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The Topic of the Day is: Sunday, April 09, 2006 | |
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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand she's back! So this is a trip blog post. woohoo. You get to hear all about my trip. and I do mean all. got up early Wednesday morning (7:20) to print my boarding passes and check in online and do all that wonderful stuff. Also registered for classes. I was thinking I'd drop one of those math or physics courses I was planning on taking in fall. I am seriously considering staying another semester after my senior year; just so I can take all the fun courses and still have time to be relaxed and spaced out. Anyway; skipped math discussion to frantically pack all my belongings. Still can't believe I fit them all into that tiny 2 foot suitcase. Rolled on down the hill at around 10:40 and left my stuff in the Physics Club Room; went to class for 15 minutes. Got really excited and decided to leave a little early. Walked to the parking garage, picked up the person I was driving, and we were off. On a side note, my car smells disgusting and I do not know why. Ugh. Traffic was really bad around downtown due to some sort of construction but the thing is, all the sheeplike people got into their one lane four blocks before the other lanes were blocked off. I decided that since I couldn't see any signals to get over into the traffic jam, I wasn't going to; so I drove up to half a block away from the congestion point, weaseled my way into the line, and thusly spent 1 minute voiding what looked like a half hour traffic jam. I am sooooo cool :D Made it to the airport. Parked in the economy lot, walked to the airport, went through security (no one was there! I think we were the first people of the day or something), then grabbed some lunch from Quiznos and waited for the rest of the conference people to show up. They did, rather a bit later than us, and then we boarded this DINKY little plane; so small I couldn't've laid down across it unless I levitated (since it's wider at the windows). I was put in the front row with no little desk thing in front of me to use, and I figured I'd be bored. But since it was my first flight in a long while and it was only to Chicago, it took about 1/2 hour. And I was fascinated by the flying thing for the whole flight so I was not bored. Has anyone ever realized how square-patchwork WI is laid out? all those farms are square, all the land is square... squares squares everywhere. Anyway; we landed in Chicago and I and Darin decided to hang out around the gate where we were going to leave from in approximately an hour and a half. The people in my group are all lethargic so no one seemed really interested in getting on the plane when they made the boarding call and started offering seats to standby people, so for a while Darin and I thought we'd be the only ones who made the flight. then 3/5 of the people we were waiting for came on and we all listened to the extremely funny flight attendant and made jokes about the last two people not making it. Then the door was closed. Svetlana (who was sort've in charge/responsible) didn't freak out but rather went into a state of shock. The flight attendant was indeed hilarious. Lessee, what're some of the things he said... (for the oxygen mask part) if you have a child, please put one on yourself first, if you have two children... well... pick a favorite; This is a nonsmoking flight and if you do smoke during the flight, I will have to ask you to step outside... but I'm a nice guy... I'll let you take the seat cushion with you to block the wind; (at the end of the flight) I'll be willing to take anything you'd like to leave behind, wallets, suitcases, newspapers... but please, no children or spouses; (also at the end of the flight) If you've enjoyed your flight today, thank you for flying United. If you have any complaints, concerns, or in general were not pleased with the service you've received today... well... then... thank you for flying American Airlines. yes, he was funny. But then we were in Greensboro, North Carolina, and short two people! WTF, mate? big time. A call revealed they would be able to catch a flight that would get them there sometime around 9:30 pm; an unpleasant feature considering that we had a three hour drive to make from the airport before we got to the hotel. So we got the rental car, drove to downtown Greensboro, and decided to see the sites. There weren't really any sites but the sunset was pretty and when we got out of the car we had to come to terms with the fact that it was 8pm, a little windy, and 70 degrees out. It was GORGEOUS. We walked a few blocks (did you know that Greensboro is where the first Civil Rights Sit-in was held? Neither did I but it is and I saw a little statue commemorating that fact) to a pub/grill combo for supper. I had a burger that tasted like beef and was delicious, and had to get used to (really!) a little southern accent. People have a tendency to say ya'll. Anyway, we ate supper, went back to the airport, got our two wayward companions and headed off on the nice 3 hour drive to Asheville. They get some good stars on the road to Asheville. That's about all I can tell you. After a very sleep while we made it to the hotel, (the rooms were supposed to be non smoking but they weren't and they reeked. ugh), washed up, and collapsed into bed. Fortunately I'm pushy enough that I got my own bed and so did my roommate Darin. Then it was Thursday; up early to catch the 8:58 shuttle bus (the hotel offered breakfast: Krispy Kremes :P ugh and double ugh) to the University of North Carolina-Asheville where the National Conference on Undergraduate Research was being held. The entire city is half a mountain's height above sea level, and there were mountains on the horizon (the Smokeys, I believe(???)) The campus is tiny but BEAUTIFUL. It's spring there! i.e., everything is actually BLOOMING--flowers, cherry trees, tulips, rhododendrons, apple trees, some gorgeous things I can't name, these dark brown trees with delicate light purple flowers... green grass everywhere, clover, the whole air rich and laden with the smell of growth and green... but the earth (kind of funny) was quite red. I think there's a fair bit of clay in the soil. Anyway, we checked in at their fancy little student union (all shiny glass and new brick) and got our free swag, then went our separate ways to look into other peoples' presentations. Darin and I hit up all the grad schools there for free pens and stuff, which was pretty sweet, then went to the poster session because it was easier than trying to catch a particularly interesting talk. I was wearing these horrid shoes--no heels, they're flat and everything, but they squeeze my fat feet apparently, and after wandering around for a while I decided to sit on a nearby stair and look through the speaker schedule. I marked when all my traveling companions were presenting and freaked out when I found this presentation on Tamora Pierce and Anne McCaffery (two of my favorite fantasy authors). When Darin came to sit down with me we struck up a conversation with this girl nearby from Texas (her name was Jasmeet) and decided to wander around some more. Had the boxed lunch, went to see my traveling companions present, cursed my ridiculous shoes and then caught the bus downtown to where the plenary session would be. But we had two hours so we wandered. They had a bookstore downtown that I almost bought (yes, the whole thing..... *drools remembering* it was gorgeous); this has convinced me that I must in some point in my life own an independent bookstore. We also visited the Chocolate Fetish which sells handmade chocolates and smells delicious. I got chocolate covered cherries. yumm! We wandered for a bit and then went back to the auditorium for the plenary session; met Jasmeet and a friend of hers on the way, and sat with them and Svetlana. The speaker was Mel Chin, an artist and political commentator--he was quite funny but also quite truthful in his talk and his work was amazing. We=Darin+I+Jasmeet wandered around looking for a place to have supper afterwards; I bought strawberries from a tiny little farmers market, and Darin kept getting accosted by random street sellers and weird people. We ended up at this Salsa Mexico Caribbean place with a half hour wait; the food was delicious and strange in a way that I never thought mexican food could be. I also ate something that had curry on it haha, there, Louise, you can't say I haven't. We did a bit more wandering; Asheville, both the campus and the city, are so much more hilly than here!; and then we caught the shuttle back to the motel and poured into bed. Friday was more of the same--awake early, the shuttle was super late; I saw the Tamora Pierce presentation, had boxed lunch, and wandered around; I had a horrible headache at this point that didn't want to go away so I went back to the hotel and slept for a couple of hours with a washcloth over my head. It helped... until I sat up. So I took a couple of tylenol and made my way back downtown to sit around and not do much. By the time the big formalish dinner came around, though, I was much better, leading me to believe that Tylenol is the greatest substance on the face of this planet. The dinner was delicious--eggplant manicotti (or what looked like manicotti); greek vegetable salad with feta, baklava and brownies and cookies, tea, this substance that looked like hummus but turned out to be baked mushed eggplant with garlic (it was delicious; I hate eggplant! but it was delicious), vegetable skewers, bread and pita chips... We all went down town and most of the group went to see Jerry Seinfeld but Darin and I were too cheap so we wandered around downtown instead. Paid a mime in a silver gown and face paint on the corner who gave us a kiss (chocolate, and covered in glitter); in this tiny little square area there was a group of two dozen people on drums beating this incredible beat; I couldn't help but go and dance with them. I even dragged Darin along for a moment's worth of dancing for her. She was in bad shape though because all the blooming stuff had activated a bad case of the allergies and all the pharmacies closed at 6pm (asheville is not a night city; it's a city of rich hippies). We saw a girl with a very large snake on her shoulder; encountered Svetlana and the group before the show at a bar outside; and then wandered some more and went back to the bookstore, where I had a really good cup of Hojicha tea and read An Unquiet Mind for psych, furthering my belief that I should own an independent bookstore. Then we wandered around with Svetlana, found another tiny farmer's market like thing open and got Darin some Claritin and me some fruit leather. We sat outside, shivering in the 60 degree weather and chatted before picking up the car and the people from the Jerry Seinfeld show. Drove back to the hotel and fell into bed. Saturday was my presentation; I got up at 7:00 am, dressed, ate more Krispy Kremes (ugh) and the rest of my strawberries; Svetlana drove me to campus. I was the last in my group of presenters and I was a little nervous since my type of research is different from everyone else's; I'm at a totally different stage than anyone else is at. But there were many intelligent questions and explanations, my laser pointer worked, and I didn't umm too much. Joyousness. Back to the hotel; packed quickly; we went to this Waffle House which is truly the epitome of the diner--older waitresses who are in no way condescending and are quite independent, crappy food that tasted delicious and came from a box or jug, and lots of it; I've never been called dear so much in my life. I felt like an uppity whiny little girl, and all I did was ask for a straw. *snicker* It was a hellish three hour drive to Greensboro, though--I was stuck in the back, in the middle, which involves no leg room, no where to lean, no head rest, and a slightly raised hard seat that made my rear go numb. We made it to the airport somehow... then there was the Boeing 737 that was quite crowded, and the lady who took my ticket insisted on checking my luggage; not the little half-checked, green-tag, leave it at the door and pick it up at the bottom of the stairs as you get off, checked carryon luggage--no, she put a tag on it and said she'd send it all the way to Madison. It was a long flight to Chicago and of course I was in the seat in front of the crying baby and mother who can only say 'shhhh' and not manage to quiet it. But since it was so large (and I had a window seat) I listened to classical music and read my Scientific American that I had picked up in Chicago on the way down. When we got to the Chicago airport we raced across it (we ran UP the escalators; o.o) and we almost caught the 6pm flight to Madison; except they didn't want to fly us without our luggage, and of course I was no longer a carryon person, but a checked-bag person. DOH! and they had moved the 7:50 flight, so we were forced to take the 9:55. that's *counts on fingers* yeah, a four hour wait. We putzed around. I called mom, stefi... read my magazine... had supper (from McDonalds, because it was there)... wandered around with Sasha to look for a DVD to be played on her computer for entertainment. They had a lot of stuff but nothing I'd overpay by 8 dollars for (they did have firefly, and serenity, but of course I own those already). We were bored enough that we decided to leave for the correct terminal (we were at C4 and the flight was from F9) a bit early. It's a good thing we did; it was a solid 25 minute walk to F9, all the way on the other side of the airport, even using those moving walkways. Eventually, we boarded, took off; the flight from Chicago to Madison is SO short! and night flights are gorgeous--the dark land with a sprinkling of iridescent dots. I took pictures. Joy. Landed and had to wait 10 minutes to disembark. this was the only point in time that I almost fell asleep, and as soon as I started to drift off, the plane pulled in. Waited half an hour before they started spewing out luggage and lo and behold, mine was not there. FUCK. I checked with whoever it is you check with and she said that it was still in Chicago -.- and that they'd get it tomorrow and send it off to the dorm. I said (not out loud) fuck it, and Darin and I trekked back to the car. Drove downtown. Dropped her off; parked at the top of the hill, lurched to my room, collapsed into bed. Almost fell asleep only to be awoken by loud neighbors. Pounded on wall. Then I couldn't sleep. Then there were loud people in the hallway. At this point in time it was 2 am and I was nearly unconscious, so I lurched down from the bed, opened the door, yelled "Shut Up!" down the hallway, and slammed the door again. Went back to bed, drifted in and out of sleep... Got up this morning and wrote y'all an hour long blog post. Now it's time for lunch... can't do math homework because that's in my bag. In Chicago. Fuck. |
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My Other Writing Sites | |
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Webcomics | |
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Stories I'm currently working on. | |
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***Tbook1 (Time and Chaos, needs a new name, needs to be edited) ***Book of Sun (Just needs to be edited. Tis a Nano novel) ***Book of Whispers part 1 (Does not jive at all with part 2; needs to be rewritten to fit and to have less suckage) ***Book of Whispers part 2 (Needs some rehaul editing, needs some loose ends tied up, needs to fit) ***Book of Whispers part 3 (Needs to be finished... then needs to die o.o Not sure if I need a third part in the series) ***Dium's Story (Needs a point, progress, anything... needs to be integrated into Tbook1, since that is what it is a part of, mainly) ***Trio Story with Jackie and Louise (Maybe we should get together and work on this, guys) ***Demon Story (This is working out pretty good so far. I like the plot, it's a bit convoluted, and the characters are interesting) ***New Witch Story (It's only 30 pages long, dang) ***Dragon's Voices (This has SO much potential! wee!) | |
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1 Comments:
ok, I am too tired to read all of this post, but it sounds like fun, I heart plane rides because it's funny to see the squares- also, I love anne mccaffrey and tamora pierce as well! we've been through this, I know, but it bears repeating *squee*
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