Happy Summer Solstice!
I'm home. Tired and sore, more due to the fact that I don't sleep well in hotels, no matter how comfortable the beds are, and the one I had was mighty comfy. Add to that the fact that I've been through more weather changes in the last week then I care to elaborate which is so not good for any of what ails me.
I've also got to admit that I find spending any thing over a couple of days in the US these days exhausting. Since 9/11 I feel compelled to censor myself and do it constantly. Even a snarky joking remark to friends can set something explosive off and I really don't want to do that and dealing with strangers is just way too iffy, so I have to damp down my usual political self and to do that for more then a few days is very tiring. I understand why politics is such a touchy subject south of the border and I respect peoples feelings on the matter, hence my conscious decision to be very, very careful of what I say or do. Still, it's very nice to be home where I can say anything I like about anything without any sort of serious ramifications.
I'm doing laundry and catching up on snail mail and newspapers (Dad is so cool and kept them all for me while I was away cause he knows I'm just anal retentive that way), brushed Dude, chatted with the neighbours, and am making a list of all the stuff I need to do now that I'm home. It's a very long list and I've got company coming in, check's Ozy's lj, in nine days.
The garden has grown by massive leaps and bounds in the week I was gone and needs to be trimmed and trained and weeded. Dad tried to deadhead the roses but it took him hours in the hot sun just to do one bush so while his efforts are greatly appreciated I've got a lot of work ahead of me.
Con*TXT was very cool, especially for a first time con. Good panels, lots of intelligent people to discuss things with, excellent location, relatively nice hotel with noted exceptions, and a lot of fun. The Disco Duck was very enjoyable and provided those of us who chose not to make use of the exercise room an opportunity to burn off some major calories which travellingone and I took ample advantage of.
On our last day in Silver Springs we shared the hotel shuttle with a mother and her two teen aged daughters. They were extremely frustrated with the hotel staff and wondered aloud why they were so unfriendly and more importantly unhelpful. We had no explanation for that but helped them out on several simple and easy matters which should have been done by the hotel staff. As someone who grew up in and worked for many years in a tourist town, I'll never comprehend why anyone who wasn't forced to do so working in the industry and not appreciating it. Meeting new people all the time, getting to discuss where they come from and what they do and just being helpful and promoting your local community has always been a great pleasure for me, even when I'm not getting paid for it.
Speaking of which my sincere thanks to travellingone for accompanying me on the trip. She was a pleasure to have as a traveling companion, hence her lj name. *bg* I look forward to doing it again soon hon.
It was cool to catch up with old friends, waves at and to make some new ones thought my flist is getting unmanageable I've felt compelled to add a few more folks who captured my imagination with their intelligence, wit and spirit during the con. I look forward to getting to know all of you better via lj and in rl.
*contemplates grey skies and high winds* I don't think I'll be heading outside any time soon. So I guess it's time for another load of laundry and to come up with something for dinner. To bad some of those cool Silver Spring restaurants don't do virtual take-out. ;-)
*Waves* See ya around.
I've also got to admit that I find spending any thing over a couple of days in the US these days exhausting. Since 9/11 I feel compelled to censor myself and do it constantly. Even a snarky joking remark to friends can set something explosive off and I really don't want to do that and dealing with strangers is just way too iffy, so I have to damp down my usual political self and to do that for more then a few days is very tiring. I understand why politics is such a touchy subject south of the border and I respect peoples feelings on the matter, hence my conscious decision to be very, very careful of what I say or do. Still, it's very nice to be home where I can say anything I like about anything without any sort of serious ramifications.
I'm doing laundry and catching up on snail mail and newspapers (Dad is so cool and kept them all for me while I was away cause he knows I'm just anal retentive that way), brushed Dude, chatted with the neighbours, and am making a list of all the stuff I need to do now that I'm home. It's a very long list and I've got company coming in, check's Ozy's lj, in nine days.
The garden has grown by massive leaps and bounds in the week I was gone and needs to be trimmed and trained and weeded. Dad tried to deadhead the roses but it took him hours in the hot sun just to do one bush so while his efforts are greatly appreciated I've got a lot of work ahead of me.
Con*TXT was very cool, especially for a first time con. Good panels, lots of intelligent people to discuss things with, excellent location, relatively nice hotel with noted exceptions, and a lot of fun. The Disco Duck was very enjoyable and provided those of us who chose not to make use of the exercise room an opportunity to burn off some major calories which travellingone and I took ample advantage of.
On our last day in Silver Springs we shared the hotel shuttle with a mother and her two teen aged daughters. They were extremely frustrated with the hotel staff and wondered aloud why they were so unfriendly and more importantly unhelpful. We had no explanation for that but helped them out on several simple and easy matters which should have been done by the hotel staff. As someone who grew up in and worked for many years in a tourist town, I'll never comprehend why anyone who wasn't forced to do so working in the industry and not appreciating it. Meeting new people all the time, getting to discuss where they come from and what they do and just being helpful and promoting your local community has always been a great pleasure for me, even when I'm not getting paid for it.
Speaking of which my sincere thanks to travellingone for accompanying me on the trip. She was a pleasure to have as a traveling companion, hence her lj name. *bg* I look forward to doing it again soon hon.
It was cool to catch up with old friends, waves at and to make some new ones thought my flist is getting unmanageable I've felt compelled to add a few more folks who captured my imagination with their intelligence, wit and spirit during the con. I look forward to getting to know all of you better via lj and in rl.
*contemplates grey skies and high winds* I don't think I'll be heading outside any time soon. So I guess it's time for another load of laundry and to come up with something for dinner. To bad some of those cool Silver Spring restaurants don't do virtual take-out. ;-)
*Waves* See ya around.