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panik at 04:50pm on 21/01/2007 under chapel hill
panik at 04:50pm on 21/01/2007 under chapel hillMy days in the Deep South have passed in a pleasing and enjoyable haze. I'm just sitting in my room, on the gigantic, wonderful, most comfortablist Jim-bed bed EVER; having a quiet break with a coffee before I head back into the fray.
The hotel, which was disturbingly vast, cavernous and empty, has filled up over the weekend - lots more conferences have set up shop, including a basketball team from Georgia which has made breakfast an interesting experience; a bit like being lost in a forest of mighty Sequoia. I slip amongst them, unseen, like a woodland sprite ::G::
This morning, the car park is full of SUVs with Virginia plates and the hotel has sprouted dozens of kids who got terribly excited by the breakfast buffet - I did not get my waffle today.
The conference has been mostly interesting, though a couple of talks literally sent me to sleep - I'm blaming the mega-watt painkillers the local clinic furnished me with when I managed to pull a stomach muscle in my sleep ::shrug:: - (don't ask cos I can't explain) - Man, those are some strong mothers! I feel like I'm on a ship; floating about in a perpetually happy place. I'm walking like a pirate, my brain feels like someone's made dip out of it, but I'm happy, which, I guess, is all that matters.
Yesterday (was it only yesterday?) I had to read some of my stuff out - well, we all did; we sprawled in a circle, on big cushions. The others (there are twenty seven of us here now - 4x the number who were here at the start) seemed unbelievably chuffed to be doing this; they had a confident, 'shut up now, and listen to THIS' air about them. I came clutching a vomit bag - but, to my amazement, it seemed to go down rather well; I gave them my account of the plane ride to Cayo Saetia with a very drunken pilot (from the book I'm currently working on), and they laughed, in all the right places, ie, (not in derision, i don;t think) - totally unexpected! They seem a rather aloof, self-confident, snooty bunch and I was dreading reading my not-in-the-least-bit-deep-but-in fact, rather-silly-stuff out to them. But they seemed to get a real kick out of it (everone else's writing is so serious! O:!) so I spent the rest of the day feeling rather smug and self-satisfied.
Last night, a small group of us went out for pizza and beer at a place in town called the RatKellar, which reminded me pretty much of student pubs in Liverpool. I couldn't drink, of course, because of the bleedin' pain killers - they'd've had to carry me out in a spoon - butsnycockintroduced me to a not-half-bad non alcy beer the other night, and I stuck to that and so kept most of my brain cells. They all packed off back to the hotel at 9.30 anyway, the strange li'l munchkins, so I ended up back at the room, eating M&Ms and watching the news (with weather warnings for people heading off to church in the morning! O: Tries to imagine such a thing back home - fails) and Python (Njorls Saga; always a favourite) till the pills knocked me out at eleven.
I think the conference more or less packs up after dinner tonight so I'm planning on letting it rip a little more enthusiastically for what's left of the trip. Hoping to catch up tosnycock again for fun and frolics in the swirling cesspit of sin that is Chapel Hill, tomorrow. I have things to buy for m'loved ones. alibongo has asked for a Twinkie - so I must source this ellusive delicacy before I depart. I also fully intend to spend even more time in the world's most comfortable bed, which Mark and I have defo decided to buy when we get home. Even with the shipping, it's way cheaper than a comparable bed bought in Britain and I must have one, I tell you, I must!
Right - there's a chat planned for tonight at my site; that's 3pm here, I think... (I'm still so lost on the time thing). I think I'm just finishing a workshop then, but there's something else scheduled after that... I'll try and get along, for at least some of the time, anyway, just for the novelty of doing it from here ::G::
The hotel, which was disturbingly vast, cavernous and empty, has filled up over the weekend - lots more conferences have set up shop, including a basketball team from Georgia which has made breakfast an interesting experience; a bit like being lost in a forest of mighty Sequoia. I slip amongst them, unseen, like a woodland sprite ::G::
This morning, the car park is full of SUVs with Virginia plates and the hotel has sprouted dozens of kids who got terribly excited by the breakfast buffet - I did not get my waffle today.
The conference has been mostly interesting, though a couple of talks literally sent me to sleep - I'm blaming the mega-watt painkillers the local clinic furnished me with when I managed to pull a stomach muscle in my sleep ::shrug:: - (don't ask cos I can't explain) - Man, those are some strong mothers! I feel like I'm on a ship; floating about in a perpetually happy place. I'm walking like a pirate, my brain feels like someone's made dip out of it, but I'm happy, which, I guess, is all that matters.
Yesterday (was it only yesterday?) I had to read some of my stuff out - well, we all did; we sprawled in a circle, on big cushions. The others (there are twenty seven of us here now - 4x the number who were here at the start) seemed unbelievably chuffed to be doing this; they had a confident, 'shut up now, and listen to THIS' air about them. I came clutching a vomit bag - but, to my amazement, it seemed to go down rather well; I gave them my account of the plane ride to Cayo Saetia with a very drunken pilot (from the book I'm currently working on), and they laughed, in all the right places, ie, (not in derision, i don;t think) - totally unexpected! They seem a rather aloof, self-confident, snooty bunch and I was dreading reading my not-in-the-least-bit-deep-but-in fact, rather-silly-stuff out to them. But they seemed to get a real kick out of it (everone else's writing is so serious! O:!) so I spent the rest of the day feeling rather smug and self-satisfied.
Last night, a small group of us went out for pizza and beer at a place in town called the RatKellar, which reminded me pretty much of student pubs in Liverpool. I couldn't drink, of course, because of the bleedin' pain killers - they'd've had to carry me out in a spoon - but
snycockintroduced me to a not-half-bad non alcy beer the other night, and I stuck to that and so kept most of my brain cells. They all packed off back to the hotel at 9.30 anyway, the strange li'l munchkins, so I ended up back at the room, eating M&Ms and watching the news (with weather warnings for people heading off to church in the morning! O: Tries to imagine such a thing back home - fails) and Python (Njorls Saga; always a favourite) till the pills knocked me out at eleven.I think the conference more or less packs up after dinner tonight so I'm planning on letting it rip a little more enthusiastically for what's left of the trip. Hoping to catch up to
snycock again for fun and frolics in the swirling cesspit of sin that is Chapel Hill, tomorrow. I have things to buy for m'loved ones. alibongo has asked for a Twinkie - so I must source this ellusive delicacy before I depart. I also fully intend to spend even more time in the world's most comfortable bed, which Mark and I have defo decided to buy when we get home. Even with the shipping, it's way cheaper than a comparable bed bought in Britain and I must have one, I tell you, I must! Right - there's a chat planned for tonight at my site; that's 3pm here, I think... (I'm still so lost on the time thing). I think I'm just finishing a workshop then, but there's something else scheduled after that... I'll try and get along, for at least some of the time, anyway, just for the novelty of doing it from here ::G::
confused
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