minutes but couldn't, took a shower instead to wake up, then headed back downtown for dinner. We ate at India Grill which had delicious food but the WORST service, mostly because they seemed to be missing at least two servers. We were slightly annoyed, but mostly made the best of it. Splitting a bottle of wine helped. At the end I was a bit drunk and a lot exhausted and I said my last farewells to the last remaining Spouses and headed home. It was only 11 pm!
Sunday morning I did not want to get up and go to temple. But I also needed some silent space, to help recover from my overstimulating weekend (even though I only went to one reading and one panel at the conference, I spent a lot of time in the midst of the 8,000 people). I was pretty fried all day, went to an emergency friend meeting but mostly laid on the couch and didn't even start packing for Miami. I did that on Monday morning, since our flight wasn't until 1 pm. dommeyourass made a post last night that sums up much of our activities. The only difference is that I ordered the bacon cheeseburger at Big Pink and ate 93% of it so there were no leftovers. And that the book I'm reading is Ali Smith's "The Accidental" and its quite good.
Also, I got an ipod nano, it arrived on Saturday. I got the 3rd generation one refurbished for a good deal, and frankly, I like my little square friend much more than any other nanos. I can finally fulfill my dream of watching a handheld television. So far my video podcasts are mostly Rachel Maddow and TED talks.
Last night we went to bed pretty early and I was so exhausted and sore from the day (running in the morning, walking all over, being in the sun), plus having a minor head cold (thankfully just phlegmy and runny and sneezing), plus the accumulated exhaustion of everything, and I slept for 9+ hours and feeling much better. Except now I'm starving and DYA is still asleep so I guess I will eat oatmeal in-house and save eggs benedict at News Cafe for later.