Meeting twirlandswirl and museumfreak
So I met twirlandswirl and museumfreak on Friday night. I knew that the hotel Ann was staying at was next to Perimeter Mall, so I took MARTA like I was going up there. Of course, being the occasionally overconfident person that I am, I forgot to bring directions with me. So I headed toward the mall and tried to think of which way to go. Finally I decided to go to my left, thinking that of all those tall buildings, surely one of those was the hotel I was looking for.
Well, they weren't. After making another turn and going the other way, I figured that I may as well ask for directions so at the very least I would be less lost. I stopped in a Barnes and Noble, where a group of Girl Scouts greeted and offered free gift wrap. I thanked them for the offer and headed for the Starbucks in there. I bought a peppermint hot chocolate (it was freezing out there!) and asked for directions after I paid. The people there didn't know but told me I could ask customer service. One person asked another customer, who gave me directions but warned me that they may not be completely right.
Some direction was better than none, though, so I left, hot chocolate in hand. I still had some time since Ann (erm, twirlandswirl) called me on my way there and told me she was running late. Sure enough, the customer's directions were right, despite the dark streets that I was walking down. I didn't wander into any creepsters, though, and eventually found a sidewalk. As I was waiting for my time to cross, I saw a bunch of buses. What are those? I wondered. Then I saw GO GATORS! written on one window. I grinned. They had shown up. Right after they passed, the crosswalk turned green, and I crossed.
After a few minutes in the hotel lobby scribbling down this adventure, I called Ann and told her that I had arrived. She told me her room number, and I found it. Now, you'd expect room n to be across the hall from, or at least next to, room n-1, right?
Wrong.
This room was three doors down, I think. Something like that, anyway. If it weren't for the signs I wouldn't have found it. I knocked. She answered.
After that we just hung out and waited for museumfreak to show up. Shirt-ironing, phone-tripping, and wifi-lamenting took place outside the mass of talking. When Kathy (er, museumfreak) called Ann, I attempted to give her directions, but as some of us know, I'm terrible at giving directions and even worse at following them, especially since I had gotten there in the first place. Finally we just decided to meet at the mall.
So Ann and I headed out. We found the mall much easier than I found the hotel, but the entrance to the main part of the mall was a different story. Finally we found a sign in Macy's (and I've been there before, too!) that said "Mall Entrance". We won at malls.
We went in and finally met up with Kathy at the food court. Kathy forgot my plushie (she got me in the plushie exchange), but ah well. I can get it another time. I should probably e-mail her about that. There, done. After talking for a lot longer about life, support and LiveJournal, we got some food at a sushi place. They had sushi candles! No, I'm serious. They were candles, and they looked like sushi. I should have bought one, but I didn't. Oh well. I can always find them online during my next binge.
After that and a lot more talkage, Ann was getting together with another friend of hers in the area, so we left the mall to wait. We passed an iPod vending machine before we left. I'm not kidding. An iPod vending machine. Okay, so there were headphones and stuff like that in there, too, but the idea cracks me up.
Ann called her friend and found out that he'd be in a green car. We looked outside. A green car. We started waving as we went outside. The guy looked at us weird. He must have thought we were crazy. A few minutes Ann's friend did show up, she left (group hug!) and Kathy and I took MARTA back, all the while talking and scaring some of the riders.
After all this, I was too tired to update when I got back except to say that I did, in fact, go out and do stuff on a Friday night. Go me. It was a lot of fun, though. Now I want a sushi candle. And some sushi. Mmm, sushi.
Well, they weren't. After making another turn and going the other way, I figured that I may as well ask for directions so at the very least I would be less lost. I stopped in a Barnes and Noble, where a group of Girl Scouts greeted and offered free gift wrap. I thanked them for the offer and headed for the Starbucks in there. I bought a peppermint hot chocolate (it was freezing out there!) and asked for directions after I paid. The people there didn't know but told me I could ask customer service. One person asked another customer, who gave me directions but warned me that they may not be completely right.
Some direction was better than none, though, so I left, hot chocolate in hand. I still had some time since Ann (erm, twirlandswirl) called me on my way there and told me she was running late. Sure enough, the customer's directions were right, despite the dark streets that I was walking down. I didn't wander into any creepsters, though, and eventually found a sidewalk. As I was waiting for my time to cross, I saw a bunch of buses. What are those? I wondered. Then I saw GO GATORS! written on one window. I grinned. They had shown up. Right after they passed, the crosswalk turned green, and I crossed.
After a few minutes in the hotel lobby scribbling down this adventure, I called Ann and told her that I had arrived. She told me her room number, and I found it. Now, you'd expect room n to be across the hall from, or at least next to, room n-1, right?
Wrong.
This room was three doors down, I think. Something like that, anyway. If it weren't for the signs I wouldn't have found it. I knocked. She answered.
After that we just hung out and waited for museumfreak to show up. Shirt-ironing, phone-tripping, and wifi-lamenting took place outside the mass of talking. When Kathy (er, museumfreak) called Ann, I attempted to give her directions, but as some of us know, I'm terrible at giving directions and even worse at following them, especially since I had gotten there in the first place. Finally we just decided to meet at the mall.
So Ann and I headed out. We found the mall much easier than I found the hotel, but the entrance to the main part of the mall was a different story. Finally we found a sign in Macy's (and I've been there before, too!) that said "Mall Entrance". We won at malls.
We went in and finally met up with Kathy at the food court. Kathy forgot my plushie (she got me in the plushie exchange), but ah well. I can get it another time. I should probably e-mail her about that. There, done. After talking for a lot longer about life, support and LiveJournal, we got some food at a sushi place. They had sushi candles! No, I'm serious. They were candles, and they looked like sushi. I should have bought one, but I didn't. Oh well. I can always find them online during my next binge.
After that and a lot more talkage, Ann was getting together with another friend of hers in the area, so we left the mall to wait. We passed an iPod vending machine before we left. I'm not kidding. An iPod vending machine. Okay, so there were headphones and stuff like that in there, too, but the idea cracks me up.
Ann called her friend and found out that he'd be in a green car. We looked outside. A green car. We started waving as we went outside. The guy looked at us weird. He must have thought we were crazy. A few minutes Ann's friend did show up, she left (group hug!) and Kathy and I took MARTA back, all the while talking and scaring some of the riders.
After all this, I was too tired to update when I got back except to say that I did, in fact, go out and do stuff on a Friday night. Go me. It was a lot of fun, though. Now I want a sushi candle. And some sushi. Mmm, sushi.